Blinken to Meet Ethiopian Government Leaders to Repair Ties
He will then head to the West African nation of Niger on Thursday, which has been confronting a growing Islamist insurgency. While the peace deal has allowed humanitarian aid to flow into Tigray, needs remain immense after the conflict left hundreds of thousands facing starvation. Allegation of abuses, especially sexual violence, have persisted after the deal was signed, according to rights groups and humanitarian workers in the region. Eritrean troops remain in several border areas while militia from the neighbouring Amhara region occupy large areas of territory in contested parts of western and southern Tigray, humanitarian workers said. A spokesperson for the Amhara regional government said it and the people of Amhara were "always ready to co-operate with peace deal process and activities".
Source:Ethiopian News
March 15, 2023 06:53 UTC
Mayor’s remark on “migration to Addis Ababa” triggers a reaction
Adanech Abiebie, Mayor of Addis Ababa, seems to have taken it to the next level. Not just that, so far one opposition group issued a statement expressing concern that her remark could cause genocide. National Movement of Amhara (NaMA), an ethnic Amhara opposition party with a few representatives in the Ethiopian Parliament, issued a statement on Tuesday in reaction to the Mayor’s remark. NaMA called her remark “…such a dangerous and divisive one that incites genocide, and endangers the state. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and Addis Ababa City Administration itself have been making claims that the security apparatus is reformed including in the type of armaments made available for use.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 15, 2023 02:54 UTC
Anthony Blinken arrives in Ethiopia for a working visit
Misganu Arega, State Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, and Ambassador Seleshi Bekele (Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the United States) greeted him upon arrival at Bole International Airport. On March 10, the Department of State announced his travel to Africa for a visit to Ethiopia and Niger between March 14-17. Apart from meeting with senior Ethiopian government officials, Blinken is scheduled to meet with humanitarian organizations that partner with the United States and civil society leaders. During the war between the TPLF and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, the United States followed what appeared to be a hostile policy towards the latter and towards Ethiopia in general. Despite all that, the United States seems to have a stronger influence over Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government than any other country in the world.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 15, 2023 02:54 UTC
Advocates Call on Blinken to Demand Accountability for Atrocities in Ethiopia
But despite gains made since the peace deal, human rights advocates say there's more work ahead. "We also still need to see more commitment on justice and accountability and would really like for Secretary Blinken to push that." They called for establishing a transitional justice mechanism to punish human rights abuses committed during the conflict, saying there can be no reconciliation without accountability. "These things are still ongoing and so that's why we want to see Secretary Blinken deliver some tough messages about accountability when he is there." Although the government of Ethiopia has made efforts domestically to investigate human rights abuses, Hixon said the government should also allow international efforts.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 15, 2023 02:46 UTC
Human Rights Advocates: Blinken Must Demand Accountability for Atrocities in Ethiopia
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Ethiopia and Niger this week. In the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, he will focus on implementing the peace deal from last November that ended hostilities in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region after a brutal two-year conflict that left an estimated 500,000 civilians killed. VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. Salem Solomon contributed.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 15, 2023 02:44 UTC
News: Security, Intelligence Task Force accuses “some foreign nationals” of alleged dollar laundering and counterfeit
Picture: Joint Tssk ForceAddis Abeba – The Ethiopian Joint Security and Intelligence Task Force accused “some foreign nationals” who enter the country using tourist visas and other legal means, are engaged in weakening Ethiopia’s economy by “printing counterfeit dollars” using rented hotel and guest rooms as their basis. However, it didn’t clarify if all the five suspects were foreign nationals. Accordingly it said that after the operation, it has seized 601,760 birr which was ready to buy US dollars. The unnamed suspects who are under investigation were apprehended with three separate cheques worth 4.9 million birr ready to be used for the illegal purchase of US dollars, three Kalashnikovs and four pistols with similar ammunition. The Joint Task Force stated that its ongoing operation to crackdown on similar activities that started in Addis Abeba city will be expand to all other areas of the country where illegal money laundering takes place.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 15, 2023 02:01 UTC
How Nigérian woman, Chizoba died in Ethiopia’s prison
AdvertisementA Nigérian woman, Chizoba Favor Eze, has died in Kaliti Prison , Addis Ababa, Ethiopia . TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) gathered that she died in the early hours of Sunday, 12th, 2023AdvertisementAccording to sources from Kaliti prison, Chizoba suffered physical aggression from the prison police who later rushed her to the hospital but could not resist internal bleeding. TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that Kaliti Prison is a maximum security prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. AdvertisementAccording to a source, several inmates have died due to constant aggression on the part of Kaliti prison staff. Emeka, a Nigérian inmate insists that all efforts to draw the attention of the Nigerian government to the deteriorating condition in Kaliti prison have failed.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 15, 2023 01:19 UTC
NGOs call on Burundi to release five human rights defenders
A group of human rights NGOs on Tuesday urged the Burundian authorities to release five human rights defenders arrested on charges of rebellion and undermining state security "immediately" and to stop "intimidating" civil society. "The Burundian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the five human rights defenders arbitrarily arrested" and "drop the baseless charges against them," Amnesty International, the Burundi Human Rights Initiative and Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote in a statement, denouncing these proceedings as "intimidating other activists. Among the four activists arrested at the airport was Sonia Ndikumasabo, president of the Association of Women Lawyers of Burundi and former vice-president of the independent National Human Rights Commission. The fifth detainee, Prosper Runyange, a member of the Association for Peace and the Promotion of Human Rights (APDH), was arrested in Ngozi (north). Since his accession to power in 2020, Burundi's president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, has oscillated between signs of openness of the regime, which remains under the sway of powerful "generals", and firm control of power marked by human rights violations denounced by NGOs.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 15, 2023 00:12 UTC
EXCLUSIVE: Ethiopian Police Beat Nigerian Woman To Death, Abandon Lifeless Body In Detention, Brutalise Other Foreigners
A Nigerian woman, identified as Chizoba Favour Eze, has died after she was allegedly brutalised by policemen in Ethiopia. It was gathered that her corpse was left inside the cell for over 36 hours by the prison management who allegedly prevented other inmates from informing the Nigerian embassy about the incident. “A Nigerian woman, Chizoba Favor Eze has been brutalised to death at Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia. In a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian embassy in Ethiopia, they also complained of starvation, lack of access to medical care, corporal and capital punishment, and overcrowding. “The Nigerian inmates in Kaliti maximum prison Ethiopia are soliciting help from the Nigerian government; we ask that the government come to our aid urgently.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 14, 2023 23:58 UTC
Blinken in Ethiopia to push peace accord as US returns from cold
ADDIS ABABA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived late Tuesday (Mar 14) in Ethiopia on a bid to support the peace process after a brutal two-year civil war, and renew ties with a longtime ally. Molly Phee, the top US diplomat for Africa, said that Blinken's visit would aim to "help consolidate that peace" but cautioned that the US-Ethiopian relationship was not ready to go "back to normal". She said that Ethiopia needed to take steps "to help break the cycle of ethnic political violence" if it wants to put the US relationship back on a "forward trajectory". "The conflict that Ethiopia just endured was earth-shattering," she told reporters before departure. Russia has gone on a diplomatic offensive in Africa, including in Ethiopia, since the war, hopeful that the continent will stay neutral rather than join Western sanctions.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 14, 2023 23:44 UTC
Blinken Visiting Ethiopia, Niger as US Boosts Africa Push
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Ethiopia and Niger this week as the Biden administration accelerates a push to engage with Africa to counter China's growing influence on the continent, the State Department said. His trip will be the fourth high-profile visit to Africa this year by top members of the Biden administration. The Tigray conflict led the U.S. to suspend some preferential trade agreements with Ethiopia, which the country is eager to have restored. "What we're looking to do is refashion our engagement with Ethiopia," said Molly Phee, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs. The conflict in Tigray erupted a year after Abiy received the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with longtime rival Eritrea.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 14, 2023 23:39 UTC
In Tigray, evidence of a massacre by Eritrean soldiers – DW – 03
Eritrean soldiers allegedly massacred at least 300 people near Adwa just days before the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces signed a peace deal. In late October 2022, 63-year-old Abrehet Hagos heard that Eritrean soldiers had surrounded her village near the town of Adwa in Ethiopia's Tigray region. That night, we knew we had to flee," Hagos told DW. Hagos told DW she was worried about her daughter who has a mental disability, adding that she has had nightmares and lost weight since the murders. Witnesses told DW that they believed the massacre of civilians was a retaliation by Eritrean soldiers for the defeat they had suffered at the hands of Tigrayan forces.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 14, 2023 23:14 UTC
Ethiopia Is Not Ready for Transitional Justice
Now that the two-year civil war in Tigray and its surrounding regions is over, discussions have begun about transitional justice in Ethiopia. Now that the two-year civil war in Tigray and its surrounding regions is over, discussions have begun about transitional justice in Ethiopia. To succeed, a process of transitional justice ought to fulfill a number of criteria that are lacking in Ethiopia. Opposition groups—in this case, the TPLF and others—should have a principled approach that creates a united front on the issue of transitional justice for Ethiopia. Transitional justice must deliver justice to the victims; it should not protect the perpetrators of brutality.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 14, 2023 23:04 UTC
Spain's Airports Exceed pre-pandemic Levels in 2023
Aena, the world’s leading airport operator by the number of passengers, manages 46 airports and two heliports in Spain, including Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, and Canarias airports. The airports in the Aena network closed the month of February 2023 with 16,622,180 passengers, thus exceeding the data for the same month of 2019, the pre-pandemic year, by 2.2%. This also represents an increase of 39.6% compared to February 2022. In February 2023, 154,217 aircraft movements were managed, which means matching the data of 2019 and exceeding those of 2022 by 18.9%. ; and 80,480 tons of merchandise were moved, 2.5% more compared to the same month of 2019 and 2.2% more compared to February 2022.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 14, 2023 22:50 UTC
ITA Airways Increases Connections from Brazil to Italy
ITA Airways is enhancing its São Paolo – Rome Fiumicino direct flight to meet the expected increase in demand. Starting from August 2023, the Company will add 4 weekly frequencies to its daily connections between Brazil and Italy. ITA Airways' new frequencies from São Paulo will be operated with the Airbus A330, departing on Monday, Tuesday Thursday, and Sunday at 7:00 pm and landing at Rome Fiumicino at 11:45 am, local time. With the new destination in Brazil, ITA Airways will be able to offer to customers additional options in terms of departure and arrival times as well as connectivity with other flights to different domestic destination in Brazil, operated by ITA Airways’ partners through special agreements. To support the increased flight schedule between Brazil and Italy and reinforce awareness of the brand, ITA Airways is launching a multi-channel advertising campaign that will run in São Paolo through April 10th.
Source:Ethiopian News
March 14, 2023 21:44 UTC