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Saleh Ahmed Handule Ali, now 33, had indefinite leave to remain in UK, but Home Office failed to keep a recordA refugee who left the UK on holiday as a teenager in 2008 has been stranded in east Africa for the last 16 years in a case that senior judges have described as “extraordinary”.Saleh Ahmed Handule Ali, now 33, arrived in the UK at...

Poet who is curating country’s first Venice Biennale pavilion says ‘part of the heart’ of the country was looted and is being held in museumsAn Ethiopian cultural surge – including a first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale and the rise of stars such as Ruth Negga and The Weeknd – is making the country’s calls for restitution of looted colonial-era artefacts harder to...

Watchdog examining claims key details have not been disclosed about altar tablets that museum is facing calls to returnThe information watchdog is investigating the British Museum over claims it has been overly secretive about some of the most sensitive items in its collection – a group of sacred Ethiopian altar tablets that have been hidden from view at the museum for more than 150...

Antoine Galindo is accused of conspiring with rebels, but press freedom groups say no evidence has been found and call for his immediate releaseEthiopian authorities have detained a visiting French journalist for being part of a “conspiracy to create chaos” in the east African country.Antoine Galindo, a reporter for the Paris-based Africa Intelligence (AI) news website, was arrested by plainclothes security officers at the...

Carved wooden tabot has been at Abbey since British forces looted it at Battle of Maqdala in 1868Westminster Abbey has agreed “in principle” to returning a sacred tablet to the Ethiopian Orthodox church, igniting a debate around restitution claims made by the East African nation.The tabot – a blackened flat piece of wood featuring a carved inscription that symbolically represents the Ark of the...

Witnesses claim victims shot ‘execution style’ during house raids after clashes between government forces and Fano rebelsEthiopian government troops went door-to-door killing dozens of civilians last month in a town in the country’s Amhara region, according to residents, who said the bloodshed took place after clashes with local militia.The killings in Merawi appear to be one of the deadliest episodes in Amhara since a...

Red two-seater named after Emperor Haile Selassie’s daughter abandoned in 1936 after Italy invaded countryAlmost nine decades after it was stolen by Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime, the Italian government has officially returned Ethiopia’s first plane.The official handover of the aircraft, named Tsehay in honour of the princess daughter of Emperor Haile Selassie, was celebrated on Tuesday by the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed. Continue...

Somaliland hoped to be recognised as a country after port deal with landlocked Ethiopia - but move has sparked fury in Somalia Somalia is prepared to go to war to stop Ethiopia recognising the breakaway territory of Somaliland and building a port there, a senior adviser to Somalia’s president has said.A memorandum of understanding signed on 1 January allowing landlocked Ethiopia to develop a...

Mogadishu recalls ambassador to Ethiopia over ‘null and void’ Gulf of Aden port agreementSomalia has promised to defend its territory by “any legal means” and recalled its ambassador to Ethiopia after Addis Ababa struck a deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland.Mogadishu called the surprise pact, which would give landlocked Ethiopia long-sought access to the Gulf of Aden, a “clear violation” of its sovereignty...

Naval and commercial access to Somaliland’s coast granted in exchange for recognising republic’s independenceEthiopia has signed a “historic” deal granting it naval and commercial access to ports along Somaliland’s coast, in exchange for recognition for the breakaway republic’s independence, it has been announced.The Somali government, which has long held that Somaliland remains a part of the country, announced that it would convene an emergency...