The French and German foreign ministers arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday on a mission to support a peace agreement signed last year to end two years of brutal war. The visit by France’s Catherine Colonna and Annalena Baerbock of…
Ukraine war: Zelensky delivers defiant Christmas message after Russian strikes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged his people to persevere in the face of Russian attacks as the country celebrates Christmas. In a defiant speech on Saturday, he said: “Freedom comes at a high price. But slavery has an even…
WHO chief says his uncle was murdered by Eritrean troops in Ethiopia’s Tigray
The head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that Eritrean troops “murdered” his uncle in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. WHO Director-General Tedros…
Ukraine war: Body of Zambian student Lemekhani Nyirenda returned by Russia
The body of a Zambian student who was killed in Ukraine fighting for Russia has been returned to his home country. Lemekhani Nyirenda died in September but Russian officials only informed Zambian authorities last month. The 23-year-old, a student at…
Russia has rocket launcher at Ukraine nuclear power plant, Utility says
Russia has placed several Grad rocket launchers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power utility. The weapons were placed “near power unit No. 6, right next to the territory of the station’s dry storage of…
Russian port of Novorossiysk vulnerable to attack by Kiev – London
A British assessment of the suspected Ukrainian attack on oil depots near the Russian port of Novorossiysk shows that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was vulnerable to attack by Kiev. The British Ministry of Defence on Tuesday referred to Russian and…
Ukrainian police find evidence of torture in Kherson
Ukrainian police have found evidence of alleged crimes, including torture, in the liberated area of Kherson, repeating a pattern from other areas of the country liberated from Russian control this year. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said on Ukrainian television on…
First UN aid convoy since ceasefire enters Ethiopia’s Tigray
Fifteen trucks carrying food aid entered Ethiopia’s Tigray region on Wednesday, the United Nations’s food agency said, as humanitarian groups gain access for the first time since a ceasefire agreement was signed two weeks ago. The convoy entered Tigray through…
My message to the Nigerian media – Kadaria Ahmed
It is with a heavy heart, worry about Nigeria and a sense of impending doom that I am sending this message to my colleagues in the media. Let me begin with a question, what exactly will we gain if Nigeria…
A measure of war
A review of Burma Boy by Biyi Bandele Farafina 212pp Of two abiding mysteries of war, the first is that men who have seen active combat seem to always recognise each other. When war veterans who have been at bloody…