In the last few weeks, at least 10 earthquakes have been recorded in Ethiopia’s Rift Valley, the strongest measuring 5.8 magnitude, affecting areas including the capital, Addis Ababa. VOA has reported the evacuation of approximately 80,000 residents from the country’s Afar, Oromia and Amhara regions. Cynthia Ebinger is an American geoscientist at Tulane University known for her research on continental rifts and the movement of continental plates; her disciplines include seismology, tectonics, crustal dynamics and imaging for archaeology and geosciences. In explaining the root cause of the earthquakes to VOA’s Yeheyes Wuhib she says Rift Valley is one of the world’s most seismically active regions.

Turkey is deepening its cooperation with Somalia, this month sending a research ship to look for energy resources. But as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia are threatening Ankara’s ambitions in the Horn of Africa region.

South Sudanese students in Ethiopia say they are safe after a 4.9-magnitude earthquake felt across the Ethiopian Rift Valley Sunday and in several areas of the country, including Addis Ababa, sending some residents running for shelter. Denis Logonyi has more from Juba.

Turkey has been mediating between Ethiopia and Somalia, which are locked in a dispute, mainly over sea access for Ethiopia. At issue is a deal that Ethiopia signed earlier this year with the self-proclaimed, breakaway region of Somaliland. Ankara’s mediation efforts are seen as underlying its growing influence in the strategic Horn of Africa region. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.