Tigray crisis dents Ethiopia s emerging image
Fighting continues in Ethiopia, despite Ethiopia s premier Abiy Ahmed declaring victory over Tigrayan rebels in November 2020. With elections on the horizon, has the war in Tigray done more damage to Ethiopia s unity?
The blunt comments by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the worsening humanitarian and human rights crisis in Ethiopia, and his references to an impending disaster in Tigray are a rude awakening for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed s government.
Ahmed declared victory over the Tigrayan People s Liberation Front (TPLF) in late November 2020. But six months later, the conflict is still going on, with the TPLF reportedly entrenching themselves and turning the conflict into a guerilla war. Eritrean troops, which Abiy belatedly admitted, were operating on Ethiopia s soil and reportedly sometimes wearing Ethiopian army uniforms, have still not left Tigray. TheUN says there is no sign of them leaving, either.
April 26, 2021
CAIRO The head of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said during a press conference April 9, “Sudan has a good understanding with Egypt about the Halayeb and Shalateen issue.”
Burhan’s statement came at the heels of the Sudanese Ministry of Energy and Oil’s announcement March 21 in regard to the update of the oil blocs map in Sudan to be put up for global investment in a bid to attract investors and create investment opportunities in the oil and gas field. The ministry has identified 26 blocs, including the bloc known as the 16th district in Halayeb and Shalateen, without any objection from Egypt.
Publishing date: Apr 26, 2021 • 1 hour ago • 2 minute read •
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ISTANBUL Turkish talks with Egypt next week could forge renewed cooperation between the estranged regional powers and help efforts to end the war in Libya, President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said.
Relations have been strained since Egypt’s army toppled a democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood president close to Turkey in 2013 in what Ankara said was a military coup.
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Recently, however, Turkey has begun working to rebuild ties with Egypt and Gulf Arab states, trying to overcome differences which have left Ankara increasingly isolated in the Arab world.
ISTANBUL: Turkey is looking to repair relations with Saudi Arabia, Erdogan s spokesman and adviser Ibrahim Kalin said Monday.
Trade between the two countries has dropped by 98% since last year, following an unofficial boycott of Turkish goods by businesses in the Kingdom in response to what they called hostility from Ankara.
Expressing hope the boycott could be lifted, Kalin said: “We will seek ways to repair the relationship with a more positive agenda with Saudi Arabia as well.”
Kalin also said the Turkish presidency welcomed the trial in Saudi Arabia which last year jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
What does the transition in Chad mean for Middle Eastern regional powers?
April 26, 2021 Share
On April 20, Chadian President Idriss Déby was killed by Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) rebels in the country’s northwestern Tibesti region. The sudden death of Déby, who seized power in Chad via a military coup in December 1990 and was re-elected on April 11 with 79.3% of the vote, risks plunging Chad into a state of prolonged instability. FACT rebels view Chad’s new Transitional Military Council, which is headed by Idriss Déby’s son Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, as an illegitimate entity and plan to march on Chad’s capital N’Djamena.