Africa

Insecurity across West Africa and the Sahel has expanded into areas previously considered safe, with militants continuing to stage deadly attacks, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the region told the Security Council today, as delegates called for consolidating gains in democratic governance recently expressed by several countries in their successful …

Six Nigerian soldiers were killed when a jihadist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into them during a clash in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state, two military sources said Tuesday.

Rebels in Central African Republic attacked the capital early on Wednesday, but were repelled by President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s security forces and United Nations peacekeepers, authorities said, in an escalation of an election conflict.

Suspected al-Shabaab militants have bombed a telecommunications mast in Banisa Sub-County, Mandera County three days after they attacked a bus and a private vehicle in the same area. Local residents who spoke to the Nation said the militants used explosives to destroy the mast at Darkale center on Tuesday night.

A car bomb targeting workers of a Turkish company killed four people including one Turkish citizen on Saturday in Somalia, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said.

The United States on Sunday started the process of establishing a consulate in contested Western Sahara, after Washington recognized Morocco’s sovereignty there in exchange for Rabat normalizing ties with Israel. U.S. Ambassador to Morocco David Fischer visited the port of Dakhla, 1,440 kilometers (895 miles) southwest of Rabat in the …

With Sudan signing today the Abraham accords for renewal of diplomatic ties, Israel is sending feelers also to other Red Sea basin countries for establishing some sorts of relations. Sudanese Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari signed on to the Abraham Accords today in Khartoum, officially agreeing to normalize diplomatic ties with …

Ethiopia is accusing Egypt of deliberate hostility amid stalled negotiations on the controversial dam and tension between Addis Ababa and Khartoum. The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Ethiopian chargé d’affaires to Cairo Dec. 30 to clarify statements by Dina Mufti, the spokesperson of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign …

Turkey is once again hinting at openness for dialogue with Egypt, but real progress remains elusive. Once again, Turkey is reaching out to Egypt for political rapprochement. Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters Dec. 30 that Turkey and Egypt are working on shaping a road map for …

Wall Street has started trading in water futures contracts, just like gold, oil and basic commodities, coinciding with the stalled negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which raises the question of whether Egypt will agree to sell the Nile waters.