#Ethiopia

NEWS: PROTESTERS IN AWEDAY BEATEN, SHOT AT, AS VIDEO EXPOSES ARMY CRACK DOWN AGAINST CIVILIANS

 addisstandard /  February 24, 2020

Zecharias Zelalem

Addis Abeba, February 24/2020 -At least 30 people were injured on Thursday February 20/2020 when government security forces clamped down on a crowd of protesters in the town of Aweday, eleven kilometers west of Harar, in east Hararghe zone of Oromia regional state. The local police attempted to restore calm before the federal army intervened following clashes between pro and anti Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed demonstrators. Of those injured after having been shot at by security forces, two are in critical condition.

A footage of what appeared to be federal army regulars beating fleeing civilians has gone viral following the clashes, giving weight to claims that they may have served to exacerbate the clashes, Addis Standard has verified the authenticity of the video.

Tensions started to boil in the town after pro and anti-government demonstrators squared off in the city square. According to a police officer who spoke to the BBC Amharic, supporters of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed were confronted by opponents who chanted anti Abiy slogans. The crowd of anti Abiy demonstrators, including women and children, grew in number and police mobilized to disperse them. An unknown number of people were hurt in the fracas that involved baton wielding police and stone throwing youths.

One resident who spoke to Addis Standard over the phone on the condition of anonymity, said the town’s police force would have been sufficient to restore calm to the town.

“There was no need to deploy the armed forces,” he said. “They beat everyone they saw, even those who were passing by and had nothing to do with the protest. I saw at least thirty people being beaten.”

Screengrab from the video that circulated shows one soldier preparing to strike a fallen man. Another lies beaten on the ground to the left of the screen. Other soldiers look on

The widely viewed sixty-eight second video of the crack down shows that around a dozen soldiers and two others believed to be members of Oromia regional security forces viciously clubbing at least eight men with long wooden rods. Victims are hit in the head, abdomen and legs and struggle to hobble away from the soldiers and off into a nearby street.

Filmed near the town’s main market, all of the victims were attacked despite being unarmed and exhibiting no signs of aggression. Another man, unable to get away is seen lying motionless next to a parked three-wheel Bajaj and appears to be lying there motionless. But an official from the town’s clinic told Addis Standard there were no fatalities. However, he said that at least nine people who were hospitalized at the clinic had to be referred to a hospital in the city of Harar. Among them, two victims who suffered from gunshot wounds.

“The gunshot victims will live, their vital organs weren’t hit,” he said. When told that a resident had seen at least thirty people suffer from beatings by the military, the official said, “the number is probably higher than that.”

The police officer contacted by the BBC said he was unaware of any gunshot victims. “Police fired a lot of bullets into the air to frighten the crowds,” he said. “I haven’t heard anything about people being injured by them.”

Our repeated efforts to contact Major General Mohammed Tessema, the federal army’s indoctrination and public relations bureau head, were fruitless after all calls and text messages went unanswered.

Ambulance driver beaten

Fifty seconds into the video, an ambulance jeep is seen pulling into the area where the beatings were taking place. Despite one person lying motionless within the view of the driver, the ambulance is seen u-turning and driving off without the picking the person on the ground.

Addis Standard found out that he phone number visibly displayed on the side of the vehicle belongs to the town’s ambulance service. The operator who picked up said that the driver himself was in need of medical treatment. “You won’t see it in the video, but the driver was bleeding after having been hit in the head. His phone was broken too. He’s been given time off from work to recover.”

On Friday, calm had been restored in Aweday and the town was back in the control of local police.

In various parts of the country, demonstrations supporting PM Abiy Ahmed and the reform agenda being carried out under his auspices continued to take place.

However, a grenade thrown at a rally in Ambo, some 125 km west of Addis Abeba, in Oromia regional state, injured 29 on Sunday February 23. According to Ararssa Merdassa, Oromia Police Commission Commissioner, 28 of the injured have since been released from hospital. Six suspects were also detained by the police. 

Ethiopia

Ethiopia's leader promised to protect freedom of expression. But he keeps flicking the internet kill switch

By Samuel Woodhams, CNN

Updated 1502 GMT (2302 HKT) July 15, 2019

(CNN)Abel Wabella is no stranger to the dangers of pursuing digital activism in Ethiopia.

In 2014 he was charged under a controversial anti-terrorism law, which has been described as providing the state with "unnecessarily far-reaching powers" by Amnesty International.

Wabella spent over a year in jail because of his role as co-founder of Zone9, a blogging collective that highlighted human rights abuses, corruption and political repression in the country.

It wasn't until 2018, during a period of mass reform and resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, that the final charges were dropped against the group's members.

"When Abiy Ahmed came to power, he released journalists, re-branding the country as one with a bright future," Wabella said.

As well as freeing journalists, Prime Minister Abiy also released political prisoners, unblocked hundreds of websites, and appointed women to half of his cabinet posts.

The changes were part of a new agenda, which he pledged would respect freedom of expression. "In a democratic system, the government allows citizens to express their ideas freely without fear," he said in April 2018.

Unreliable connections

During the past month, however, there have been several nationwide internet blackouts, leaving friends and families disconnected, businesses unable to operate, and journalists prevented from reporting on events.

Recent developments have left many in Ethiopia skeptical about the durability and sincerity of Abiy's reforms. Atnaf Brhane, a fellow co-founder of Zone9, said that the internet shutdowns had created "a bad record for a 'reformist' leader."

Why Ethiopians believe their new prime minister is a prophet

CNN made several attempts to reach the Ethiopian government but did not get a response.

The most recent internet blackout began on Saturday, June 22 after reports of an attempted coup in the Amhara region. After 100 hours without internet access, the network was gradually restored, although it wasn't until July 2 that mobile data finally returned.

There was no formal explanation from the government but the state-owned provider, Ethio Telecom, the country's lone telecoms provider, issued an apology and told CNN at the time the company would credit customers for services that were affected during the shutdown.

The shutdown followed another blackout earlier in June. The disruptions combined have meant that Ethiopians did not have reliable connections for almost half the month.

A return to old habits

As of the time of publishing, complete access is yet to be restored as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and some VPN apps remain blocked by the government.

The continued blocks represent a significant barrier to freedom of expression and the right to information. In fact, "in Ethiopia, Facebook is basically equal to the internet," Wabella, who now runs the media outlet, Addis Zaybe, said.

He added the shutdown forced him to close his offices for over a week, preventing him from publishing any new stories or publicizing their work on social media.

Ethiopia restores internet after one week outage

It was not just digital media that were affected, however. During the shutdown, businesses were forced to close, events were canceled, and families were unable to communicate. Popular taxi service ZayRide was also affected by the shutdown, leaving their drivers with no work for a week.

Combined, the effect of internet shutdowns on the economy is staggering. According to the internet monitoring NGO, Netblocks, each day of an internet blackout costs the Ethiopian government nearly $4.5million.

Additionally, it prevented families from communicating during the attempted coup, which made it a particularly dangerous and sensitive time. As, the executive director of the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia said: "People want to know the well-being and safety of their family... the internet shutdown is putting people in fear again."

People in Ethiopia are calling strangers in Eritrea as phone lines are opened after 20 years

Nevertheless, many digital rights activists believe the government will continue to restrict access to the internet during politically sensitive moments as previous governments have.

"Since 2016, the government of Ethiopia has had a habit of shutting down the internet whenever there is political unrest or demonstration [and] after a few months the new administration took office they returned to their old habit," Brhane said.

Internet kill switch

Governments around the world are increasingly reaching for the internet kill switch. In the past few months alone, there have been internet shutdowns in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. While in Africa, internet shutdowns are also being employed more frequently by governments.

In 2019 alone, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Mauritania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have all enforced a shutdown for various reasons.

Internet shutdowns were a regular occurrence under Ethiopia's former premier Hailemariam Desalegn and, despite Abiy's promises to protect freedom of expression, there have already been several such disruptions during his short reign.

The first widespread disruption occurred just months after his inauguration following an outbreak of violence in the eastern cities of Jijiga, Dire Dawa and Harar.

During the blackout, citizens were heavily reliant on state media, which effectively allowed the regime to control the narrative surrounding the attempted coup.

Failed coup sees Ethiopia army chief shot dead by bodyguard

It is a move that is highly reminiscent of Desalegn's tight control of the media in which, according to Human Rights Watch, there was a "strategy to manage and control information flows, including the media, and ensure that its policies are promoted but not critiqued."

Additionally, during the shutdowns, there were reports of journalists charged under the same anti-terror legislation used in the Zone9 cases, once more indicating a potential return to a regime that uses controversial anti-terrorism law and internet shutdowns to stifle freedom of expression.

Activists such as Wabella now fear that recent developments will prompt a further deterioration in freedom of expression in the country. "Things are unfortunately making the future look very bleak," he said.

As internet access slowly returns across the country, people are finally able to tell their stories of how the disruptions impacted them. "The internet is part of our lifestyle not just our jobs," Wabella said. "It had a huge impact on the entire community."

#Oromia

By Jawar Mohammed

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COPY CODE SNIPPET

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” Reagan

#Ethiopia

PP’s Plan of Economic Zones in Oromia a State within a State: Disintegrating & Weakening Oromia

By Barii Ayano1. A friend inbox me PP’s Cafee Oromia draft a proclamation titled “Wixinee Labsii Zoonii Diinagdee Addaa Gadaa”, which has a theme to create economic zones. I read it thoroughly. It is important to note that the proposed economic zones stretch from Adama to Minjar Shonkoraa and Gurage zone. Thus, it is not limited to the Oromia Regional State. It is another puzzling document that adds to our mistrust of PP leaders’ plans for the Oromia State & the Oromo people.2. Different countries create economic zones for various reasons. However, the underlying objectives are similar. The special economic zones have sets of business, trade, financial and economic laws that differs from the wider systems of a country. Economic zones also have sets of tax laws and regulations, which are very lax and different from the rest of a country. For instance, China started establishing special economic zones in late 1970s to create two economic systems in the country. The larger China operates under the Central Planned Economy whereas economic zones operated under the liberal market economy like the West. The goal of the two economic system was to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the advanced economies to the economic zones, which have the modus operandi of the Western liberal market economic system. Simply put, the market economy was allowed in the economic zones whereas planned economy operates in the rest of the larger China. The plan worked for China in attracting foreign capital in the form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which helped China to largely avoid foreign borrowing-dependent economy.
3. When it comes to PP’s plan for the economic zones, it raises more questions than answers. First, the title of the “Zoonii Diinagdee Addaa Gadaa” is literally annoying. I am stating this not based on my opinion but after reading the contents of the draft proclamation. The planned economic zones have nothing to do with the Gadaa culture. The economic zones will be very independent of Oromia Regional State in business, trade, governance, etc. laws and regulations. Simply put, the economic zones will be administered by a board, which will be mandated to administer the economic zones as the board members see fit. The outlying areas (like farmers) that will be included in the economic zones will be subjected to the laws and regulations set up by the board. (I am well versed in the economic zones and their applications in different countries). The planed economic zones of PP will one of the most relaxed economic zones in the world that accord unlimited powers to the board that govern the economic zones. Simply put, the economic zones will be a state within a state, with very little control of the Oromia Region on their modus operandi.
4. The economic zones will be independent and the most economically powerful area in the Oromia Region, which can eventually surpass the already economically powerful Addis Ababa. What is the core purpose of creating an independent economic power within the Oromia Regional State? Why does the border of the economic zones cross all the way to Minjar Shenkora and Gurgage zones? What is the impact of the very large independent and powerful economic zones on the integrity and viability of Oromia as a state? What is the effect of the economic zones on rural Oromia around and within the economic zones? The draft proclamation states the economic zones will have positive impacts on the Oromo people and our cultural ethos. Yet, the economic zones will be governed by independent board members, with the prime duty to attract foreign and local investors. The Oromia Region cannot intervene and enforce pro-Oromo laws and regulations.
5. Whenever we discuss economic matters, our premise should be the fact that our people are predominantly agrarian with rural based economy. An economic model that transforms the livelihood of our people must begin from transforming the mainstay-the dominant-agricultural sector. PP’s economic plans of mega city and economic zones owned by foreigners and the few local rich people won’t improve the living standards of our people. They are just another master plan schemes that will evict Oromo farmers in millions from their ancestral lands. We will end up under the scenario where the top 2% or 1% of the rich, who are connected nepotism and corruption are rampant, owning and dominating the economy. At its core, PP’s economic plan is merely serving the rich. The majority will end up being daily laborers with meager salary that cannot even feed their families. The farmers within the economic zones will be evicted and become landless. (PP’s document itself hints this and glossy over it by stating compensation). There is nothing economically worse for the Oromos or other farmers than losing their ancestral lands. Simply put, we should measure economic progress and development in terms of their contributions to improving the living standards of our people. The proposed economic zones will not improve the living standards of our farmers, who dominate the economy. The few rich, who have access to capital, so-called investors, will get rich; the poor majority will get poorer. There are alternative economic policies that can be drawn that can seriously consider the economic hardships of our people in order to improve their living standards.
6. Politically speaking, the economic zones will create a powerful economic state within Oromia. It will weaken the rest of Oromia in political and economic terms. The economics zones will be more powerful than the other parts of larger Oromia. It also destroys the integrity and viability of Oromia as a state. We can safely conclude that PP’s unitary government plan has the agenda to bank on unitary economic plan. In other words, unitary government will give us unitary economic policy tools that favors the few rich urbanities, with the help of foreign finance. It’s not geared towards addressing the economic plights of the rural majority. The multinational federal system, if it is correctly implemented, will give us decentralized economic system that will consider the real economies on the ground. Banking on mega cities and mega economic zones will not help the majority. They are just extensions of the garrison-town-economic-model of Ethiopia, which has survived for generations by exploiting and extracting resources from the rural sector with very little reciprocated benefits.
7. Theoretically speaking, Ethiopia is heading towards elections in few months. Why do the PP leaders in Oromia come up with large scale mega projects that take years to complete? Where do they get the mandate for the long-term plan on the eve elections? They cannot be taken as economic policy proposals for election campaigns either since the opposition groups can easily dig into them and capitalize on them for their advantages. PP leaders are not drawing economic policies that attract the majority. Giving it a title “Diinagdee Addaa Gadaa” for the proposed economic zones is less than fool hardy. It is insulting our intelligence. We can read their proposal and evaluate its impact on our people in terms of economy, politics, culture, etc. The EPRDF/PP regime never contemplate impact studies of their mega projects. They are addicted to copycat syndrome. Yet, they have the audacity to lecture us that they are building ‘homegrown’ economy.

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#Ethiopia

Ethiopia/Oromia Regional State/Secutity/Africa

NEWS: BURAYU POLICE COMMISSIONER SHOT DEAD, COLLEAGUE INJURED

 addisstandard /  February 21, 2020 

Commissioner Solomon Tadesse

Addis Abeba, February 21/2020– Solomon Tadesse, Police Commissioner of Burayu City, was shot dead today, whereas Commander Tesfaye Dinku, who was also shot, is admitted to a hospital, the BBC Amharic reported.

Commander Tesfaye is the head of the special force for Oromia Regional State Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne.

According to Getachew Balcha, head of Oromia region communication bureau, the two were shot while having lunch in a place not far from Burayu. No suspect is apprehended as of yet, Getachew was quoted as saying.

On February 15, three artists: Hawi H. Qeneni (singer), Desalegn Bekema (singer) and Lij Yared (graffiti artist and activist) were all beaten during a hotel inauguration ceremony in Burayu. In an interview with Addis Standard, Hawi said they were attacked by the police, an accusation the city police and its communication bureau denied. Later on Amnesty International said the special police in Oromia “arrested around 30 guests at a hotel launch party in Burayu and drove them to a sports stadium where they were beaten and humiliated for hours.”eth

#Ethiopia

Did Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed get the Nobel Prize too soon?

Rights groups have raised concerns about threats to freedom of expression in the country.

15 Feb 2020 12:31 GMT Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, Democracy, Humanitarian crises, Africa

• In 2018, Abiy Ahmed became prime minister of Ethiopia after protests caused the ruling coalition to reshuffle and remove the governing party from power after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule.

In addition to sweeping political and economic reforms, Abiy released political prisoners and made a peace deal with neighbouring Eritrea, ending two decades of hostility. For this, he won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

But under his government, protesters have been jailed, the internet has been blocked and a new law has just been passed that could jail people whose online posts stir unrest.

However, Lencho Bati, a senior adviser to the office of the prime minister, says the government of Abiy has done nothing wrong.

"All oppositions, armed and peaceful, are invited back, so the political space is wide and everybody is in the country, registering and campaigning," Bati said.

Abiy's tenure has also been plagued by ethnic conflict, with hundreds of thousands of people being internally displaced. Yet Bati says the current government is not to blame.

"Ethiopian people used to live together peacefully. This is politically masterminded, agitated from behind in order to sabotage the reforms," Bati said.

"The overthrown elites, the people who were enjoying privilege for 27 years, they want to make sure this process is sabotaged," he added.

Perhaps the most radical of Abiy's reforms is the dissolution of the governing coalition and the merging of several parties to form the Prosperity Party.

The Prosperity Party has its critics, among them, some of Abiy's allies: his defence minister, Lemma Megersa, said the creation of the party is "not timely, as there are many dangers".

But Bati says the creation of the Prosperity Party is a positive move.

"Peace and stability is the burning issue, there is no question about that. The prime minister liberalised the political space, all oppositions are invited in, including those who are in armed struggle. Those who were in prison were released and now the political space is free," Lencho said.

This week's headliner is senior adviser to the office of the prime minister of Ethiopia, Lencho Bati.

Source: Al Jazeera

Abiy must go

Colonel Abiy Ahmed, the Nobel laureate of Ethiopia is resoring to authoritarianism that he served for more than two decades. Despite his promise of transitioning the country to democracy, practically his administration is suppressing dissents and harassing opposition members and supporters, particularly in the largest region - Oromia, where the glorious protest that removed the TPLF regime from power erupted and later spread to the rest parts of the country. He is using development funds from international donors to recruit and train his own party cadres who are aggressively working against the quest of the Oromo struggle that led the protest evicted former regime from power. Abiy's administration is driving the country to civil war using mechanisms such as, on one hand, attacking Oromo nationalism with divide-and-rule tactics and on the other hand glorifying criminal old imperial lines that are bitterly antagonistic to the Oromo cause. And more alarming developments are underway including religious conflicts. The world needs to know that the probability of emerging 'African Aung San Su Chi' is high now in Ethiopia.

By Yaya Bashir

#JawarMohammad

NEWS: OFC SAYS JAWAR MOHAMMED IS ETHIOPIAN AS ELECTORAL BOARD DEMANDS CITIZENSHIP PROOF FOR 2ND TIME

 addisstandard /  February 1, 2020 /  15.4k

Addis Abeba, February 01/2020 – Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) executive member Tiruneh Gemta said Jawar Mohammed, who recently joined OFC, is an Ethiopian citizen. Tiruneh said this following a letter, the second of its type, sent to OFC by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) demanding the party to present proof of Jawar’s Ethiopian citizenship status.

Jawar Mohammed, who held a US citizenship, has renounced his US citizenship, according to Tiruneh. A letter written by Jawar to the Main Department for Immigration and Nationality Affairs on January 22/2020 and received by an officer named Atikilti Abraha on the same day, requested the immigration office for re-admission of citizenship. In the two pages letter Jawar stated that he attached with the letter nine different supporting documents as required by the law. Among the documents listed, No. 4 stated that he has attached a copy of a letter from the US embassy in Addis Abeba written on January 06/2020 announcing that he has renounced his US citizenship. No. 5 of the same letter stated that a certificate of loss of his US nationality given to him by the US embassy in Addis Abeba on January 06/2020 was attached along with other documents.

Apart from those, the letter described having other supporting documents such as copy of his previous Ethiopian passport, documents corroborating his return to Ethiopia as of August 2018 and copy of an ID indicating that he was residing in Ethiopia, all of which are required by Ethiopian nationality proclamation for re-admission to Ethiopian nationality.

According to Proclamation No.378/2003 Ethiopian Nationality Proclamation, Article 22: Re-Admission to Ethiopian Nationality:
1.    A person who was an Ethiopian national and who has acquired foreign nationality by law shall be readmitted to Ethiopian nationality if he:
a)    Returns to domicile in Ethiopia;
b)    Renounces his foreign nationality; and
c)    Applies to the Authority or re-admission.

2.    The provisions of Sub-Article (1) of this Article shall also apply to person who has lost his Ethiopian nationality pursuant to Article 20(2) of this Proclamation. i.e: “An Ethiopian who acquires another nationality by virtue of being born to a parent having a foreign nationality or by being born abroad…”

On the other hand, The Ethiopian Electoral and Political Parties Proclamation 1162/2019 Article 63/1 and 2: Political Party Formation, stated that 1. Every Ethiopian has the right to form a political party or be a member of a political party.

2. Any Ethiopian aged 18 or above has the right to be a member of a national or regional party in accordance with this Proclamation.

Article 69: Political Party Barred from Registration – 69/1/E states that
1- The political party shall not be registered if:

E. It has members with international nationality.

In an interview with VOA Amharic, Birtukan Mideksa, Chairwoman of NEBE, said the Board took these provisions as bases of its decision to write the letter. The Board also gave an ultimatum to OFC to prove Jawar’s citizenship status until February 07/2020.

“First, he has returned to his country. Second he has renounced his US citizenship. And third he has notified concerned authorities and requested a readmission of his Ethiopian citizenship. The law does not require him to do more than this. Jawar is an Ethiopian,” Tiruneh told BBC Amharic. ASj

#Ethiopia

The government is once more employing repressive tactics to try and stamp out a rebellion, but they may be having the opposite effect

Is Ethiopia sliding backwards under Abiy Ahmed? | UpFront

Ellection Ethiopia 2020

Ethiopia's electoral body seeks verification of activist Jawar's citizenship

  5 hours ago

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia’s electoral commission on Wednesday sought to verify the citizenship of popular activist Jawar Mohammed’s citizenship, ahead of the national elections in August.

In a letter sent to the immigration authorities, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said it wants clarification on the technicalities for regaining Ethiopian citizenship.

The clarification is sought by February 17.

Jawar, who recently renounced his American citizenship has declared his interest to contest the forthcoming elections as a member of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) party.

Jawar is a prominent critic of the government led by prime minister Abiy Ahmed, and has previously criticised NEBE’s decisions including the timing of the elections.

Popular among Oromo youth, Jawar was at the center of violent protests after he accused the government of endangering his life by withdrawing his security detail.

ALSO READ: Ethiopian activist turned politician ‘cries’ over security idleness amid attacks