ETHIOPIA: Somalia & more – 4th July 2024

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 4th of July twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Let’s kick off this episode with an update on the controversy between Ethiopia and Somalia. The two neighbors have been at odds ever since the 1st of January this year when Ethiopia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Somaliland to have access to the Red Sea in exchange for statehood recognition. This didn’t sit well with Somalia because it considers Somaliland part of its own territory. However, it appears that a peaceful resolution is on the horizon. On Monday the 1st of July, Taye Atske-Selassie, Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador, and his Somali counterpart Ahmed Moalim met in Turkey’s capital Ankara upon the country’s invitation. The next day, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying that the discussion was productive and pointed to a peaceful resolution of the disagreement between the two countries. According to the statement, Ethiopia and Somalia have set a date for further talks for early September.

In some updates on this topic, PM Abiy Ahmed sat before the House of People's Representatives on Thursday the 4th and urged Somalia to open talks with Ethiopia directly and not through a third party stating that the country has been wasting money accusing Ethiopia and asking other states to condemn the agreement. He added that Ethiopia had already tried to reach out to all neighbors before signing the agreement and made the Memorandum of Understanding official after receiving no response. He also denied allegations that Ethiopia is working to disintegrate Somalia.

During that session, he addressed several other issues that members of parliament raised. He said that recently, he had heard that there were talks of a coup d'etat, but asserted that attempts won't be successful because of how the government built its institutions. He warned entities against plotting coup d'etats, saying assailants would 'pay for it'.

He was also asked about human rights violations in the Amhara region in connection to the ongoing conflict with the youth movement Fano. The member of parliament who asked this question additionally said that the reason for the human rights abuse and the conflict is the people's lack of faith in Abiy's government. The PM said the government knows and understands the people of the region more than the opposition parties. He also asked the MP who would the people trust more, those who are building roads and opening schools or those who are obstructing access to these amenities? (referring to opposition members and Fano)

The Prime Minister also discussed the issue of human rights in general and asked the House to deliberate on the importance and operation of independent institutions such as the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. He explained that such institutions, funded by foreign entities, might be used as a weapon to interfere in politics using human rights as a facade.

Ethiopia is a federal state with thirteen regional states, and some regional states’ disputes have arisen in certain bordering areas. One of these conflicts is taking place in the Wolkait zone which both the Tigray and Amhara regions claim to be their own. Their dispute hasn’t been resolved and what’s worse is that because of the conflict, the federal government hasn’t been granting any subsidies to Wolkait. On Monday the 1st and Tuesday the 2nd of July, a representative from the Amhara region told the House of Federation that Wolkait hasn’t received funds from the federal government for the last four years. The representative added that the funds should be allocated for Wolkait in due time and that the dispute can be resolved in a different way, at a different time, but the issue of budgets is urgent.

Wolkait is not the only one worried about funds. Prisons and universities across the country said that unless the government increases the budget allocated, they will have a hard time feeding internees and students. Universities currently allocate about twenty-two birr or almost forty cents a day to feed a student, which presidents of various universities say is not enough. The House of People’s Representatives is currently deliberating over the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which is up to almost a trillion birr or seventeen billion US dollars. The government responded to the universities’ concern saying that a study is being conducted jointly between the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the Statistics Service to determine the amount of money the universities should receive to feed students.

However, the improvement in budget allocation following this study won't be applied in the upcoming fiscal year because on Thursday the 4th, the House of People's Representatives unanimously approved the proposed budget for the next fiscal year

Speaking of universities, they have graduated thousands of their students after the nationwide university exit examination was held two weeks ago. They will finish graduating their students by the end of this week and the university premises will be vacated to administer the university entrance exams.

In other news, since the beginning of the year, the government has been engaged in the corridor development project, which resulted in the demolition of private houses and buildings all over the capital. According to the government, the aim of the project aims to beautify the city by widening the roads, building fountains, plazas, and new road lights, among other kinds of infrastructure. Former residents of the Yeka sub-city of Addis who have been expropriated for road construction are saying that they haven’t received a notice or compensation. They said that their households were expropriated a month ago and, although the government promised fair compensation and a replacement, they haven’t received anything yet and have been forced to seek shelter with relatives. The government said that it had given them replacement land and is paying their two-year rent in their new residences until they finish building their new homes.

Recently, the House of People's Representatives passed a new law concerning fuel. This law establishes the rights and responsibilities of importers, suppliers, retailers, transporters, and consumers. According to this new legislation, retail stations must be open twenty-four hours. Also, fuel suppliers must open six stations within three years. They have to build four within two years, and they have one more year to construct the remaining two. They also have to build a half-a-million-liter depot. However, companies are not very happy with this last requirement. They said that building the depot is not necessary because no company needs such a big depot, as they do not store that large amount of fuel. A company representative added that it would be much better if companies were allowed to partner up to build a shared depot.

During a regular session on Thursday the 27th of June, the Council of Ministers approved the country’s first-ever Artificial Intelligence Policy, which aims to provide a framework for developing and implementing the emerging technology in Ethiopia. The Prime Minister’s Office said that the country has recently been using AI to enhance security and socio-economic development. The Council of Ministers also approved the revised cyber-security policy which has revisions taking into account national, regional and global developments in cyber-security.

And to wrap up this edition, Midroc Ethiopia, one of the largest business enterprises in the country, which is engaged in numerous sectors, said that it is being falsely accused of using mercury in its gold mining operations. However, the company’s CEO received the Environmental Management System certification on Tuesday the 2nd. On the occasion, the CEO said that when Midroc started engaging in the gold mining sector, it had brought foreign experts to study the use of a replacement chemical, that is, Sodium Cyanide. He said that allegations of mercury use have intensified but they were baseless. The richest Ethiopian billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi owns the majority of shares of Midroc Ethiopia.

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

Hey, did you know that if you are listening to us on Spotify you can leave comments or questions in the episode? Take a look at it, it's right there. The comments are private by default, and we won’t publish them, but feel free to share your email so we can contact you back! We might give you a shoutout in the next episode. Put something in there, go crazy! We'd love to hear from you!

Ciao!