Africa Briefs

Ethiopian Airlines reopens Moscow routeEthiopian Airlines on Monday resumed flights to Moscow after a gap of 27 years stretching back to the demise of the Soviet Union, which saw relations with Moscow dive."Moscow is a vital addition to our European service, a very important region. It's going to take our total number of weekly flights to European destinations to reach 54 passenger flights a week," said the carrier's executive director Tewolde Gebremariam as the first flight took off from Addis Ababa.Ethiopian Airlines which is 100% state-owned, is Africa's largest carrier.Addis Ababa airport has recently undergone a large-scale revamp as a major continental aviation hub in a country run until 1991 by a communist military junta - a regime which received substantial Soviet support in the 1970s and 80s.Earlier this year saw a wing of a new US$345 million passenger terminal at the airport, which is one of Africa's busiest.After the fall of the Soviet Union, ties between the two nations slid. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Ethiopia last March and cooperation in several sectors, nuclear power included, has been discussed. – Nampa/AFPMalawi VP takes leadership of oppositionMalawi vice president Saulos Chilima was elected head of the United Transformation Movement (UTM) party on Monday, paving way for him to challenge president Peter Mutharika in May elections.Chilima was handpicked by Mutharika to run alongside him in the 2014 elections on the Democratic People's Party (DPP) ticket.But Chilima quit the DPP in June to form the UTM, citing corruption, nepotism and cronyism in the ruling party.Under the constitution, the vice president cannot be sacked by the president.Chilima, 45, is seen as a young challenger to Mutharika, 79, who won the election in 2014, two years after his brother, Bingu wa Mutharika, died while serving as president. – Nampa/AFPLibya's NOC declares force majeureLibya's National Oil Company (NOC) has declared force majeure on operations at El Sharara oilfield, it said late on Monday, a week after the company declared force majeure on the field's exports.NOC said in a statement that oil production from Libya's biggest oilfield will only restart after "alternative security arrangements are put in place".The NOC last week declared force majeure on exports from the 315 000-barrels-per-day oilfield located in the south of the North African country after the field was earlier seized by a local militia group. – Nampa/Reuters

Africa Briefs

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-05-12

Please login to leave a comment

Africa Briefs

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-05-12

Please login to leave a comment

Login