African Report | Communication technology is a double-edged sword. It can empower people to access and share information globally, or be used as an instrument of political and economic control. While hopes were raised by the Arab Spring a decade ago, the years since have seen multiple internet blackouts in many African countries. In the […]
Capacity | The World Bank has warned the government of Ethiopia not to take measures that hinder the development of telecoms in the country. It is criticising the restriction of digital financial services to Ethiopian firms and nationals and a ruling limiting investment by independent cell tower companies, obliging the new entrants to use the […]
Foreign Policy | The 1994 Ethiopian Constitution celebrated self-determination, but it laid the groundwork for today’s violence. Devolution could offer a way out. On Nov. 28, 2020, Ethiopia’s military took control of Mekele, the capital of Tigray region, after a monthlong fight with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Before the conflict, the Tigray region […]
Charged Affairs | Since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed assumed office in April 2018, experts have optimistically predicted the country’s emergence as a regional power. Factors such as a large population, rapid economic growth, and a reform-minded head of government seemed to support this proposition, until recent instability in federal relations threatened an upset to Ethiopia’s […]
Associated Press | Cara Anna — A trio of opposition parties in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region estimates that more than 50,000 civilians have been killed in the three-month conflict, and they urge the international community to intervene before a “humanitarian disaster of biblical proportion will become a gruesome reality.” The statement posted Tuesday does not […]
Al Jazeera | Bickering over contested farmland along the border has in recent weeks deteriorated into armed clashes. Age-old territorial claims are threatening to embroil Ethiopia and Sudan into armed conflict, as bickering over disputed strips of farmland in recent weeks has boiled over into the most serious escalation of border tensions in years. The […]
London Review of Book | Maaza Mengiste I have a hazy childhood memory of soldiers breaking into our house. They had come to question my grandfather, who they believed was hiding someone they wanted to arrest. It was not long after the start of the 1974 revolution in Ethiopia that would depose Emperor Haile Selassie and […]
The Washington Free Bacon | Millions in peril of starvation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the State Department Thursday to demand the Biden administration take immediate action in Ethiopia to combat a humanitarian crisis that has left thousands dead. The protesters called on newly confirmed secretary of state Antony Blinken to […]
Transcript Call between Mulugeta Gebrehiwot and Alex de Waal 27 January 2021 Additional background information and audio are available on the WPF blog, “Reinventing Peace.” For more information: worldpeacefoundation.org Listen to the interview [The first minute of the call was not recorded. Mulugeta started by describing the onset of the war.] Mulugeta: … and the […]
ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) — Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia Zhao Zhiyuan and Mayor of Ethiopia’s capital city Adanech Abiebie agreed on Friday to enhance the economic partnership between the two countries. In a press statement, Abiebie said she has reached an agreement with the Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia on the need to add new […]