At least 64 people were killed and 180 injured in an Ethiopian air strike on a market in the war-torn Tigray region, a local health officer told AFP Thursday. “The air strike was in the market area, so many, many people were injured,” said Mulu Atsbaha, an advisor to the Tigray regional administration on maternal […]
Ethiopia
Calls for inquiry as dozens killed, injured, in Ethiopia market airstrike
An airstrike on a busy market killed or wounded dozens in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region, survivors and emergency workers said Wednesday, as a seven-month-old conflict surged again. Families rushed to a hospital in the regional capital Mekele as the casualties, including many children, arrived from nearby Togoga, where witnesses and medical personnel said a busy […]
EU diplomat Borrel calls Tigray situation ‘appalling’
The EU’s chief diplomat decried Wednesday the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region as “appalling” and pleaded with the world to “wake up and take action”. Josep Borrell issued the statement following a strike that killed or wounded dozens of people at a market in the town of Togoga as reports emerged of rebel advances in […]
Counting under way in ‘historic’ Ethiopia election
Vote-counting was under way Tuesday following elections in Ethiopia that went ahead without polling in the war-torn northern Tigray region and other restive parts of Africa’s second-most populous nation. Some 38 million were registered to vote but many must wait until September, with elections postponed or cancelled in one-fifth of national constituencies because of war, […]
World in worst ‘cascade of human rights setbacks in our lifetimes’: UN
The UN rights chief called Monday for “concerted action” to help recover from the worst global deterioration of rights seen in decades, highlighting situations in China, Russia and Ethiopia among others. “To recover from the most wide-reaching and severe cascade of human rights setbacks in our lifetimes, we need a life-changing vision, and concerted action,” […]
Ethiopians vote in poll overshadowed by Tigray
Ethiopians voted Monday in a delayed national election taking place against the backdrop of war and famine in the northern Tigray region and questions over the poll’s credibility. It is the first electoral test for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, 44, who came to power in 2018 championing a democratic revival in Africa’s second-most populous country, […]
Ethiopians pray for peaceful vote ahead of key election
Draped in sacred white cloth, the procession drifted silently towards a priest calling the faithful to celebrate the Archangel Michael, a revered saint in Ethiopia. Around dawn, thousands of worshippers gathered at the church in Amhara, the second-largest region of Ethiopia, which is staging long-awaited elections on Monday. The devotees — some bent over canes […]
Friends, foes and fractures: Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa
Ethiopia has projected power in the Horn of Africa for centuries, remaining fiercely independent as the rest of the region fell to colonial rule, and warring with neighbours to defend its vast realm. Diplomacy can be fraught in this turbulent corner of Africa, as friends turn foes and competition stokes conflict. Here are some of […]
Key dates in the life of Ethiopian premier Abiy Ahmed
With Ethiopia voting in parliamentary elections on Monday, here are the key dates in the life of its prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed. – August 15, 1976: Born into a poor mixed Christian-Muslim family in the rural town of Beshasha in the central Oromia region. – Early 1990s: Starts a near […]
Sudan willing to agree ‘conditional deal’ on Ethiopia dam
Sudan will only be willing to strike an interim deal with Ethiopia over its controversial Nile dam on conditions including an assurance of further talks, the water minister said Monday. Downstream Egypt and Sudan have been pushing upstream Ethiopia to ink a binding deal over the filling and operation of its massive dam on the […]