what is the opposition saying?
and more labor rights issues
Hi there,
Thanks to everyone who reached out to me following last week’s edition. Excited to see how far we can get in collaborating on the coverage of the Ethiopian elections, set for June 2026.
I'm feeling under the weather right now, but hopeful that I’ll start feeling better soon, as we are celebrating World Press Freedom Day this coming Friday. I’ll be speaking on a panel there and will include updates on that for next week.
If you’re in Addis, I suggest you check out Reframing Neglect, a photography exhibition by The END Fund featuring 54 works by six African photographers on the impact of neglected tropical diseases.
I recently wrote for the END Fund about the high costs of treating a neglected tropical disease called visceral leishmaniasis, which wreaked havoc in southern Ethiopia.
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.
Election: new electoral board members
Four opposition political parties have asked the government to release political prisoners in Ethiopia, ahead of the upcoming general elections.
In a joint statement, the four political parties (the All Ethiopia Unity Party, Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party, Amhara Ghionian Movement, and Enat Party) requested that the government engage in negotiations, according to a story on Ethiopia Insider.
The 7th round of general elections in Ethiopia is scheduled for June 2026. In the joint statement, the parties added that conditions around the elections are not looking very promising. In particular, the statement mentioned the (worsening) conflict in the country’s Amhara and Oromia regions, as well as in Tigray (more on this below).
Political parties should be able to meet with members and supporters, and the government needs to stop interfering, says their statement.
The political parties are also concerned about the recent moves to change the board members of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, in particular because, despite the shortcomings of the board members, they have the invaluable experience of conducting an election at least once before.
The full story, on Ethiopia Insider, in Amharic, here.
Election: the fate of Tigray’s main party
Will the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) be able to run in the upcoming elections?
The TPLF, in its latest statement, says that the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia’s refusal to reinstate it as a political party undermines the Pretoria Agreement.
Is the TPLF not legally recognized? The party’s former legal status was revoked by the Electoral Board during the Tigray war.
When the Pretoria peace deal was signed in November 2022 between the TPLF and the federal government, the TPLF argues it was granted ‘a de facto restoration of its legitimate status as a party’.
The Electoral Board says its hands are tied: ‘the amended Political Parties Registration Proclamation does not provide grounds for reinstating previously outlawed entities’. So, TPLF must register anew. A move that the TPLF says ‘contradicts both the letter and spirit of the Pretoria Agreement’.
This back and forth happened in the year following the Pretoria peace deal (May 2023). A year later (August 9, 2024), the Electoral Board said the TPLF needs to comply with requirements following its special registration. The TPLF says it doesn’t accept this ‘special registration’.
Last month, the Electoral Board suspended the (specially registered) TPLF from political activities. The TPLF is now calling for attention to this matter from the ‘African Union, IGAD, and the broader international community’.
The full news analysis, from which most of this update was sourced, on Addis Standard, here.
Migration: Ethiopians are coming back from Djibouti
I wrote about how I met so many Ethiopians in Djibouti during my reporting trip last month. At the time, the Djiboutian government had set a date for the return of undocumented Ethiopians in the country.
The ‘abrupt shift in [Djibouti’s] immigration policy enforcement’ put an end to a one-month grace period for return on May 2.
Hundreds of Ethiopians have since been making their way over to their country of origin through the border town of Galafi, says a story on The Reporter.
Here's an excerpt:
“At least 150 Ethiopians [a day] have been leaving Djibouti via Dewale and Galafi in recent weeks,” an eye witness told The Reporter. “Most are laborers, vendors, or people working as maids in family homes or as shopkeepers.”
Djibouti is a stop on the Eastern Route, an irregular (and dangerous) migration route many Ethiopians take to reach Saudi Arabia. But I also came across many Ethiopians who had made Djibouti home, working on farms, hired by the mostly pastoralist community.
Djibouti’s ports are ‘crucial’ for Ethiopia (dealing with 95% of the country’s imports and exports), but the recent ‘campaign to secure maritime access [by Ethiopia] has upset geopolitical dynamics in the Horn of Africa,’ adds the story.
How exactly has Ethiopia’s bid to secure other port options disrupted a system in place for over three decades? My highlights on a report entitled, ‘Ethiopia’s Red Sea Politics: Corridors, Ports, and Security in the Horn of Africa’, here.
The full story on the Ethiopians making their way back from Djibouti, on The Reporter, here.
Labor rights: they’re not paying us enough
One of the stories from last week’s updates was on the demand coming from health professionals in the country, asking for better working conditions.
The demand for better pay continues this week. DHL employees went on strike in Addis Abeba and Hawassa after the company failed to respond to requests for a raise.
Here’s an excerpt on what the chairman of the DHL Express Ethiopia workers’ union said:
“The company used to increase salaries every April,” he said. “We asked them to do the same this year, but only those in management received a raise, while the rest of the employees did not. Since there was no clear salary increment this year, we demanded a 120 percent raise within 10 days.
The company eventually offered a 20 to 24 percent increase. We then reduced our demand to 50 percent. When they refused, we were forced to go on strike.”
Maybe the ‘84.2 billion euros in revenue’ collected by DHL in 2024 wasn’t enough to go around for everyone?
The full story on The Reporter, here.
Migration: Ethiopians rescued from Myanmar
121 rescued Ethiopians who had been trafficked to Myanmar returned home last week.
The repatriated Ethiopians ‘are among a group of African nationals who were trafficked into Myanmar under false promises of employment’ says a story on Addis Standard.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
Many had responded to advertisements for customer service jobs but were later forced to work in scam compounds, where, according to survivors, they faced “long working hours, physical abuse, and psychological trauma.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that people should ‘refrain from travel to countries where employment contracts have not been fulfilled’.
The Ethiopian government has formal agreements for overseas employment with only five countries: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and Kuwait. Not that working conditions there for Ethiopians are much better.
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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Dear Maya, welcome back. I hope you feel better. Sifter is a great resource with thoughtful insights on Ethiopian politics. Please keep it up. I will share widely.
Thank you, My. 🙏🏾