by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (November 8, 2018) Ethiopia says it will rebuild its navy on the international waters of Red Sea and Indian Ocean 27 years after it became landlocked following the independence of Eritrea and the ensuing disbandment of its once strong navy. Deputy état-major General Berhanu Jula told the Ethiopian News Agency that the country, which once ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (August 8, 2018) One of the suspects on trial for the June 23 assassination attempt on the life of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed was the anti-terrorism head with the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), the country’s spy agency. Tesfaye Urge, one of the about 30 suspects arrested after the June 23 assassination ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (August 6, 2018) [UPDATE: As we compile this report, the national defense forces and federal police have been given orders to restore calm and protect the public in the Somali region of Ethiopia, as per a statement by the Office of Government Communication Affairs. The Office said the order has been give based on the ...

ESAT News (July 16, 2018) Administrators of Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromo regions have agreed for federal defense and police forces to intervene to restore peace in their border areas where communal clashes resulted in the death of hundreds of people and the displacement of over a million people. The agreement by Lemma Megersa and Abdi Illey, Presidents of the Oromno ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 16, 2018) Eritrea reopened its Embassy in Addis Ababa, two decades after the compound near the soccer stadium in the capital was deserted by the Eritreans and was used for unspecified purposes by the Ethiopian government. The flag raising ceremony at the Embassy came at the conclusion of a three day visit by Eritrean ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 6, 2018) Prisoners at the Jail Ogaden in the Somali region of Ethiopia have been transferred to several other prisons in the region after a report by the Human Rights Watch exposed torture and human rights abuse at the notorious detention center. Abdulahi Hussien, a former advisor to Abdi Illey, the regional president, told ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 5, 2018) Ethiopia’s parliament has revoked terrorist labels on three opposition groups, namely Patriotic Ginbot 7, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).   The three groups and two others, al Shabaab and al Qaeda, were labeled terrorists by a rubber stamp Parliament, the House of People’s Representatives, seven ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 5, 2018) A damning report by a rights watchdog exposed horrific torture committed against prisoners in Jail Ogaden, a prison in the Somali region of Eastern Ethiopia. Located in the regional capital JiJiga, Jail Ogaden holds prisoners accused of being members and supporters of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a Front that until ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 4, 2018) The Liyou police with the Somali region in Eastern Ethiopia attacked residents of Babile and Chinaksen in East Hararghe killing at least three and displacing hundreds of people. A resident who spoke to ESAT from Babile said forces of the Liyou police have set 60 houses on fire and several domestic animals ...

by Engidu Woldie ESAT News (July 4, 2018) The federal prosecutor said five officials with the government prison administration have been fired for perpetrating torture and other human rights abuses against political and other prisoners. Freed political prisoners have exposed on ESAT and other media outlets that torture against inmates by prison officer and their bosses have been a common ...