(CNN iReport) — Photo – In Bule Hora university, ethnic Oromo students broke through security and closed the polling station citing ”no need to vote if it will not be counted properly”.

Two Observers killed in Kofele Arsi and Ambo , also over 500 Obsrvers are jailed.

About 85% of nearly 36 million Ethiopians casted their votes, says the National Election board of the country. The board has said the election was peaceful, free and fair. The only international observer, the African Union mission, on its part has said the election has met their standards.

Addis Ababa remains largely calm following Election Day, yesterday. Security has clashed with protesters in Oromia, the largest and most populous state that has seen large pro-opposition rallies over the last weeks. At least one killed in Midakengi district of west Shewa in election related violence.

Compared to the rest of the country, turnout was low in Addis Ababa and there are many reports of voter intimidation, observers harassment, and other irregularities. In places where results are announced, the incumbent regime has won most of the votes. The opposition has dismissed these results citing they are rigged.

In Oromia region, the situation is very tense. In West Shewa zone that had seen large crowds of demonstrations in support of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), and a stronghold, there has been number of incidents of disputes and conflicts. In some places such as Gudar, dispute between observers, between voters and observers, voters and reps of election board escalated to confrontation. In other places such as Gindeberet, local militia opened fire on the local voters harming some of them.

Eye witness are reporting reinforcement and deployment of large regime security forces to districts such as Cheliya, Ambo, Toke-Kutaye, Bako, Jeldu, Dandi, Gindeberet and Midakengi. These areas had also seen widespread protests last year against the Addis Ababa master plan.

The opposition bloc Medrek has claimed that over 90% of its observers were chased away from polling stations by security of the ruling party. According to reports over the last hours, situation remains very tense after one individual was killed in Arsi zone, another one also was killed in Hadiya in SNNPR.

In Bule Hora university, ethnic Oromo students broke through security and closed the polling station citing ”no need to vote if it will not be counted properly”.

The Ethiopian regime has already declared it is a winner through its affiliated websites and openly on its state radio. The regime will likely continue its 99.6% share of the parliament, even more if not. — Korma

(Reuters) The leader of Ethiopia’s newest opposition party hopes discontent among urban youth will win him support in a weekend election that could otherwise be a clean sweep for the ruling party in Africa’s most populous nation after Nigeria.

Over 36 million people have registered for the May 24 polls, the country’s first

election since long-serving leader Meles Zenawi died in 2012.

His Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has been in power for almost a quarter of a century, and faces no reasonable prospect of defeat – the current 547-seat parliament has just one opposition member.

Yilekal Getinet, chairman of the three-year old Blue Party, or Semayawi in Amharic, says it originally put forward 400 candidates but electoral authorities cut the list to 139.

Semayawi expects to win seats in the urban areas in spite of such obstacles.

“The people’s anger is increasing from time to time. By the strong opposition from the people and demands for further changes we may win in towns,” he said.

Semayawi, which wants less government involvement in the economy, sees itself as offering change in Ethiopian politics, with the vast majority of its members younger than 35.

Some 57 opposition parties are taking part in the polls but analysts say they present no real threat.

The opposition won an unprecedented 147 seats in an election 10 years ago but most of them did not join parliament, alleging the ballot had been rigged. Many of then spent two years behind bars on charges of inciting violence.

LOTTERY

Yilekal says over 50 party members have been detained by police, and accuses the government of unfairly allocating financial resources to the ruling party and depriving opposition parties of television air time, claims rejected by authorities.

Yilekal’s name will not be on the ballot after he was disqualified by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), which ran a draw to pick candidates for 52 parties that had never taken part in an election.

NEBE chairperson Merga Bekana said most of Semayawi’s candidates had broken electoral rules by belonging to another party, adding the board had been tough on all sides.

Two ruling party members have been arrested in recent days on charges of breaking the law, Merga said, adding the environment was “conducive” to open politics.

Yilekal was not reassured. “There may be an increment in some numbers but that does not show that Ethiopia is in a democratic process. The whole process is deteriorating,” he said.

* Ruling party caps campaign with mock guerrilla battles

* Opposition groups complain of intimidation

* EPRDF set for landslide - analysts, diplomats

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, May 21 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's ruling party wrapped up its campaign for Sunday's election with a thunderous rally of fireworks and mock guerrilla battles, paving the way for Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to secure a landslide victory in the Horn of Africa giant.

About 30,000 government supporters waved party flags and sang patiotic songs at a final show of force by the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition, which has been in power since 1991.

"They changed the country for the better so why would I vote for someone else?" Migbare Abi, a 30-year-old disabled cobbler, said inside the Addis Ababa stadium where traditional music blared out from loudseakers.

More than 36 million have registered to vote in the first legislative elections since Hailemariam took office following the death of long-serving leader Meles Zenawi in 2012.

Diplomats and analysts say the ruling party is set for another landslide victory in Africa's most populous nation after Nigeria.

EPRDF youth members staged dance shows while another group wearing army fatigues and brandishing decommissioned AK-47 rifles staged mock battles, in a nod to the ruling party's rebel past.

The spectacle was in stark contrast to opposition rallies, which have rarely attracted more than few hundred people.

Leaders from the fragmented and under-funded opposition say the government has stifled dissent, infiltrating rival parties and arresting their members. Rights groups say the government has also used security laws to curb free speech, something officials deny.

The 547-seat parliament has only one opposition figure in its ranks. Others have questioned the independence of the board handling the elections.

Hailemariam dismissed those charges, saying steps had been taken to ensure the transparency and fairness of the polls. He also told the opposition not to push its case on the streets.

Around 200 people were killed after 2005 elections during rallies by protesters saying the EPRDF's win had been rigged - allegations dismissed by the party.

"We would like to warn them against such illegal activity," Hailemariam told parliament on Thursday. "We are prepared to take measures against any form of incitement for violence."

Since 1991 when rebels led by Meles toppled dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam after a 17-year guerrilla war, Ethiopia has worked hard to shed its image as a land of famine and conflict.

Hailemariam's deputy, Demeke Mekonnen, said the coalition would continue to focus on the economy, which has expanded at an average 10 percent a year over the past decade, one of the highest rates in the world.

"We will continue our work to transform Ethiopia, achieve our democratic goals and change the lives of our citizens," he said to cheers from supporters wearing yellow jackets with pictures of bees - a party election logo symbolising hard work. (Editing by Ed Cropley and Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://www.trust.org/item/20150521140627-mi8rm/?

By William Davison, Bloomberg 

A month before Ethiopia’s elections, opposition activist Getahun Abraham walked into a compound of government offices in the southern town of Gimbichu, doused his body in gasoline and set himself alight. It took more than 10 minutes for bystanders to extinguish the flames.

“We were in a meeting when we heard a scream,” local police chief Moges Bafe recalled of the day the 25-year-old physics teacher committed suicide. “When we ran out, he was burning and we also screamed. The fire looked like a big house was being burned.”

Getahun had become desperate after the authorities rebuffed his requests to transfer him from his home village to Gimbichu and believed the refusals were politically motivated, according to his friend, Teshome Demissie, a hospital cashier.

Unlike Mohamed Bouazizi, the unemployed Tunisian whose self-immolation helped trigger the Arab Spring in December 2010, Getahun’s suicide hasn’t sparked protests in Ethiopia. Africa’s second-most populous nation after Nigeria with the continent’s fastest-growing economy over the past decade remains under the firm grip of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, which won all but one of the 547 parliamentary seats in elections five years ago.

Little is expected to change on May 24 when Ethiopians vote for federal and regional lawmakers.

‘Big’ Victory

The ruling party “will win big time” because of its development record and better organization, Dereje Feyissa Dori, Africa research director at the International Law and Policy Institute in Norway, said in an e-mailed response to questions. While the opposition is divided and unable to articulate alternative policies, they might gain “at least some protest votes,” he said.

When Getahun joined Medrek, a four-party bloc that forms the main opposition to the ruling EPRDF, his brother Wondimu Abraham warned him he was risking trouble.

“I told him don’t be part of Medrek, don’t get involved, as after a time you will face a problem,” Wondimu, a 30-year-old member of the EPRDF who works at the main court in Gimbichu, about 211 kilometers (131 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa, said in an interview.

Getahun grew depressed by the authorities’ denial of his repeated requests to be transferred from the school in his family’s village of Humaro, to Gimbichu, 7 kilometers away, Wondimu said.

Political Activity

The chief administrator in Gimbichu, Elias Ersado Benchamo, said local officials weren’t aware of Getahun’s political activity and didn’t receive any transfer requests. Getahun killed himself because he was lovesick, isolated from his family or addicted to the stimulant khat, Elias said in an interview on May 8.

Medrek members say they face routine harassment by the authorities. The U.S., which backs the Ethiopian army’s role in battling al-Qaeda-linked militants in neighboring Somalia, has echoed United Nations’ condemnations of the government’s jailing of activists and journalists.

Ethiopian officials say they only prosecute activists and journalists who break the law.

The nation’s authorities have used “multiple channels” to enforce “political control,” London-based Amnesty International said in a February report. Steps include “politicizing access to job and education opportunities.”

Transform Ethiopia

The four-party EPRDF, with more than 7 million members, says it’s seeking to transform Ethiopia into a middle-income nation by 2025. The state controls strategic economic sectors such as telecommunications.

The party’s dominance was clear in Gimbichu, located in the ethnic Hadiya zone of Ethiopia’s southern region. On a muddy high street of small cafes and barbershops most buildings were plastered with the ruling coalition’s worker-bee symbol. A couple of Medrek posters were also displayed.

A color billboard on Gimbichu’s outskirts showed images of some of the EPRDF’s economic achievements: low-cost housing and a hydropower dam. Infrastructure and social-services spending has helped economic growth average 10 percent over the past decade, the UN Development Programme said this month.

While Ethiopia’s poverty rate fell from 39 percent to 26 percent between 2005 and 2013, a quarter of the country’s 100 million people still live below the UN poverty threshold of $1.25 a day, it said.

Talking Politics

Getahun didn’t believe in the ruling party’s success claims and often stopped people in the countryside to talk about politics.

“He thought the EPRDF used democracy as cosmetics,” Teshome said. “Internally they use dictatorship, and their cover is democracy.”

About two weeks after Getahun’s self-immolation, charred scraps of clothing still litter the grass at the government compound. Nearby, he had left cash, a copy of the New Testament, a suicide note and his Medrek membership card, his brother said.

In the five-page letter, Getahun took responsibility for his actions and described his despair over family issues and feelings of persecution.

“Being in politics shouldn’t get you punished this much,” he wrote.

About 1,000 Ethiopian Israelis have flooded Tel Aviv on Monday night, demonstrating from Rothschild Blvd. to Ibn Gavriol St. to protest racism and discrimination.

“They say that there are rifts, they say there is no leadership – but each and every one of us has come here to make a change,” protest organizer Inbal Bogula shouted during the rally. “Let’s show the residents of Tel Aviv and the cops what noise we can make, we will walk here slowly so they can feel us, that each of us is a leader who came to make a change.”

Hundreds of police officers, some with riot gear and on horseback, have also flooded the area after violence tore through similar protests earlier this month. Police forces were concentrated in Rabin Square.

However, while both protestors and police noted that the demonstrations were pre-coordinated and not meant to be violent, they have begun to spiral once again out of control, according to Yediot Aharonot.

Despite the strict boundaries set by police, demonstrators have now begun walking in the middle of the road to Rabin Square, actively disrupting traffic and – in some cases – laying down in the middle of the street.

Of the 1,000 original protestors, about 300 are at the center of the ruckus, according to the daily, and police have lost control over the event in the intervening hours.

Earlier Monday night, some of the protestors attempted to block the Ayalon Highway once again, according toChannel 2, but were successfully deterred.

Despite comparisons with previous protests, however, some news outlets are now noting that the ruckus overall is more subdued – and estimate that it may be due, in part, to both the pre-coordination with police and the notable absence of former Yesh Atid MK Pnina Tamno-Shatta, who was present at a previous demonstration which saw the Ayalon shut down for several hours.

What went wrong?

When protests began, both police and protestors affirmed to the media that the demonstration would keep to strict boundaries and not interrupt the commute.

“This demonstration is planned and approved, subject to conditions that were set through dialogue and agreement with officials leading the protestand local authorities,” a spokeswoman for the Tel Aviv District Police, Chief Superintendent Hila Hamo, said to Walla! News earlier Monday night. “The District Police’s policy is to do everything possible in order to allow members of the Ethiopian community and their supporters toexpress their views freely. The police will be there to secure and protect the protesters, residents and the general public.”

However, the spokeswoman added that in light of recent events, the police are prepared and equipped ahead of the possibility of violence.

“Enforcement measures will be taken against wrongdoers immediately, with an emphasis on arrests and indictments in an accelerated procedure,” Hamo warned.

Several protestors noted to the news agency that they had no intent of becoming violent during the protest and that the demonstrations were more about keeping issues to the Ethiopian community in the public eye.

Two Israel Police officers brutally beat Ethiopian soldier Damas Pakada in Holon earlier this month, sparking a series of mass protests in major Israeli cities.

Israel has some 135,500 Jewish Israelis of Ethiopian descent, including more than 50,000 born inside the country, according to AFP.

Source- Israelnationalnews.com

By ZADOCK ANGIRA

Kenyan security agencies have been put on high alert after about 50 heavily-armed Ethiopian soldiers and police officers crossed the border and reportedly took over a police station.

Kenyan Police said the incident at Illeret Police Station in the country’s North Horr constituency came just a week after surveyors had completed demarcating the Kenya-Ethiopia border.

Armed with AK47 rifles, the Ethiopians arrived in 10 vehicles. They disembarked and took strategic positions around the police station. They then inspected and took photos of the area, which is 16 kilometres from the border.

They are said to have gone to inspect the border and a lake. They, however, admitted that the Kenyan Government was not aware of their presence, but vowed they would return.

This is the third time Ethiopian forces have crossed the border into Kenya this year.

North Horr’s commanding officer (OCPD) Tom Odero said the Ethiopians stormed the station a few days after Kenyan and Ethiopian surveyors concluded surveying and demarcating the border.

“Their intention is not clear,” read a brief from Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet’s office in Nairobi.

Mr Odero also called for reinforcements, saying there were not have enough officers.

“Illeret Police Station has nine officers only, but the few who are there remain on high alert, monitoring the border,” the brief read.

The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman, Colonel David Obonyo, said they were not aware of the incident.

“We do not have information. However, Ethiopia is one of our traditional friends and I do not think they would do anything bad,” said Col Obonyo.

Source: theeastafrican.co.ke

THREE sisters jailed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since February for campaigning on Twitter for the release of their imprisoned brother were released on Friday, but it highlights the harsh measures that governments are increasingly deploying to control freedom of expression in the digital space – even for ordinary users of social media.

Issa al-Suwaidi was convicted for links to al-Islah, an Islamist group accused of conspiring to overthrow the government, and is now serving a 10-year sentence, according to Bloomberg.

The UAE says al-Islah is a franchise of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which has similarly been proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Egypt.

A statement from Amnesty International says it is not yet known what pressure the al-Suwaidi sisters – Asma, Mariam and Alyaziyah – were under while in detention; if they were charged with any offence, or it their release carries any conditions.

In the year running from May 2013 to May 2014, more people have been detained or prosecuted for their digital activities than ever before, says the latest report on Internet freedom by Freedom House.

In those 12 months, arrests for online communications were documented in 38 of the 65 countries studied in Freedom on the Net 2014, with social-media users identified as one of the main targets of government repression.

Still, the three sisters are among those lucky to be released, unlike many other bloggers and Tweeps in Africa. And because users of social media in Africa, are likely to be young, those arrested for “digital crimes” are often barely out of their teens.

In Sudan, for example, three teenagers were arrested in Northern Kordofan for posting and commenting on a link to an online article on Facebook about corruption charges of the zakat (“philanthropy”) unit in the government of Northern Kordofan, says the report.

Punished for live-tweeting

They were released after interrogations but quickly re-arrested and charged with defamation; details of their conviction are unknown as of mid-2014.

In Zimbabwe, teenage Facebook user Gumisai Manduwa was arrested in January 2014 for allegedly insulting President Robert Mugabe after he posted on his Facebook page that Mugabe “had died and was being preserved in a freezer.”

A higher score means a more repressive environment. Source: Freedom House

Aged 18 at the time, Manduwa was released on bail two days after his arrest. His case remains on the court’s docket as of mid-2014.

In another case, 21-year-old Shantel Rusike was arrested in December 2012 for sending an image depicting President Mugabe “in a nude state” via WhatsApp on her mobile phone. Rusike faces charges of “causing hatred, contempt or ridicule of the president”.

In Nigeria, two were arrested for posts on social media platforms; one for allegedly criticising the governor of Bayelsa state on his Facebook page, and the other was arrested in March 2014 for live-tweeting an incident involving Boko Haram militants and the State Secret Service.

In Ethiopia, social media is not just a way to pass the time – the authorities regard it as an instrument of war. A cybersecurity law passed in 2013 states that “social-media outlets, blogs, and other internet-related media have great capabilities to instigate war, to damage the country’s image, and create havoc in the economic atmosphere of the country.”

The law empowers the government to investigate computers, networks, internet sites, radio and television stations, and social media platforms “for any possible damage to the country’s social, economic, political, and psychological well-being.”

Critics of the law say its scope is far too broad, and is being abused to crack down on any form of dissent, as was in the case of the Zone9 bloggers.

The six bloggers from the critical Zone9 blogging collective and three journalists associated with Zone9 were arrested in late April 2014 on charges of terrorism. They were accused of “working with foreign organisations that claim to be human rights activists… and receiving finance to incite public violence through social media” and remain in jail awaiting trial.

Another Ethiopian blogger and Twitter activist, Zelalem Workagegnehu, is being detained  along with nine other writers, activists and opposition politicians. The defendants have been charged with having links to diaspora-based opposition groups designated by the Ethiopian government as “terrorist organisations” and also social media related activities.

Skype crimes

Repressive African governments also have Skype on their radar: In December 2013, Gambian opposition supporter Lasana Jobarteh was arrested at a political rally and accused of broadcasting the rally without a license.

Jobarteh was using Skype on his iPad to transmit coverage of the rally to the Freedom Newspaper online outlet based abroad, which the Gambian authorities cursorily determined to be a violation of broadcast license requirements. He was convicted and fined $1,250.

In Sudan, the government shut down a popular TEDxKhartoum event in May 2013. Despite months of preparation that included support from a number of government institutions, security agents obstructed the event minutes after it began, threatening to revoke the organisers’ permit and later cut off the facility’s electricity.

Because the event had no political agenda, the main organizer of TedxSudan, Anwar Dafa-Alla, believed that the government was nervous about the event being live-streamed, the Freedom House report states.

Death for owning mobile phone

But the most alarming reprisals against the use of social media are not even being carried out by governments, says the Freedom House report. Though nothing on this level has happened yet in Africa, in Pakistan, Arifa Bibi, a mother of two, was stoned to death in June 2013 by villagers after a local court in the Dera Ghazi Khan region of Punjab convicted her of merely possessing a mobile phone.

And the same month, a group of men fatally shot a mother and two daughters in Gilgit Baltistan, in northern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. A video of the women laughing and playing in the rain had been circulating on local mobile networks, which male family members considered shameful – and they killed them for it.

Source: Zehabesha

Netanyahu said that the Ethiopian Jews’ journey to Israel “articulates the vision of the ingathering of the exiles which is the essence of our existence, rebirth and prayers.”

Calling Ethiopian immirants “flesh of our flesh, equal among equals,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that there is no place for racism and discrimination in Israeli society.

“We will fight with all our strength against those unacceptable phenomena,” he said of racism and discrimination at an annual ceremony at Mt. Herzl commemorating Ethiopian Jews who died while trying to make their way to Israel. “We will uproot this from our lives. We will turn it into something inferior, despicable.”

Ceremony commemorating Jewish Ethiopians who perished while making aliyah to Israel‏.. (photo credit:GIL YOCHANAN/POOL)

Netanyahu’s comments came just two weeks after protests by Ethiopian-Israelis against discrimination rocked the country.

Courtesy: Prime Minister’s Office – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin attend ceremony commemorating Ethiopian Jews who perished while making aliyah.

Netanyahu said that there are societies which have managed to rise above racism and discrimination, and that Israel must join them.

“We the Jews brought the idea of the dignity of man to civilization,” Netanyahu said. “And we will make sure that the dignity of man will be expressed in this our one and only state.”

Netanyahu repeated a pledge he met two weeks ago after meeting Ethiopian-Israeli activists to head a special ministerial committee to deal with the community’s grievances, and said that the committee will bring a comprehensive plan addressing the problems to the government.

The prime minister described that meeting as an emotional one that rattled him. “I heard complaints about racism, prejudice, discrimination, and the use of excess force. I heard concerns about walking down the street because of the color of your skin. I cannot accept this, not in our country, not in the Jewish state.”

Netanyahu said that the Ethiopian Jews’ journey to Israel, and the trials they suffered on the way – many of them walking hundreds of miles through Sudan – “articulates the vision of the ingathering of the exiles which is the essence of our existence, rebirth and prayers.”

The ceremony commemorating the Ethiopian Jewish immigration is held on Jerusalem Day because of the community’s yearning for Jerusalem, a yearning Netanyahu said was the dream of every Jewish child in Ethiopia.

“I can tell you that I have taken quite a few walking journeys in my life,” Netanyahu said. “When I was a soldier I walked many kilometers – in the Negev, the Galilee, from sea to sea. But your journey is unparalleled. This was a journey of of weeks, months and sometimes years. It was a journey of complete uncertainty, a journey of tears.”

Netanyahu said that the immigrants “faced every possible evil: hunger and thirst, disease and death, imprisonment and torture, robbers. Sometimes you struggled with wild animals, other times with people who were worse than animals — and the stories are heartbreaking.”

Netanyahu said that although that journey is over, it is important that every Israeli child knows the tale, and that he has directed the educational system to instill that story into the schools, “because I think it’s part of bringing people closer together, and to implant a [feeling] of the common destiny of our people.”

President Reuven Rivlin, during his comments, said that of the 12,000 Ethiopian Jews who set out for Israel in the early 1980s, some 4,000 died on the way.

Rivlin said Israeli society made mistakes in the way it dealt with the absorption of the Ethiopian immigrants, and did not do enough to correct them. After laying a wreath at the monument to Ethiopian Jews, Rivlin said that just as Israel passes from Remembrance Day for the fallen to Israel Independence Day, there is also a symbolic transition from great sadness over the loss of loved ones to the joy of Jerusalem Day “which we celebrate together.”

The story of Ethiopian immigration is one of faith and hope and a display of tremendous courage and unflagging determination by the Ethiopian Jewish leadership, he said.

The President took Israel to task for having closed its gates to Ethiopian Jews for several decades before finally embarking on Operation Moses (1984) and Operation Solomon (1991) that airlifted much of the community to the country.

Relating to the recent protests, Rivlin — his voice almost breaking with emotion — said he was almost personally pained by the discrimination to which members of the Ethiopian community have been subjected over the years.

“We have all seen and heard the cry of pain of Israelis of Ethiopian background,” he said. “The demonstrators exposed an open wound that bled in the heart of Israel, a penetrating cry that comes from a feeling of bias, racism, humiliation and lack of resources.”

He said Sunday’s memorial gathering provided an opportunity to speak about hope for a better future, hope which is an antidote for apathy.

Source: Satenaw

The State Department alerts U.S. citizens residing in or traveling to Ethiopia of the upcoming elections scheduled for May 24, 2015. U.S. citizens are urged to exercise caution and remain abreast of the security situation throughout the electoral period. This Travel Alert expires on June 30, 2015.

The State Department recommends U.S. citizens maintain a high level of security awareness during the electoral period and avoid political rallies, polling centers, demonstrations, and crowds of any kind as instances of unrest can occur. Review your personal security plans; remain aware of your surroundings, including local events; and monitor local news stations for updates. Although there have been no specific incidents of violence targeting U.S. citizens, U.S. citizens are urged to exercise caution and stay current with media coverage of local events. Election results are scheduled to be announced June 22, 2015.

During previous elections, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) required all diplomats and international organization staff living in Addis Ababa to receive an official pass from the MFA if they planned to travel outside of Addis Ababa during the election season. While not in effect this election, the U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens to be aware of election sensitivities. We especially recommend avoiding public polling stations on the day of the election, including schools and other public buildings. In Addis Ababa alone there will be nearly 1,600 polling stations – roughly one polling station for every kilometer.

We strongly recommend that U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Ethiopia enroll in the Department of State’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) at travel.state.gov. STEP enrollment gives you the latest security updates, and makes it easier for the U.S. Embassy or nearest U.S. Consulate to contact you in an emergency. If you do not have Internet access, contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate to enroll directly.

Regularly monitor the State Department’s website, where you can find current Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, and the Worldwide Caution. Read the Country Specific Information for Ethiopia. For additional information, refer to the “Traveler’s Checklist” on the State Department’s website.

The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa is located at Entoto Street, P.O. Box 1014. The Consular Section of the Embassy may be reached by telephone: +251-111-306000 or e-mail at consacs@state.gov, and is open Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. For after-hours emergencies, U.S. citizens should call +251-111-306911 or 011-130-6000 and ask to speak with the duty officer.

BBC – Maj Gen Godefroid Niyombareh announced that a national salvation committee had been set up to run the country.President Nkurunziza is currently in Tanzania meeting other East African leaders to discuss the crisis. His aide dismissed the coup claims as “a joke”.

President Nkurunziza has rejected calls to postpone next month’s election.

Gen Niyombareh, in a statement read to reporters in a military base, said he did not recognise the leadership because the president’s bid for a third term violated the constitution.

Soldiers have surrounded the offices of the national broadcaster in the capital, Bujumbura.

Gen Niyombareh’s “national salvation committee” comprises at least five other army and police generals.

One eyewitness told Reuters that crowds who had earlier been out on the streets of the capital protesting against the president were now cheering and celebrating his apparent dismissal.

The unrest began on 26 April and has led to the deaths of more than 20 people.

Tens of thousands of Burundians have fled to neighbouring states in recent weeks.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopian opposition groups are accusing the government of harassing their members and carrying out illegal detentions ahead of the May 24 elections.

Yonathan Tesfaye, spokesman for the Blue Party, told The Associated Press Wednesday that some party members are being beaten, especially in the southern region. He said his party may boycott the elections.

Chane Kebede, leader of the Ethiopian Democratic Party, also complained of a climate of fear.

Desta Tesfaw, a spokesman for the ruling party, dismissed the allegations and accused opposition parties groups of trying to discredit the elections.

In 2010, Ethiopia’s ruling coalition won 99.6 percent of all parliamentary s

eats — a victory that Human Rights Watch said was “the culmination of the government’s five-year strategy of systematically closing down space for political dissent and independent criticism.”

Source: Associated Press

April 4, 2015

“Our investigations show that this was not a deliberate attack,” ministry spokesperson Tewolde Mulugeta told The Anadolu Agency.

 World Bulletin / News Desk

The Ethiopian embassy in Yemeni capital Sanaa was shelled on Friday, the Foreign Ministry has said.

“We believe it is a collateral damage occurred in the crossfire between the warring factions in the Yemeni capital,”  said ministry spokesperson Tewolde Mulugeta.

According to the spokesperson, no one was hurt in the attack.

“The embassy continued its normal functioning,” Mulugeta said.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson said that some 30 Ethiopians, including 11 children and 12 women, have been evacuated from Yemen.

Read more »

Authorities will give people 30 days to leave; those who refuse will face a hearing to determine their indefinite imprisonment 
By Mairav Zonszein, The Guardian 
April 1, 2015
Israel will begin deporting asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan to unnamed third countries in Africa even if against their will, the immigration authority announced on Tuesday.

The assumption is that the third countries are Rwanda and Uganda, although Israel has not revealed details.
According to the interior minister, Gilad Erdan, the move will “encourage infiltrators to leave the borders of the state of Israel in an honourable and safe way, and serve as an effective tool for fulfilling our obligations towards Israeli citizens and restoring the fabric of life to the residents of south Tel Aviv”.
Until now, the state exerted pressure and provided a one-off monetary incentive for asylum seekers to leave voluntarily, but only if they signed written consent. Now the state will give them 30 days to leave; those who refuse will face a hearing to determine their indefinite imprisonment.
People in Holot, a detention facility in the Negev, currently requesting asylum will not be immediately affected by the new measure.

Read more »

Ethiopia has been involved in fighting Islamist militants based in Somalia.

Two British citizens and a Somali man have been jailed in Ethiopia for trying to establish an Islamic state, a radio affiliated to the government reports.

The UK Foreign Office has confirmed the detention of two British nationals.

The three men, who received terms ranging from four to seven years, were alleged to have had links with local jihadists, the Fana Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) said.

Ethiopia has extremely strict anti-terror laws.

It has long waged a campaign against Islamist militancy in East Africa - and has been involved in fighting against al-Qaeda linked militants in neighbouring Somalia.

The country has also faced criticism from donors for jailing its critics, including some of the country's leading bloggers who are facing trail on terrorism charges and have been in detention since April 2014.

Ethiopia's leader defended the country's strict anti-terror laws last year

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Addis Ababa (HAN) January 3, 2015 – Public diplomacy and Interview with dialogue news. General Samora Muhammad Yunis is the Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces. General Samora Muhammad Yunis, chief of staff of Ethiopian national defense forces, has strongly criticized Ethiopian opposition groups for disregarding values of Ethiopian national interests.

After explaining how Derge Army Core 604 was defeated in Shire two decades ago, the four-star general commented in a question-and-answer session that Ethiopian opposition groups don’t respect values of basic national interests.

“EPRDF welcomes genuine opposition groups. However our opposition groups are literally selling out the national interests of the nation to external forces. Some of them are even publicly declaring to dismantle the Ethiopian national defense forces” General Samora added.

Source: HAN & Geeska Afrika Online

Media reports alleged that four pilots in an airbase in eastern Ethiopia had defected to Kenya

World Bulletin/News Desk

The Ethiopian government on Friday denied reports about the defection of four Air Force pilots to neighboring Kenya.

"This report is a baseless fabrication," Ewnetu Blata, State Minister of Government Communication Affairs Office, told The Anadolu Agency.

"I can confirm that the report is untrue," Ewnetu said.

Media reports alleged that four pilots in an airbase in eastern Ethiopia had defected to Kenya.

Last week, the Ethiopian Defense Ministry accused Eritrea of hijacking an Ethiopian helicopter.

The ministry said in a statement that an Ethiopian helicopter – that has disappeared since Friday – was forced to land in neighboring Eritrea.

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WASHINGTON, DC - An Ethiopian pilot and two of his crew members defected to Eritrea flying an Mi-35 combat helicopter, the state television announced on Monday.

The pilots were based in the eastern city of Dire Dawa and they executed their plan during what the state-owned TV called a "routine flight training." The announcement came in after days of massive aerial search across northeastern Ethiopia.

The crew members were Captain Samuel Giday, Lt. Bililign Desalegn, and flight technician Tsegaberhan Giday. It was not known whether the pilot and technician are siblings.

The TV didn't specify where in Eritrea the pilot landed the helicopter, but an Ethiopian Air Force source cited the Port of Assab as the most likely place of landing the aircraft.

The $25 million Mi-35M helicopter integrates modern high-precision weaponry for destroying ground-based armoured targets and providing air support for ground missions, according to one source related to selling the Russian-made helicopter.

"It is a huge loss for the government," the source said, adding that "since Ethiopia and Eritrea have no diplomatic ties, Addis Ababa may seek the help of neighboring Sudan to retrieve the multi-purpose combat helicopter."

Earlier this year, eight Air Force men defected to Eritrea where they reportedly joined Ethiopian rebel groups.

Eritrea gets 2nd helicopter gunship

It is the second time that Eritrea has acquired Mi-35 helicopter from Ethiopia.

"During the 1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea War, an Ethiopian pilot landed an Mi-24 helicopter, which is a predessor to Mi-35, in an Eritrean territory, claiming that his copter was attacked and damaged. He was rescued but the helicopter was left there intact. The next day, the Eritreans sought the help of an Ethiopan pilot who was living in Asmar a as a political asylee, and flew the helicopter to Asmara, signifying that it had no damage."

The Air Force source, who was speaking to Ethiomedia on condition of anonymity, said it was a mystery why the Ethiopian pilot chose to leave an important war machine in the hand of the enemy instead of destroying it.

First, he landed the helicopter in an enemy territory, though it was not damaged. Second, the rule of war dictates that war machines be destroyed lest the enemy makes use of them. They failed to do that. This makes it a mystery: either the pilots were not very well qualified to do the job, or else there was a conspiracy of passing an important war machine to the hand of the enemy.

The latter may sound far-fetched but it should be remembered that Ethiopia was in the hand of the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, an ultra Eritrean nationalist mercenary who kept a low profile until he wiped out his Ethiopian critics and sabotaged the war victory over Eritrea.

Today Eritrea is a pariah state, with its citizens fleeing in every direction to escape the harsh rule of President Isaias Afewerki. But the Eritrean desert has also an oasis for Ethiopian Air Force men who desperately seek a refuge from the choking political repression at home. 

Source: Ethiomedia.com

The Ethiopian Defense Ministry charges that a pilot hijacked to Eritrea an attack helicopter which went missing a few days ago.

In a statement issued late Monday the ministry said the pilot of the Ethiopian attack helicopter forced his co-pilot and technician to land in Eritrean territory.

The helicopter was conducting a routine training flight when it disappeared on Friday morning, prompting a massive military search across northern Ethiopia.

It's unusual for Ethiopian army personnel to flee to Eritrea though Eritrean troops often across the border into Ethiopia, citing harsh conditions and forced conscription into the military.

Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been consistently strained since Eritrea gained its independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 following a 30-year guerrilla war.

Source: ABC News

WASHINGTON, DC - Yemeni authorities on June 24 arrested a top Ethiopian rebel group leader while he was in transit at Sanaa airport, sources said.  

    Andargatchew Tsige, secretary of Ginbot 7, a rebel group based in Eritrea, arrived in the Yemeni capital aboard Yemenia Airlines. He was waiting for his flight when Yemeni security men whisked him away into detention. Fears are mounting he might be extradited to Ethiopia.

The countries in the region, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, Sudan, and Djibouti are rogue states they don't really need 'extradition treaties' to hand over political opponents as 'convicted criminals.'

"Yemen should understand that any harm befalling the human rights, democracy and justice activist Andargatchew Tsige would painfully hurt the interests of the Ethiopian people who are struggling for freedom from life under the brutal TPLF regime," the rebel group Ginbot 7 said in a statement.

"We call for his immediate release; any attempt to hand over Andargachew to the regime in Addis Ababa would irrevocably damage the age-old relations between Ethiopia and Yemen," the rebel group said in its press release.

Andargachew's life was checkered by arrests, tortures, and exiled life before he helped found Ginbot 7, an Eritrea-based armed group vowing to overthrow the regime in Addis by all means possible.

In June 2012, Andargachew, and other top leaders of Ginbot 7, including Ginbot 7 chairman Dr Berhanu Nega, were tried on trumped-up terrorism charges and sentenced to life in absentia.

Source: Ethiomedia

hartoum (HAN) June 30, 2014.  Regional Security border updates. The Horn of Africa’s Fractious neighbors renew crossfire over disputed border lines after a Sudan troops was killed in clashes with unknown Ethiopian forces.

“Ethiopian militia group opened unprovoked fire from across the border at Sudan border post , they fired mortars and automatic weapons,” one

Sudani Diplomat told HAN (the Horn of Africa Newsline) in Khartoum on condition of anonymity. “Our troops responded with retaliatory fire.”

The regional ethnic porous border is unmarked in places and a battleground in the fight against Local rebels supported by Eritrea.

While Sudan and Ethiopia continue to disagree on many key border issues, they reported progress in their bilateral relations in 2012 With the Ethiopian Prime ministers statretic doctrine.

In 2013, Ethiopia and South Sudan have signed an agreement to work jointly on measures aimed at combating regional security threats and ensuring peace along their shared border.The agreement was reached after senior army officers from the two neighboring countries held security talks in Ethiopia’s western Gambella state, which borders South Sudan.  At that time,  Ethiopian security forces destroyed Eritrea-Backed rebel group in North-western Ethiopia.

According to Ethiopian security officials, A group of terrorists who were given military training and armed in Eritrea were killed and captured by the Ethiopian security forces while trying to sneak in to Ethiopia through the Sudanese border. The report said six were killed and 12 of them were captured alive.

Meanwhile, details of the accident:

The border tension is brewing along the Sudan-Ethiopia border after ten Sudanese soldiers were killed in a skirmish with a militia group there on Saturday, the army and witnesses said. Sudanese farmers in Gedaref State told the {African Press Agency } on Sunday that another 13 soldiers were injured in the attack believed to have been carried out by an Ethiopian militia.

Other reports spoke of Sudan’s Paramilitary Popular Defense amassing troops near the border with Ethiopia in the wake of the incident, the second in one month.

Sudan and Ethiopia agreed to deploy joint patrols along their common border to prevent the movement of rebels, smugglers and human traffickers.

The Sudanese army confirmed the incident but denied the suspected involvement of Ethiopian regular forces.

Army spokesman Colonel Alswarmy Khalid Saad told APA that the soldiers were killed in clashes with an unidentified Ethiopian group, describing the incident as isolated.

He said clashes between the Sudanese troops and the militias took place on the farmlands in Basonda near the border on Saturday morning.

The gunmen were attempting to control agricultural projects in Basonda, which are owned by the Popular Defence Force Saad claimed.

Source: www.geeskaafrika.com