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S&P joins Fitch in downgrade of Ethiopia on potential debt restructuring

(Reuters) – S&P Global Ratings on Friday downgraded Ethiopia’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to ‘B-’ from ‘B’ on potential debt restructuring, announcing the move days after Fitch Ratings downgraded the country. “Exacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ethiopia’s structurally weak external balance sheet has deteriorated further, in our view”, […]

Ethiopian Journalist Attacked in Her Home, Questioned on Tigray Connections

VOA | Freelance journalist Lucy Kassa was working on a story at her home in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday morning when she heard a knock at the door. “I opened and there were three men. They knocked me down and they entered the home,” Lucy told VOA. “They didn’t introduce themselves, they didn’t […]

How to Stop Ethnic Nationalism From Tearing Ethiopia Apart

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 […]

In Sudan Border Town, Desperate Ethiopians Find ‘Second Mother Country’

New York Times | Abdi Latif Dahir | Tens of thousands of Christian refugees, fleeing the violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, have been given a warm welcome by the residents of a sleepy Sudanese town: “We are brothers.” HAMDAYET, Sudan — The refugees were hungry and exhausted, their shoes dusty and worn from […]

The Conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region: What to Know

Council on Foriegn Relations | Michelle Gavin | The military campaign has resulted in a humanitarian crisis and fears of regional instability. A path forward will require international cooperation, careful diplomacy, and an inclusive political process that restores confidence among the country’s diverse population. Where does the conflict between Tigray’s leadership and the federal government […]

Ethiopia confirms widespread rape in conflict-hit north

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Scores of women have been raped in Ethiopia’s northerly Tigray region, authorities have confirmed, in the chaotic aftermath of an armed conflict last year that ousted the local ruling party. “We have received the report back from our Taskforce team on the ground in the Tigray region, they have unfortunately established rape […]

A rape survivor’s story emerges from a remote African war

Los Angeles Times | Lucy Kassa, Shashank Bengali | ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The young mother of two was walking with her sister near a desolate highway in northern Ethiopia last month when five men forced them into a pickup truck and drove them to a small building with a metal roof. The women recognized their […]

Ethiopia: ‘Incomplete but troubling picture’ reveals impact of Tigray crisis on children

UN | Humanitarians are learning more about the dire situation of children in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where fighting continues between Government troops and regional forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).  As more supplies and emergency personnel reach the area, “an incomplete but troubling picture” is emerging which reveals children are experiencing severe and […]

The tragedy of Ethiopia’s conflict in Tigray

Financial Times | Only a national dialogue can truly heal the country’s divisions Three months after Ethiopian troops started fighting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the Tigray region is in desperate straits. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced and many face hunger or even starvation. It is a distressing echo of 1984, when food […]

The UN Must Intervene in Tigray

Project Syndicate | Mehari Taddele Maru | When a state fails to prevent or alleviate atrocities within its territory, or if the state itself is the primary perpetrator of such acts, the UN must not stand idly by. There are five reasons why immediate action by the Security Council regarding Ethiopia’s northern region is necessary. […]