ESAT News (November 28, 2018) US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy is in Addis Ababa for an official working visit as part of his tour to East Africa. Nagy and General Thomas D. Waldhauser, Commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), met with Ethiopia’s Minister of Defense Aisha Mohammed to discuss opportunities for security cooperation between the ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (November 28, 2018) In what is seen as a challenge to the ruling EPRDF and its bylaws, Abiy Ahmed’s Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) has signed a memorandum of understanding with a leading Oromo opposition party, the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF), to eventually merge as one. Leaders of the ODP, a member of the ruling EPRDF ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (November 27, 2018) In response to a letter by Congressman Mike Coffman to the Secretary of State calling for the imposition of the Global Magnitsky Act on a former Ethiopian spy chief, Getachew Assefa, the U.S. Department of State said it will “evaluate the information and take steps as appropriate.” Last month, Mike Coffman wrote ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (November 27, 2018) Leaders of eighty-one political parties today held the first round of meetings with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to discuss on electoral reforms needed to make the upcoming elections free and fair. Speaking on whether the elections would be postponed, the Prime Minister said it would be decided based on the opinions ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (November 26, 2018) Officials with the Somali region in Eastern Ethiopia say army generals and officials of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Metals and Engineering Corporation (MeTEC) were involved in the embezzlement of the regional budget and massive land grab for the last ten years. Jamal Diriye, legal advisor to the regional ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (November 26, 2018) A fire has reportedly broke out today at a building in Assosa University campus in Western Ethiopia. The University had seen deadly violence last week in ethnic motivated attacks when a small quarrel between two students turned deadly on Wednesday. Three students were killed and thirty-four were wounded. The deadly violence in ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (November 23, 2018) Ethiopia’s new head of elections has vowed to make the electoral board an institution that would be trusted by the people in conducting free and fair elections. Birtukan Mideksa, who was elected yesterday by the Ethiopian parliament to lead the country’s electoral board says the public had lost trust on the institution ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (November 23, 2018) Ethiopia’s Prime Prime Minister will hold discussions with leaders of opposition political parties on electoral reforms and democratization processes in the country. The announcement today by the Office of the Prime Minister urges leaders of opposition parties to register for the meeting to be held on Tuesday. “The discussions will focus on ...