US suspends food aid to Ethiopia, says it is not reaching needy
Nairobi, KenyaReuters The US Agency for International Development said on Thursday it was suspending food aid to Ethiopia because its donations were being diverted from people in need. A spokesperson said USAID had determined, in coordination with the Ethiopian Government, that a “widespread and coordinated campaign is diverting food assistance from the people of Ethiopia”. […]
Ethiopia scraps bid to end UN-ordered Tigray abuses probe early – sources
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters Ethiopia has dropped a draft motion that sought to bring an early end to a UN mandated investigative probe into the Tigray war, diplomats and observers told Reuters, after pressure from Western countries. The International Commission on Ethiopia, the only independent probe into the two-year conflict which pitted Ethiopia’s army against forces […]
“Strong concerns”: Ethiopia digital ID prompts fears of ethnic profiling
ZECHARIAS ZELALEM, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on fears the rollout of digital ID Fayda in Ethiopia could entrench discrimination against Tigrayans and other ethnic minorities…
Looting, forced removals plague Ethiopia’s Tigray despite truce – witnesses
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Ethiopia’s allies are looting towns, arresting and killing civilians and relocating thousands of people from a disputed part of Tigray despite a truce between the government and local forces, witnesses and aid workers in the northern region say. The violence raises fresh concerns about whether the ceasefire signed on 2nd November by Ethiopia’s […]
Ethiopian and Tigray forces launch hotline as new peace talks begin
Nairobi, KenyaReuters The Ethiopian Government and Tigrayan forces have established a telephone hotline to help maintain a ceasefire struck last week, and both sides met in Kenya on Monday for a new round of talks on implementing the truce. Ethiopia’s government and regional forces from Tigray agreed last Wednesday to cease hostilities after talks mediated […]
Ethiopian Government accused of deadly air strikes on Oromiya region
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Two organisations from Ethiopia’s Oromiya region have accused the army of conducting air strikes there in recent days which they said had killed hundreds of civilians, just as peace talks on the separate Tigray conflict were about to start. Government and army spokespersons did not respond on Thursday to requests for comment on […]
First peace talks on Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict to start in South Africa
Pretoria, South AfricaReuters Negotiators for the Ethiopian Government and regional forces from Tigray were due to meet in the South African capital Pretoria for the first formal peace talks since war broke out two years ago. The talks come after the Ethiopian military and their allies, who include troops from neighbouring Eritrea, captured several large […]
Shadow of war hangs over Ethiopia’s Meskel festival celebrations
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaReuters The shadow of war hung over Ethiopia’s Meskel festival in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, with high security, low turnout and Orthodox Christian priests calling for peace and forgiveness in their sermons. The event – usually a joyous affair where huge crowds gather around bonfires – marks the moment when the 4th century […]
Ethiopian soldiers seek asylum in Sudan, fear returning home due to Tigrayan ethnicity
Khartoum, SudanReuters Up to 550 Ethiopian peacekeepers working in Sudan have sought asylum rather than return home for fear they will be persecuted due to their Tigrayan ethnicity, an official with direct knowledge of the plan said on Tuesday. The soldiers, numbering between 525 to 550, were part of a UN peacekeeping force working in […]
Rights groups accuse Ethiopian regional forces of ethnic cleansing in Tigray
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaReuters Two leading human rights groups on Wednesday accused armed forces from Ethiopia’s Amhara region of waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against ethnic Tigrayans during a war that has killed thousands of civilians and displaced more than a million. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a joint report that abuses […]