Emergency: a state of being
and more damning reports on food insecurity
Hi there,
I hope your weekend was better than mine. I spent it fighting for my life with a cold that came out of nowhere. I’m taking the liberty to advise you to stay indoors and drink hot stuff instead of heading out into the Addis cold when your throat feels itchy, which is what I should have done.
I’m back on my feet though (yet again) and just in time to do a wrap-up of some news over the past week. To new subscribers, welcome to Sifter, your weekly roundup of news on Ethiopia. I’m Maya Misikir, a freelance reporter who writes this from Addis Abeba.
Now, to the news.
Security: we don’t know her (XV)
Over the past year – and particularly after August 2023 – Ethiopia’s Amhara region has been grounds for fighting between the region’s militia (known as Fano) and federal government troops. The conflict prompted the government to declare a state of emergency in the region six months ago. I have been sending updates on that regularly – this is the 15th part (notwithstanding previous mix-ups with Roman numerals).
To make all the updates on Amhara region easily accessible, I have compiled all the developments to date in one place; you can find the chronological table of contents on fighting, drone attacks, human rights reports, and media clampdowns, here. I’ll continue to update it as we go (and perhaps categorize other updates on a single issue in a similar format? Let me know if you like this idea by replying to this).
Last week Friday, parliamentarians approved the extension of this six-month-long state of emergency in the region. Here’s an excerpt on that from a story on Addis Standard:
The proposal to extend the state of emergency was presented by the Minister of Justice, Gedion Timothios, who underscored the necessity of the extension during the meeting.
Subsequent to “comprehensive deliberation”, the parliament endorsed the proposal, garnering a majority vote in support alongside two opposing votes, according to the information obtained from the parliament.
The extension of the state of emergency aims to maintain “peace and security of the people” amidst the ongoing region-wide militarized conflict, the Parliament further said.
This decision has alarmed the rights body in the country, and if your job was to track the rights violations that have taken place under the blanket excuse of this declaration, it would alarm you too. I wrote this update in September last year when the Commission rang bells about the human rights violations taking place.
The head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission stated that the government should consider, ‘necessity, legality & proportionality’ in this declaration.
The full story on Addis Standard here and the post by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commissioner here.
Food: new report confirms deaths
Last week Tuesday the Ethiopian Institution of the Ombudsman released findings of an investigation it had conducted on the effects of drought in Tigray and Amhara regions. The statement it released says that 351 people have died in Tigray because of the drought.
In its statement, the Ombudsman also said that despite authorities under the Amhara regional government saying that no one had died because of the drought, investigations revealed that 21 people had died of starvation in the region.
Authorities under the regional government had also denied that there were people displaced by the drought in Amhara region but the Ombudsman states that over 20,000 displaced people were staying in shelters. The Ombudsman, in its recommendation, wrote that the region’s administration should (instead) properly document the number of internally displaced people by age, sex, and other important factors.
Here's an excerpt from a story on Reuters on what the head of the Ombudsman, Endale Haile said:
Endale said the findings were from a 10-day assessment in the two regions, and it was possible there were more deaths.
"If we expand our sample the death figure may increase. But our main purpose is for the government to give the issue an attention and inform them how the issue is getting serious. So that they will take actions," he told Reuters.”
The full statement of the Ombudsman here, in Amharic and the story on Reuters here.
Summit: Italy and the African continent
Last week, Monday, Italy hosted the Italy-Africa Summit, where 45 African countries were represented. Also present was Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed – as evidenced by these photo ops with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
During this one-day summit, Italy rolled out what it calls the ‘Mattei plan’ which, ‘includes energy deals in return for stopping migration,’ according to a story by Radio France Internationale (RFI).
Here's an excerpt from the story:
“Meloni, who came to power in 2022 on an anti-migrant ticket, said the plan would initially be funded to the tune of €5.5 billion, some of which would be loans, with investments focused on energy, agriculture, water, health and education.”
But despite it being a plan to be implemented in African countries, Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the African Union Commission, said ‘he wished Africa had been consulted first on priorities’.
The story also cites experts in the story who are asking if, “Italy had the necessary African development knowledge or experience to make its plan work.”
Meanwhile, The Star reported that Kenyan President William Ruto, ‘vowed not to attend summits convened by a single European country that invites all African heads of state.’
The full story on RFI here, and The Star’s coverage on President Ruto’s stand here.
Infrastructure: ready to talk it out
Did the Ethiopian government predict the level of diplomatic upheaval that would follow when it signed a port deal with Somaliland? Since this deal between the two was signed on the 1st of January, it has ignited a series of responses from governments around the world. You can go here and take a look at positions taken by Somalia, Somaliland, the African Union, the European Union, and the Arab League.
When the regional bloc, IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development), called an emergency meeting to discuss this issue a couple of weeks ago, Ethiopian representatives did not show up citing a ‘schedule overlap’. The Ethiopian government is now asking for another meeting of member states to, ‘discuss the issues’ according to a story by The Reporter.
And what of the UN Security Council members’ closed meeting on this issue?
Here’s an excerpt from the same story:
The UN Security Council recommends that Ethiopia and Somalia resolve their differences through IGAD and the AU, disclosed Meles Alem (Amb.), spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He told the press Ethiopia has requested IGAD to call for another summit for dialogue on last month’s sea-access deal that has infuriated Mogadishu. IGAD had not issued an official response to the request before The Reporter went to print.
In the meantime, the Ethiopian government is going ahead with its plans to ‘diversify its trade routes and reduce heavy reliance on ports in Djibouti’ according to another story by Addis Fortune, which says that the first shipments were sent through the port of Lamu in Kenya. The port is reportedly ideally located for fertilizer suppliers.
The full story on The Reporter here and Addis Fortune here.
Statistics: census could be happening soon-ish
It’s been over 16 years since Ethiopia has had a population and housing census. This is planned to happen every ten years but many reasons including ‘escalating conflicts and instability across various regions over the past five years’ have delayed this according to a post by Addis Standard. But the government – specifically the Ministry of Planning and Development– is now aiming to make it happen within the next three years.
Here's an excerpt from the same post:
During the unveiling of the three-year Statistics Development Program today, Fistum Asefa, Minister of Planning and Development, noted that with the conclusion of the Tigray war and improving peace, notably in the Amhara region, the government has activated plans for the census.
Fistum also underscored the significance of the agricultural census, highlighting that the last census of its kind took place 25 years ago.
The full post on Addis Standard here.
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That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with more updates!
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Thanks for the breakdown Maya.