A crisis between the Egyptian and Ethiopian churches erupted over the ownership of Deir al-Sultan in Jerusalem. Ethiopian Christian pilgrims hold candles during an Ethiopian Orthodox ceremony of the “Holy Fire” at Deir Al-Sultan Church held on the roof of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem, April 30, 2016. – Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images CAIRO — Two deputies in the Egyptian parliament — Amr Darwish and Imad Khalil — made urgent statements May 4 addressed to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in regard to what they described as “ongoing provocations by the…
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Ethiopia Under Pressure of Election Deadline, Mulls Postponement
(Bloomberg) — Ethiopia is struggling to conclude preparations for a national election scheduled for June 5, and may delay the vote for a second time in less than a year due to difficulties in registering voters. About 31.7 million voters in Africa’s second-most populous nation of some 110 million people have so far been registered, according to Birtukan Mideksa, head of the National Election Board of Ethiopia. “We’ll try to squeeze in the remaining work between the tight dates. If that doesn’t go as planned, there’s a possibility of postponement,”…
Read MoreFighting resumes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
Fighting resumes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region Fighting has resumed in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, preventing international humanitarian relief from reaching civilians caught up in the fighting between Tigrayan rebels and the Ethiopian government allied with troops from neighbouring Eritrea. Civilians are caught up in the fighting between Tigrayan rebels and the Ethiopian government. Source: Associated Press Sporadic shelling could be heard north of the town of Agula approximately 40 kilometres north of the regional capital Mekele. The Ethiopian military blocked the road north to food aid convoys for the UN World…
Read MoreBiden’s brewing problem in Ethiopia
War broke out in the Tigray region of Ethiopia in November. Five months later, the scale of the carnage, destruction, and destabilization is becoming evident. The spark for the fighting was an attack on army bases by soldiers loyal to the region’s ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front which was at odds with the federal government headed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. But wars don’t happen overnight: the European Union, International Crisis Group, and many others issued warnings. Most worryingly, Eritrea — with whom Prime Minister Abiy had made a much-heralded peace agreement in 2018 — had…
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