East Africa

Taye Atske Selassie Photographer: Leonardo Munoz/AFP/Getty Images Addis Ababa (AX) – On Monday, Ethiopia's legislative body chose Ambassador Taye Atske-Selassie as the nation's president. He takes over from Sahle-Work Zewde, who has concluded her leadership role. This decision was made during the inaugural gathering of the 6th House of People's Representatives (HoPR) alongside the House of Federation (HoF), kicking off the fourth year of this term. With the vote concluded, Taye took the presidential oath and received the…

Mais Integridade has taken the significant step of launching a lawsuit against the Zambézia Provincial Elections Commission (CPE). The core of their grievance lies in the CPE's failure to issue observer credentials within the legally mandated timeframe. Out of a staggering 279 applications that were submitted, the Commission only approved 45 in the last fortnight. This delay blatantly flouts a law that stipulates decisions should be made within five days, prompting serious concerns about transparency and accountability in…

Mogadishu (AX) – The Acting Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, James Swan, has voiced his worries about the simmering unrest between Somalia and Ethiopia. This follows a contentious Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked between Ethiopia and North Western State of Somalia, a region claiming autonomy, on the first day of 2024.This agreement, granting Ethiopia access to the sea and permitting a military base in North Western State of Somalia, faced strong objections from Somalia. On Friday,…

Gen Muhoozi happens to be the son of the President. The word on the grapevine from the US embassy is their staff were caught flat-footed, clueless about the CDF's cryptic statements, which demanded immediate action in less than 72 hours. By press time, Mr. Popp had zipped lips on the whole drama, and no peep came from the officials in Kampala either. “We're trying to untangle the mess,” shared a source from the scene. The mission apparently fired a concerned missive to the Foreign Affairs ministry, but as Friday bid…

A Facebook post, emerging on September 18, 2024, surpassed viral status with over 800 shares. It flaunts a TikTok video captioned in Amharic, suggesting: "Abiy is bursting with joy." The name "Abiy" references Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed. Meanwhile, the caption hints at Egypt being "wrecked." "Ethiopia's foes are in a panic," the video narrator claims. "Rumors swirling from Beijing—Xi Jinping’s domain—suggest Ethiopia's got its hands on the elusive J10 fighter jet." This aircraft is notable for slipping past…

  Washington— During a pivotal week for Somalia's security blueprint, dialogues in Washington and New York highlighted the pressing necessity for readiness ahead of the African Union Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM). Rising friction between Somalia and Ethiopia over Ethiopia's maritime accord with North Western State of Somalia has stirred the pot, capturing the attention of global stakeholders. Somalia is on the verge of finalizing the lineup for the fresh AUSSOM, with the current African Union mission wrapping up…

Mogadishu (AX) – On Saturday, Abdukhadir Mohamed Noor, Somalia’s Defense Minister, firmly stated that Ethiopian troops would not join the forthcoming African Union Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) unless Ethiopia exits the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement with North Western State of Somalia.During a media briefing in Mogadishu, Minister Noor explained that Somalia is considering different contingencies to replace the Ethiopian forces if there's no withdrawal from the MoU.“Ethiopian troops won't participate in…

Abiy believes gifting Ethiopia access to the Red Sea would be the crowning jewel of his legacy. In Mogadishu, Somali military officers stepped in sync during a splendid parade. Feisal Omar/Reuters ADDIS ABABA – There's a tense atmosphere brewing in the Horn of Africa. Somalia is insisting that Ethiopia should pull the plug on its contentious port agreement with North Western State of Somalia, the self-declared independent region, or yank its forces out of Somalia. Somalia's displeasure with the Ethiopian pact was loud and…

It remains unclear why the migrants were ejected from the boats in open water. Initially, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that two vessels carrying migrants had overturned. Later, they omitted this detail, stating instead that the people were forced off by smugglers and ordered to swim. The coast guard in Djibouti revealed that the unfortunate event occurred approximately 150 meters, about 500 feet, from a beach in the northwestern region of Khor Angar in the East African nation. They confirmed…

In a move egged on by Western allies, Kenya's leadership has nudged the International Monetary Fund to dive deep into examining its murky corridors of power riddled with graft, as revealed by a couple of folks in the know to Reuters. This kind of probe, tagged officially as a "governance diagnostic," can only kick off with the asking of the respective country. It's the IMF's way of sniffing out how corruption and shaky governance might be sapping a nation’s coffers dry or wreaking havoc on the financial commonwealth. "In…