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Protesters shut road, rail link between Djibouti, Addis Ababa – official

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President of the Somali Region Mustafa Muhumed Omer attends a Reuters interview in Jijiga, Ethiopia January 14, 2020. Picture taken January 14, 2020. REUTERS/Giulia Paravicini/File Photo

NAIROBI, July 28 (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s Somali region said on Wednesday a vital road and rail trade route linking the landlocked capital of Addis Ababa to the sea port of Djibouti was blocked by youths angered by a deadly militia attack on their region.

Around 95% of imports into the nation of around 110 million people are transported via that corridor, according to a 2018 study by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development.

Reuters could not independently verify the reported blockage. The Ethiopian prime minister’s office and authorities in Djibouti could not immediately be reached for comment.

Somali region President Mustafa Muhumed Omer said the road and railway had been blocked by local youths protesting against an attack on the region’s Gedamaytu town by militia from the neighbouring region of Afar.

A spokesman for his administration said Saturday’s attack had caused hundreds of civilian deaths, and the town had been looted and many of its inhabitants displaced. The violence is the latest flare-up in a local boundary dispute that adds to high tensions in the Horn of Africa nation. read more

Reuters was unable independently to verify the report of hundreds killed, and Afar’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Wednesday, many hundreds of people gathered in the Somali region’s capital, Jigjiga, for a protest against the killings on Saturday, local journalist Najib Dayib, director of the privately owned Ogedenia Media Agency, told Reuters. Reuters was unable to independently verify the demonstration, but viewed footage and images of the protest that indicated many hundreds had gathered.

CONTESTED BORDER AREAS

In Addis Ababa, the impact of the reported blockage of the transport corridor on stocks of essential goods like fuel was not immediately clear. Long lines at petrol stations are common in normal times.

“We are working to open the Djibouti rail and road today,” Mustafa, the Somali region President, told Reuters in a text message. “Discussing with the youth and people,” he added.

After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018 and eased the ruling coalition’s iron grip, the country experienced a surge in violence as regions and ethnic groups vied for more power and resources and tried to settle old scores.

Abiy’s government has struggled to contain fighting along a number of contested border areas between ethnic groups, including the faultline where Saturday’s attack occurred.

The most deadly violence, however, has emanated from the Tigray region. In November, a war broke out between Ethiopia’s central government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray.

Last week, it spread to neighbouring parts of northern Ethiopia, risking a further destabilisation of the country.

Abiy’s spokesperson told a news briefing in the capital on Wednesday that the lives of people in the Afar and Amhara regions “are being destabilized by the terrorist enterprise”, referring to the Tigrayan fighters.

Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the TPLF, told Reuters on Wednesday its fighters were near Debark, about 102 km (63 miles) north of Gondar, one of Amhara’s largest cities. He also said that Tigrayan fighters had taken control of the town of Kobo, also in the Amhara region.

Reuters was unable to independently verify his statement.

A resident of Debark, a university town that acts as a gateway for hikers entering the famous Simien mountain national park, told Reuters “the town is still under government control and there were rumours that they (the TPLF) are near Debark but now the town is calm. The national defence as well as federal police are in the town.”

A resident of Kobo, speaking from the Amhara regional capital of Bahir Dar, said when he fled the town on Monday “it was under the TPLF control,” and that he managed to speak to friends who left on Tuesday who confirmed Tigrayan forces were still in Kobo, where the mobile phone network is still down.

Gizachew Muluneh, spokesperson to the Amhara regional government, did not return calls seeking comment.

Spokespeople for the Ethiopian military and a government task force on Tigray also did not return calls seeking comment.

Reporting by Giulia Paravicini in Olbia, Italy and Maggie Fick in Nairobi
Additional reporting by Dawit Endeshaw in Addis Ababa and Nazanine Moshiri in Nairobi
Writing by Maggie Fick
Editing by William Maclean

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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French citizen among six held over plan to kill Madagascar president -minister

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ANTANANARIVO, July 23 (Reuters) – A French citizen is among six people arrested on suspicion of involvement in a plot to kill Madagascar’s president, the Indian Ocean island’s public security minister said, and a second official said the president’s security had been tightened.

“One of the arrested people is French, two of them are bi-national – Malagasy and French. The three others are Malagasy,” Rodellys Fanomezantsoa Randrianarison told a news conference late on Thursday.

Madagascar’s attorney general said on Thursday police had arrested the six following what officials said was a months-long investigation. read more

Patrick Rajoelina, an adviser to President Andry Rajoelina, told Reuters on Friday that two of those arrested had previously worked in the French military.

The French Foreign Affairs Ministry said it had been informed of French nationals’ arrests and that they could obtain consular help if they asked for it.

Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina attends a meeting to discuss the 20th replenishment of the World Bank’s International Development Association, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast July 15, 2021. REUTERS/Luc Gnago/File Photo

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A spokesman for the French armed forces told Reuters he had no comment.

Patrick Rajoelina added that unspecified measures had been taken to tighten the president’s security. “The evidence is tangible and we certainly do not take this lightly,” he said.

Madagascar has a history of political violence and instability. Andry Rajoelina, 44, was sworn in as president in 2019 after a hard-fought election and a constitutional court challenge from his rival.

Rajoelina first took power in the deeply impoverished former French colony of 26 million people in a March 2009 coup, removing Marc Ravalomanana. He remained in control at the head of a transitional government until 2014.

In the 2019 elections, Ravalomanana challenged Rajoelina, lost, and said the vote was fraudulent.

Reporting by Lovasoa Rabary; additional reporting by Matthieu Protard in Paris; writing by George Obulutsa; editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Heinrich

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ethiopian parents appeal for help to evacuate students stranded by Tigray war

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ADDIS ABABA, July 23 (Reuters) – The parents of thousands of Ethiopian students stranded in the war-ravaged northern region of Tigray on Friday appealed for help to evacuate them after the main university warned it could not feed them for much longer amid food and cash shortages.

Mekelle University, which gets its budget from the federal government, posted a notice on its Facebook page on Thursday saying its bank accounts have been blocked and the federal government has not sent its funds for this year.

It said it was running out of money to feed students and that from July 27 it would stop taking responsibility for them.

The ministry of higher education did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the situation at the university.

“We are asking the U.N. to bring our children from Tigray,” Berhanu Tegeneh, a representative of a parents’ committee, told Reuters as hundreds of parents flocked to the U.N. office in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa to deliver their request.

Berhanu, from Addis Ababa, said he has been unable to speak to his daughter, a fourth-year student at Mekelle University, since phone lines went down on June 29, the day after Tigrayan forces retook the regional capital Mekelle.

A spokesperson for the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the parents’ demands.

The parents’ committee said students were stranded at four universities in Tigray, including Mekelle, after the conflict severed communications and transport links. Banks are no longer functioning and more than 90 percent of Tigrayans need food aid, according to OCHA. Food convoys have been suspended since Sunday, when trucks came under gunfire. read more

War erupted in Tigray in November between the Ethiopian military and the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Three weeks later, the government declared victory when it captured Mekelle, but the TPLF kept fighting.

At the end of June, the TPLF seized back control of Mekelle and most of Tigray after government soldiers withdrew.

In its notice, Mekelle University said it had bussed about 5,000 students to the neighbouring state of Afar on July 18, but that education officials expected to receive them never showed up. The buses returned to Mekelle, according to the university.

Reuters could not independently verify that account. Officials from Afar did not respond to requests for comment.

The conflict spilled out of Tigray into Afar this week, threatening a key road linking the Ethiopian capital to the port of Djibouti.

Editing by Elias Biryabarema, Katharine Houreld and Nick Tattersall

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ethiopia’s Tigray forces enter neighbouring Afar region, Afar says

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A tank damaged during the fighting between Ethiopia’s National Defense Force (ENDF) and Tigray Special Forces stands on the outskirts of Humera town in Ethiopia July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo

ADDIS ABABA July 19 (Reuters) – Forces from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have mounted attacks in neighbouring Afar region, a spokesman for Afar said on Monday, marking an expansion of an eight-month-old conflict into a previously untouched area.

Tigrayan fighters crossed into Afar on Saturday and Afar forces and allied militias were still fighting them on Monday, Afar spokesman Ahmed Koloyta said.

“Now (Ethiopian military forces) are on their way and we will work with them to eliminate (the Tigrayan forces),” he said.

Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigrayan forces, confirmed they had been fighting over the weekend in Afar.

“We are not interested in any territorial gains in Afar, we are more interested in degrading enemy fighting capabilities,” he said via satellite phone.

He said that Tigrayan forces had repelled militias from Ethiopia’s Oromiya region who had been sent to fight alongside the Afar regional forces.

Reuters could not independently confirm his account.

A military spokesman and offficials in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office and a government taskforce on Tigray did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Thousands of people have died in the Tigray conflict so far. About 2 million people have been forced to flee their homes and more than 5 million are relying on emergency food aid.

Ethiopia has a federal system with 10 regions and in the past week the conflict in Tigray has drawn in regional forces around the country as they deploy to support the federal military.

Fighting erupted in November between the region’s ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the military. Three weeks later, the government declared victory when it seized the regional capital Mekelle, but the TPLF kept fighting.

At the end of June, the TPLF retook Mekelle and most of Tigray after the government withdrew soldiers and declared a unilateral ceasefire. read more

The spillover of the war into another part of Africa’s second most populous nation may pile more pressure on Abiy.

He won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize but is facing international criticism over the conflict amid reports of atrocities committed by federal forces and troops from neighbouring Eritrea who have fought alongside them. His government says it is investigating such reports.

The TPLF dominated Ethiopia for decades as the strongest force in a multi-ethnic coalition, until Abiy took power two years ago. They say they were forced into conflict after attempts to mediate with Abiy and ensure their region’s autonomy in line with the constitution broke down.

The government designated the TPLF a terrorist organization in May.

AID CONVOY ATTACKED

TPLF leaders have said they will keep fighting until they regain control of disputed territory in the south and west of Tigray, which was seized during the fighting by the government’s allies from Amhara region.

On Sunday, Abiy said the Ethiopian military was prepared to defeat Tigrayan forces.

Forces from Amhara region, which has a border dispute with Tigray, have been supporting the military since the beginning of the conflict. On Friday, three other regions said that they were sending forces to support the army. read more

On Sunday, the Somali region said it was also sending troops, as did Benishangul-Gumuz region on Monday. Gambella and Harari regions have also said they were sending troops, state-run Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Afar is strategically important because the road and railway linking the capital Addis Ababa to the sea port of Djibouti run through it. Djibouti is landlocked Ethiopia’s main access to the sea.

Over the weekend, the head of the TPLF said that Tigrayan forces had released around 1,000 government soldiers captured during recent fighting. read more

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Sunday it had begun visiting soldiers being detained in Tigray.

The United Nations’ World Food Programme on Monday said its convoy of nine trucks were attacked on Sunday morning while moving aid into Tigray.

The convoy was attacked 115 km ( 70 miles) from the town of Semera in Afar, the agency said. WFP has suspended movement of all convoys from Semera until security can be assured.

(This story is refiled to fix typo in 6th paragraph and adds second byline)

Additional reporting and writing by Maggie Fick in Nairobi; editing by Katharine Houreld and Angus MacSwan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ethiopia’s Tigray forces say they freed 1,000 captured soldiers

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OLBIA, Italy July 17 (Reuters) – Forces in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have released around 1,000 government soldiers captured during recent fighting, the head of its ruling party said, as both sides prepared for a showdown over contested land in the west of the region.

Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters by satellite phone late on Friday that they have released 1,000 low-ranking soldiers.

“More than 5,000 (soldiers) are still with us, and we will keep the senior officers who will face trial,” he said.

He said the soldiers had been driven to Tigray’s southern border with the Amhara region on Friday, but did not say who received them or how the release was negotiated.

Reuters could not independently confirm his account.

A military spokesman said he was not immediately available to comment on Saturday, and the spokesman for the Amhara regional administration said he had no information on the release.

Officials in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office and a government taskforce on Tigray did not answer calls seeking comment.

Fighting broke out in Tigray in November when the government accused the TPLF of attacking military bases across the region, which the party denied. The government declared victory three weeks later when it took control of the regional capital, Mekelle, but the TPLF kept fighting.

In a dramatic turn, the TPLF retook Mekelle and most of Tigray at the end of June, after the government pulled out its soldiers and declared a unilateral ceasefire. read more

However, the TPLF vowed to keep fighting until it had regained control of disputed territory in the south and west of Tigray that was seized during the fighting by the government’s allies from Amhara.

Abiy said this week that the military would repel any TPLF threat, effectively abandoning the self-declared truce. Amhara and three other regions said they were mobilizing forces to support the national army in its fight against the TPLF. read more

Thousands of people have died in the fighting; around 2 million have been displaced and more than 5 million rely on emergency food aid.

On Saturday, the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation quoted Addis Ababa’s Police Commissioner Getu Argaw Debela as saying they had arrested 323 people suspected of supporting the TPLF, weapons possession or violating the constitution, among other charges.

Debela said police had also shut businesses belonging to the suspects while they investigated them.

This week, Reuters reported that police had detained hundreds of Tigrayans in Addis Ababa since late June, when federal government troops lost control of the Tigray capital. read more

On Friday, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry issued a statement accusing aid groups of arming rebels.

“Some aid agencies have been actively engaged in a destructive role. We have also confirmed that they have been using aid as a cover and are arming the rebel groups to prolong the conflicts,” it said.

The statement did not identify the groups and there was no immediate response from the agencies that operate in Tigray. The United Nations humanitarian organization OCHA did not respond to a request for comment.

The U.N. has said desperately needed aid is being blocked at checkpoints as convoys travel through government-held territory. Ethiopian authorities say the aid needs to be checked.

Giulia Paravicini reported from Olbia and George Obulutsa from Nairobi; Additional reporting by Tiksa Negeri; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Katharine Houreld, Frances Kerry and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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U.S. condemns retaliatory attacks against civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray region

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U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price speaks at the State Department in Washington, U.S., March 31, 2021. Carolyn Kaster/Pool via REUTERS

July 12 (Reuters) – The United States is gravely concerned about reports of hostilities in Ethiopia’s Tigray and condemns any retaliatory attacks against civilians in the region, a State Department spokesman said on Monday.

The spokesman, Ned Price, told reporters the United States continues to call for a negotiated ceasefire to the conflict that has forced nearly 2 million people to flee their homes and forced around 400,000 people into famine conditions.

“We strongly condemn any retaliatory attacks that have been or may be directed against civilians in the Tigray region, whether by organized military or security forces or by rogue elements,” Price said.

“All those who are responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses must be held accountable,” he added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that the U.S. review into whether to call events in Tigray crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide was ongoing.

Forces from Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray said on Monday they were pushing south and had recaptured a town from government forces, underscoring their determination to keep fighting until the region’s pre-war borders are restored. read more

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the assertion because communication links to the region are down.

Conflict erupted in Tigray eight months ago between central government forces and the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The government declared victory three weeks later when it took the regional capital, Mekelle, but the TPLF kept fighting.

On June 28, the TPLF recaptured Mekelle and now controls most of Tigray. But some parts in the west and south are also claimed by the neighboring Amhara region, which has sent fighters to the contested areas.

Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo, Daphne Psaledakis, Eric Beech and Simon Lewis; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Forces from Ethiopia’s Tigray region say they are pushing south

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A tank damaged during the fighting between Ethiopia’s National Defense Force (ENDF) and Tigray Special Forces stands on the outskirts of Humera town in Ethiopia July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

ADDIS ABABA, July 12 (Reuters) – Forces from Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray said on Monday they were pushing south and had recaptured a town from government forces, underscoring their determination to keep fighting until the region’s pre-war borders are restored.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the claim because communication links to the region are down.

Conflict erupted in Tigray eight months ago between central government forces and the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The government declared victory three weeks later when it took the regional capital Mekelle, but the TPLF kept fighting.

On June 28, the TPLF recaptured Mekelle and now controls most of Tigray. But some parts in the west and south are also claimed by neighbouring Amhara region, which has sent fighters to the contested areas.

TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda told Reuters on Monday that Tigrayan forces controlled Korem, a town 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of Mekelle, and were pushing to seize control of the major town of Alamata, 20 kilometres further south.

A former resident of Korem now living in the capital Addis Ababa told Reuters that a family member fleeing their home had reached an area with cell service and confirmed fighting.

Ethiopian military spokesman Colonel Getnet Adane did not comment on who was in control of the town but said in a text message “we had declared a ceasefire,” referring to a unilateral ceasefire declared by the Ethiopian government after its troops pulled out of Mekelle. The TPLF has called the ceasefire ‘a joke’.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the head of the government’s task force on Tigray did not respond to requests for comment.

Getachew, the TPLF spokesperson, said the group wants its pre-war borders restored and transport links open to allow people and humanitarian aid to move. read more

The conflict has forced nearly 2 million people to flee their homes and forced around 400,000 people into famine conditions. read more

On Monday, the United Nations’ World Food Programme said that the first humanitarian convoy to enter the Tigray region in two weeks had reached Mekelle. Major roads into Tigray have been blocked by government forces and their allies and at least two bridges destroyed.

Tigray’s leaders accuse the central government of blockading the region. Telecoms and banking have been down since the Tigrayan forces seized Mekelle.

Ethiopian authorities deny blocking aid to Tigray and say they are rebuilding infrastructure.

Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw in Addis Ababa and Maggie Fick in Nairobi
Writing by Maggie Fick

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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At least 8 killed in Mogadishu by suicide bomb targeting government convoy

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MOGADISHU, July 10 (Reuters) – A suicide car bomb targeting a government convoy exploded at a busy junction in Somalia’s capital on Saturday, killing at least eight people, an eyewitness told Reuters.

Abdiasis Abu Musab, military operations spokesperson for the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-​Shabaab, told Reuters it was responsible for Saturday’s attack. The group, which wants to overthrow the government and impose its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, frequently carries out such bombings.

Rescuers, security and paramedics are seen at the scene of a car explosion near Banadir hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia July 10, 2021. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

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The convoy was carrying senior police official Farhan Qarole, who survived the attack, the Somali government news agency reported.

“I have seen eight dead bodies at the scene including a woman,” Hassan Sayid Ali, a driver of a three-wheeled motorised vehicle taxi, told Reuters at the scene of the blast at Banadir junction in Mogadishu.

Reporting by Abdirahman Hussein, Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh
Writing by Maggie Fick
Editing by David Holmes

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Egypt notified that Ethiopia has resumed filling of giant dam

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Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo

CAIRO, July 5 (Reuters) – Egypt’s irrigation minister said on Monday he had received official notice from Ethiopia that it had begun filling the reservoir behind its giant hydropower dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), for a second year.

Egypt has informed Ethiopia of its categorical rejection of the measure, which it regards as a threat to regional stability, Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty said in a statement.

Ethiopia says the dam on its Blue Nile is crucial to its economic development and providing power to its population.

Egypt views the dam as a grave threat to its Nile water supplies, on which it is almost entirely dependent. Sudan, another downstream country, has expressed concern about the safety of the dam and the impact on its own dams and water stations.

The volume of the accumulating water would depend on the amount of seasonal rain that fell in Ethiopia, Egyptian Irrigation Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ghanim told a local TV channel.

“We won’t see any effect now on the Nile. We have a month or a month and a half ahead of us,” he said.

Egypt and Sudan have waged a diplomatic campaign for a legally binding deal over the dam’s operation, but talks have repeatedly stalled.

The diplomatic push intensified ahead of the first filling of the dam with last summer, and again in recent weeks.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to discuss the issue on Thursday, and Abdel Aty had written to the council to inform it of the latest developments, the statement said.

Ethiopia says it is finally exercising its rights over Nile waters long controlled by its downstream neighbours.

Its ambassador to Khartoum said on Sunday that Egypt and Sudan already knew the details of the first three years of the dam’s filling, and that the issue should not be brought before the Security Council as it was not a matter of peace and security.

Reporting by Momen Saeed Atallah, Omar Fahmy and Nafisa Eltahir, Writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by Diane Craft and Sonya Hepinstall

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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