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☆ Analysis-West Africa's 'Brexit' Moment Spells Trouble for the Region
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +6 min

Ivory Coast alone is home to more than 5 million people from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Earlier this month, Russia and Niger, ruled by a junta since a coup last year, agreed to develop military ties. Russian military personnel flew into Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou last week to ensure the safety of the country's military leader. EMPTY THREATECOWAS has responded to a wave of coups in the region since 2020 with sanctions that the juntas have called "illegal and inhumane." "The departure from ECOWAS will have catastrophic consequences for the ability to respond to the many security challenges facing this region," said Abba.

Persons: Bate Felix, David Lewis, Giulia Paravicini, Seidik Abba, Russia's Wagner, Mucahid Durmaz, Verisk Maplecroft, Charlie Robertson, Kwesi Aning, Gilles Yabi, Adama Coulibaly, Nagnouma Keita, Abba, Tiemoko Diallo, Boureima, Silvia Aloisi, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: Giulia Paravicini DAKAR, West, West African States, Reuters, Islamic, FIM Partners, European Union, ECOWAS, CFA Locations: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Russia, Ivory Coast, Niger . Niger, Nigeria, Paris, Ghana, Togo, Benin, France, United States, Burkina Faso's, Ouagadougou, West Africa, United, London, Bamako, Guinea, China

☆ UN Security Council Due to Vote on Lifting Arms Embargo on Somalia
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Michelle Nichols and Giulia ParaviciniUNITED NATIONS/NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council is due to vote on Friday to remove the final restrictions on weapons deliveries to Somalia's government and its security forces, diplomats said, more than 30 years after an arms embargo was first imposed on the country. The 15-member body is due to adopt two British-drafted resolutions on Friday, diplomats said - one to remove the full arms embargo on Somalia and another to reimpose an arms embargo on Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militants. One of the draft resolutions spells out that "for the avoidance of doubt, that there is no arms embargo on the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia." Somalia's government had long asked for the arms embargo to be removed so it could beef up its forces to take on the militants. The Security Council began to partially start lifting measures Somalia's security forces in 2013.

Persons: Michelle Nichols, Giulia Paravicini, Mohamed Siad Barre, Al Shabaab, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, al, Grant McCool Organizations: Giulia Paravicini UNITED, United Nations Security, Government of, Security, Union Locations: Giulia Paravicini UNITED NATIONS, NAIROBI, Somalia, of Africa, Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Federal Republic of Somalia, Al, Somali, al Shabaab

☆ Ethiopia PM Abiy Seeks to Quell Neighbours' Concerns Over Invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

"Ethiopia has never invaded any country and now Ethiopia has no intention to invade any country," Abiy told thousands of soldiers gathered in the capital Addis Ababa to celebrate the national army on Thursday. Abiy said Ethiopia would not pursue its interests "through force", and that "it wouldn't pull the trigger on its fellow brothers." Abiy won a Nobel peace prize in 2019 for his peacemaking efforts which ended two decades of hostility with Eritrea. "There are major concerns around the region that the relationship could deteriorate further and risk outright hostility." (Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw and Giulia Paravicini, writing by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by Hereward Holland and Christina Fincher)

Persons: Dawit Endeshaw, Giulia, Abiy Ahmed, Abiy, Alan Boswell, Horn, Alexis Mohamed, Somalia's, Giulia Paravicini, Hereward Holland, Christina Fincher Organizations: Ethiopian, Crisis Locations: ADDIS ABABA, NAIROBI, Ethiopia, Horn of Africa, Coastal Eritrea, Addis Ababa, Eritrea, Bure, Tigray, Asmara, Djibouti, United States, China

☆ Airtel Uganda doubles bonus shares ahead of IPO close
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Elias Biryabarema | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KAMPALA, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Airtel Uganda said it has doubled the amount of bonus shares for potential investors, to boost participation in its initial public offering (IPO) set to close on Friday. The firm launched its share sale on Aug. 29 and set the share price at 100 Ugandan shillings. Airtel is selling 20% of its equity in a move aimed at raising 800 billion Ugandan shillings ($213 million). Results of the IPO are expected on Oct. 30, while shares will be listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange on Oct. 31, according to a prospectus. When the listing completes, Airtel Uganda will be the second listed telecoms company on Uganda's stock exchange after MTN Uganda (MTNU.UG), majority owned by South Africa's MTN Group (MTNJ.J), which listed in December 2021.

Persons: Elias Biryabarema, Giulia Paravicini, Hereward Holland, David Evans Organizations: Airtel, Uganda Securities Exchange, MTN Uganda, South Africa's MTN, Thomson Locations: KAMPALA, Airtel Uganda

☆ Hunger haunts Ethiopia's Tigray region after years of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MEKELLE, Ethiopia, July 10 (Reuters) - Curled up on a hospital bed in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, an emaciated little girl struggles to breathe, as her father softly strokes her gaunt face and her mother sits crying. Her doctor says she is dying, a new victim of an acute food shortage in a region blighted by two years of war and struggling with drought. [1/9]Woldegebrial Abadi, 36, holds the hands of his severely malnourished newborn son Berhanu Woldegebrial at the Samre Hospital, in Samre, Tigray Region, Ethiopia, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Tiksa NegeriAid flows to Tigray resumed after the November ceasefire but were temporarily halted earlier this year. The Ethiopian government spokesperson did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on rising levels of hunger in the Tigray region or the resumption of aid flows to the area.

Persons: gaunt, Tsige Shishay, Teklay Hagos, Mekelle, Abadi, Berhanu Woldegebrial, Gebrehiwot, Getachew Reda, Gebremiskel, Woldesilassie Gebremedhin, gesturing, Giulia Paravicini, Estelle Shirbon, Edmund Blair Organizations: Reuters, Food Programme, Samre, REUTERS, Tiksa, WFP, U.S . Agency for International Development, USAID, Disaster Risk Management, Ethiopian, Twitter, Tiksa Negeri, Thomson Locations: MEKELLE, Ethiopia, Ethiopia's, Tigray, Tigray's, Samre, Tigray Region, Tiksa Negeri, Mekelle, Nairobi

☆ Many culprits stole food aid in north Ethiopia, investigation finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Giulia Paravicini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NAIROBI, June 15 (Reuters) - Regional and federal government officials as well as Eritrean soldiers were involved in the theft of food aid in northern Ethiopia's Tigray region, the head of an investigation by the Tigrayan authorities said on Thursday. The U.N. World Food Programme and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) paused food distribution last month in war-scarred Tigray because they said significant amounts of aid had been stolen. The two agencies then suspended food aid across all of Ethiopia last week for the same reason. An internal humanitarian memo said USAID believes food has been diverted to Ethiopian military units as part of a scheme orchestrated by federal and regional government entities. Ethiopia's army has denied its forces benefited from any stolen food aid.

Persons: General Fiseha Kidanu, Tigrai, Giulia Paravicini, Aaron Ross, Alex Richardson Organizations: Food, U.S . Agency for International Development, USAID, Ethiopian, WFP, Thomson Locations: NAIROBI, Ethiopia's Tigray, Tigray, Ethiopia

☆ US suspends food aid to Ethiopia, says it's not reaching needy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Giulia Paravicini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/Pool/File PhotoNAIROBI, June 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Thursday it was suspending food aid to Ethiopia because its donations were being diverted from people in need. The USAID spokesperson said the agency intended to resume food assistance as soon as it was confident in the integrity of the system. USAID and the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) had already suspended food aid to the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray last month in response to information that large amounts of aid there were being diverted. In the 2022 fiscal year, USAID disbursed nearly $1.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia, most of it food aid. WFP is also investigating "systemic" food diversion across Ethiopia, according to an email sent last week by the agency's deputy director to staff in Ethiopia.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Sean Jones, Finance Ahmed Shide, Demeke Mekonnen, Blinken, Giulia Paravicini, Doina Chiacu, Christina Fincher, Mark Potter Organizations: Logistics Center, USAID, Ethiopian, Finance, REUTERS, Tiksa, U.S . Agency for International Development, Reuters, Resilience, Spokespeople, The State Department, Food Programme, WFP, Thomson Locations: Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, NAIROBI, United States, Tigray, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopian, Washington

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The United States has determined that all sides committed war crimes during the conflict in northern Ethiopia that killed tens of thousands of people, left hundreds of thousands facing hunger and displaced millions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. Members of the ENDF, Eritrean forces, and Amhara forces also committed crimes against humanity, Blinken told reporters, including murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence and persecution. Members of the Amhara forces committed the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer and committed ethnic cleansing through their treatment of Tigrayans in western Tigray, Blinken said. "In terms of what happens next in Ethiopia, including what process they establish to provide for justice, for accountability, we'll see. The United States was outspoken in its criticism of alleged atrocities by Ethiopian forces and their allies from Eritrea and the Amhara region during the Tigray war.

☆ Tigray forces begin handing over heavy weapons to Ethiopian army
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Abandoned ammunition boxes lie on the ground following a battle between the Ethiopian military and Tigray forces along the road between the village of Sheweate Hugum and Yechila town in south-central Tigray, Ethiopia, July 10, 2021. REUTERS/Giulia ParaviciniADDIS ABABA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Tigray forces, who fought a two-year war against Ethiopia's federal government, began handing over heavy weaponry to the national army as part of an African Union-led peace process on Tuesday. The demobilisation of Tigray forces is seen as central to the Nov. 2 ceasefire agreement, alongside the restoration of services, resumption of humanitarian aid and withdrawal of Eritrean troops, who fought alongside Ethiopia's army but were not party to the truce. The conflict created famine-like conditions for hundreds of thousands of Tigray's population, killed thousands and displaced millions across northern Ethiopia. At the ceremony, Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) representative Mulugeta Gebrechristos said the start of the disarmament would play a major role in restoring peace.

☆ Satellite images show military build-ups in Ethiopia, Eritrea - Maxar
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NAIROBI, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Satellite images show the mobilisation this month of military forces in towns on either side of Ethiopia's northern border with Eritrea, a private U.S. company said on Wednesday. Tigray forces have battled Ethiopia's federal army and its allies, including Eritrean troops and fighters from neighbouring Ethiopian regions, over the course of a nearly two-year war. 1/2 A satellite image shows the mobilization of military forces in the town of Shiraro, Tigray region, Ethiopia, September 26, 2022. Eritrean troops supported the Ethiopean military in earlier phases of the war. Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu, military spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane and the prime minister's spokesperson Billene Seyoum did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the images on Wednesday.

☆ U.S. says it's aware of Eritrean troops in northern Ethiopia
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterNAIROBI, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa said on Tuesday the United States was aware of Eritrean troops crossing into Ethiopia's Tigray region and condemned it. "We have been tracking Eritrean troops' movement across the border ... and we condemn it," Mike Hammer told reporters in a briefing after a trip to Ethiopia to help facilitate African Union-led peace talks between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces. "All external foreign actors should respect Ethiopia's territorial integrity and avoid fuelling the conflict," he said. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by Aaron Ross and Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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