Good news for renters
(aka tenants, lessees, or most of us here)
Hi there,
I’m Maya Misikir, a freelance reporter based in Addis Abeba and you’re reading Sifter - a newsletter where I curate the week’s top five stories.
This is the part where I usually go into updates about something related to my personal life: it’s 2:30 AM and I need to wake up early tomorrow for an interview.
Now, to the news.
Law: are most parliamentarians renters?
I’m happy to report that property owners will no longer be setting rent prices based on their every whim and fancy. A new law was passed by parliamentarians last week that requires property owners to get approval from the government before increasing rent prices.
The new law also gives regional governments the mandate to increase property taxes (25%), on properties that, ‘have been vacant for more than a year,’ according to a story on Addis Fortune.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
The legislative change represents a significant intervention in the housing market by the government, with potential implications for the relationship between property owners and tenants. By introducing these regulations, authorities claim to prevent the exploitation of tenants and address the issue of housing affordability while attempting to keep the rental market stable.
The story says, ‘the bill received overwhelming support in Parliament…with only three abstentions and no objections.”
The full story on Addis Fortune, here.
Intra-regional: the committee’s struggling
In late February, I briefly mentioned the fighting that broke out in border areas between Ethiopia’s Afar and Somali regions, though the update mostly focused on the drought in Afar. Since then, a reconciliation committee was set up, made-up of people representing both sides with the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council playing mediator, to find a lasting solution to these border disputes.
While the tensions have decreased over the past few days, fighting was on again during the last week of March, resulting, ‘in casualties and injuries affecting individuals from both sides,’ according to a story by Addis Standard.
Here’s an excerpt:
The longstanding conflict between communities residing in these regions has led to numerous casualties and extensive property damage.
In November 2022, Addis Standard reported a tragic incident in which at least 18 civilians lost their lives, with several others sustaining injuries in clashes along the border areas of the Somali and Afar regions.
Residents from Afar and Somali regions of Ethiopia quoted in the story blamed attacks made by either side. A resident from Afar says that the attackers from Somali region were backed by Djiboutian forces as injured soldiers were found wearing ‘Djibouti military insignia’.
The full story on Addis Standard here.
Security: we don’t know her (XXI)
I’ve been writing updates on the security situation in Ethiopia’s Amhara region and compiling the reports in one place ever since about August last year when the order to re-integrate the region’s informal militia into the formal security structure unraveled the security there (the order came in April). New subscribers can find the Table of Contents, here.
The last update, at number 20, featured a call by Amnesty International to lift the internet ban in the region and warnings from experts on how this could escalate into a full-fledged civil war.
Eight months down the road, there is still active fighting between federal forces and Fano fighters, the region’s informal militia. Last week, reports came out on active shoot-outs in the town of Robit, North Wollo zone, Amhara region, according to a report by Wazema Radio.
Meanwhile, the main road connecting the towns of Debre Berhan and Dessie is no longer under restriction as of last week, reported Addis Standard. Curfew times have also loosened in the town of Debre Tabor (both Debre Berhan and Debre Tabor are in Amhara region, yet 12 hours apart by car for anyone mistakenly assuming they’re close together).
Over the same week, Human Rights Watch released a detailed report calling for an urgent investigation into human rights abuses in the region, citing the killings that took place in the town of Merawi in February; I wrote an update on that when it was first reported. The report said this was, ‘among the deadliest for civilians,’ since the conflict started in August 2023.
Here's an excerpt of what the organization’s deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch, Laetitia Bader, said:
The deliberate mass killings of civilians by Ethiopian government forces have sadly become a feature of daily life for countless Ethiopians in conflict areas,” Bader said. “Ethiopia’s partners, the African Union, and the UN should take concrete steps to end the impunity that abusive Ethiopian commanders have long enjoyed.
The report also mentions that not only did federal soldiers go on a retaliatory ‘killing spree’ on the town’s residents but that they were also looting, ‘homes, hotels, and businesses.’
Also included is a reminder that ‘looting and pillage of civilian property are prohibited and may be prosecuted as war crimes,’ under international humanitarian law.
The update on Wazema Radio here, the story on the loosened curfew on Addis Standard, here, and the full report by Human Rights Watch here.
Education: re-evaluating awards
There is going to be a re-evaluation of how we give out honorary degrees, says the Ministry of Education according to a story in The Reporter. Ministry officials say that some individuals from specific regions are getting these honorary degrees way more than the rest, but they fall short of saying which region.
Yet, they’ve announced that transparency and fairness are how they plan to go about giving these honorary degrees, according to the same report.
Here’s an excerpt:
In a discussion hosted by Ethiopian Academy of Sciences on April 4, 2024, Masresha Fetene (Prof.) of Addis Ababa University, highlighted the prevalence of ethnic and political biases in the decision-making process, calling for urgent reforms to ensure fairness and integrity.
Masresha and other stakeholders want to see the Ministry develop clear guidelines for universities to follow in granting honorary degrees, focusing on the significant contributions and impact on society made by potential recipients.”
The Ministry has for now temporarily suspended honorary degree conferrals until it comes up with new rules.
On a not-unrelated note, I don’t know how many of you read the report that came out last year that brought up issues of plagiarism detected in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s PhD thesis. You can take a look at that article here. (The article also mentions Minister of Defense Abraham Belay (MSc 2007), former Minister of Mines, Takele Uma (MSc 2014), and former Minister of Transportation, Dagmawit Moges (MSc 2019), saying, ‘all three theses had high similarity scores with numerous fully copied paragraphs and sections.)
The full story on The Reporter, here.
Finance: getting closer to something, not sure what
The last time I wrote an update on the state of the country’s foreign debt situation was in January when Ethiopia had defaulted on making an interest payment toward a one billion US dollar Eurobond (its commercial creditors).
Ethiopian government officials had been trying to secure a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to get loans for a reform program that was also a way to get the country’s debt service suspended.
You might think that April is a long time for an update on this, but discussions between representatives of the IMF and Ethiopian officials have been going on since last year with not many changes reported since.
The IMF officials were in Addis Abeba again to discuss the country’s request but left last week, without any agreements reached, according to a story on Bloomberg.
Sure, the IMF staff said they made “substantial progress,” this time, but they also said they were, "almost there" on an agreement with Ethiopia, last October.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
A two-week visit to Ethiopia by IMF staff “made substantial progress towards establishing how the IMF could support the authorities’ economic program,” Mission Chief Alvaro Piris said in a statement Tuesday. He added that talks would continue during the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, which start April 15.
But the process for getting funding is complicated and I wrote an update on that, as well as the implications of this agreement with the IMF, in terms of Ethiopia’s agreement with the Paris Club (the group of official creditors), and the deadline that was set for the end of last month, on a post entitled, ‘securing much-needed suspensions’.
The full story on Bloomberg, here.
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That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with more updates!
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Thank you, Maya. ☺️