Eritrea’s president since 1993 and head of the ruling PFDJ, Afwerki has steered a tightly controlled state amid repeated rights concerns.
Yemen's civil conflict has intensified along the western coast, with Houthis seizing key ports and the Bab al-Mandeb strait. Displacement has surged inside Yemen and across the Red Sea to Djibouti, straining scarce resources as international aid amid rising funding shortfalls.
Eritrea has welcomed the lifting of U.S. sanctions, saying the move removes a political impediment to investment and broader cooperation. Officials cite a shift in U.S. policy and ongoing regional security concerns as drivers for renewed engagement, including talks on trade, Egypt relations, and Red Sea security.
Fighting has resumed across northern Ethiopia after the TPLF and six other groups formed the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival aiming to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Tigrayan fighters have seized Mekelle airport and other towns, flights to the region have been suspended, thousands are displaced and hospitals report surges in wounded patients.
Fighting between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Ethiopian government has intensified, with the TPLF and its allied groups seizing airports and moving across Afar and Amhara. The conflict risks a return to the 2020–22 civil war, prompting international concern over civilian harm and humanitarian access.
Since September 23, federal troops and allied forces have regained control of Mekelle’s main airport and entered the city as the TPLF withdraws, raising fears of a regional spillover and prompting diplomatic talks among Horn of Africa players.
The four-way El-Alamein Consultative Summit will be held as Egypt hosts leaders from Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan amid renewed tensions over the Nile, Red Sea access, and clashes in Ethiopia and Sudan. Cairo says the talks aim for consultation on regional issues, but observers warn regional rivalries are sharpening as Addis Ababa confronts Eritrea and signals broader regional alignment.