This week the leadership of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) announced that forces that have been clashing with the federal government in a see-sawing military campaign were withdrawing from positions outside the boundaries of the Tigray region. The TPLF framed the decision as a step intended to catalyze meaningful negotiations with Addis Ababa.

Uganda is heading toward a debt crisis. According to a senior official at the Bank of Uganda, unless the country is able to sustain a growth rate of at least 7 percent—which economic projections show Uganda will not do—the country will default on its payments. As is the case for many African countries, China is Uganda’s largest creditor, making up 39 percent of total debt this past fiscal year. If Uganda defaults, it is unclear how China will react.

Nine months after fighting erupted in the northern region of Tigray, Ethiopia is going from bad to worse. The conflict has expanded geographically to Afar and Amhara, regions outside of Tigray’s borders, drawing in new combatants as the federal government mobilizes ethnic militia forces from around the country and calls upon “all capable Ethiopians of age” to take up arms and fight.

Governments, civil society groups, and business leaders are gathered this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the UN’s Third Financing for Development Conference (FFD3). Up for debate is how to fund th…

Developments in conflicts across the world that you might have missed this week.