A new report to the UN Security Council finds that Eritrea has secretly supplied “huge quantities of arms” to a Somali insurgent group with supposed links to al-Qaeda, in violation of an international embargo. “Somalia is awash with arms,” the… Read moreUN report: Eritrea arms, Ethiopia fuels Somali insurgents
Boy, does it ever look like a case of “meet the new boss” in Ethiopia. A front-page story by Jeffrey Gettleman in the New York Times July 22 informs us that the government is blocking food aid to the restive… Read moreEthiopia blocks food aid to Ogaden
At the recent African Union summit in Accra, Senegalese music star Youssou N’Dour—recently selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential personalities in the world—voiced support for the idea of a United States of Africa, and said… Read moreYoussou N’Dour: president of Africa?
Speaking on the eve of an African Union summit in Accra June 30, Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffi called on the continent to unite under a single government. Declaring himself a “soldier for Africa,” Qaddafi said AU leaders had not yet… Read moreQaddafi calls for United States of Africa
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says he is strengthening his army in preparation for an attack by regional rival Eritrea. “Our defence forces have the capacity to deter aggression and to repulse it if it occurred,” Zenawi told Ethiopian members… Read moreEthiopia: ready for war with Eritrea
Ethiopia’s Federal High Court will hand down sentences to 38 imprisoned opposition leaders and journalists on July 9, the body has announced. Following reports that members of the opposition facing charges of “genocide” and attempted coup d’etat signed a document… Read moreEthiopia won’t budge on arrested activists, journalists
The Paris-based media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) castigated the international community June 27 for “indifference” to a media crackdown in Eritrea. “Because of the world’s indifference, we are reduced to just watching, appalled and powerless, as the authorities… Read moreEritrea: press crackdown condemned
Eritrean state radio reports that fifty-three weyane (Ethiopian) soldiers, including officers, have defected to Eritrea over the last few months. The soldiers are said to include three lieutenants, a second lieutenant, a sergeant, four corporals and 14 lance-corporals, who all… Read moreSomali, Ethiopian defections to Eritrea?
The UN has now vindicated the recent findings of a British study on the roots of the Darfur conflict. From Guardian Newspapers, June 25: LONDON — The conflict in Darfur has been driven by climate change and environmental degradation, which… Read moreDarfur crisis linked to climate change: UN
Somali police fired on a crowd of people trying to storm a food warehouse in Mogadishu June 25, killing five civilians, witnesses reported. Hundreds of people had gathered at a police station that was serving as a food distribution center,… Read moreSomalia: police fire on food riot
Geeska Afrika reports June 22 that US warplanes based in Djbouti are overflying Somalia’s northern autonomous enclave of Puntland in preparation for air-strikes against suspected al-Qaeda fugitives. The report also states that three weeks earlier, on June 2, a US… Read moreSomalia: US preparing Puntland intervention —against Eritrea’s proxies?
The UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) has welcomed a decision by the Mauritanian government to allow some 20,000 refugees to return from neighboring Mali and Senegal, where they have spent almost two decades in exile. The Mauritanian decision was… Read moreMauritania to repatriate 20,000 refugees?
