A game of musical chairs

and a new report on Tigray

Aug 28, 2023

Welcome to Sifter new subscribers,

This is your weekly update on what’s making news in Ethiopia. I’m Maya Miskir, the freelance reporter behind it. I cover updates, news, and sometimes events on a (rare) slow news week. If you think there’s something I’m missing or you want to get more information on any of this week’s updates, hit reply and I’ll get back!

Now, to the news.

Security: we don’t know her (IV)

A couple of important updates on what took place over the past week in relation to the security situation in Amhara region.

The first big development is that the regional president resigned. A new president has already been appointed for the region: Arega Kebede, who was in the limelight back in June 2019. At the time, Arega had led the region’s state militia bureau, during another time of crisis (when the regional president had been assassinated).

Here’s an excerpt from a story on Addis Standard on the leadership of the region prior to this:

“Other regional presidents include: Dr Ambachew Mekonnen, who was assassinated in June 2019 along with other senior officials of the region; Temesgen Tiruneh, who was appointed to head NISS after the war in the Tigray region erupted in November 2020 and who is currently leading the Amhara region State of Emergency Command Post; and Agegnehu Teshager, who was sworn in as the Speaker of the House of Federation in October 2021 after he left his position as president of the region.

The second development is a statement by the country’s defense minister posted on Facebook last Tuesday saying that there are plans to hold a referendum in the region to resolve the issue of the disputed areas between Tigray and Amhara regions.

If you remember in my first detailed breakdown of the situation in Amhara region, I mentioned the issue of contested areas in western and southern Tigray and how it is considered a major reason behind the conflict in Amhara region and a site of ethnic cleansing; another ongoing activity despite the peace truce, according to reports by human rights organizations.

Here’s an excerpt from a story on Reuters on the proposed referendum:

“The government also vowed to dissolve what it called an "illegal administration" in the area run by the Amharas, potentially risking a further backlash from former allies in the country's 2020-2022 civil war.”

If you’re asking, how did it all get to this point, go here for some context.

The full story on Reuters here, the story by Addis Standard in English here, and a breakdown of the region’s presidency in Amharic on Ethiopia Insider here.

Human rights: sexual violence against women in Tigray, still

Another devastating report released last week by Physicians for Human Rights documents how women in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are still facing a lot of sexual violence despite the peace agreement that was signed nearly a year ago.

The report, based on surveying 305 randomly selected medical records, concludes that 128 of these took place after the peace agreement was signed.

Here’s an excerpt from the report’s executive summary:

“The scale and nature of these violations has not materially changed since the peace agreement was signed, except for the notable fact that 95 percent of conflict-related sexual violence experienced by children and adolescents under 18 years old occurred following the signing of the CoHA.”

The report cites incidents of rape, sexual slavery, and enslavement and adds that survivors identified the perpetrators to be, in most cases, Ethiopian or Eritrean armed forces.

The report adds that ensuring that there will be consequences for the sexual violence committed in Tigray will also send a ‘clear message’ as far as the security situation in Amhara region is concerned.

The executive summary of the report here, and a Washington Post story based on that here.

Migration: they’re going to look into things, maybe

Last week on Sifter, I wrote an update on a report by Human Rights Watch on the killings of hundreds of Ethiopians at the Yemeni-Saudi border. For a bit more context on that, you can go back and take a look here, where I talk more about the migration route taken by tens of thousands of Ethiopians every year known as the Eastern Route.

Following this latest report that points to these killings as amounting to crimes against humanity, the Ethiopian government announced that it will ‘promptly investigate’ this along with the Saudi government.

The statement didn’t want to end on a sour note though. The two countries ‘notwithstanding the unfortunate tragedy’ have ‘excellent longstanding relations’, it added.

Saudi Arabia says that ‘the accusations are baseless and not based on reliable sources’.

The statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

Geopolitics: the good news continues

Positive updates on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam first came in mid-July this year when Ethiopia and Egypt both agreed to expedite negotiations on the filling of the dam. That was a pleasant surprise that came just months after the Ethiopian government was calling upon all concerned parties ‘to take note of Egypt’s flagrant violation of principles of international relations’.

Things are progressing on a good note, as representatives from Ethiopia, Egypt and the Sudan have just finished a round of talks in Cairo Egypt.

No breakthroughs yet but the next round of negotiations is expected to be in September in Addis Abeba and a statement from the government said that ‘the three parties exchanged views to reach into a win-win situation.’

The full story on Fana Broadcasting Corporation here and Bloomberg here.

Economy: Ethiopia joins BRICS

Ethiopia has been invited to join BRICS, the bloc composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The group was first formed in 2009 with South Africa added in 2010. Ethiopia, along with five other countries, will be the first group of countries to join as of January 2024.

What are the other countries other than Ethiopia? Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE. Forty countries had expressed interest and 23 had formally applied.

Here’s an expert from a story on Al Jazeera:

“One thing that is very clear is that most of the rest of Africa – with the exception of maybe Nigeria and Kenya – are moving away from the West and towards the East. We are sticking in the Western camp without saying it explicitly, but more importantly without getting any benefits from being in the Western camp,” he told Al Jazeera.
Jeenah said the inclusion of Ethiopia, a country with one of the fastest-growing economies, that also hosts the headquarters of the African Union, “makes sense in those terms”.

The full story here.

Was this forwarded to you by someone? Then hit the button below to subscribe and get free weekly updates.

That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with more updates!

In the meantime, you can help support my work by forwarding this email to friends and family who might benefit from keeping up with what’s going on.

Note: I go through all the major news outlets, newspapers, online publications, and will at times, include reports, notes on parliamentary sessions, and go through fact-checking websites as well. I try to provide links to both English and Amharic sources, and I usually time-stamp the video I link to unless I think the whole video is relevant.

Sifter