Rights Violations in Sheger & more –21st Sep 2023

TRANSCRIPTION

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 21st of September twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Ever since the Oromia region merged the districts that surround Addis and established a new city called Sheger, the city’s government has been accused of alleged human rights violations. The most recent allegation comes from the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. Its investigation director said that thousands of innocent civilians were detained in Sheger and forced to stay at crammed shelters. Officers are mainly targeting homeless civilians in the city. The shelters were so packed that a viral disease spread rapidly. The commission’s director confirmed that some detainees have died because of the viral disease while others are receiving treatment. The director said that, even though the disease has been brought under control, investigations surrounding the detentions continue.

On Tuesday the 19th, the Commission revealed more details after a visit to the shelters. It said that three died of relapsing fever while a hundred and ninety had to be hospitalized. The shelters’ organizers told the commission that the center’s objective was to rehabilitate these people and send them back to the place they came from. Almost thirty individuals who’d been mistakenly taken into the center were released. The Commission concluded that the detainees didn’t receive humane treatment in the shelters.

Let’s move on to some news on the economy. Moody’s is a US-based investment service. One of its services is ranking the creditworthiness of borrowers— and these borrowers include countries. What does this have to do with Ethiopia you ask? Well, the company rates countries’ currencies on scales from Aaa to C, Aaa being the best possible rating and C being the worst. Ethiopia’s foreign currency rating used to be Caa2. Now, the company has downgraded it to Caa3. On Friday the 15th, Moody’s released a statement saying that Ethiopia’s external profile has deteriorated to very weak levels over the last two years against the backdrop of multiple shocks, including the pandemic and the war in Tigray. Wanna check out Moody’s Rating Scale? Follow the link in our show notes!

Since we mentioned the war in Tigray…

Civil war has ravaged Ethiopia. Even though the most recent, full-blown war between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the federal government, came to an end ten months ago, there are still various protracted armed clashes. The government is fighting on two fronts - in the Amhara region, where there's the Fano popular movement, and in the Oromia region, where there's the self-proclaimed Oromo Liberation Army (or OLA). It's not clear how these conflicts will be resolved but the National Dialogue Commission says it's ready to be part of the solution. The Commission's deputy commissioner told the media on Monday the 18th that the commission is holding talks with various stakeholders to try and bring both Fano and the OLA to the table to discuss, and resolve differences peacefully. The deputy commissioner said that the commission will work towards bringing entities that aren't satisfied with the current regime to discuss issues and will foray towards peacebuilding.

Speaking of the various conflicts, the UN's human rights experts team released a report saying that alleged crimes against humanity had been committed during the Tigray war and that, even though the peace agreement signed in November last year managed to silence the guns, it has not been able to bring about sustainable peace. The commission's head dubbed the present state of Ethiopia's instability as very concerning amidst allegations of sexual violence in Tigray, unwarranted detention, and torture in Oromia. The Commission also expressed concern over the deteriorating peace and security in the Amhara region.

In more unfortunate news, on Thursday the 21st The Ethiopian Red Cross Society said that unknown assailants had stolen an ambulance on Tuesday the 19th. The Red Cross said that the ambulance stolen belonged to its Western Gojam zone office in the Amhara region. The Society affirmed that this act was not only theft but also a transgression of the Geneva Conventions, of which Ethiopia is a signatory. The Red Cross Society urged the assailants to return the ambulance so that it could be used for its destined humanitarian service. Finally, it asked the public to renounce such acts and called for the respect of the staff and property of humanitarian organizations.

Moving on, the US Department of Justice has charged Abraham Lemma, a man of Ethiopian descent, who works as a contractor for the US government, on account of espionage. The Department believes he was spying for Ethiopia. This news has raised eyebrows as the US and Ethiopia were thought to be on good terms. The Department of Justice didn't spill the details as to what crimes the suspect exactly committed and how he obtained sensitive information.

In tech news, there are many users of social media in Ethiopia. Facebook, TikTok, and Telegram are particularly popular. There are also numerous local content creators. Some of them have apparently been sharing medical advice that could prove harmful so the Ministry of Health issued a statement warning the public about taking medical advice from Tiktok creators. The Ministry said some creators are posting flawed medical advice and are spreading misinformation. It urged the public to obtain information from verified sources and physicians.

Did you know that credit cards are not a thing in Ethiopia? Well, at least until now they weren't. Tsehay Bank, one of the newer banks, said that it has begun issuing credit cards. The bank's CEO said that customers can use this service without collateral, by paying a small fee. He added that the introduction of credit cards to the Ethiopian market will foster financial inclusivity by giving out credit to individuals who were previously unable to take out loans. Currently, the bank is providing credit cards only to a few groups from among its customers including employees of companies that use the bank's service, premium customers, and users of interest-free banking.

Speaking of banks, In Ethiopia, there are tens of private banks. One of them is Global Bank, which recently rebranded and changed its name from Southern Global Bank. The bank revealed on Saturday the 16th that it has finished preparations to begin the construction of its new headquarters. The bank had received a massive plot of land that spans more than five thousand square meters from the Addis Ababa City Administration, located in the booming financial district of Addis.

The bank's CEO said in a press release that the new headquarters will have more than fifty floors. The design for the building has already been chosen after about twenty architectural designs were considered. The bank also announced that it had made more than eight hundred million birr or about fourteen and a half million US dollars in profit in the previous fiscal year as its total assets have reached a valuation of twenty billion birr or more than three hundred and sixty million US dollars.

And to close this edition, Ethiopia has several national parks. One of them is the beautiful Bale National Park in the Oromia region. In its forty-fifth assembly concerning world heritage in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, UNESCO announced that it decided to recognize Bale National Park as a world heritage site.

And that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us! Before we leave, we wanted to thank everyone who has been listening to us, and welcome all the new subscribers! We are happy the Rorshok Ethiopia community is growing!

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Ciao!