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The first clues appeared in Kenya, Uganda and what is now South Sudan. A British arms researcher surveying ammunition used by government forces and civilian militias in 2006 found Kalashnikov rifle cartridges he had not seen before. The ammunition bore no factory code, suggesting that its manufacturer hoped to avoid detection. Within two years other researchers were finding identical cartridges circulating through the ethnic violence in Darfur. Similar ammunition then turned up in 2009 in a stadium in Conakry, Guinea, where soldiers had fired on antigovernment protesters, killing more than 150. For six years, a group of independent arms-trafficking researchers...

Eritrea's entire national football team has defected while on a visit to Uganda, according to one of the players. The footballer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFI that 17 footballers and the team doctor are hiding in Kampala. "Everybody has to stay in secure places because the Eritrean government is searching for us," he said. "The Eritrean embassay in Uganda are trying to find us." The team member said the group could make an asylum claim on Thursday. He said he had decided to flee Eritrea because of its many problems, citing the government of President Isaias Afeworki...

Egyptian authorities fearful of a monopoly on Nile waters received agreement from Khartoum to build an airbase in Sudan, to launch attacks on Ethiopian damming facilities, claims the anonymous media outlet; Wikileaks. Wikileaks has leaked files allegedly from the Texas-based global intelligence company, Stratfor, which quote an anonymous "high-level Egyptian source," claiming the Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon said in 2010 his nation would do anything to prevent the secession of South Sudan because of the political implications it will have for Egypt's access to the Nile. The Nile is vital in providing fresh water to the people and agricultural projects...

Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's long-time ruler who held tight control over this East African country but was a major U.S counterterrorism ally, died of an undisclosed illness after not being seen in public for weeks, Ethiopian authorities announced Tuesday. He was 57. Meles died Monday just before midnight after contracting an infection, state TV said. Hailemariam Desalegn, who was appointed deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in 2010, became acting prime minister and will be sworn in as prime minister after an emergency meeting of parliament, said Bereket Simon, the communications minister. Parliament is controlled by Meles' ruling party...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his ministers to accelerate efforts to deport citizens of South Sudan, the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Ethiopia who are living in Israel illegally on Sunday. Speaking at Sunday's cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that while it is not possible to expel citizens of Eritrea and Sudan, whose lives would be at risk in their home countries, holding facilities for them must be built in the Negev as quickly as possible. (Snip) Sudan is classified as an enemy country, another reason that infiltrators can't be returned there, he said, while Eritrea, though it has diplomatic relations with

President Yoweri Museveni has arrived in Istanbul, Turkey for the second Istanbul Conference on Somalia. The conference which is being held at the Istanbul Congress Centre under the theme "Preparing Somalia's future: Goals for 2015 is being attended by representatives of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, the UN donors, Somalis and International private sector, civil society groups, women's groups, youth and members of the diaspora will among other things discuss various issues under the partnership forum including Energy Water, Roads, Resilience etc. The conference will be addressed by The Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan,...

Israel, only 'free' country in the region, ranks 65th in the world for press freedoms Freedom House Report: Israel maintains 'free' status, though just barely By Hillary Zaken and AP May 1, 2012, 12:07Global media freedom showed no overall decline for the first time in eight years, according to Freedom House's annual survey of freedom of the press, released Tuesday. Israel was ranked the only Free country in the Middle East and North Africa, with a rating of 30.The rating ties it with Greece and makes it the 65th most free country in the world for press freedoms.As decades-old authoritarian...

Ethiopia attacked an Eritrean military base Thursday over the killing of five European tourists on its territory this year, accusing its neighbour of training "hit-and-run terrorists". Amid international appeals for restraint, government spokesman Shimeles Kemal threatened further attacks against its neighbour as long as it posed a threat to its security and warned Eritrea against any retaliation. "Early this morning Ethiopian defence forces attacked a military post inside Eritrea," Shimeles told reporters, accusing Eritrea of using the base to train and arm "hit-and-run terrorists". "These groups are operating in the Afar area in Ethiopia. "We know for certain that the...

Ethiopia says Eritrea-trained gunmen killed touristsTue, Jan 17 2012By Aaron MaashoADDIS ABABA | Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:10am EST ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Two Germans, two Hungarians and an Austrian were killed by gunmen in an attack on tourists in the remote Afar region of northern Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government said on Wednesday.Government spokesman Bereket Simon said a Hungarian and an Italian were wounded while two Germans and two Ethiopians had been kidnapped in the Tuesday attack, that happened in an area prone to banditry and where separatist rebels have operated.

The AU wants Africa to manufacture and export finished products to its trading partners rather than just selling them the raw materials as it does now. She cited China, India, the EU and US and other rising stars in trade with the continent, including Turkey and Latin America, and said the AU had held talks on the new breed of partnerships with some of them. The AU also wants Africa to have a veto-wielding seat on the UN Security Council, and a place at the G20 negotiating table, Ali said. The peace and security that have eluded Africa for decades...

In a program called: 'Death in the Desert,' CNN docunmented (Nov. 2011): African [mostly Sudanese and Eritrean] refugees, who are escaping in order to get to (democratic and free) Israel, in crossing the Sinai desert, they are raped, tortued, murdered, organs sold by Arab [Egyptian Bedouins, some activities linked to "Palestinians" in Gaza] enslavers. An Egyptian eyewitness described their plight, [more] 'Worse' than slavery. The Egyptian doctors buy from the Sawarka tribe for 1,000 to 2,000 dollars an organ. Thousands have died, many of electrecution and of 'failed' organ harvesting. Egyptian police have not made one single arrest. Worse thing...

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote today (Monday) on whether to impose sanctions against Eritrea. A UN report earlier this year accused Asmara of plotting to bomb an African Union summit in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. The UN said most of those arrested in the plot received training and orders from Eritrean officers. The UN also says its Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea has documented evidence of Eritrean payments to individuals linked to the Islamic radical al-Shabab rebels in Somalia... The Security Council refused to delay today's planned vote after Eritrea asked for an extension to...

Someone please help me solve a mystery. Several news reports, including the one at the link below, contained this paragraph regarding the walkout at Ahmadinejad's UN speech on Thursday. "The two U.S. diplomats, who specialize in the Middle East, were followed out of the chamber by diplomats from more than 30 countries. They included the 27 European Union members, Australia, New Zealand, Somalia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Macedonia, a U.N. diplomat said. Israel boycotted the speech." It seems very strange that Somalia, a Muslim country, would walk -- the only one to do so. I've googled until my eyes...

Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are disappearing in some parts of Africa, but scientists are unsure as to why. Figures indicate controls such as anti-mosquito bed nets are having a significant impact on the incidence of malaria in some sub-Saharan countries. But in Malaria Journal, researchers say mosquitoes are also disappearing from areas with few controls. They are uncertain if mosquitoes are being eradicated or whether they will return with renewed vigour. Data from countries such as Tanzania, Eritrea, Rwanda, Kenya and Zambia all indicate that the incidence of malaria is dropping fast. Researchers believe this is due to effective implementation of control...

The Somaliland Press claims that Kenya is preparing to recognize Somaliland's independence, which would create another new country in the horn of Africa. "Kenyan Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Richard Onyonka said during an event held in Nairobi to commemorate Somaliland's 20th anniversary of Independence that his country will support Somaliland as an independent state" reported Somaliland Press and Iran's Press TV. Kenyans who have called for their government to recognize Hargeisa argue that Somaliland would help stabilize the region and stop Somalia's expansionism dreams into Kenya and into Ethiopia's eastern regions with Somali ethnic populations. Since Somaliland's ally Ethiopia...

An Eritrean exile group has held simultaneous rallies in Addis Ababa and refugee camps in northern Ethiopia demanding the ouster of Eritrea's government. The demonstrations coincide with Ethiopia's recent switch to a more hardline approach toward its northern rival. More than 600 Eritrean refugees met at an Addis Ababa hotel Wednesday, all wearing identical paper visors with the word "Enough" printed on the side. "Enough" of what they repeatedly called the dictatorial regime of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. Organizers said they were in touch by phone with at least five refugee camps in Ethiopia's Tigray and Afar regions where similar...

Djibouti has told the United States that an independent election observer mission is "illegal" and suspended its partnership with the US-funded mission. The news came amid reports that the north-east African coastal state had arrested two opposition leaders on Friday. Democracy International (DI), which has a $2.2m, eight-man team in the tiny strategic state, provides the only international technical assistance and observation group in the country, which has been ruled by the same dynasty since independence. The increasing visibility of the Djibouti's anti-democratic leanings is awkward for the US, which relies on the country for its only military base on...

NUNCIO IN LIBYA SEEKS AID FOR FLEEING ERITREANS Affirms Church Is at the Service of Those on Both Sides of Conflict ROME, MARCH 1, 2011 (Zenit.org).- As the rebellion in Libya starts to look like a civil war, the apostolic vicar of the capital and the papal nuncio are seeking aid for Eritreans who want to leave the country. The appeal from Bishop Giovanni Martinelli, apostolic vicar of Tripoli, and Archbishop Tommaso Caputo, nuncio in Libya, was reported by the Fides agency. "Yesterday, 2,000 [Eritreans] came to the church and to our premises asking for aid and assistance," Bishop Martinelli...

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has...

Eritrea is at risk of becoming a failed state, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group. It says internal repression coupled with international military conflict means the country is becoming increasingly isolated in the Horn of Africa. The report says during the past decade Eritrea's government has clamped down on dissent on a colossal scale. It says Eritrea's jails are full of political prisoners, journalists, and religious dissidents who are regularly targeted by the state. ICG's E.J. Hogendoorn says Eritrea has also undergone major military mobilization – a policy that has hit the country's youth hardest. "It...