Year: 2018
- Africa
In-depth Analysis: Managing Political Transition in Ethiopia: The Choice Factor
Ezekiel Gebissa, For Addis Standard Addis Abeba, October 17/2018 – Ethiopia is in the midst of a political transition. There is genuine elation that the rule of violence has ended and a democratically elected government is in the offing. Yet, there is collective anxiety that this transition could become another false start to democracy. A sense of déjà vu looms…
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News update: PM Abiy Ahmed’s downsized cabinet sees 50 per cent women ministers assume key positions
Addis Standard staffs Addis Abeba, Oct. 16/2018 – For the second time since becoming Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed formed a new cabinet today. But unlike the first one, PM Abiy has downsized the number of ministers from 28 to 20 and equalized the gender composition to 50% women and 50% men; he also gave key positions, such as minister…
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Opinion: Where to be, on the right or left of Abiy? That is the question
Close to one million civilians were displaced due to the recent violence in West Guji and Gedeo zones of the Oromia and southern regional states respectively Messay Kebede, For Addis Standard Addis Abeba, Oct. 11/2018 – Ethnic tensions and violent clashes and subsequent displacements of people in some regions of Ethiopia and around Addis Abeba have set off alarmist, if…
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OP:ED: On the urgent need to clarify disarmament negotiations between the government of Abiy Ahmed and rebel groups
FM Workneh Gebeyehu, Dawud Ibssa of OLF and Lemma Megerssa during talks in Asmara Jawar Mohammed, For Addis Standard Addis Abeba, Oct. 08/2018 – Rebel groups such as the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), Patriotic Ginbot 7 (PG7), and Tigray People’s Democratic Movement (TPDM), among others, have picked up arms as means of struggle…
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News: EPRDF begins decisive congress in which reelecting PM Abiy is the least of its worries
Addis Abeba, October 03/2018 – More than 1000 members of the ruling EPRDF’s movers and shakers are gathered in the lake city of Hawassa, the capital of the Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Regional state, (SNNPR), in what is largely seen as the most decisive congress of the collation ever since its existence 27 years ago. EPRDF’s congress is taking…
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News: United States Provides Back-to-School Materials for 147,000 displaced children
Addis Abeba, Sep. 256/2018 – The U.S. Government has provided new school materials for 147,000 displaced children in Oromia, Somali, and SNNPR regional states. Through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), this effort is aimed at protecting vulnerable children’s rights to education following internal conflicts that have displaced approximately 2 million people in Ethiopia. USAID and the Ministry…
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Analysis: Democratic transition in Abiy’s Ethiopia: managing the bad, the good and the troubling
PM Abiy Ahmed sitting relaxed at the ODP conference in Jimma G. Teressa, For Addis Standard Addis Abeba, September 25/2018 – The power relationship within the four-member ruling coalition party—the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)-which has ruled Ethiopia autocratically for 27 years, has been irreversibly changed. The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is no longer the kingmaker after suffering…
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News: Arrests perplex Addis Abeba residents as city police say it is conducting crackdown on rising crime
Liyat Fekade Addis Abeba, September 24/2018 – Addis Abeba residents are expressing their shocks and frustrations on what they said was a “mass arrest” of the city’s youth by the police without due court proceeds over the last few days. The Addis Abeba city police on its part said it was conducting a crackdown on rising crimes in the city…
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Op:ED: The privatization of violence: Why chaos is making a comeback in Abiy’s Ethiopia
Zecharias Zelalem Addis Abeba, September 21/2018 – Monday September 17, Addis Abeba’s residents took to the streets to denounce a spate of violence that shocked the country the weekend before. A large crowd had gathered just outside the headquarters of state broadcaster Ethiopian Television as well as the city’s center Mesqel Square. Loud and vociferous, demonstrators managed to attract enough…
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