Tigray is facing a famine
and security reports from two regions
Hi there,
You’re reading Sifter, a newsletter curating the top 5 news stories on Ethiopia. I’m Maya Misikir and I am a freelance reporter who writes this from Addis Abeba.
Happy Gregorian New Year (we’re four months into 2016 in Ethiopia)! In line with all the holiday festivities, today will be another short edition. This will likely be the case for the coming edition as well, as we’re celebrating Christmas in Ethiopia on January 81.
If there are things that have piqued your interest and you would like more information, hit reply and let me know. There’s a lot that does not make the cut and I’m happy to share.
Now, to the news.
Food: a famine is unfolding
Last month, I wrote about a report that came out on food security in Ethiopia. The report was done by the Famine Early Warning System Network and it highlighted critically low levels of food in some parts of the country.
One of the worst-hit areas is Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which has more than 1 million displaced people. The two-year war in the region has decimated roads and houses and farmers have abandoned their fields in some areas because of landmines according to the latest story in The Globe and Mail.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Across the Tigray region, in northern Ethiopia, thousands of people have perished from lack of food in the 14 months since the end of the disastrous two-year war in which Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers fought against Tigrayan forces. Now drought is compounding the devastation. A famine is looming that could rival the worst famines of the past, relief workers say.”
Local officials are saying that this famine is ‘invisible’ and that the help coming in is enough for only a fifth of the people who need it.
How many are those who need this urgent aid? 3.5 million people in the region.
The full story here.
Security: drone attacks in Oromia
Two weeks ago, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released a report saying that there are ongoing serious human rights violations across three of Ethiopia’s regions including Oromia region.
Last week, a story on Reuters said that aerial strikes have killed eight people in Oromia, an area that has seen heavy fighting between federal troops and fighters from the Oromia Liberation Army (OLA).
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
“The compound of the Baro Full Gospel Church in the Horo Gudru Wellega zone, around 200 km northwest of the capital Addis Ababa, was attacked on Monday morning, when people were gathering to collect corn from a field, witnesses said.
Two deacons, two keyboard players from the church band, and a singer in the choir were among the dead, said a member of the church who requested anonymity.”
If you recall, negotiations were initiated and took place in Tanzania twice over the past year between the federal government and representatives of the OLA.
Neither talk ended with any agreements reached.
The full story on Reuters here.
Security: we don’t know her (XIV)
This is the 14th2 part of a series on the security situation in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. The conflict there has escalated over the past few months, with drone strikes hitting a bus terminal and a school, killing civilians in the region according to a recent report by Al Jazeera.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
“The violence and drone strikes are part of a trend of collective punishment,” said Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, a lecturer at Curtin University’s Centre for Human Rights Education in Australia.
“The government refuses to distinguish between Amhara fighters and civilians as it prefers to demonise Amhara society as a whole. It’s a political ploy to weaponise nationalism against a group it characterises as an enemy.”
The story talks about witness accounts on surveillance drones in the region, and ‘the Turkish defence firm Baykar, which manufactures the Bayraktar TB2 drone used in Ethiopia’s wars’.
The full story here.
Finance: joining the ranks of defaulters
Ethiopia had failed to pay a periodic interest payment of 33 million U.S. dollars on its Eurobond the last time I wrote an update on the country’s foreign debt situation. And now, the 14-day grace period has expired, making the country an official defaulter, joining the likes of Zambia and Ghana.
Here’s an excerpt from a story on Bloomberg:
“The Horn of Africa nation had to pay a $33 million coupon on Dec. 11. The government didn’t want to make the payment because it “wants to treat all creditors in the same way,” Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s minister of finance said on state TV on Thursday.
Hinjat Shamil, senior reform advisor at the Ministry of Finance confirmed Monday that the payment had not, and will not be paid. Ethiopia reached an agreement with bilateral creditors last month to suspend debt payments.”
The last update on this also included a credit rating downgrade from ‘CC’ to ‘C’ for Ethiopia. Credit rating agency Fitch has now moved that one notch lower from ‘C’ to ‘RD’ or restricted default for Ethiopia. Go here for a detailed breakdown of what these ratings mean.
For a bit more background on how it got here, who else are Ethiopia’s creditors and where the debt service suspension agreements stand, go here and check out previous editions.
The full story on Bloomberg here.
Diplomacy: applying more pressure
The African Development Bank Group has officially stated that it is pulling all its international staff from Ethiopia. Why? Because two of its officials were arrested, and physically assaulted by Ethiopian security personnel.
The Ethiopian government had promised an investigation into the matter to the bank (though no official statement has been made publicly). The Bank said in a statement two weeks ago that it, ‘remains particularly concerned that the Ethiopian government has, to date, not shared with the Bank any report, or details of investigations into the incident,”.
Last week, the U.S. embassy in Ethiopia shared a post expressing concern about the incident. Here’s an excerpt from their post:
“We are concerned by the assault and detention of African Development Bank personnel and call for those responsible to be held accountable.”
The full post by the embassy here and previous updates on the incident here.
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That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with more updates!
In the meantime, you can help support my work by forwarding this to friends and family (and help them keep up with what’s going on).
Initially, I wrote January 7 but it’s the leap year this time around.
Initially, this was written as the 19th part when this post was first published, only because I wasn’t as versed in Roman numerals as I had thought I was.