Source: http://ethsat.com/esat-radio-sat-31-oct-2015/

Source: http://ethsat.com/yesrawitu-dimse-in-collaboration-with-esat-oct-31-2015/

16 died, 12 injured in Ethio-Sudanese border conflict

Sudan Tribune reported on Thursday October 29, 2015 that ongoing clashes at the Ethio-Sudanese border in El-Gadaref state claimed the lives of at least 16 Sudanese nationals.

12 more people were wounded and 7 others were kidnapped during the clash, the report obtained from Sudan Tribune indicated. In addition, more than 300 cattle were also looted from Sudanese farmers.

Former Chief of Staff of the Sudanese Army and Current Interior Minister Esmat Abdel-Rahman told Sudanese Parliamentarians that armed Ethiopians attacked Sudanese forces and farmers at “Fashaga”, “Algalabat”, “Giraisha” and Sanda areas in El-Gadaref.

Ethiopia and Sudan reached an agreement to solve border disputes, patrol the area, and control human traffickers, but it could not be implemented so far, the report showed.

ESAT two weeks ago reported that 8 Ethiopians were killed when the Sudanese attacked Ethiopians at the joint border in Fashaga.

The Sudanese Parliament members suggested the Sudanese government to deploy reinforcement which comprised the Sudanese army and the special forces to protect the Sudanese farmers and territory.

The farmers from both Ethiopians and Sudanese disputed on the ownership of the land in the area.

Previously, the governor of Gedaref state, Sarghani Salih, said that Ethiopia controlled more than a million acres of Sudanese Agricultural land in the area of Al-Fashaga. Sudan Tribune also reported that the Ethiopian forces occupied 749 km of fertile land from the Sudanese farmers.

The Ethiopian government in June confirmed that it “returned” the land Ethiopia took from Sudan two decades ago. The Deputy Prime Minister, Demeke Mekonnen said the land was occupied by Ethiopians in 1996.The Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia did not elaborate on the size of the land that was given back to Sudan.

Demeke said no one from both sides was displaced during the returning process.

Ethiopians accuse the TPLF/EPRDF government for abandoning Ethiopian fertile land and territory to Sudan.

Ethiopians in need of food aid may increase to 15 million in 2016

Several reports indicate that more than 15 million Ethiopians may need food aid by early 2016, with 350,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition.

The Ethiopian government recently announced that about 8.2 million people were in need of food assistance, up from the 4.5 million estimated in August 2015.

Reports also indicate that hunger and malnutrition has risen sharply, affecting South East, East and North East regions of the country.

More than 596 million dollars was requested to feed 8.5 million people. 43% of the money was supplied by international partners has already been spent, reports showed.

It is reported that the response for the humanitarian crisis is delayed and aid agencies can’t raise sufficient funds to avert a crisis until significant media show images of starving children.

Officials warn that a late response to generate funds is estimated to cost more than 1.7 billion dollars. Households may sell their assets, reduce food consumption, and pull their children out of school if the aid does not reach them on time. Responding early would have a long-term economic impact, reduce the threat of malnutrition, and save life, and mitigate total cost.

Minster for Information Redwan Hussein told reporters at a recent press conference in October that Ethiopia is doing what it could. “The support from donor agencies has not yet arrived in time to let us cope with the increasing number of the needy population,” he said.

It is recalled that Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn, addressing Ethiopian ambassadors in Addis Ababa, said Ethiopia could tackle drought without the support of the donor communities. The Prime Minister also said no child was admitted at Therapeutic Feeding Center in Ethiopia. In October, Childfund said 139,783 severely malnourished children were admitted to therapeutic feeding program centers between January and June 2015 in Afar, Amhara, Oromia, South Nations and Nationalities, and People, Somali and Tigray regions.

UN figures depict that 20 million Ethiopians live in poverty.

IOM to repatriate 400 Ethiopians from Malawi

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it would repatriate 400 Ethiopian immigrants from Malawi with the funds obtained from U.S. Association for International Migration (USAIM).

The migrants were caught for entering Malawi illegally en route to South Africa.

IOM also thanked Global Alliance for the Rights of Ethiopians (GARE) for donating 10,000 USD to repatriate Ethiopians.

Hundreds of Ethiopian detainees in Malawi suffer from precarious sanitary condition, inadequate food, infectious disease, lack of water, and overcrowding. Their health is deteriorating, the report obtained from IOM indicated.

Speaking to ESAT, the Washington, DC IOM Chief of Mission, Mr. Luca Dall’Oglio said that 10% of these detainees were minors and would be transported during the first phase.

Mr. Dall’Oglio said some 250,000 USD would be needed to repatriate 400 Ethiopian immigrants languishing in Malawi prisons. Most of the fund was provided by United States Association for International Migration (USAIM).

Asked about what the Ethiopian government contributed to repatriate the immigrants, Mr. Dall’Oglio said that the Ethiopian embassy facilitated travel documents for these Ethiopians. Ethiopian Airlines would also make fare concessions for transporting the returnees.

Several Ethiopians were repatriated from Yemen and Malawi. In August, IOM repatriated some 800 Ethiopian migrants from Yemen. Similarly, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières/ (MSF) said it repatriated 200 Ethiopian detainees in Lilongwe, Malawi since November 2014 for “undocumented status”.

The report indicated that most of these migrants were “on the way to South Africa to flee harsh poverty and make a better life.”

Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians are currently in a precarious condition in Kenya, Yemen, South Africa, Malawi, Libya and Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.

ESAT previously reported extensively that the precarious situation Ethiopian immigrants faced in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya and South Africa.

6 police officers shot in Gondar, Ethiopia

Three police officers were shot dead, and three more were critically wounded in fire exchange between a patriotic Ginbot 7 member and federal police officers in Gondar.

The Patriotic Ginbot 7 member named Amsalu Teshome was arrested before on charges of his connection with Patriotic Ginbot 7 and recruiting members for Patriotic Ginbot 7 in Gonder area and sending these recruits to training centers in Eritrea.

Later, Amsalu was released, but the policemen came back to arrest him on October 23, 2015. Ambasslu was asked to surrender, but he refused and shot 6 police officers. During the exchange of fire, three police officers were shot dead and three more were seriously wounded. The latter were reportedly in critical condition.

Amsalu allegedly warned the police officers not to encroach him or else he would shoot them. The police offers were unwilling to pull back, and Amsalu resorted to shoot them, the report indicated.

When he knew a bullet was left, Amsalu committed suicide.

Authorities were not willing to handover his body to his families. Later, due to the pressure from the local people, his relatives were allowed to bury him, the report obtained indicated.

In a related news, Sergent Welelaw Wasihun along with his squad was killed in Metema town, Gondar.

In Tikel Dingay, Sanja Wereda, Gonder, security officers have been harassing the residents for allegedly supporting Arbegnoch Ginbot 7 forces operating in the area. Several people were reportedly arrested.

Tension continues as the federal police threaten the local inhabitants. Human rights atrocities in Gondar and other parts of Ethiopia are grossly committed as the ruling TPLF tries to silence the armed and opposition groups.

Self-organized freedom fighters killed 20 government soldiers in Tepi

ESAT has received reports that a heavy fighting broke out between self-organized Tepi Youth freedom fighters and Ethiopian security forces on October 27/28, 2015 night. The incident occurred when the Ethiopian security forces started harassing women and elderly for supporting rebel groups operating in the area.

According to an eyewitness, after learning the security forces started harassing the villagers, the Tepi freedom fighters took a swift action by attacking the Ethiopian security forces at Korcha Hibret Kebele, 7 kms from Tepi.

20 government soldiers and two rebels were reportedly killed during the fighting. The deceased government soldiers were loaded on 4 vehicles.

The group made the names of the two deceased soldier’s public. Abraham Feyissa and Zerihun Bassa were inhumanely dragged in the town to scare off other youth from joining freedom fighters.

ESAT could not verify the number of casualties from other independent sources. However, eyewitnesses said that they were scared when they heard the exchange of fire throughout the night.

More soldiers have been deployed in the area to control the frustration and anger of the public which has become a talking point among residents.

The local people have started fleeing their homes, for they were scared the government could take retaliatory measures. “We are leaving our homes due to the harassment by Ethiopian security forces,” a resident told ESAT on the phone. Currently, several people are believed to be under custody.

In a letter sent to ESAT, the group spokesman indicated that the freedom fighters would continue taking severe measures if the government would not stop harassing the local residents.

ESAT in June 2015 reported that two members of youth group members and 33 government soldiers were killed during an attack in Tepi.

It has been over a year since the youth in Tepi have started raising questions about their rights.

[…]

በሻሸመኔ አካባቢ የኮንትሮባንድ ንግድ ተቋማዊ ቅርጽ መያዙን የሚያሳይ መረጃ ጠቆመ፡፡ ሌሎች በኮንትሮባንድ ንግድ እንዳይሳተፉ የሚከለክለው ሕግ የሚጸናባቸው ከህወሃት ራቅ ያሉ የኅብረተሰብ ክፍሎች መሆናቸው ድርጊቱን “ማስመጥ” አሰኝቶታል፡፡ ዜጎችም “የኮንትሮባንድ ንግድ ትርጉሙ ምን ይሆን?” እያሉ ነው፡፡ የኮንትሮባንድ ንግድ በህጋዊነት በተለይ የሚፈጸመው ኢትዮጵያን በነጻ አውጪ ስም ላለፉት 25 ዓመታት በግፍ እየገዛ ባለው የትግራይ ህዝብ ነጻ አውጪ ግምባር ህወሃትና […] […]