ESAT News (July 20, 2017) Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians are still in Saudi Arabia despite the deadline for the Kingdom’s amnesty for undocumented workers expires in four days. The Ethiopian regime says about 60,000 nationals have so far returned home and 130,000 have been issued with exit visas. The government says transportation issues have been resolved but it did ...

ESAT News (July 19, 2017) Towns and districts in southern Ethiopia have joined the strike by small businesses and vendors in the Oromo region opposing the recent assessment of taxes by authorities which traders say was unfair. According to information obtained by ESAT, businesses and transportations were shut down in Aleta Wendo, Gorche in Sidama Zone and in Basketo and ...

ESAT News (July 19, 2017) ESAT’s sources say there were skirmishes along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border this weekend in a place called Erob, Tigray. Both parties did not give official statements yet on the exchange of fires that sources say had also involved the use of heavy artillery. Following the skirmishes, the TPLF-led government in Addis Ababa has reportedly placed more ...

ESAT News (July 18, 2017) A prisoner by the name Nigist Yirga, who was the poster child of the anti-government protest in the Amhara region last summer, spoke of torture and abuse at the hands of her captors in an Ethiopian prison. Nigist Yirga appeared before the court in Addis Ababa today but regime prosecutors demand, for the fifth time, ...

ESAT News (July 18, 2017) Businesses and transportation continue to shut down in many districts in the Oromo region in protest against new tax assessments as the presence of security forces continue to build up. In Ambo, schools and businesses remained closed while major highways leading to Addis Ababa and Wollega were shutdown. Reports say there is a huge security ...

ESAT News (July 17, 2017) Egypt’s top diplomat in Addis Ababa talks to Ethiopian House Speaker on issues related to the Grand Dam being built by the latter as recent reports of water filling of the dam has worried Egyptians. A delegation led by Egypt’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Abubakar Hefni Mahmoud met Ethiopia’s House Speaker Abadula Gemeda on Saturday. Reports ...

ESAT News (July 17, 2017) Businesses in several towns in the Oromo region of Ethiopia remained closed in protest against high taxes imposed on small business owners and vendors, which they said were assessed based on estimated sales that do not reflect their real sales. Business owners complained that the recent assessment of taxes by authorities were arbitrary and the ...

ESAT News (July 14, 2017) A funeral has been held for five-year old Isaac Paulos, one of the youngest victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster. As prayers were said and candles were lit, pictures of Isaac were shown on a screen at the front of the church in London, according to a BBC report. Isaac was one of at least ...

ESAT News (July 14, 2017) United States and Somali military forces raided a rebel-held village in southern Somalia and killed several al-Shabaab fighters early Thursday, a senior Somali intelligence official said, as both countries step up efforts against Africa’s deadliest Islamic extremist group, according to a report by the Associated Press. Somali commandos accompanied by U.S. forces in two helicopters ...

ESAT News (July 14, 2017) A satellite imagery showing the formation of a lake like water near Ethiopia’s grand dam is grabbing the attention of Egyptians and their media outlets. They were concerned believing that Ethiopia had actually begun filling the dam with water. But Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation says the lake was “formed due to a ...