Statement of SAGE on The Looming Human Catastrophe in Ethiopia
SAGE cautions the government against using the occasion as a pretext for advancing political objectives by imprisoning leaders of legitimate opposition groups that have no direct or indirect association with the current evolving situation. SAGE calls upon the international community and human rights groups to be cognizant of the looming human tragedy in Ethiopia and to take necessary preventive measures and actions to avert bloodshed and suffering. After the horrific tragedy in Rwanda, the international community has the moral obligation to affirm its vow of never sitting idly as the possibility of another interhawame-style episode is unfolding in the Horn of African country. Like borkena on Facebook and get Ethiopian News updates regularly. As well, you may get Ethiopia News by following us on twitter @zborkena
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 20:26 UTC
“The risk of another betrayal cannot be tolerated”
So is a 2015 CNN interview in which he tries to gloss over and defend the EPRDF’s indefensible human rights record. AG: Weren’t the human rights violations just the growing pains of a fledgling democracy as Dr. Tedros maintains? Terms like “human rights violations” are so clinical. Lastly, the Swiss should prosecute Tedros under international law for his Ethiopian human rights violations. Ethiopian lives matter.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 16:30 UTC
‘Lebanon is in a death spiral’: Domestic workers dumped on the street amid unprecedented economic collapse
They are among a growing number of migrant workers in Lebanon that have been abandoned by their bosses who, amid an unprecedented economic collapse, cannot afford to pay their salaries. And so, without rights, funds, and passports, Lebanon’s quarter of a million migrant domestic workers are among the most vulnerable in the country’s economic crash. Grounded in decades of chronic mismanagement and corruption, Lebanon saw its economic woes crescendo in October, sparking a revolution. Amid a growing liquidity crisis, the government shut people out of their dollar accounts in the autumn, crippling households and businesses. On Friday, two Lebanese men in different parts of the country committed suicide due to hunger and the economic crisis.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 16:05 UTC
Ethiopian protests, Greek pushbacks, and a Myanmar mystery: The Cheat Sheet
It’s illegal, but that doesn’t seem to stop GreeceDocumentation is mounting of Greek authorities carrying out violent pushbacks of asylum seekers and migrants at the country’s land and sea borders with Turkey. Rights groups have also documented the abandonment of asylum seekers in floating tents without any means of propulsion and masked men sabotaging boats carrying asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea. In response, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis vowed to turn people back from the country’s border. Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said “this is the best of British – the UK military and UK aid – working together”. Statues of British slave traders, Confederate generals and Belgian royalty have been pulled off their pedestals in a global wave of anti-racist protests.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 15:00 UTC
Redskins to Review Name; Anger Flares at Rushmore; Protest Wrap
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s visit Friday to Mount Rushmore has spurred a new round of protests. Native Americans say the monument was built on sacred stolen land and that the mask-optional gathering could spread Covid-19, which has hit Native Americans especially hard. Other opponents note that two of the four presidents depicted in the mountainside sculpture -- George Washington and Thomas Jefferson -- were slaveholders. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wouldn’t be taking a knee in solidarity with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign, preferring to focus on substantive changes. Black Lives Matter U.K.’s activism includes specific policy prescriptions like reducing police funding, as well as solidarity causes like seeking sanctions on Israel over Palestinian land issues.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 14:48 UTC
Renaissance Dam angst escalates online between Egyptians and Ethiopians
Image Credit: ReutersAbu Dhabi: Social media users in Egypt and Ethiopia are now mocking the history of each other’s country as the debates about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam continue. Both Egypt and Sudan had earlier appealed to the UN Security Council to intervene in the decades-long dispute. At 145 meters high and almost two kilometers long, the Grand Renaissance Dam is expected to become Ethiopia’s biggest source of electricity. It says the dam could cut its water supply and have a devastating impact on its population. Sudan, too, depends on the Nile for water and has played a key role in bringing the two sides together.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 13:41 UTC
Violence mars Portland protests, frustrates Black community
One prominent Black leader wrote to Mayor Ted Wheeler and said some clashes had unfolded three blocks from his house. He said the problem was with “elements” that were “99% white” and did not represent the Black Lives Matter movement. “At some point, enough is enough.”Newly appointed Police Chief Chuck Lovell, who is Black, said the violence in North Portland was “offensive and hurtful” and has cost the city at least $6.2 million in overtime for its officers. Many are concerned that those watching police precincts burn and businesses get vandalized will wrongly assume Black people are doing the damage. “Get to know us and get to know the pain that we feel with gentrification in this neighborhood,” said Elaine Loving, who has lived in her family’s North Portland home for 59 years.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 13:30 UTC
Israel report: Significant rise in racism against Ethiopia Jews
An Israeli report revealed a significant rise in racism against Ethiopian Jews in the country. Gant Dasa, chief executive of Migrants Together, a non-profit organisation for Ethiopian Jews, said in a report published by Yedioth Ahronoth that “racism is very common among all Israelis. The day I see them protesting against the conditions of the Ethiopian community, then I will start believing that something positive is taking place. She stressed that “the heartache I feel is getting more real every day. Even though the Ethiopian community constitutes only 1.6 per cent of the Israeli public, Ethiopian Jews suffer from a phenomenon that is well known to the American society, where minority groups are being stigmatised due to their dark skin colour.”11 Ethiopian settlers have been killed by the Israeli police since 1997, reported Yedioth Ahronoth.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 11:37 UTC
Government weighs formation of committee to probe Ethiopian immigration delays
The government will establish an investigative committee to examine Ethiopian immigration, the Kan public broadcaster reported Friday. In 2013, the Jewish Agency declared the end of Ethiopian aliyah, prompting protests by Ethiopian lawmakers and community members in Israel. In 2015 it seemed like the problem was finally solved when Ethiopian-Israeli Knesset Member Avraham Negusie pressured the Netanyahu-led government into passing Resolution 716, which called for the immediate absorption of the remaining Ethiopian Jews. “I don’t believe the Israeli government has a financial problem to immigrate the remaining Ethiopian Jews back to Israel,” Neggousa Zemene Alemu, head coordinator of the Ethiopian Jews in the Ethiopian cities of Addis Ababa and Gondar, said later that year. Between 1979 and 1990, Israel organized several transports of Ethiopian Jews to Israel via Sudan.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 10:30 UTC
Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest carrier, sues Minnesota journalist and his independent newspaper
Africa’s largest airline is suing an independent Minnesota journalist and his newspaper over interviews containing alleged “defamatory statements” the outlet broadcast in April on its YouTube channel. Founded in 1945, Ethiopian Airlines has established a reputation for being one of Africa’s leading carriers in the past few decades. The carrier served more than 10 million passengers in the 2017–2018 fiscal year and made $245 million in profits. In the last decade, the outlet became a leading news source for Ethiopians in Minnesota and across the world. In 2005, when he left Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government sued him for defamation and shut down a newspaper he ran.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 04:52 UTC
Killing of Musician in Ethiopia Highlights Deep Rooted Ethnic, Political Tension
NAIROBI - At least 80 people have died in protests this week in Ethiopia following the killing of popular singer Hachalu Hundessa. Known for his political songs, Hundessa's death has heightened ethnic tensions in Ethiopia, as the protests spread to the Oromia region, where Hundessa was born. Security remains tight across Ethiopia a day after the funeral of revered singer and musician Hachalu Hundessa. His killing this week sparked riots in and around Addis Ababa, leaving at least 80 dead. The musician was ethnic Oromo, a group that has a long history of being discriminated against.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 04:41 UTC
Over 850 Ugandans repatriated in a fortnight
Ambassador Nnam made the revelation on Thursday night at Entebbe airport, while receiving two groups of Ugandans who came back aboard Ethiopian and Uganda airlines. "From Afghanistan on June 28, we received 91 persons whereas from India on June 30, we received 26 Ugandans," noted ambassador Nnam. En-route to Uganda from the UK, the Ethiopian aircraft also picked Ugandans from Italy, Denmark and Egypt totaling 150 persons. In justification, ambassador Nnam said, more returnees have been received due to the growing capacity and availability of facilities to handle them. The team consisted of Ugandans returning from Ugandans from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and EswatiniThe foreign affairs minister earlier explained that, by allowing Ugandans to return home, government is not re-opening the international airport to regular passenger flights.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 03:45 UTC
Military Deployed in Ethiopia, Statues Torn Down
The military has been deployed in Ethiopia’s capital as protests continued following the death of a local musician, Halachu Hundessa. He had supported the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is an Oromo like himself, but has turned to a major critic of his. His songs became a national anthem in 2018, after the downfall of the prime minister. The prime minister condemned Halachu’s death, calling it an evil act. It poses a great challenge for the Prime Minister, who was the Nobel Peace Laureate in 2019.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 03, 2020 03:22 UTC
Two killed as soldiers block mourners from Ethiopian singer's
The funeral, broadcast live on the Oromia Broadcasting Network, took place in Hachalu's hometown Ambo, west of the capital. A medical official in the town and an opposition member said that security forces had blocked roads leading to the funeral, and fired at crowds trying to make their way there. Filenbar Uma, a member of the opposition Oromo Liberation Front in Ambo, described security forces shooting as "people were kept from going" to the funeral. Hundessa, known for his protest songs which resonated within the Oromo ethnic group, was shot and killed in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on June 29, 2020. The two were arrested during a scuffle with security forces on Tuesday in which a police officer died.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 02, 2020 23:48 UTC
Protest against Ethiopian government takes over Downtown intersection
About 75 people from the Oromo ethnic group demonstrated against the Ethiopian government Thursday afternoon in Downtown Columbus, blocking Broad and High Streets for about an hour. The local protest was one of many conducted around the nation. Ibsitu Ahmed, 32, of Pickerington, helped to organize the local protest. Amed said protesters want an independent investigation of Hundessa’s death and for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to resign. If the issues aren’t addressed, the group wants the United States and other nations to impose sanctions on the Ethiopian government.
Source:Ethiopian News
July 02, 2020 21:33 UTC