ETHIOPIA: Solution to Somaliland Agreement & more – 19th Sep 2024

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 19th of September twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Let’s kick off this edition with some updates on the controversial agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland. According to the deal, Ethiopia would recognize Somaliland as an independent state and get access to Somaliland’s ports. Somalia was not happy with the agreement, as it considers Somaliland part of its own territory.

To solve the dispute, Djibouti came up with a potential solution that would grant Ethiopia full access to its Tadjoura port. This way This way, Ethiopia will gain access to the sea, so the country wouldn’t need to go through with the agreement with Somaliland. Djibouti’s government later clarified that this doesn’t mean Ethiopia will fully own the Tadjoura port. Djibouti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also added that using and administering the port jointly with Ethiopia will benefit Djibouti because the port hasn’t yet recouped construction costs; leasing it to Ethiopia can help earn revenue, cover the costs, and turnover profits for the nation.

Aside from Djibouti, the International Governmental Agency for Development also joined efforts to settle the issue peacefully, announcing that its top officials have sat down with Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohammed to look for ways to reconcile Ethiopia’s and Somalia’s interests.

However, Djibouti’s and the Agency’s plans haven’t laid to rest the concerns of both Ethiopia and Somalia. On Friday the 13th, during a meeting with Mike Hammer, the US Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, Taye Atske-Selassie, Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that the new African Union Mission to Somalia, consisting of thousands of Egyptians soldiers, poses a threat because Egypt holds a grudge against Ethiopia for going ahead with the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, on the Nile river. Still, Taye Atske-Selassie added that the country is, nonetheless, committed to de-escalating tensions in the region.

But that wasn’t the only topic that the two ambassadors discussed. Minister Taye called for the US to reinstate Ethiopia back into the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, which will help increase exports to the lucrative US market, among other benefits. But, it seems that the call wasn’t successful as Hammer clarified that even though the US wants Ethiopia to take advantage of the AGOA, reinstatement won’t be possible until government forces cease abusing human rights.

Local politics is just as fractured, as the rift between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (or TPLF) and the regional administration widens. On Monday the 16th, the TPLF announced that the region’s interim president Getachew Reda, as well as fifteen other individuals who held top positions within the party, have been expelled from the party, and their representation has been lifted. The TPLF explained that it had given them a month to apologize for their mistakes but that they had continued with their plot to dissolve the party as well as disintegrate the Tigray people. It added that it will continue to take similar measures against other members of the party who attempt to divide the Tigray people.

On Wednesday the 18th, Getachew Reda responded to this decision by accusing the other faction of plotting a coup against him and his administration adding that the group has no legal standing to take measures against any institution and lacks moral, political as well as social legitimacy.

Getachew was in the news again that same day as he welcomed Alexis Lamek, the French ambassador to Ethiopia, to the region’s capital Mekelle. The two held a meeting, where they discussed the implementation of the Pretoria peace agreement. The interim president expressed his dissatisfaction on how the focus has been solely on the disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation of Tigrayan combatants instead of the holistic implementation of the deal which contains other elements such as resettling internally displaced Tigrayans due to the war. He thanked the French government’s support but reminded the ambassador that more help is needed to rebuild the war-torn region.

Next, the Ministry of Mines is running out of patience as it warned companies it granted licenses and land to mine potash, an important raw material to produce fertilizers locally. Unless they begin operations by the end of the current Ethiopian year, it will take measures against the companies. The Ministry said it has been seven years since it granted licenses to these companies but none of them have started mining.

However, The Ministry admitted that it’s not all the companies’ fault; there are various problems including instability, lack of finance, electric power shortages and unfinished roads.

The mining of potash is set to contribute to the economy as it can help produce fertilizers locally. Currently, the country spends a billion US dollars annually importing fertilizers.

More business news as the private bank Amhara announced on Friday the 13th that it appointed Yohannes Ayalew, the former president of the government-owned Development Bank, as its new CEO. The appointment was announced only a week after Yohannes resigned from his former post, citing personal reasons. He had previously served as vice governor of the National Bank. Until his permanent replacement at the Development Bank is found, the Bank’s board has appointed Getachew Wake as interim president. During Yohannes’ time as CEO, the Development Bank’s amount of non-performing loans fell from fifty-seven percent to a little less than seven percent.

In the same vein, the Ethiopian Electric Power announced that its debt has fallen from fifty-five to twenty percent from its total assets. The state-owned corporation explained that its debt decrease was due to the government’s ongoing macroeconomic reform program. Specifically, the enterprise benefitted from transferring its liabilities to the Accountability and Asset Management Corporation and from a debt relief of more than two hundred and fifty billion birr or more than two billion US dollars. However, the corporation admits that it is still operating at a loss, struggling to make essential purchases with its revenues.

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Last week, we reported on the passing of a thought leader and influential figure, Andreas Eshete. Well, sadly, another one of his contemporaries, Professor Beyene Petros, a prominent scholar and politician, died on Tuesday the 17th at the age of seventy-five. He was serving as director-general of Policy Studies Institute and chaired the Ethiopian Social Democratic Party. He is well-known for serving as the head of various opposition political parties. He’d also taught and researched on biology as well as chaired the Department of Biology at Addis Ababa University.

And finally, some news on youth football as Seyoum Kebede, the former senior national football team coach, was announced as the new coach for the national U20 team. The Ethiopian Football Federation made this appointment to help the team contend in the East and Central Africa tournament, which will also determine which teams will participate in the U20 African Cup of Nations. Seyoum is a seasoned coach, having won the Ethiopian Premier League in the twenty twenty/twenty twenty-one season. He has already named thirty-eight players as part of the provisional team. The tornament will begin on the 5th of October.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Ciao!