Year: 2016
-
Op-Ed: EU-Africa: A common future
By Jean-Claude Juncker and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma As we face the challenges of the 21st century there is more that unites Africa and Europe than divides us. We share a common history of thousands of years. Today more than ever we need to work together to build our common future and to work jointly on the defining global issues of our…
Click Here to read more. -
Solitary struggles: Of soul-searching Ethiopian adoptees
Zecharias Zelalem, Special to Addis Standard Thousands upon thousands of skinny, dusty, women and children clad in dirty rags, sitting on a barren land, (the scorching sun consuming what’s left of them), barely able to muster the strength to bat away overzealous flies. The scent of death is all around as another shawl is wrapped around the lifeless…
Click Here to read more. -
#OromoProtests: The martinet’s message meets its match
Ezekiel Gebissa, special to Addis Standard In his book, The Dictator’s Learning Curve, William J. Dobson argues that old-school dictators like Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao and Idi Amin ruled with unrestrained violence before the advent of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media networks known for instantaneous communication. Contemporary dictators cannot keep their evil deeds secret even when those…
Click Here to read more. - U.S
Bernie‘s big surprise
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is forcing Mrs. Clinton to adjust her strategy. Her coronation as the Democratic nominee seems less pretentious and entitled; Mr. Sanders is making her work for it and that is positive for Democrats. It also gives Mrs. Clinton a much better opportunity to sell herself to Democrats and general election voters; she should take that opening,…
Click Here to read more. - Africa
Donors launch campaign to address funding gaps in Ethiopia drought response
Humanitarian partners in Ethiopia today launched a 90-day campaign to raise awareness on the urgent need for an additional funding for the drought crisis in Ethiopia to address the humanitarian resource gap. “Ethiopia is currently contending with one of the most serious climatic shocks in recorded history with ten million people facing lost harvests and livestock as well as severe…
Click Here to read more. -
Opinion: Taking our voice seriously
Hailegabriel Gedecho My starting point for this short reflection is my discomfort with friends and acquaintances who question (and dismiss) the morality of supporting (to use their pejorative expression ‘mafafam’) Oromo Protests from overseas. As most of these critiques reside in Ethiopia (where public display of solidarity with Oromo Protests is meant risking torture, incarceration, and of course one’s…
Click Here to read more. - Africa
Ethiopia court grants police investigating Bekele Gerba et al, journalist Getachew Shiferaw et al additional 28 days
Mahlet Fasil The federal high court Arada branch 19th criminal bench has today granted the police investigating senior opposition figure Bekele Gerba and 22 others additional 28 days and adjourned the next hearing until April 15th 2016. The police were given the additional 28 days at a closed hearing this afternoon. The same court has also adjourned the…
Click Here to read more. -
Ethiopia’s Constitution: Fractured legitimacy & the urgency of constitutional transfiguration
Part – I By Tsegaye R Ararssa Between 1991 and 1995, Ethiopia had another historical opportunity to (re)constitute itself as a polity. Having used (or abused) that opportunity, on December 8, 1994, the Constitutional Assembly adopted a constitution that came into force in 1995 (see interview here). The controversy around the constitution 21 years after its adoption suggests that…
Click Here to read more. - Africa
Ethiopia’s Constitution: Can it stand the test of time?
Dr. Negaso Gidada studied History at the Haile Sellasie 1st University (now the Addis Abeba University) from 1966 to 1971. From ‘71 to ‘74 he served as school director and history teacher in Aira, in Western Wallaga. He left for Germany in October 1974 and lived there until July 1991. During this time he studied History in the department of…
Click Here to read more. -
Editorial: Political responsibility (not vague apology) should come first
(Revised) Save for yesterday’s vague ‘apology’ from Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, the ruling party in Ethiopia is dead silent on the scale of the tragedy that gripped Ethiopia recently. But it only takes a simple drive through villages within 100 -300km radius and a sit-and-talk session with villagers to understand that what happened in the last four months (and…
Click Here to read more.