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Jun
22
2021
By The African Mirror
A family’s tragic history, struggle for freedom

A family’s tragic history, struggle for freedom

NEWS
DAWIT ENDESHAW AND AYENAT MERSE BEFORE unemployed labourer Ayalew Wedajo voted in yesterday's Ethiopian election, he prayed for the soul of his eldest son Getinet, killed in a pro-democracy demonstration 16 years ago. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has billed the poll as Ethiopia's "first attempt at free and fair elections". Rigging and repression marred most previous votes - except in 2005, when the opposition swept the capital and won an unprecedented 147 out of 547 parliamentary seats. But then a crackdown on protests over disputed results killed hundreds - including Getinet - and tens of thousands of people were arrested.…
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Jun
18
2021
By The African Mirror
Ethiopia prepares for tense elections

Ethiopia prepares for tense elections

NEWS
GUILIA PARAVICINI and DAWIT ENDESHAW ETHIOPIA is preparing for national and regional parliamentary elections on Monday that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said will be the country's first free and fair polls after decades of repressive rule. But voting has been delayed in 110 out of 547 constituencies because of violent conflicts and logistical problems and some opposition parties are boycotting the elections over what they describe as harassment of their members. One candidate is contesting the election from jail. Abiy won international plaudits and a Nobel Peace Prize for democratic reforms and for ending two decades of hostilities with…
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Jun
17
2021
By The African Mirror
‘Ethiopia’s election will be peaceful’

‘Ethiopia’s election will be peaceful’

NEWS
GIULIA PARAVICINI and DAWIT ENDESHAW ETHIOPIA will show a sceptical world that it can successfully hold a peaceful election next week, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters at his first - and last - campaign rally yesterday. The June 21 vote is the first time Abiy, 44, will face voters at the ballot box in Africa's second most populous nation. He tweeted this week that the election "will be the nation's first attempt at free and fair elections". "The whole world is saying we will fight but we will show them differently," Abiy…
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Jun
10
2021
By The African Mirror
How ethnic killings exploded in Tigray

How ethnic killings exploded in Tigray

NEWS
KATHERINE HOURELD, MICHAEL GEORGY, SILVIA ALOISI ND BAZ RATNER THE screams of the dying gradually fell silent as the sky darkened. Around midnight, Berhane Gebrezigher, an ethnic Tigrayan, remembers lying in a ditch full of men who, like himself, had been shot and left for dead. He called out: "Is there anyone breathing?" When the sun rose, the old man faced a choice: die in the ditch or haul himself to the road. Painfully, he began shuffling upwards. It was mid-January, more than two months into an ethnic conflict that has convulsed western Tigray, an area of rich farmland in…
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May
29
2021
By The African Mirror
In Abiy’s Ethiopia, press freedom flourished then fear returned

In Abiy’s Ethiopia, press freedom flourished then fear returned

MEDIA FREEDOM
MAGGIE FICK WHEN Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took over in 2018 and freed dozens of jailed members of the media as part of a raft of political reforms, journalist Dessu Dulla rushed home from the Netherlands. The 45-year-old, now a deputy editor at a local online news outlet, said he had fled repression in 2004. He initially savoured new freedoms under Abiy, who won global plaudits including the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize which noted his work on "discontinuing media censorship." Three years on, Dessu and four other Ethiopian journalists interviewed by Reuters say they once again fear a knock…
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Apr
18
2021
By The African Mirror
Eritrea admits presence in Tigray

Eritrea admits presence in Tigray

NEWS
MICHELLE NICHOLS ERITREA has told the United Nations Security Council that it has agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Ethiopia's Tigray region, acknowledging publicly for the first time the country's involvement in the conflict. The admission in a letter to the 15-member council - and posted online by Eritrea's Ministry of Information - comes a day after U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said the world body had not seen any proof that Eritrean soldiers have withdrawn. "As the looming grave threat has been largely thwarted, Eritrea and Ethiopia have agreed - at the highest levels - to embark on…
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Mar
27
2021
By The African Mirror
Eritrea withdraw troops near Ethiopian border

Eritrea withdraw troops near Ethiopian border

NEWS
ERITREA has agreed to withdraw troops from Ethiopian territory along their common border, Ethiopia's prime minister said on Friday, days after acknowledging that Eritrean forces had entered Ethiopia's Tigray region during an almost five-month war. "Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces out of the Ethiopian border," Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on Twitter the day after arriving in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, to meet President Isaias Afwerki. The Ethiopian National Defence Force will take over guarding the border area effective immediately, Abiy said. Eritrea's information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, did not return calls and text messages seeking…
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Mar
24
2021
By The African Mirror
Ethiopia PM concedes to Tigray atrocities

Ethiopia PM concedes to Tigray atrocities

NEWS
ETHIOPIA’S Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has for the first time yesterday conceded that atrocities such as rape took place in Tigray, during the war. In a parliamentary address, Ahmed promised that the perpetrators would be punished. He also disclosed that troops from neighbouring Eritrea entered the northern Tigray region during the five-month-old conflict, the first such acknowledgement after months of denials. Fighting erupted in Tigray after forces loyal to the then-governing party there - the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) - attacked army bases across the region overnight and in the early hours of November 4. The attacks initially overwhelmed…
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Mar
04
2021
By The African Mirror
U.S. presses Ethiopia to end Tigray violence

U.S. presses Ethiopia to end Tigray violence

NEWS
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has pressed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to end hostilities in the northern Tigray region, citing a "growing number of credible reports of atrocities and human rights violations and abuses." In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken pressed Abiy in a phone call to withdraw outside forces from Tigray, including troops from Ethiopia's Amhara region and from Eritrea, and for an immediate end to violence. The United Nations Security Council is likely to discuss the situation in Tigray in a closed-door meeting later this week, diplomats said. The United States is…
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Feb
26
2021
By The African Mirror
Hundreds of buildings burned around Tigray town

Hundreds of buildings burned around Tigray town

NEWS
FIRES that appear to have been deliberately set destroyed more than 500 structures this week in and around Ethiopia's Gijet town, an analysis of satellite imagery shared with Reuters has found, adding credence to reports of continued conflict in parts of the northern region of Tigray. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared victory over a rebellious regional force, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), at the end of November after its fighters withdrew from the region's main cities and towns. But sporadic fighting continues in some parts of Tigray, according to residents and United Nations assessments. The government has acknowledged isolated…
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