Ethiopia Update- Schools & more –25th May 2023

th of May: 2023

Schools recently reopened in Tigray. However, various stakeholders expressed their concerns that the schools haven't recovered from the effects of the war yet. On Thursday the 18th, various media outlets reported that Save the Children, an international NGO, in collaboration with the education bureau of the region, neutralized more than a thousand mines in more than a thousand schools. Save the Children's Tigray official said that more than seven hundred schools in the region are yet to open, adding that almost forty thousand teachers have received three months pay, which is not much considering they hadn’t received their salaries since the war broke out.

On Monday the 22nd, The Gambella region's peace and security bureau revealed that the Murle clan's armed members from South Sudan entered the region on Saturday the 20th and attacked a church there, killing ten and injuring twelve. After the attack, the region's vice president went to the area and said that the government is doing all it can to find the perpetrators and reiterated the executive’s commitment to amp up security in the area and aid those affected by the attack. The vice president also said that, aside from security provisions of the government, people there should be on the lookout.

The Gambella region was in the news again when a clash broke out in the region's capital between locals due to a disagreement. There were nine casualties and seventeen were injured. The region's president said that thanks to the efforts of federal and regional forces, the situation was under control.

On Sunday the 21st, the Ethiopian Mass Media Authority wrote a letter to the Mahibere Kidusan (or Union of Saints) TV station saying that its license has been temporarily suspended. The TV station was transmitting content about the increasing rifts between the Church's fathers and the calls for observance of the Church's canons. The Authority explained that the station, transgressing the traditional role of religious TV stations, transmitted divisive content that would disrupt the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's Holy Synod assembly. The next day, the station issued a statement saying that it had appealed the decision to the board, and that it had not transmitted divisive content.

Opposition parties got involved in this feud when Enat and Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice party issued a statement saying the government's decision was unlawful. Enat requested the government to notify the public what the faults of the TV station were. The parties urged the Mass Media Authority to reconsider the decision.

Ahmed Shide, the Minister of Finance presented the past nine months' executive report of the Ministry and entities under it to the House of People's Representatives on Wednesday the 17th. His report was mainly about the severe inflation in the country. March reached an yearly inflation of almost thirty-four percent and Ahmed said that this has resulted in the exertion of immense economic pressure on the community. Minister Ahmed said that his office has made various decisions to combat the inflation including fertilizer subsidies worth up to seventeen billion birr -or more than three hundred million US dollars-.Gas subsidies have also been significant over the past few years but the government has plans to reduce them from general to targeted subsidies.

In the report, the Minister of Finance also introduced plans to pay civil servants their wages through Telebirr, an online payment system app. Once the report was made known, media outlets went to Ethio Telecom’s Chief Communication Officer and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to ask about Ahmed Shide’s plan, but neither of them had heard about this new payment system. Nonetheless, Ethio Telecom’s Communication Officer said that using Telebirr to pay government employees will help government agencies swiftly deal with payments, adding that the app has the capabilities to deal with voluminous payments.

Ahmed was not the only minister with a report for the House of People's Representatives. The Minister of Education Professor Berhanu Nega told the house that from the forty seven thousand schools in the country, ninety-nine percent aren't agreeable, with more than seventy percent 'absolutely substandard'.

Addis Ababa’s nickname used to be Sheger. When the Oromia region decided to organize cities around the capital as a single city, it also decided to name it ‘Sheger’. But its name is not the most controversial matter surrounding this city. After its establishment, authorities have been demolishing houses of residents, claiming that they were illegal holdings. There are allegations of ethnic discrimination in this regard. The authorities have spared illegal holdings of Oromos. One of the victims of this campaign is the Islamic community. Since its establishment, numerous mosques in the city have been taken down. The Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Council had been working to put an end to this by holding talks with the city’s mayor and writing a letter to the region’s president. Both of these actions have failed to end this demolition campaign. The council revealed on Thursday the 18th that it had written a letter to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed requesting an immediate solution.

The council is not the only entity enraged by the acts of the Sheger city officials. The Freedom and Equality Party renounced the acts of the officials claiming that residents with legal holdings have also been made victims of this campaign. The party said that victims have been forced to live on the streets and are struggling. The party voiced the concerns of the Islamic Affairs Council recalling that mosques have also been demolished. In this regard, the party said that the acts of the government not only breached the sanctity of religious institutions but also showed the government's disrespect of followers of the religion.

The controversy surrounding the city didn't end there. The Ombudsman Institution also had its say on the matter. The institution's head said that it had received numerous complaints from victims. The Ombudsman also found that victims have not been compensated and have not been given a replacement in accordance with the law. Media outlet Voice of America posed these questions to Sheger city officials who denied the Ombudsman's claims.

Tragic news as nineteen Mada Walabu university lecturer passed away, and many other lecturers were injured on Saturday the 20th, when a university's bus fell off a rail.

In more unfortunate news, supporters of Bahir Dar Football Club were attacked at night on Wednesday the 24th. Unidentified assailants threw a bomb at the supporters' bus while they were traveling to Hawassa for a Premier League game. Although there were no casualties, more than twenty sustained injuries.

Opposition party Balderas, which the government had banned from holding its assembly a few months back, successfully held the assembly this Sunday the 21st. During the assembly, the party voted for a new president - Amha Dagnew, the party's vice president, won the votes and will be president for the next three years. The party also decided to become a nationwide party; it was previously only allowed to operate in the capital. The party has also voted to begin working with other political parties.

Dire Dawa city health bureau said that throughout last week temperatures have reached an alarming rate in the city. The bureau urged residents to be careful especially residents with health complications and kids. The bureau advised residents to drink more water, keep windows open, exercise and decrease alcohol consumption.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! We want to hear from you! Write to us at ethiopia@rorshok.com

Ciao!