Mekelle: 7 May 2024 (Tigray Herald)
Oromo rebels said a genuine national dialogue could only emerge from genuine peace processes between the warring parties. More below
The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) fighting government troops in Ethiopia’s largest Oromia region has criticised the ongoing efforts by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to start a national dialogue aimed at addressing longstanding political problems. In a lengthy statement on Tuesday, the rebel group said a genuine national dialogue could only emerge from genuine peace processes between the warring parties and the political camps, and accompanied by a broader public participation. The ruling Prosperity Party wants to use the ongoing national dialogue to “coopt moderate forces in each political camp”, the group said, adding that the current approach will only consolidate the powers of the prime minister and the ruling party. If the National Dialogue Commission is not disbanded, the efforts to ensure a transition to a democratic order and lasting peace will not be achieved, the group stressed. The rebel group also pointed out that the opening up of the political space, the legislative reforms and the establishment of an inclusive and independent dialogue commission that involves the stakeholders, were important.
2) Ethiopia has said it achieved a modest revenue from coffee exports amid the ongoing security challenges on the Red Sea affecting the shipment to the international market. The Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority disclosed that the country earned $835,230 in the last nine months of the fiscal year, by exporting more than 174,596 tonnes of coffee, a slight increment in the volume, compared to the past few years. The country plans to earn $1.75 billion from the export of the beans in the current fiscal year, ending on July 7. Earlier, the authorities expressed concern about the disruptions on exports of coffee and other commodities from the Djibouti Port as the number of commercial ships using the Red Sea had declined since the end of last year due to attacks by the Yemeni Houthis.
3) Ethiopia started repatriating its nationals from Oman on Tuesday. The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs said the national repatriation committee returned home 230 Ethiopians, who were in various detention camps in the Gulf state. All the returnees were males, with 18 of them under the age of 18 years, according to the ministry. The committee plans to repatriate 1,590 Ethiopians from the Gulf country on six flights, including on Thursday. The government was also repatriating 70,000 nationals from Saudi Arabia since April.
4) The opposition Enat Party claimed the recent arrest of three Ethiopian Orthodox Church clergymen emanated from the government’s “anti-religious ideology”. In a statement, the party called on the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to “refrain from interference in religion” and “immediately stop witch-hunt and unlawful arrest” of the clergy and leaders of the church. Government security forces detained three senior Orthodox clergy last week but two of them, the Rev Mulugeta Seyoum and the Rev Wasihun Kebede, were released the next day. The chief of the church’s Southern and Western Africa Diocese, Birhanu Tekleyared, however, was still in detention in the Federal Police Criminal Investigation Division in Addis Ababa at the time of filing the report.
5) The US embassy in Asmara, Eritrea has announced the resumption of nonimmigrant visa services, beginning May 14, 2024, after a seven-year suspension. The restrictions imposed on Eritrean government officials with the rank of Director General or above, the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) party officials holding national positions, the spouses of those officials and persons below the age of 21, however, still remains in place, the embassy said in an official notice. It will be recalled that President Joe Biden’s Administration also imposed sanctions on a number of Eritrean officials in connection with the country’s role in the 2020-22 war in northern Ethiopia/Tigray.
Source፡Wazema Radio
