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Ethiopian rebels, TPLF, deny that their presence in the capital, Addis Ababa, would cause a bloodbath
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
[ENA] Addis Ababa -- The House of Federation has anonymously approved a proposed resolution presented to it by the federal government to interfere and establish transitional administration in Tigrai Regional state.
However, some progress may be expected following the passing of the National Communications Law in October 2017, aimed at setting a legal and regulatory framework for the telecoms sector.
Through the anarchy which continues to disrupt the country, the telecoms market, dominated by the competitive mobile sector where seven networks compete for customers, has flourished.
The forming of a new government in 2017 has given rise to hopes that the country may stabilise and become more attractive to foreign investment, which is needed to take the telecoms and broadband sector to the next level.
During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure.
The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services.
[HRW] Kinshasa -- The Congolese authorities and the United Nations have not done enough to hold human rights violators to account and deliver justice to victims a decade after the landmark UN Congo Mapping Exercise Report was published in October 2010, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.
July 2: Hachalu buried in Ambo, blast rocks Addis
\tThe funeral of Oromo protest singer Hachalu Hundessa has been held in his hometown of Ambo in the Oromia regional state, the BBC reports.
Photos courtesy: BBC Africa LIVE page
\tMeanwhile there are reports of a deadly blast in the capital Addis Ababa with most people on Twitter citing local police.
The arrest comes in the wake of mass protests against the shooting and killing on Monday night of a famed Oromo musician and activist in Addis Ababa.
Meanwhile, his media outfit the Oromia Media Network, OMN, reported on Tuesday that its offices in the capital Addis Ababa had been raided and staff taken away by security agents to an undisclosed location.
Death of Oromo artist: Protests, internet outage, social media reactions
\tThousands of Ethiopian youth on Tuesday accompanied the body of a famed Oromo singer and songwriter to the city of Ambo in the Oromia regional state for funeral rites and burial.
The past few years have been dominated by positive stories about how Rwanda and Ethiopia are turning the development leaf. These two countries have surprised many by emerging from their dark past. Ethiopia emerged from being the humanitarian aid poster country after experiencing famine in the early 1980s, with Rwanda dominating the headlines after the genocide in the early 1990s. Credit to their visionary leadership, these countries have overtaken even those that used to be big economies in Africa. But as the economies of these countries continue to grow, to what extent are citizens ready and equipped with the right attitude to play an active part? In general terms, large-scale development presumes that the citizens are either driving the growth or adopting to this new reality, but it is not always the case. For example, there has been widespread outcry among many African countries that Chinese companies were bringing their own workers. This is often seen as depriving Africans of employment opportunities. There is another side of this situation: some foreign companies do not think that our people have the right attitude, skills and work ethic to effectively accomplish the projects in time. For that reason, they prefer their own people. But Africa is a continent of paradoxes. Where people are hungry for development, their leadership is clueless. And in countries where leadership has good visions, the people are not ready. Otherwise, an economy that grows without preparing its people will eventually marginalise them, creating a scenario where foreign labour is called upon to play a dominant role. South Africa, in a way, is in that situation and efforts to address that anomaly will take time to catch up. Development is not just economic growth, but an outcome of a massive and gradual social re-engineering which ensures that the economic growth and the people’s ability to be part of it are in tandem. What triggered this discussion? I am writing this piece from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where I arrived on Saturday for a layover before proceeding to my final destination. Our flight from one of the Middle Eastern countries took two and half hours to arrive in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian authorities are doing a great job expanding and refurbishing the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. They have done a great job growing the Ethiopian Airlines into a major carrier in Africa and abroad. In-flight service is great, but all these are not in tandem with the ground service at the Bole International Airport, which is very slow and frustrating. Despite most service desks looking over-staffed, simple processes take more time that required. There is no sense of urgency or client service orientation among some of the staff. In 2014, I lost my luggage and I never recovered it and neither did I get compensated. Complaints are, most of the time, not looked at for their merit, but are seen as a bother or insult. And on this Saturday, there are two Zimbabweans at the service desk. They are yelling loudly. And it creates drama for onlook
Prime ministers of Sudan and Ethiopia have agreed to resume negotiations on the filling and use of the Grand Renaissance Dam [GERD], signalling a partial end to tensions over the Nile waters.
Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdouk assured Sudan's readiness to continuously communicate with the two countries to reach an agreement that would guarantee full agreement between the three parties.
Ethiopian Prime Minister affirmed his country's readiness to cooperate with Egypt and Sudan to reach a final agreement for the interests of the three countries and supports cooperation between the peoples of the region.
Recent negotiations facilitated by the US government and the World Bank saw Ethiopia and Sudan reject a draft agreement fronted by Washington in February.
The Ethiopian Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy Seleshi Bekele said on Wednesday that the construction of the Renaissance Dam in his country has reached 73 percent, indicating that the initial mobilisation of the dam reservoir will begin in July.
We mark Africa Day in 2020 just over three months since the first case of coronavirus on the continent was confirmed.
Today marks 57 years since the leaders of 32 independent African nations met in Addis Ababa to establish the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor to the African Union.
The preamble of the OAU charter is a rousing call to unity, cross-cultural understanding, and solidarity.
Like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Charter and the South African Constitution, it affirms the inalienable right of all people to control their own destiny.
We mark Africa Day this year just over three months since the first case of coronavirus on the continent was confirmed.
