Conflict and Peace

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday (30 September) told seven senior UN officials to leave the country within the next 72 hours accusing them of 'meddling in internal affairs. The decision to expel came two days after the UN Humanitarian Chief, Martin Griffiths, warned of a government man-made blockade of aid that would likely lead to a famine.

The meeting identified several practical ideas for possible confidence-building measures, and agreed to work to further elaborate them. For this purpose three working groups and three contact groups were created.

US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday (27 September) to and later will travel to the UAE to discuss a range of “regional and global challenges”. With Yemen expected to be a key topic in the discussions, the Yemeni PM travelled back to Yemen.

commonspace.eu political editor said in a comment that the Georgian initiative, although for the moment short on detail, is very timely. There is in the South Caucasus a sense that a window of opportunity now exists to try to bring to a solution some of the many outstanding issues that have caused tensions and conflicts since the collapse of the Soviet Union. There are already a number of ideas floating around about possible formations for taking forward the process for regional peace, including a Turkish one which proposes a 3+3 format. The Georgian initiative appears to be very different, but leaves many questions yet unanswered. But the very fact that Georgia has committed to such a process is a positive development.

Senior diplomats from Iran, Saudi Arabia and the European Union met again this week in New York as efforts continue to defuse tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Armenia is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its independence but whilst it has all the attributes of a modern state a lot of its institutions are hollow. There is much that can be done, and if it acts reasonably, Armenia can celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence in twenty years’ time in a much more positive atmosphere, writes Benyamin Poghosyan in this anniversary op-ed. 

A new report published by Amnesty International on Monday (13 September), denounces the increasing incidence of children being killed and recruited by armed terrorist groups in Niger, especially in the "three borders" area, where the country shares borders with Burkina Faso and Mali, an area where jihadist attacks have peaked in recent months.