On October 7th, Senegal’s Foreign Minister Aissata TALL SALL presided over the official launch ceremony for the seventh edition of the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa. Since 2014, the Dakar Forum, held under the high patronage of Senegalese President Macky Sall, has been one of the…
President Yoweri Museveni, true to his pan-African convictions, said Thursday that unity is the key to ending the continent’s many conflicts and businesses contribute to the cause of peace by establishing stability. “Thriving businesses cause social transformation which changes society,” said Museveni, speaking at a session of the World Economic…
It’s less than a week until South Sudan plans a peace celebration in Juba with both President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar expected to attend. Yet there’s little to celebrate for thousands of civilians still fleeing violence, and there’s evidence that the latest “peace on paper” isn’t reaching…
Ethiopian athlete Feyisa Lilesa, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon in Rio de Janeiro, has returned home to a country he placed in the international spotlight with his crossed-arm protest gesture on behalf of the Oromo people and human rights. Feyisa, born in the Oromia village of Jeldu, arrived…
A Nepalese peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was shot and wounded by a government soldier near the town of Yei at the weekend, raising questions over the country’s fragile new peace agreement. The convoy was travelling from the UN base in Yei to collect water,…
While some observers noted celebration in the streets of Juba following news of a South Sudan peace deal Sunday night, others are more cautiously optimistic on whether this power-sharing agreement will hold. Among them would be opposition leader Riek Machar himself, who acknowledged there was still much work to do…
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed continues his outreach tour in the United States on Saturday with a gathering for the diaspora in Washington D.C., part of a concerted effort to encourage Ethiopians who have left the country to return home and build its future. Abiy’s meeting at the Walter E….
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…
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…
In South Africa, exiled South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar acknowledged meeting with former Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga, but it remains to be seen if Machar will participate in direct peace negotiations with President Salva Kiir. “I have had a fruitful discussion with Hon. Raila Odinga in the quest…
Opposition leaders in South Sudan have rejected a peace proposal introduced by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the East African regional body that’s so far failed to broker an agreement to end the conflict between President Salva Kiir’s government and rebel group leaders. Mabior Garang, the SPLM-SPLA IO spokesman,…
As South Sudan reaches the four-year mark in its civil war, the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) plans Monday to move forward with talks meant to end the conflict. The High-Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF) in Addis Ababa is designed to re-energize the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict…
A South Sudan unification deal signed earlier this month in Cairo shows promise in ending the nation’s conflict and humanitarian crisis, but it’s already hitting snags on implementation when it comes to rebuilding the SPLM party split by President Salva Kiir loyalists and exiled opposition leader Riek Machar. Nhial Deng…
The Qatari foreign minister’s visit to China Thursday heightened the attention to Beijing’s influence in the Middle East and North Africa, in a week that also saw a welcome to his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia’s foreign minister, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al…
As the world recovers from post-election America and adjusts to president-elect Donald J. Trump, analysts have turned to what a Trump presidency means in the future of African nations. Yet there is a lot less conversation about how Americans might need the wisdom of Africans in their future too. How the…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times