by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (January 19, 2018) Ethiopia’s Ministry of Defense is advertising in the local media urging the youth to join the regular army as tensions rose in the subregion following Sudan’s handover of a Red Sea island to Turkey and the ensuing deployment of troops by Egypt and Sudan along their border. Regional allies and foes responded ...

ESAT News (January 18, 2018) Ethiopia’s ruling party says changes would not be made to the draconian Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP), let alone scrapping the law altogether. The Proclamation has been used by the regime to charge and imprison opposition party members, journalists and dissidents who criticise the regime or exercise their basic freedom of expression. The announcement was made at ...

ESAT News (January 18, 2018) Residents of several towns who came out to escort the Ark of the Covenant and celebrate the eve of the annual Epiphany have chanted anti-TPLF slogans calling for the removal of the regime. In Gondar, Woldia, Nekempte and Ambo protesters ignored the presence of snipers and denounced the regime. Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany (Timkat ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (January 17, 2018) A day after spokesperson for the Ethiopian regime, Negeri Lencho, says the release of a prominent opposition leader would be decided after two months, Merera Gudina, along with over a hundred other prisoners of conscience, has been freed today after fourteen months of detention. A number of other leading opposition figures and ...

ESAT News (January 16, 2018) Sudan has recanted its accusation that Egypt and Eritrea had deployed troops near its border and said military deployment by the Sudanese army was a reaction to threats by Sudanese armed opposition groups in areas near Eritrea, according to a report by Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. Sudanese authorities said last week that they had intelligence indicating ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (January 15, 2018) Hundreds of political prisoners would be freed as early as Wednesday as charges were dropped against 528 prisoners, media affiliated with the regime in Addis Ababa reported on Monday. Announcing the release, the prosecutor general of the regime, Getachew Ambaye, however insist the country is not holding political prisoners, echoing the statement ...

ESAT News (January 15, 2018) Turkish authorities say they are investigating a report that a vessel which departed from Turkey and seized by the Greek Coast Guard was allegedly carrying explosives to Libya. Turkey’s Embassy in Tripoli also said the vessel was transporting goods to Ethiopia, not to Libya as previously reported, according to a report by the Libyan Express. ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (January 15, 2018) Eritrean President  Isaias Afwerki said Turkey’s military presence in the Red Sea was counterproductive to the security of the region and that it was not welcome, according to an unofficial translation of his interview with the state media by Tesfa News and other Eritrean sources. In an interview on Sunday to the ...

ESAT News (January 12, 2018) Four prisoners were shot and killed on Monday in Yirgalem town, Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia. The prisoners were demanding their release saying they had completed their time. Police said they were killed while trying to escape the prison. But the Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM) said that was not the case. Chairman of the Sidama Liberation ...

ESAT News (January 12, 2018) Sudan says its decision to deploy troops along its border with Eritrea was a response to threats from Eritrea and Egypt. The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) “has directed to continue security arrangements on the eastern Sudan border after being briefed about possible threats from Egypt and Eritrea in the region of Sawa (in Eritrea),” ...