Tag Archives: ESAT English

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 ...

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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 ...

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Ethiopia: Regions beset by violence agree for federal forces intervene to restore calm

ESAT News (July 16, 2018) Administrators of Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromo regions have agreed for federal defense and police forces to intervene to restore peace in their border areas where communal clashes resulted in the death of hundreds of people and the displacement of over a million people. The agreement by Lemma Megersa and Abdi Illey, Presidents of the Oromno ...

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Ethiopia/Eritrea: Leaders join hands to raise flag as Embassy reopens after two decades

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 16, 2018) Eritrea reopened its Embassy in Addis Ababa, two decades after the compound near the soccer stadium in the capital was deserted by the Eritreans and was used for unspecified purposes by the Ethiopian government. The flag raising ceremony at the Embassy came at the conclusion of a three day visit by Eritrean ...

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Ethiopian Airlines to resume flight to Asmara Wednesday

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 11, 2018) Ethiopian Airlines will make its first flight to Asmara, Eritrea, on Wednesday July 18, twenty years after the African giant carrier ceased to fly to its northern neighbor. Fitsum Arega, Chief of Staff for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made the announcement in a tweet saying holders of Ethiopian and Eritrean passports ...

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Eritreans welcome Ethiopia PM with big hugs and kisses

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 8, 2018) Ululation of joy and euphoria in the Eritrean capital Asmara early Sunday as Eritreans welcome an Ethiopian leader after two decades of war and bitterness. Well before Ethiopian Airlines carrying Abiy Ahmed touched down at the Asmara International Airport, residents of the city lined up the streets waving the flags of the ...

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Ethiopia: Premier forecasts below 10% economic growth

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 6, 2018) Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed says he expects the country’s economic growth to be under 10% this year. The Premier was speaking today at the Parliament that has approved a budget of 12.6 billion dollars for the fiscal year that begins next week. Ahmed said focus should be given to the growth ...

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Ethiopia: Jail Ogaden prisoners transferred to other jails following torture and murder report by watchdog

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 6, 2018) Prisoners at the Jail Ogaden in the Somali region of Ethiopia have been transferred to several other prisons in the region after a report by the Human Rights Watch exposed torture and human rights abuse at the notorious detention center. Abdulahi Hussien, a former advisor to Abdi Illey, the regional president, told ...

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Ethiopia: Parliament removes “terrorist” labels on opposition groups

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 5, 2018) Ethiopia’s parliament has revoked terrorist labels on three opposition groups, namely Patriotic Ginbot 7, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).   The three groups and two others, al Shabaab and al Qaeda, were labeled terrorists by a rubber stamp Parliament, the House of People’s Representatives, seven ...

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Ethiopia: “We are Like the Dead,” Jail Ogaden prisoners tell Human Rights Watch

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 5, 2018) A damning report by a rights watchdog exposed horrific torture committed against prisoners in Jail Ogaden, a prison in the Somali region of Eastern Ethiopia. Located in the regional capital JiJiga, Jail Ogaden holds prisoners accused of being members and supporters of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a Front that until ...

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