The United Nations chief sharply criticized the powerful Security Council for a failure of leadership to end wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and beyond.

U.N.-backed human rights investigators are urging the creation of an “independent and impartial force” to protect civilians in Sudan’s war.

Fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary group have rampaged through a central village, looting and burning and killing at least 85 people, including women and children.

The U.N. migration agency tells The Associated Press that the number of internally displaced people in Sudan has reached more than 10 million as war drives many from their homes.

A top migration monitoring group says conflicts and natural disasters left nearly 76 million people displaced within their countries last year, a new record.

Britain has circulated a draft U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in conflict-wracked Sudan ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins soon.

Almost seven months of war between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group have left a wave of destruction.

The United Nations humanitarian chief says Sudan's war between the military and a powerful paramilitary group has killed up to 9,000 people and created “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history."

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has accused the country’s National Security Service of threatening media and civil society and undermining prospects for a democratic transition before next year's election.

Four Western countries have floated a proposal for the United Nations' top human rights body to appoint a team of experts to monitor and report on abuses and rights violations in war-wracked Sudan.

It’s Day 3 of the U.N. General Assembly high-level meeting that brings world leaders together at U.N. headquarters in New York.

A leading human rights group has called on the United States and the United Nations to impose more sanctions on the Sudanese leaders responsible for the ongoing atrocities in Darfur.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor says he is investigating alleged new war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western Darfur region during the current conflict that has killed over 3,000 and displaced more than 3 million.

The U.N. Security Council is calling for a halt to fighting in Sudan and the protection of civilians.

Residents are reporting that clashes between warring factions resumed in Sudan’s capital and a neighboring city after a three-day cease-fire expired.

The United Nations says International donors have promised Monday almost $1.5 billion in additional aid to conflict-stricken Sudan.

UNICEF says Sudan's warring factions should better protect vulnerable children in the conflict zone, where hundreds of children have been killed and millions of young people “are trapped in an unrelenting nightmare.”.

The UN children's agency says about 300 children have been rescued from an orphanage in Sudan’s capital after being trapped there while fighting raged outside.

More than 40,000 people have crossed into South Sudan since neighboring Sudan erupted into conflict nearly one month ago.

Top U.N. officials and health industry leaders are demanding that the world invest more to develop new vaccines and tackle a surge in tuberculosis fueled by the impact of COVID-19 and conflicts including Ukraine and Sudan.

Sudan's Doctors Syndicate says at least 100 people were killed in clashes that erupted last month between armed fighters in a city in Sudan’s restive region of Darfur.

Sudanese authorities say at least 14 people are dead after a gold mine collapsed in northern Sudan.

The coronavirus pandemic interrupted efforts to control malaria, resulting in 63,000 additional deaths and 13 million more infections.

A senior health official says two days of tribal fighting in Sudan’s south has killed at least 220 people, marking one the deadliest bouts of tribal violence in recent years.

Africa must plan to respond effectively to disease outbreaks without outside help, a top public health official said Wednesday, warning that the continent of 1.3 billion people is “on its own” during pandemics.

The U.S. State Department says its special envoy to the Horn of Africa will end his appointment “in the coming days” after a year marked by deadly crises in Ethiopia and Sudan.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Africa next week as the Biden administration intensifies diplomatic efforts to resolve crises in Ethiopia and Sudan and seeks to boost counterterrorism cooperation.

President Joe Biden says he’s moving to cut out Ethiopia from a U.S. trade program.

Ethiopian authorities say Eritrean troops have started withdrawing from Tigray, where they have been fighting on the side of Ethiopian troops in a war against the region’s fugitive leaders.

The banks of the Tekeze River, on the Sudan-Ethiopia border after Ethiopian forces blocked people from crossing into Sudan, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, March 16, 2021. Ethiopian and allied forces for months have allegedly blocked people from crossing, though more than 60,000 have made it into Sudan. AdAbiy's new statement does not say what exactly will happen if Tigray's fugitive political and military leaders do not turn themselves in. It reminds them to “do their part by learning from the devastation and damage so far” and preventing further bloodshed. But witnesses and humanitarian workers have described scenes where Ethiopian federal authorities are hardly present or stand by, watching, as Tigrayans are targeted.

An Ethiopian official said on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 that his government opposes calls by Sudan for outside mediators including the United States in the ongoing dispute over its construction of a massive hydroelectric dam on the Nile River. Ethiopia is generally opposed to mediation by outside parties even though the African Union is welcome to help, Dina Mufti, spokesman for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters. “The tripartite talks between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam should be concluded between the three countries themselves, not through mediators,” he said. Mufti added that Ethiopia has “big respect for the African Union” and that the country "believes in resolving African problems by Africans." AdNegotiators have said key questions remain about how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs and how the countries will resolve any future disputes.

AdHe also sanctioned a bill that makes the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines easier. However, the actual numbers of COVID-19 cases, like elsewhere in the world, are thought to be far higher, in part due to limited testing. Murphy, who’s running for re-election this, said the state’s COVID-19 trends are headed in the right direction, though they’ve been up a bit this week. ___SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s governor says all adults in the state will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines on April 1. Ad___PHOENIX — Arizona on Wednesday reported 830 confirmed coronavirus cases and 78 deaths, following two days of no new deaths.

(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)NAIROBI – The United States says it has decided to “de-link” its suspension of millions of dollars of aid to Ethiopia from that country’s dispute with Egypt over a massive hydroelectric dam project. The State Department said humanitarian assistance remains exempt from the aid suspension. Ethiopia had left a U.S.-led attempt to mediate the dispute with Egypt, alleging bias. Trump also caused an uproar by saying downstream Egypt would “blow up” the dam project that Cairo considers an existential threat. AdThe U.S. has said Eritrean soldiers should “immediately” leave Ethiopia.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020 file photo, refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region ride a bus going to the Village 8 temporary shelter, near the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan. Life for civilians in Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region has become "extremely alarming" as hunger grows and fighting remains an obstacle to reaching millions of people with aid, the United Nations said in a new report released late Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)NAIROBI – “Many, many severe cases of malnutrition” are being reported in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region, Red Cross officials said Wednesday, as 80% of Tigray’s 6 million people are unreachable in the fourth month of fighting and "emaciated” women and children fill displacement camps. Reports of people already starving to death might just be a handful, but “after a month it will be in the thousands,” warned Ethiopian Red Cross president Ato Abera Tola. Fighting continues between Ethiopian and allied forces and those of the now-fugitive Tigray government that had dominated the country’s leadership for nearly 30 years.

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2020, file photo, refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region arrive on the banks of the Tekeze River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan. The opposition parties say the international community should ensure the immediate withdrawal of fighters including soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, who witnesses say are supporting Ethiopian forces. The opposition parties assert that the hunger is man-made as cattle have been killed and raided, crops burned and homes looted and destroyed. The statement was signed by the Tigray Independence Party, the National Congress of Great Tigray and Salsay Weyane Tigray. They were undertaken to spur “sustained, impartial and unimpeded humanitarian access" to Tigray and to refugees and internally displaced people, he said.

(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)NAIROBI – The fugitive leader of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region has reportedly made his first public comments in three months, urging the international community to investigate alleged “genocide” and other abuses by forces including those from neighboring Eritrea. But the comments seemed to note the recent killings of other fugitive Tigray leaders. The Tigray conflict continues largely in shadow. Last week the Biden administration has pressed Eritrea to “immediately” withdraw its soldiers from Tigray, citing credible accounts of looting, sexual assault and other abuses. The Eritreans have been fighting alongside Ethiopian troops against the Tigray forces.

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2020, file photo, refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region arrive on the banks of the Tekeze River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan. Eritrea has said little publicly about the conflict in Tigray as Ethiopian soldiers fight forces loyal to the now-fugitive Tigray regional leaders who once dominated Ethiopia’s government for nearly three decades. The Tigray leaders were marginalized after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, and each side regards the other as illegitimate. Eritrea remains an enemy of the fugitive Tigray leaders after a two-decade border war that ended under Abiy. The situation is “deteriorating every day, every minute,” the president of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, Ato Abera Tola, told reporters on Thursday as Red Cross entities appealed for more financial support.

"There is also evidence of Eritrean soldiers forcibly returning Eritrean refugees from Tigray to Eritrea,” the spokesperson said. The AP this week cited witnesses who fled the Tigray region as saying Eritrean soldiers were looting, going house-to-house killing young men and even acting as local authorities. The Eritreans have been fighting on the side of Ethiopian forces as they pursue the fugitive leaders of the Tigray region, though Ethiopia’s government has denied their presence. “It remains unclear how many Eritrean soldiers are in Tigray, or precisely where,” it says. Witnesses have estimated that the Eritrean soldiers number in the thousands.

CAIRO – The death toll from tribal violence between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan’s West Darfur province climbed to at least 83, including women and children, a doctor’s union and aid worker said, as sporadic violence continued Sunday. Besides the 83 killed, at least 160 others were wounded, according to Sudan’s doctors’ committee in West Darfur. It also puts into question the transitional government’s ability to stabilize the conflict-ravaged Darfur region. Authorities in West Darfur imposed a curfew beginning Saturday that includes the closing of all markets and a ban on public gatherings. West Darfur province experienced a “significant increase” of violence last year, with half of the 40 incidents reported in the entire Darfur region, OCHA said Sunday.

(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)NAIROBI – The United Nations fears “massive community transmission” of COVID-19 in Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region, fueled by displacement and the collapse of health services, as humanitarian workers finally begin to access the region two months after fighting began. “Only five out of 40 hospitals in Tigray are physically accessible,” the new U.N. report issued Thursday says. While its rate of daily cases has declined in recent weeks, officials have not said whether they have been receiving any data from the Tigray region. The report also says the Tigray region remains volatile. The overall humanitarian situation is “dire,” the U.N. says, with food supplies “very limited” and widespread looting reported.

Ethiopia's deadly conflict with its northern Tigray region spilled over the border as several thousand people fled into Sudan, along with soldiers seeking protection, while the Tigray regional leader accused Eritrea of attacking at the request of Ethiopia's federal government. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)NAIROBI – A senior Ethiopian military official has confirmed the presence of security forces from neighboring Eritrea in the deadly conflict in his country’s northern Tigray region, contradicting the Ethiopian government’s denials. The United States last month said it believed Eritrean troops were active in Ethiopia, a “grave development,” as people fleeing the Tigray region alleged that Eritrean forces were involved in the fighting, targeting and abducting Eritrean refugees from camps near the Eritrean border as well as scores of Tigray residents. The involvement of Eritrean forces in a region where nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees shelter in camps has been a major source of alarm for humanitarian workers and others. Verifying conditions inside Tigray remains challenging as communications return and as Ethiopian authorities detain some journalists or deny their travel to the region.

Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari signed the deal with visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to the prime minister's office. Abdulbari said Sudan welcomed “the rapprochement" with Israel and other countries as well as the beginning of diplomatic relations. Although Sudan is not a regional powerhouse, establishing ties with Israel is deeply symbolic. During his visit, Mnuchin met with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in August became the first top U.S. diplomat to visit Sudan since 2005, when Condoleezza Rice visited.

Migrants from Eritrea, Egypt, Syria and Sudan, rest on board the Spanish NGO Open Arms vessel after having been rescued in the Mediterranean sea, about 110 miles north of Libya, on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu)ROME – Italy allowed a Spanish-flagged charity ship with 265 rescued migrants aboard to anchor off Sicily on Monday. The Open Arms vessel had brought the migrants safely aboard in separate rescues last week in the central Mediterranean. Open Arms said 96 of those rescued had been adrift two days in a wooden boat without life vests in international waters. In an earlier, separate operation, Open Arms had taken aboard 169 migrants, who had departed Libyan shores, where many human traffickers are based.

Migrants from Eritrea, Egypt, Syria and Sudan, are assisted by aid workers of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, after fleeing Libya on board a precarious wooden boat in the Mediterranean sea, about 110 miles north of Libya, on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu)ROME – A Spanish-flagged humanitarian ship on Sunday was seeking a port of safety for 265 migrants its crew rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in the last few days. The Open Arms charity tweeted that its vessel on Saturday had safely brought aboard 96 migrants who had been adrift in a wooden boat with without life vests in international waters. In a separate operation two days before that rescue, Open Arms took aboard 169 migrants, who had departed Libyan shores, where many human traffickers are based. The traffickers launch vessels, many of them flimsy rubber dinghies or rickety fishing boats, crowded with migrants who hope to reach European shores to seek asylum.

In this fragile refugee community on the edge of Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict, those who have fled nearly two months of deadly fighting continue to bring new accounts of horror. “So if I go to Tigray, they would pick up that I’m Amhara because Amhara is not a part of them. For Tewodros, the conflict has been one civilian casualty after another since shelling began in early November as he worked at a hospital in Humera. Ethiopia's prime minister often speaks of “medemer,” or national unity, Tewodros said, in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups. In this conflict that remains so much in the shadows, he now relies on strangers to know their fate.

(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)JOHANNESBURG – Ethiopia took “legitimate” military action in its Tigray province to preserve the country's unity and stability, the chairman of the African Union Commission said. In early November, Ethiopia’s federal government launched a military attack on Tigray’s provincial leaders saying they had provoked the federal forces. The Tigray leaders remained defiant and are still at large. The conflict in Tigray has alarmed the international humanitarian community, as communications have been cut off with large parts of the region. The U.N. refugee agency said more than 50,000 Ethiopians, mainly from Tigray, have fled across the border to Sudan.

(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)JOHANNESBURG – The European Union has postponed 90 million euros ($109 million) in budgetary support to Ethiopia over lack of access to the country's Tigray region to deliver humanitarian aid amid the conflict. The conflict in Tigray has alarmed the international humanitarian community, as communications have been cut off with large parts of the region. The U.N. refugee agency said more than 50,000 Ethiopians, mainly from Tigray, have fled across the border to Sudan. He vowed to bring the “criminals” who were the leaders of the regional government of Tigray to justice and urged reconstruction to start immediately. Telecommunications and electricity in Tigray have started to function in some locations but large areas in the region remain inaccessible both for aid workers and journalists.

Tigray refugee children sing and dance inside a tent run by UNICEF for children's activities, in Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. The U.N, refugee agency said it hadn't been informed in advance of the Eritrean refugees' return. Aid groups say thousands of Eritrean refugees had fled to Addis Ababa and the Tigray capital, Mekele. It was not clear where, but the group also supports the Eritrean refugees. Tigray remains largely sealed off from the world five weeks after fighting erupted between Ethiopia’s government and the Tigray one following a months-long power struggle.

Tigray refugees who fled a conflict in the Ethiopia's Tigray region, receive treatment at a clinic run by MSF (Doctors Without Borders) in Village 8, the transit center near the Lugdi border crossing, eastern Sudan, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)NAIROBI – Ethiopia's situation is “spiraling out of control with appalling impact on civilians” and urgently needs outside monitoring, the United Nations human rights chief warned Wednesday. At least one large-scale massacre has been documented by human rights groups, and others are feared. And the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Tibor Nagy, tweeted that “we strongly urge all parties to safeguard humanitarian ​workers in and around Ethiopia’s Tigray region. We continue to urge immediate and unhindered humanitarian access ​throughout Tigray."

MOSCOW – Russia has signed an agreement with Sudan to establish a navy base in the African nation for at least a quarter century, part of Moscow's efforts to expand its global reach. The deal published Tuesday on the official portal of government documents allows Russia to simultaneously keep up to four navy ships, including nuclear-powered ones, in Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The document states that the Russian navy base should “help strengthen peace and stability in the region” and isn’t directed against any third parties. In exchange for Sudan's permission to set up the base, Russia will provide Sudan with weapons and military equipment. After signing the agreement that allows Russia to keep up to 11 warships there, it has moved to modernize and expand the facility.

A Tigray woman who fled the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region holds her child inside of her temporary shelter at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. Another U.N. spokesman, Farhan Haq, said the staffers were stopped at a military checkpoint near Sheraro. Ethiopia's government is making it clear it intends to manage the flow of humanitarian aid, but the U.N. has openly sought unfettered and neutral access according to international principles. Ethiopia's government late last month declared victory in the conflict in the Tigray region against the Tigray People's Liberation Front. The fighting in the region erupted Nov. 4 between Ethiopia’s government and the government of the Tigray region following months of rising tensions.

Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in the Ethiopia's Tigray carry their furniture on the banks of the Tekeze River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. For weeks, the U.N. and others have pleaded for access amid reports of supplies running desperately low for millions of people. “We have been urging, waiting, begging for access,” another aid official, Jan Egeland with the Norwegian Refugee Council, told the AP. The ICRC, the rare organization to travel inside the Tigray region and its borderlands, has reported coming across abandoned communities and camps of displaced people. Inside Tigray, and among the majority ethnic Tigrayan refugees in Sudan, people are exhausted.

This comes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and global challenges including conflicts, forced migration and the impact of global warming. OCHA made the projections in its latest annual Global Humanitarian Overview on Tuesday, saying its hopes to reach 160 million of those people in need will cost $35 billion. “The picture we’re painting this year is the bleakest and darkest perspective on humanitarian needs we’ve ever set out, and that’s because the pandemic has reaped carnage across the most fragile and vulnerable countries on the planet,” said U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, who heads OCHA. OCHA said other countries in need include Afghanistan, Congo, Haiti, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela. Lowcock said it’s not the pandemic, but its economic impact that’s having the greatest effect on humanitarian needs.

(AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)NAIROBI – The fugitive leader of Ethiopia’s defiant Tigray region on Monday called on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to “stop the madness” and withdraw troops from the region as he asserted that fighting continues “on every front” two days after Abiy declared victory. Far from accepting Abiy’s declaration of victory, the Tigray leader asserted that “we are sure we’ll win.”He also accused the Ethiopian forces of carrying out a “genocidal campaign” against the Tigray people. “The secretary-general once again underscored the need for the full respect for human rights, as well as for humanitarian access for ourselves and our humanitarian partners," Dujarric said. Hospitals and health centers in the Tigray region are running “dangerously low” on supplies to care for the wounded, the International Committee of the Red Cross has said. The U.N. has been unable to access the Tigray region.

Hospitals and health centers in the Tigray region are running “dangerously low” on supplies to care for the wounded, it added. Food is also running low, the result of the Tigray region being cut off from outside aid for almost a month. The latest explosions came just hours after Abiy declared victory in his government’s fighting against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which has run the northern Tigray region. “We need first and foremost access” to Tigray, Grandi said, adding that his U.N. colleagues in Addis Ababa are in discussions with the government there. But many of the refugees have said they were running from the deadly violence of Ethiopian forces and attacks from the direction of nearby Eritrea.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement. The prime minister has rejected dialogue with TPLF leaders, including during a Friday meeting with three African Union special envoys. The Tigray region of 6 million people has been cut off from the world as the military pursued what Abiy called a “law enforcement operation" with airstrikes and tanks. Ethiopia’s government had warned residents there would be “no mercy” if they didn’t move away from the TPLF leaders in time. The United Nations said some fled as tanks closed in and Abiy's 72-hour ultimatum for TPLF leaders to surrender expired.

Tigray men who fled the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, work to build shelters at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. Worryingly, refugees in Sudan have told The Associated Press that Ethiopian forces near the border are impeding people from leaving. “We cannot keep social distancing here in the camp,” said Mohammed Rafik Nasri, from the U.N. refugee agency. “Reports of conflicts around refugee camps are very concerning,” said Juliette Stevenson, a spokeswoman with the U.N. refugee agency. While traveling in western Tigray, the ICRC found a number of displaced people living in a makeshift camp without food, water or medical care.

A Tigray girl who fled the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, watches women cook in front of her shelter at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. Misery continues for the refugees in Sudan, with little food, little medicine, little shelter, little funding and little or no contact with loved ones left behind in Tigray. It also asserted that thousands of Tigray militia and special forces surrendered during the 72-hour period. The international community is pleading for immediate de-escalation, dialogue and humanitarian access as Ethiopian forces have fought their way through Tigray to Mekele. That came hours after the U.N. said shortages have become “very critical” in the Tigray region of 6 million people.

“We respectfully urge the international community to refrain from any unwelcome and unlawful acts of interference," the statement from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said as government forces encircled the Tigray capital, Mekele, with tanks. “The international community should stand by until the government of Ethiopia submits its requests for assistance to the community of nations." The Tigray regional leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, could not immediately be reached Wednesday as tensions were high among Mekele's residents. The international community has urgently called for communications to be restored to the Tigray region so warring sides' claims can be investigated, and so food and other desperately needed supplies can be sent as hunger grows. Misery continues for the refugees in Sudan, with little food, little medicine, little shelter, little funding and little or no contact with loved ones left behind in Tigray.

Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in the Ethiopia's Tigray arrive on the banks of the Tekeze River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The U.N. refugee agency says Ethiopia's growing conflict has resulted in thousands fleeing from the Tigray region into Sudan as fighting spilled beyond Ethiopia's borders and threatened to inflame the Horn of Africa region. The TPLF dominated Ethiopia's ruling coalition for a quarter century before Abiy took office and introduced dramatic political reforms and sidelined TPLF leaders. With communications and transport to the Tigray region almost completely severed, it's difficult to verify the warring sides' claims. And inside the Tigray region, the fighting has come close to camps that are home to nearly 100,000 refugees from Eritrea.

Axel Bisschop, the agency’s representative in Sudan, told reporters Friday that “nobody at this stage can say exactly how many will come,” as deadly fighting continues between Ethiopian government and Tigray regional government forces. Another crisis is growing inside the sealed-off Tigray region as food and other supplies run desperately low. “This could unravel Ethiopia and also Sudan,” the UNICEF country representative in Sudan, Abdullah Fadil, said of the crisis. Ethiopia’s government has been fighting the Tigray regional forces since a Nov. 4 attack on a military base there. Now, some of those Eritrean refugees have fled again into Sudan, aid workers said.

The U.N. refugee agency says Ethiopia's growing conflict has resulted in thousands fleeing from the Tigray region into Sudan as fighting spilled beyond Ethiopia's borders and threatened to inflame the Horn of Africa region. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)NAIROBI – Ethiopia could hardly bear another emergency, even before a deadly conflict exploded in its northern Tigray region this month. The Tigray conflict threatens a swifter spread of COVID-19 in the region as people flee their homes. HUNGERFood can’t get into the Tigray region of some 6 million people because of transport restrictions imposed after the fighting began. Humanitarian officials say long lines have appeared outside bread shops, prices have soared, and banks dispense only small amounts of cash.

NAIROBI – Ethiopia’s prime minister on Tuesday declared “the final and crucial” military operation will launch in the coming days against the government of the country’s rebellious Tigray region, while the United Nations warned of a “full-scale humanitarian crisis” with refugees fleeing and people in Tigray starting to go hungry. Inside the Tigray region, cut off from the world with roads and airports closed, food and fuel and medical supplies are running desperately short. Tigray TV showed what appeared to be a bombed-out residential area, with damaged roofs and craters in the ground. One of the injured is the landlord, and the other is a tenant just like us.”Communications with the Tigray region remain almost completely cut off, making it difficult to verify either side’s claims. Hungry, exhausted and scared, refugees from the Tigray region continued to flow into Sudan with terrifying accounts of war.

Refugees from the Tigray region of Ethiopia region wait to register at the UNCHR center at Hamdayet, Sudan on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. At least three rockets appeared to be aimed at the airport in Asmara, hours after the Tigray regional government warned it might attack. There are no indications the airport was struck.”The Tigray regional leader would not say how many missiles remain at his forces’ disposal but said “we have several. The Tigray leader said his government, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, had no communications channel with Eritrea even before the conflict. This is genocide, to destroy Tigray and Tigray people.”Shaken, they described being under attack even as they fled.

NAIROBI – The sound of heavy weapons erupted across the Ethiopian border town, and immediately Filimon, a police officer, started to run. Tigray regional leaders have accused Eritrea of joining the week-long conflict in the region at the request of Ethiopia’s federal government, which regards the Tigray government as illegal. After a day-long journey on foot with some 30 others fleeing, he has spent two days in Sudan, exposed to the sun and wind in a border town that is quickly becoming overwhelmed. The conflict risks drawing in Ethiopia’s neighbors, notably Sudan as well as Eritrea, which is at bitter odds with the TPLF. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 citizens of various countries are stuck in the Tigray region, the U.N. has said.

NAIROBI – Up to 200,000 refugees could pour into Sudan while fleeing the deadly conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, officials said Wednesday, while the first details are emerging of largely cut-off civilians under growing strain. Inside the Tigray region, long lines have appeared outside bread shops, and supply-laden trucks are stranded at its borders, the United Nations humanitarian chief in Ethiopia told the AP. Ethnic Tigrayans are reportedly being targeted across Ethiopia, the Tigray Communication Affairs Bureau said in a Facebook post. The Tigray region has an estimated quarter-million fighters, along with four of the Ethiopian military's six mechanized divisions. There were no details of the message, but the officials discussed “current developments” in Ethiopia, the minister said.

JOHANNESBURG – Negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the controversial dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile River will resume Tuesday, according to the chairman of the African Union, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Egypt and Sudan, however, have expressed concern that the dam will reduce the flow of Nile River waters to their countries. Egypt relies heavily on the Nile to supply water for its agriculture and to its more than 100 million people. Ethiopia celebrated the first stage of the filling of the dam in August, citing heavy rains, to the dismay of Egypt. "The dam already has more than 4.9 billion cubic meters of water in its reservoir,” Abebe Yirga told The Associated Press.

In exchange, Trump notified Congress on Friday of his intent to remove Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Previously, the Trump administration engineered diplomatic pacts between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — the first since Jordan recognized Israel in the 1990s and Egypt in the 1970s. “This is one of the great days in the history of Sudan,” Trump said, adding that Israel and Sudan have been in a state of hostilities for decades, even if they had not been in direct conflict. “Today, Khartoum is saying yes to peace with Israel, yes to recognition of Israel and yes to normalization with Israel," Netanyahu said. "This is a new era, an era of true peace — peace that is proceeding and widening with additional Arab countries.

President Donald Trump on Monday said Sudan will be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism if it follows through on its pledge to pay $335 million to American terror victims and their families. Delisting Sudan from the state sponsors blacklist is a key incentive for the Sudanese government to normalize relations with Israel. New government of Sudan, which is making great progress, agreed to pay $335 MILLION to U.S. terror victims and families. Once deposited, I will lift Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. The designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism dates back to the 1990s, when Sudan briefly hosted bin Laden and other wanted militants.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on companies connected to a Russian businessman who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and suspected of helping finance the covert social media campaign aimed at American voters ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The actions announced Wednesday take aim at front companies that officials say Yevgeny Prigozhin has relied on to process millions of dollars and to evade sanctions in Sudan, where the Trump administration says Russia has been involved in paramilitary operations and supporting authoritarian regimes. Todays actions will further limit attempts by Prigozhin and his backers to foment disorder or undermine democratic reforms in Sudan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement announcing the sanctions by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Prigozhin, whose close relationship to Putin has earned him the nickname of Putin's Chef," attracted attention in 2018 after he and Russian companies he controlled were indicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. He was accused of financing an effort to use social media posts to spread disinformation and to divide American public opinion on hot-button social issues ahead of the election.