Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 26th of February twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

There are parts in northern Ethiopia that the Tigray and Amhara regions claim as their own. This dispute is one of the reasons why the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (or TPLF) don’t see eye to eye. On Monday the 23rd, the National Election Board, which is organizing the upcoming general elections, said it will accept votes from residents of the disputed areas, but not as part of the Tigray region, meaning residents will only vote for their representatives in the federal government’s Parliament.

The board explained that it is simply following orders from the House of Federation, the upper house of Parliament. The TPLF and another opposition party from Tigray rejected the decision, calling it illegal and warning that it could reignite conflict. Getachew Reda, a former TPLF member and current advisor to the Prime Minister, said the decision violates the Pretoria agreement, which ended a two-year war between the TPLF and the federal government.

On a related note, the BBC has joined many other foreign publications in writing about a conflict that may break out between Ethiopia and the TPLF, with Eritrea possibly fighting on the TPLF’s side. According to an article by Kalkidan Yibeltal, many Tigray residents are heading to Addis Ababa, concerned that war could begin. Banks are also in a crunch, capping the amount depositors can withdraw at two thousand birr, which is a little over ten US dollars.

Kalkidan traces the recent tensions’ timeline to the Tigray war in twenty twenty and the peace deal that ended it in twenty twenty-two. She also discusses local uprisings, the Eritrea figure in the tensions and what can be done to avoid armed conflict.

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

Reports came out last week that Egypt, one of several countries that have disagreements with Ethiopia, surprisingly said that it has plans to support Ethiopia’s quest to gain access to an outlet to the Red Sea. According to the reports, Egypt said that it would be open to cooperating with Ethiopia on the matter and prod its allies in the Horn of Africa with sea outlets to allow Ethiopia access to the sea, if the two countries make a deal on their dispute over the Nile River. Recall that one of the disagreements between Egypt and Ethiopia is that Ethiopia built one of the largest dams in the world on the Nile River, which Egypt fears will reduce the volume of water it receives.

Some analysts said they consider this development not as a call for cooperation but a threat, explaining that Egypt is indirectly saying that it will use its influence in the region to keep Ethiopia landlocked unless Ethiopia strikes a deal with Egypt.

However, a few days later, on Wednesday the 25th, an Egyptian government spokesperson said these reports were false and Egypt does not plan on backing Ethiopia’s bid.

In education, two years ago, the government decided to allow Addis Ababa University to self-govern, making it the first autonomous public university. This meant that it would slowly stop receiving funding from the federal government and start activities to bring in revenue, including increasing tuition fees. The Ministry of Education said it recently commissioned a study on the university’s transition to becoming autonomous and found that its tuition has become unaffordable for many.

The ministry also said the university should proportionally admit students from all parts of the country. The head of the President’s office of the university called the report premature and influenced by private views instead of data, adding that tuition fees cover under nine percent of the institution’s annual budget.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was in Hawassa, in south-central Ethiopia, where he attended an event marking the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Army’s Special Operations Command, along with top government and military officials.

Members of the command carried out precision drills and simulated combat operations during the event. PM Abiy said that the country has built an elite force unit to combat terrorism in East Africa and to decisively, quickly and victoriously end conflicts.

It seems like there’s a leader of an influential country visiting Ethiopia every week. Two weeks ago, it was Italy’s Meloni, while last week it was Turkey’s Erdogan. Well, on Wednesday the 25th, Isaac Herzog, Israel’s President, landed in Addis Ababa for an official visit.

He met with his counterpart, President Taye Atske-Selassie, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Both Taye and Abiy said they’re looking at ways to expand cooperation with Israel, which has long-standing bilateral relations with Ethiopia.

On Monday the 24th, the Ethiopian Media Authority revoked the license and registration of Addis Standard, one of the most popular media outlets in the country, saying that the news it reported had violated media ethics provisions and endangered national interests. The authority added that it took the measure after having warned the outlet repeatedly that it was on thin ice.

Addis Standard denied the Authority’s allegation that it has received several warnings. The Africa office of the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Ethiopian authorities to restore the company’s media license, criticizing the Authority for weaponizing vague rules and silencing independent journalism.

In other news, The Nelson Mandela Memorial Museum, built in Addis Ababa in the premises of a police department to honor the legacy of the South African freedom fighter, was inaugurated on Tuesday the 24th.

The federal police commissioner and South Africa’s ambassador to Ethiopia were among dignitaries and diplomats who attended the event. They recalled that Nelson Mandela received training and mentorship in Addis Ababa, during Emperor Haile Selassie’s regime, before embarking on his struggle against apartheid in his home country.

State-owned telecom services provider Ethio Telecom announced on Friday the 20th that it has started hosting a streaming service. The company said the service, named Telestream, will allow users to watch local and international content and will reduce reliance on satellite dishes. It added that over sixty channels are streaming live on the service already.

The company also explained that aside from viewers, the new service will also benefit media houses, which had to pay a significant amount in foreign currency to host their channels via satellite. Ethio Telecom announced on the same day that a project is underway to replace copper network cables with fiber cables.

Addis Ababa’s Civil Registration Agency announced that it has started issuing new and improved resident IDs, which include additional information, a QR code for verification, and a national ID alias number.

An official said residents won’t be required to carry both the city’s and the national ID, as either one will suffice. The national ID program has been criticized by many who say it violates citizens’ privacy.

The Civil Aviation Authority announced earlier this week that Ethiopia will not open its domestic aviation market to foreign companies, saying that local firms won’t be able to compete and that the sector’s legal and financial frameworks aren’t strong enough to accommodate foreign competition.

Even though there are twelve private aviation companies that operate domestic flights, they’re struggling with funding, which is why the authority changed its policy to allow them to use aircraft they own as collateral for loans. Recall that the government has opened major business sectors to foreign firms, including finance and telecom, over the past few years.

And to close the last episode of the Rorshojk Ethiopia Update, let’s talk about the Victory of Adwa, a holiday locals will celebrate this Monday, the 2nd of March. In the late nineteenth century, when colonial powers were partitioning Africa, one of them, Italy, set its sights on Ethiopia. Italy proposed a friendship agreement with the country, which, according to the Italian version, would make Ethiopia Italy's protectorate, meaning that Ethiopia would cede its sovereignty.

It became apparent that the controversy was designed to colonize Ethiopia and war broke out. Ethiopians from all walks of life fought in the main battle of Adwa on the 2nd of March eighteen ninety-six and defeated the Italians, making Ethiopia the only nation in Africa that has never been colonized.

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

This is our last goodbye. We are very sad that this project has to come to an end. Thank you so much for your support for our experiment. We put so much effort into making these updates, so we hope you have connected with them and with us. We are really grateful to each one of you who has stuck with us until the end.

Again, thank you so much for being on the other side.

You can still contact us at info@rorshok.com. Who knows, we might get the Ethiopia update running again someday.

Ciao!