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Kenya proposes maritime treaty to defuse Ethiopia-Somalia tensions

Kenya proposes maritime treaty to defuse Ethiopia-Somalia tensions
William Ruto, right, and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrive for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 42nd Extraordinary Session, Entebbe, Uganda, Jan. 18, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 11 April 2024
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Kenya proposes maritime treaty to defuse Ethiopia-Somalia tensions

Kenya proposes maritime treaty to defuse Ethiopia-Somalia tensions
  • Treaty Kenya is proposing in consultation with Djibouti and regional bloc IGAD would govern how landlocked states in the region can access ports on commercial terms
  • Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud held a meeting with his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto in the Kenyan capital as part of efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the dispute
Updated 11 April 2024
Reuters
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NAIROBI: Kenya has proposed a regional maritime treaty to defuse tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia over a deal allowing Ethiopia to set up a naval base and giving it port access in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland, a top Kenyan official said on Thursday.
Landlocked Ethiopia agreed on Jan. 1 to lease 20 km (12 miles) of coastline in Somaliland, a part of Somalia which claims independence and has had effective autonomy since 1991, offering possible recognition of Somaliland in exchange.
That prompted a defiant response from Somalia and fueled concern the deal could further destabilize the Horn of Africa region.
The treaty Kenya is proposing in consultation with Djibouti and regional bloc IGAD would govern how landlocked states in the region can access ports on commercial terms, Korir Sing’oei, Kenya’s principal secretary for foreign affairs, told Reuters.
“IGAD can be able to formulate a treaty for sharing maritime resources,” he said, referring to the bloc which brings together countries in the region.
On Thursday Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud held a meeting with his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto in the Kenyan capital as part of efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the dispute.
“We continue to engage with all the parties with a view to ensuring that at the end of the day the region is left all stable,” Sing’oei said.
If accepted, Nairobi’s solution would offer Ethiopia “stable and predictable access to maritime resources” so it can carry out its business unhindered, while also respecting Somalia’s territorial integrity, he added.
Somalia and Ethiopia are considering the proposal, he said, and their leaders have been asked to consider meeting to take the process forward.
Sing’oei said time was of the essence since Al-Shabab militants in Somalia were using the dispute to portray the government in Mogadishu as being unable to protect Somalia’s sovereignty.

Topics: Kenya Somalia Somaliland Ethiopia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud William Ruto

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EU urges ‘respect’ for court sentence against Bosnian Serb leader

EU urges ‘respect’ for court sentence against Bosnian Serb leader
Updated 15 sec ago
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EU urges ‘respect’ for court sentence against Bosnian Serb leader

EU urges ‘respect’ for court sentence against Bosnian Serb leader
Updated 15 sec ago
“The EU expects all political actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina to respect the decisions of the courts,” a European Commission spokesman said
Russia has slammed the verdict as “political“

BRUSSELS: The European Union Thursday urged all sides in Bosnia to respect court rulings and avoid “divisive” actions after the head of the country’s Serb region was sentenced to jail for defying an international envoy.
“The EU expects all political actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina to respect the decisions of the courts and acknowledge their independence and impartiality without applying any pressure or interference,” a European Commission spokesman said.
Brussels urges all actors to “refrain from and renounce provocative, divisive rhetoric and actions, including questioning the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the country,” spokesman Anouar El Anouni told reporters.
Under a 1995 peace agreement, Bosnia is split into two autonomous bodies — a Bosniak-Croat federation and a Serb entity, connected by a weak central government under supervision by an international high representative.
Milorad Dodik, the pro-Russian leader of the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS), was sentenced to a year in jail Wednesday for failing to comply with decisions made by the high representative, Christian Schmidt.
Russia has slammed the verdict as “political,” and Bosnian Serb lawmakers were weighing potential measures in response.
The EU has previously warned that challenging the terms of the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended Bosnia’s intercommunal war would threaten the country’s ambitions to join the bloc.
“The European Union is unequivocally committed to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU perspective as a single, united and sovereign country,” El Anouni said.
“We encourage all political actors to focus on the EU path, and this for the benefit of citizens, a large majority of whom do support EU integration,” he added.

Over 500,000 Afghans displaced due to climate disasters in 2024: IOM

Over 500,000 Afghans displaced due to climate disasters in 2024: IOM
Updated 38 min 39 sec ago
AFP
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Over 500,000 Afghans displaced due to climate disasters in 2024: IOM

Over 500,000 Afghans displaced due to climate disasters in 2024: IOM
  • “Nearly 9 million individuals were impacted by climate hazards in the last 12 months,” according to the IOM report
  • “Roughly three in five of those displaced relocated elsewhere within their province of origin“
Updated 38 min 39 sec ago
AFP

KABUL: More than half a million people in Afghanistan were displaced due to climate disasters in 2024, the International Organization for Migration said in a country report published on Tuesday.
“Nearly 9 million individuals were impacted by climate hazards in the last 12 months, with over 500,000 displaced by floods, drought, and other disasters,” according to the IOM report.
“Roughly three in five of those displaced relocated elsewhere within their province of origin,” with the western Herat and Farah provinces among the hardest hit, it said.
This week, 39 people were killed due to floods, hail and storms in southwestern Afghanistan, mainly in Farah, according to local authorities.
Afghanistan is among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war and is ranked the sixth most vulnerable to climate change, which is spurring extreme weather.
Drought, floods, land degradation and declining agricultural productivity are key threats, according to the United Nations.
Flash floods last May killed hundreds and swamped swaths of agricultural land in Afghanistan, where 80 percent of people depend on farming to survive.
“Over 11 million people in Afghanistan are at high risk of severe impacts from climate-induced disasters in the future,” the IOM said.
The UN agency estimates that “climate-sensitive livelihoods, like subsistence farming, make up 73 percent of jobs in Afghanistan.”
It added that “92 percent of villages have limited access to emergency services” and “96 percent lack resources for crucial measures like early warning systems and search and rescue.”

Topics: International Organization for Migration (IOM) Afghanistan Herat climate

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WHO decides mpox epidemic still global health emergency

WHO decides mpox epidemic still global health emergency
Updated 49 min 28 sec ago
AFP
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WHO decides mpox epidemic still global health emergency

WHO decides mpox epidemic still global health emergency
  • “The mpox upsurge continues to meet the criteria of a public health emergency of international concern,” said WHO
  • The decision was “based on the continuing rise in numbers and geographic spread”
Updated 49 min 28 sec ago
AFP

GENEVA: Mpox remains an international public health emergency, the World Health Organization said Thursday after deciding the epidemic still merits the highest level of alert, with cases rising and its geographic spread widening.
“The mpox upsurge continues to meet the criteria of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC),” said a WHO statement.
The emergency committee on mpox met for the third time on Tuesday and advised WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the situation still constituted a PHEIC.
The decision was “based on the continuing rise in numbers and geographic spread, the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo — which hampers the response — as well as a lack of funding to implement the response plan,” said the brief statement.
Tedros concurred with the committee’s advice, extending the PHEIC first declared on August 14 last year.
A PHEIC is the highest level of alarm under the International Health Regulations, which are legally binding on 196 countries.
The UN health agency’s chief had declared the emergency amid a rapid spread of the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, in Africa and especially in the DR Congo.
Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox. It can be transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed between people through close physical contact.
The disease, which was first detected in humans in 1970 in the DR Congo, then known as Zaire, causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, and can be deadly.
It has two subtypes: clade 1 and clade 2.
The virus, long endemic in central Africa, gained international prominence in May 2022 when clade 2 spread around the world, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.
Nearly 128,000 mpox cases have been laboratory confirmed across 130 countries since then, including 281 deaths, WHO data shows.
The WHO declared a global health emergency in July 2022, but thanks to vaccination and awareness drives that helped stem the spread, that declaration was lifted in May 2023.
Just a year later, however, a new two-pronged epidemic broke out mainly in the DR Congo, with both the original clade 1a strain and a new strain, clade 1b.
This prompted the WHO’s new emergency declaration last August.
To date, community spread of the clade 1b strain has been confirmed in the DRC and five other African nations, and it has been detected in another 15 countries around the world in connection with travel, WHO data shows.
The DRC confirmed more than 13,000 mpox cases and 43 deaths in 2024, and the country confirmed more than 2,000 cases in the first five weeks of this year — more than half of the cases confirmed globally.

Topics: WHO MPOX Health emergency

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Germany jails two Afghans in suspected Sweden attack plot

Germany jails two Afghans in suspected Sweden attack plot
Updated 27 February 2025
AFP
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Germany jails two Afghans in suspected Sweden attack plot

Germany jails two Afghans in suspected Sweden attack plot
  • They were found guilty of plotting to “kill members of parliament... in response to the burning of Qur'an in Sweden,” the higher regional court said
  • Ibrahim M. G., 30, was sentenced to five years and six months in jail, and Ramin N., 24, received a sentence of four years and two months
Updated 27 February 2025
AFP

BERLIN: Two Afghan men linked to the Daesh group were jailed in Germany on Thursday for planning an attack on the Swedish parliament in retaliation for Qur'an burnings by protesters.
The two suspects, identified as Ibrahim M. G. and Ramin N., had allegedly tried but failed to buy guns for the plot.
They were found guilty of plotting to “kill members of parliament... in response to the burning of Qur'an in Sweden,” the higher regional court in Thuringia said in a statement.
Ibrahim M. G., 30, was sentenced to five years and six months in jail, and Ramin N., 24, received a sentence of four years and two months.
The defendants, who arrived in Germany in 2015 and 2016 respectively, were Daesh sympathizers who “shared the Daesh worldview and endorsed (its) violent approach,” the court said.
In August 2023, Ibrahim M. G. became a member of the Daesh-Khorasan (Daesh-K), an offshoot of Daesh, the court said.
The two men hatched a plot to “kill members of parliament and anyone who tried to stop the attack with firearms in the area of the Swedish parliament,” the court said.
They had searched the Internet for locations in Stockholm, how to travel to Sweden and how to acquire firearms.
They had also traveled to the Czech Republic to purchase firearms on the black market but the plan had fallen through.
They were arrested in the Gera area of eastern Germany in March 2024.
Both men were found guilty of plotting to commit a crime. Ibrahim M.G. was also convicted of being a member of a terrorist organization, and Ramin N. of supporting a terrorist organization.
Daesh-K was “an especially dangerous terrorist organization whose attacks and atrocities were known to and endorsed by the defendants,” the court said.
Prior to the plot, Ibrahim M. G. was also found to have arranged for 200 euros ($210) to be transferred to an Iranian bank account for the support of women and children of Daesh fighters at the Al-Hol camp in Syria.
Ibrahim M. G. made a full confession during the trial.
Islamist extremists have committed several attacks in Germany in recent years, the deadliest being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12 people.
Islamist motives are also suspected in several recent stabbings and car ramming attacks blamed on migrants in Germany, which have led to a bitter debate on migration.
In October 2023, German prosecutors charged two Syrian brothers for planning an attack inspired by Daesh at a church in Sweden over Qur'an burnings.
A series of Qur'an burnings were held across Sweden in 2023, mainly by immigration opponents, sparking outrage in the Muslim world.

Topics: Germany Swedish parliament Afghan qur'an Daesh

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Pope Francis doing some work as condition slowly improves, Vatican says

Pope Francis doing some work as condition slowly improves, Vatican says
Updated 27 February 2025
Reuters
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Pope Francis doing some work as condition slowly improves, Vatican says

Pope Francis doing some work as condition slowly improves, Vatican says
  • It said a “mild kidney insufficiency” had been resolved but that his prognosis was still “guarded“
  • Francis, known to work himself to exhaustion, has continued leading the Vatican from hospital
Updated 27 February 2025
Reuters

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis is doing some work in hospital while undergoing various treatments for double pneumonia, a Vatican official said on Thursday.
The 88-year-old pontiff was spending his 14th day in Rome’s Gemelli hospital with the severe respiratory infection, which triggered various complications.
The Vatican said he had spent a restful night, after saying on Wednesday evening that there had been a “further, slight improvement” in his condition.
It said a “mild kidney insufficiency” had been resolved but that his prognosis was still “guarded,” meaning he was not out of danger.
Francis, known to work himself to exhaustion, has continued leading the Vatican from hospital, as staff appointments requiring his approval are announced daily.
On Wednesday, it said he had created a commission to encourage donations to help address
a widening gap in finances
, including an 83-million-euro ($87 million) budget shortfall.
The Vatican has been much more forthcoming about the pope’s health than in the past, trying to
pre-empt the spread of misinformation. Brief early-morning statements are followed daily by more detailed evening updates.
A Vatican official, who did not wish to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the pope’s condition, said Francis was alert, continuing his treatments, and able to eat normally and move about his room.
The official said it was unclear how long Francis would remain in hospital. He was still receiving supplementary oxygen from a small tube under his nose, but was breathing on his own.
The Vatican said a public audience on Saturday had been canceled, but did not say whether he would lead his usual weekly prayer with pilgrims on Sunday. Francis has not been seen in public since being admitted to hospital.
On Wednesday, the Vatican said for the first time that he was receiving respiratory physiotherapy, normally aimed at improving lung function, clearing secretions and making breathing more efficient.
Francis has suffered several bouts of ill health over the past two years. He is prone to lung infections because he developed pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
Double pneumonia is a serious infection of both lungs that can inflame and scar them, making it difficult to breathe. The Vatican said Francis suffered a “prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis” on Saturday, but there have been no repeats.
Hundreds of people have assembled in St. Peter’s Square over the past three evenings for prayer vigils, while well-wishers have also gathered outside the hospital.
“At this moment, I think I feel confident. I am happy with the news that I’m getting from Vatican News, that he is getting better,” said one of those, Sister Theodosia Baki from Cameroon.

Topics: Pope Francis Vatican Pneumonia

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