Ethiopian Citizen

  ADDIS ABABA, FEBRUARY 20, 2022 — Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially inaugurated today the first round power production of Africa's largest and the world's seventh largest hydroelectric dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), at Guba, Benishangul-Gumuz National Regional State. "Water, as usual, is flowing to Sudan and Egypt while simultaneously generating power for the Ethiopian people who do not want to see the people of Sudan and Egypt suffer", said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The GERD, which is fully financed by Ethiopians and currently at 84% completion generates 375 megawatts, is expected to generate over 5,150 megawatts or 5,750 GWh of electricity annually which will double Ethiopia's electricity output when it is fully completed. He said the start of the GERD producing power is a good news for the African continent and for those of in the lower riparian countries. Ethiopia has no intention to harm anyone, said the Ethiopian Prime Minister and str

  ADDIS ABABA, FEBRUARY 19, 2022 — In February 1937, on this day, Italy’s occupying fascist forces murdered, on the streets of Addis Ababa, over 30,000 innocent Ethiopians in broad day light. The massacre followed an attempted assassination of Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, Marquis of Negele, Viceroy of Italian Colonial East Africa. The Italians who were defeated in 1896 at the Battle of Adwa held a 40 year grudge and launched a second invasion on Ethiopia in 1935 as per the orders of the fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Although Italy was successful at defeating the ill equipped Ethiopians with its war planes spraying chemical weapons indiscriminately, it did not succeed in breaking the spirit of the Ethiopian resistance or in fact inspired the formation of movements such as the Black Lion anti-fascist resistance movement. The Italian occupation, which had little control on swathes of Ethiopian land, only lasted for five years. 85 years later, today, Ethiopia recounts Yekatit 12 (Februar

  ADDIS ABABA, FEBRUARY 18, 2022 — A Russian Navy delegation led by Major General Alexander Ostrikov arrived in Ethiopia to visit Ethiopia's attempt to rebuild a modern navy, according to a report from Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF). Ethiopia's Chief of Naval Command, Commodore Walatsa Wacha, explained to the Russian Navy delegation that Ethiopian Navy was established three years ago and that they are working to build a strong and trained naval operations team capable of defending threats and further enhancing the military might of the Horn of African nation. According to the report from ENDF, the objective of the visit from the Russian Navy delegation is to strengthen the already thriving diplomatic relations between the governments of Ethiopia and Russia. "We have began building a comprehensive system taking lessons from other countries and from Ethiopia's previous navy experience", said Commodore Walatsa Wacha, Ethiopia's Chief of Naval Command.

ADDIS ABABA, FEBRUARY 16, 2022 — Tigrayan fighters affiliated with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) deliberately killed civilians, gang raped and sexually assaulted women and girls, and looted private and public property in two localities in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region, according to a report from Amnesty International. Amnesty International said on Wednesday, it has found after interviewing 30 rape survivors -- some as young as 14 -- and witnesses in Chenna and Kobo, Amhara region, who were held under TPLF occupation from August up to September 2021. In Kobo, a town in the northeast of the Amhara region, according to the report, Tigrayan fighters deliberately killed unarmed civilians, seemingly in revenge for losses among their ranks at the hands of Amhara militias and armed farmers.  Ten residents of Kobo told Amnesty International that on the afternoon of 9 September 2021, after briefly losing control of the town to armed farmers, Tigrayan fighters summarily ki

ADDIS ABABA, FEBRUARY 15, 2022 — Ethiopia's House of People's Representatives (HoPR), during its emergency session held today, lift ed the nationwide state of emergency imposed last year on November. After the Council of Ministers approved the lifting of the state of emergency on January 26, 2022, the decision was presented to the parliament today through Tesfaye Beljigey, Minister representing the government, who proposed and defended the idea to lift the Proclamation 05/2014. Tesfaye Beljigey, Minister representing the government Those who voted for the lifting of the state of emergency argued that maintaining the proclamation could hamper the nations image, exacerbate human rights abuses, prevent economic growth, halt tourism flow into the country and it could be a cause for diplomatic pressure on the country. While those who voted against the lifting argued that despite the fact that the country is not in a threatening situation as it was on November 2021, the Tigray Peop

America’s humanitarian imperialism has always been malicious, but ESPDA stands apart from everything other than NATO’s War on Libya as being among its cruelest form. By Andrew Korybko —  American political analyst The “ Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace, and Democracy Act ” (ESPDA), popularly known as the “Malinowski Bill” after one of the congressmen who introduced it, doesn’t support either stabilization, peace, or democracy. Rather, it’s the most malicious form of humanitarian imperialism short of a Libyan-like all-out war. ESPDA has mostly been reported to concern sanctions against individuals who the US determines to have either imported “restricted” military equipment, impeded the flow of humanitarian assistance, and/or have been involved in “genocide”, “war crimes”, and “crimes against humanity”. There are several other provisions though that haven’t received all that much attention but definitely deserve to be more widely discussed. The first to touch upon concerns the U

ADDIS ABABA, FEBRUARY 13, 2022 — On Tuesday, the United States (U.S.) House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a bill introduced by Representatives Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) and Young Kim (R-CA) that requires the Biden administration to take additional measures against Ethiopia and Eritrea for the war Northern Tigray perpetrated by the infamous Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a terrorist designated group by the Ethiopian parliament in May 2021. The bill dubbed "Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace and Democracy Act" would sanction individuals as well as suspend U.S. security and financial assistance to the Ethiopian government. It would also prevent Ethiopia and Eritrea from getting loans from international agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The global NoMore Movement has denounced in a statement the new U.S. sanctions as a hostile attempt by the U.S. to intervene not just on the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia but also the whole of East Africa.