Ethiopia's peace committee says it has drawn up a "peace proposal" to try to end the war that erupted in November 2020, but Tigray rebels dismiss the call as "obfuscation".
Tigray rebels have long insisted that basic services would have to be restored to the region of six million people before dialogue could begin.
(Reuters)
The Ethiopian government has called for a formal Tigray ceasefire agreement to be reached as soon as possible to enable the resumption of basic services to the war-stricken northern region.
A committee established in June to explore the possibility of talks with Tigrayan rebels said on Wednesday it had drawn up a "peace proposal" to try to end the war that erupted in November 2020.
The announcement came on the same day that the World Health Organisation described the situation in Tigray as the "worst disaster on Earth".
And the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) dismissed the committee's call as "obfuscation", saying the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had shown no real appetite for dialogue.
"In order to ensure a sustained provision of humanitarian aid as well as to facilitate the resumption of basic services and also to resolve the conflict peacefully; the committee has underscored that there is a need to conclude a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible," the Ethiopian peace committee said in a statement.
"To expedite this process, the committee has deliberated upon and adopted a peace proposal that would lead to the conclusion of a ceasefire and lay the foundation for future political dialogue."
The TPLF has long insisted that basic services would have to be restored to the region of six million people before dialogue could begin.
Fighting has eased in northern Ethiopia since a truce was declared at the end of March, allowing the resumption of desperately needed international aid convoys to Tigray after a break of three months.
Ethiopia's northernmost region has suffered desperate food shortages and is without access to basic services such as electricity, communications and banking.
Ethiopia's peace committee, meanwhile, said it would submit its peace proposal to the African Union (AU).
The AU has been leading the push to end a conflict that has killed untold numbers of people and left millions in need of humanitarian aid.
"All effort is being exerted in collaboration with the African Union so that it would be possible to determine the venue and time for talks and to begin peace talks quickly and to conclude a ceasefire agreement shortly," it said.
Abiy's government says any negotiations must be led by the AU's Horn of Africa envoy Olusegun Obasanjo but the rebels want outgoing Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to mediate.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is from Tigray, described on Wednesday the "man-made catastrophe" there as the "worst disaster on Earth" and slammed global leaders for overlooking the humanitarian crisis.
The latest Israeli aggression on Gaza has left at least 44 Palestinians dead, including 15 children.
Palestinians celebrate on a street after a ceasefire was announced, in Israel blockaded Gaza August 8, 2022.
(Reuters)
An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad took effect late on Sunday at 11.30 p.m. local time (2030GMT).
The cease-fire agreement came after three days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, which left at least 44 Palestinians dead and over 360 others injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Egypt also called on both sides to observe a mutual and comprehensive truce in Gaza at that time.
An official Egyptian source cited by the state news agency MENA said Egypt was exerting efforts to release Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh and transport him for treatment, as well as Bassam Al Saadi, who is also in Israeli detention.
Palestine's Islamic Jihad in Gaza have confirmed earlier that they agreed to a Cairo-brokered truce after three days of intense aggression by Israel that has left at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza dead.
"A short while ago the wording of the Egyptian truce agreement was reached, which contains Egypt's commitment to work towards the release of two prisoners, (Bassem) al Saadi and (Khalil) Awawdeh," senior Islamic Jihad member Mohammad al Hindi said in a statement on Sunday.
Separately, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Palestinian Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh discussed Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Al Aqsa Mosque raids in a phone call.
Turkish Foreign Ministry on Israeli aggression against Gaza and Al Aqsa Mosque:
- Condemns attacks against civilians in Gaza - Fanatic Jewish groups raided Al Aqsa Mosque which is under protection of Israeli police - Calls on Israeli government not to allow such actions pic.twitter.com/SpoXFUitBw
At least 44 Palestinians were reported dead on Sunday, including 15 children, according to the Health Ministry.
The latest Israeli aggression since Friday has also left at least 311 civilians wounded, said the health authorities in Gaza, where several buildings were reduced to rubble.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lynn Hastings, called for an immediate halt to escalation and violence in Gaza.
In a statement on Sunday, Hastings said Gaza's humanitarian situation "is already dire and can only worsen" with the current escalation.
“Hostilities must stop to avoid more deaths and injuries of civilians in Gaza and Israel,” she added.
The humanitarian coordinator reiterated the UN appeal to all sides "for an immediate de-escalation and halt to violence to avoid destructive ramifications, particularly for civilians."
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed Türkiye’s continued efforts to end the Ukraine crisis and emphasised that the entire world needs food items coming from Ukraine and Russia
.
A day after the first grain ship to have left Ukraine was cleared in Istanbul for its onward journey to Lebanon, Cavusoglu said the grain export deal will be extended if there are no objections.
(AA Archive)
Türkiye’s foreign minister has stressed that the landmark Ukrainian grain deal signed in Istanbul has to be "sustainable" and could be the basis for a "comprehensive cease-fire" to end the Ukraine conflict.
"It has to be sustainable, and the duration of this agreement is for four months,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a joint press conference with his Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
A day after the first grain ship to have left Ukraine was cleared in Istanbul for its onward journey, Cavusoglu said the grain export deal would be extended if there are no objections.
Cavusoglu added that if the deal was extended, then "Russia will also be able to export its own grain and related products as well as fertilizers". He emphasised that the entire world needs these goods coming from Ukraine and Russia.
The halt of deliveries has contributed to soaring food prices, hitting the world's poorest nations especially hard.
Türkiye, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine signed the deal on July 22 to reopen three Ukrainian ports — Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny — for grain that has been stuck for months due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine fighting, which is now into its sixth month.
The grain deal “has to be sustainable, and everybody must act responsibly and stand by their commitments to continue this flow. And I have to tell you that the situation is fragile, because the war in Ukraine continues," Cavusoglu reiterated.
Expressing Türkiye's hope for the deal to be "the basis for a comprehensive cease-fire, peace plan and lasting peace" in the region, he stressed his country's continued efforts to end the Ukraine crisis and noted the "need to support the international community to end the war."
Cavusoglu's remarks came a day after the first grain-laden ship to leave Ukraine since the conflict passed an inspection in Istanbul for an onward journey to Lebanon. The inspection by a team from the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul lasted over an hour.
The Razoni, carrying over 26,500 tonnes of corn to Lebanon, anchored off the Turkish coast near the Black Sea entrance of the Istanbul Strait on Tuesday night. The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship departed from the Ukrainian port of Odessa on Monday.
On Thursday, Cavusoglu also discussed the deal with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the phone.cThe two also spoke about bilateral ties, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Russia on Wednesday accused Azerbaijan of breaking a ceasefire over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh after three soldiers died in clashes with what Baku called "illegal Armenian armed groups."
Six weeks of fighting over the region in the autumn of 2020 claimed more than 6,500 lives and ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement.
The Russian defense ministry issued a statement saying Azerbaijan's armed forces violated the ceasefire and that it was "taking measures to stabilize the situation" with Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives.
Azerbaijan's defense ministry had earlier said Karabakh troops killed one of its soldiers in an attack in the Lachin district, blaming Armenia for the "bloody incident."
The Azerbaijani army later said it had captured several strategic heights in the region in a retaliatory operation against the "terrorist actions of illegal Armenian armed groups on the territory of Azerbaijan."
The army of the breakaway statelet accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire, killing two soldiers and wounding another 14.
Arch enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars – in 2020 and in the 1990s – over Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Russia deployed some 2,000 peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce, but tensions persist despite a ceasefire agreement.
As the conflict enters its 155th day, Russia launches missile strikes on Kiev and Chernihiv regions, areas that haven't been targeted in weeks, while Ukraine focuses on taking back an occupied region in the south.
Russian strikes on military facilities and residential buildings across war-scarred Ukraine left several dead in attacks President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as "missile terrorism".
(AP)
Thursday, July 28, 2022
It's time to focus on Ukraine ceasefire - top Turkish diplomat
Following last week’s breakthrough deal on grain exports, Türkiye’s foreign minister said "now it is time to focus on brokering a ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking at a joint press conference with visiting Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili, Mevlut Cavusoglu praised the grain exports deal signed in Istanbul last on Friday with the UN, Russia, and Ukraine, saying the obstacles "to exports of not only Ukrainian grain but also Russian grain and fertiliser" have come down, helping to feed a hungry world.
As part of the deal, Türkiye on Wednesday inaugurated a coordination centre to carry out joint inspections at the entrances and exits of harbours and to ensure the safety of the routes.
Deadly Russian strikes target military bases in central Ukraine
Russian strikes on military facilities and residential buildings across war-scarred Ukraine left several dead in attacks President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as "missile terrorism".
"Twenty-five people have been transferred to medical facilities and are receiving treatment. Five are dead," the region's governor Andriy Raikovich said in a video on his social media.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted Raikovich as saying that there were 12 servicemen among the wounded.
A Syrian ship under US sanctions has docked in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli carrying barley and wheat that the Ukrainian embassy in Beirut told Reuters news agency on Thursday had been plundered by Russia from Ukrainian stores.
The Laodicea docked in Tripoli on Wednesday, according to shipping data website MarineTraffic.
"The ship has travelled from a Crimean port that is closed to international shipping, carrying 5,000 tonnes of barley and 5,000 tonnes of flour that we suspect was taken from Ukrainian stores," the embassy told Reuters.
UN: Details for safe Ukraine grain shipments still being worked out
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said he was hopeful that the first shipment of grain from a Ukrainian Black Sea port could take place as early as Friday, but "crucial" details for the safe passage of vessels were still being worked out.
Griffiths said Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian military officials were working with a UN team at a Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul to hammer out standard operating procedures for the deal agreed by the four parties last Friday.
"That is a detailed negotiation based on the agreement," Griffiths told UN member states in a briefing. "But without those standard operating procedures we cannot manage a safe passage of vessels."
Russian TV protester ordered to pay fine over Ukraine
A Moscow court ordered journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who denounced Russia's intervention in Ukraine during a live TV broadcast, to pay a fine for discrediting the Russian army.
Moscow's Meshchansky district court said that Ovsyannikova, a former editor at state-controlled Channel One, should pay a fine of 50,000 rubles (around $800), an AFP journalist said from the court.
Ovsyannikova's lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov said she was fined for speaking out against Moscow's intervention in Ukraine earlier this month when she turned up at Moscow's Basmanny district court to support city councilor Ilya Yashin.
Ukraine-Russia grain deal will become a confidence-building measure for both parties if implemented successfully – Turkish FM Cavusoglu pic.twitter.com/JGsnH6XhDw
Moscow-backed officials detain 21 Ukraine army 'accomplices'
Russian-backed officials in southern Ukraine has said that more than 20 "accomplices" of the Ukrainian army and security services had been detained.
Members of the Russian guard detained 21 "accomplices" of the Ukrainian armed forces and the SBU security service in the Moscow-occupied region of Kherson and the partially controlled region of Zaporizhzhia, the pro-Kremlin regional administration in Kherson said.
State news agency RIA Novosti, citing a member of Russian law enforcement, described the detained agents as a group of gun layers — who help adjust the aim of fire against targets — headed by a female coordinator. They helped aim rocket and artillery fire at the Russian army in the region of Kherson, RIA Novosti said.
Russian-backed separatists say four civilians killed in Ukraine shelling
Russian-backed separatists in east Ukraine's Donetsk says four civilians have been killed by Ukrainian shelling over the previous day.
According to a message posted on an official separatist Telegram channel on Thursday, four people were killed and another 11 wounded between 08:00 local time on Wednesday and 08:00 on Thursday. Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.
Donetsk city has been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. Ukrainian forces continue to hold positions on the city's outskirts.
Russia fines WhatsApp, Snapchat owner over data storage violations
A Russian court has fined Meta Platforms Inc's WhatsApp messenger and Snapchat owner Snap Inc for an alleged refusal to store the data of Russian users domestically, news agencies have reported.
Moscow has clashed with Big Tech over content, censorship, data and local representation in disputes that have escalated since Russia sent forces into Ukraine on February 24.
Moscow's Tagansky District Court fined WhatsApp 18 million roubles ($301,255) and Snap 1 million roubles, news agencies reported. WhatsApp was fined for the same offence last August. Meta and Snap did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
More than 100,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Britain: Government
More than 100,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Britain under two schemes set up to help those fleeing the country following Russia's offensive on February 24, the British government has said.
Nearly 6.2 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded across Europe as of July 26, according to United Nations data, with more than half applying for temporary residence schemes. Poland alone has registered more than 1.2 million Ukrainians.
Britain's schemes, one for those with family already in the UK and another allowing Britons to offer accommodation to those fleeing the war, initially faced criticism for being overly bureaucratic and leaving some refugees in limbo for weeks. The government said the process was now fully digital and it aimed to process applications within 48 hours.
No deal 'yet' on Russia-US prisoner swap: Russian official
Russia has said that talks are under way about a possible prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington but there was no agreement "yet".
"A concrete result has not yet been achieved," Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday he will speak with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov by phone in the coming days and press him to respond to an offer Washington has made to secure the release of American citizens detained by Moscow.
Japan urges Russia not to hold military drills around disputed islands
Japan has urged Russia to exclude areas around disputed northern islands from military drills Moscow is planning to conduct in the country's Far East from late August, a Japanese government spokesperson has said.
Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril islands that Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a territorial row that dates back to the end of World War Two when Soviet troops seized them from Japan.
"We lodged a firm representation that the Northern Territories should be excluded from the areas for the drills," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a regular news conference.
Russian forces took over Ukraine's second-biggest power plant and are conducting a "massive redeployment" of troops to southern regions of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said, amid expectations of a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed the capture of the Soviet-era coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant in the eastern Donetsk region, but said it was only a "tiny tactical advantage" for Russia.
The Russian redeployment to the south appeared to be a switch to strategic defence from offence, he added.
For live updates from Wednesday (July 27), click here
