The Addis Ababa Police Commission announced it has arrested 34 individuals involved in serious crimes in the capital city on Thursday.
Getu Argaw, Addis Ababa Police Commissioner, has warned some media outlets and activists to refrain from spreading false information alleging the city faces security threats.
Crime and Traffic Accidents Investigation Deputy Commissioner, Hassan Negash briefed the media about peace and security in the capital city and the implementation of COVID-19 protocol.
Police seized 12 vehicles, television and computers, and have apprehended 34 suspects along with looted properties.
The suspects detained were involved in serious crimes, including armed robbery on large institutions and organizations as well as attacks on individuals, it was learnt.
The suspects were organized under three groups that located precious goods and money, another group which robbed the identified goods and money, and lastly a group that sells the stolen properties. (ENA)
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ENDF dismisses video as complete fabrication
The recent released video which shows atrocities on innocent civilians in Tigray is a complete fabrication and drama orchestrated by agents of the TPLF junta, according to the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF).
Briefing the media on Thursday, the ENDF Indoctrination Director-General Major General Mohammed Tesema said the video was released by agents of the junta with the intension of confusing the general public.
According to him, the extremist TPLF group was destroyed once and for all by the law enforcement operation.
However, some of the remnants of the junta are now acting as bandits by hiding in forests and robbing as well as killing innocent people in some parts of the region, he said.
“They have intensified killings of civilians in Tigray. The killings of people they belong to continue. The network is already carrying out acts of violence against the people in all parts of the country.”
According to ENA, remnants of the junta have also been doctoring killings carried out by the junta as if committed by the ENDF and disseminate the manipulated videos. (FBC)
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Kombolcha customs branch earns USD 18 mln from export in nine months
The Kombolcha Customs Branch of the Ethiopian Customs Commission has announced it has earned about USD 18 million from agricultural and industrial exports over the past nine months despite the challenges of COVID-19.
The Branch’s export goods expert, Endris Hussien told the ENA that the branch planned to earn USD 34 million during the fiscal year.
The generated revenue was obtained from over 20.6 million kilograms of agriculture, wood and textile products exported to Indonesia, India, Djibouti, Turkey, Yemen and South Africa.
It was indicated that the exported goods were produced in parts of Amhara and Afar regions.
During the last Ethiopian budget year, the branch, located in the northern part of the country, had secured more than USD 28 million from exports.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry disclosed recently that the nation earned USD 2.1 billion from exports in the first eight months of current budget year.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the desert locust invasion, among other things, are believed to have affected agricultural productivity and negatively impacted export trade. (ENA)
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Facebook shuts down accounts targeting Ethiopia
Tech giant Facebook said that it has removed more than a dozen accounts and pages on Facebook and Instagram from Egypt that targeted Ethiopia, Sudan and Turkey.
“We removed 17 Facebook accounts, six Pages, and three Instagram accounts from Egypt that targeted Ethiopia, Sudan, and Turkey. We found this network as part of our internal investigation and linked it to Bee Interactive, a marketing firm in Egypt,” the social media company said.
It said the pages had violated Facebook’s policy against foreign interference and had been involved in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
The accounts have shared stories in Amharic language, which is widely spoken in Ethiopia. The content includes criticism of the massive dam that Ethiopia has built on a tributary of the River Nile as well as Turkey’s foreign policy while sharing “positive commentary about Egypt,” Facebook said.
The pages have combined followers of more than 300,000 and appear to have some engagement in Ethiopia.
”The people behind this network relied on a combination of authentic, duplicate and fake accounts, some of which used stock photos and went through significant name changes,” the company said. (FBC)
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Ethiopia announces cut off points for university entry
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education on Thursday announced the new cut-off point for university entry after analyzing results of candidates who have sat for national examinations this year.
Accordingly, the cut-off point for natural science field male candidates is 380 while the entrance point for females is 368. Male social science candidates are required to score 370 while female students need to get 358 points.
In developing regional states and pastoralist areas, male students need 368 (for natural science) and 358 (for social sciences) while female candidates are required to score 358 (for natural sciences) and 348 (for social sciences), according to Dr. Samuel Urkato, Science and higher education Minister.
Male students with disabilities need to get 350 (for natural sciences) and 340 (for social sciences) and female SWD have to have 345 (for natural sciences) and 335 (for social sciences) out of 700, the ministry said.
Candidates from Tigray and Metekel areas need 358 (for natural science) and 348 (for social sciences) and 350 (for natural sciences) and 340 (for social sciences) for male and female respectively, the ministry stated. (FBC)
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Horn Brief
Eritrea to resume partial international flights mid-April
The Eritrea Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) announced on Monday that the Red Sea nation will resume partial international flights starting from mid-April.
In a press statement, the Ministry said there will be a resumption of weekly flights from the Eritrean capital Asmara to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa as well as from Asmara to Dubai starting from mid-April.
“There will be weekly flights from Asmara to Addis Ababa and Asmara-Dubai with implementation of strict preventive measures including prior Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing, Rapid Antigen Testing upon arrival at the airport and other preventive measures,” the statement from MoTC read.
Eritrea already resumed educational classes on Thursday, which had been suspended for almost a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Easing of restrictions is prompted by the imperative to ensure academic continuity and will be undertaken under robust preventive measures,” read the statement from the Eritrean Ministry of Education.
Eritrea has so far recorded 33,340 COVID-19 cases and 10 COVID-19 related deaths. (Xinhua)
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IGAD hands over COVID-19 response project supplies to Gov’t of Ethiopia
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), in collaboration with European Delegation and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), handed over supplies procured within the framework of the response project to the Government of Ethiopia, according to a press release of EU-IGAD COVID-19 Response Project.
Personal protective equipment, COVID-19 test kits, mobile lab, two standard ambulances and one advanced ambulance for use at cross-border areas have been officially handed to the Ministry of Health, it added.
The EU allocated EUR 60 million package to help tackle the health and socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.
The project focuses on vulnerable groups, including migrants, refuges, internally displaced persons and cross boarder communities, it was learnt.
The release stated that the project also focuses on the provision of health response, WASH services, presentation of gender–based violence and risk communication which aims to support more than 1 million people across the region. (ENA)
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Women abducted in South Sudan released, hundreds remain missing
Fifty-eight women and children of more than 600, who were abducted last year during a vicious intercommunal fighting in South Sudan, have been reunited with their families, the UN Spokesperson told reporters on Monday.
Since December, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has been working with agencies, supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, to broker peace between the Lou Nuer, Murle and Dinka Bor ethnic groups.
The exchange came about following a community-led peace, negotiated in Jonglei State between the three communities.
Women and girls have been frequently abducted in Jonglei, because of their economic importance in demanding a bride price paid in the form of cattle, said UNMISS in a statement on Friday.
“The UN Mission believes that as many as 686 women and children were abducted during the clashes that took place between January and August of last year,” spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the regular daily briefing.
“Tragically, these abductions often involve sexual violence,” he added. (UN News)
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Somalia leaders in blame game after talks collapse
Somalia’s top leaders are trading blame after the collapse of the much-anticipated talks that meant to provide certainty on elections.
The blame game ensued on Wednesday evening, dampening optimism that had been expressed earlier in the week going into the talks.
Information Minister, Osman Dubbe, admitted there had been no progress from the initial sessions and that leaders had fallen out. He criticized leaders of Jubbaland and Puntland states for what he called lack of flexibility on the agenda.
According to Dubbe, the leaders of the two states—Said Abdullahi Deni of Puntland and Ahmed Madobe of Jubbaland—disrespected the crucial meetings.
The two leaders reportedly disagreed on the wording of state institutions, the presidency, the executive and the legislative, saying the executive’s term has expired and this should be specified in the documents.
“Puntland and Jubbaland also asked for the suspension of the heads of the security forces, despite Somalia being at a crucial security stage,” Dubbe said in a pre-recorded video, stating that such demand damages the morale of the forces that industriously serve the country. (The East African)
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In the statement, the Sudanese Cabinet echoed a “firm position on the establishment of a Palestinian state within the framework of a two-state solution.” (VoA)
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