the stamp of approval, a formality
and gearing up for the elections
Hi there,
The 38th African Union (AU) summit was in session last week in Addis Abeba. The AU Commission has a new chair – Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf – taking the place of Moussa Faki Mahamat, ‘after eight years at the helm’.
How did Moussa Faki do during his two four-year terms as chair? Not great, says The Continent — terms filled with, ‘chronic mismanagement, widespread corruption and cronyism, and a timid, ineffective approach to conflict prevention (see: Sudan, the Sahel, Ethiopia)’.
I wasn’t covering the sessions this year, but it’s always nice to see colleagues from across this continent in the city.
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.
Media: no one (is) will be surprised
The first time I wrote about the proposed changes to Ethiopia’s media law was last year October when it was first tabled to parliamentarians. These proposed amendments faced a lot of criticism at a public hearing held the following month, from journalists, lawyers, and human rights organizations.
This was because the changes being introduced would shift power and open the way for interference from the executive body. I wrote a breakdown of that session here.
The new law is expected to be presented to parliamentarians on Tuesday (18 February), after this period of deliberation by the parliament’s Democracy Affairs Standing Committee.
The Committee has passed its decision, approving all the requested (and regressive) amendments to the once-liberal media law. It only awaits the final stamp of approval from parliamentarians during this session.
You can read about what these changes will mean to the media space here.
Security: we don’t know her (XXXVII)
The updates from Ethiopia’s Amhara region continue.
The conflict in the region, between the federal government and the region’s informal militia, Fano, has taken more innocent lives, more than a year and a half since it began. Last week, a drone strike, in the region’s Ambasel district, killed three children and one adult.
Drone strikes have been repeatedly happening in this residential area according to a source cited in Addis Standard.
Here's an excerpt from the story:
The source also reported that more than two houses were burned down by the strike.
The attack on the residential area might have been carried out under the assumption that members of the Fano militia were present,” the resident explained.
“However, most of the fighters were stationed far from the area, making the attack, which caused heavy civilian casualties, deeply tragic.”
A week before this, another drone strike, in North Shewa Zone, had killed three civilians including a pregnant woman and her 6-year-old child.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission in its quarterly report last month had pointed to this: ‘the principle of distinction, where parties to an armed conflict are expected to distinguish between civilians and combatants, has been utterly disregarded’.
A full list of the 36-part update can be found, in chronological order, here.
The full story on the latest drone strike, on Addis Standard, here.
Labor rights: the fallouts from AGOA
Ethiopia was kicked off the US’s trade program, known as AGOA, at the beginning of 2022.
What is AGOA? A ‘preferential trade agreement’, one that ‘allows some African businesses duty-free access to U.S. markets.’
Why was Ethiopia suspended? Because of the Tigray war, which lasted from November 2020 to November 2022, during which the Ethiopian government was accused of, ‘committing human rights violations’.
This suspension was extended again at the end of last year, despite repeated diplomatic calls to be readmitted by the Ethiopian government.
What does the fall-out from this look like? 18 foreign companies have since left the country, and over 11,500 jobs have been lost, with a combined revenue loss of 45 million USD, according to a story by The Reporter.
Here’s an excerpt:
The job losses have disproportionately affected young women, who make up a significant portion of the workforce in Ethiopia’s garment factories.
The report notes that efforts have been made to relocate these workers to other companies, but fails to elaborate on how successful these efforts have been.
The report, by the National Bank of Ethiopia, says that the anticipated economic disruption was worse (they estimated ‘one million jobs falling into risk’).
The full story on The Reporter, here.
Elections: the political party suspended
Ethiopia’s general elections are scheduled for June 2026.
Part of the preparation for this seems to be amending the electoral law – I wrote about this last month when the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia said it would go through consultations before tabling an amended version to parliamentarians.
Last week, the Board announced a three-month suspension on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Tigray region’s ruling party.
The Board said that the TPLF had, ‘failed to organise a general assembly of its members’, and, ‘hold elections for its party officials or approve its bylaws’ according to a story on Reuters.
Why was the party unable to hold a general assembly? Here’s an excerpt from the story:
The party has been unable to conduct internal elections because of a split into two factions, with each laying claim to control of the party.
I wrote about this split in faction, ‘primarily represented by the party’s chair, Debretsion Gebremichael, and his former deputy, Getachew Reda, both senior party members.’
The chances of this impasse escalating into armed conflict are higher now that senior military officials have taken sides in this dispute.
The full story on Reuters here, and on The Africa Report, here.
Funding: slashes to the national HIV response
The cuts to US foreign aid programs will probably continue to be part of the updates I send out in the coming months. Last week, I mentioned just a few of the programs impacted by the freeze orders on USAID, Ethiopia’s largest bilateral donor of humanitarian assistance.
One of the sectors impacted is health, in particular Ethiopia’s national HIV response.
The cuts to U.S. foreign assistance, ‘poses a direct threat to the lives and well-being of thousands of people living with HIV in Ethiopia and millions globally’, according to a recent statement by UNAIDS. The US provides ‘53% of HIV funding in the country’.
Here’s an excerpt of what this has caused:
Women living with HIV who have been healthy for years now fear an uncertain future where their treatment is no longer guaranteed. People living with HIV who do not access antiretroviral therapy will eventually develop AIDS and die.
To cope, many have resorted to stockpiling medication, traveling long distances and spending entire days at clinics in hopes of securing extra supplies.
This threatens to roll back the progress that Ethiopia has made in HIV response, adds the statement: 90% of people living with HIV in the country are aware of their HIV status; 94% of those diagnosed with HIV receive antiretroviral (ARV) therapy; and 96% of people on ARV therapy have achieved viral suppression.
The full statement, 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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