MINILIK SALSAWI

Uhuru Kenyatta, Olisegun Obasanjo, Workneh Gebeyehu and ambassadors of 32 countries entered Mekele.   Former President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta, former President of Nigeria and current Special Envoy of the African Union for the Horn of Africa Olisegun Obasanjo, Secretary General of IGAD Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu and other parties who participated in the peace agreement entered Mekele today.   When they arrived at the Alula Aba Nega International Airport in Mekele, they were welcomed by Dr. Debretsion G/Michael and other leaders. East African Inter-Governmental Development (IGAD) Secretary General Workneh Gebeyehu and ambassadors of 32 countries arrived in Mekele today.     The IGAD Spokesperson's Office announced that Workneh entered Mekele City to launch the joint monitoring and verification system established under the agreement to end the war in Ethiopia.     In addition, the ambassadors of African and European countries, including the British ambassador...

The shameful and sad judicial process in Ethiopia   The most dangerous is the illegal way of trial in which the Ethiopian justice police and judges judge as they wish. The trial below is a case where a lawyer was beaten by a political gun and sentenced to four months for violating the law. Read the story very well that Ethiopian judges have made against the Lawyer before a day.   The most dangerous is the illegal way of trial in which the Ethiopian justice police and judges judge as they wish. The trial below is a case where a lawyer was beaten by a political gun and sentenced to four months for violating the law. This is what we heard from his lawyer brother. When I entered the court premises, we met a judge who was my greeter. How can you shout at Amhara when you keep saying that you will fight for Oromo until today? I had two appointments. The first appointment was my turn and I was called and left. I was reading a book while I left the courtroom until the second ...

It was discovered that more than 30 Amhara natives were killed by the special forces of the Oromia region in the eastern Welega Kiremu district in the morning. The targeted attack mostly on ethnic Amhara people were carried out on Friday at 7AM in Kiremu district by the rebel Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).The attack as a ‘state terror attack’ in which the Oromia Special Forces participated using heavy weapons. This number of deaths was recorded in only one place and it was pointed out that it was not possible to know the number of children, women and elderly people who were killed by the security forces who were fleeing for their lives.     The special forces of the Oromia region opened fire on more than 60,000 IDPs who were sheltering in a kebele named Haro Addisalem in East Wolega Zone, Gida Kiremu District, from the morning of today, December 14/2015 AD, and more than 30 Amhara natives were killed in one place alone, according to eyewitnesses who were fleeing for thei...

Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will travel to Mekelle, capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region next week as part of the northern Ethiopia war peace process. The disclosure was made during a press briefing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi on Thursday by Kenyatta who is mediating peace talks between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) Kenyatta made the statement during the ongoing second senior commanders meeting between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF on the implementation of the Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) signed last month in Pretoria, South Africa. The latest meeting started on Tuesday. “The parties have been negotiating for the last two months and we’ve agreed the true statement they need to make will be the statement they will make when we’re in Mekelle in the next few days, observing and verifying actions. Because, documents are one thing, what we want now is deliverables and this is wh...

Recently in Addis Ababa, student protests and violence have been observed in limited schools. The students protested against the hanging of the Oromia flag and the singing of the national anthem in Addis Ababa schools. But the city administration is saying that behind the students' hooket is a political conspiracy. In Addis Ababa city administration, since last week, students have been protesting against the hanging of the flag of the Oromia region in schools and the singing of the Oromia anthem. In the same conflict, which spread from school to school, bodily injuries and property damage also occurred. The students who came to the protest square said that we will not accept the hoisting of the flag or the singing of the national anthem. On Monday 12 December, Lydia Girma, Head of the Addis Abeba City Peace and Security Administration Bureau, announced that security forces in the city detained 72 individuals on allegations that they "were working to instigate violence...

US demands human right investigation to reinstate AGOA privilege . The US urged the Ethiopian government to permit international human rights experts’ access to Ethiopia as a precondition before reinstating Ethiopia’s benefit under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).   Tracey Jacobson (Amb.), Chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy in Addi s Ababa, told local officials the steps the government must take to regain AGOA eligibility, according to an email response the embassy’s press office sent to The Reporter.   The Ambassador who went to the Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP) this week said that one of these steps is to let international human rights experts into conflict-affected areas of northern Ethiopia.   The park houses international fashion and manufacturing brands such as PVH, H&M, and Tommy Hilfiger, among others. Global wholesalers like the Children’s Place also source from the park.   A substantial number of manufacturers from around the world reloca...

Genocide of the Amhara people is not an incident but a structural and systemic one, so it will be stopped by structural and systemic change . Oromia Special Forces have detained and killed hundreds of Amharas in East Wellega Angere Gutin Oromia region. Armed groups have continued killing undisclosed number of civilians in Jarda-Jardi, Kiramu, Gida Ayana districts as well as Anger Guten town in east Wollega zone of Ethiopia’s Oromia regional state.   Oromia officials called the Amhara meeting and locked them in the hall, they handed over the meeting to the OLF Shene and killed them. The government bodies gathered the Amhara farmers and imprisoned them in the Kiremo Municipality, saying, "Shene will kill you, come to the camp." The elders tried to free the prisoners, but the Oromos were released, but the Amharas were not allowed to leave. Residents said that many people were killed in an attack in East Welega Zone. Thousands of citizens were displaced from their homes ...

If the Eritrean army does not withdraw from Tigray, there is no reason for the TPLF to disarm, Getachew Reda the spokesperson of the TPLF said. He said in an interview with BBC Television's "Hard Talk" that "nothing has changed" regarding the implementation of the agreement.  However, since the agreement was signed between the federal government and the TPLF for the disarmament of theTPLF, nothing has changed on the ground. He also said that the agreement was signed between the federal government and the regional government of Tigray.  

The top negotiators of Tigray said that there are threats that could destroy Peace agreement hope. Both representatives explained that the main challenge here is the intervention of the Eritrean army and the forces of the neighboring region. According to the Nairobi Agreement, the withdrawal of foreign forces and non-Ethiopian militias from Tigray must occur at the same time as the disarmament of the Tigrayan army.    However, Tigray authorities accuse the Eritrean army of committing human rights violations, including killings, kidnappings and looting. There is no official response from the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea regarding this. "The international community sees the Eritrean army as a big problem. His actions in Tigray and elsewhere will have the role of hindering the agreement. He is training Afar militias and Amhara special forces . "He doesn't care about the peace of Ethiopia," Ato Getachew accuses.  General Tsadqan similarly said, "The [Erit...

A senior U.S. government official told reporters yesterday that the Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) between the federal government and representatives of the Tigray regional states signed in South Africa, Pretoria , on 02 November “calls for the withdrawal of […] not only Eritrean forces, but Amhara special forces & Afar militia that are currently in Tigray” and that the U.S will not hesitate to use sanction if the “commitments aren’t abided by.”   In a special briefing session on 15 November, a senior official of US State Department recalled that military leaders of the two parties have further agreed in Nairobi on the withdrawal of foreign and non-ENDF forces from Tigray region which would be done concurrently with the disarmament of Tigrayan combatants.  “This is significant because it was the first acknowledgement in essence that there are Eritrean forces operating inside of Ethiopia, and there is now a clear understanding that they are to withdraw”...

 Disarmament of Heavy weapons will be done concurrently with the withdrawal of Eritrean Army and Amhara Special Forces withdraw from Tigray     . Declaration intensifies efforts to end two-year conflict     . Parties say committed to next steps including disarmament     . Mediators say implementation of plan to start immediately     . Includes provision of humanitarian aid to affected areas   "Disarmament of heavy weapons will be done with the withdrawal of foreign and non-ENDF (federal military) forces from the region," the declaration signed on Saturday said, without specifically naming any foreign forces.Eritrea's Information Minister Yemane Meskel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Disarmament will start on Nov. 15, the declaration, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, showed.The role of Eritrea, which has not participated in the talks, remains concerning, analysts say. Its troops have fought ...

The Ethiopian government said Friday that 70 percent of the war-stricken northern region of Tigray was now under federal army control and that aid was being sent in -- claims swiftly denied by Tigrayan rebels.  "70% of Tigray is under ENDF (Ethiopian National Defence Force)," Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's national security adviser Redwan Hussein posted on Twitter. "Aid is flowing like no other times," he said, adding that trucks of food and medicine had been sent to the strategic city of Shire and that flights were being allowed into the area. The restoration of aid to the region of about six million people is one of the key planks of a breakthrough peace deal between the federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to end two years of brutal war in northern Ethiopia. But the rebels denied Redwan's claims. "He is plucking his facts out of thin air," TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda told AFP in a message. AFP was not able to inde...

Ethiopian peace talk in South africa : It is not a peace agreement , It is Joint statement ! This is not the peace agreement signed today. It is the Joint Statement that was read out by both Amb. Redwan and Getachew Reda. There is a big difference between a joint statement and an actual peace agreement. They made DRAFT AGREEMENT FOR LASTING PEACE   - Joint Statement means the Joint Statement delivered to the Shareholders in connection with the Merger, together with any amendments or supplements thereto . - Peace Agreement: formal, publicly-available documents, produced after discussion with . conflict protagonists and mutually agreed to by some or all of them, addressing conflict with a . view to ending it . Joint Statement between the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) 1. As per Article 3 of the Agreement for Lasting Peace and Permanent Cessation of Hostilities, the Representatives of the Government of the Fe...