Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 5th of February twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

A US federal judge in Boston delivered its ruling on Friday the 30th of January in a case that three Ethiopians filed against the Trump administration. The verdict temporarily blocked plans by the Department of Homeland Security (or DHS) to terminate temporary protected status, arrest, or deport about five thousand Ethiopians in the US.

The decision is expected to delay the deadline of the 13th of February that the DHS set for Ethiopians to leave the country. The judge added that the delay will also give the DHS time to provide documents and explain its decision to lift the temporary protected status for Ethiopian immigrants. The DHS argues that Ethiopia is safe enough for its citizens in the US to return, even though the US government still strongly urged its citizens to reconsider plans to go to the East African nation due to safety concerns.

In Addis Ababa, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared before the House of Peoples’ Representatives to answer questions from members on Tuesday the 3rd. Several issues were discussed, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, plans to get an outlet to the Red Sea, the state of education, tensions in the northern parts of the country and the upcoming general election.

PM Abiy doubled down on the decision to pursue access to the sea, stating that, regardless of the means, Ethiopia will gain an outlet. He also said the escalating feud between his government and Eritrea’s didn’t start because of these plans but because Eritrean forces committed serious crimes in Tigray when they were fighting against the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (or TPLF).

Earlier this week, the PM travelled to the Somali region, in South-Eastern Ethiopia to inaugurate a wind power plant that a Chinese contractor built. According to news outlets, the project will diversify Ethiopia’s energy sources as the country has traditionally relied on hydropower, which isn’t reliable in generating power in parts of the country prone to droughts, like the Somali region.

The plant has the capacity to produce eighty megawatts of power but is expected to generate up to a hundred and twenty. The presidents of two neighboring countries, Somalia and Djibouti, attended the inauguration.

More news on energy infrastructure as the Ministry of Energy said a new solar power farm capable of producing over six hundred kilowatts of power has begun operations this week. The ministry said the project cost four hundred million birr, which is more than two and a half million US dollars. It added that the World Bank loan funded the project.

The ministry also revealed that sixteen more solar power farms are under construction and will join the grid soon.

News of renewed fighting in Tigray resulted in banks running on low cash and fuel price hikes, disrupting daily life. But media outlets reported on Monday the 2nd that clashes have died down since.

Reports came out last week that fighting may have resumed between the government and the TPLF. Following these reports, Ethiopian Airlines began cancelling flights from Addis Ababa to airports in Tigray last Thursday the 29th but resumed them on Tuesday the 3rd.

The Ministry of Jobs and the Ethiopian office of the International Labor Organization (or ILO) announced a project worth over a billion birr, which is almost eight million US dollars, on Friday the 30th. They said that the project will help ensure the safety and protect the interests of Ethiopians migrating to work primarily in countries in the Middle East.

Officials said the project will involve the ministry and the ILO in the migration process from recruitment through employment. They added that although there are over six hundred private companies that train those interested in migrating, there are gaps in their training. They said that these companies will be evaluated as part of the project.

On Monday the 2nd, the National Bank’s governor appeared before the House of Peoples’ Representatives Standing Committee on Plan, Budget and Finance Affairs to report the central bank’s performance halfway through the current fiscal year. He said that foreign currency supplies have increased following a series of foreign currency auctions that the bank held. He added that this has resulted in a smaller gap between official and black market exchange rates.

He also said that the economy is improving with the inflation rate dipping to single digits. One of the questions the Members of the House asked was about the increasing number of digital banking fraud cases. Another bank official responded that the bank is urging financial institutions to safeguard their customers and amp up security.

More on the economy, recall that countries loaned money to Ethiopia, but Ethiopia couldn't pay back, so the nations formed a committee that would hold talks with Ethiopia to restructure the debt (to change the terms of the original deal now that Ethiopia couldn't pay).

The talks took years but recently, an initial, tentative agreement was reached and tabled for approval by the creditors, but they rejected it.

The group said it is now looking to sue Ethiopia, although it said its door is open to discuss other agreeable terms if the country is interested. According to Debt Justice, an organization whose stated purpose is to advocate against exploitative debt, the Ethiopian people should welcome the creditors’ rejection of the agreement because the terms of the initial deal would have seen them pay even more to service the debt.

People will also be relieved to hear that the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration sent a letter to oil retailers on Wednesday the 4th setting gas prices, which aside from aircraft fuel, will remain where they were until at least a month from now.

Oil prices have significantly increased in recent months and there were long cues across Addis Ababa as drivers feared that the ministry would announce yet another hike.

State-owned telecom services provider Ethio Telecom also issued a report about how it performed in the first half of the fiscal year. The CEO addressed the company's decision to increase service fees it charges its more than eighty million customers saying that prices are still fair and significantly lower than what other companies charge for similar services.

She also recalled that an increase was in order since many accused Ethio Telecom of predatory pricing, setting prices too low so that Safaricom, another telecom services provider, couldn't compete.

She also said the company earned almost four million new customers and over four million new users of its mobile money app.

University lecturer Mohamed wrote an article for local news outlet Addis Standard in English, about Ethiopia’s National ID program, which the PM’s office backs. Citizens must register if they are to open bank accounts, pay taxes, receive passports, sit for national exams and more. Mohamed criticizes the government's approach in his article, saying that the forced implementation of the program pushes into rights violation territory.

He also rejects the government’s statements that the program will bring sizable benefits to citizens and will help provide efficient private and government services to users. He wrote that an ID card or a digital number won’t by themselves solve deep-seated governance issues.

Check out the full article with the link in the show notes.

Finishing off this edition, Addis Ababa’s Mayor attended the launch of the construction of a subsidized housing project for teachers on Wednesday the 4th. Over six thousand teachers organized in more than fifty associations saved almost four billion birr, which is around twenty-six million US dollars, to cover twenty-five percent of the costs of building the houses and the mayor said the government will facilitate a loan that will cover the rest of the expenses.

She also said the city administration is ready to give teachers who are planning to build houses forty hectares of land worth twenty-four billion birr, which is well over a hundred and fifty million US dollars, for free.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

But wait, we have an important thing to tell you. We've decided to bring the Rorshok Ethiopia Update to an end. We've loved doing it and it has been going since late twenty twenty-one. Originally, we'd sort of hoped that the listeners could connect and a small community might form, but one way or another, we didn't know how to do that, and it hasn't really happened. And putting them out every week is lots of work and not cheap....so we're just going to stop and focus on the other community building things Rorshok is doing. You can check out our projects on our website. Thank you for listening all these years. We'd love to hear from you, so if you’ve got any questions or ideas, send us an email at info@rorshok.com.

Ciao!