More GERD Negotiations & more – 26th Oct 2023

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 26th of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

For over a decade now, Ethiopia has been building the biggest dam in Africa - the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (or GERD) without reaching an agreement with the lower basin countries of the Nile River - Egypt and Sudan. Despite Egypt’s consistent protests against the construction, the dam is almost finished. Back in July twenty twenty-three, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed to continue negotiations and held talks in Egypt’s capital on Monday the 23rd and Tuesday the 24th. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that, unfortunately, the parties didn’t reach an agreement. Still, he added that Ethiopia remains committed to finding a fair solution. The countries decided to hold the next round of negotiations in Addis, in December.

In other news, it’s been almost a year since the war in Tigray ended, and the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the federal government signed the Pretoria agreement. One of the clauses of the agreement was the restoration of essential services. And while Tigray’s bigger cities now have these essential services, residents in Irob, a district in Tigray’s north-east, which also borders Eritrea, still don’t have access to banks, meaning that they couldn’t make use of banking services for almost three years. Residents say that they’re traveling about fifty kilometers to receive the money that their relatives sent. The district’s administration said that despite its best efforts, branches aren’t willing to reopen because of impending security issues as the area is under the control of Eritrean troops.

From Tigray to Oromia. The Oromo Liberation Army (or OLA)—which the House of Peoples’ Representatives considers a terrorist organization—abducted multiple Chinese workers at a cement factory in the North Shoa zone. The abduction was part of an attack on the whole town. However, the attack failed as government forces fought back but couldn’t rescue the Chinese workers. In recent months, abductions have become commonplace, even in parts close to Addis. Witnesses and news outlets say that OLA members are responsible for these abductions, from which they get a significant amount of money, by demanding a ransom from the abductees' families.

Moving on, almost four years ago, Ethiopia launched an observation satellite into space and another one a year later. However, this week, the Director General of the Space Science and Geospatial Institute told the BBC that these satellites have become inoperational. The Director General explained that the satellites are no longer working because their service period has ended.

Last week, on Friday the 20th, Bang Moon-Kyu, South Korea’s Minister of Trade, arrived in Addis and talked with Demeke Mekonnen, Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, about amping up trade relations between the two countries. But the South Korean Minister did not come to Addis alone. He led a delegation that included the Korean EXIM bank VP and other private companies’ representatives, including electronics giant LG. The Minister of Trade said that Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s president, has invited Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to Seoul for the South Korea-Africa Leaders Summit.

Meanwhile, Adanech Abebe, Addis’ mayor, was in Atlanta, in the US, this past week for an official work trip. She met with Andre Dickens, Atlanta’s mayor, and discussed ways to strengthen partnerships already underway in trade, investment, education, tourism, and other sectors. During the meeting, Adanech mentioned that since direct flights between Addis and Atlanta started operating through Ethiopian Airlines a few months ago, the two cities’ relationship has grown stronger, and more tourists have visited Addis.

From Addis to Hawassa, another big city in Ethiopia, as the Sidama regional police revealed on Tuesday the 24th that they had arrested Associate Professor Tsegaye Tuke, Hawassa’s former mayor. The regional police added that they suspected the former mayor had committed various crimes and that they had been looking for him for a while. Police detained him at the Bole International Airport. He had been abroad for a while, and the regional police had been working with Interpol and Immigration to find him. Recall that the region’s Prosperity Party removed him from office because of allegations of corrupt leadership and gross incompetence. The former mayor was adamant that these were false accusations, that he was innocent, and that he didn’t do ‘a single thing’ to harm the people.

Heading from the south to the western parts of the country, the entire region of Benshangul-Gumuz is facing a power outage. The Ethiopian Electric Utility said the transmission towers’ steel was stolen, so the towers crumbled and couldn’t transmit power. The outage also affected the region’s capital and surrounding areas. The Ethiopian Electric Utility also said that it will try and temporarily fix wooden towers (which will take three days) and called on the region’s authorities to protect electricity infrastructure.

The Ethiopian Airlines has been consistently winning numerous awards. This week, on Tuesday the 24th, the airline won another award at the Arabian Cargo Awards in the United Arab Emirates or UAE. The company won the best cargo airline in Africa.

Speaking of Ethiopian Airlines, the company announced on Monday the 23rd that it will resume flights to Spain’s capital, Madrid, in early December. The company said it will fly to the city four times a week. CEO Mesfin Tassew announced that Ethiopian Airlines is delighted to resume flights and will strengthen the link between Spain and the whole of Africa. Ethiopian Airlines used to fly to Madrid but suspended flights during the pandemic and hasn’t resumed them since.

In rare environmental news, the Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Industry Development Institute and the Beverage-producing Companies’ Association jointly announced a directive to recycle plastic food and beverage containers. The institute told the Reporter newspaper that experts have weighed in on a draft and that the draft has been sent to the Ministry of Justice for further vetting. After the Ministry of Justice gives the green light, the directive will be eligible for approval. The directive will determine what raw materials and resources can be used to recycle, which materials can be recycled, who gets to recycle, and more. An official at the institute also said that once this directive comes into force, food and beverage manufacturers will be able to cut costs significantly.

The 116th anniversary of the establishment of the national army was commemorated on Thursday, the 26th. The day celebrates the remembrance of Emperor Menelik’s establishment of the War Ministry. To pay tribute to the troops, past and present, a ceremony and parade was held at Meskel Square.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was present during the ceremony and gave a speech. He used the occasion to talk about Ethiopia’s call for a sea outlet. Recall that Abiy brought up the issue last week in front of members of parliament and that concerned countries, mainly Djibouti and Eritrea, made negative comments about his proposals.

And that's it for this week!

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