No sooner did Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki return from his historic three-day visit to Ethiopia on Monday, than Ethiopian officials planned their own journey – this time, aboard the inaugural Ethiopian Airlines flight to Asmara. Flight 0312 leaves Addis Ababa at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, with an expected arrival time…
It’s easy to understand why one might linger over the images coming from Asmara on Sunday, and wonder – dare to hope, even – about the future between the bitterly divided Ethiopia and Eritrea. The streets are lined with well-wishers, the leaders are taking tea, their statements speak of brotherly…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Both the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments confirmed early Sunday that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has left Addis Ababa to continue negotiations between the two nations long separated by a border dispute. Yemane Meskel, the Eritrean information minister, said Abiy was expected to arrive in Asmara during the morning. “This historic…
The opposing factions in South Sudan’s civil war traded accusations on Saturday over violations of a ceasefire agreement that was supposed to be in force beginning at midnight. The spokesman for the SPLA IO said government forces working with militia groups launched an attack against the opposition in Wau state…
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed welcomed the Eritrean foreign minister to Addis Ababa on Tuesday, as the two countries meet for the first time since Ethiopia’s June 5 decision to accept a long-disputed border decision. Osman Saleh, whose delegation also included Eritrean presidential adviser Yemane Gebreab, was welcomed at Bole…
At least one person was killed and 165 injured when an explosion rocked a rally in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed completed his address. “Building an independent nation is not the same as building a free society. What good is a free…
The long-awaited meeting between President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and his exiled rival, Riek Machar, appeared to go well on Wednesday but few details have yet been released about the substance of their talks. Kiir and Machar, the former vice president who broke away from the administration and formed the…
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said Wednesday he will send a delegation to Ethiopia to assess how to move forward, following the latter’s June 5 announcement that it will accept the terms of a long-disputed border agreement between the two countries. Afwerki, speaking to the nation during Martyr’s Day events, broke his…
Ethiopia’s decision to end its border dispute with Eritrea has, so far, been met with silence from Asmara on whether the small Horn of Africa nation is ready to move forward on the long-delayed ruling, and how and when that might be implemented. President Isaias Afwerki has not made any public…
Human traffickers in Libya reportedly killed more than a dozen people and wounded many others after a group of some 200 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis attempted to escape captivity, UNHCR said on Friday. The United Nations refugee agency said the incident happened May 23 in Bani Walid, about 180 kilometers…
Meteorologists tracking Sagar, a relatively rare tropical storm that strengthened as it crossed the entire Gulf of Aden, are expecting landfall on Saturday near the Djibouti-Somalia border. It has potential impacts for Ethiopia too as it reaches the Horn of Africa. Flash floods were reported in the Bari region of…
Asfawossen Asrat is professor of geology, School of Earth Sciences at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Nelson Torto is executive director at The African Academy of Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya. What they have in common – along with 10 other scientists from the Global South – is a concern over…
Senior United States official for African Affairs Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto, the country’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, is making a rare visit to the politically isolated Eritrea Monday before moving on to Djibouti and Ethiopia. In Asmara, Yamamoto is meeting with U.S. embassy staff as well as the wider diplomatic…
The African nations on the United Nations Security Council voted in favor Tuesday of Russia’s resolution on the chemical weapons situation in Syria which – along with one introduced by the United States – failed to pass. It was the latest in the long struggle to achieve consensus and act…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Abiy Ahmed, the head of the Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization (OPDO), has been named the new prime minister of Ethiopia and its ruling EPRDF coalition. Abiy’s election was confirmed Wednesday after he received 108 votes from Ethiopia’s ruling council of 180 seats. Forty-five of them come from the OPDO, which…