Q&A: Recent Events and Deaths at the Irreecha Festival in Ethiopia

  Security officials watch as demonstrators chant slogans while flashing the protest gesture during Irreecha, the thanksgiving festival of the Oromo people, in Bishoftu town, Oromia region, Ethiopia, on October 2, 2016. HRW The following questions and answers are critical to understanding recent events inEthiopia. Responses are written by Felix Horne, senior Ethiopia researcher at…

Does EU need a new approach on Ethiopia?

Addis Abeba. As a valuable friend, the EU needs to push Ethiopia to respect divergent views, and rein in forces who rapidly turn to bullets, beatings, and mass arrests. (Photo: Henrik Berger Jorgensen) By FELIX HORNE EU Obserrver In January, the European Parliament passed a 19-point resolution condemning the Ethiopian government’s brutal crackdown on protests that…

South Africa offers refuge to South Sudan’s Riek Machar

CCTV-Africa Sacked South Sudanese first vice president Riek Machar may be headed to South Africa after the country agreed to host him, a leading newspaper in Kenya reports. Machar fled the capital Juba in July, just four months after he returned, in a peace deal that saw the formation of a transitional unity government. Forces…

How Zero Was Invented?

BigThink There are some parts of our knowledge base that we generally take for granted. We use them every day, and they have been very successful in allowing us to conduct our lives. The number system that includes zero is one such practice.  But zero didn’t always exist. It’s a rather genius idea that humanity…

Ethiopia Human Rights Abuses Spark U.S. Congressional Action

By J. David Thompson U.S. Representatives push for legislation targeting Ethiopia after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch document human rights abuses. A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives has proposed legislation targeted at the government of Ethiopia, after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented hundreds of cases of alleged human rights abuses. House Resolution…

Why US Airstrike Somalia?

Abdulaziz Osman VOAFILE – Al-Shabab fighters sit on a truck as they patrol in Mogadishu, Somalia, Oct. 30, 2009. The U.S. military says its airstrike killed at least nine militants. However, the Somalia government says its soldiers were killed in the strike. Somalia’s government is demanding an explanation from the United States for Wednesday’s deadly airstrike…