Tag Archives: Yemen Conflict

News

Eritrea: A Potential U.S. Counter-Terror Partner

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Eritrea U.S. Counter-Terror Partner
The U.S. would want better relations with Eritrea if its goals in this part of the region is to reduce the threat from terrorism and terrorist groups and possibly to end the conflict in Yemen.

By Kaitlin Lavinder | The Cipher Brief,

Instability and terrorism in the Horn of Africa, along with a massive conflict on the other side of the Red Sea in Yemen, threaten U.S. interests in the region.

Deputy Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, Bronwyn Bruton, writes in a recent report, “the United States could find itself facing instability and perhaps a terror threat on both sides of the Mandeb Strait [separating Yemen from Eritrea and Djibouti], which is a critical chokepoint for the $700 billion … of trade passing annually between the European Union (EU) and Asia.” Continue reading Eritrea: A Potential U.S. Counter-Terror Partner →

News

Egypt and Saudi Arabia Standoff – Political Displacement and the New Axis of Resistance

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Egypt and Saudi Arabia are in unofficial sates of cold war, but what is the real reasons behind the rising tensions between the two former allies?

By Catherine Shakdam | for RT.com,

Just when you thought the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region could not churn out any more crises… This time two giants are locking horns over conflicting geopolitical ambitions, or rather, Saudi Arabia might have overstepped one boundary too many against Egypt.

With so many eyes locked in on Aleppo, much of Cairo and Riyadh’s belligerent political foreplay has gone largely unnoticed, labelled by most as unimportant in comparison to the Syrian furore. Continue reading Egypt and Saudi Arabia Standoff – Political Displacement and the New Axis of Resistance →

News

Iranian Warships Deployed Off Yemen Coast after US Bombed Houthi Targets

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The Iranian maneuver. Two Iranian naval fleets dispatched to the Gulf of Aden following US cruise missile strikes on Yemeni positions thought to be under Houthi rebel control.

By Russia Today,

Iran has deployed a fleet of warships to the Gulf of Aden, the republic’s naval commander has confirmed. The deployment follows US cruise missile strikes on Yemeni positions thought to be under Houthi rebel control.

The Iranian Navy has sent the warships to international waters for a mission that includes entering the area off the southern coast of Yemen, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari confirmed on Wednesday. The area is among the world’s busiest maritime trade routes. Continue reading Iranian Warships Deployed Off Yemen Coast after US Bombed Houthi Targets →

News

Allies No More? Saudi Suddenly Halts Egypt Fuel Shipments

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Close allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia are having their first public spat since Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi took office two years ago. The disagreement is over Syria, where Riyadh says Syrian President Bashar Assad must be removed for that country’s civil war to end, while Cairo advocates a political process that denies Islamic militants any role in Syria’s future. Egypt voted in favor of separate Russian and French draft resolutions on Syria at the U.N. Security Council on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. (Photo: MENA)

By The Associated Press,

Egypt says it has secured fuel imports to make up for a shortfall caused by Saudi Arabia’s abrupt decision to halt previously agreed shipments, avoiding a potentially politically costly fuel shortage and propelling the issue of oil onto the center stage of an escalating Saudi-Egypt spat.

Saudi Arabia agreed in April to provide Egypt with 700,000 tons of fuel monthly for five years on easy repayment terms, but Egyptian officials said this week that Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, informed Cairo it would not ship any fuel this month. Continue reading Allies No More? Saudi Suddenly Halts Egypt Fuel Shipments →

Ethiopia, News

Horn of Africa, Pivot of the World

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In the Horn of Africa, the U.S. is in a very awkward situation. Apart from Eritrea and Sudan, every state in the region is officially called as a ‘friend’. But with the sudden establishment of strategic alliances between these countries and the Gulf states, the U.S. finds itself unable to reconcile all these ‘friends’ who are now started to make wars without its permission, plot against each other and pursue their own interests, neglecting the US umbrella.

By Gérard Prunier | for Le Monde diplomatique,

Ethiopian army reconnaissance units crossed into the Tsorona region of Eritrea shortly before dawn on 12 June, and encountered Eritrean patrols. Within minutes, a long stretch of the former front line in the war of 1998-2000 erupted into heavy artillery shelling, tank movement and gunfire.

Eritrea condemned this as an act of aggression by Ethiopia; Ethiopia maintained an awkward silence, then on 14 June issued a bellicose statement declaring it was capable of full-scale war against its neighbour.

This threat may seem a disproportionate response to a border skirmish, common since the uneasy Algiers agreement signed in 2000. But it needs to be seen in the context of tensions far more serious than they seem. Continue reading Horn of Africa, Pivot of the World →

Ethiopia, News

Ethiopians Head into Yemen while Refugees Flee the Other Way

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Newcomers don’t want to stay long in Obock. In the summer, 50°C temperatures and ferocious sandstorms sear this dusty port in Djibouti’s underdeveloped north. And yet this small town has become a haven for two very different groups. Travelling south are refugees fleeing the war in Yemen, 25 kilometres away across the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. Heading in the opposite direction: Ethiopian migrants taking smugglers’ vessels towards the very same conflict.

By Rachel Savage and Mohammed Ali Kalfood | for IRIN,

Nearly 35,000 people have made the journey southwards across the strait (which translates as ‘Gate of Tears’) to the tiny authoritarian state of Djibouti since March 2015, when Houthi Shia rebels overthrew the Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia responded with a relentless bombing campaign. Just over half are Yemeni. According to the Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat, which monitors movements between the Horn of Africa and Yemen, the rest are Somali refugees, Djiboutian returnees and other nationalities. Continue reading Ethiopians Head into Yemen while Refugees Flee the Other Way →