by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (September 3, 2018) Tamagne Beyene, Ethiopia’s leading rights activist, returned home after two decades in exile in the United States. Mr. Beyene has been a vocal critic of the ethnic oriented and divisive rule by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), an ethnic oligarchy that controlled political power with an iron fist for over a ...

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 ...

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 ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 3, 2018) Ethiopian and Sudanese troops have engaged in a brief battle after soldiers for the latter killed and injured several Ethiopian farmers. As information trickles slowly from the area, ESAT has learnt that the latest wave of attack by the Sudanese began three weeks ago when its army killed several Ethiopian farmers on ...

“Ethiopia is the heart of this area [East Africa]. If the heart falls ill, the entire region falls ill too.” by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (June 21, 2018) An Eritrean diplomat says a rule by an exclusive and ethnic group in Ethiopia has been proven to be a threat to peace and prosperity in the region and only an all ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (June 20, 2018) An armed opposition group said it would give up arms if Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed fulfill promises of change, scrap laws that restrict political opponents and do away with obstacles to a democratic transition. In response to a speech by the Premier on Monday that called on opposition groups abroad to give ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (June 19, 2018) Billions of dollars in debt, the Ethiopian government appointed a new governor and deputy governor for its National Bank. The decision by Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister, to fill the two positions with individuals with no direct experience with macroeconomic issues has already created mumbles in opposition among the banking and macroeconomic ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (June 15, 2018) The towns of Awassa (Hawassa) and Sodo in Southern Ethiopia have seen deadly mob attacks against innocent residents as federal and regional security forces in the area refuse to intervene to stop the bloodshed. Although exact figures are not known, several people were believed to have been killed today by an unidentified ...

ESAT News (May 23, 2018) Leaders of the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) have arrived in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa to continue talks with the government. The Front announced a week ago that it had held talks with representatives of the Ethiopian government in an undisclosed location outside Ethiopia and that the two sides have agreed to continue the talks in ...

ESAT News (May 22, 2018) About 150 elders from the Somali region who came to the capital Addis Ababa have reportedly been unable to address their grievances to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as army generals allied with president of the Somali region used their influence to deny them access to the PM. The elders came to the capital a month ...