ESAT News (April 12, 2016) The iron fist government in Addis Ababa has drafted a law that would allow authorities to spy on personal computers. The draft has reportedly been tabled to the rubber stamp Parliament for approval. The law stipulates that investigators, cyber security professionals and other authorities could spy on personal computers with court warrant. Police could spy ...

ESAT News (April 11, 2016) Britain is giving more than a million pounds to train Ethiopia’s security forces – even though the country’s repressive regime abducted a British citizen and holds him under sentence of death, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday. Andargachew Tsege, a father of three from North London, was snatched almost two years ago while travelling through ...

ESAT News (April 11, 2016) The Ethiopian government has stopped the fundraising campaign by UN agencies to help millions of Ethiopians facing famine, according to ESAT’s sources from Addis Ababa. The sources said the Special Envoy for the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Ambassador Berhane Gebrekiristos has asked the Addis Ababa representative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of ...

ESAT News (April 8, 2016) Victims of drought in Sekotta Wollo have migrated to Bair Dar, Mekelle and Debre Berhan towns to save their lives. One of the victims told ESAT that 400 people have arrived in Debre Berhan town and the only people left in Sekotta were some government employees and the elderly. He said drinking water was 2 ...

ESAT News (April 8, 2016) The Board of the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio (ESAT) announced that it has appointed journalist and activist Abebe Gellaw as the new executive director. Abebe will fill in the position vacated by Neamin Zeleke who resigned few months ago due to other responsibilities and commitments. Abebe in his capacity as the executive director will ...

ESAT News (April 8, 2016) A document received by ESAT indicate that the Metals and Engineering Corporation has asked its branches to contribute towards the medical expenses of the son of a Colonel amounting to nearly 3 million birr (150,000 USD). The letter from the headquarters of the Corporation instructed the 14 branches to send their share of the cost ...

ESAT News (April 7, 2016) A political prisoner for ten years in the notorious prison in Ambo died after serious injuries sustained from beatings, his mother told ESAT on Thursday. Getu Bekele Tolosa was imprisoned by the regime for what the mother said was political reasons. She said her son was then blamed for the recent fire that broke out ...

ESAT News (April 6, 2016) Egyptian officials said they will defend the rights of the thousands of Ethiopian refugees in that country, according to a report by the Al-Monitor newspaper. The statement from Egypt came after Ethiopian officials accused Cairo of supporting Ethiopian opposition groups. Ethiopian officials’ accusation came after the Oromo Media Network, an opposition media, held its two ...

ESAT News (April 6, 2016) UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) has said it will monitor the case of Andargachew Tsige, a British father held in Ethiopia, among others, amid concerns that the government has lessened its commitment to ending human rights abuses abroad, Reprieve, an international human rights organization said in a release on Tuesday. Reprieve quoted an interim ...

ESAT News (April 5, 2016) Security forces are beating and torturing the nearly three thousand people detained at the Tolai Military Camp. The detainees were incarcerated in mass in the ongoing anti-government protest in the Oromia region for political and economic rights that is well into its fifth month. Quoting his sources, Berhanu Lenjiso, a social scientist who closely follow ...