Archive for the ‘Domestic Affairs’ Category

Ethiopia's parliament has passed a controversial bill imposing tight restrictions on aid agencies. Foreign agencies are prohibited from a number of areas including human rights, equality, conflict resolution and the rights of children. Local groups that receive more than 10% of their funding from abroad are also banned from working in these areas. Under discussion for months, the bill ... Full story

Ethiopia's main opposition leader has been sent to prison to serve a life sentence, after a pardon granted to her last year was revoked. Birtukan Medeksa was among more than 100 people jailed for offences after controversial polls in 2005. A dispute over the terms of her release caused her re-arrest. Full story

ASMARA, ERITREA (BosNewsLife)-- Several churches in Eritrea were without their leaders or other believers Sunday, December 21, as a government-backed campaign of mass arrests reached the capital Asmara amid fears several detainees died of mistreatment, Christians said. Over 100 men, women and children from a variety of Christian denominations were jailed in recent ... Full story

Kenyan member of parliament representing Turkana central constituency, Ekuwe Ethuro, recommended the government to threaten war on Ethiopia for starting dam constructions at the Omo river. Local officials indicated the Kenyan Lake Turkana's survival is at risk because of Ethiopia's development operations up stream. According to Kenyan media, the country's Water Minister is discussing with the Ethiopian government on how to solve this issue and reach ... Full story

Addis Ababa, December 9 (WIC) - The Oromia Mass Media Agency disclosed that it has launched a trial Television Transmission that aims at expediting information and education dissemination activities and thereby enhance public’s participation in development endeavors. Agency head, Abera Hailu told WIC that organized with the objectives of teaching, entertaining and creating national consensus, the Oromia Mass Media Agency has launched a trial Television Transmission ... Full story

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Ethiopia, a country of chronic food shortages and malnutrition, has launched an agriculture commodity exchange in a daring experiment to raise food production by creating a safe, transparent agriculture market. The idea to create a commodity exchange was hatched by a former senior economist at the World Bank, Eleni Gabre-Madhin, who was born ... Full story

This is the third year in a row that the people from South Omo in Ethiopia have been affected by flooding. Though it is common mostly around August and September, it happened this time later in November following unseasonal rain, with terrible effects. An initial assessment revealed that around 2,500 hectares of sorghum, 1750 hectors of maize and 105 hector of soya bean ... Full story

According to a report, the Ethiopia Statistics Authority indicates that Ethiopia's population has reached 76.9 million. This makes Ethiopia the second biggest African country after Nigeria, which is around 150 million. Third in Africa is Egypt at 75.6 million. According to the census, the number of Christians (Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, other) in Ethiopia has increased from 32.7 million in 1995 to 46.4 million this year. ... Full story

Addis Ababa — MOHA Soft Drinks Industry S.C on Wednesday announced the launch of a new bus terminal project in Merkato, one of the largest open markets in Africa. As the city's main shopping centre where over 200 thousand people from different regions of the country visit the market place each day, the area is oftentimes crowded with shoppers and traffic. The new project estimated to cost ... Full story

The Addis Abeba City Roads Authority (AACRA) has short listed 15 foreign companies engaged in road construction projects in various parts of the country for the award of the huge Africa Avenue (Bole Road) upgrading project. ACCRA has already requested the companies to express interest, and five of them have already responded. The Japanese KAJIMA Corporation and the Chinese China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) International ... Full story