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Ethiopia's bold decision to pay for a huge dam itself has overturned generations of Egyptian control over the Nile's waters, and may help transform one of the world's poorest countries into a regional hydropower hub. By spurning an offer from Cairo for help financing the project, Addis Ababa has ensured it controls the construction of the Renaissance Dam on a Nile tributary. The electricity it will generate - enough to power a giant rich-world city like New York - can be exported across a power-hungry region. But the decision to fund the huge project itself also carries the risk of...

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Ethiopia's lawmakers are set to pass a bill that puts homosexuality on a list of offenses considered "non-pardonable" under the country's amnesty law, a measure that continues a trend of anti-gay legislation across Africa. The bill, endorsed last week by Ethiopia's Cabinet, is widely expected to pass when lawmakers put it to a vote next week. Homosexuality is criminalized in 38 African countries, about 70 percent of the continent, according to Amnesty International. Uganda and Nigeria have recently strengthened criminal penalties against homosexuals. In Ethiopia, same-sex acts are illegal and punishable by up to 15 years in prison. A 25-year...

Three more Ethiopians killed by Saudi police. The killing of Ethiopians continues in Saudi Arabia Three more Ethiopians killed in Saudi Arabia Three more Ethiopians have been killed in Saudi Arabia. Thousands of Ethiopians are leaving the middle east country after scores have been killed in the past few days. Hundreds more injured and women are being raped in front of their families. It is astounding and mind boggling the international community is so silent about this shameful actions of the Saudis. "The act of killing innocent civilians is uncalled for, we condemn that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://www.frontpagemag.com - The Douala-Djibouti CorridorPosted By Jerome Vitenberg On February 6, 2014 @ 12:15 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 1 Comment The current French involvement in the Central African Republic, which follows in the footsteps of its ongoing “Operation Serval” in Mali, has led many to wonder about President Francois Hollande’s goals in his African campaigns.In recent months, the CAR’s ex-Séléka Muslim rebel fighters, bolstered by Sudanese and Chadian mercenaries, have waged a campaign of murder, rape and pillage against the country’s 80% Christian-majority population. With the government in disarray, Christians have organized defensive “anti-balaka” (“anti-machete”)...

At 5:00pm Pacific Time, Ethiopian Flight 702, a Boeing 767-300 was flying over Sudan when it started squawking 7500. The transponder code, is supposed to indicate a “hijacking.” (snip) The flight, operating from Addis Abba to Rome has been confirmed by Rome Airport not to have arrived yet. As of now, it is over France, but has recently taken a steep northeast heading. Based on flight tracking, it appears the plane is headed to Geneva. Emergency crews are standing by.

The queen of Sheba was once one of the most powerful leaders in the world but there are few clues left anywhere about this woman who ruled a rich and powerful nation somewhere in Africa -- perhaps, as some archeologists maintain, in what is now southwest Nigeria. Now, in what may be the site of her last home and gravesite, a University of Toronto professor is trying to unearth the queen's story -- partially told in the Old Testament -- as well as honouring her in the form of a new Nigerian museum and interpretive centre. "Each year both Muslim...

Donald Duck will be getting a new voice in Arabic -- Egyptian voice artist Wael Mansour was fired by the Walt Disney Company over his ranting on Twitter last August, in which he expressed his virulent hatred of Israel and earnest desires for the Jewish state's destruction. Mansour's tweet read "I truly wish #Israel is demolished, I hate Zionism, I have so much hate inside me with every child they murder or land they seize!" He added "I don’t know why insulting #Israel & #Zionism is ‘Anti-Semitic’?! They are just a bunch of Polish/ Ethiopian immigrants roughly 70 years old."...

South Sudan: Cease-Fire SignedBy South Sudan News StaffNAIROBI, Kenya — January 23 … The government of South Sudan was pleased to announce that rebels loyal to the country’s ousted former vice president signed a cease-fire agreement today. The cease-fire ends more than a month of fighting that displaced thousands of people. Under the agreement, signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, both sides in the conflict promised to lay down their weapons. But they have also said that a cessation of hostilities would be a temporary measure, short of a formal peace agreement, and that negotiations would have to continue....

South Sudan Optimistic Of Reaching CeasefireBy South Sudan News StaffJuba — January 15 … The head of the South Sudan governmental delegation on peace talks has expressed optimism over the ongoing peace talks with rebels loyal to former South Sudan Vice President Dr. Riek Machar in the Ethiopian Capital, Addis Ababa. Nhial Deng Nhial, the Head of the South Sudan government negotiation team arrived home from Addis Ababa on Monday for consultations with President Salva Kiir following the start of face to face talks with the rebels in its first day on Monday. “We are hopeful,” Nhial told journalists in...

Fossil hunters working in Ethiopia have unearthed the remains of at least nine primitive hominids that are between 4.5 million and 4.3 million years old. The fossils, which were uncovered at As Duma in the north of the country, are mostly teeth and jaw fragments, but also include parts of hands and feet. All finds belong to the same species - Ardipithecus ramidus - which was first described about a decade ago. Details of the discoveries appear in the latest issue of Nature magazine. Scientists say features of a phalanx, or foot bone, unearthed at the site show the hominid...

The U.S. military has deployed a small number of uniformed trainers and advisers to the failed state of Somalia for the first time since 1993, when two helicopters were shot down and 18 Americans were killed in the failed “Black Hawk Down” operation. A cell of U.S. military personnel has been stationed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu since last fall to advise and coordinate operations with African troops fighting to wrest control of the country from the al-Shabab militia, an Islamist group whose leaders have professed loyalty to al-Qaeda, according to three U.S. military officials. The previously undisclosed deployment...

At least 30 members of the militant Islamist group al Shabaab have been killed in an air strike on one of their training camps in Somalia, Kenya’s military said on Friday. The raid, which took place Thursday evening, targeted an al Shabaab camp in Garbarahey, a district situated in the southwestern Gedo region, which is near the country’s borders with Kenya and Ethiopia. "KDF (Kenya Defence Force) fighter jets attacked an al Shabaab camp, where a meeting was being held," a senior KDF official said. "Initial battle damage assessment indicates more than 30 al Shabaab militants [were] killed, including key...

Muslim males learn to abuse and assault women from childhood on. It’s necessary to understand the situation of these human slaves that work in Arab households to know that they are often sex-slaves. There is nothing they can do to avert this kind of rape behind closed doors. They can’t file a police complaint, they can’t leave as their passports are in possession of their employer, they can’t complain to the head of the family in risk of being beaten and abused. And like in this case, the blame will always be put on the slave – not the abuser....

Under the watchful eyes of Saudi policemen, little knots of Ethiopian men sit chatting on doorsteps and sprawl on threadbare grass at one of Riyadh's busiest junctions. These are tense, wary times in Manfouha, a few minutes' drive from the capital's glittering towers and swanky shopping malls. Manfouha is the bleak frontline in Saudi Arabia's campaign to get rid of its illegal foreign workers, control the legal ones and help get more of its own citizens into work. This month two or three Ethiopians were killed here after a raid erupted into full-scale rioting. Keeping their distance from the officers...

This is how it’s done in Saudi Arabia…Illegal migrants wait to be transferred by police buses to a deportation centre in Riyadh, on November 13, 2013.Saudi officials sent 50,000 Ethiopian illegal immigrants back to their home country. The final total once the mass airlift ends is now expected to be around 80,000. Al Arabiya reported: Ethiopia has flown home over 50,000 citizens in Saudi Arabia after a crackdown against illegal immigrants in the oil-rich state, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. “We projected the initial number to be 10,000 but it is increasing,” foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told AFP, adding...

Hong Kong (CNN) -- A new report claiming to be the most comprehensive look at global slavery says 30 million people are living as slaves around the world. The Global Slavery Index, published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, lists India as the country with by far the most slaves, with an estimated nearly 14 million, followed by China (2.9 million) and Pakistan (2.1 million). The top 10 countries on its list of shame accounted for more than three quarters of the 29.8 million people living in slavery, with Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh...

As plans for a mega-port on Kenya's northern-most coast begin to take shape, new concerns are emerging that the project could damage already-strained relations between Sudan and South Sudan. Kenya's $25.5bn Lamu Port and New Transport Corridor Development to Southern Sudan and Ethiopia (LAPSSET) includes the construction of a 32-berth port, three international airports, and a 1,500km railway line. A new oil refinery, in nearby Bargoni, and an oil pipeline are also planned. The pipeline would run to Kenya's Eastern Province before splitting, with one branch running to South Sudan's capital, Juba, and another through Moyale in the north to...

There is no civil war in Eritrea: its people flee because their isolated homeland could pass as an African version of North Korea. Like the Kim regime in Pyongyang, President Isaias Afewerki keeps Eritrea on a permanent war-footing. Most adults are conscripted into the army or forced to perform compulsory labour of some kind. Today, one Eritrean in every 20 serves in a bloated army with 320,000 soldiers. Mr Isaias justifies this eternal mass mobilisation by claiming that neighbouring Ethiopia is scheming to re-conquer Eritrea. Just as the fictional state of “Oceania” was always at war in George Orwell’s “1984”,...

A massive bonfire blazed in the central square of Ethiopia's capital city, Addis Ababa, on Thursday night. But by Friday morning, the mess had been swept away, leaving nothing but a giant spot of soot on the asphalt. Thousands of people had flocked to the arena, called Meskel Square, to watch the ceremonial lighting of the fire for the eve of Meskel, a national holiday also known as the Finding of the True Cross. Ethiopians from across the country -- and visitors from around the world -- carried yellow daises, wooden crosses and wax candles as the pile of wood...