Ethiopians may get justice in Kenya
and a decision that makes no sense
Hi there,
I’m going through a few reports for next week’s edition; one is on the safety of journalists in Ethiopia (2024), one looking at geopolitics in the Horn of Africa, specifically at Ethiopia’s push for access to the sea, and one on how religious institutions can influence the peace process in Ethiopia. Stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, if you have a report that touches on human rights that you think could be a valuable update for readers, reply to this email and share it with me. Let’s get the word out.
My name is Maya Misikir, and I’m a freelance reporter based in Addis Abeba. I write Sifter, this newsletter where I send out the week’s top 5 stories on human rights and news in Ethiopia.
Now, to the news.
Tech: past the first hurdle
In October last year, the Kenyan High Court held a session to hear a case in which two Ethiopian citizens, along with a Kenyan civic society organization, The Katiba Institute, brought against Meta.
The question at the time was jurisdiction. Can a Kenyan court hear a case on rights violations that took place in Ethiopia against a company registered in the US?
The court decided that yes, it does have ‘jurisdiction to hear and consider the merits of the case’ last week.
What were the particulars of the case? That during the Tigray war, (November 2020 – November 2022), ‘Facebook platform’s algorithmic recommendation systems prioritized and promoted inciteful, hateful and dangerous content.’
What was Facebook's defense? That it is registered in the US and that the violations happened in Ethiopia.
It is exactly because of these types of ‘jurisdictional, practical and other legal challenges’ that access to justice is hard to come by, said an Amnesty International representative at the time.
How did the Kenyan court justify its decision on jurisdiction? Here’s an excerpt:
Since Courts in Kenya are vested with jurisdiction to determine whether a right has been violated and to interpret the constitution among other things, the Court confirmed that it had jurisdiction to hear the matter on this basis.
Meta representatives have asked the ‘court’s permission to appeal’.
The full press release from Amnesty International, here.
Security: we don’t know her (XLIII)
Last Monday, more than 40 people were killed in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. People in the areas where this happened (North Gojjam Zone) said that it was government forces who killed people on the streets and during house searches, according to a story by Addis Standard.
Here’s an excerpt on what a resident is quoted as saying:
The resident further alleged that security forces “prohibited the removal of bodies, so the corpses remained overnight until they were collected the following day, Tuesday, April 1, 2025.” He stated that “the bodies were retrieved only after defense forces repositioned themselves…
The past month, fighting has intensified in the region between the region’s informal militia, the Fano, and federal troops.
Since the start of this conflict, in August 2023, there have been serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate drone strikes, and mass arbitrary detentions.
You can find all the 43 updates since it started compiled here.
The full story on Addis Standard, here.
Funding: putting the AGOA bid to rest
Ethiopia was kicked off the US’s trade program, known as AGOA, at the beginning of 2022, as a sanction brought on by the Tigray war. This impacted textile manufacturers, who exported to the US, and they had been busy campaigning for this sanction to be lifted ever since.
Despite repeated diplomatic calls to be readmitted, the exclusion kept getting extended. By February of this year, 18 foreign companies had packed up and left, according to a story on The Reporter.
AGOA is ‘a 25-year-old piece of US legislation guaranteeing duty-free access to American consumers for certain goods from Africa.’ When this was taken away from Ethiopia, about a million jobs were at risk, according to the National Bank of Ethiopia. The tariffs set by the US last week have now made this situation even worse.
For Ethiopia (Kenya and Ghana), the new tariffs are set at 10%.
Ethiopia has not been eligible since 2022, but for the thirty-two countries from sub-Saharan Africa who were, the new tariffs are confusing: which takes precedence, the preferential act or the new tariffs?
The full story, which looks at how African governments are interpreting this latest decision, on the BBC, here.
Tigray: no one wants war (again)
The interim administration in Ethiopia’s Tigray region is gearing up to get a new leader. I wrote about the issues around that last week; the prime minister’s parliamentary speech, the response from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) - the region’s main party - and the political crisis that has created fears of another war in the region.
Tigray was a war zone for two years, from November 2020 to November 2022, until a peace deal ended the war between the TPLF and the federal government.
Many former fighters now reject ‘the idea of returning to combat’ and are, ‘frustrated by the growing tensions’.
Here’s what a former fighter was quoted as saying in a story on La Croix:
“After war, the rich collect the profits, the politicians gather the leftover bullets, and the poor go to the cemetery to cry for their children,” said Kidus. “My parents are poor. I don’t want to die and leave them grieving for the rest of their lives.”
The full story, about the former soldiers who answered the call to arms in 2020, and who now fear they could be called back if war breaks out again, here.
Oromia: two different sides, one region
Ethiopia’s Oromia region has been a battleground for armed fighters in the region, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), and the federal government, since 2019.
More than 20 people were killed in the region’s Horo Guduru Wollega Zone last week in another fight.
Here’s an excerpt:
The resident added that the violence went beyond clashes between the armed group and government forces, directly targeting civilians.
“At least 20 people were killed in a horrific manner,” he said, also reporting that several others were wounded, and three people were “taken to an unknown location.”
However, this particular attack was attributed to Fano fighters from the Amhara region, which borders this area.
The Fano fighters reportedly come into the area and attack when the national defense forces stationed there withdraw.
The full story on Addis Standard, here.
That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with more updates!
In the meantime, feel free to share this with anyone you think can benefit from keeping up with what’s going on in Ethiopia.
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Thanks, Maya. 🙏🏾