Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 20th of November twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Recently, tensions have been rising in the feud between Ethiopia on one side, and Eritrea and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (or TPLF) on the other, and many are aware, including the international community and media outlets. The Economist, in this week’s issue, released both an article and an opinion piece.

The publication said it has information that groups that are against the Ethiopian government, including the TPLF, rebel groups from the Oromia and Amhara regions, and Eritrea, met in Sudan to discuss military plans. The TPLF and rebels from Oromia and Amhara are fighting against the government because they are not happy with local politics. Eritrea, on the other hand, says it fears an attack by Ethiopia aimed at gaining control of its ports.

According to the opinion piece, if war breaks out between Ethiopia and the TPLF or Eritrea, it can spread throughout the Horn of Africa region. The op-ed also said that the US and some of its allies have the power to pull the countries back from the edge of what could be a very deadly conflict.

Because of this tension between the government and the TPLF, the National Dialogue Commission isn’t operating in the Tigray region, northern Ethiopia. The commission was formed a few years ago to encourage and facilitate dialogue to resolve longstanding issues such as ethnic division and past injustices.

Even though it has managed to make progress by consulting communities in various parts of the country and the diaspora, it hasn’t been able to meaningfully engage in the Tigray region. The deputy commissioner said earlier this week that things won't change for the better soon despite her office’s best efforts.

In southern Ethiopia, health authorities are working to get the Marburg virus under control, a fatal disease whose symptoms include fever and fatigue. Late last week, the Ministry of Health officially declared that there is an outbreak in South Omo, in the Southern Ethiopia region. On Monday the 17th, the ministry confirmed that three people have passed away due to the virus and urged people with symptoms to get checked at health centers.

Health authorities have isolated over a hundred people who came into contact with confirmed patients. Media outlets have reported that Ethiopia is testing for the virus using its own resources and is not mainly relying on foreign support.

In more health updates, the Ministry of Health, along with the Environmental Protection Authority and UNICEF, held a forum last Thursday the 13th on lead poisoning. According to the studies presented, lead poisoning continues to pose health risks, especially to children, both in Ethiopia and globally.

An expert who presented a study at the forum said that as people’s standards of living improve, their risk of lead poisoning increases because they start using more materials that contain lead. What’s concerning for Ethiopia is that there is little to no medical equipment at health centers to diagnose and treat lead poisoning.

On another note, Berhanu Nega, the Minister of Education, sat before a House Committee on Friday the 14th to present his office’s quarterly report. He said he expects a shortage of teachers soon, since many graduates are not choosing to become teachers due to the low pay and few benefits they receive nowadays.

He recalled that teachers used to get paid enough to provide for themselves and their families but that due to inflation and rising costs of living, this has changed. He also said that there are several plans to deal with shortages in the short term. For instance, people with an undergrad degree but who can't find jobs will receive training for a year before they become teachers. They will make university students in their senior year teach in secondary schools, and encourage women to become teachers by providing them with incentives.

The ministry of education was in the news again as the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council held a press conference strongly criticizing the ministry’s new rules on what schoolgirls can wear. Even though the directive allows muslim schoolgirls to wear hijabs, a veil that covers only the head and shoulders, it bans them from wearing niqab, a veil that covers the entire body except for the eyes.

The council said the ministry’s new rule is an intentional decision to exclude muslim girls and women from pursuing education and considers it religious interference.

The Ministry of Tourism also presented its quarterly report to a House Committee, this time to the Trade and Tourism Affairs Committee on Monday the 17th. The minister said her office struggled during the first quarter and didn't have enough funding.

She explained that conflicts in different parts of the country, and travel advisories and warnings issued by foreign countries, have negatively affected the tourism industry. Still, there was some good news from the minister’s report, like how the tourism industry managed to earn five hundred million US dollars more than it planned during the quarter. Also more foreign tourists than predicted visited the country.

In business news, Swedish investors said last Wednesday the 12th at a business forum held in Addis that they’re interested in participating in the construction of the massive new airport that is expected to cost ten billion US dollars. A Swedish trade representative said that five Swedish companies have already expressed interest and more are set to join them.

The companies are engaged in various sectors, including construction, air traffic control and maintenance. The representative said the companies will have to figure out what role they’ll play in the process of building the airport and sort out finance and related matters.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s Prime Minister, arrived in Ethiopia on Tuesday the 18th for a three-day work trip. PM Abiy Ahmed, his counterpart and host, welcomed him saying that the trip shows that the partnership between the two countries is growing.

Around this time last year, PM Abiy paid his current guest a visit in Malaysia and they agreed to increase trade and investment.

On the same day, reports came out saying the Ethiopian Investment Commission gave an investment permit to a natural gas retailer, which foreigners partly own. This is the first time in recent history that foreigners received a permit to get involved in the gas retail business.

Even though the reports didn’t say how much of the company’s shares Ethiopians and foreigners will own, they pointed out that the newly formed company will be named Ethio Natural Gas Marketing and Distribution.

Recall that PM Abiy recently inaugurated a natural gas plant in the Somali region in Eastern Ethiopia. Sources say they expect the new company to buy and sell the natural gas produced at this plant.

Meanwhile, The Pulses and Oilseeds Exporters Association teamed up with the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration to organize the fourteenth International Conference on Pulses and Oilseeds held on Tuesday the 18th and Wednesday the 19th.

The association’s president said the country managed to earn a significant amount in exports, especially in sesame seed sales. Participants said increased earnings are mainly a result of the ministry’s initiative to allow exporters to buy directly from farmers instead of only from the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange. They also said exporters have started to understand and comply with international quality standards.

However, the association’s president said grain sales have declined compared to last year for worrying reasons. He explained that exporters in other countries are using genetic engineering to sell superior products.

And for our final update, music! This weekend, Mastewal Eyayu, an up and coming artist whose songs have been very popular over the last few years, and whose vocal talent critics praise, will perform at the Millenium Hall in Addis on Saturday the 22nd. Tickets will be available at the gate starting from a thousand birr, which is around seven US dollars.

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

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Ciao!