ETHIOPIA: Blackout & more – 7th Mar 2024

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 7th of March twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

If you’ve been following our show, you’ll know that over the past few years, drought and war have severely affected three regions in northern Ethiopia: Afar, Amhara, and Tigray. As if things aren’t as bad as they stand, many media outlets reported that numerous cities in these regions don’t have electric power after an accident damaged three major transmission towers in the Amhara region. The head of the Amhara region’s Electric Utility told the media that even though there are rumors that clashes in the region caused the tower to stop working, it’s hard to say what’s the actual cause of the damage. He also said that a technical team has been deployed to the sites and there are efforts to bring back power to the cities this week.

In politics, even though the House of People’s Representatives allocated a budget of three hundred and twenty million birr or almost six million US dollars to the National Electoral Board, the entity said it hasn’t received the funds yet. The Board said that it is set to use the money to organize elections in certain parts of the country that didn’t vote in the previous national election due to security concerns. On Friday the 1st of March, the Board said it will hold elections in the Benshangul Gumuz, Afar, Somali and Central Ethiopia regions in mid-June. It also said that it wanted to have elections in the Tigray and Oromia regions, and in specific parts of the country's south as well, but that it won’t be able to do so because there are still security concerns. The Board’s chairwoman said that even though preparations are underway, funds must be released in due time for the board to hold the elections.

Moving on, the Amhara region's command post announced that more than ten thousand rebels have completed the government's rehabilitation program and have been reintegrated into society. The command post's head, who's also in charge of the region's peace and security bureau, said that the rehabilitated rebels were part of the unorganized youth movement Fano that's currently fighting against the federal government. The bureau head said that all political requests must be brought in a peaceful manner and that violence isn't the answer. Recall that the federal government and the youth movement have been at odds for a while, with fighting still raging since July last year.

In business news, on Tuesday the 5th at the Skylight Hotel in Addis, Ethiopian Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding with US aircraft manufacturing company Boeing to purchase about twenty Boeing 777-9s, one of the largest aircraft that the company manufactures. Mesfin Tassew, Ethiopian Airlines CEO, and Brad MacMuller, Boeing’s vice president, signed the agreement. The Airline’s CEO said the Boeing 777-9s will be the biggest aircraft in the airline’s history. Ethiopian Airlines is also the first airline to purchase this model in Africa with the planes costing more than half a trillion birr or around eleven billion US dollars. The Airline will receive the aircraft in twenty twenty-seven, twenty twenty-nine and twenty thirty.

On a related note, on Thursday the 7th, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country is working on enhancing regional partnerships regarding the energy and aviation sectors. The spokesman said Ethiopia has enormous potential in the two fields, especially with hydropower, which the country derives from its numerous rivers. He said that Ethiopia plans to sell electricity as far north as Spain; that a twenty-five-year deal with Kenya to sell electricity has already been penned and that Ethiopian Airlines is expanding its reach. Recall that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was in Kenya and Tanzania last week, and the spokesman said the PM's trip also aimed to enhance cooperation in the energy and aviation sectors.

There was more business news this week as it saw the falling out of two major companies. Here’s how it happened: Purpose Black is a share company that has interests in various sectors. It wanted to buy a huge building in Addis and make it the company’s head office. Purpose Black won a bid and reached an agreement with the owner of the building, the brewing giant BGI. They agreed that Purpose Black would pay five billion birr or almost ninety million US dollars in two years. However, on Monday the 4th, BGI Ethiopia announced that it had terminated the sale process, citing Purpose Black’s lack of commitment to close the deal. On Tuesday the 5th, Purpose Black called for a press conference and told the media that it is going to sue BGI for abruptly terminating the contract, adding that the company has already paid more than a billion birr or almost twenty million US dollars as part of the deal.

The saga continued as BGI Ethiopia released another statement the following day saying that it terminated the deal because Purpose Black was unable to give enough assurances and a statement of income indicating that the company had the capacity to pay the amount agreed upon. BGI Ethiopia also said that Purpose Black's allegations that the building has encumbrances are unfounded and that the company is willing to pay tax liabilities. It finally asserted that it is not going to proceed with Purpose Black and is looking for another buyer.

Still on business, Ethiopia is set to launch the stock market for the first time in its history and at the forefront of this, is the Capital Market Authority, the regulatory entity that has been preparing the legal framework for the stock market’s operation. And now, the Authority announced that it is teaming up with the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Police Commission, the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration, and the Financial Intelligence Service to form a task force expected to safeguard the market from illicit activities. The Capital Market Authority also announced that crimes committed in the sale of shares in companies prior to the establishment of this task force will be investigated and perpetrators prosecuted.

And to close this edition, Ethiopia is on the verge of launching the National Digital ID to be issued to all citizens. Now, the country's Refugees and Returnees service announced that it has launched an initiative to include refugees and asylum seekers in the national digital ID system. The service says this move will ensure that they have access to basic services like health care and education. The new national digital ID will have biometrics to prevent duplicates and double registration and is set to aid in the provision of various services.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week.

We want to invite you to take a look at one of Rorshok's other projects. The Daily Knowledge is a daily pocket newspaper that comes out Monday through Friday. It is in our Ourzine format, a little booklet that you have to print in order to read. In the Daily Knowledge ourzine you’ll find a collection interesting newsletters and selected articles that takes about an hour to read. Visit rorshok.com/ourzines/thedailyknowledge to find the latest editions. The link will also be in the show notes.

Ciao!