Burundian Refugees Return Home From Rwanda to an Uncertain Future

For the first time since fleeing their country five years ago, Burundian refugees living in Rwanda are returning home. But while the government sees this as a significant step in uniting a nation torn apart by political violence, activists and aid workers are treating it with caution. Tens of thousands of Burundians remain fearful of returning to a country where human rights abuses are still rampant.

Ethiopia’s Abiy Is on the Brink of a Widening War in the Horn of Africa

When a Nobel Peace Prize winner goes to war little more than a year after receiving the world’s most prestigious honor, it may come as a shock. But when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the prize in 2019, announced last week that he was launching a military offensive against one of his country’s ethnic regions, the news didn’t surprise close observers.

EU: New Pact on Migration and Asylum

The question at the core of the internal EU conflict over migration in Europe is not practical but political: whether the EU should take any migrants at all. On that question, the European Commission and the Central and Eastern European countries could not be further apart.

The proposed system invariably gives rise to multiple questions about the practical viability of the proposed system. Will frontline states become efficient at screening migrants? Will the planned increased border control work? How, exactly, are widespread, years-long people-smuggling and human trafficking by gangs who profit immensely from it, going to be stopped?

Egypt backs Polisario Front, risks relations with Morocco

As the conflict between the Polisario Front and Morocco intensifies, more than eight Arab countries rush to declare their full support for the kingdom, while Egypt simply calls on the parties to show restraint and refrain from any provocative actions.

Libya’s Interior Ministry secures National Oil Corporation HQ in Tripoli after assault

The Libyan Interior Ministry said it had instructed all security apparatuses to secure the National Oil Corporation (NOC) after its headquarters was subjected to an attack by an armed group.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the security apparatuses in the capital had tackled the attack of the armed group on the NOC as they were authorized to use force of needed and to make arrests of all the perpetrators.

Armed militias fail to storm NOC Tripoli headquarters

Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) confirmed that today there was an attempt by armed militias to storm its Tripoli headquarters.

The NOC confirmed media news that at noon today ‘‘some armed outlaw gangs attempted to forcefully enter the headquarters of the National Oil Corporation in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Petroleum Facilities Guard, charged with protecting the Corporation’s building, was surprised by the arrival of armed vehicles in the opposite direction to traffic, making some chaotic movements, withdrew weapons and tried to break into the outer fence to the institution building’’.

Egypt accuses Qatar of undermining peace talks via support for Libyan government

Qatar has signed an agreement with the Tripoli-based Libyan government to build and train military forces in what some see as an attempt to undermine the current progress toward a political solution in Libya.

In what observers considered a new challenge for the 5+5 Joint Military Commission talks in Geneva and a desire to obstruct the peace endeavors between Libyan parties, Qatar signed a military agreement Nov. 13 with the Government of National Accord (GNA) based in western Libya to “train and build military capacities.” This step allows Qatar to boost its military presence on Libyan territories.