Central African Republic

Chad

Ethiopia

Sudan

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Military & Security

The United Arab Emirates is growing its smuggling network to Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, through Ethiopia and the Central African Republic, Le Monde reported on March 22.

Sudan: UAE Developing New Weapons Smuggling Routes to RSF Despite Iran War

Somalia

Politics

The government of Somalia's South West state suspended all cooperation and relations with the federal government, accusing it of arming local militias seeking to remove the state's president, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, Reuters reported on March 17. 

Somalia: South West State Severs Ties With Federal Government Amid Reported Armed Clashes

Egypt

Iran

Economics

Energy

Environment, Science & Technology

Science & Technology

Ethiopia's Ministry of Transport and Logistics has called to accelerate the country's transition to electric transport and reduce its reliance on imported fuels, Addis Standard reported on March 17.

Ethiopia: Government To Accelerate Transition to EVs, Alternative Energy Amid Iran-Linked Disruptions

Eritrea

Sudan's Sudanese Armed Forces-backed government accused Ethiopia of allowing its territory to be used to conduct drone attacks inside Sudan and said such actions represented "a clear act of aggression," Sudan Tribune reported on March 2.

Sudan: SAF Denounces Drone Strikes From Ethiopian Territory

United States

The Egyptian government is open to supporting Ethiopia's push to gain maritime access to the Red Sea if Addis Ababa shows "flexibility" regarding the Nile waters dispute, The National reported on Feb. 23, quoting Egyptian sources.

Egypt, Ethiopia: Egypt Reportedly Ready To Support Ethiopia's Sea Access in Return for 'Flexibility' in Nile Talks

Turkey

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Addis Ababa for a state visit, following which the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen bilateral energy cooperation, CNBC Africa reported on Feb. 18. 

Ethiopia: Abiy Meets Erdogan Amid Major Military Buildup Near Tigray

Ethiopia is hosting a major training and logistics camp of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the border with Sudan in its western Benishangul-Gumuz region, Reuters reported on Feb. 10, with eight sources stating that the United Arab Emirates had financed the camp's construction.

Ethiopia, Sudan: Ethiopia Harboring UAE-Financed RSF Training Camp in the West

Ethiopia accused Eritrean security forces of making "further" incursions into northeastern Ethiopia and conducting "joint military manoeuvres" with unnamed rebel groups in northwestern Ethiopia, labelling both moves as "acts of outright aggression," Addis Standard reported on Feb. 8.

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Accuses Eritrea of 'Further' Military Incursion, Urges Immediate Withdrawal

Assessments

Senior members of Ethiopia's armed forces attend a ceremony in Guba on Sept. 9, 2025.

The Ethiopian government's military buildup near Tigray suggests that fresh clashes with the TPLF are likely in the coming months, which could quickly morph into a major, protracted conflict that draws in neighboring Eritrea.

Assessing the Risk of Conflict in Northern Ethiopia: Short-Term Scenarios

Snapshots

Destroyed vehicles are strewn outside Sudan's finance ministry building in the capital Khartoum on Jan. 17, 2026, after nearly three years of devastating war in the country.

Ethiopia's apparent tilt toward the RSF paramilitary group in neighboring Sudan could trigger deadly border clashes and prompt the Sudanese military to deepen ties with Tigrayan forces.

Ethiopia Discreetly Dips Into Sudan's Civil War

Israel

Syria

Yemen

Residents wave Somali flags as they attend a rally denouncing Israel's recognition of the breakaway region of Somaliland at Mogadishu Stadium in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Dec. 30, 2025. 

Two regional alignments are coalescing along the Red Sea and in the Horn of Africa, risking the escalation of proxy conflicts and longstanding rivalries.

The Unfolding Regional Realignments Along the Red Sea and Their Implications

Residents wave Somaliland flags as they gather to celebrate Israel's announcement recognizing Somaliland's statehood in downtown Hargeisa, on Dec. 26, 2025. 

Israel establishing military facilities in Somaliland would invite Houthi attacks against the territory and raise the likelihood of renewed disruptions to Red Sea shipping.


Israel's Recognition of Somaliland Raises the Stakes Along the Red Sea Corridor 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (center), flanked by his wife (left) and Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh (right), attends the official inauguration ceremony of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, on Sept. 9, 2025.

Worsening tensions over sea access and Eritrea's ties to groups opposed to the Ethiopian government raise the risk of intensifying proxy clashes that could quickly escalate into a larger military confrontation.

Assessing the Risk of an Ethiopia-Eritrea War in 2026

South Sudan

Burundi

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kenya

Malawi

Mozambique

Rwanda

Tanzania

Uganda

Zambia

China

Japan

Europe

The Geopolitics of Trade

Global Trade

Over the next decade, Kenya and Tanzania will compete for the title of East Africa's leading trade gateway, particularly as global demand for Central Africa's critical minerals grows. 

The Geopolitics of Trade: The Race to Unlock East Africa, Part 1 

Brazil

France

United Kingdom

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on Aug. 27, 2025.

Israel-Hamas Conflict

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: France's Bayrou Faces a Confidence Vote, Ethiopia Inaugurates Its Mega-Dam

Columns

On Geopolitics

Shipping containers are offloaded from a vessel at Berbera Port in Somaliland on Aug. 31, 2021.   (ED RAM/AFP via Getty Images)

The UAE is expanding its influence across East Africa through large-scale investments and security partnerships, aiming to consolidate its status as a global trade hub and counter regional competitors, at the risk of entangling regional states in broader geopolitical contests.

The UAE's Long Game in East Africa

A Tigrayan flag waves at the entrance of a hospital in Tigray's regional capital, Mekele, on Oct. 10, 2024. 

The ruling TPLF's apparent rapprochement with Eritrea and the rise of anti-TPLF groups are raising the risk of an Ethiopian-Eritrean proxy conflict in Tigray that could eventually spur a larger military escalation.

Ethiopia's Tigray Region Faces a Brewing Storm Amid Shifting Alliances

Germany

Ukraine

Russia

Reichstag in Berlin with flags.

The Weekly Rundown: U.S.-Russia Contacts on a Ukraine Ceasefire, a Vote on Reforming Germany’s Debt Brake

Lebanon

Palestinian Territories

Sri Lanka

Damage on Feb. 13 in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Social Issues

The Weekly Rundown: Mideast Ceasefires and Arab Gaza Proposals, the AU Summit

Sub-Saharan Africa

Americas

Colombia

Cuba

Haiti

Nicaragua

Venezuela

Iraq

Jordan

Cambodia

Indonesia

North Macedonia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Serbia

Albania

Kosovo

South Asia

Afghanistan

Bangladesh

India

The lobby of the headquarters for the U.S. Agency for International Development is seen on Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. 

Cuts to U.S.-funded humanitarian and development programs could worsen global health outcomes, destabilize security environments, accelerate democratic backsliding, and create opportunities for rival powers to expand their influence.

The Global Implications of Trump's Foreign Aid Cuts

Ethiopia is an ancient African country bordered by Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, South Sudan and Sudan. Ethiopia's relatively large population of 100 million people has helped the country establish itself as a regional heavyweight in East Africa. Its extensive mountain system, which surrounds the fertile lowland core of the country, is key to understanding Ethiopia's diverse ethnic composition and how it relates to its neighbors. Invasion is not a major concern for Ethiopia, as the northern Ethiopian Plateau and the Ahmar Mountains almost completely surround the lowlands. In the northeast, the Awash River Basin opens to the coastline, but even this area gains a certain measure of protection from its extreme desert conditions. The country's capital, Addis Ababa, sits at an elevated position overseeing the lowlands, where the majority Oromo and Amharic peoples merge with several less populous mountain cultures. Ethiopia's greatest challenge is uniting these disparate groups. Financially, Ethiopia's export and import costs are high because neighbors Djibouti and Eritrea block its sea access. North of the lowland core, the Ethiopian Plateau serves as the country's breadbasket, growing wheat, barley, corn and the staple crop teff. These highlands form an extensive drainage system that creates the most fertile land in the region. Within this region lies Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile River, which is the largest tributary of the greater Nile River. Much of Ethiopia's coffee is grown at the fertile apex of the Ahmar Mountains, which are south of the lowlands. Those mountains descend into the arid Ogaden desert, which was acquired in the 19th century and remains disconnected from the core. While it provides Ethiopia with strategic depth to protect it from the issues of its unstable neighbor Somalia, the desert is also home to separatist and Somali militants, which pose a threat to the Ethiopian state.

SITUATION REPORTS

Sudan: UAE Developing New Weapons Smuggling Routes to RSF Despite Iran War

Somalia: South West State Severs Ties With Federal Government Amid Reported Armed Clashes

Ethiopia: Government To Accelerate Transition to EVs, Alternative Energy Amid Iran-Linked Disruptions

Sudan: SAF Denounces Drone Strikes From Ethiopian Territory

Egypt, Ethiopia: Egypt Reportedly Ready To Support Ethiopia's Sea Access in Return for 'Flexibility' in Nile Talks

Ethiopia: Abiy Meets Erdogan Amid Major Military Buildup Near Tigray

Ethiopia, Sudan: Ethiopia Harboring UAE-Financed RSF Training Camp in the West

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Accuses Eritrea of 'Further' Military Incursion, Urges Immediate Withdrawal

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