1) The Amhara regional government has accused the Tigray interim regional administration of controlling certain kebelles (sub districts) of the disputed Raya Alamata woreda on March 27 by force. In a statement on Thursday, the Amhara region said the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) forces were killing and abusing residents in areas they control. The regional government said the accusation by the Tigrayan authorities that Amhara had adopted a distorted administrative map in its curriculum, incorporating some of Tigray's territories, flew in the face of the "historical reality of the people" and the "existing facts", adding that it was also "misleading" and "devoid of concrete evidence". The accusation shows the intention of TPLF to carryout "aggression", the statement added. The regional government also called on the Tigray interim administration to stop engaging in a "political game of administrative maps" and instead focus on discussions centered on the desire of the people.
2) Getachew Reda, the President of Tigray regional interim administration, told the Chinese TV channel CGTN on Wednesday that there was no room for another war in Tigray. The 2020-22 war in northern Ethiopia was not in the interest of the people of Tigray, Getachew said, and reaffirmed that the Tigray regional interim administration and the people would do their best to prevent another war. He downplayed fears of a new conflict a day after Tigrayan forces and local militias clashed in the disputed Raya Alamata woreda on Tuesday, in which four members of the local militia were reportedly killed. Raya Alamata has remained under the Amhara forces since the war. Getachew, however, expressed concern that the most important elements of the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) had not yet been fully implemented.
3) Ethiopian government prosecutors Wednesday charged opposition Federal MP Christian Tadele, the Amhara regional MP Yohannes Buayalew, Kassa Teshager, the elected member of the Addis Ababa City Council and 49 others with "terrorism", state media reported. Other prominent defendants include Chane Kebede, the chairman of the opposition Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice (Ezema), and Eskinder Nega and Zemene Kassie (in abstentia), the leaders of the factions of the Fano militia fighting against the government in Amhara. The Federal Parliament and the two respective councils recently removed the immunity of the elected MPs, more than six months after their arrest. In the charge sheet, the prosecutors have accused the defendants of conspiring to carry out the objectives of the underground Amhara Fano Unity Council, including reclaiming "Amhara's ancestral territories" by military means. The prosecutors also hold the defendants responsible for the death of more than 1,100 civilians and security personnel, the escape of 5,689 inmates and the destruction of properties in Amhara in connection with the ongoing armed clash between the government troops and the Fano militia.
4) A recent study by Afro Barometer, an independent pan-African research organisation, has revealed that six out of 10 Ethiopians were living in extreme or moderate poverty in 2023. This week’s study by the organisation in Addis Ababa has shown that the number of Ethiopians who were in extreme or moderate poverty had increased by 7 percent last year, compared to 2020 when the institute conducted the first study on poverty in the country. According to the study, 65 percent of the respondents said their economic situation was "very bad" or "bad" in 2023, but in 2020, it was only 45 percent. The study also found out that 18 percent of Ethiopians spent 2023 faced with "severe food shortages" and 42 percent experienced food shortages occasionally or often.
5) Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Yusuf has disclosed that Ethiopia and Somalia held first-round talks in Nairobi, Kenya, on the former’s sea access Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the autonomous Somaliland, Somali media reported on Thursday. The reports also quoted Ali as hinting that a second-round of talks would be held in Djibouti in the near future. The reports did not, however, mention when the two countries held the talks in Nairobi or when the second-round would be held in Djibouti. Addis Ababa and Mogadishu have not publicly commented about engaging in talks to ease the tension. Mogadishu has repeatedly rejected the possibility of talks until Ethiopia officially rescinds the MoU.