homelessness is a punishable offense
(for all intents and purposes)
Hi,
I hope you had a great weekend. I spent mine walking for what seemed like a thousand miles in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark where things are pretty but ridiculously expensive. For those interested, I will be sharing a recap of what the Global Investigative Journalism Conference was like last week - interesting, in more ways than one.
For this week though, I’m sticking to the news recap - which is what this newsletter is, by the way, a weekly recap of what’s been making news in Ethiopia. I’m Maya Misikir, the freelance reporter behind it and as always, if you want to know more about any of the updates below, hit reply and write me - I’ll write back!
Now, to the news.
Homelessness: a crime with a hefty punishment
Back in May, I wrote an update on how hundreds of homeless kids and adults in Addis Abeba were being rounded up by force and taken to detention centers (whenever big events rolled around). This was not the first time this news came out. In late February, when heads of state got together in Addis Abeba for the 36th African Union summit, a story detailing similar incidents was published.
Here’s an excerpt from the story on the Mail&Guardian:
“In one incident, according to witnesses, young women who begged near the Hyatt Regency Hotel were bundled into unmarked trucks by policemen. Some were beaten and verbally abused. Some had babies or toddlers strapped to their backs.”
Representatives at the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission visited these detention sites this month and have shared their findings. Their report says that these centers had thousands of people staying in them and that these numbers had been halved, in the hundreds by the time this report was released.
The centers are intended to be rehabilitation centers, as per the coordinators at the center the Commission spoke to; they house homeless people, give them meals three times a day, and facilitate their return to their hometowns in different parts of the country.
But then the report says that this center is makeshift, initially intended as storage for industrial goods. It says that there aren’t enough beds or covers, bathroom facilities or sufficient running water and that there isn’t enough ventilation or sunlight either.
Due to these horrible conditions, many people have caught relapsing fever caused by fleas. 190 have been admitted to a hospital, 3 are in critical condition and 3 have died.
These detention centers? Run by the Office Of Women, Children, And Youth Affairs.
The full story on the Mail&Guardian here and the Commission’s report in Amharic here.
Security: we don’t know her (VIII)
A quick update on the security in Ethiopia’s Amhara region; fighting in the region, confined to smaller towns over the past few weeks, escalated to the city of Gonder yesterday.
The fighting reportedly took place on Sunday before federal troops managed to get control of the city again.
Here’s an excerpt from a story in the Associated Press:
“Calm had mostly been restored by Monday morning, with the military back in control of the town, although sporadic gunfire could still be heard, residents said. Shops were shut and the streets were empty.”
An update on the human rights situation in the region here and the full story in the AP here.
Aid: someone else is paying the price, as usual
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released one other report last week; this one focused on the impacts of food aid suspension in the country. If you remember, in May of this year, both USAID and the WFP made a decision to halt food aid in the country because of diversion; a USAID-led investigation revealed that the food aid was being sold in local markets.
Since then, there’s been a call by many parties to resume this aid as it has affected the lives of millions of people; an estimated 20 million people are targeted for food aid in the country in 2023. The situation is aggravated by conflict across the country which has displaced millions, as well as natural disasters like floods and not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, but 5 failed rainy seasons.
The report says that this aid suspension is hitting the hardest in refugee communities. Ethiopia is home to nearly one million refugees – one of the highest refugee-hosting countries on the continent. Nearly half of them are living in the country’s Gambella region, which borders South Sudan. Refugees there, who have had food aid suspended since May, are leaving their camps in search of food and are ‘struggling to survive’.
Here’s an excerpt from the report:
“Refugees’ movement outside the camp in search of food entailed the loss of several lives as refugees have been targeted and attacked along the roads connecting the camps to the surrounding villages and towns.”
The report says that 30 people have died in relation to aid suspension.
The full report by the Commission here.
Geopolitics: following the dam talks
As planned, the second round of talks between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan over the issue of Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam took place last week. The first round was in Cairo in August and while there was no agreement reached at the end of it, the fact that all three parties had restarted negotiations was a win by itself. Part of the announcement that these talks would be restarted was that the negotiations would be finalized in four months. That was in July.
Last week’s talks came a week after the fourth and final filling of the dam; measures which the Egyptian Foreign Ministry saw as a ‘disregard for the interests and rights of the downstream countries.’
So how did the talks go? Representatives discussed draft guidelines and rules, and all sides said they hoped for an agreement, despite not concluding with one.
Here’s an excerpt from a story in the Associated Press:
“Ethiopia’s chief negotiator, Seleshi Bekele, said the countries had “exchanged constructive ideas on various outstanding issues” and added that his country remains committed to continuing the negotiations.
Egypt’s water ministry blamed Ethiopia for the failure to make a breakthrough, alleging that Addis Ababa was “opposed to any compromise.” It expressed concern and said an agreement was needed to protect Egypt’s water security and national interests.”
The full story on AP here.
Neocolonialism: (some) returned artifacts
A lock of hair and other artifacts stolen from Ethiopia during the invasion by British troops in the 19th century has just been returned: the lock of hair belongs to Ethiopian Prince Alemayehu, son of Emperor Tewodros II, who killed himself during that very same invasion.
Here’s an excerpt:
“The Scheherazade Foundation, which facilitated the return of the lock of hair, said it had originally been in the possession of Captain Speedy. Leonie Turner, a descendant of Speedy who handed over the hair in London, told Canadian broadcaster CBC that she had discovered the artefact among her family heirlooms.
"I felt Prince Alemayehu's hair was a long way from home," she is quoted as saying.”
They’ve also asked for the return of the prince’s body but Buckingham Palace said that exhuming the prince’s remains, ‘would disturb the remains of others buried in the catacombs of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle’.
I feel like that’s a you problem, Buckingham Palace.
The full story on the BBC here.
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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.