(AfricaNews 08/18/17)
Hailemariam Desalegn, the Ethiopian Prime Minister has identified poverty as the main underlying factor of instability in the Horn of Africa region. He added that economic integration was a sure means to secure the region. The 52-year-old Premier who just ended a three-day official visit to Sudan was addressing Khartoum-based diplomatic community and Sudanese intellectuals. His research paper titled: ‘Horn of Africa: Possibilities of an Economic Community,’ stressed the need for the region despite its security challenges to build global competitiveness via economic integration. The time is now for Africans to play their role by filling the market gap observed at the global level. “The time is now for Africans to play their role by...
(Xinhuanet 08/03/17)
The undated file photo shows soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China unloading equipments at a port in Djibouti. A ceremony marking the entry of troops into the PLA's support base in Djibouti was held on Aug. 1, 2017 in the base's barracks. The ceremony marked the first time that China has opened a military support base overseas. It will fulfill China's international obligations regarding humanitarianism aid and escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia.
(Voice of America 07/25/17)
European and African ministers are meeting in Tunisia about efforts to regulate the flow of refugees from Africa to Europe, primarily along the deadly central Mediterranean route originating in Libya. In a declaration Monday in Tunis, the capital, the ministers said they agreed on a multi-pronged approach to the crisis, including informing people about the risks of illegal migration and the possibility of voluntarily returning home, addressing why migrants leave home and beefing up actions against human traffickers. Participating in...
(AFP (eng) 07/12/17)
China has deployed troops to its first overseas naval base in Djibouti, a major step forward for the country's expansion of its military presence abroad. Chinese sailors sailed out of a naval base in Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong on Tuesday and towards the Horn of Africa nation, according to a statement posted on the defence ministry's website. The logistics base is the first of its kind for China, which will use it to support "naval escorts in...
(The Associated Press 07/11/17)
China on Tuesday dispatched members of its People’s Liberation Army to the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti to man the rising Asian giant’s first overseas military base, a key part of a wide-ranging expansion of the role of China’s armed forces. The defense ministry said on its website that a ceremony was held at a naval peer in the southern Chinese port of Zhanjiang presided over by navy commander Vice Adm. Shen Jinlong. It said the personnel would travel...
(AFP (eng) 07/06/17)
The African Union's new chair Moussa Faki Mahamat on Wednesday questioned US commitment to fighting terrorism on the continent after it blocked efforts to get UN funding for an anti-jihadist force in the Sahel. "This is a specific case of a certain number of African states taking the initiative to create a dedicated force to fight terrorism. So, we don't understand how the United States could hold back or not engage in the fight against terrorism," Faki said in an...
(AFP (eng) 07/04/17)
Eritrea's ambassador to the African Union said on Tuesday that Qatar must mediate with neighbouring Djibouti over the two countries' disputed border. The Gulf nation brokered a peace deal between the two countries in 2010 over the disputed Red Sea region of Doumeira, which has been the site of disagreements and clashes between Eritrea and Djibouti for decades. Qatari troops withdrew from the contested border last month when the Horn of Africa nations signalled their support for Saudi Arabia after...
(AFP (eng) 07/04/17)
Djibouti will turn to the African Union to help it resolve a long-running border dispute with Eritrea, the Horn of Africa nation's foreign minister told AFP on Monday. Qatari troops who patrolled the tense frontier pulled out last month after both Djibouti and Eritrea sided with Saudi Arabia when it severed ties with Doha over its alleged ties to Islamic extremists. Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said that after Qatari troops left the disputed Doumeira region, Eritrean soldiers moved...
(Reuters (Eng) 07/03/17)
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Djibouti has asked the African Union to deploy observers along its disputed border with Eritrea after Qatar withdrew its peace-keeping troops two weeks ago, the Djibouti foreign minister said on Monday. The Qataris were sent to the region after clashes broke out between Eritrea and Djibouti in 2008, but they were pulled out without warning on June 14. Qatar gave no reason for the withdrawal, but it came days after both Djibouti and Eritrea sided with...
(APA 06/27/17)
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sent a congratulatory message to her colleague, the President of the Republic of Djibouti, Mr. Ismail Omar Guellah, on that country’s 40th Independence Anniversary on June 27. June 27 is celebrated each year as Djibouti's Independence Anniversary, which it obtained from France in 1977 and became the fifth newest country in Africa after South Sudan in July, 2011. Earlier known as French Somaliland, Djibouti was France’s last hold on the continent. According to a Foreign...
(AFP (eng) 06/20/17)
The UN Security Council on Monday urged Djibouti and Eritrea to resolve their border dispute peacefully after tensions flared following the withdrawal of Qatari peacekeepers from a buffer zone. Djibouti accused Eritrea of moving its forces into the buffer zone last week, a day after Qatar, a mediator in the border dispute that turned violent in 2010, announced the troop pullout. After hearing a UN report, the Security Council called "on the parties to resolve their border dispute peacefully in...
(APA 06/19/17)
Ethiopia called on all parties for restraint as tension between Djibouti and Eritrea has intensified along their borders, the country’s Foreign Ministry said. In a press release issued on Monday, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for restraint from “escalating tensions and resolve differences in peaceful means”. Tensions rocked the two neighboring east African countries over a disputed border territory after the withdrawal of Qatari peacekeepers. The release said that Ethiopia fully supports the statement issued the Chairperson of AU Commission on the situation including the deployment of fact...
(AFP (eng) 06/17/17)
The African Union on Saturday urged "restraint" as tensions intensified between Djibouti and Eritrea over a disputed border territory after the withdrawal of Qatari peacekeepers from a buffer zone. Djibouti has accused Eritrea of occupying territory following the departure of the Qatari troops, threatening the revival of a long-standing, sometimes violent dispute. AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat called for "calm, restraint" and said the body would send a "fact-finding mission to the Djibouti-Eritrea border." The Qatari pullout comes as the Gulf emirate is locked in a bitter dispute with Saudi Arabia and its allies over alleged ties to Islamist extremists...
(AFP (eng) 06/14/17)
Qatar has withdrawn its peacekeeping troops from the Djibouti-Eritrea border, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after years of mediating in a territorial dispute between the two African states. "The state of Qatar informed the government of Djibouti that it has withdrawn all its troops deployed on the border line in Djiboutian territory," a ministry statement said. The ministry said Qatar had been an "impartial diplomatic mediator" in the dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea, which led to armed...
(Reuters (Eng) 06/14/17)
Qatar has withdrawn its troops from the border between Djibouti and Eritrea, where the Gulf state has been acting as mediator in a border dispute, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. It did not give reason for the withdrawal but the move comes as Qatar faces a major diplomatic crisis with some of its Gulf Arab neighbours. They cut ties a week ago, accusing Doha of backing Islamist militancy and Iran. Qatar strongly denies this. "Qatar has been an...
(AfricaNews 06/08/17)
Djibouti decided to join the diplomatic blockade of Qatar "as an expression of solidarity". MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Djibouti has reduced its level of diplomatic relations with Qatar over the latest regional diplomatic crisis, the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. "The Government of the Republic of Djibouti officially announces that it has taken the decision to reduce the level of its diplomatic representation in Qatar. The decision of the Government of Djibouti has been taken as an expression of solidarity with the international coalition of combating terrorism and extremism violence, as well as ...
(Xinhuanet 06/06/17)
Delegates of an African conference in solidarity with Cuba on Monday called on the United States to lift its over 50-year economic blockade against Cuba. "We applaud the positive development in this respect and we commend the U.S. government and Cuba for their efforts towards normalizing of ties," said Namibian President Hage Geingob, officially opening the fifth Continental Africa Conference in Solidarity with Cuba here on Monday. "However, there is still much ground left to cover to ensure the complete...
(Reuters (Eng) 05/27/17)
Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations met African heads of state on Saturday, the final day of their annual summit which has been marked by discord over climate change, but unity on tackling terrorism. Italy had hoped to make Africa the major focus of the annual G7 gathering, holding the discussions on the island of Sicily that has taken in hundreds of thousands of migrants over the past four years as they flee war and poverty back home...
(Geeska Afrika 04/27/17)
Public Diplomacy & Regional Security for Stability. By Fatah Al-Rahman Yousef (aawsat). Djibouti’s Defense Minister Ali Hasan Bahdon stressed that a military and defense agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Djibouti in Riyadh on Wednesday lies in the interest of the two nations and the region’s security. General Abdurhman Al-Bunyan, chief of staff, Fahd Al-Isa, advisor at the royal court and general supervisor of the defense minister’s office, Maj. Gen. Taher Muhammad Ali, deputy chief of staff of Djibouti, and...
(Xinhuanet 04/19/17)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, will convene Wedesday the first UN-AU Annual Conference. The two leaders will look into how to strengthen the partnership between the two organizations to face common challenges and opportunities in the continent, on issues of peace and security, sustainable development and human rights, said Stephane Dujarric, UN spokesman, at a daily briefing. "They will also sign the Joint United Nations-African Union Framework for an Enhanced...