Various news reports: Ukraine talks, burial of a Ugandan king, and Eritrean-Ethiopian tensions

Ukraine expects talks on a peace settlement with Russia, brokered by the United States, to resume next month, President of the Chief of Staff Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.

Kirilo Budanov told reporters: “We are preparing for October,” stressing that the talks will be held in a tripartite format. He did not provide a specific date or location for the meetings.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also recently said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper that the Kremlin expects that the United States, Russia and Ukraine will be able to resume dialogue “in the foreseeable future.”

He said: “There is another question related to the extent of the success of this dialogue - which is very difficult to predict at the present time, as the situation on the ground is getting worse for the Ukrainians time after time.”

American negotiators visited Moscow and Kiev early last week to explore the possibility of reaching a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine. The possible resumption of the tripartite dialogue, which has been suspended for months, was also discussed.

The talks are conducted by negotiators who must consult with their heads of state throughout the negotiations, and a direct meeting between the presidents of the United States, Russia and Ukraine is not expected until the final stage.

The United States last sat at the negotiating table as a mediator in February, during direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Switzerland. Budanov was part of the Ukrainian delegation at that time.

Russia has been waging an aggressive war against Ukraine for more than four and a half years. The front lines in eastern Ukraine have largely frozen in recent months, with both sides attacking the other with drones and missiles.

Ugandan King Oyo Nyimba, who had long been the youngest king in the world, was buried today, Saturday, in the tombs of his royal ancestors, at a time when the Toro Kingdom seeks to turn the page on a bitter succession struggle.

His designated successor, newscaster Edward Rukidi Kiganangoma, threw nine coffee beans into the grave at the Karambi Royal Tombs, a move that symbolized the formal transfer of power in the western Ugandan kingdom.

Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Ijoro Rukidi IV made international headlines in 1995 when he ascended the throne at the age of three.

He died last month at the age of 34 in the United States, where he was receiving treatment for cancer.

Although Uganda is a country led by an elected president, it still maintains a number of kingdoms dating back to the pre-British colonial era, which are bastions of traditional identity and heritage.

Members of the royal guard, wearing orange shawls on their shoulders, drove the car carrying Oyo's coffin through the streets of Fort Portal, the capital of the kingdom, towards the royal tombs, and thousands of mourners joined the procession on foot.

The burial ceremony, which was held exactly 31 years to the day of Oyo's coronation, came in the wake of days-long disagreements within the royal family, which is known for its divisions.

A committee including members of the royal family announced on Wednesday the selection of Oyo's cousin, Edward Rukidi Kiganangoma, a broadcaster and news editor with the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, to take the throne.

But the immediate family of the late king said that his son, whose identity has not yet been revealed, is the one who should succeed him according to his will. Oyo never married and it was not known that he had children, until the Kingdom's Prime Minister announced that he had a son in the statement announcing his death.

Supporters of Kejananguma's accession to the throne say the Oyo family has been unable to provide basic information about the alleged son.

The late King Oyo established close relations with Muammar Gaddafi, and appointed him as a special advisor to the king. Gaddafi donated a sum of money to renovate the royal palace.

On Saturday, Eritrea accused its neighbor Ethiopia of “destabilizing the Horn of Africa” in general, and supporting the “Rapid Support Forces” in Sudan in particular, in light of the tense relationship between the two countries and growing fears of a new conflict between them.

Eritrea, the former Italian colony that Ethiopia gradually annexed to its territory in the 1950s, officially gained its independence in 1993, after decades of armed conflict with Addis Ababa.

The two neighboring countries faced off in a war between 1998 and 2000 over border disputes, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands, and strained relations for 18 years.

Eritrea and Ethiopia normalized their relationship after Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018. The Ethiopian Prime Minister won the Nobel Prize the following year. In appreciation of the efforts he made to achieve this rapprochement.

The Eritrean forces then supported the Ethiopian federal army in its war in Tigray, but since the end of the conflict in November 2022, relations have become tense again, with Asmara accusing its neighbor, which does not have a sea port, of having ambitions in the Eritrean port of Assab.

A statement issued by the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the ruling “Prosperity” party headed by Abiy Ahmed “is working to destabilize the Horn of Africa.”

The statement continued: “While Eritrea is arming itself with strategic patience, Addis Ababa has, for more than three years, continuously escalated its warlike rhetoric, putting international treaties to the test, in addition to harboring, training, and financing subversive, subversive and sectarian groups with the explicit aim of changing the regime in Eritrea.”

Eritrea, which has been headed since its independence by Isaias Afwerki with an iron fist, accused Ethiopia of “harboring, supporting and strengthening” the “Rapid Support Forces” in its war with the Sudanese army since 2023.

Ethiopia, for its part, denies harboring “Rapid Support” fighters on its territory, but local sources report that the difficult-to-control borders constitute an important way to supply these forces and their allies.

In February, Ethiopia ordered its Eritrean neighbor to “immediately withdraw its forces” from its territory, denouncing “incursions” and “joint military maneuvers” with rebels fighting federal forces.