Huge locust swarms in east Africa are the result of extreme weather swings and could prove catastrophic for a region still reeling from drought and deadly floods. Dense clouds of the ravenous insects have spread from Ethiopia and Somalia into Kenya, in the region’s worse infestation in decades
Continue reading...Category Archives: Ethiopia
‘Food prices shot up’: floods spark a scramble for survival in east Africa
From Somalia to South Sudan, torrential rains have devastated crops and made roads impassable, sending the cost of food soaring
Before the floods hit her village, crumpling buildings, ripping out pathways and submerging swathes of land, Nurto Mohamed Hassan could buy a kilogram of rice for the equivalent of about 70p.
Now the cost is more than £1. This may not seem a lot in isolation but, for people with little money and families to feed, it is a significant rise.
Continue reading...Africa’s young leaders face a testing 2020
Politicians in their 30s and 40s face huge hurdles in sweeping away decades-old regimes
After several years during which younger leaders have come to power across Africa, 2020 could hold challenges that may force many of the newcomers to take a step back.
Not all the young politicians are progressive, or even pro-democracy. But they are all representative of sweeping changes across the continent that have destabilised long-standing regimes and forced out some veteran leaders.
Continue reading...Nobel peace prize winner Abiy Ahmed embroiled in media row
Officials say winner’s refusal to face public questioning is ‘highly problematic’
Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, has come under pressure to appear before the media in Oslo this week when he collects the Nobel peace prize on Tuesday.
Senior officials of the Norwegian Nobel Institute have said the 2019 winner’s refusal to attend any event where he could be asked questions publicly is “highly problematic”.
Continue reading...Egypt and Sudan in talks to defuse tensions over Ethiopian dam
Nile basin countries fear for their future water supplies as the Grand Renaissance hydroelectric project reaches completion
A new round of high-level talks has started in Cairo between three Nile basin countries aimed at resolving disputes over Ethiopia’s controversial Grand Renaissance dam, which is set to become Africa’s biggest hydroelectric power plant.
Analysts fear that Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia could be drawn into conflict if the dispute is not resolved before the $5bn dam begins operating next year.
Continue reading...Dozens killed by floods and landslides in DRC and Kenya
Hundreds of thousands of people in need of aid as heavy rain lashes east Africa
Dozens of people have died in flooding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) when the Congo river and its tributaries burst their banks, a charity and media reports said on Saturday, as heavy rains also lashed east Africa.
Twenty-five people were reported to have been killed in the northwestern province of Équateur bordering Congo-Brazzaville, Congolese media reports said.
Continue reading...Protests against Ethiopia’s Nobel peace prize PM turn deadly
Violent clashes leave at least 67 dead as activist compares Abiy Ahmed to a dictator
Violence in Ethiopia that began with protests against the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, and quickly morphed into ethnic clashes has left 67 people dead in Oromia state, a police official said on Friday.
“The total number dead in Oromia is 67,” said Kefyalew Tefera, the regional police chief, adding that five of the dead were police officers.
Continue reading...The Nobel peace prize can inspire Abiy Ahmed to new heights in Ethiopia
Global acclaim for the peace he forged with Eritrea should buoy a leader facing the persecution of ethnic minorities at home
The Nobel prize awarded last week to Ethiopia’s prime minister, Dr Abiy Ahmed, honoured his achievements as a peacemaker. Most widely recognised was his success in thawing relations with Eritrea, the breakaway republic with which Ethiopia had remained on a war footing since the country gained independence in 1993.
No less significant, however, was his management of the internal conflict between the Ethiopian government and protesters in Oromia, the region surrounding Addis Ababa, the capital. Rather than attempting to shut down the protests by force, Abiy acknowledged their grievances, and opened up political space. He freed political prisoners jailed by previous administrations, and restored the legitimacy of parties formerly branded as terrorist organisations.
Continue reading...Ethiopian Airlines crash: families to subpoena US operators of 737 Max
Subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines seek information about flight crew training and 737 Max software MCAS
Lawyers representing families of passengers killed in a Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia in March are set to issue subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, the two biggest US operators of the jet, according to documents seen by Reuters.
The subpoenas will be issued over the next couple of days, the lawyers separately told Reuters.
Continue reading...‘This is Dubai now’: Nobel-winning PM’s plan to transform Addis Ababa
Under charismatic prime minister Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s capital is undergoing its most radical facelift in a generation
“Here there used to be a lot of shops, you know, women selling bread and tea,” says Woinshet Fanta, shuffling past the rusted railway track in a long floral skirt. On the other side of the road is a field littered with assorted machinery.
“There used to be an oil depot there, but now it’s closed,” she says. “They say it’s going to become a museum and a park.” The mother of four circles back towards the empty plot behind the station: “And this one is Dubai now.”
Continue reading...The Guardian view on Abiy Ahmed’s Nobel peace prize: so far, so good | Editorial
The decision to honour the Ethiopian prime minister recognises the astonishing changes he has pushed through. But the country’s progress remains precarious
The list of Nobel peace prize winners encompasses the good and great, but also a few more curious nominees. Some were controversial from the first. Barack Obama was honoured before he had a chance to do anything significant with his office. Henry Kissinger was given the prize when he had already done far too much; the award, said one observer, made political satire obsolete. In other cases, history has proved unkind. Aung San Suu Kyi was recognised in 1991, as a dissident who had long campaigned for democracy and freedom. But she became head of Myanmar’s government and, though she has no power over the military, her silence as it carried out mass killings of Rohingya Muslims led many to call – unsuccessfully – for her prize to be revoked.
So handing this year’s prize to a leader who has been in power for just 18 months, and was little known before that, is a bold move. Yet the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has an astonishing amount to show for his time in office. The award is primarily to recognise his work to secure peace and international cooperation, and in particular the deal he signed with Eritrea last summer, which ended a nearly 20-year military stalemate following a long border war. The domestic changes he has effected in a highly repressive country are equally impressive. Half his cabinet is female, as is his chief justice – and the head of the election board, a former exiled dissident. Bans on opposition parties have been lifted, thousands of political prisoners have been freed, and senior officials have been arrested for corruption and human rights abuses. It is all the more astonishing given that he was appointed by the instinctively autocratic Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. His remarkable record, however brief, has turned scepticism about his promises into “Abiymania”.
Continue reading...Last wolves in Africa: the fragile wildlife of Ethiopia’s ravaged parks | Tom Gardner
Wildfires and an encroaching population are threatening grasslands that host some of the world’s rarest species
Conservationist Getachew Assefa points across the valley. “It started close to the mist over there, by the most spectacular viewpoint,” he says. “Almost all the grassland was burnt. All of that plateau and the steep cliff over there.”
Six months after wildfires torched this part of Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, the scars are healing: heather and grass have returned to carpet the hilltop, brightened by the yellow daisies which bloom after the long rains. On the near side of the valley lie barley fields, rippling in the wind.
Continue reading...Walking through a war zone: Ethiopians heading for Saudi – in pictures
Escaping poverty and drought, Ethiopians are making the dangerous sea crossing from Djibouti to Yemen and then on foot to the Saudi border. Many only realise they are crossing a conflict zone when they are picked up by gangs or militias
Photographs by Susan Schulman
Continue reading...Ethiopians face beatings and bullets as Saudi ‘deportation machine’ cranks up
Saudi Arabia denies claims that staff at detention facilities treat violent abuse of undocumented migrants ‘like a sport’
When police arrested Tayib Mohammed at the southern border of Saudi Arabia, they seized all his worldly possessions and set them on fire.
The 45-year-old undocumented Ethiopian migrant was trying to cross from Yemen after a five-day trek through the bush. “They told me to undress,” he recalled several weeks later in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, wearing sandals and pyjamas. “They took away everything I had – phone, clothes, money. They burned them in front of me.”
Continue reading...Ethiopia plants 350m trees in a day to help tackle climate crisis
National ‘green legacy’ initiative aims to reduce environmental degradation
About 350m trees have been planted in a single day in Ethiopia, according to a government minister.
The planting is part of a national “green legacy” initiative to grow 4bn trees in the country this summer by encouraging every citizen to plant at least 40 seedlings. Public offices have reportedly been shut down in order for civil servants to take part.
Continue reading...The play’s the thing: the university using drama to bridge ethnic divides
Ethiopia’s conflicts are reflected at universities but, by walking in each other’s shoes on stage, students learn to do so in life
Rainy season has begun in Ethiopia’s south. On a stormy morning at a university in the town of Wolkite, students are using drama to break down entrenched ethnic barriers.
Understanding between groups is a rarity in a country where violent conflict is common. Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has promised greater stability, but tensions remain high in various regions and the education system is no more immune to deep-rooted tribal differences than anywhere else.
Continue reading...Lord of the Rain: one man’s fight against climate catastrophe – video
Doyte lives in South Omo, Ethiopia, one of the most remote areas in the world and hard hit by the climate crisis. As Lord of the Rain, it’s Doyte’s job to summon the rains, but for five years they haven’t come. Ethiopia’s economy is booming, fuelled by green power and climate-resilient policies. But neither the government, nor Doyte, can reverse the catastrophic change that’s devastating their environment
Continue reading...Suspected mastermind of Ethiopia coup attempt shot dead, says official
Gen Asamnew Tsige accused of planning attacks that killed army chief of staff and Amhara state president
A man accused of trying to seize control of Ethiopia’s northern Amhara state has been shot dead and a number of other plotters arrested, a senior government official has said.
Gen Asamnew Tsige was accused of masterminding gun attacks on Saturday night that killed five people, including the national army’s chief of staff and Amhara’s state president.
Continue reading...Ethiopian army chief killed by bodyguard and regional leader dead in coup attempt
General reported as being behind armed attempt to seize power in Amhara state
The chief of staff of Ethiopia’s army was shot dead at home by his bodyguard, and a regional governor was killed when a general tried to seize control of a northern state in an attempted coup, the prime minister’s office has said.
The Amhara state president, Ambachew Mekonnen, and his adviser were shot dead and the state’s attorney general was wounded in Amhara’s capital, Bahir Dar, on Saturday evening, according to a statement from the office of the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed.
Continue reading...State projects leave tens of thousands of lives in the balance in Ethiopia – study
Giant dam and irrigated sugar plantations mean people in lower Omo valley face starvation and conflict, says US thinktank
A giant dam and irrigated sugar plantations are “wreaking havoc” in southern Ethiopia and threaten to wipe out tens of thousands of indigenous peoples , a US-based thinktank has claimed.
The Oakland Institute says that while the Ethiopian government has made considerable progress on human rights under prime minister Abiy Ahmed, it has yet to address the impact of state development plans on indigenous populations in the lower Omo valley, where people face loss of livelihoods, starvation, and violent conflict .
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