ESAT English News

Ethiopia: Anti-terrorism head with spy agency on trial for coordinating assassination attempt on PM

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (August 8, 2018) One of the suspects on trial for the June 23 assassination attempt on the life of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed was the anti-terrorism head with the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), the country’s spy agency. Tesfaye Urge, one of the about 30 suspects arrested after the June 23 assassination ...

Read More »

Ethiopian govt and OLF agree to end hostilities

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (August 7, 2018) A delegation of the Ethiopian government and a faction of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) led by Dawud Ibsa have agreed to end hostilities at a reconciliation agreement signed in Eritrea’s capital Asmara. Eritrea’s Minister of Information, Yemane G. Meskel announced in a series of tweets today that the agreement signed by ...

Read More »

BREAKING: Abdi Illey arrested and taken to undisclosed location

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (August 7, 2018) Abdi Mohamoud Omar, a.k.a. Abdi Illey, who was deposed from the presidency of the Somali region yesterday, has been arrested and taken to undisclosed location. The BBC Amharic report said members of the national army have arrested Illey and removed him from his palace in Jijiga. Unrest in Jijiga and Dire Dawa ...

Read More »

BREAKING: Abdi Illey removed from office

ESAT News (August 6, 2018) President of the Somali region, Abdi Mohamoud Omar also known as Abdi Illey, has been removed from power, head of the regional communication bureau confirmed to the BBC’s Somali Service. Illey has been replaced by Ahmed Abdi Mohamed, who was head of the regional bureau of finance and economic development. Read here for more on ...

Read More »

Ethiopia sends delegation to Asmara to negotiate with Oromo opposition group

ESAT News (August 6, 2018) A delegation led by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu has arrived in the Eritrean capital Asmara to negotiate with a faction of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) led by Dawud Ibsa.   The report by the Ethiopian Television says the delegation, which also includes president of the Oromo regional administration, Lemma Megersa, was welcomed at ...

Read More »

Scores killed in Jijiga, Dire Dawa in an attack by Liyou Police and armed youth

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (August 6, 2018) [UPDATE: As we compile this report, the national defense forces and federal police have been given orders to restore calm and protect the public in the Somali region of Ethiopia, as per a statement by the Office of Government Communication Affairs. The Office said the order has been give based on the ...

Read More »

Police say hundreds of munitions intercepted

ESAT News (August 2, 2018) Police in the restive Benishangul Gumuz regional state in Western Ethiopia say they have intercepted about 500 ammos for kalashnikov rifles in a public bus travelling from Goba to Asossa. Inspector with the regional police told reporters that the ammunitions were stashed in two bags. Mohammed Ahmed said police acted swiftly following a tip from ...

Read More »

Rare photo of former communist leader sparks debate whether he should be pardoned

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (August 2, 2018) A photo of former Ethiopian communist leader, Mengistu Hailemariam and Hailemariam Desalegn, a former Prime Minister, that surfaced on the social media on Wednesday as they met in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare has opened old wounds. Some insist Mengistu should face justice while others argued for his pardon. Mengistu’s last name and Desalegn’s ...

Read More »

Ethiopia: Exiled church patriarch returns home with PM Abiy Ahmed

ESAT News (August 1, 2018), His Holiness Abune Merkorios, the fourth Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, has ended his exile in the United States and returned home after a successful reconciliation effort spearheaded by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed. The patriarch, who was replaced by Abune Paulos and forced into exile in 1991,  was received with jubilation in ...

Read More »

Exiled opposition announces readiness to operate in Ethiopia

ESAT News (July 31, 2018) Patriotic Ginbot 7, an armed opposition group based in Eritrea, has announced that it has made a decision to lay down arms to move to Ethiopia within a month. At a press conference held today in Alexandria, Virgnia, the chairman of the movement, Prof. Berhanu Nega, Secretary General, Andargachew Tsige, and Ephrem Madebo, head of ...

Read More »