ETHIOPIA: Clashes & more – 9th May 2024

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 9th of May twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Our first update for this week takes us to northern Ethiopia as fighting continued in the Wolqait-Tegede zone which both the Amhara and Tigray region claim as their own. Last week there were clashes between Amhara’s popular youth movement Fano and federal forces. The fighting on Friday the 3rd was especially notable because it was a major clash compared to the other combats that took place throughout the week. Soon after, federal forces gained the upper hand and residents said that the area was under the defense force’s control.

However, media outlets’ attempts to reach out to the defense forces for confirmation and further clarification were unsuccessful. Recall that Tigray alleges that the Amhara region took advantage of the two-year war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (or TPLF) and the federal government to take over the Wolqait-Tegede area.

The TPLF was in the news again this week because it got in the middle of the civil war in neighboring country Sudan between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces. On Sunday the 5th, The Rapid Support Forces said that TPLF was fighting in Sudan in support of the Sudan Armed Forces. It added that the Sudan Armed Forces had always sought support from foreign mercenaries since the beginning of the war. However, the next day, Monday the 6th, the TPLF hit back with a statement denying involvement and calling the allegations baseless. The party doubled down, saying the statements were only designed to garner international support and empathy. The TPLF also alluded to its friendly relations with Sudan and how the country helped shelter people displaced because of the civil war in Ethiopia.

Moving on, The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, which has been investigating the murder of prominent Oromo politician Bate Urgessa, announced on Tuesday the 7th that the regional government forced it to halt its investigation after its initial findings suggested that the government was behind the murder.

According to the Commission’s letter addressed to the Oromia regional government, the safety of witnesses as well as the Commission’s experts wasn’t ensured; as they were being followed. There has been considerable evidence supporting the involvement of the government in the murder.

Let’s talk about the capital. Addis’ corridor development project continues as several earth-moving equipment tussles to demolish and rebuild the capital’s main roadsides. But the project has created a lot of inconveniences for residents, such as the gas shortage. The Deputy Director of the Petrol and Energy Authority said that the demolition of over eight retail stations for the project caused the gas scarcity.

Recall that last week, there was a meeting where top government officials discussed the corridor project. However, they also talked about retail gas stations. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed proposed the construction of what he called ‘smart’ gas stations that only have a shed, and a tanker. They will help customers quickly refill (there will be self-refilling), preventing long queues and will take up less space, so more can be built. This is a far cry from Ethiopia’s typical stations that are built alongside a retail store, where employees fill the customers’ tanks.

From cars to planes. On Tuesday the 7th, there was heavy smoke on a Q400 plane flying from Hawassa to Addis, and the pilot had to tell the passengers to wear their oxygen masks. Despite the smoke, the plane and the passengers made it safely to Ethiopia’s capital. The cause of the smoke is still not known. The Civil Aviation Authority said that it is going to launch an investigation, and the plane in question will be grounded. Media outlets say this is not an isolated event as they recall two more incidents in a year where two Q400 aircraft belonging to Ethiopian Airlines lost track and landed outside of the runway.

But not everything is bad news for the airline as it reached an agreement with the Prime Minister’s Office. The airline will take over the management of four lodges that were built in various regions as part of the Dine for Ethiopia campaign, which the Prime Minister launched. The lodges will be managed under the Airline's hotel brand, Skylight. The government built the lodges with over four billion birr or over seventy million US dollars, almost all of which it collected through donations. The Prime Minister’s Office said that now the airline will improve its service and attract more business.

Another successful state-owned enterprise is the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation, which announced in its third-quarter report that it has raked in more than a billion birr or more than twenty million US dollars in the past nine months. This is the highest profit the Ethiopian insurance sector has ever seen. The amount exhibits an increase of almost thirty-six percent compared to this time last year. The company's CEO also told media outlets that the risk-bearing capacity of the company has reached over six trillion birr or over a hundred billion US dollars. He also mentioned that the company had made payments of over two billion birr or thirty-five million US dollars in compensation, which also showed an increase of fourteen percent compared to last year.

Private bank Nib, which got its entire board members wiped out due to subpar performance, has officially hired a new CEO, Dr. Emebet Zeleke, who was serving as vice president of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, the largest commercial bank in the country. Nib Bank has been looking for a CEO for a while now and it narrowed down its shortlist to three and ultimately went with Dr. Emebet, who has more than twenty-two years of experience in the banking business.

The meat products exporters association revealed that earnings from exports have shown a twenty-five percent dip compared to last year. The association's head said that even though they planned to send almost nineteen thousand tons of meat, they've only managed to deliver a little under nine thousand, bringing in only three billion birr or fifty-five million US dollars.

The head of the association said that it performed better last year as exporters earned over seventy million US dollars or four billion birr. But why did earnings plummet twenty-five percent? Well, the leader of the association says it's because the prices of the local market’s meat, where Ethiopian exporters buy, are higher than the ones other exporters pay in other countries. There's also a supply issue as local sellers are inclined to sell in the black market, smuggling products through the border to neighboring countries.

On that note, regarding meat product exports, Ethiopia has begun exporting camel meat for the first time ever. The company exporting camel meat is India's Alang group, which operates two companies in Ethiopia under its brand. The company's manager told the media that they actually began exporting camel meat to Saudi Arabia about two months ago adding that the company is selling six hundred camels' worth of meat to a Middle Eastern country. The company says it sources the camels from the Oromia and Somali regions. It added that this business has been profitable as it rakes in over ten million birr or two hundred thousand US dollars every month. The manager also said the company is in talks with various countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Qatar, to export there as well.

And that’s it for this week! Thanks your joining us!

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