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Six armed pirates hijacked an oil products tanker off Yemen and steered it toward Somalia, a Somali maritime security official said, in the sixth commercial vessel seized since April in a resurgence of piracy in the region. The Eritrean-flagged Sibu 1 was carrying 20 crew members, and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury last year over alleged ties to an Iranian 'shadow fleet.'
Zhang Shijun, a Chinese neurosurgeon on a one-year medical aid mission in Eritrea, performed a life-saving emergency surgery using only a manual drill when advanced equipment was unavailable. The mission's team treated thousands of patients, and the hospital's medical director praised their role in filling expertise gaps.
Tanzania has assumed the chairmanship of the Regional Technical Advisory Committee on Labour Mobility for East and Horn of Africa, succeeding Uganda. The handover in Dodoma signals a continued push for safe, orderly labour migration, with officials highlighting regional cooperation and worker protections.
Signatory States of the Djibouti Code of Conduct/Jeddah Amendment have agreed to set up a Combined DCoC Task Force to coordinate maritime operations against piracy in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. The decision, endorsed at an extraordinary Steering Committee meeting in July and by National Focal Points in August, aims to complement existing international efforts while addressing the continued captivity of seafarers.
Egypt has renewed its opposition to Ethiopian plans for additional dams on the Blue Nile, with officials warning they will not allow construction that threatens downstream water security. The dispute, rooted in the uncompleted GERD agreement, now unfolds amid broader regional competition involving Red Sea interests and Middle Eastern powers.
Estonia has handed over 27 migrants to Latvia under a bilateral agreement, including 11 who were transferred this week. The migrants, from Somalia, Ethiopia, Morocco, and Eritrea, are reported to have entered illegally via Belarus and Latvia, with many aiming to reach other Schengen countries. Estonian authorities are also working to verify the ages of nearly half of the new arrivals who claim to be minors.