1) The Ethiopian government said Tuesday that a joint intelligence and security taskforce apprehended 50 individuals suspected of plotting violence and chaos in Addis Ababa and its Oromia region surroundings. In a statement, the taskforce said the group was using the Orthodox churches as bases and was working with a Fano militia faction in Amhara, led by former human rights activist Eskinder Nega, and coordinated by Dawit Woldeghiorgis and online journalists Habtamu Ayalew and Mesay Mekonnen, who live in the US. The group also has links with individuals already in prison, including Wondewossen Assefa, charged with attempting to violently overthrow the government and assassinate senior government officials, the statement added. According to the taskforce, ammunitions, explosives and grenades were also seized.
2) Daily activities of residents in the Gambella regional capital Gambella town have been restricted in the past two days, Wazema has learnt. The restriction follows the killing of a traffic police officer by unidentified assailants, the sources said. Wazema also learnt that several businesses had been closed due to the tension in the town. The regional government had not yet commented on the security situation. There have been several deadly clashes, mainly between the Anua and the Nuer communities in the region, especially in the Itang’ special woreda that also triggered attacks in the regional capital.
3) The opposition Enat Party Tuesday accused the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) of "brutally massacring" 16 farmers in Andode Dicho kebelle, Gida Ayana woreda, East Wollega zone, Oromia region, last Saturday. In a statement, the party said ENDF soldiers killed the farmers in what seemed to be a "revenge" following the killing of one of their own in the kebelle by unidentified assailants a day earlier. "The actions of the government security forces is an attempt to extend to Oromia region the revenge actions that have been taking place in various areas of Amhara region," the party said. Enat Party has urged the government to bring to justice those who participated in the killings.
4) Tigray interim regional President Getachew Reda warned Tuesday that Ethiopia's domestic transitional justice policy would be insufficient to address the atrocities committed by the Eritrean troops in Tigray during the war. Getachew expressed his concern over the potential limitations during a meeting with Marcel Clement, the Regional Director for the UN Office for High Commissioner of Human Rights in Mekelle, said the report. According to the report, Clement stressed the imperative of addressing the human rights violations in the region, "with a victim-centered approach". The experts committee established by the government to draft the transitional justice policy recently submitted the draft document then disbanded. Several local civic organisations recently called for the inclusion of crimes committed by the Eritrean troops in the scope of the policy and proposed the establishment of "special tribunals" to prosecute the soldiers.
5) The Ethiopian government announced Tuesday its intention to disburse the pension payments to retired civil servants in the war-torn region of Tigray. State Minister of Finance Eyob Tekalign told the state media that the government made a "political decision" to disburse the payments in the coming weeks. Pensioners in the region said they had not received their pay for more than 18 months during the 2020-2022 war in Tigray. Egob stressed that there were no legal mechanisms to disburse the payments when the Federal Government did not collect pension contributions, adding that it made the decision on political grounds. In peaceful demonstrations in the regional capital Mekelle and several other towns in the past few months, thousands of pensioners demanded their arrears, expressing grievances over the lack of response from the government. They said they had faced severe socioeconomic problems. The regional interim administration also formally requested the Federal Ministry of Finance to disburse the unpaid pensioners several times.
6) Julieta Vans Noyes, the US Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration, Tuesday said she discussed with Ethiopia's State Minister of Foreign Affairs Birtukan Ayano the issues facing the refugees in Ethiopia and her office's "commitment to resettling refugees to the United States". Noyes, who has been on a working visit to Ethiopia since Monday, said on her X page that she visited a US-funded refugee centre in Addis Ababa, run by the Jesuit Refugee Service. She also pointed out that she discussed with Andrew Mbogori, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ethiopia Country Representative, the activities of UNHCR in the country.
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