Parliamentarians vs Ministers
and a look back at press freedom
Hi there,
I’m sending this out from my home in Addis Abeba, where wandering out in shorts and a tank top during evenings has become unthinkable again. For many reasons, but I’m thinking of the cold weather right now. Unlike most people I’ve shared this information with, I really like hot and humid climates. Thank you, Thailand, you’ve been good to me.
To new subscribers, welcome!
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.
Labor: on the well-being of Ethiopian migrant workers
As most of you here may already know, the year is 2017 in the Ethiopian calendar. The first day of the Ethiopian New Year starts on September 11. This is not to be confused with the Ethiopian fiscal year, which starts on July 7.
The last bit is especially relevant as the country’s budget is set according to this and different governmental institutions plan their work around it. These institutions also present quarterly and annual performance reports to the parliament.
The latest quarterly report by the Ministry of Skills and Labour says that over 87,000 Ethiopians have left the country to work in other countries over the past three months. This number is way below the target (just 62 percent of the plan), according to a story by Ethiopia Insider.
The Ministry, which has agreements with 6 Middle Eastern and two European countries, to legally send workers abroad, plans to send 700,000 workers abroad this year (twice as many people from last year).
During this session, parliamentarians raised questions about Ethiopian migrant workers in Lebanon who are now stuck in a country at war, abandoned by their employers, and shunned from shelters (and even pavements) on account of not being Lebanese. Economic migration to Lebanon, which had been banned in Ethiopia (suicides, accidental deaths and murders) was lifted last April through an agreement between the two countries.
The Minister’s response was not very clear, stating instead that there was a ‘dedicated task force working on this’.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says close to 200 people have been repatriated since the war there started. The number of Ethiopian migrant workers in Lebanon? From an estimated 175,000 – 200,000 foreign domestic workers in Lebanon, a 2019 Amnesty International report says at least 75 percent were Ethiopian.
The full story, on Ethiopia Insider, in Amharic, here.
Mining: a notorious sector, and Ministry
The Ministry of Mines also presented its quarterly performance report to parliamentarians last week. But the Minister himself was conspicuously absent from this session, presumably dodging questions from an audit report which showed, ‘colossal corruption, runaway illicit trade and contraband networks’, according to a story by The Reporter.
Here’s a question posed by a parliamentarian on his absence (which nearly had the session canceled):
The Minister is in the country, what agenda could be of higher priority for him than this audit report?
Parliamentarians had a lot more questions than this, including on the lack of a mining policy (‘half-century since the Mines Ministry was established’), weak sector regulation (which has paved the way for illicit mining and contraband), and poor oversight on mining licenses (uncollected fees and unjustified license renewals).
One parliamentarian also blamed the Ministry for the death of 20 people caused by an accident at an opal mining site earlier in February.
Can we add arresting journalists who investigate the Ministry’s negligence in duty to that list?
The full story on The Reporter, is here.
Press freedom: not looking good
A five-year review of Ethiopia shows a ‘significant decline’ in press freedom. The review, presented by the Committee to Protect Journalists, to the UN’s Human Rights Council, mentions numerous arrests and detentions of journalists in the country, according to a story on Addis Standard.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
The report also addressed the lack of accountability in the killings of two journalists, physical assaults on media professionals, forced closures of media outlets, and restrictions on international journalists.
“Despite reforms over the last five years, Ethiopia’s media and anti-terror laws retain provisions that have been used to persecute dissenting voices, to justify media closures, and as pretext for the expulsion of foreign journalists,” the report said.
Earlier in September, I wrote about two Ethiopian journalists, Bekalu Alamerew and Belay Manaye, who were forced to escape the country through illegal routes.
In May, Ethiopia dropped from 130 to 141 on the global press freedom index by Reporters Without Borders (from a total of 180 countries).
In March, French journalist Antoine Galindo was arrested along with his interviewee, well-known politician, Bate Urgessa, who was later murdered.
The full story, on Addis Standard, here.
Security: we don’t know her (XXXIV)
The Ethiopian government is fighting an insurgency in the country’s Amhara region. The conflict, which started last year in August involves the region’s informal militia, Fano. While this is the 34th part update on the issue, the first ever focused on the background of this conflict, summarizing how we went from having a peaceful region to full-blown fighting the next. You can find that here.
Here's a reminder of what the battleground looks like from a story on The New Humanitarian:
The conflict is largely waged in the rural highlands, but Fano has also managed to penetrate urban areas – raids that have triggered a violent response by the security forces.
The fighting in the region has been devastating for civilians, who have faced the worst of the insurgency and the counter-insurgency by government security forces. They have been on the receiving end of arbitrary mass arrests, massacres, and indiscriminate drone strikes.
Where do the Fano say they stand now, more than a year later into the guerilla warfare? Here’s an excerpt from a high-level commander cited in the story:
According to Fano, they control over 80% of Amhara, with the government only holding the main towns, and most of the highways. Government troops have also defected – or surrendered – in significant numbers. At least 30% of the Fano soldiers The New Humanitarian spoke to were former ENDF or Amhara regional forces.
The commander says that the end to this war could come once they ‘take over the regional government, and something changes in the federal arrangement through negotiation or reconciliation...’
The full story, in The New Humanitarian, here.
Healthcare: alarms over malaria
The number of malaria cases in Ethiopia is increasing at alarming rates, and hospitals are struggling to keep up with patient needs. While malaria is not new to Ethiopia — it ‘poses a public health issue, especially in rural regions’ every year — this outbreak reveals ‘deeper, systemic issues’, according to a story on Addis Standard.
These include health infrastructure shortcomings, global supply chain disruptions, and blood supply fluctuations.
Here's an excerpt from the story which cites an official at the Ministry of Health:
Young men, in particular, are the main victims, according to Hiwot, as they often travel long distances for work, sometimes at night when mosquito activity is highest. As cases continue to rise, she warns that the issue will only worsen unless decisive action is taken. Hiwot said the shortage of essential malaria drugs like chloroquine and the difficulties in obtaining them from global suppliers have left many patients without proper treatment.
The latest outbreak is also marked by a significant difference in how it’s affecting patients.
Here’s an excerpt from a story I covered for The New York Times:
Many of those infections are severe. While just 623 people required hospitalization to treat their symptoms in 2023, more than 41,000 have been admitted to the hospital in the past three months…
The full story, on Addis Fortune, 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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