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H.E. Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia had a discussion on Thursday (April 22) with H.E. Mr. Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador-at-Large, and Head of the Secretariat of Russia-Africa Partnership Forum held on 22 April 2021.
The two sides discussed preparations for the Second Russia-Africa Summit which will be held in 2022 in Africa.
The Secretariat gave briefings about the tasks and responsibilities of his office, the creation of Association of Economic Cooperation with the African States which will bring major Russian and African companies to work together.
As part of the preparation for the Summit, consultations will be held with AU and African countries this summer.
During the discussion, Mr. Demeke told the Secretariat Ethiopia’s commitment to strengthen the long-standing relations with Russia, appreciated the initiative of Russia to establishing the platform, and request to host the Second Russia-Africa Summit in Addis Ababa.
In addition, they exchanged ideas on cooperation in the areas of security, innovation/technology, agriculture, energy, nuclear medicine, geology exploration, etc.
The First Russia-Africa Summit was held in October 2019 in Sochi, Russia, in which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took part.
H.E. Mr. Oleg Ozerov also presented the invitation of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to H.E. Mr. Demeke Mekonnen to visit Moscow.
The Embassy of the U.S. in Addis Ababa held a tailored capacity building workshop for 17 high-level practitioners-prosecutors, public defenders, judges, corrections officials and others to ensure justice for children in a counter-terrorism context.
The participants said they found the training comprehensive and made substantial progress in putting together recommendations to enhance current practices in Ethiopia.
Workshop focused on the roles of these practitioners when dealing with children in terrorism cases, including specific tools to protect the best interests of the child suspect from the time of arrest, according to U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa.
United Nations Security Council President Dinh Quy Dang issued a press statement concerning Ethiopia.
The statement says that the members of the Security Council acknowledged the efforts by the Government of Ethiopia to provide humanitarian assistance and to provide increased humanitarian access.
According to the statement, the members of the Security Council recognized, nevertheless, that humanitarian challenges remain. They called for a scaled-up humanitarian response and unfettered humanitarian access to all people in need, including in the context of the food security situation.
Statement further indicates that members of the council welcomed the joint investigation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission into alleged human rights violations and abuses. The members of the Security Council also welcomed the engagement on this issue of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.
The members of the Security Council stressed the need for full compliance with international law.
The members of the Security Council reiterated their strong support to regional and subregional efforts and organizations, namely the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and underscored the importance of their continued engagement.
The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Ethiopia.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has expressed government’s commitment to holding a free, fair, democratic and peaceful election.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed convened Regional Presidents and National Election Board leadership this morning to follow up on the direction provided in the meeting of last week.
Following NEBE’s report that many polling stations were still pending, regions committed to ensuring requisite support to expedite the setting up of stations. Resultantly, both NEBE and regions confirmed today the progress made over the past week to set up polling stations and register voters.
The meeting also explored security preparedness among all regions in ensuring that the electoral process is peaceful and unhindered by agents of instability.
In this regard, the National Security Advisor, Gedu Andargachew presented the assessment made by the national electoral security committee, confirming that with the exception of a few hotspots, many polling stations throughout the country are ready to peacefully undertake elections.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reiterated to Regional Presidents to scale up the momentum over the next week in enabling the full functionality of pending polling stations.
Citing that the upcoming elections are consequential in Ethiopia’s democratisation process, he urged all stakeholders to do their utmost in delivering on a successful and peaceful election.
Prime Minister Abiy also reflected on current security incidents, calling upon citizens to depart from emotion led actions and rather work together for stability and peace.
“Elections are a demonstration of building a democratic culture in which differences are addressed through the ballot and not by the bullet. Through the voting process, citizens exercise agency and actively participate in the building of a democratic process.” He said.
Prime Minister Abiy further underscored that the current elections are consequential in transitioning Ethiopia and hence collectively dispensing citizen duties is essential calling citizens to register to vote.
In this regard, he called upon youth to mobilise and strengthen the national security sector by enlisting for service and imparting their civic duties.
Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance today received in his office the US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Geeta Pasi where they discussed the economic cooperation between Ethiopia and the United States.
The discussion focused on the multifaceted economic cooperation between the two countries, which has been very important in supporting economic growth in Ethiopia.
This is, in particular, is seen in the strong collaboration in areas such as resilience building in rural parts of the country, improving the quality of health and education sectors as well as building improved governance in Ethiopia.
Ahmed used the opportunity to brief the Ambassador about the current peace and security situation in Ethiopia and the Horn region. In their discussion regarding the GERD, the Ambassador elaborated about the US’s stand to see to disputes over the dam find an amicable solution.
Ahmed also reiterated that the Government of Ethiopia has given unimpeded access for humanitarian support in the Tigray region and explained about the rehabilitation and rebuilding measures in the region.
He expressed his appreciation to the US for being the largest humanitarian aid donor in Ethiopia and used the opportunity to underscore the need to further scale up economic cooperation.
The relations between the two countries date back as early as 1903, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Dr. Seleshi Bekele said that both the recently completed bottom outlets of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) have gone operational with total capacity of discharging 1,860 cubic meters per second.
In an exclusive interview with EBC, the Minister said the process of the dam is now in state of reassuring safety, quality and functionality of ancillary structures.
The completion of the two bottom outlets ensures continuous water flows to the downstream countries and supports the overflow of the river, he noted.
Out of the two outlets, the right one opened last Wednesday while the other became fully functional last night, according to Dr. Seleshi.
“Each has a capacity of discharging 930 metric cube of water per second with total capacity of 1,860m3/s. It means the two together actually come to discharge the entire flow of Abay River in a matter of a year.” the Minister elaborated.
“Our dam is designed in such a way that it doesn’t cause any type of harm to downstream countries.” he underlined.
The two bottom outlets have a capacity to complete the withdrawal of 50 billion cubic meters which is average annual flow of the Abay River.
Outflow of the water is not managed only through the two outlets, the Minister said, adding that when thirteen turbines start operation each enables inflow of 330 cubic meter of water per second allowing large amount of water to the downstream.
Minister of Peace, Muferihat Kamil, has met and discussed on current affairs with US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Geeta Pasi.
Minister Muferihat briefed the ambassador on steps being undertaken to address the humanitarian situation in the northern part of the country following the law enforcement process.
The Minister thanked the people and government of the United States for their significant contribution towards the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Ambassador Pasi, for her part, said that she has been closely monitoring the changes in Ethiopia and has pledged continued support and cooperation, according to the Ministry of Peace.
Ethiopia says the way forward on the GERD negotiations is to request the Chairperson of the African Union, H.E President Felix Tshisekedi to call the meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly of the AU in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of the Sudan H.E Mr. Abdalla Hamdok.
H.E Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in response to the letter of H.E Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok dated 13, April 2021, stated that assuming the negotiation process as a failure is not right because we have seen some tangible results including the signing of the Declaration of Principles (DoP) and the establishment of the National Independent Scientific Research Group (NISRG) and its work in relation to stage based filling schedule.
The letter also cites the Kinshasa meeting, the understanding reached on the resumption of the stalled AU led trilateral negotiation, the agreement reached on the continued and enhanced role of the observers, namely EU, South Africa, and United States, and the need for the current AU Chairperson to use resources at his disposal for the effective discharge of his facilitation role.
Acknowledging the legal and technical issues that need to be tackled for a win-win outcome, the letter also appreciates the AU-led process for providing the opportunity to the tripartite to deal with the most pressing issues in spite of the interruption nine times.
“If parties negotiate in good faith results are within our reach,” says the letter, and “Ethiopia still believes that the best way forward is to continue the trilateral negotiation under the AU-led process to reach a win-win outcome.”
State Minister of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tsion Teklu met with a delegation comprising representatives of Ethiopian Orthodox Churches in US Canada.
The state minister conferred with the delegation which was led by Archbishop Abune Tewoflos, head of North California, Nevada and Arizona diocese members of the holly synod on disbursing collected funds to affected people in Tigray and Metekel.
During the meeting, Abune Theoflos said the delegation has managed to collect funds from its members in North America to support affected people in Tigray and Benishangul Gumuz regions.
Appreciating the positive contributions of the Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Ambassador Fitsum Arega, the delegates expressed hope that the Ministry would further extend its support to the Church in facilitating the safe delivery of the collected funds to the targeted group.
It is stated that Ethiopian orthodox churches in America and Canada team up to augment humanitarian support to people in need in Ethiopia.
The delegate announced humanitarian support the churches mobilized to support people in need in Tigray and Benshangul Gumuz regions.
Delegate stated that it has mobilized support amounting 350,000 US Dollars pledging continued support to social and economic activities in Ethiopia.