April 29, 2012: Ethiopia and
Egypt, working through the AU (African Union), have asked Sudan and
South Sudan to resume negotiations to end their war. Discussions have
taken place in Ethiopia and Egypt. Since the time of the pharaohs Egypt
has regarded Sudan as its backdoor.
Ethiopia has remained nominally
neutral in the Sudan-South Sudan War, but has cultural and historical
connections with the people of South Sudan. Egypt is predominantly
Muslim, as is Sudan, Ethiopia is predominantly Christian, as is South
Sudan. Ethiopia and Egypt are both much more powerful than either of the
Sudans. The nightmare scenario for an escalating East African war has
Egypt aligning with Sudan and Ethiopia aligning with South Sudan.
The government is expanding its blocking of hostile or
opposition web sites. The website of a major opposition newspaper, the
The Reporter, has been blocked, by the state-owned communications
company, for a week. Call
it The Great Nile River War, because Nile water issues play a huge role
in Ethiopian and Egyptian strategic planning. Ethiopian and Egyptian
leaders, however, know that war will have no winner. Cooler heads in
Ethiopia and Egypt are trying to calm the hot heads in Sudan and South
Sudan. April 27, 2012: Oromo rebels claimed that Ethiopian security
forces killed four Oromo civilians and wounded eight in an incident in
the town of Hassasa
April 24, 2012: The US warned its citizens to avoid hotels
and government buildings in Nairobi, Kenya because of possible Islamic
terror attacks. Kenyan and Ethiopian military forces remain engaged in
operations in Somalia and the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab has
threatened retaliation attacks in Kenya. Two terror attacks (with
grenades) in Nairobi (October 2011) had links to Al Shabaab. Those
attacks left one dead and 20 injured. Another grenade attack took place
March 10, 2012, on a bus loading zone. Six people were slain and 63
wounded in that attack.
April 23, 2012: Eritrea accused the CIA of attempting to
smear its president, Isaias Afewerki, by claiming that he is fatally
ill. There are rumors that Afewerki is sick. April 22, 2012: Egyptian officials are once again worrying
that Ethiopia’s Grand Millennium Dam project will greatly reduce Egypt’s
share of Nile River water. The Egyptian statements follow an Ethiopian
report that the dam may be enlarged (with the lake behind it having a
depth of 150 meters instead of 90). The Ethiopian government rejected
the Egyptian complaints. Ethiopia wants to sell electricity generated by
the dam to Egypt.
April 21, 2012: Ethiopia has asked that South Sudan to help
facilitate the return of several hundred South Sudanese tribal
militiamen who fled into Ethiopia to avoid South Sudan’s Jonglei state
disarmament program. April 19, 2012: Somalia’s Al Shabaab Islamist militant group
claimed that its fighter ambushed an Ethiopian military convoy in
Somalia’s Galgadud region. The pro-Somali government Islamist group,
Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa, said that a firefight did occur but that no Ahulu
Sunna militiamen or Ethiopian soldiers were killed in the incident.
Another Somali source reported that an Ethiopian vehicle hit a landmine
and three soldiers died in the incident. Only a handful of journalists
have managed to get into the Galgadud area, where Ethiopian forces are
deployed, so most battle reports consist of allegations and claims and
counter-claims by the belligerents. The other sources, however, are
usually cell phone reports from local Somali civilians who phone
friendly journalists or aid organization workers.
Source: http://cyberethiopia.com/news/?id=186290
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