China withdrawing from Africa
The number of Chinese workers in Africa hit a new low in 2022, marking a continued decline each year since peaking at nearly 264,000 workers in 2015. According to the China Africa Research Initiative at…
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Armed groups | ASPIDES | Djibouti | European Union | Houthis | Israel | Maritime | Middle East | Red Sea | Suez Canal | Yemen
EU versus the Houthis
The European Union joins international efforts to contain the Houthis in Yemen. The Council launched the ASPIDES operation to restore and safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf. ASPIDES will be part of…
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Armed conflicts | Djibouti | Iran | Israel | Logistics | Maritime | Piracy | Red Sea | Suez Canal | Yemen
Did Iran-Backed Houthi Rebels Hijack an Israeli-owned Car Carrier in the Red Sea?
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have hijacked the Galaxy Leader, an Israeli-linked ship in the Red Sea and took 25 crew members hostage on Sunday (no Israeli citizens among them). The ownership structures in the maritime sector…
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Ethiopian Airlines signs a bumper deal for up to 67 Boeing jets
The agreement, signed by Ethiopia’s national carrier at the Dubai Airshow, represents the largest-ever purchase of Boeing airplanes in African history. Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook forecast for Africa projects the continent will need 1,025 airplanes…
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China’s Debt BNI Trap: Kenya’s railway to nowhere
The first section of Kenya’s Chinese-built railway was opened with much fanfare in 2017 – but two years later work on the tracks stopped in the middle of the country and the master plan of…
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Belt and Road Initiative | China | Eritrea | Horn of Africa | Military bases | Russia | Sudan | Turkey | Wagner Group
Eritrea’s diplomacy in the shadow of China’s Africa strategy
Eritrea’s Mao-reading president used to seem like a relic. Now Issaias Afwerki is on a roll. Eritrea is emerging as the unlikely powerbroker in the Horn of Africa. More prominent leaders are courting him. In…
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Somaliland: another colonial border causing conflict in Africa
Several British politicians have been linked to an oil deal in Somaliland, embarrassing the Tory party. UK oil company Genel Energy, whose deputy chair is ex-defence minister Michael Fallon, is set to start drilling in…
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Djibouti | Eritrea | Horn of Africa | Maritime | Military bases | Red Sea | Somaliland | Suez Canal | Yemen
Military bases: it’s crowded in the Red Sea
The string of coups at the West of Africa may direct the world’s attention to Niger and Gabon, but the real action is to be expected in East Africa. Stretching from the Suez Canal up…
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BRICS gets new members: Bloc invites Iran, Saudi Arabia among others to join
After months of deliberations, six new nations have become the new members of the bloc including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt and UAE – this was announced by the host Cyril Ramaphosa in the…
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Yemen: UN concludes removal of one million barrels of oil from decaying tanker
A UN-led operation to remove over one million barrels of crude oil from a rusting supertanker, the FSO Safer, off Yemen safely concluded on Friday, preventing the immediate threat of a massive spill in the…
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Ethiopia accuses Amhara militia of seeking to overthrow government
Al Jazeera, The Ethiopian army and the Amhara militia were allies in the two-year civil war against the northern Tigray region. The conflict has quickly become Ethiopia’s most serious security crisis since a two-year civil…
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Ethiopia declares a state of emergency in Amhara amid increasing violence
Violence has flared across Amhara over a disputed plan to absorb regional security forces into the national army. Last year the authorities also tried to stamp out the Amhara militia, called the Fano. The Fano…