Ethiopia to Help Sudan Develop Port as It Builds Export Routes

By Mohammed Amin and Nizar Manek, 3 May 2018
(Bloomberg) --
Sudan and Ethiopia agreed to work together in developing and managing Port Sudan, their presidents said, as landlocked Ethiopia attempts to expand trade routes essential for its export-led economy.
“We have agreed to expand our exchange,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told reporters Thursday in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. Standing alongside, Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir said his country is committed to providing “all the needed facilities” to ensure the flow of goods via its Red Sea ports to and from Ethiopia. Neither gave further details.
(157 words)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-03/ethiopia-to-help-sudan-develop-port-as-it-builds-export-routes

Ethiopia Leader to Mull Economic Liberalization, Ex-Premier Says

  • Ex-premier cites proposal to open up all sectors but finance
  • African nation has new prime minister after sporadic unrest

By Nizar Manek, 3 May 2018
(Bloomberg) --
Ethiopia’s new leader faces a critical decision on whether to open up parts of the Horn of Africa nation’s booming economy after making moves to reduce the stake of the military, former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said.
Premier Abiy Ahmed inherited what the International Monetary Fund ranks as Africa’s fastest-growing economy when he took office in early April. But he also confronts the biggest challenges to the ruling coalition’s power in a quarter-century as sporadic unrest against its authoritarian rule and inter-communal violence threaten the federal structure of Ethiopia, a U.S. ally in its battle against Islamist militants in the region.
(723 words)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-01/ethiopia-leader-to-mull-economic-liberalization-ex-premier-says

Ethiopia, Djibouti May Swap Stakes in Airlines, Ports

  • Deal politically endorsed while details pending, minister says
  • Landlocked Ethiopia views tiny Red Sea state as key partner

By Nizar Manek, 2 May 2018
(Bloomberg) --
Ethiopia and Djibouti agreed to swap stakes in strategic public enterprises including airlines, ports and telecommunications companies, as the Horn of Africa neighbors pursue deeper economic integration.
The deal would include exchanges of shares in Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise, Africa’s biggest carrier by revenue, Djiboutian Finance Minister Ilyas Dawalehsaid in an interview. Shareholdings in companies such as the Doraleh Container Terminal and in a new oil terminal, Ethiopian Telecommunications Corp. and Djibouti Telecom SA will also be swapped, he said.
(248 words)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-02/ethiopia-djibouti-may-swap-stakes-in-airlines-ports-telecoms

Ethiopia Power Says Electricity Being Restored After Outage

(Bloomberg) --
By Nizar Manek, 2 May 2018
Ethiopia’s electricity utility said it’s restoring power after a fault at the Gilgel Gibe III plant caused a nationwide blackout.
“Electricity is returning to Addis Ababa and in Ethiopia’s regions after the disconnection,” the Ethiopian Electric Power Corp. said in a statement on its Facebook account.
(76 words -- Bloomberg Terminal only)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/OHTESG6S972O

Ethiopia Mulls Fertilizer Plant Tender as Army Deal Reviewed

  • Project awarded six years ago is less than 50% complete
  • OCP of Morocco may be considered as a potential partner

By Nizar Manek, 30 April 2018
(Bloomberg) --
Ethiopia’s government may cancel a contract for a fertilizer plant awarded to its military
industrial conglomerate and offer it to international tender, the Public Enterprises Ministry said.
The possible revision of the contract is the latest sign that Ethiopia’s new prime minister is fulfilling a pledge to purge “favoritism” toward the security forces. The state awarded the Yayu project in Ethiopia’s restive Oromia region to state-owned Metals & Engineering Corp six years ago, but since then less than half the work on the complex has been completed, ministry spokesman Wondefrash Assefa said.
(566 words)
ttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-30/ethiopia-mulls-tender-for-fertilizer-plant-as-army-deal-reviewed

Ethiopia to Introduce Term Limits for Prime Minister, ENA Says

(Bloomberg) --
By Nizar Manek, 17 April 2018
Ethiopia will amend its constitution to limit rulers to two terms in office, the Ethiopian News Agency reported, citing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
“Any leader of the country will not serve in office beyond two terms” after the amendment, the Addis Ababa-based news service quoted him as saying in a speech in the south of the country. “Seizing power for a lifetime will come to a dead end in Ethiopia.”
(128 words -- Bloomberg Terminal only)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/OHTESG6S972O

Ethiopian Premier Puts Ally in Defense to Address Insecurity

  • Former anti-corruption official moves to petroleum ministry
  • Abiy moves fellow ethnic Oromo Motuma to defense ministry

By Nizar Manek, 19 April 2018
(Bloomberg) --
Ethiopia’s new prime minister named a political ally as defense minister as he seeks to address two years of insecurity that prompted his predecessor’s resignation two months ago.
Motuma Mekessa’s switch to the defense portfolio from the petroleum ministry was among 16 changes Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made to his cabinet on Thursday. The reshuffle signifies the government’s desire to “solve people’s complaints” and combat corruption, Abiy said in a speech broadcast on state television in the capital, Addis Ababa.
(449 words)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-19/ethiopian-appoints-new-petroleum-minister-in-cabinet-reshuffle

Ethiopia Courts Foreigners for Sugar Plant as Army Sidelined

  • New premier pledges to purge security-forces ‘favoritism’
  • State-owned Sugar Corp. to hire new contractor for project

By Nizar Manek, 18 April 2018
(Bloomberg) --
Ethiopia’s government plans to hire foreign companies to help develop the country’s sugar industry, after canceling a military-industrial conglomerate’s contract on a key project.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in office since April 2, has signaled he plans to reduce “favoritism” toward the security forces when awarding contracts and ensure development projects are “more inclusive for the people.” The state-run Ethiopia Sugar Corp. is looking for a new contractor to develop Tana Beles II in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, which has been hit by protests over the past two years by residents who say they’re being excluded from economic power.
(517 words)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-18/ethiopia-courts-foreigners-for-sugar-project-as-army-sidelined

Al-Qaeda Raids in Somalia Scuttle Africa's Plan to Withdraw

  • Islamist attacks, political quarrels undermining stability
  • African Union forces remain ‘only realistic option’: analyst

By Samuel Gebre and Nizar Manek, 18 April 2018
(Bloomberg) --
African troops battling an al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia for the past decade stand little chance of withdrawing by their deadline in two years as the government remains fragile and a spike in militant violence has drawn in U.S. forces.
The longest-running African Union peacekeeping mission, known as Amisom, operates in a shattered country whose lawlessness has bred regional violence -- al-Shabaab has staged attacks in Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti -- and piracy that plagued global shipping in the early 2000s. Over the past year, the U.S. has boosted cooperation with the Somali army, targeting al-Shabaab and an Islamic State faction. The U.S. Africa Command said al-Shabaab controls about a fifth of Somalia, mainly in the south.
(690 words)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-17/al-qaeda-attacks-in-somalia-scuttle-africa-s-plan-to-withdraw

Explosion in Ethiopia's Border Town of Moyale Kills Three

(Bloomberg) --
By Nizar Manek, 17 April 2018
Armed forces from Ethiopia’s Somali region detonated a bomb near a bus station in a market town that straddles the border between the country and Kenya, killing three and injuring over 50, local authorities said.
“We will work on the case to bring those who did this to justice,” Oromia’s Administration and Security Bureau said on its Facebook page. “We don’t know how this happened while the country is under a state of emergency.”
(195 words -- Bloomberg Terminal only)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/OHTESG6S972O

The fractious rise of Abiy Ahmed

ADDIS ABABA DESPATCH | INTERNATIONAL
(The Hindu) -- 
Nizar Manek, 7 April 2018
Abiy Ahmed, who leads the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organization, representing the Oromia region, emphasised the need for unity in a country where ethnic and regional divisions run deep
When Abiy Ahmed was sworn in as Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister earlier this month, the central message of his inaugural address was ‘andinet’ — an Amharic word for unity. Mr. Abiy, who leads the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organization (OPDO), representing the Oromia region, emphasised the need for unity in a country where ethnic and regional divisions run deep. Over 60% vote at the Council of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front brought Mr. Abiy in as its third chairman in its over quarter-century history — and by extension as Prime Minister of the country. But the election marked a break with the Front’s Leninist-inspired “revolutionary democratic” tradition, which seeks to avoid divided votes that could give rise to factionalism.
Mr. Abiy didn’t receive as large a mandate as his predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn received in in 2012 after the death of the Front’s first leader Meles Zenawi. At that time it was certain that Meles’s deputy, Mr. Hailemariam, would assume power uncontested. Mr. Hailemariam resigned mid-February this year in the wake of severe clashes between militia under Ethiopia’s Somali region and Oromo and violent anti-government protests in Oromia and Amhara regions, which make up over half the country’s population. “Unity does not mean sameness,” Mr. Abiy said in his maiden speech as Prime Minister, which invoked even Mahatma Gandhi. “Unity has to enclose difference and diversity within itself.” The andinet Mr. Abiy was talking about may be different from the ‘old’ concept, but talking about “unity” is nothing without ensuring equality in practice, said Gutema Yadesa, a socio-linguist at Addis Ababa University.
(555 words)
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/the-fractious-rise-of-abiy-ahmed/article23467651.ece

Can Abiy Ahmed Save Ethiopia?

DISPATCH
(Foreign Policy) -- 
Nizar Manek, 4 April 2018
The announcement of a new prime minister has led to widespread celebrations, but reforming the country without alienating the army will not be easy.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — In 1990, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was a guerrilla alliance battling the Derg, a Marxist-Leninist military junta that had deposed Emperor Haile Selassie in a 1974 coup. A year later, the EPRDF took power; it has ruled Ethiopia ever since.
When the Derg fell, Abiy Ahmed, who was recently elected as the EPRDF’s chairman and sworn in as prime minister on Monday, was just 14 years old. But even then, Abiy, who was born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother in the Oromo town of Beshasha in southwestern Ethiopia, was becoming politically active.
“In one way, the world is eagerly awaiting our country’s transition, and in another way, they are waiting in fear,” Abiy said in his maiden speech as prime minister. “We have a country in which our fathers have sacrificed their bones and spilled their blood,” and yet the nation has kept its unity. “This is the season in which we learn from our mistakes and compensate our country,” he continued. “I ask forgiveness from those activists and politicians who paid the sacrifice and youths who wanted change but lost their lives.” He even spoke of applying Ethiopia’s constitution in a way that understands “freedom,” especially freedom of expression and the rights to assembly and association — suggesting that he may lift the state of emergency that has led to the detention of more than 1,100 people.
(2,055 words)
http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/04/can-abiy-ahmed-save-ethiopia/

Ethiopia’s New Premier Vows to Unify Country Rocked by Unrest

(Bloomberg) --
By Nizar Manek, 2 April 2018
Ethiopia’s new prime minister vowed to improve relations with long-time foe Eritrea and work with opposition parties to tackle protests that have posed the biggest risk to his party’s rule in a quarter-century.
Abiy Ahmed hailed “a new political era” as he was sworn in Monday by parliament, Fana Broadcasting Corp. reported. His appointment follows the resignation of predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn in February and makes Abiy only the third premier the nation has had since the then-rebel Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front took power in 1991.
(219 words)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-02/ethiopia-s-new-premier-vows-to-unify-country-rocked-by-unrest

Ethiopia Parliament to Appoint Prime Minister on Monday, Fana Reports

(Bloomberg) --
By Nizar Manek, 29 March 2018
Ethiopia’s parliament will appoint a new prime minister on Monday, Fana Broadcasting Corp. reported, as the government tries to quell unrest that’s posed the biggest challenge to its rule in a quarter-century.
The country’s ruling coalition this week chose Abiy Ahmed, a retired lieutenant general, as its chairman, replacing Hailemariam Desalegn, who resigned as premier in February. Abiy will now be confirmed by parliament as the next prime minister, a move that may stem anti-government protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions that began in late 2015.
(107 words -- Bloomberg Terminal only)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/OHTESG6S972O