U.S. joins last-ditch bid to stop Ethiopia conflict spiraling into an all-out civil war, and "time is short"
CBSN
Johannesburg — Diplomats were scrambling on Tuesday for a peaceful resolution to the conflict putting hundreds of thousands of civilian lives at risk in Ethiopia. The war between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government and rebels that started a year ago has escalated and is now threatening his hold on power, with a coalition of opposition groups advancing on the capital, Adis Ababa.
In a last-ditch bid to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table, U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman returned to Ethiopia this week. The U.S. State Department believes there's still a window of opportunity, working with the African Union, to hammer out a ceasefire agreement.
It's Feltman's second visit within just a few days, and it comes as the United Nations warns that the risk of Ethiopia's conflict spiraling out of control into a full-blown civil war was "only too real."
Zhytomyr, Ukraine — Exactly 1,000 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Russia's defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces on Tuesday of firing six U.S.-made and -supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian region of Bryansk. If confirmed, it could be the first time Ukrainian troops had taken advantage of President Biden easing restrictions over the weekend on Ukraine's use of the U.S.-made missiles to strike targets deeper inside Russian territory.
President Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-made and supplied missiles deeper into Russia — a major policy shift announced over the weekend after months of intense lobbying by Kyiv — has drawn a furious response from Moscow. While there was no immediate reaction directly from the man who launched the nearly three-year war on his neighboring nation, lawmakers aligned with President Vladimir Putin in Russia said Monday that the move was unacceptable and warned it could lead to a third world war.
Tel Aviv — After more than a year of bombing and homelessness, Gazans are looking to a new administration in Washington for help. President-elect Donald Trump's election victory has raised hopes and fears among the five million residents of the Palestinian territories — the warn-torn Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.