ESAT News (October 11, 2017) Nine people were killed in clashes between the Afaris and security forces of the Tigray region in an area called Danti in Megalle district on the border between the two regions. Six people were killed and nine others wounded on the Tigray side while three were killed and three others injured on the Afari side, ...

ESAT News (October 10, 2017) Staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nairobi, Kenya have been accused by Ethiopian political refugees of demanding bribes and even sexual favors to facilitate their applications for refugee status. In a damning article published on The Star of Kenya, Ethiopian refugees gave accounts of how staff at the UNHCR office ...

ESAT News (October 10, 2017) Ethiopia has devalued its currency, the Birr (ETB), by 15%. The dollar will be exchanged against 26.9 Birr effective tomorrow October 11, 2017, compared to the current 23.4 Birr, according to the National Bank of Ethiopia. Speaking at a press conference in Addis Ababa, Vice Governor of NBE, Yohannes Ayalew said the move will help ...

ESAT News (October 9, 2017) Cholera is spreading in an alarming rate from Dire Dawa in the east to Benishangul in the west and from the Capital Addis Ababa to the northern city of Mekelle claiming lives along its route. Reports reaching ESAT from Benishangul Gumuz say 10 people have died due to cholera in Gobela town, Dangul district. The ...

ESAT News (October 9, 2017) News of the resignation of Abadula Gemeda, Speaker of the Ethiopian Parliament over the weekend and his brief televised statement on Sunday gave no clues as to the real reasons for his resignation. Seen as a rubber stamp speaker by many, but a force to be reckoned with by his supporters, the former defense minister ...

ESAT News (October 6, 2017) Acute malnutrition crisis and disease outbreaks is worsening in the Somali region of Eastern Ethiopia, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation. The MSF crises update says three rainy seasons in a row without substantial rains have led to a humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. Crops have failed, cattle have died and ...

ESAT News (October 6, 2017) The leader of SPLM-IO, Riek Machar met with Ethiopian and Sudanese foreign ministers in South Africa and discussed peace in South Sudan. Sudan Tribune, quoting a statement from the Sudanese foreign ministry, Workneh Gebeyehu of Ethiopia and his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour met with Riek Machar as part of the High- Level Revitalization Forum of ...

ESAT News (October 5, 2017) Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism is being tested as the regime gives too much emphasis on ethnicity at the expense of unity, according to an article on The Economist. The article says the way federalism was implemented in Ethiopia caused problems from the start. “New identity cards forced people to choose an ethnicity, though many Ethiopians are ...

ESAT News (October 5, 2017) The St. Michael Church at the Ethiopian quarter of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has been closed by Israeli authorities after its roof had collapsed due to construction on the roof top monastery by the Greek Church. There is a long-running dispute among Christian sects as to the ownership of the Deir ...

ESAT News (October 4, 2017) There has been no effort by the regime to return home tens of thousands of Oromos and Somalis who were displaced due to recent ethnic clashes. According to sources who closely follow developments in Eastern Ethiopia, the regime, that stands accused of instigating the violence, has done nothing to return home the over 70,000 thousand ...