Middle East & North Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Sept 17 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed asked ethnic groups pushing to form breakaway regions to be patient and join him in building “a great Ethiopia”.

Abiy made the plea during a visit to leaders of the Kafficho ethnic group, that are seeking to create a new federal state heightening further destabilization in Ethiopia’s diverse southern region.

“You think that there will be many problems in your problems, there are many interrelated and systemic issues that need to be considered.,” said Abiy.

KHARTOUM, Sept 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that France will press to drop Sudan from the US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism and to support efforts to reintegrate the country into the international community.

Le Drian was in Khartoum for a one-day visit on Monday, the first such trip to Sudan by France’s top diplomat in more than a decade.

His visit comes as the northeast African country transitions to civilian rule after decades of authoritarianism.

ANKARA, Sept 17 (NNN-IRNA) - Ankara, Tehran and Moscow should take more responsibility to bring tranquility to Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the opening ceremony of a trilateral summit here on Monday.

The fifth trilateral summit on Syria crisis was held here with participation of heads of the three states- Iran, Turkey and Russia.

The trilateral meeting would focus on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, the unrest and lack of control of the Syrian Government on the northwestern city of Idlib and the Syrian refugees in particular, Erdogan noted.

CAIRO/TEHRAN, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The recent attacks on Saudi Arabia's Aramco oil facilities have escalated the tensions in the Gulf, as Iran and the United States trade barbs and threats of military retaliation.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis were voting Tuesday in an unprecedented repeat election that will decide whether longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power.

Against the prospect of a likely indictment on corruption charges, Netanyahu is seeking a fifth term in office.

He faces a stiff challenge from retired military chief Benny Gantz, whose centrist Blue and White party is running even with Netanyahu’s Likud. Both parties could struggle to form a majority coalition with smaller allies, though, forcing them into a potential unity government.

ISTANBUL; 16 Sep 2019; AA: Turkey's economy saw an annual hike in total turnover in July, the nation’s statistics authority announced Monday.

"Calendar adjusted total turnover index including industry, construction, trade and services sectors increased by 12.6% in July 2019 compared with the same month of the previous year," Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

ANKARA; 16 Sep 2019; AA: The Turkish president on Monday met his Iranian counterpart in the capital Ankara, ahead of the trilateral summit on Syria later in the day.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani at the presidential mansion and held a closed-door meeting that lasted almost two hours.

16 Sep 2019; MEMO: Algeria’s Acting President Abdelkader Bensalah dismissed on Sunday the Secretary-General of Algeria’s High Independent Authority for Election (HIISE).

According to Algerian newspaper Ennahar, the Algerian presidency said that the Algerian interim president dismissed Fouad Makhlouf, Secretary-General of the HIISE, in preparation for the formation of the new authority in accordance with the new law approved by the House of Representatives.

16 Sep 2019; MEMO: Lebanese security agencies have revealed that more than 230 agents working for Israel moved to Lebanon over the past four months, Lebanese newspaper Al-Diyar reported yesterday.

The agents, according to the newspaper, held American passports and are in contact with the American embassy.

16 Sep 2019; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed yesterday that he did not practice incitement against Arabs in Israel, Arab48 reported.

During an interview published by the Israeli news website Walla, Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing, claiming he had no need to apologise.

“Am I inciting?” he asked. “Against [MK] Ayman Odeh?” he continued.