Martin Plaut It began with a suicide blast at the gates of the African Union’s AMISOM base outside the southern Somali town of el-Ade. A fierce battle ensued, at the end of which some 60 Kenyan troops were dead; some of their bodies had been reportedly dragged through the town and al-Shabaab left with stockpiles…
BY REDIET WEGAYEHU Barack Obama will become the first ever sitting U.S. president to visit Ethiopia. This is a testament to the firm friendship that the two countries enjoy. Ethiopia has had a close relationship with the U.S. ever since Emperor Menlik II earned recognition as the only sovereign state leader in Africa after defeating…
Washington wants a stable partner in the Horn of Africa. But cozying up to the repressive regime in Addis Ababa isn’t the way to go about finding one. BY JEFFREY SMITH, MOHAMMED ADEMO Later this month, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to ever visit Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country, and…
By AfricanIntelligence Undermined by the incursion of the Ethiopian army into Kenyan territory in late May (at the Illeret locality, 15 km from the border), relations between Kenya and Ethiopia could deteriorate even further. The Kenyan government has decided to break the agreement signed with Ethiopia in 2012 under which Kenya undertook to import some…
Africa Cradle 1. South Africa South Africa is the only African country that is a member of the G20 and BRICS (the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa grouping), and the only African country of the EU’s 10 global strategic partners. This is mainly because South Africa is the EU’s largest trading partner in Africa…