Tigray’s interim leader flees as rival faction seizes control, while Ethiopian tanks and troops move to border of Eritrea
Aregawi was building a tour-guiding business when war struck Ethiopia’s Tigray region in 2020. He spent the next two years fighting on the frontline. Now he is among those who fear Tigray is on the brink of conflict once more.
“We don’t want to become a battleground, but it seems like war is near, maybe even inevitable,” he said.
Continue reading...Calls grow to control military use of unmanned aerial vehicles which, despite claims of precise targeting, are claiming civilian lives
Almost 1,000 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured in military drone attacks across Africa as the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles continues unchecked on the continent, according to a report.
At least 50 separate deadly strikes by armed forces in Africa have been confirmed during the three years up to November 2024, with analysts describing a “striking pattern of civilian harm” with little or no accountability.
Continue reading...More governments seeking to keep millions of people offline amid conflicts, protests and political instability
Digital blackouts reached a record high in 2024 in Africa as more governments sought to keep millions of citizens off the internet than in any other period over the last decade.
A report released by the internet rights group Access Now and #KeepItOn, a coalition of hundreds of civil society organisations worldwide, found there were 21 shutdowns in 15 African countries, surpassing the existing record of 19 shutdowns in 2020 and 2021.
Continue reading...Somalia severed relations over sea access agreement Ethiopia signed with separatist region of Somaliland
Somalia and Ethiopia have agreed to restore diplomatic representation in their respective capitals, more than a year after Somalia severed ties over a sea access agreement landlocked Ethiopia signed with the separatist northern Somali region of Somaliland.
In a joint statement after an unexpected visit by Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, both countries committed to “restore and enhance bilateral relations through full diplomatic representation in their respective capitals”.
Continue reading...Three people arrested after group escapes Johannesburg house by breaking a window and burglar bar
South African police have rescued 26 Ethiopians from a suspected human trafficking ring in Johannesburg after the group broke a window and burglar bar to escape from a house where they were being held naked.
Three people were arrested on suspicion of people trafficking and possessing an illegal firearm on Thursday night after neighbours in the Sandringham suburb heard the commotion and tipped off the police, the Hawks serious crime unit said in a statement. Police urged the public to report any other escaped naked people in the area.
Continue reading...Incident at Gelan bridge in Bona Zuria Woreda ‘claimed lives of 66 people so far’, says Sidama health bureau
More than 60 people have died after a road accident in southern Ethiopia, the local health authority said on Sunday.
Sidama state is in the south of Ethiopia, about 300km south of the capital Addis Ababa.
Continue reading...Resolution allows deployment of 12,626 personnel – but it is unclear if Ethiopia will stay part of peacekeeping force amid territory dispute
The UN has authorised a new African peacekeeping mission to continue its fight against Somalia’s al-Shabaab, the insurgent group affiliated with al-Qaida, but there are doubts about whether troops from neighbouring Ethiopia will remain part of the deployment.
The UN security council adopted a resolution on Friday allowing the deployment of up to 12,626 personnel to support the Somali government’s nearly two decades-long fight against al-Shabaab.
Continue reading...Ethiopia fears weapons could worsen security situation amid regional rows over water, territory and Red Sea access
Egypt has sent a second arms shipment to Somalia’s federal government in the space of a month, drawing criticism from its longstanding rival Ethiopia, amid concern about rising tensions in the Horn of Africa.
Egypt’s foreign ministry confirmed that a shipment had been sent, which it said was intended to “build the capabilities of the Somali army” to “achieve security and stability, combat terrorism, and uphold its sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity”.
Continue reading...‘Global gag rule’ and funding cuts will be ‘on different scale’ if Republicans win again, family-planning providers say
Providers of women’s healthcare around the world are preparing for potentially disastrous consequences should Donald Trump win the US presidential election in November.
Policies pursued during Trump’s last presidency caused “devastating” harm in a number of countries, said Beth Schlachter, a senior director at MSI Reproductive Choices in the US. It meant “clinics shuttered, health teams closed, women dying … but a second Trump term will be on a different scale”.
Continue reading...Analysis suggests extent of problem UN estimates is causing 500,000 deaths a year in sub-Saharan region
A fifth of medicines in Africa could be substandard or fake, according to a major research project, raising the alarm over a problem that could be contributing to the deaths of countless patients.
Researchers from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia analysed 27 studies in the review and found, of the 7,508 medicine samples included, 1,639 failed at least one quality test and were confirmed to be substandard or falsified.
Continue reading...Mudslide in Gofa zone on Monday traps people rescuing victims from a slide the previous day
The death toll from landslides that hit south-western Ethiopia on Sunday and Monday has risen to 257 and could reach 500, the UN’s office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) says.
Heavy rains in the mountainous Gofa zone caused a landslide on Sunday night, followed by a second on Monday morning that trapped people who were rescuing victims of the first.
Continue reading...Officials say death toll could rise further as people use shovels and bare hands to search for survivors
At least 229 people have died in mudslides after heavy rain in south-western Ethiopia, in the deadliest such disaster recorded in the Horn of Africa country.
Officials in Kencho Shacha Gozdi district on Tuesday warned that the death toll could rise further as local people used shovels and their bare hands to search for survivors.
Continue reading...Deo Kato detained by security services for three weeks after being arrested near Juba on run from South Africa to UK
A Ugandan-born Londoner on a 9,000-mile run from South Africa to London has been released from jail in South Sudan, his partner has told the Guardian.
Deo Kato had already run more than the length of Africa – the equivalent of more than 200 marathons – when he was arrested near Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on 2 June. His partner and project manager, Alice Light, had no idea where he was, only discovering he was in prison on 17 June.
Continue reading...Since 2021, the overall number of deaths, including of civilians, has risen to the highest level in three decades, Peace Research Institute Oslo reports
Deaths from civil conflicts and battles across the world over the past three years have risen to the highest level in three decades, according to a new report.
Research by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (Prio) showed that while the number of battlefield deaths fell compared with the previous two years, since 2021 the overall number of conflict-related deaths, including of civilians, has risen to the highest level in 30 years.
Continue reading...Urgent funding needed to help people return home as humanitarian crisis reaches critical levels, according to migration organisation
The number of African migrants stranded in Yemen, many of whom endure “horrifying and brutal” violence while trapped there, is reaching critical levels, according to international NGOs and civil society organisations based in the Arab state.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) put out a warning this week about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, leading a call for urgent funding to support the “safe and voluntary return of migrants to their countries of origin”.
Continue reading...With the world’s humanitarian system in crisis, many NGOs now recognise that local charities can deliver much more at far less cost
Before civil war engulfed her Ethiopian home region of Tigray in 2020, Tsega Girma was a prosperous trader who sold stationery and other goods. But when hungry children displaced by the conflict started appearing in the streets, she sold everything and used the proceeds to buy them food.
After that money dried up, Tsega appealed to Tigray’s diaspora for donations. At the height of the war, her Emahoy Tsega Girma Charity Foundation provided meals to 24,000 children a day.
Continue reading...Rights chief also warns Britain will be ‘judged harshly by history for its failure to help prevent civilian slaughter in Gaza’
The UK has been accused by Amnesty International of “deliberately destabilising” human rights on the global stage for its own political ends.
In its annual global report, released today, the organisation said Britain was weakening human rights protections nationally and globally, amid a near-breakdown of international law.
Continue reading...Saleh Ahmed Handule Ali, now 33, had indefinite leave to remain in UK, but Home Office failed to keep a record
A refugee who left the UK on holiday as a teenager in 2008 has been stranded in east Africa for the last 16 years in a case that senior judges have described as “extraordinary”.
Saleh Ahmed Handule Ali, now 33, arrived in the UK at the age of nine in April 2000 with his mother and two younger siblings from Somalia. They came to join Ali’s father, who had been granted refugee status by the UK government. The family were also recognised as refugees by the Home Office and Ali was given a travel document in 2004 under the refugee convention, which was valid for 10 years.
Continue reading...Trhas Tesfay, who fled war in Ethiopia, says she suffers hunger headaches as she cannot eat Home Office hotel meals
One of Ethiopia’s elite female cyclists will be pedalling at the front of one of London’s biggest bike races next month while living in an asylum seeker hotel on less than £10 a week.
Trhas Teklehaimanot Tesfay, 22, rode a bicycle for the first time when she was 13 years old. She has achieved success in a range of competitions such as the African Continental Championships and the national championships of Ethiopia.
Continue reading...Poet who is curating country’s first Venice Biennale pavilion says ‘part of the heart’ of the country was looted and is being held in museums
An Ethiopian cultural surge – including a first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale and the rise of stars such as Ruth Negga and The Weeknd – is making the country’s calls for restitution of looted colonial-era artefacts harder to ignore, according to Lemn Sissay.
The poet and author, who is curating the country’s inaugural Biennale pavilion, where Tesfaye Urgessa’s work will be on show, said the event would be part of a significant cultural push from the east African country and its diaspora over the last two decades.
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