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Ethiopia to let foreigners own property, PM says on state TV

Ethiopia to let foreigners own property, PM says on state TV

ETHIOPIA aims to pass legislation to let foreigners own real estate as part of the country's broader plan to open up the economy and attract investors, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on state TV. Currently foreigners are barred from owning houses in Ethiopia, either residential or commercial buildings, which is seen as a hurdle to ongoing efforts to attract foreign investment to the Horn of Africa country. State TV said Abiy told a meeting of large taxpayers in the capital Addis Ababa that his government was finalising a new law to let foreigners own real estate property although he did…
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Ethiopia’s peace pacts with the Oromo Liberation Front have failed: here’s what was missing

Ethiopia’s peace pacts with the Oromo Liberation Front have failed: here’s what was missing

TWO attempts have been made over the past six years to broker peace between the Ethiopian government and the armed rebel group Oromo Liberation Front. The armed group was formed half a century ago to carve out an independent state for Oromia, the country’s largest regional state. MAREW ABEBE SALEMOT, Lecturer of Federalism, Debark University Both attempts at brokering peace – in 2018 and again in 2023 – ended in failure and a return to violence. Oromia is Ethiopia’s largest and most populous region. The Oromo Liberation Front has sought autonomy for the region since the group emerged in 1973.…
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AfDB to resume Ethiopia work after assurance on security, probe into funds

AfDB to resume Ethiopia work after assurance on security, probe into funds

The African Development Bank (AfDB) said that all its international staff would return to Ethiopia a month after it withdrew the employees following an assault on staff members by government security forces. The bank will resume normal operations in the country after receiving an assurance of security from the authorities, an AfDB statement said. In a meeting between AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed late last month Abiy issued an apology to AfDB and assured the bank and its staff of safety and security, the statement said. It added that the Ethiopian government had committed to cooperate on investigations…
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Somalia president signs law nullifying Ethiopia-Somaliland port deal

Somalia president signs law nullifying Ethiopia-Somaliland port deal

SOMALIA'S President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud signed a law nullifying an agreement by the breakaway Somaliland region to grant Ethiopia access to the Red Sea in return for recognition as an independent nation, he said. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's stated ambition to secure access to the Red Sea is a source of tension between the Horn of Africa nation and its neighbours and has raised concerns of a fresh conflict in the region. Somalia, which considers Somaliland part of its territory, rejected the New Year's Day deal that would allow landlocked Ethiopia to lease 20 km (12 miles) around the port of…
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Somalia rejects port deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland

Somalia rejects port deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland

SOMALIA rejected a pact its breakaway region of Somaliland signed with Ethiopia allowing it to use a major port with access to the Red Sea in return for recognition as an independent state, saying the agreement had no legal force. Somalia, which views Somaliland as part of its territory, also summoned its ambassador to Ethiopia for deliberations over the agreement signed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somaliland leader Muse Bihi Abdi on Monday. The agreement would allow landlocked Ethiopia, which relies on neighbouring Djibouti for most of its maritime trade, to lease 20 km around the port of…
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Sudan RSF leader visits Ethiopia in first public wartime tour

Sudan RSF leader visits Ethiopia in first public wartime tour

THE leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces visited Ethiopia where he said he discussed the need for a swift end to the war between the RSF and the Sudanese army, during the second leg of a rare publicly-announced foreign tour. RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, whose whereabouts since the war began in mid-April were previously unknown, landed in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa after meeting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at his country home on Wednesday. Diplomatic efforts, including Saudi and U.S.-led talks in Jeddah, have made little visible progress towards halting the conflict in Sudan. The RSF has recently made military…
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Egypt says talks over Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have failed -statement

Egypt says talks over Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have failed -statement

EGYPT said the latest talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) had failed but it would monitor the process of filling and operating the dam. "Egypt reserves its right, in accordance with international charters and accords, to defend its water and national security in case of any harm," Egypt's Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement. In a statement, Ethiopia's foreign ministry said Egypt had "misrepresented" Ethiopia's positions in the talks, adding that Egypt's "colonial era mentality and erected roadblocks against efforts toward convergence". Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in…
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Residents report gunfire in Ethiopian holy city, but govt says all peaceful

Residents report gunfire in Ethiopian holy city, but govt says all peaceful

FIGHTING broke out between the army and a regional militia in Ethiopia's mediaeval holy city of Lalibela, a World Heritage site, four residents told Reuters, but the government said the area was peaceful. Fano, a part-time militia in the northern Amhara region which has no formal command structure, has been battling the army since late July. It captured Lalibela, famous for its rock-hewn churches, and Gondar, the second-biggest city in Amhara, for several days in August before being repulsed. The fighting, which has killed hundreds of people, is the biggest security challenge faced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since the Tigray war ended…
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Ethiopia Prime Minister: Africa is becoming economic, political and social powerhouse

Ethiopia Prime Minister: Africa is becoming economic, political and social powerhouse

AFRICA is now realising its potential and capacity, with the formerly side-lined continent harnessing its demographic dividend and natural resources and becoming an economic, political and social powerhouse, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said. The African continent has particularly suffered the consequences of the climate crisis and conflict in other parts of the world, Ahmed said at the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Summit in Beijing. "We cannot be idle observers in forums that affect common well-being," he added.
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Ethiopia to launch a tender for second telecoms licence in June -regulator

Ethiopia to launch a tender for second telecoms licence in June -regulator

ETHIOPIA will launch a tender for a second international telecoms licence in June, the industry regulator said, as the Horn of Africa nation seeks to expand the sector. In November, the government said it had resumed the plan to issue a full telecoms licence for the operator, which will be the third alongside state-owned Ethio Telecom and Safaricom Ethiopia, partly owned by Kenyan operator Safaricom. "We have planned to launch the tender in June. More details will be released when we approach the launch date," Balcha Reba, director general of the Ethiopian Communication Authority, told Reuters via a text message. The telecoms…
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