The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Abiy Ahmed

  • Ethiopia’s parliament approves first female president

    Ethiopia’s parliament has approved senior diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde as the country’s first female president, proceedings on state television showed, cementing another shift in the country’s political system from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

    Zewde is at present UN under-Secretary-General and special representative of its Secretary General to the African Union.

    She replaces Mulatu Wirtu, who tendered his resignation to parliament earlier on Wednesday.

    The president’s post is a ceremonial one in Ethiopia. The prime minister, who is the head of state, holds executive power.

    “In a historic move, the two Houses has elected Amb. Shalework Zewde as the next President of Ethiopia.

    “She is the first female head of state in modern Ethiopia,” Fitsum Arega, Abiy’s chief of staff, said on Twitter.

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    “In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalizes women as decision-makers in public life.”

    Recently, when the prime minister reshuffled his cabinet, he appointed 10 female ministers, making Ethiopia the third country in Africa, after Rwanda and Seychelles, to achieve gender parity in their cabinets.

    “When there is no peace in the country, mothers will be frustrated. Therefore, we need to work on peace for the sake of our mothers,” Zewde told parliament after her approval.

    Wirtu, who had held the office for five years, departed one year ahead of his term ending, saying he wanted to be part of change and reforms.

    Zewde became the fourth president since the ruling EPRDF coalition came to power.

    Since his appointment in April, Abiy has presided over a raft of reforms that have turned the region’s politics on its head, including the pardoning of dissidents long outlawed by the government.

    Earlier, the Ethiopian parliament’s two houses in a joint extraordinary session on Thursday approved the resignation request by Ethiopia’s President Mulatu Teshome.

    Teshome, who has been the East African country’s head of state since October 2013, on Wednesday submitted his letter of resignation as the Ethiopian parliament’s two houses are scheduled to consider his resignation.

  • New Year: Ethiopia releases 8,875 prisoners

    The Ethiopian government on Tuesday released an unprecedented 8,875 prisoners as part of a goodwill Ethiopian New Year gesture.

    The Ethiopian New Year, or Enkutatash in Amharic language, falls on Sept. 11 (or Sept. 12 during a leap year), as the East African nation uses calendar that counts its year seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar.

    Presently the country is celebrating the arrival of 2011, which commenced on Sept. 11.

    The prisoners were released from prisons located in Amhara, Oromia, Benishangul Gumuz and Gambella regional states and are part of the Ethiopian government strategy of fostering peace and reconciliation in the country.

    The released prisoners are expected to re-join their families and re-integrate into the wider society, with the hope they become productive and law abiding citizens of Ethiopia.

    The mass prisoner releases have included members of various rebel groups who had been jailed on offences ranging from membership in previously banned organizations to committing high treason.

    The mass prisoner releases timed to coincide with the Ethiopian New Year 2011 are part of the Ethiopian government’s call for unity and peace among the country’s estimated 100 million populations.

    Read Also: 400 prisoners escape prison in Tripoli chaos – Official

    In a televised statement at the eve of Ethiopian New Year, Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome, urged Ethiopians to uphold unity and abstain from destructive acts during the 2011 Ethiopian New Year.

    Noting the release of thousands of prisoners, return of various high-profile Ethiopian opposition
    figures, activists and government critics from exile after agreements with the Ethiopian government during the past four months period, Teshome also called for building the nation together.

    The Ethiopian 2011 comes as Ethiopia seems to come out of almost three years of political turmoil following the coming of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to the east African country’s leadership.

    Ahmed assumed office in April.

    Ahmed, in his New Year eve remarks to the Ethiopian people, also echoed the president’s message, saying that “Ethiopia is a country we share.

    “We have to work for peaceful co-existence and prosperity.”

  • Ethiopia, Eritrea reconciliation to benefit Horn of Africa’s stability

    The Horn of Africa region could see an end to the ongoing cycles of direct and proxy conflicts following recent positive developments between long-time rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea, according to new publication by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

    The ISS, an African non-profit organization, in its latest publication on Friday entitled “Can improved Ethiopia-Eritrea relations stabilize the region?” has stressed that the entire Horn of Africa region will benefit from the restart of good relations among the two nations.

    After 20 years of hostility, Ethiopia and Eritrea resumed diplomatic relations.

    On July 8, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made a landmark visit to the Red Sea nation’s capital Asmara and a week later, Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki paid a visit to Ethiopia.

    Following Eritrea’s separation from Ethiopia in 1991, a border dispute had contributed to two years of armed conflict starting in 1998, which killed more than 70,000 people from both sides.

    The failure to implement a 2002 ruling over the disputed border also led to a situation of “no war, no peace” between the two countries.

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    Leaders of the two countries have now agreed to end the situation and forge closer political, economic and social connections.

    Amid the easing tensions, telecom services between the two countries have resumed, and Eritrea has reopened its embassy in Addis Ababa. Ethiopian Airlines also started regular flights to Asmara on Wednesday.

    According to ISS, the ongoing positive developments would serve as an impetus for the region’s peace and security.

    “Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict has been one of the major reasons for instability in the Horn of Africa region and so the effects of their rapprochement will be felt across the region,” according to the ISS.

    The publication, however, stressed that the new situation “may also create a dilemma for countries that benefited from the previous status quo, for example Djibouti.”

    According to ISS, following the Ethiopia-Eritrea border war, landlocked Ethiopia moved the main seaport for its imports and exports from Eritrea to Djibouti, which currently accounts for about 90 per cent of Ethiopia’s port traffic.

    As a result Ethiopia pays Djibouti about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars for port services annually.

    “Djibouti’s position could come under threat if Ethiopia starts using Eritrean ports,” the institute said.

    Noting the Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti railway’s significance for Ethiopia’s import-export demands, the publication also indicated that “Djibouti’s port infrastructure remains more developed than any of Ethiopia’s other options,” making it the best possible option for Ethiopia, one of Africa’s fastest growing economy.

    NAN

  • Ethiopia deal means ‘state of war is over’ – Minister

    An agreement signed on Monday between the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea means the state of war between the neighbours has ended, Eritrea’s Information Minister said.

    The deal signed in Eritrea’s capital a day after a summit between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afkwerki states that the “State of war that existed between the two countries has come to an end,” Yemane Gebremeskel wrote on Twitter.

    Direct international telephone connection has been restored between Ethiopia and Eritrea “for the first time after two decades”, an Ethiopian official said.

    The meeting was the first of its kind between the leaders of the two neighbours and bitter rivals in the Horn of Africa, who went to war with each other and broke off diplomatic relations in 1998.

    UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet Prime Minister Ahmed on Monday evening in Addis Ababa.

    UN sources in the Ethiopian capital said, the meeting comes the day after Ethiopia and Eritrea heralded an end to a near 20-year military standoff.

    Abiy and Afkwerki announced they would re-open their embassies in each other’s capitals, hailing a stunningly swift rapprochement between bitter regional enemies.

    The two leaders personally symbolised the breakthrough, embracing warmly and swaying side by side to live traditional music at a lavish state dinner in the Eritrean capital.

    The talks were the product of an unexpected peace initiative by Ethiopia’s new reformist Ahmed, which could transform the Horn of Africa region, ending decades of animosity during which both countries remained isolated and dominated by their security forces.

    Eritrea’s long-time leaderAfwerki welcomed Ahmed at Asmara’s airport in the morning before they departed for the State House for talks that lasted all day.

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    The men exchanged hands and a hug there, before departing for the State House for talks. Along the way, they were cheered by thousands of Eritreans who flooded the streets and waved flags of both Ethiopia and Eritrea.

    The two embraced again at the state dinner, hosted by Isaias and broadcast on both countries’ state television.

    The meeting was the first of its kind between leaders of the two Horn of Africa neighbours since their war of 1998 to 2000 in which around 80,000 people died.

    Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia amicably in 1993 but the two countries swiftly became bitter enemies.

    However, the sides did not make clear whether the most immediate issue — Abiy’s pledge to finally implement all terms of a 2000 peace deal with Eritrea — had been addressed.

    In early June, Ethiopia announced it would honour all the terms of the 2000 peace deal, suggesting it might be ready to settle the border dispute.

    Eritrea responded positively, sending a delegation to Addis Ababa for a meeting at which Abiy announced that Ethiopian Airlines would resume flights to Eritrea.

    Abiy, a 41-year-old former intelligence officer who took office in April, is pushing other bold reforms to open Ethiopia up to the outside world after decades of security-obsessed isolation.

    He has pardoned dissidents, lifted a state of emergency and pledged to partly privatise key state-owned firms.

    Across the border, Eritrea is one of the world’s most isolated and repressive nations and has long used the Ethiopian threat to justify hefty military spending and long-term military conscription, which has caused hundreds of thousands of young men to flee, mostly to Europe.

  • Ethiopia needs $7.5bn to drive industrialization – PM

     Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says Ethiopia needs $7.5 billion to finish infrastructure projects such as a massive dam and roads that the government hopes will drive industrialization.

    Ahmed made the statement at the parliament before its vote on the 2018/19 budget on Friday in Nairobi.

    The prime minister said the government needed to be more efficient and prudent in its spending of public funds.

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    He said many state-owned enterprises were heavily indebted and that export earnings were a third of the $10 billion annual target.

    Abiy took office in April and has pledged sweeping political and economic reforms.

    NAN

  • Ethiopia’s parliament approves govt’s move to end emergency rule

    Ethiopia’s parliament approved on Tuesday the government’s decision to lift a six-month state of emergency two months earlier than planned, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting reported.

    The government imposed emergency rule in February to clamp down on unrest sparked by a planned development scheme for the capital Addis Ababa which some fear will lead to land seizures in the nearby Oromiya region.

    The matter led to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to step down.

    On Saturday, Ethiopia’s cabinet had met to assess the security situation and “noted that law and order has been restored”, setting the stage for Tuesday’s vote in parliament.

    Abiy Ahmed, a former army officer who replaced Hailemariam as premier, has travelled around Ethiopia, promising to address grievances strengthen a range of political and civil rights.

    Authorities have pledged to push through a raft of reforms that have included the release of thousands of prisoners.

    The news men reports that a State of Emergency was declared on Oct. 9, 2016.

    Read Also: Ethiopia’s state of emergency to last six months

    The state of emergency authorises the military to enforce security nationwide. [2] It also imposes restrictions on freedom of speech and access to information.

    Media have reported the state of emergency’s duration was announced for six months.

    The Constitution of Ethiopia provides for a six-month state of emergency under certain conditions.

    The government’s declaration of state of emergency followed massive protests by the Oromo and Amhara ethic groups against the government, which is controlled by people in the Tigrayan ethnic group, a smaller ethnic minority.

    It is the first time in approximately 25 years that a state of emergency has been declared in Ethiopia.

    In March 2017, Ethiopia’s parliament voted to extend the state of emergency for another four months.

    NAN

  • New Ethiopia PM wants to resolve disputes with Eritrea

    Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, has pledged his readiness to resolve disputes with neighbour Eritrea.

    Speaking on state television after his swearing-in ceremony, Mr. Ahmed called for an end to “years of misunderstandings.”

    “I call on the Eritrean government to take the same stand,” the BBC quoted the news prime minister as saying on Monday.

    The two countries have had poor relations since a two-year border war, which claimed 70,000 lives.

    Mr. Ahmed was chosen to lead the ruling coalition after the unexpected resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in February.

    He is Ethiopia’s first Oromo leader – an ethnic group which has been at the centre of anti-government protests since 2016.

    State television channel ETV broadcast his speech live after he was sworn in.

    Mr Ahmed said the country was ready to resolve differences between the two peoples, who are “not only intertwined in interests but also in blood.”

    “We will stand by our African brothers in general and our neighbours in particular, during good and bad at times,” he said.

    Mr. Hailemariam, while in power, had accused Eritrea of backing anti-government protests in the country.

    Eritrea has made no comment since Mr. Ahmed was nominated to replace Mr. Hailemariam.