ESAT News (October 25, 2018) Protests continued for the fifth day in the towns of Alamata, Qobo and Mohny, towns predominantly Amhara but under the administration of the Tigray region. The residents in these northern towns have been protesting the forceful takeover and redrawing of their boundary by the Tigray region. On Sunday, security forces of the Tigray region shot ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (October 25, 2018) The government of a reformist Prime Minister in Ethiopia, which had appointed half women in its cabinet last week, has elected a female as the country’s president. Ethiopia’s bicameral parliament today appointed Sahle-Work Zewde, a career diplomat that served her country as an ambassador and later with the United Nations in different ...

ESAT News (October 24, 2018) Security forces of the Tigray region detained over 200 people in Raya Waja and Raya Qobo. The whereabouts of most of the detainees is not known, according to residents who spoke to ESAT. Ninety of the detainees have reportedly been held at the Maichew prison. On Sunday, Tigray region special police killed five residents of ...

ESAT News (October 24, 2018) Ethiopia will on Thursday appoint a new president to replace Mulatu Teshome, who will be resigning a year ahead of his first term limit. Parliament appoints presidents every six years, which is mostly a ceremonial position with no executive power. It has a two-term limit. Teshome took over from Girma Woldegiorgis, who served two-terms. Dr. ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (October 23, 2018) A U.S. congressman who wrote a letter to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury calling for the imposition of the Global Magnitsky Act on a former Ethiopian spy chief said he is hopeful the U.S. administration would find it necessary to do so. Representative Mike Coffman of Colorado’s ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (October 22, 2018) A congressman wrote a petition urging the United States to apply the Global Magnitsky sanctions against a former Ethiopian spy chief who is implicated in a wide range of crimes and human rights violations. In a letter to the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin, Representative ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (October 22, 2018) Tigray region special police have killed five residents of Alamata, a town sitting 470 miles north of the capital Addis Ababa on the route to the regional capital Mekele. The people of Raya have been voicing their demand on the status of their administration which is under the Tigray region. They say ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (October 19, 2018) Police told a court in Addis Ababa today that the ex-president of the Somali region had attempted to escape prison. But Abdi Illey denied the accusation and said police was simply defaming him. Abdi Mohamoud Omar, also known as Abdi Illey, was arrested in August for violations of human rights, inciting ethnic ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (October 19, 2018) Amnesty International called for the immediate and unconditional release of a lawyer and his friend who were charged for allegedly working to form an association of residents of the capital Addis Ababa and championing for a more autonomous capital. Henok Aklilu, a lawyer known for representing rights activists unjustly detained by the ...