US special envoy begins tour of Egypt, UAE, Ethiopia

US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. (Twitter Photo)
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Updated 24 July 2022
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US special envoy begins tour of Egypt, UAE, Ethiopia

  • Mike Hammer in region to resolve tensions caused by Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
  • Tour coincides with that of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

CAIRO: The US special envoy for the Horn of Africa began a regional tour on Sunday to resolve tensions caused by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Mike Hammer will hold talks in Egypt, the UAE and Ethiopia until Aug. 1, according to the US State Department.

The GERD has raised tensions between Ethiopia on one hand and Egypt and Sudan on the other.

The latter two countries are demanding a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam, which they fear will reduce their share of Nile waters.

Hammer’s regional tour coincides with that of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is visiting Egypt, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hammer will also consult with the African Union, under whose auspices GERD talks have taken place.

US President Joe Biden, after meeting his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on the sidelines of the Jeddah Summit for Security and Development earlier this month, affirmed Washington’s support for Egypt’s water security and a diplomatic resolution that achieves the interests of all parties.


Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe

Updated 24 January 2026
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Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe

RAQQA: Baghdad on Friday urged European states to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who fought for Daesh, and who are now being moved to Iraq from detention camps in Syria.

Europeans were among 150 Daesh prisoners transferred so far by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria. They were among an estimated 7,000 militants due to be moved across the border to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swaths of territory to the advancing Syrian army.
In a telephone call on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said European countries should take back and prosecute their nationals.
An Iraqi security official said the 150 so far transferred to Iraq were “all leaders of the Daesh group, and some of the most notorious criminals.” They included “Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis,” he said.
Another Iraqi security source said the group comprised “85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region.”
They all took part in Daesh operations in Iraq, he said, and were now being held at a prison in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “non-Iraqi terrorists will be in Iraq temporarily.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces jailed thousands of militant fighters and detained tens of thousands of their relatives in camps as it pushed out Daesh in 2019 after five years of fighting.