Airstrike in West Gojam & more –17th Aug 2023

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 17th of August twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Clashes in the Amhara region that escalated to a very concerning stage seemed to have died down a bit. There was no shooting witnessed in the region’s capital Bahir Dar from Thursday the 10th. Other cities in the region have calmed down as well. Flights to Bahir Dar and Gondar, another restive city, resumed on Thursday as well. However, on Sunday the 13th, there was an airstrike in a town in the West Gojam zone which killed at least thirty and wounded fifty.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (or EHRC) released a statement on Monday the 14th that said that fighting continues and that many innocent civilians have been killed. It also said that prisons have been invaded and prisoners have been let out, government authorities have been targeted, necessary services have been disrupted and businesses had to close. The EHRC blamed the government for arbitrarily arresting ethnic Amharas in Addis and urged both Fano, the ethno-nationalist Amhara youth militia, and the government to stop violating human rights and peacefully resolve differences.

On Monday the 14th, the House of People's Representatives held an urgent meeting to deliberate on the Council of Ministers' declaration of a state of emergency. The House approved the Council's declaration and instituted an investigating board. However, the highlight of this four-hour meeting was Gedu Andargachew's speech. He is a former minister of foreign affairs, former president of the Amhara region, and a former national security advisor to the Prime Minister.

He proposed that the national armed forces and the Prosperity party leave the Amhara region as relations between the party and the people have deteriorated beyond repair. He warned that any harm inflicted on the Amhara people as a result of the declaration will eventually harm every other region because, according to him, the state of emergency entails further division which will cause conflict in other regions. Throughout his speech, he was interrupted by the House's speaker and other members who staunchly disagreed with his opinions.

The conflict so far has entailed a loss valued at two and a half billion birr or almost fifty million US dollars. The region’s industry and investment bureau said that more than three thousand have lost their jobs because of the damage that plants sustained.

Moving on, The Addis Ababa Peace and Security Bureau revealed on Thursday the 10th that it has begun taking measures, in collaboration with the city police, against entities that are allowing homosexual activities. They are targeting entities such as hotels, bars, and restaurants. The Bureau reiterated that homosexuality is against the country’s laws and that both the community and God hate it. The Bureau also said it will continue taking harsh measures without remorse against anyone who exhibits such behavior or allows such activities to be exercised. The bureau has already completely closed a guest house accused of allowing such “heinous activities” and the person in charge has been detained and is under investigation.

Since we mentioned Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital is an international hub. The city’s Bole International Airport is a gateway for a lot of travelers and cargo. The Ethiopian Customs Commission recently revealed that at its branch at the airport, workers found almost thirty kilograms of cocaine worth about two hundred and fifty million birr which is about four and a half million US dollars. The Commission in collaboration with Ethiopian Airlines, the Police, and Civil Aviation found the cocaine on a cargo plane from Brazil.

In other news, prior to the Prosperity Party’s decision to open the telecom market to foreign private companies, the only company that provided telecom services was the nationally owned Ethio Telecom. About two years ago, Kenyan company Safaricom entered the market to become the first ever privately owned telecom services provider in Ethiopia. However, this past week, Ethiopia’s Communication Authority revealed that it plans to grant a license to the third telecom operator within the first six months of the upcoming fiscal year. The Authority also said that it has made public a form that prospective companies should fill out by mid-September. The Authority said that the proposals of these companies will be weighed against each other and the winner will be announced in due course.

Speaking of private telecom operators, Safaricom’s mobile money service called M-pesa went live on Wednesday the 16th. Safaricom obtained a license from the National Bank for this mobile money service about three months ago. During these three months, the company was busy with technical preparations and system checks. Safaricom said that the M-pesa app is currently available for Android phones and that it is working on launching the app for iOS devices. M-pesa allows users to receive money locally and from abroad, and send money locally. Users can also pay utility bills, buy airtime, and deposit money into their bank accounts. Safaricom reminded the public that M-Pesa operates in seven countries in Africa, with more than fifty million users. The Company also said that the service has greatly fostered financial inclusion.

The National Bank of Ethiopia’s governor Mamo Mihretu released a statement on Friday the 11th communicating the decision of the bank’s board of directors on monetary policies that are going to help cope with ever-increasing inflation rates. Mihretu said the government will not be able to take out more than a third of the loan it took out from the previous fiscal year and the interest rates for all local loans will be capped at fourteen percent. The National Bank has also decided to increase the interest rates that retail banks pay on loans from the National Bank from sixteen to eighteen percent. Currently, the inflation rates are over thirty percent. The Bank said it plans to bring this rate down to below twenty percent in this twenty twenty-three/twenty twenty-four fiscal year and push it further low to less than ten percent by the end of the twenty twenty-four/twenty twenty-five fiscal year.

Let’s go back to the capital for a second. If you’ve been to downtown Addis recently, you know that there are numerous newly built skyscrapers and some more under construction. Most of them are headquarters of banks, insurance companies, and government agencies. One of the government’s agencies building a skyscraper in that area is the Ethiopian Electric Utility. Construction was set to begin a while back on more than three and a half thousand square meters of land for its thirty-six-floor HQ with costs estimated at more than a billion birr or eighteen million US dollars. However, it’s already been a year and construction still hasn’t begun. Recently, media outlets talked to the Utility about the matter. The Utility’s CEO told the media that construction hasn't started because the Utility is short of money. He explained that funds have been redirected to more important and urgent matters.

And to close this edition, the current director general of the World Health Organization is Tedros Adhanom, an Ethiopian who formerly served as Minister of Health during the Tigray People's Liberation Front regime. Recently, he has been called on to campaign for the position of secretary general of the UN. Following these calls, Tedros announced that he won't be running for the position citing family time and his stance that a woman should succeed Antonio Guterres, the current secretary general. Tedros said that he had barely taken time off since becoming Health Minister. He also added that it is embarrassing that the secretary-general position has never had a female occupying the role.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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