Zecharias Zelalem

This week, I appeared on German public TV Deutsche Welle to discuss possible war in the Horn of Africa.

Among the points I make: Iran🇮🇷 bombing the UAE🇦🇪 could drain Emirati coffers a bit, impacting Emirati East African war operations.

This could lead to a postponing of war plans by Emirati client state Ethiopia🇪🇹 , while significantly hampering operations by its other proxy, the genocidal RSF in Sudan🇸🇩.

My interview begins at 12:24 at the link below.

https://youtu.be/v6chlOqON8g

Appeared on the Global Dispatches podcast last week to discuss the complexities of possible war in the Horn of Africa. I discuss how none of the usual Middle East and regional powers involved in the region (🇸🇦 🇦🇪 🇹🇷 ) can be considered neutral brokers. There is space for an EU member state to bring parties to dialogue.

N.B...a follow up I'll put up tomorrow addresses the same brewing conflict vis a vis the deteriorating situation caused by the US/Israel war with Iran.

https://www.globaldispatches.org/p/ethiopia-is-sliding-fast-toward-major

Hello fediverse friends. For The Globe and Mail newspaper, I've spent the last four months hearing from survivors of Myanmar's infamous scam compounds. Run by Chinese criminal syndicates with the collaboration of at least one Burmese pro-junta militia, the camps are staffed by trafficking victims, including a growing number of Africans who are beaten, electrocuted and raped if they don't meet scamming targets. They aren't paid for their efforts. My story is published. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-africans-scam-camps-myanmar-scamming-rings-asia/

Today, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared in parliament to answer the usual softball questions and made a ground-breaking admission.

He was asked about the security situation and a potential war with neighbouring Eritrea. What led to the fallout of two countries that were formerly allied?

Abiy claims that things actually began to unravel as far back as the Tigray war, when Eritrean soldiers massacred civilians in the town of Axum. He claims that is where the feud began.

Uneasy peace agreed; five days of fighting halted.

Demonstrations were held yesterday in areas not far from where serious clashes between Ethiopian soldiers and Tigrayan rebels first broke out on Thursday.

Protesters called for an end to fighting and for rebels to vacate the area. In a country where spontaneous protest is criminalized, this was a state choreographed gathering.

Anyways, following behind the scenes diplomacy and calls by the international community, fighting has ceased for now.

With the uncertainty of a brewing war in Tigray, I didn't expect to see the Epstein files trending in the Horn of Africa, but they are.

67 year old Berhanu Nega, who is Ethiopia's current Education Minister, was the subject of emails exchanged in 2009 between the disgraced sexual offender, Henry Jarecki, a wealthy entrepreneur also dogged by allegations of SA, & Jim Miller, who at the time headed a fund that assisted persecuted scholars.

These emails were made accessible in Friday's release.

Three days into a new conflict brewing in Ethiopia's Tigray region, the factions are either silent or somewhat cryptic thus far.

Today, in response to a call by the African Union for restraint, the TPLF, under whose command Tigrayan TDF rebels operate, wrote a response to the AU stating that they were open to engaging in dialogue. The letter does not acknowledge that fighting has broken out nor that the TPLF/TDF fired the first bullet. It's pretty vague and leaves more questions unanswered.