Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 19th of February twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Several foreign outlets continue reporting that a war might break out in Northern Ethiopia between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (or TPLF), citing increased military presence and recent remarks from leaders.

However, surprisingly, on Thursday the 19th, three senior military commanders who led and fought the TPLF reportedly arrived in Addis Ababa, possibly looking for a peaceful resolution of their differences. One of the commanders was recently arrested but was released after a military tribunal ruled that he should be granted bail.

Just a few days after bidding farewell to numerous African heads of state who went to Addis Ababa to attend the African Union Summit over the weekend, Ethiopia welcomed another prominent leader: Erdogan, Turkey’s President. He arrived on Tuesday the 17th and met with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who said the two leaders held discussions on different issues, including access to the sea for landlocked Ethiopia, counterterrorism efforts, and trade.

Erdogan mentioned that more than 200 Turkish companies are operating in Ethiopia, investing a combined 2.5 billion US dollars and employing around 20,000 Ethiopians. He added that Ethiopia holds a notable place in Islamic history and also gifted PM Abiy a vehicle made in Turkey.

After he bade farewell to Erdogan, PM Abiy headed to Wollega in central-western Ethiopia, in the Oromia region, along with senior government officials including his deputy, to take a look at ongoing development projects and launch new ones.

He launched the construction of a food processing plant, which is expected to produce thousands of tons of food per day and create over six thousand jobs. He also attended the inauguration of a coal processing plant that Midroc, one of the country’s biggest corporations, built for a billion birr, which is over six million US dollars. Speaking at the inauguration, the Minister of Mines said the plant will save a significant amount from the annual three hundred million US dollars the country spends importing coal.

Foreign heads of state arrivals are expected over the next week as well. News outlets in Israel reported that Isaac Herzog, Israel’s President, will head to Ethiopia in a few days for a one-day official visit that aims to deepen diplomatic engagement between the two countries.

Herzog is expected to meet with senior government officials, including the PM, who met with Herzog’s predecessor, former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin in twenty eighteen. The foreign ministers of the two countries also met almost a year ago.

Last week, we covered a report from British outlet Reuters saying that Ethiopia had built a camp to train Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, one of the two main sides in Sudan’s civil war.

Well, it appears the Ethiopian government was not happy with Reuters’ article, as it refused to renew the accreditation of three Reuters journalists based in Addis Ababa. The government also revoked the permits of these journalists to cover the African Union Summit.

Reuters said the government’s decision is related to its report from last week.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, on the other hand, urged the government to renew the journalists’ accreditation, calling recent government measures against the media and civil society part of a troubling pattern of repression.

Even though there are concerns that a deadly conflict with regional dimensions might break out in Ethiopia, bringing safety issues all over the country, Lindsay Galloway wrote an article published on the BBC, saying that the country’s tourism has shown impressive growth over the past year. She noted that tourist arrivals increased by fifteen percent in twenty twenty-five, following flight resumptions to Tigray in the northern region and government efforts to instill tourist confidence.

A tourist guide company said that tourists who’ve previously visited Ethiopia make up a significant portion of visitors, while interest among younger tourists wanting to engage in outdoor activities has notably increased. Galloway quoted the company’s head that Ethiopia is one of the world’s richest destinations to experience archaeology, anthropology and history.

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

Aside from tourism, the government also considers initiatives on and investments in artificial intelligence important. On Monday the 16th, the Deputy Prime Minister, along with representatives from the UN Development Program and Addis Ababa University, inaugurated the AI University Innovation Pod (or AI UniPod), a facility for research and innovation.

The AI UniPod reportedly has high-tech equipment and computing systems, with the Addis Ababa University’s President calling the facility a strategic innovation ecosystem. This development comes amid growing government interest in AI, with PM Abiy Ahmed saying several times that there are plans to establish a university dedicated to AI. The country also established its AI Institute in twenty twenty and recently revealed its AI policy.

On another note, the government established the National Dialogue Commission a few years ago to foster dialogue and seek peaceful solutions to matters that invite conflict. It has been setting the stage for dialogue for a while now and has said recently that it can’t proceed without holding preliminary discussions in the Tigray region, whose administration has not been receptive because it is at odds with the federal government.

The commission was established with a deadline, which was extended last year for an additional year. That deadline passed recently but on Wednesday the 18th, the House of Peoples’ Representatives voted unanimously to extend the commission’s term again; this time the House granted eight more months.

Next up, on Tuesday the 17th, The Ministry of Industry launched this year’s Made in Ethiopia expo, a showcasing and networking event for businesses and people in manufacturing. Speaking at the launch, an official from the ministry said that since twenty twenty-two, the government has reopened over nine hundred manufacturing facilities.

He added that the ministry also plans to see the number of small and medium-sized manufacturing facilities reach almost nineteen thousand in four years and the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP surpass seventeen percent. The ministry also called on manufacturers to showcase quality products at the expo and on development partners to provide financial and technical support.

The government is in the process of amending a bill on aviation security, with the draft having already been submitted to the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and Peace Affairs of the House of Peoples’ Representatives for deliberation. Committee members and government officials discussed this draft for the third time on Tuesday the 17th.

The draft empowers the National Intelligence and Security Service to collect security service fees and access travellers’ data, among other broad powers. Representatives from the Immigration and Citizenship Services said that it had already been granted authority through another bill to access and monitor travellers’ data, pointing out that the draft may conflict with this bill.

The police said the security service should at least share the fees it collects with the police, which also provides security services to airports.

This past Valentine’s season was lucrative for Ethiopia, which is the second-biggest flower exporter in Africa, trailing behind its neighbor Kenya. A producers and exporters association revealed that starting from late last month until Valentine’s Day on Saturday the 14th, Ethiopian Airlines transported more than three thousand tons of flowers to various destinations in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

This year’s figures are still lower compared to the four thousand five hundred tons the country exported during this season in twenty twenty-four. Ethiopia’s horticulture sector earned more than five hundred million US dollars in twenty twenty-five, with eighty percent of earnings coming from flower sales.

And to finish off this edition, the president of the country’s biggest bank, the Commercial Bank, underwent medical treatment in the US so another executive had to fill in for the past few months.

On Monday the 16th, news outlets reported that the president had recovered, returned to Ethiopia and had started working again. He thanked the corporate services VP for taking charge while he was away.

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

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Ciao!