Antony Blinken - The African Mirror

Apr

2021

US, Sudan discuss peace process

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke yesterday with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on efforts to advance the peace process and promote political reforms, the State Department said in a statement. The two also discussed negotiations related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and the need to lower tensions between Sudan and Ethiopia, according to the statement.

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Men forced to rape family members’

NEWS

MICHELLE NICHOLS MORE than 500 rape cases have been reported to five clinics in Ethiopia's Tigray region, the United Nations said yesterday, warning that due to stigma and a lack of health services the actual numbers were likely to be much higher. "Women say they have been raped by armed actors, they also told stories of gang rape, rape in front of family members and men being forced to rape their own family members under the threat of violence," Wafaa Said, deputy U.N. aid coordinator in Ethiopia, said in a briefing to U.N. member states in New York. She said…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. won’t force NATO allies into ‘us or them’ choice on China

WORLD

ROBIN EMMOTT THE United States will not force any NATO ally to choose sides between Washington and Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, although he warned that the West needed to show authoritarian states that democracy was superior. European allies France and Germany are looking for a strategic balance in relations with Beijing and Washington that ensures the European Union is not so closely allied with one of the world's two big powers that it alienates the other. "The United States won't force allies into an 'us-or-them' choice with China," Blinken, on his maiden voyage to…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. for unity, elections in Somalia

NEWS

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday urged Somalia's leaders to set aside political objectives and hold transparent elections. "We call on Somalia's federal and member state leaders to set aside narrow political objectives, uphold their responsibilities to the people of Somalia, and agree to immediately hold transparent and inclusive elections," Blinken said in a statement.

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. will not resume assistance to Ethiopia for most security programs

NEWS

DAPHNE PSALEDAKIS THE State Department on Friday said Washington has decided not to lift the pause in assistance to Ethiopia for most programs in the security sector, days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described acts in Tigray as ethnic cleansing. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that while the United States has decided to resume certain types of assistance, including that related to global health and food security, assistance for other programs and most programs in the security sector would remain paused. "Given the current environment in Ethiopia, we have decided not to lift the assistance pause for…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. calls on AU to exert pressure Tigray

NEWS

PHIL STEWART U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on the African Union and other international partners to help address a deepening crisis in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region as he condemned alleged atrocities in fighting there. Blinken's statement suggested growing frustration with the response so far from Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea to what America's top diplomat described as a "worsening humanitarian crisis." His remarks came a day after Amnesty International released a report accusing Eritrean forces of killing hundreds of civilians in Tigray in a 24-hour period last year, an incident it described as a potential crime against humanity.…