Geography of Africa

Turkey on Jan. 22 welcomed a recent compromise between the warring sides in Libya on a mechanism to appoint a temporary executive authority in the country. 

Tunisians protested on Jan. 20 to demand the release of hundreds of young demonstrators arrested in several nights of disturbances, venting their anger also against the government's handling of a deepening social crisis.

Turkey's Armed Forces have provided the Libyan Navy with five weeks of training in underwater warfare, Turkish defense officials said on Dec. 27. 

The move is part of Turkey's commitment to Libya based on agreements between the two countries, the officials said.

Nearly two years after the overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, Sudan is taking steps to rejoin the international community from which it was long shunned. That includes its film industry.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has warned that the forces of Khalifa Haftar and their supporters based in eastern Libya would be viewed as "legitimate targets" if they attempted to attack Turkish forces in the region.

Speaking during a visit to Turkish troops in Tripoli on Dec. 26, Akar said Haftar had recently started making calls targeting Turkish forces in Libya.

An agreement signed on August 6 this year for the partial demarcation of maritime boundaries between Greece and Egypt was posted on the United Nation's Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea on Thursday, by the organisation's Office of Legal Affairs.

The Turkish parliament on Dec. 22 approved a motion calling for an extension in troop deployment in Libya for another 18 months.

While the ruling AKP, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) backed the motion, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and Good (İYİ) Party voted against it.

About 2.3 million children in Ethiopia's Tigray region do not have access to humanitarian assistance since a conflict started early November, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.

In a statement late on Dec. 15, UNICEF said the situation will worsen if access to the children is delayed.

A report by Greek security and intelligence services highlights the existence of an organized network behind migrant transfers from Somalia to Greece via Istanbul.

The network is said to include the Turkish Consulate, Erdogan Hospital and City University in Mogadishu, as well as Turkish-based Islamic nongovernmental organizations. 

Western Sahara is mostly under Morocco's control, where tensions with pro-independence Polisario Front have simmered since the 1970s.

The United States has adopted a "new official" map of Morocco that includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara, its ambassador to Rabat said.