Borkena
Toronto – The Afar Diaspora Conference calls for actors – including state actors present in Djibouti – to address what it called “detrimental role played by the Djiboutian regime in the internal affairs and conflicts of neighbouring countries.”
The call is one of the resolutions adopted at the end of the three days conference convened in Brussels, Belgium under the auspices of the International Federation of Afar Diaspora (FIDA).
In February 2025, Borkena reported about the Djibouti government drone strike in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government did not remark on it at the time.
There were also reports of rights violations by the Djibouti government particularly targeting Afars.
The statement from conference organizers sent to Borkena indicates the conference discussed humanitarian, political and security challenges Afar communities face in Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia as well as rising tension in the region were discussed.
Afar diaspora representatives, civil society actors, politicians, and academics attended the event, it was said.
Also, the conference covered other topics including “land grabbing” and “systemic human rights violations.” They were described as “concerning.”
“The Conference expressed serious concern over the disproportionate impact of armed conflict, forced displacement, land grabbing, and systematic human rights violations affecting Afar civilians,” it reads.
As far as the humanitarian situation is concerned, the conference called for “unhindered humanitarian access” to the areas impacted by conflict.
It urged the African Union, IGAD, the United Nations and the European Union to step up diplomatic and humanitarian engagement.
The Afar region of Ethiopia was one of the areas severely devastated by the bloody two years war between TPLF led Tigray administration and the Ethiopian Federal government which ended in November 2022 with the signing of the Pretoria Agreement.
According to the statement, the “Participants reaffirmed the unity and solidarity of the Afar people across borders, while underscoring full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states in the Horn of Africa.”
Afar-Issa conflict – with a recurring history of bloody skirmishes – was also discussed at the conference. It called on the ” Ethiopian federal government to pursue durable solutions to the Afar–Issa conflict through fair and transparent boundary delimitation and urged regional actors to refrain from actions that exacerbate instability.”
The conference has adopted a 14 points resolution. You can find a PDF version here.
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