Conflict Between Amharans and OLA & more –13th July 2023

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 13th of July twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia, most of the population belongs to the two major ethnic groups - Amhara and Oromo. These ethnic groups have regions of their own and they are neighbors. They have mixed together as well with Oromos living in Amhara for decades and vise-versa. However, ethnocentrism has reached fever pitch. Throughout the past few years, the Oromo Liberation Army has targeted, attacked, and summarily executed Amharans living in Oromia. They also forced them to leave their homes.

So more than forty thousand Amharas forced to leave Oromia have sought refuge in the Southern Wollo zone of the Amhara region. Last week, the House of People's Representatives standing committee on Democratic affairs went to the zone to observe the situation there. The displaced persons told the committee that they were unable to transport their property from Oromia, which they had worked on for more than sixty years. They also said that they were tired of waiting on the government and urged the committee to have the executive resolve security problems so they could return to their homes as fast as possible. They added that they wanted the Oromia regional government to be held responsible for failing to protect their rights.

On that note about neighbors, Ethiopia’s neighbor Sudan is in a deadly conflict. It’s been months since the conflict began and it’s becoming increasingly concerning for the international community. Sudan’s neighbors and other countries are scrambling for solutions. As part of this effort, the leaders of Egypt, South Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia are all in Cairo to discuss how to resolve the conflict. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in Egypt’s capital on Wednesday the 13th. Aside from the conflict in Sudan, PM Abiy also sat down with Egypt’s president Abdul Fetah El Sisi to talk about bilateral and regional topics. Abiy updated the public through his social media saying that he had a productive meeting with El Sisi. Recall that Ethiopia and Egypt are at odds over the Nile River, in which Ethiopia built the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam without reaching a complete agreement with Egypt.

A few weeks back, during the Ministry of Finance's report to the House of People's Representatives, the Minister of Finance told the house that the government will not be hiring anybody in the next fiscal year. This has caused anger and confusion among the public as there are many unemployed in the country.

At a jobs expo taking place in the African Union's headquarters, the deputy minister of jobs and skills said that people shouldn’t expect the government to be the main job-creating entity, reminding the public that in most parts of the world, the private sector creates the most jobs. He talked about the past fiscal year's performance - three million jobs created, and less than a hundred thousand of them in government institutions. He also discussed the possibility of sending skilled manpower abroad for better pay and opportunities.

Back to the fiscal year, The Addis Ababa City Council had a meeting on Sunday the 9th and determined the city's budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The total budget the Council agreed on is more than a hundred and forty billion birr or more than two and a half billion US dollars. Most of this amount is destined for regular and capital expenditures. Sub-cities also got their share.

Speaking of Addis, the city administration revealed on Monday the 10th that landlords still won’t be able to increase rent for another six months. Landlords are also not allowed to evict tenants. The administration said that landlords can only increase rent if the tenant agrees. The city introduced this law last year to help residents cope with inflation and increased costs of living.

Last week was an eventful week. If you tuned in, you'd have heard that a delegation led by the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church His Holiness Father Mathias was headed to the Tigray region, mainly for reconciliation with the bishops of the area. On Monday the 10th, His Holiness went to the region's capital Mekelle where the president of the region's interim administration Getachew Reda welcomed him. The delegation's plan was to first hold a praying ceremony in Mekelle on Wednesday the 12th. After that, the Patriarch would deliver aid for war-struck areas to the interim administration's office and then hold peace talks with Tigrayan bishops.

Unfortunately, the trip didn’t go according to plan. Only government officials were present at the welcoming ceremony even though bishops and deacons were expected. The prayer ceremony wasn’t held in the St. Michael Church, its doors were closed and the delegation was forced to pray outside the Church premises. Bishops of Tigray were also nowhere to be seen during the ceremony of delivering aid worth around twenty million birr or about four hundred thousand US dollars. Scheduled talks between the delegation and Tigray’s clergy also didn’t happen.

The Tigrayan clergy’s actions are the result of anger because of the Church’s inadequate support during the war. A week ago, the Holy Synod had officially apologized for what happened but it seems like the apology did little to mend ties. The Patriarch gave a speech after the trip thanking the Tigray interim administration and expressing His hope that there will be reconciliation soon.

Questions over where the fathers of Tigray had been were answered on Thursday the 13th when it was revealed that they were preparing to head to the holy city of Axum in Tigray to appoint bishops for a separate Tigray Orthodox Church. The fathers notified media outlets to report the event which is scheduled for Sunday the 16th and will see the appointment of ten bishops. Recall that about five months back, a similar situation had occurred in Oromia and tensions had reached fever pitch.

In education news, the Ethiopian education system is known for its poor quality. The coming to power of opposition party leader Berhanu Nega as Minister of Education has seen a lot of changes with a view to improving the quality of education. To that effect, his regime has introduced the exit exam for all fields. A controversial issue concerning the exit exam was whether or not students who fail were going to be able to participate in graduation celebrations. The higher education institutions students union confirmed on Monday the 10th that students don’t need to pass the exit exam to participate in graduation ceremonies provided that their cumulative GPA is more than two, The union also said that students unable to pass the exam will be allowed to retake it every three months.

The exams began that same day and will continue until Saturday the 15th. Because the exams are being administered online, results are expected to be released soon. It was also announced that there are plans to administer the next exam in January next year.

And to close this edition, there are tens of private banks in Ethiopia. One of these banks, Oromia Bank, was awarded the ESQR international diamond excellence award in Brussels, Belgium for the second time. During the event, businesses from more than forty countries were recognized for their products and services. The Bank’s Chief Executive Officer Teferi Mekonnen received the award on behalf of the bank and said that the bank won because of its customer-oriented service. Teferi also thanked and congratulated the bank’s employees, customers, and leadership.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

In case you couldn’t listen to our previous update, we have two new shows! These are the Rorshok Multilateral Update, covering the world's major multilateral institutions, and the Ocean’s Update about 70% of Earth's surface covered in salt water.Intrigued? Listen to them in your podcast favorite app. You can also check out the rest of our Country Updates, to see what’s going on in the rest of the world!

Ciao!