Musings From Abroad

Ethiopia’s Foreign minister wants joint effort for peace in Horn of Africa

Published

3 months ago

September 1, 2024

To combat Al Shabaab in the Eastern part of Africa, particularly in Somalia, Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Taye Atske Selassie, has recommended that countries in the Horn of Africa work together to combat the terrorist organisation.

Atske Selassie, while briefing journalists on Friday in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, stated that Al Shabaab is “well-equipped” to carry out deadly attacks in the Horn of Africa region.

He also mentioned that countries in the region need to come together more than ever before to defend the terrorist activities of Al Shabaab and keep it at bay.

Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the government is dedicated to working together with Somalia to combat the terrorist organisation.

Ethiopia is providing Somalia with unreserved military and other support until the Somali National Army (SNA) can handle the security problems throughout the country on its own.

In addition to this, he stated that the countries in the region need to redouble their efforts to prevent those forces from undoing the painstaking victories that have been made against terrorism in the region.

Noting that there are unbreakable links of fraternity among the peoples of the area, he made a commitment that Ethiopia will continue to establish, heal, and enhance its relations with the countries that are its neighbours.

Al-Shabaab, which declared its allegiance to Al-Qaida in 2012, continues to be the most active terrorist group in East Africa. Its assaults are largely carried out in Somalia, but they also occur in adjacent states. The year 2021 saw a rise in the number of indirect fire strikes that it launched on aeroplanes and airfields. It continues to be highly versatile.

Al-Shabaab has also carried out big, complicated, and lethal attacks outside of Somalia since the year 2016, including one in Kenya. There are persistent worries regarding actions related to recruitment and radicalisation.

Related Topics:Ethiopia Ethiopia's Foreign minister Featured

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

1 hour ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

22 hours ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.