Human rights advocates are again calling on the United States Congress to move forward with a resolution they say the Ethiopian government has intentionally suppressed, using threats to withhold its cooperation on counterterrorism. Legislators were supposed to vote October 2 on H.Res. 128, a measure calling for human rights protections…
Federal prosecutors in Ethiopia have set a November 3 hearing date in the case of Merera Gudina, the head of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) who has remained in custody since a November 2016 arrest. Merera, a 61-year-old scholar and lifelong human rights activist, entered long-delayed not guilty pleas on…
In Ethiopia, this year’s Irreecha festival brought peaceful but powerful protest as the Oromo people marked the anniversary of last year’s massacre at Bishoftu. More than 1.5 million people were expected to attend the annual thanksgiving celebration. Despite the rainy skies, they came; once there, the crowds chanted anti-government slogans…
Ethiopian asylum seekers are not safe in Kenya and other host countries where Ethiopian authorities hunt them down and force them to return, the Human Rights Watch organization said Thursday. HRW says it has documented such cases in Kenya since 2010, and in May sent a letter to Kenyan police…
Ethiopia lifted a 10-month state of emergency in August, but it hasn’t taken long for its government to move from one crisis to the next. Dozens of people are reported dead as the Oromo community and the ethnic Somali of Ogaden blame each other for last week’s escalation of violence…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, meeting in an emergency session on Monday, expressed alarm over North Korea’s nuclear bomb test at the weekend. The security council members, including representatives of Egypt, Senegal and Ethiopia, condemned the test and explored options for dealing with Pyongyang that include new…
Researchers say they’re seeing evidence to suggest that living near newly built roads in Ethiopia may be associated with higher rates of infant mortality. The research finds a correlation to the higher incidence of infant mortality when mothers and babies live within five kilometers of the roads, likely because of…
Migrants traveling with smugglers off the coast of Yemen were forced into the sea on Thursday, with another five people reported dead and some 50 missing – just a day after a similar episode claimed 50 lives. The International Organization for Migration said up to 180 migrants were forced off…
Some 50 Somali and Ethiopian migrants traveling by boat to Yemen were forced into the sea by a human smuggler and drowned off the coast of Shabwa on Wednesday. There were dozens of survivors, some of whom left as others quickly buried 29 of the dead in shallow graves along…
Ethiopia lifted last week the state of emergency imposed since October 2016, but the decision has raised questions about what happens to those detained during mass arrests on politically motivated charges during that time. Among them is Merera Gudina, the academic and longtime opposition leader whose arrest was – according…
Eight more people have been arrested on corruption charges in Ethiopia, the nation’s attorney general said Saturday, bringing to 42 the number of government officials and business professionals caught up in the crackdown. The 42 suspects were arrested for alleged embezzlement of more than USD$58 million from the Federal Roads…
At least 400 migrants, many of them from Eritrea and Ethiopia, are still living on the streets or the wooded outskirts of the French city of Calais months after the sprawling migrant camp there was dismantled by French authorities. Some 200 of them are unaccompanied minors, while another 300 people…
A new letter signed by 39 members of the European Union Parliament asks for a full inquiry into human rights violations in Ethiopia, while calling into question the accuracy and impartiality of a controversial report completed by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission in April. The letter to Federica Mogherini, High…
Police in London say at least 79 people have died in the London Grenfell Tower blaze, including many who remain missing but are presumed dead. Another 10 people remain in critical condition following the massive fire that swept through the 24-story residential tower, with 19 people all told still in hospital for…
Social media images of trapped migrants in Libya are being used to extort ransom from their family and friends, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Thursday. The United Nations Migration Agency described a video recorded by a Somali journalist and posted to Facebook on June 9 that showed some…