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☆ Ethiopia Extends State of Emergency in Amhara
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's parliament on Friday extended by four months a state of emergency declared in August to respond to an insurgency in the northern region of Amhara that has resulted in hundreds of deaths and drawn accusations of widespread human rights abuses. Fighting erupted in Amhara last July between federal forces and a local militia called Fano, which has accused the government of undermining the region's security. The state of emergency handed the government powers to impose curfews, restrict people's movement and ban public gatherings. The state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has documented a range of alleged abuses in the Amhara conflict, most of which it has attributed to government forces. EHRC head Daniel Bakele said on social media on Friday that his organisation was "gravely concerned" about the implications of the extension for human rights and the humanitarian situation.

Persons: Fano, Abiy, Daniel Bakele, Dawit Endeshaw, Bhargav Acharya, Aaron Ross, Angus MacSwan Organizations: ADDIS ABABA, Reuters, Ethiopian Human Rights Locations: ADDIS, Amhara, Fano, Tigray

☆ Ethiopia says it has completed filling of disputed dam project's reservoir
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ADDIS ABABA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Ethiopia said on Sunday it had completed the fourth and final phase of filling a reservoir for its planned massive hydroelectric power plant on the Blue Nile, a project that Egypt and Sudan have long opposed. Construction of the $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) began in 2011 and Ethiopia sees the project as crucial to powering its economic development. "Congratulations to all on the fourth filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. With a projected capacity of more than 6,000 megawatts, Ethiopia sees GERD as the centrepiece of its bid to become Africa's biggest power exporter. Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: GERD, Abiy Ahmed's, Abdel Fattah al, Abiy, Dawit Endeshaw, Elias Biryabarema, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Thomson Locations: ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan

A partial view of the Lalibela town in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia, January 25, 2022. In that war, federal forces faced battle-hardened fighters loyal to Tigray's ruling party, who at one point advanced hundreds of kilometres towards the capital Addis Ababa. Following the Tigray deal, his government held preliminary talks with rebels in the Oromiya region, Ethiopia's largest, about ending a decades-long insurgency. But anger was building in Amhara, where the Tigray deal deepened existing suspicions of Abiy's government. It said the status of lands claimed by both Amhara and Tigray, which Amhara forces captured during the war, should be resolved "in accordance with the constitution".

Persons: Abiy, Tewodrose Tirfe, Temesgen, Ethiopia's, Fano, Addisu Lashitew, Befekadu Hailu, Aaron Ross, Angus MacSwan Organizations: REUTERS, Tiksa, Fano, Amhara Association of America, Brookings Institution, Protesters, Thomson Locations: Amhara Region, Ethiopia, NAIROBI, Tigray, Amhara, Fano, Africa, Eritrea, Sudan, Addis Ababa, Oromiya

☆ Ethiopia declares state of emergency following militia clashes
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A partial view of the Lalibela town in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia, January 25, 2022. Picture taken January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File PhotoADDIS ABABA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's federal government on Friday declared a state of emergency following days of clashes in the Amhara region between the military and local militiamen. The statement by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office announcing the state of emergency did not say whether it applied only in Amhara or across the country. Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Abiy, Dawit Endeshaw, Aaron Ross, Toby Chopra Organizations: REUTERS, Tiksa, Ethiopian National Defence Force, Thomson Locations: Amhara Region, Ethiopia, ADDIS ABABA, Amhara, Fano

☆ Ethiopia to offer up to five banking licenses to foreign investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ADDIS ABABA, May 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopia will issue up to five banking licenses to foreign investors in the next five years, part of plans to open up the financial services sector to foreign competition, a senior central bank official said on Wednesday. "We will give three to five licenses within five years," vice governor of the central bank Solomon Desta told reporters. Ethiopia's banking industry is dominated by state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, and the sector has 29 players, all of them locally owned. Desta said foreign investors would have different options to enter the industry, including forming joint ventures with domestic players, or establishing local subsidiaries. Foreign investors have long eyed sectors including banking, telecoms, transportation and aviation in Ethiopia, a country of more than 100 million people and one of the biggest economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The United States has determined that all sides committed war crimes during the conflict in northern Ethiopia that killed tens of thousands of people, left hundreds of thousands facing hunger and displaced millions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. Members of the ENDF, Eritrean forces, and Amhara forces also committed crimes against humanity, Blinken told reporters, including murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence and persecution. Members of the Amhara forces committed the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer and committed ethnic cleansing through their treatment of Tigrayans in western Tigray, Blinken said. "In terms of what happens next in Ethiopia, including what process they establish to provide for justice, for accountability, we'll see. The United States was outspoken in its criticism of alleged atrocities by Ethiopian forces and their allies from Eritrea and the Amhara region during the Tigray war.

[1/3] An Ethiopian boy who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, gestures in the Hamdayet village, in eastern Kassala state, Sudan December 15, 2020. The Ethiopian government's two-year conflict with forces in the northern Tigray region ended last November with thousands dead and millions uprooted. Though the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council has never ended a probe before its mandate, Addis Ababa has circulated a draft version of a resolution calling for the Tigray inquiry to stop some six months early. AFRICAN OPPOSITIONThe war pitted the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) against federal troops, who were also backed by fighters from nearby Amhara region and Eritrea. Reporting by Emma Farge, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; Additional reporting by Dawit Endeshaw in Addis AbabaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ethio Telecom posts H1 growth in revenue, financial service subscribers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Ethio Telecom employees serve a customer inside their call centre in the Bole neighborhood branch in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia July 29, 2022. REUTERS/Tiksa NegeriADDIS ABABA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's state-owned Ethio Telecom on Thursday reported a 20% rise in half-year revenue to 33.8 billion birr ($633 million). Subscribers to its mobile phone-based financial service Telebirr, launched in May 2021, grew to 27.2 million out of its 70 million total subscribers, CEO Frehiwot Tamiru told a news conference. That was up from 21.8 million Telebirr subscribers in June 2022. Efforts to attract investment have been hampered, however, by a two-year war in the northern Tigray region, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

☆ WHO chief says his uncle was murdered in Ethiopia's Tigray
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that Eritrean troops "murdered" his uncle in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. The Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray agreed in November to cease hostilities last month in a major breakthrough. However, troops from Eritrea, to the north, and forces from the neighbouring Ethiopian region of Amhara, to the south, who fought alongside Ethiopia's military in Tigray were not party to the ceasefire. That followed the killing of his cousin last year in Tigray when a church was blown up, he said, without giving further details.

☆ First international aid arrives in Ethiopia's Tigray since ceasefire
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Tommy Wilkes | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government and Tigrayan forces signed a ceasefire on Nov. 2 to end two years of fighting that have killed thousands, shattered infrastructure and uprooted millions from their homes. The ICRC described the delivery into the regional capital Mekelle as the first international aid into Tigray since a previous ceasefire broke in August. We have discussed, agreed and signed," Abiy told Ethiopia's national parliament in his first comments on the ceasefire since it came into force. Abiy said on Tuesday that a territorial dispute between forces in Tigray and the neighbouring Amhara region should be resolved legally and through discussion. Authorities in Amhara last week welcomed the ceasefire agreement but made no mention of the disputed territory.

The truce has raised hopes humanitarian aid can start moving back into a region where hundreds of thousands face famine. Representatives of Ethiopia's military and government and forces from Tigray are in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to discuss how to begin implementing the ceasefire, with the talks set to last three or four days. Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray authorities, said the talks were to figure out implementation of the agreement. In a statement on Monday, the AU said it expected the outcomes of the talks to "include modalities for silencing the guns, humanitarian access and the restoration of services in the Tigray region". The ceasefire agreement says Ethiopia's army will safeguard the country against "foreign incursion" but analysts are worried about whether Eritrea - the TPLF's sworn enemy - will listen.

[1/3] A destroyed tank is seen in a field in the aftermath of fighting between the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) forces in Kasagita town, in Afar region, Ethiopia, February 25, 2022. Earlier on Wednesday, the AU had invited media to what it described as a briefing by Obasanjo. It was only when the event began, about three hours behind schedule, that it became clear a truce was about to be signed. Implementation of the peace agreement signed today is critical for its success," said Obasanjo, adding that this would be supervised and monitored by a high-level AU panel. Neither Eritrea nor the regional forces participated in the talks in South Africa and there was no mention at Wednesday's ceremony of whether they would abide by the truce.

☆ Ethiopian government accused of deadly air strikes on Oromiya region
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Summary Oromo groups say hundreds killed in air strikesNo comment from government and army spokespersonsAlleged strikes come as Tigray peace talks startNAIROBI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Two organisations from Ethiopia's Oromiya region have accused the army of conducting air strikes there in recent days which they said had killed hundreds of civilians, just as peace talks on the separate Tigray conflict were about to start. read moreIn statements sent to Reuters by text message and email and in posts on Twitter, the OLF and the OLA listed locations in Oromiya where they said a series of deadly air strikes had taken place between Thursday of last week and Tuesday this week. We've been going to funerals this whole time," he said, adding that another air strike had hit a nearby school on Monday, but no one had been killed as it was empty at the time. On Thursday morning, Reuters asked Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu, military spokesman Colonet Getnet Adane, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's spokeswoman Billene Seyoum and Oromiya regional government spokesman Hailu Adugna for comment on the alleged air strikes. OLA spokesman Odaa Tarbii posted a video on Twitter on Tuesday that purported to show the aftermath of an air strike in West Shewa.

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