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Arab News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Eritrean president warns Ethiopia against waging war
NAIROBI: Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has warned neighbor Ethiopia against launching a new war between the bitter foes, with tensions high in the Horn of Africa region. Eritrea and Ethiopia have had fraught relations since the former declared independence in 1993, with tens of thousands of people killed in a war between the two from 1998 to 2000. At the heart of the current tension, according to the Eritrean government, is landlocked Ethiopia's long-held desire for a seaport. Afwerki, who has ruled Eritrea with an iron fist since independence, warned Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that he would not be able to simply overwhelm his country by weight of numbers — Ethiopia's population is 130 million, compared to just 3.5 million people living in Eritrea. 'If he thinks he can overwhelm (Eritrean forces) with human wave attack, (he is mistaken),' Afwerki told state television channel Eri-TV. 'Before dragging the people of Ethiopia into unwanted wars or using them for another political agenda, the country's internal problems must be first addressed and solved,' he said. He called Abiy's actions a 'reckless' attempt to 'divert attention' from domestic problems. Abiy signed a peace deal with Afwerki shortly after coming to power in 2018, but a violent conflict erupted in Ethiopia's Tigray province from 2020 to 2022 as Eritrea's forces backed rebels there fighting Ethiopian troops. At least 600,000 people were killed in the conflict, according to an African Union estimate. Although a peace deal ended the fighting, Eritrea has maintained a military presence in Tigray and relations between the neighbors have deteriorated. Abiy has repeatedly said Ethiopia must have access to the sea, but by peaceful means. Last month, a report by a US monitoring group accused Eritrea of rebuilding its army and destabilising its neighbors. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel criticized the report by NGO The Sentry and blamed 'the new tension in the region' on Ethiopia. Eritrea had been under US arms sanctions that were lifted after the 2018 peace deal. Eritrea is a single-party state which consistently ranks among the worst in the world for rights — in last place for press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, and 175th out of 183 for human development in 2022, according to the United Nations.
Al Arabiya
4 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Eritrean President warns Ethiopia against waging war
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has warned neighbor Ethiopia against launching a new war between the bitter foes, with tensions high in the Horn of Africa region. Eritrea and Ethiopia have had fraught relations since the former declared independence in 1993, with tens of thousands of people killed in a war between the two from 1998 to 2000. At the heart of the current tension, according to the Eritrean government, is landlocked Ethiopia's long-held desire for a seaport. Afwerki, who has ruled Eritrea with an iron fist since independence, warned Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that he would not be able to simply overwhelm his country by weight of numbers -- Ethiopia's population is 130 million, compared to just 3.5 million people living in Eritrea. 'If he thinks he can overwhelm (Eritrean forces) with human wave attack, (he is mistaken),' Afwerki told state television channel Eri-TV. 'Before dragging the people of Ethiopia into unwanted wars or using them for another political agenda, the country's internal problems must be first addressed and solved,' he said. He called Abiy's actions a 'reckless' attempt to 'divert attention' from domestic problems. Abiy signed a peace deal with Afwerki shortly after coming to power in 2018, but a violent conflict erupted in Ethiopia's Tigray province from 2020 to 2022 as Eritrea's forces backed rebels there fighting Ethiopian troops. At least 600,000 people were killed in the conflict, according to an African Union estimate. Although a peace deal ended the fighting, Eritrea has maintained a military presence in Tigray and relations between the neighbors have deteriorated. Abiy has repeatedly said Ethiopia must have access to the sea, but by peaceful means. Last month, a report by a US monitoring group accused Eritrea of rebuilding its army and destabilizing its neighbors. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel criticized the report by NGO The Sentry and blamed 'the new tension in the region' on Ethiopia. Eritrea had been under US arms sanctions that were lifted after the 2018 peace deal. Eritrea is a single-party state which consistently ranks among the worst in the world for rights -- in last place for press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, and 175th out of 183 for human development in 2022, according to the United Nations.
New York Times
12-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
They Fled War in Ethiopia. Then American Bombs Found Them.
The men awoke in the middle of the night to the roar of warplanes. Fear was nothing new to Fanta Ali Ahmed, who was trapped with more than 100 migrants in a rickety prison. After civil war reached his home region of Tigray in Ethiopia in 2020, he had fled along one of the world's most dangerous smuggling routes. He had hoped to reach Saudi Arabia, across the Red Sea. Instead, as he passed through Yemeni territory ruled by the Houthi militia, he was arrested and sent to a migrant detention center in northern Yemen. For weeks in March and April of this year, he heard American airstrikes nearby, targeting Yemen in a campaign against the Houthis, who are backed by Iran. But this was the closest the planes had ever come. In 2024, the U.N. recorded more than 60,000 migrants arriving in Yemen from the Horn of Africa. Saudi Arabia Red Sea Location of attack in Saada eritrea Yemen houthi- controlled territory eritrea Sana Tigray Gulf of Aden Djibouti Bosaso Addis Ababa somalia Common migration routes Ethiopia Ethiopia Saudi Arabia Red Sea Location of attack in Saada Sudan eritrea Yemen houthi- controlled territory eritrea Sana Tigray Gulf of Aden Djibouti Bosaso Addis Ababa somalia Common migration routes Ethiopia Ethiopia Sources: Migration route information from the International Organization for Migration. Houthi boundaries from the Institute for the Study of War and AEI's Critical Threats Project. By Daniel Wood When multiple 250-pound bombs hit the prison on April 28, tearing through the roof, Mr. Fanta fell to the ground, he recalled. At first, he thought he was the only one hurt. He later realized that he was one of the luckier ones. Ten people close to him were killed, while others were left with limbs hanging by shredded skin, he said. 'The place and everyone in it were mangled,' said Mr. Fanta, 32, who survived with two broken legs and a broken arm. 'I don't know why America bombed us.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Arab News
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Somalia's army and Al-Shabab clash over strategic town
MOGADISHU: Fighting was ongoing between Somalia's armed forces and the Al-Shabab group over a strategic town in the country's central region, a local militia commander and elder said on Monday. Growing attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked group, including one on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's convoy, are fueling concerns of an extremist resurgence in the Horn of Africa nation after the militants were forced back in recent years. Al-Shabab militants attacked Moqokori, roughly 300 km north of the capital, Mogadishu, with 'vehicles loaded with explosives and hundreds of fighters,' local militia commander Abdulahi Adan said. The town's militia had 'tactically retreated,' he said, but added that 'there is still ongoing sporadic fighting in the area, so that this is not a complete takeover.' Yusuf Mohamed, an elder in the nearby town of Mahas, said 'several wounded soldiers and community militia fighters were brought to Mahas for treatment.' Moqokori is strategically located as a gateway to several other major towns in the central Hiraan region. The town has long been contested, with Al-Shabab seizing it in 2016 and last holding it briefly in 2018. The official Somali news agency Sonna said the attack had been prevented, and claimed 'several militants were killed during the fighting.' There were no further details. It comes only months after Al-Shabab took the town of Adan Yabaal, also in the Hiraan region, and which was used as a base by Somali military commanders. More than 10,000 soldiers from the African Union Stabilization Mission in Somalia or AUSSOM, are present in the country, but this has not prevented Al-Shabab from continuing to carry out attacks. At the end of June, at least seven Ugandan soldiers were killed during clashes with Al-Shabab in a town in the Lower Shabelle region.
Zawya
07-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Sudan seeks UAE bailout as economy crashes
South Sudan's President has had two official trips to the United Arab Emirates this year, forced by domestic economic and political problems he wants help to tackle. And Abu Dhabi's rising influence in the Horn of Africa means South Sudan could have found support to soften the blow of woes it has faced in Juba. Salvar Kiir left Juba on June 22 and only returned this week on Tuesday, a lengthy trip he said had involved seeking partners to invest in the country's economy. On both occasions, Juba said the visits were to strengthen 'bilateral relations and promoting investment opportunities in South Sudan.'Earlier in February, a dispatch from Juba said President Kiir had travelled to 'discuss co-operation in economic, agricultural, energy and infrastructure sectors.'A presidential spokesperson, David Amuor Majur, told the media ahead of the recent trip that Kiir would meet with a number of investment groups, where he would present 'a compelling case for investment' in South Sudan's key growth sectors. Abu Dhabi did not provide further details on the nature of agreements -- if any -- about the trip. But Juba has argued it was reforming its structures to make it easy for investors. The President's trip was, however, crucial in discussing other issues Juba is concerned with: The war in Sudan, which has seen nearly 200,000 refugees pour into South Sudan. The Sudan military government, out of protest, had severed diplomatic ties with the UAE. It didn't, however, cut entire communication channels, and South Sudan has remained a key contact as a go-between. As such, South Sudan has also carried the burden of war in Sudan, which the UAE has used to elevate its profile. In March, the UAE inaugurated Madhol Field Hospital in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal state in South Sudan, providing a 100-bed capacity, and several clinics to serve some two million people mostly refugees. The UAE had earlier, during a conference on Sudan, pledged $200 million worth of humanitarian aid. The chaos from Sudan war, however, has only piled to the misery. Juba had been looking to the UAE for support to inject some capital into its economy. Read: Kenyans sue Juba over unpaid salaries as public servants' woes riseCivil servants have gone without pay for months, with some even seeking legal redress in jurisdictions outside Juba, especially Nairobi. Programmes for political reforms, part of the 2018 peace deal, have mostly missed deadlines or stalled, according to a recent status report by the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC), a body set up to check violations of the peace deal. In May, South Sudan government spokesperson Martin Lomuro refuted reports in the UAE that Juba had signed an oil deal worth $13 billion, which would have seen it get the money as a loan to be repaid through oil for a 20-year period to the Hamad bin Khalifa Department of Projects, a private firm. Dr Lomuro, however, did not deny that South Sudan was looking for similar financing. South Sudan is the most oil-dependent country in the world, with nearly 98 percent of its revenues coming from oil exports. But some of its 150,000 barrels per day are already sold up to 2026 before extraction. China, Japan, Italy, and Singapore had been the main buyers of the oil via the pipeline to Port Sudan but supplies to Port Sudan for onward export have been hugely disrupted by the war in the north. South Sudan's economy has faced turmoil including political violence. It is expected to lose at least 4.3 percent of the GDP, with an annual inflation of 143 percent. In fact, a recent report by the African Development Bank said 92 percent of its 16 million population now live below two dollars a day – a 55.4 percent rise from the poverty levels 14 years ago, when the country seceded from Sudan. The South Sudan Country Focus 2025 released in Juba on June 25, states that poverty levels in South Sudan have been on the rise at every turn, due to conflict, which has impacted oil production, taken a toll on the economy and affected development indicators. Read: At 92pc, South Sudan sinks deeper into povertyAfDB cites World Bank poverty data, which shows the share of South Sudanese population living below the poverty line increased from 51 percent in 2011 to 82 percent in 2022. The following year, it worsened and became widespread, rising from 84 percent in 2023 to 92 percent in 2024. The International Monetary Fund, however, says the economy is projected to start recovering after oil production resumed following the repair of a pipeline damaged in February 2024 in the war in Sudan, and which had halted exports. Last month, IMF staff and the South Sudanese authorities reached an agreement on a nine-month Staff-Monitored Programme (SMP) to start in August 2025. The SMP will support 'designing and implementing policies and key reforms to strengthen its economic resilience to shocks, enhance macroeconomic stability, restore sustainability, and improve governance and transparency,' a dispatch said. © Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. 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