President Donald Trump’s foreign policy point man came virtually empty handed to counter China’s growing influence in continent he is trying to court.

Ironically Mike Pompeo’s last stop on his three- nation safari was Addis Ababa which has China written all over it.

The airport where he landed and the highway that carried him into the city are both built by China, as is the metro system, the modern railway to Djibouti, factories and the African Union headquarters where he saw the president of the continental organization.

The US Secretary Of State promised $8-million to fight a plague of locusts in East Africa and the Horn.

But he came with no new investment initiatives in a continent largely ignored by his administration.

The post Pompeo ends his empty-handed first safari appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The meeting brokered by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took place in Addis Ababa without any communique being issued.

It is billed as breaking the ice. Observers say it could be heartening news for the complex and troubled Horn of Africa.

Presidents Mohamed Farmajo of Somalia and Musa Bihi of Somaliland are the first two leaders of those countries to meet in nearly 30 years.

Somaliland withdrew from its post-independence union with Somalia after the 1991 fall of dictator Siad Barre who tried to bomb Somaliland out of existence.

Since then its has successive democratic elections but has never gained recognition by Africa or the rest of the world.

The post A ray of hope for the Horn of Africa appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

He was speaking after the destruction of a number of mosques on Amhara, north of the capital Addis Ababa.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner condemned attempt by extremists to break down Ethiopia’s rich history of religious tolerance and co-existence which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed added have  no place in the new prosperity focused country.

He condemns what he calls acts of cowardice and calls on peace-loving Ethiopians to draw deeply on their reservoir of respect.

Five people suspected of burning down four mosques in Ethiopia’s Amhara region have been arrested.

A church in the town of Motta was also targeted by arsonists but it is not immediately clear who is responsible.

The post Ethiopian Prime Minister condemns religious violence appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Jessica Lapenn was speaking at her last US Independence Day reception as Charge d’Affairs.

She is moving on to become the US Ambassador to the African Union in Addis Ababa.

Jessica Lapenn tells guests at the Fourth of July celebration  of the 243rd birthday of the United States that American firms generate more than ten percent of South Africa’s GDP.

The US has given more than R84 billion to fighting HIV AIDS in South Africa where 10 million more people will be receiving treatment by 2020.

US assistance to arts and culture in South Africa grow annually, she says, because the conditions for democracy and for art are one and the same.  

The post US chief envoy to South Africa celebrates bilateral commonalities appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

General Asamnew Tsige was killed near the Amhara capital of Bahir Dar  where the state governor was shot by his bodyguard on Saturday.

Ethiopia’s army chief was also killed by his his bodyguard in the capital Addis Ababa as part of that plot.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called on Ethiopian to unite against what he called this evil.

Ethiopia observed a day of mourning for the victims of the attempted coup.

There is resentment within the old power elite over reforms Ahmed has introduced since coming to power last year, including putting on trial military personnel accused of human rights violations during Ethiopia’s hardline undemocratic rule 

The post Suspected coup mastermind killed in Ethiopia appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made the announcement on national television after gunfire was heard overnight in the capital Addis Ababa.

ends intro

Clad in army fatigues, a grim-faced premier Abiy Ahmed denounced plotters attempting a coup in Ethiopia’s second most populous state Amhara.

The US embassy in Ethiopia warned of gunfire in the Amhara state capital Bahir Dar and in Addis Ababa.

There’ no indication of exactly who’s behind the attempted overthrow of the reformist prime minister….

…who has tried to release the 100-million Ethiopians  from iron-fisted government by releasing political prisoners, unbanning parties and allowing the return of exiles.

Ethnic violence in Amhara has raged for years, displacing more than a million people. 

The post Army chief shot in attempted Ethiopia coup appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

That crash and an earlier disaster involving a similar jetliner in Indonesia five months earlier has led to the world-wide grounding all 380 Boeing 737 Max.

At the Paris Air Show, Ethiopian Airlines  chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam says US congressmen blaming pilot error for the Boeing 737 Max crashes are seriously misinformed.

Boeing’s chief executive Dennis Muilenberg repeated the admission that the company had failed to communicate properly with regulators and customers about problems that Boeing would correct.

Gebremariam says the world-wide fleet of 394 Boeing 737 Max remains grounded. The facts speak for themselves. 

The post Ethiopia Airlines boss rounds on US lawmakers who blame pilots for Boeing 737 Max crash appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Tibor Nagy will urge the military junta to cease attacks on civilians who are on a civil disobedience campaign aimed at removing them.

The mission of US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Tibor Nagy is to help create an enabling environment to get Sudan’s Transitional Military Council back to the negotiation table with civilians bent on running the country following the fall of President Omar Al Bashir.

Trust has broken down after the delaying of 108 protestors last week and a further four this week when the civil disobedience campaign took effect.

Nagy will go on to Addis Ababa where Ethiopia premier Abiy Ahmed has been accepted as a mediator  in the Sudanese imbroglio. 

The post US top Africa envoy heads for Sudan appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The regional authority IGAD insists President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar remain committed to a lasting peace.

The delay in forming a unity government in South Sudan  is ascribed to lack of political will, financial shortages and time constraints.

Meeting in Addis Ababa, the Intergovernmental Agency on Development, points out that only 27 of the 59 essential tasks before formation of a unity government  have been completed.

The regional body says it’s confident the process will continue, ending the civil war that has torn South Sudan since 2013 with a death toll approaching 400 000 and two million people driven from their homes – the largest displacement on the planet.

The post South Sudan unity government delayed for six months appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

This follows President Donald Trump bowing to pressure from pilots, flight crew, politicians and flight crew and grounding the entire fleet of this plane.

ends intro

Boeing’s lost $25-billion in market value since the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people last Sunday.

There are 5 000 Boeing 737 Max aircraft on order and 300 already flying.

President Donald Trump says there is information possibly linking the Addis Ababa disaster to the crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max near Jakarta last October.

Paris has one of a handful of  laboratories around the world capable of reading  flight parameters and cockpit conversations from black boxes.

The post Crashed Ethiopian Airlines black boxes arrive in Paris for analysis appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.