Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Aug 31 10 tweets 5 min read
.@UN briefing on Pakistan Floods - on the launch of a 160 Million Dollar flash appeal to address emergency needs in the wake of a colossal nation wide flooding disaster in a country of 220 million.

Launch of Pakistan Floods Response Plan - NYC Press Conf.
@UN The @NASA Earth observatory [earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150279/…] has posted some imagery that provides a clear view of the scale of the flooding - which highlights standing water in blue.
Left >> Aug. 4th
Right >> Aug. 28th

Note that there was already signiifcant flooding on August 4th.
The remaining images here of Pakistan Flooding were taken yesterday by @NASA's Worldview satellite system.

First a picture of the entire country.
#PakistanFlooding A close up fairly high resolution image of central Pakistan - including the area covered by the Earth Observatory images.
Note: The large area in light brown is not standing water - though it is a very similar colour to the water you can see in the main Indus River channel which is running very high.

To view the images in close up save them to your computer or RightClick >> "Open in new window".
This image shows Southern Pakistan including the province of Sindh which is one of the most hard hit - and which has Hyderabad at its center. It has place labels, roads and borders overlaid.
A close up on the the coastal south Sindh provice is on the right, Southern Balochistan on the left.
This image shows nearly all of Balochistan the Western Province whichis largely dry - but which has also experienced catastrophic flooding in parts over the past few months.
Finally, North Pakistan which is possibly the area of most infrastructure damage - and where many of the amazing images of torrents tearing apart towns which we have seen in recent days originate. More than 200 bridges have been destroyed here and 10s of thousands of homes.

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More from @althecat

Sep 2
This is the Q of this moment for me too.

If the IC do feel compelled to do something (& this is their mess too), let it be helpful, in accordance with UN Charter, and in support of the Govt.

Namely, instructing TPLF to cease fire & threatening sanctions if they do not.
The extract below from Debretsion (via Alex de Waal) captures the dilemma TPLF & the IC faces. Further support to the TPLF will just prolong this. But both know TPLF cannot win.

But there is another solution - just one the TPLF find un-palatable. Stopping & returning to talks. Image
This is also the Government’s stated preferred path out of this.

The death & injury toll, cost, & economic and reputational damage of a prolonged war will be immense.

This is therefore also the path that the IC needs to pursue.
Read 9 tweets
Sep 2
Three days later the text of this unopposed UNSC statement has still not been published. Its content was not described in any meaningful way in the final meeting of the Chinese Presidency when it was passed >>Link undocs.org/Home/Mobile?Fi…

Presumably it is still being finalised? Image
Here's the press release about its agreement in the UNSC.
Here's the UNSC meeting on 31 August when the statement was agreed.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 1
Research Subthread:

After pondering about today's apparent significant escalation in the war in North Tigray with fighting reported on the Sudanese border and a possible invasion of Tigray from Eritrea by ENDF I had a question.
TPLF is complaining about a lack of diplomatic support for its latest war. Which is unusual. Based on past experience an escalation that possibly threatens the end of the TPLF nightmare might be expected to be met by a chorus of shrill criticism of the GoE.
But that is not happening, yet anyway. So I decided to look a little harder into the data - and check to see how much diplomatic interest has been shown in the peace process - either working or failing.

And the answer is that - since the visit of the three envoys - almost none.
Read 12 tweets
Sep 1
@FdreService Earlier TPLF issued this statement. TPLF has been alleging they would be attacked in the West of Tigray by forces from Eritrea and Ethiopia - claiming that ENDF forces were deployed in Eritrea to participate in this.

At this stage this is not confirmed.
@FdreService Attacks along the Ethiopia-Sudanese border have also started - which is probably the most concerning development. TPLF is thought to be utilising troops trained in Sudan at refugee camps. It is unclear who paid for this and how - and how these troops were armed.
@FdreService While we do not yet have a clear idea what is going on with these latest developments. It appears the confrontation between the secessionist forces of the TPLF and the ENDF is escalating rapidly.

Reuters has a roundup here which attempts to verify claims. reuters.com/world/africa/t…
Read 27 tweets
Sep 1
The OHCHR has finally published the long awaited report into the treatment of Uyghurs in China - stopping short of calling the abuses of human rights genocide.

UN Human Rights Office issues assessment of human rights concerns in Xinjiang, China shar.es/aftkZC
The report was published on the final day of the Chinese Presidency of the UNSC. And the final day of current High Commissioner for Human Rights @mbachelet's tenure as the UN HR Chief.
In yesterday's UN Daily media briefing in NYC there were somewhat tense exchanges between @AJEnglish UN correspondent James Bays (@baysontheroad) and the @UN_Spokesperson @StephDujarric over the timing of the release of the report - which Bays characterised as cowardly.
Read 11 tweets
Aug 31
One party started this war @SecBlinken and the timing suggests it was emboldened by your Presidents special envoy @MikeHammerUSA’s visit to Mekelle where he had a jolly good time and took selfies with the TPLF leadership team & them issued a statement backing an impractical plan.
If the U.S. is serious about peace it needs to be consistent, there is a belligerent aggressor in this war that has initiated military conflict 5 times - the TPLF - and there is a Govt. that is dedicated to a path to peace that has declared three humanitarian ceasefires.
And as I am sure you are aware - as @WFPChief is an American appointment - effectively an American led UN logistics institution, that party - the TPLF - is now using looted humanitarian aid delivered by a U.S. run institution to once again to Mount this latest war.
Read 11 tweets

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