Welcome to the latest edition of WSJ Pro Emerging & Growth Markets, our weekly review of key news affecting frontier and small emerging markets.

This newsletter is a companion to Strategic Intelligence, an information resource focused on emerging markets that brings together the global news coverage of The Wall Street Journal with the analysis of market intelligence firm FrontierView.

Ethiopia government offensive risks worsening famine. Ethiopian government forces have launched a renewed assault to recapture the rebellious northern region of Tigray, raising fears of a more devastating humanitarian crisis in a region the United Nations says is already in the grip of famine after a nearly yearlong conflict, Nicholas Bariyo reports.

Ethiopian ground troops, backed by regional militia from the Amhara region, launched coordinated attacks from multiple fronts along Tigray’s southern border, government and rebel officials said Tuesday.

Government troops deployed heavy artillery and tanks—backed by drones and airstrikes—targeting main supply routes and at least the three towns of Wegeltena, Geregera and Haro near Tigray’s border with Amhara. The offensive, which effectively ends a fraying cease-fire declared by Ethiopia in June shortly after government troops retreated from Tigray’s regional capital Mekelle, is focused along the main road that forms the only functional access route into Tigray.

Kenyan president rejects international court ruling on Somalia maritime dispute. Kenya has rejected a decision by International Court of Justice in a maritime dispute with Somalia over a potentially oil- and gas-rich border region, George Mwangi writes.

In a statement late on Tuesday, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said the country rejected “in totality” the decision, which ruled that the 100,000-square-kilometer region, thought to be rich in oil and gas deposits, should be shared between Kenya and Somalia.

Both countries have previously claimed sovereignty over the entire maritime region. Mr. Kenyatta called on the United Nations to “appreciate and respect our inherent right to protect, by all available means, our territory.”

Turkey’s Erdogan fires central bank officials, fueling economic uncertainty. Turkey’s economy slid further into turmoil on Thursday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired three top officials at the country’s central bank in a midnight decree that drove the country’s currency to record lows, Jared Malsin and Anna Hirtenstein report. The firings are Mr. Erdogan’s latest intervention at the bank after he sacked three of its governors within two years.

The turbulence in Turkey’s economy, triggered in part by Mr. Erdogan’s own decisions, adds to political pressure on the government as the public struggles with devalued wages and a rising cost of basic goods like food. Turkey’s economy has also been hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic and instability in the broader Middle East in recent years.

Taliban allow teenage Afghan girls back in some provincial schools. The Taliban have allowed middle- and high-school girls to resume studies in several provinces of northern Afghanistan, an indication of how the Islamist group’s policies on key issues are being influenced by cultural differences within the country, Ehsanullah Amiri and Margherita Stancati write. In September, the Taliban reopened secondary schools for male students across Afghanistan but said nothing about their female peers, creating a de facto ban on girls going to school after sixth grade.

Elementary schools have reopened for all, with boys and girls being taught separately. But in four northern Afghan provinces—where women traditionally have had more active roles in society than in the more conservative south and east—secondary schools for girls have reopened, too, with the approval of local Taliban government officials.

• Strange quiet arrives in Afghanistan after decades of war
• EU pledges money to Afghans in need, but donors struggle to deliver help
• U.S. aims to resume regular evacuation flights from Afghanistan

The decision, which hasn’t been widely publicized, was confirmed by teachers, students and a Taliban spokesman. The move indicates a degree of willingness from the Taliban to shape policy around cultural differences across Afghanistan, unlike in the 1990s, when they imposed harsh social rules on everyone under their rule.

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr emerges as kingmaker after Iraq election. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the onetime leader of a rebellion against U.S. forces following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is poised to become the country’s key political power broker after his movement won the largest share of seats in Sunday’s parliamentary election, Ghassan Adnan and Jared Malsin report.

Mr. Sadr, an independent-minded nationalist, faces fierce competition from Shiite political rivals and pro-Iran hard-liners who wish to pull the country into closer orbit around Tehran. In Iraq’s political system, the largest bloc in Parliament chooses who becomes prime minister.

• Iraqi election could determine the future for U.S. forces in the country

Initial results released on Monday by Iraq’s election commission showed Mr. Sadr’s movement won 73 seats in the 329-seat Parliament, up from the 54 seats won by a multiparty alliance he led in 2018. In a surprise setback for Tehran, the Fatah Alliance, broadly aligned with Iran-backed militias demanding the withdrawal of U.S. forces, lost ground in Sunday’s vote, weakening its potential negotiating power in talks on forming a government.

Polish protesters fear court ruling points to EU exit. Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Warsaw and other Polish cities late on Sunday to oppose a court ruling that European Union legal judgments have become incompatible with the Polish constitution, Drew Hinshaw and  Laurence Norman report. The protestors fear the decision could prompt Poland to follow the U.K. out of the bloc.

On Thursday, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the process of European integration encoded in EU treaty law has reached what it called a “new stage” that is incompatible with the Polish constitution, and that the latter should take precedence when the two conflict. Poland’s ruling party says the EU has overstepped its authority.

The ruling was celebrated by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, a conservative nationalist faction that says it doesn’t want to leave the EU but does want to roll back its supranational authority, especially over Poland’s court system.

Argentine price-rises accelerate. Argentina’s monthly inflation accelerated in September from the previous month for the first time since April as the government grapples with rising food prices, Ryan Dube writes. The country’s statistics agency Indec said September’s monthly inflation was 3.5%, up from the 2.5% increase in August. The 12-month inflation rate hit 52%.

On Wednesday, the government announced a 90-day price freeze on 1,247 goods at supermarkets and other stores, the latest move to stem price increases amid rising poverty ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections. “We need to stop food prices from eroding salaries,” Interior Commerce Secretary Roberto Feletti said.

The reversal of the inflation trend has done nothing to purge the froth from Argentina’s stockmarket, which hit a new record every day this week. The country’s benchmark Merval Index is now trading at almost 82,000, up more than 88% from the 12-month low of 43,532.74 it hit in late October 2020.

U.K. government impact-investment group buys into DP World’s African ports portfolio. (Maritime Executive)

Egypt starts construction of gas pipeline in Western Desert. (Reuters) 

Drought in northern Kenya pushes millions towards hunger. (Reuters)

Regional troops to stay in Mozambique indefinitely. (News24) 

Sri Lanka shelves plan to buy back $1.5b of sovereign bonds. (Nasdaq) 

Sri Lanka aims to boost crypto mining and blockchain technology sector. (YahooFinance) 

Kazakhstan website blocked after covering Nazarbayev offshore allegations. (Eurasianet) 

Cambodia to fully reopen in 2 weeks. (Manila Times) 

Saudi Arabia’s biggest IPO since Aramco surges in debut. (Al Jazeera) 

Beirut gunfights leave 6 dead after Hezbollah protest against Lebanon’s explosion probe. (WSJ)  

Venezuelan army general who saved Hugo Chávez from coup dies in jail. (WSJ) 

Spike in Venezuela Covid cases bucks decline in South America. (Bloomberg) 

Venezuela burns through cash to shore up new bolivar. (Al Jazeera) 

Peru’s sol hits 10-week high as leftist president leans toward center. (Bloomberg) 

Brazil’s drought pressures power grid, boosting case for renewables—and fossil fuels. (WSJ)  

UN chief decries pandemic’s harm to the poor. (AP)  

Inflation surges worldwide as Covid-19 lockdowns end and supply chains can’t cope. (WSJ) 

IMF seeks to allay doubts following data-rigging scandal, move forward with new agenda. (WSJ) 

Essay: How malaria brought down great empires. (WSJ)