Ethiopia’s Delayed Polls Have More to Do With Democratic Retreat Than COVID-19

Source: https://thewire.in/world/ethipia-elections-abiy-ahmed A delayed election could balkanise the country along ethnic lines and become the most severe political crisis in Ethiopia’s modern history. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Photo: Reuters/Tiksa Negeri/Files Mulugeta G. Berhe WORLD 19/MAY/2020 The decision by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to postpone the elections in Ethiopia has created a constitutional crisis. The…

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS: TOWARDS TIGRAY STATEHOOD?

Source: https://addisstandard.com/in-depth-analysis-towards-tigray-statehood/ Debretsion G/Michael, President of Tigray Regional state, greeting a crowd of hundreds of thousands during the 45th founding anniversary of TPLF in Mekelle on February 11, 2020. KJETIL TRONVOLL @KJETILTRONVOLL Addis Abeba, May 14/2020 – The postponement of the elections and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s proposal on how to solve the upcoming constitutional…

World Report 2020: Ethiopia | Human Rights Watch

Source: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/ethiopia Itoophiyaa Events of 2019 Afaan Oromootiin Lakkaawwiin ummataa kan biyoolessaa wal-falmisiisaa garuu kan yeroon isaa darbe filannoo bara 2020 raawwachuuf karoorfameef haalan akka barbaachisu otoo beekamuu ji’a waxabajjii keessa paarlaamaan biyyattii lakkawwii ummataa kana dabarsuuf murteesseera. Riiformiin dhaabbilee keessumaa kan akka bilisummaa mana murtiifi tarkaanfiileen murteessoon akka haqa, araaraafi itti gaafatamummaa mirkaneessuu siyaasafi…

Oromia: The Endless Colonial Conspiracy and Genocide Wars in Ethiopia

By: Itana Gammada April 14, 2020 A people under colonial occupation have a maximum of two choices, either stand up and fight for their freedom and dignity or accept humiliation, subjugation, victimization and perpetual slavery. Throughout human history, colonialism has never been an option. Rather, oppressed people worldwide make the necessary sacrifices to achieve their…

Forms of Political Systems: Unitary, Federalism, Confederalism, and the Oromo question

By Leenjiso Horo, April 2020 The great mass of the people are the foundation of the state. People are the basis of all legitimate political authority…..No sovereignty can come into existence, or continue to exist, unless the people consent to and authorize it. The inherent and inalienable sovereignty of the people is therefore assumed as…

Ethiopia: Murder convicted criminals got pardoned, political prisoners transferred to a notorious prison

Source: Ayyaantuu.org March 27, 2020 #Ayet Ayetu Baro Tumsa Ethiopian government has released a statement about pardoning prisoners because of Coronavirus. What might seem commendable is actually concerning. While processing paperwork, prison officials raised concerns about the future safety of our society because the list contains hundreds of dangerous criminals convicted of theft, robbery, assault…

Internet shutdowns ‘not justified’ in coronavirus outbreak

MARCH 21, 2020 Rina Chandran, Emeline Wuilbercq BANGKOK / ADDIS ABABA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Internet shutdowns cannot be justified at a time when access to information is critical to containing the deadly coronavirus pandemic, human rights groups have warned. The outbreak has infected more than 245,000 people worldwide and the death toll now exceeds…

SPECIAL EDITION: FAILED POLITICS AND DECEPTION: BEHIND THE CRISIS IN WESTERN AND SOUTHERN OROMIA

Source: https://addisstandard.com/special-edition-failed-politics-and-deception-behind-the-crisis-in-western-and-southern-oromia/ BY ZECHARIAS ZELALEM @ZEKUZELALEM March 20/2020 – Dozens of unarmed civilians have been shot dead by Ethiopian army soldiers operating in the Qellem Wollega district of the Oromia State over the course of the past five weeks. Estimates are that since January 20th, over a hundred others have fled their homes for the…

OROMO QUESTION NEVER RETIRES WITHOUT RESPONSE

Organized Oromo liberation movement started in the 60s because Habashaarulers that built Nafxanyaa colonial system refused to give attention to peacefully presented Oromo questions. African countries they had fallen with started to be free around the same time after 75 years. Oromo struggle continued until they were listened to in 1991. It has still to…

Onslaught in Oromia: A hidden war threatens Ethiopia’s transition to democracy

Abiy Ahmed’s crackdown in Oromia is bloody and lawless Source: https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/03/19/a-hidden-war-threatens-ethiopias-transition-to-democracy Middle East and Africa Mar 19th 2020 edition NEKEMTE In the corner of a restaurant in Nekemte, a town in western Ethiopia, Fisaha Aberra unfolds a piece of paper on which he has scrawled the names of 11 men he says were shot by…

The Legacy of the Past on Ethiopia’s Modern Political Life

Source: http://roape.net/2020/03/12/the-legacy-of-the-past-on-ethiopias-modern-political-life/ By John Markakis Ethiopian historiography has long featured a claim to exceptionalism based on the country’s many distinctive features: a state whose roots go back to antiquity, a literate culture, the only place in Africa where Christianity survived as a native faith and a surplus producing agricultural economy that sustained a sophisticated class…

Blood on the Nile is what’s coming if Egypt and Ethiopia continue their war of words over water

THE INDEPENDENT Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/egypt-nile-war-water-ethiopia-clash-dam-trump-a9390271.html By Ahmed Aboudouh 10 March 2020 Blood on the Nile is what’s coming if Egypt and Ethiopia continue their war of words over water: Donald Trump can actually help mediate the dispute before it escalates into violence Boats dock along the Nile River shoreline in Luxor ( Getty Images ) The…

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Ethiopia’s Abiy faces outcry over crackdown on rebels

Source: https://www.france24.com/en/20200229-ethiopia-s-abiy-faces-outcry-over-crackdown-on-rebels Issued on: 29/02/2020 – 05:10Modified: 29/02/2020 – 05:08 Nekemte (Ethiopia) (AFP) Desta Garuma, a 27-year-old rickshaw driver, never showed much interest in politics, so his family has no idea how soldiers concluded he was involved in a rebel movement active in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. But one day in January, five truckloads of soldiers…

Ethiopia: Vendor killed, musician injured after police attack opposition supporters in Oromia

17 February 2020, 18:42 UTC Source: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/02/ethiopia-vendor-killed-musician-injured-after-police-attack-opposition-supporters-in-oromia/ Police in Ethiopia launched an attack on opposition party supporters in the Oromia Region on Saturday, killing one person and arresting and injuring scores more. Just hours after the date for Ethiopia’s parliamentary elections was announced, the Oromia Liyu police raided the inauguration of an Oromia Liberation Front…

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Ethiopia’s naive peacemaking could lead to war

OPINION Ethiopia’s naive peacemaking could lead to war by Michael Rubin | February 17, 2020 09:43 AM Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/ethiopias-naive-peacemaking-could-lead-to-war Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy is on a high. In October 2019, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.” The committee…

Drivers of ethnic conflict in contemporary Ethiopia

ISS Drivers of ethnic conflict in contemporary Ethiopia Semir Yusuf Source: https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/mono-202-2.pdf Contents Executive summary ………………………………………………………………………v Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….. 1 Conflict in Ethiopia today …………………………………………………………………3 Chapter 1Institutions shape ethnic relations and cause nationalist antagonisms……………5 Pre-1991 Ethiopia…………………………………………………………………………..5 Post-1991 Ethiopia………………………………………………………………………….6 Chapter 2 Era of political liberalisation and unbridled contending nationalism ………………11 The north ……………………………………………………………………………………11 The west……………………………………………………………………………………..19 Towards the south………………………………………………………………………….20…