Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki posited that the reason why the demarcation of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea has been stalled is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)’s refusal to return the occupied territory back to Eritrea.
« The real reason why the occupied territory has not yet been returned is because of TPLF’s adamant refusal, » said Isaias in an interview broadcast on Eritrea’s state-owned TV channel Eri-TV on Friday evening. TPLF is instead is engaged in distributing vast tracts of land for its loyal supporters in the disputed area, he said.
The town of Badme was the start of a two-year war between Ethiopia and Eritrea that led to the deaths of an estimated 80,000 people between 1998 and 2000. The conflict ended after the two countries signed a peace deal in Algiers in December 2000. However, Ethiopia has not withdrawn its troops from Badme, which the commission awarded.
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed has promised to implement the conclusions of a commission on the demarcation of the border in June 2018. However, the Prime Minister’s decision « was not put into action, and the situation in Badme was worse than it was before, » Isaias said.
«The legal decision was handed down. It should have been respected accordingly and the occupied sovereign land returned to Eritrea. But this has not been done. If you ask how come, the bankrupt clique (TPLF) has been using the border issue as a way of making threats and as a gambling game. Nothing has been done in a year and a half. Without going into the details, I would say that the situation has deteriorated. »
Isaias accused of TPLF for distributing tracts of land in Badme with the view to blocking the realization of the decisions of the boundary commission’s ruling.
Isaias, however, said that his country fully supports the reform introduced by the Ethiopian Prime Minister and would be working to consolidating peace in the region. « Peace is something that you bring through hard work: it is not manna that falls from the sky, » he said.
Rumors of Ethiopian press and electronic practitioners receiving cash handouts from politicians, officials, and business leaders have been making the rounds for decades. But blackmail and coercion on the part of journalists promising to stop negative or unfavorable stories from being aired were not that common. A recent complaint and appeal made against a journalist of the state-owned Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) should be of concern, if proven true.
The journalist who goes by the name Samuel Taye and is a producer of EBC’s Aynachin was accused of allegedly threatening a celebrated NGO to air an unfavorable program about the NGO unless he was provided with money. According to credible sources who talked to Ethiopia Observer, the journalist approached Marie Stopes Ethiopia a few months ago to cut a deal about ongoing reporting. He reportedly demanded a sum of 300,000 birr as a condition for dropping the «exposé ». That «exposé» shows how the NGO was charging people who came seeking services in its clinics even though it was registered as a charitable foundation. The journalist was accompanied by an employee of the Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. When the NGO rejected the demand, the journalist and his team lowered the request to 100,000 birr, which was equally also turned down, it was alleged. On Tuesday 28th January, the journalist broadcasted a damning report regarding Marie Stopes, with the story charging the NGO for engaging in the income-generating activity. The EBC program did include a reaction from Tenaw Bawoke, Deputy Country Director at Marie Stopes who explained the NGO’s position, but the program was heavily biased, full of distortion and omission, the NGO staff felt.
Marie Stopes Ethiopia describes itself as «one of the leading providers of sexual and reproductive health care services in Ethiopia» and published an official response to the broadcast stating that «We categorically reject the claims made by this program, which demonstrates a total misunderstanding of how we work.»
«Marie Stopes Ethiopia is fully registered with the Agency for civil society organizations, and we have all the registrations and licenses required to perform our charitable and income-generating work. We are disappointed that EBC did not do this basic fact-checking before broadcast,» the statement reads. Marie Stopes did admit it charges wealthier women in their clinics « to provide free services to thousands of those less fortunate. » But in private, staff said the journalist’s interest was to use the media outlet for personal gains.
The angered officials of the NGO, including Country Director for
Marie Stopes Ethiopia Risha Hess, appealed to the mayor of Addis Ababa, Takele
Uma, the Ministry of Health, and other concerned government offices.
Ethiopia Observer left several messages asking- Samuel Taye to comment further but he did not respond. We have learned, however, from other sources that he denied any wrongdoing involving the Marie Stopes story in an editorial meeting and believes he “acted lawfully.” He told his editors that he has been doing as “excellent” work that exposed corrupt officials in the country. But the pressure has grown so much that this week that EBC board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claim,- and undertake disciplinary proceedings against the employee in question if found guilty.
It has been a number of years since the “Ethiopian History” course has been canceled from Ethiopian colleges and universities for its supposed biases and question of inclusiveness. A new textbook has been written by a government-appointed panel of four academics to replace the former one. But the new one is also sparking controversy. For a second series on the subject, Ethiopia Observer is publishing an article based in an interview conducted with an archaeologist and heritage management teacher at Addis Ababa University, Mengistu Gobeziewho says the module is culpable of some serious lapses.
In my view, the module demonstrates five glaring shortcomings. Firstly, in an apparent attempt to redress past historical underrepresentation, it has chosen to be restricted and rather parochial in scope and accordingly sidelines the national history, with a selective focus on certain ethnic communities. It glosses over and trivializes the greater national history and reframes and reconstructs selective regional history at the expense of the big picture. Even though the module is supposed to be a national history, one is hard-pressed to find the nation’s history in the book. In the introduction, it is stated that the module aims at « making this course as inclusive and representative as possible; the module also includes regional histories across the period,» but as it turns out, it is neither inclusive nor representative. Rather, it is thin on detail, partisan on its treatment and devoid of a shared national vision. Histories of certain regions loom large while other regions are pushed to the background.
Omissions about the contribution and achievements of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The second problem is the module’s exploration and depiction of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. By largely ignoring its contribution, achievements, and rich national legacy, it rather focuses on the negative aspects of history. For example, in the section dealing with the history of religion and religious process, the module devotes disproportionately much attention to « indigenous religions », particularly on the waaqeffata. In comparison, Orthodox Christianity has not received as close attention. In Ethiopian religious history, the faith that deserves considerable treatment and with a rich history that can be analyzed in detail is Orthodox Christianity, yet it is unjustly presented in a demeaning and contemptuous way. The module acknowledges the existence of the Bete Isreal but it says they « began to be clearly noticed in the 4th century AD when the community refused to be converted to Christianity.” But there has been no evidence offered to support the claim. Narrating the history of Judaism in such a manner is likely to offend the community concerned and is not appropriate.
Another incendiary claim is EOC spread to central, south, east, and western parts following their conquests by the northern Christian kingdom. «People were baptised as government obligatory decree. Lately, monopolization of burial places by Church forced people to accept Tewahiido. » On the other hand, when it relates the introduction of Islam in Ethiopia, the module alleges that the Aksumite king who sheltered Prophet Mohammed’s followers was converted to Islam, citing « a grown tradition, chiefly in Arabic sources and among Ethiopian Muslims. » Accordingly, it goes on to say that « Islam was introduced to the Horn of Africa not through Jihad, but through trade routes. » When we look at this, we could see the extent of the misrepresentation, distortion and assertions without evidence than with those with evidence. Another account in connection with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is that « the people especially in Arssi, Bale and Hararghe adopted Islam en masse as opposition to the imposed EOC.» This is wrong, and purposely deceptive. In another account of how Chrisitan faith comes to Ethiopia, the module contends that it came to Ethiopia from Egypt. But the truth is different. Ethiopia has not imported Christianity from Egypt. As a matter of fact, it is one of the first Christian countries in the world. It was the first patriarch in Ethiopia who was consecrated in Egypt in the fourth century, but he was not even Egyptian.
A mixture of grand and unsupported generalization about the Oromo
The fourth one is the module furnishes an unbalanced account of certain ethnic groups, particularly that of the Oromo. Actually, the Oromo history is part and parcel of our history but it should be presented with evidence that could be established. The module claims the Oromos were one of the Ethiopia’s primordial people, who lived in the north, west, central and south of Ethiopia and even goes as far as saying that the Oromo had already settled in the whole parts of East Africa before the first millennium, which is nothing more than a fairy tale that will collapse under historiographical scrutiny.
Inaccuracies about the Zagwe dynasty
Lastly, another inaccurate statement that should be mentioned is with regards to the Zagwe dynasty. At some point, it was stated that the Zagwe dynasty stretches from 1150-1270 whereas, on another page, there is a reference saying the Lalibela period lasted from 1160-1211. First, it is astonishing that the module could give such precise years, again without providing any evidence. There are ample credible references and chronicles that show that the establishment of the Zagwe Dynasty goes back to the end of the tenth century and lasts for about 300 years, a fact that the textbook writers disregarded. But they appear to have no qualms about making allegations which are either false or entirely unsupported by the evidence. Even the illustrations and maps are not dated and the sources are not given. This is alarming considering that the material would be put out statewide to be used as instructional material. Manufacturing myth and deliberate fabrication could only deepen existing divisions, not build national unity.
Interview conducted with Alemayehu Anbese of Addis Admass. Translated from Amharic into English by Arefaynie Fantahun.
(This is the first installment in a two-part series looking at the memoir written by the Ethiopian intellectual, freedom fighter and opposition politician, Andargachew Tsige.)
Andargachew Tsigie and Meles Zenawi became friends- or more precisely, card-playing partners – one Christmas break during their university days in the early 1970s. While most students went home, the two young men and others who stayed at the university spent most of their time playing cards for money. «Both Meles and I made alliances and conspired to fleece others. The cocky Meles would not put money unless he was sure he would win,» writes Andargachew.
Later, the two also used to swap books. At the time, it was kind of hard to find foreign-language books but Andargachew was furnished with plenty of them by family members, some of it that he lent to Meles and other friends, according to Andargachew. At one point, Meles set eyes on Mario Puzo’s The Godfather that Andargachew was in the middle of reading. But because he insisted, Andargachew had to tear the book in half and give it to him, he says.
The partnership and friendship would not last long. Meles would abandon his studies in 1974 to join the insurgents in the mountains of Shire districts of Tigray, who formed the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Andargachew joined a pan-Ethiopian resistance organization that emerged from the student movement of the university called the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (E.P.R.P.) At first, he served the party by chauffering the EPRP bigwigs in a secretive and clandestine operation, navigating the twisting streets of Addis Ababa. He would later go underground with his brother and other comrades, living in safe houses, eluding the security forces of the military council (Derg) led by Mengistu Haile Mariam. His younger brother was later captured and killed as the revolution would lead to the carnage and ideological confusion of the period that climaxed in the “Red Terror” of 1977-78. After the first spell in prison, where torture was routine, Andargachew escaped to Sudan, living as a refugee in Khartoum then obtained political asylum in the UK in 1979. He studied at the University of Greenwich where he stayed on and eventually obtained full UK citizenship.
After Derg was finally overthrown in 1991 and Meles Zenawi became president in a transitional government, Andargachew returned to Addis Ababa and became Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa, a post that he held for almost four years. He would resign on account of the difference of opinion existing between him and his colleagues on different points. He moved back to the UK in the early 1990s where he became active in opposition politics, becoming Meles’s rival.
The two men’s relationship descended a further notch when
Andargachew returned home in 2005, to support the opposition party Coalition
for Unity and Democracy (CUD). He took part in that year’s election and was
briefly imprisoned at Ziway camp. After being freed, he founded a new political
movement, Ginbot 7, from his exile in London. A political opposition party that
called for democracy, free elections, and civil rights.
Andargachew’s memoir, the first installment of two-part records focus not on recent times, his opposition activism and involvement that helped him garner sympathetic local and press coverage but rather the earlier periods of Addis Ababa, starting from the city’s foundation to its transformation. Through the eyes of the author and that of his parents–we watch Addis Ababa grow from a tiny settlement surrounded by hills to the thriving geographical center of the country. Among the titles incorporated “A Place where my grandfather’s calves were kept”, “Addis Ababa from garrison to the city”, “Moving like a tortoise towards a metropolitan city” “A city of few”, “Culture in the modern city.”
The book covers in detail the author’s childhood in Addis Ababa as the old feudal order was giving way to the even crueler totalitarian rule. How he became an active participant in the student movement, keenly followed and remained abreast of student politics, often placing himself at the very epicenter of political activity.
Book penned in prison
The 664-page feat was written while Andargachew Tsige was in solitary confinement and on death row between July 2014 and July 2015. He was given rare permission to write after offering to produce a piece describing the political condition of the country, that could prove useful for the administration. He submitted the request to a higher intelligence official who held his case and who consequently might have communicated and even made a bid on his part to Getachew Asefa, the then head of the National Intelligence and Security Service, according to the author. Once he was provided with a personal laptop, he finished and delivered the promised piece on time, and even asked the official if he could use the laptop « to write something else ». The official told him he could and he even went to extra lengths to bring him a list of books that he requested. Andargachew knew the risks he might be running with his words, which in a way forced him to focus on more distant times than the recent ones. But when he moved to Kaliti prison a year later, both the draft of the book and the laptop were taken from him. He thought it was over and he would never see the draft again. « But the unexpected happened and I was released, » he wrote. Out of prison, he was reunited with his transcript with the help of the intelligence official and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, he says.
The author reminds us that he did not set out to write as a way to occupy himself and to fill the tedious hours in prison. “I could have read books for that purpose”, he says. “But rather, it was a deep desire to set the record straight with regard to certain aspects of the country’s history and communicate some of the pivotal events that I participated during the student movement and the EPRP years, something that I could not do in the past for lack of time.”
The book faults the Ethiopian historiography for its focus on the achievements of the ruling elite, omitting facts or whitewashing events that concern the contribution of social groups traditionally regarded outside the pale of the mainstream. The author cited the example of historical writings about the Ethiopian Muslims who have been loyal to their country, fighting side by side with their Christian compatriots against invading Italian aggression. Instead, rulers did not extend to them the same treatment they deserved as worthy citizens. It took a foreign historian to enlighten us on the great injustice done at the battle of Adwa when an attempt had been made to bury Ethiopian soldiers in a massive grave at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Adwa while it was not applied to the Muslim dead, the author writes. «On the battlefield itself, Wylde noted that the Ethiopians had not bothered to bury their Muslim dead: “Not a single body of the Mahommedan Gallas had been touched…. », at was revealed Raymond Jonas’s 2011 book, the Battle of Adwa: African Victory in the Age of Empire.
(This is the second installment in a three-part series looking at the memoir written by the Ethiopian intellectual, freedom fighter and opposition politician, Andargachew Tsige. Find the first part here.)
Andargachew Tsigie’s narrative tells the emergence of Addis Ababa as Ethiopia’s cultural, financial and commercial center, springing from the site chosen by Queen Taytu Bitul in 1886 at the time that Emperor Menelik II was engaged in the campaign to subdue the sultanate of Harar. The Emperor followed his wife, and in 1892 made the still small Addis Ababa his official residence. Packing a tremendous amount of information into its pages, the book recounts the story of the rise of Addis Ababa and the political and cultural upheavals through decades. We come to know the city’s growth from a military encampment to one of the continent’s explosively alive cities through an intimate and moving account. How the Emperor began in 1892 the construction of a palace, which became the central focus of the city and was surrounded by the dwellings of his troops and his innumerable retainers. The Emperor had allocated land to warlords, Rases, and officials. “Some areas are still named after the owners of that time such as Ras Biru, Ras Mulugeta, Ras Hailu, Ras Kassa, Dejazmach Wube, Fitawrari Aba Koran. Large parcels of land were also to be awarded to the church,” Andargachew writes. Foreign legations were situated close to the imperial compound, on the high ground. The founding of Addis Ababa as a new capital allowed the influx of rural people from all regions of the country.
Ras Tafari Makonnen, later Haile Selassie, the progressive
nobleman who was crowned emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 engaged in the
modernization process of the country and the capital, albeit at a slower speed.
He established schools, strengthened the police force, and progressively
outlawed feudal taxation. The city started to grow horizontally, with a large
variety of slums on land that was occupied both legally and illegally, many of
them lacking in infrastructure or quality housing.
The author comments about the effort to develop the city with the monumental plan during the Italian occupation. “Addis Ababa started to transform, albeit very modestly, during the five years after the Italian invasion of 1935. Most of the city’s main roads were paved and asphalt pavements were laid. Numerous residential and office buildings were built in areas such as Kazanchis and Kaza Popolare. In other areas such as Mercato, Piazza, Senga Tera, Arat Kilo and Sidisit Kilo, newer stone buildings were constructed. The theatres and cinemas like the National Theatre and Cinema Empire were built. Other innovations included the installment of sewerage system at a small scale. It was the Italians who gave the city a modern form and shape. The changes in Addis Ababa between 1941 after Liberation and until the end of the Imperial Period in 1974 were sluggish.” (p. 98).
The abundance of eucalyptus trees, first imported from Australia to supply fuel and construction wood, made the city a forest city, brightened up by green gardens where flowers flourished. Beds of roses, bougainvillea or geraniums boomed, surrounded by rivers and streams rushing down from the nearby mountain. The author laments the loss of so much of the city’s green landscape and garden space amid development and fast-paced housing projects such as condominiums. He particularly makes references to yellow daisies collectively called the meskal flowers that bloom after the rainy season.
In the chapter entitled, “Addis Ababa, a city of soldiers, slaves and prostitutes”, the author provides a backstage version of the history of sex work, with fascinating descriptions of how the concentration of men helped prostitution to flourish in the royal camp. « Since those who founded Addis Ababa were soldiers and military men, most of them were without marriages and homestead, except the army leaders. Event them until they brought their wives to live with them, the place was full of young men, warlords, and army members. For some time, women and children were rare. » (p, 72).
This factor, according to the author, encouraged the proliferation of the “tej and tella bets”, the one-woman bars and drinking places that dispensed drinks and other things at all hours. The prostitution expanded greatly, the continued urbanization extending the trade and reducing its profitability. The increase in part-time or full-time prostitutes, hired or bought servants doubling as sexual partners meant the increase in venereal disease at an alarming rate. The women were deemed debauched deviants who spread venereal diseases to the lords. However, the divorce and remarriage that were common and frequent were equally responsible for the spread of the diseases. The promiscuous behavior observed then was in stark contrast with the conservative Christain belief and religious teachings, the author observes.
Country bans public events as coronavirus cases hit five
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma to donate test kits, masks to every African state
The head of Oromia’s education bureau, Dr. Tola Beriso, has tested negative for coronavirus. Tola told BBC Amharic that he received confirmation that the test is negative. Tola had previously been in contact with a Japanese national who tested positive for Covid-19, the first confirmed case for Ethiopia. Tola, who said he is in full health, has voluntarily isolated himself for twelve days.
The Japanese patient who arrived in Ethiopia on March 4, 2020, from Burkina Faso visited two schools in the Arsi zone. Among the 113 people who came in contact with the Japanese national, 74 of them were found negative, according to the Ethiopian Public Health Institue.
Ethiopia on Monday suspended schools, sporting events, and public assemblies as it confirmed its fifth case of Covid-19. Four other people have tested positive for Covid-19, two Ethiopians and two Japanese. Three of them had been in contact with the country’s first patient, while one of the Ethiopian citizens had returned from Dubai.
All passengers arriving in the country-regardless of origin-must undergo temperature at Bole international airport. However, Ethiopian Airlines maintains its flights, including to the most affected countries such as Italy.
Ethiopia has obtained the support of the Chinese billionaire businessman Jack Ma, head of Ali Baba who promised to donate 20,000 testing kits, 100,000 masks, 1,000 medical-use protective suits and face shields for each African country.
Ethiopian
flag-carrier Ethiopian Airlines has said that it is being improperly and
negatively targeted by online postings on social media for its decision to
continue operating in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The company said in
a statement that even though many other carriers on the continent and worldwide
continue to operate, some Ethiopian social media users have launched a campaign
targeting the national carrier, making it look like it is the only carrier that
opted to maintain its flights. However, in reality, carriers, such as Kenya
Airways, Emirates, Air India, Singapore Airlines, Morocco Airlines, and
Turkish Airlines have not grounded their fleet, it said. More than ten carriers
continue flying to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, according to the company’s
statement. The company repeatedly expressed, it is taking all possible
preventative measures to protect the customer’s health in accordance with the
World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s
(CAO) standards.
Many
Ethiopians online and offline are calling on the government to close airports
after the country confirmed six cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. Even when most
airlines in the region and other parts of the world have suspended services to
China, Ethiopian has maintained its 35 weekly flights between Addis Ababa and
different cities on the Chinese mainland.
The
company temporarily suspended its flights to Milan effective 17th March, after
the city’s larger Malpensa airport was closed in the face of the coronavirus
crisis. Ethiopian attributed the suspension “due to
further mobility restrictions”. Flights to Rome continue to be maintained as
per normal, it was said.
Ethiopia has announced three new confirmed cases of
coronavirus, taking the total number of people infected by the virus in the
country to nine.
According to Ethiopia’s Health Minister Lia Tadesse, the cases involved a 44-year-old Japanese national, an 85-year-old Ethiopian national and a 39-year-old Austrian. The Japanese national is identified as having been in contact with a previously diagnosed person and the two others had arrived from abroad. While the two confirmed cases are said to be in a “stable condition”, the 85-year-old man has a severe form of illness and under close medical care, the Minister wrote on Twitter.
Ethiopia has fewer confirmed Coronavirus cases, but fears grow about what happens if the country starts to experience a broader outbreak and how the health system would cope with it.
Almaz Shiferaw, 45, wins her livelihood as a retailer of clarified butter and dry spices at Mercato, the largest market center in Ethiopia. Like most people these days, she is overly concerned about the new coronavirus (the COVID-19 virus) and she is taking preventive measures not to be infected with the highly infectious virus, she says. She has a particular reason to worry: she has chronic asthma and difficulty breathing. “I am following all the instructions. I am cleaning my hands regularly with water and soap, especially after handling produces and money”, she says.
Many Ethiopians have dreaded the pandemic’s arrival, ever since it was first diagnosed in China and spread across the world. Because of the close commercial ties and the regular air liaisons between Ethiopia and China, many felt, it was a matter of time before the virus arrives. To the surprise and relief of many, it has taken time before it did. But a week ago, a Japanese national who had shown symptom tested positive for coronavirus: the first case in Ethiopia. Eight other people have contracted the virus since. Some say those numbers are an underestimate as testing is hard to access unless a patient is hospitalized.
On March 17, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has announced the closure of all schools in the country, the banning of all public gatherings and sports events for fifteen days, amid intensifying concerns over the spreading of the COVID-19 virus. However, at Mercato on a Thursday afternoon, the scene was usual market-day chaos. Shoppers pushed each other out of the way to buy goods. “If there is anything different, most people are buying food items, there is less demand for other articles,” an electronic shop owner said. “The topic of the corona is here and it is all over the radio and TV,” one trader said. “It’s important that we follow the health instructions and get our hands washed as often as possible and stay away from people who are coughing or sneezing. It may not be easy here,” he added. One clay pot seller says he uses lemon and water for washing his hands. “It works, doesn’t it ?”, he looks up inquiringly. Another man sitting nearby says, « Why not? It is an acidic substance.» The question is, is it really sufficient, he added.
Price gouging
Some shoppers and traders approached at Mercato have an idea of how the virus spreads, but fewer know what measures to take to stay safe. Even those who do say, they could not find hand vital ingredients such as alcohol-based hand sanitizers, gels and disinfectant wipes at the market. Alarm over coronavirus has meant that the ingredients have become exceedingly hard to come by. Vendors are charging outrageously inflated prices or hoarding them in some cases.
There have been large price hikes on basic supplies such as in the staple grain Teff, lemon, garlic, tomatoes and the condiment called Berbere. Lemon and garlic have been suggested by some as a cure for coronavirus, which explains the increasing demand for both items, even though doctors say there’s currently no known cure for the illness and there is no evidence that these foods can help to destroy the virus. Authorities have started to clamp down « unscrupulous elements » who are engaged in hiking prices as well as hoarding products and medical supplies. According to the Reporter newspaper, some 1,607 business entities, and drugstores have been shut-down in Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, and Southern regional states in the past week.
The government started to provide locally produced sanitizers at moderate prices, rationing them at public Kenema pharmacies found Addis Ababa. The Addis Ababa City administration also says it is trying to find a way to stabilize food prices by working closely with consumers union’s shops that distribute items for citizens with fair prices.
In the different parts of the city, volunteers are offering hand washing services to passersby but there are concerns about people not taking distance from each other. Despite bans on gatherings, the situation has remained generally unchanged, images of political meetings coming from the different parts of the country showing halls packed with people. Public transport in the city remains the most at risk as buses and taxis still operate crowded.
A large line of people queue for a taxi at Megenagna on March 17. (Photo by Ethiopia Observer)
Anti-foreign sentiments
The COVID-19 virus is seen as a foreign intrusion, with early cases reported from Asian and European travelers. This has brought out anti-foreign sentiments in Ethiopia, and Europeans, Americans, and Asians in the major cities of Addis Ababa and major other towns reported verbal harassment, stone-throwing, and hate-fuelled incidents. There are also reports of businesses and restaurants banning foreigners. Ethiopia Observer has learned about the case of a group of five Belgian and two French tourists, who came to Ethiopia through a tour package organized by TDS, a travel association specializing in solidarity tourism, who had to cut their stay short and leave the town of Debre Tabor, a town along the Wereta Woldia road, for Lalibela after having faced constant harassment. The U.S. embassy in Ethiopia issued a security alert, prompting the prime minister’s office to announce that COVID-19 “is not related to any country or nationality.
Undetected spread
Even though the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is surprisingly low, the country is viewed as fertile ground for an explosion of the disease. Observers say Ethiopia’s health care system offers limited comfort – noting the overcrowded hospitals, lack of beds, basic items such as gloves, protective gear, testing kits, and clinical care, among other problems – should coronavirus pandemic take hold in a population of 110 million.
So far all of Ethiopia’s coronavirus cases have been”imported” – linked to foreign travel or direct contact with someone who caught the disease abroad. Dr. Dawd Siraj, a professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Wisconsin, says the real challenge for the country would come when community transmission takes off especially in densely populated areas with problems of poor sanitation and deteriorating housing conditions. “When a carrier mingles normally with people, the potential for the virus spreading rapidly remains high. That would be the start of the second stage which might necessitate placing more draconian measures other than those announced by Prime Minister Abiy,” he said.
Dr. Dawd who also advises the Ethiopian Ministry of Health stressed that « If you find one infected person, you have look for about thirty persons who might have come in contact with him. »
Airport staff wears protective masks at Bole International Airport (photo Ethiopia Observer)
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that countries like Ethiopia should learn from how the spread of the virus has sped up elsewhere. While Africa’s confirmed cases were currently low, WHO says there was no reason for complacency, recommending avoiding mass gatherings. The Ethiopian government has since then moved to impose more sweeping measures, including mandatory quarantine starting Monday. Anyone arriving in Ethiopia will be subject to 14 quarantine at designated locations.
There are concerns about the effectiveness of containment measures and the personal behavior and discipline of the public to abide by the rules. An Ethiopian, suspected of being infected with coronavirus, escaped on his way from the airport to the isolation center a few days ago. He has been found in his native village, around 400kms from Addis Ababa, after traveling in public transport and returned to quarantine. He has since tested negative for the virus.
Reacting to PM Abiy’s recent harsh and indiscriminate detraction of African and, specifically, of Ethiopian intellectuals, comments were quick to flow that, not only contested the criticisms, but more seriously exposed their dangerous implications, the most glaring of them being that the debasement of intellectuals is usually the mark of a dictatorial regime. The comments were not saying that intellectuals should not be criticized, but that the criticisms were expressed in such a way that they seemed to demonize free critical thinking, the outcome of which can only be its suppression. Indeed, the attempt was not so much to argue against the discourse of intellectuals as to ridicule and devalue their social standing. In short, the aim was not to provide counter criticisms; rather, it was to score political points through sheer denigration. While I approved the association of the disparagement of intellectuals with dictatorial practice, I could not, at the same time, discard the flagrant disparity between the message of the speech and what we know of the Prime Minister. Is he not himself a member of the intellectual elite, as testified by his side of life as a writer? Moreover, is not the speech contrary to what he has promised to the country and endeavored to implement since his rise to premiership?
The
substance of PM’s criticisms bore on the inability of Ethiopian intellectuals
to marry theory and practice. This inability makes their work useless, since
criticisms divorced from reality is utterly irrelevant. Also, as a mere mental
construct that takes pride in its purity from the constraints of reality, the
discourse that flies away from reality is prone to exaggerations and idealistic
distortions, whose impracticality changes the intent to know reality into a
discourse denying reality itself. One can easily grant that this fanciful
discourse provides the satisfaction that is usually attached to dogmas, including
the ability to inflame converts, especially the young ones. What it cannot do,
however, is to build on reality by improving it, obvious as it is that the
revolutionary spirit that animates it, to the extent that it wants to effect a
clean slate of the given and inherited conditions, turns the discourse into an
attempt to wreck the society.
That
Dr. Abiy’s accusations lacked in fairness cannot be in dispute. Intellectuals with
visions destructive to the Ethiopian society abound, but so too those who
struggle to find the right remedies to the conflicts tearing it apart. Moreover,
one must be careful not to turn theory into a mere servant of practice. As
testified by the development of human knowledge, invention requires the
relative autonomy of theory vis-a-vis practice. The way out is to distinguish
between reality and truth. Reality is the given; as such, it is what it is
regardless of human wants and aspirations. Truth is a construction in such a
way that we can influence reality and change it to our advantages. So that, the
danger of an obsession with practice is the stifling of pure theoretical
inventions, without which technological breakthroughs are seldom possible.
Although I read in the indiscriminate accusations of the PM an obvious exaggeration dictated by an understandable impatience and frustration over the reckless discourses of some intellectuals, I could not go to the extent of fully exonerating him, all the more so as they reminded me of previous detested regimes using the same diatribes against intellectuals. If any exoneration were to become possible, it had to be subsequent to an initiative of the Prime Minister himself.
The spectacle of an Ethiopian leader saying sorry for what he did was so unprecedented.
And
the initiative came in the form of a loud and untangled apology. While I was listening
to the apology, I could not quite prevent myself from feeling a sense of
surreality. The spectacle of an Ethiopian leader saying sorry for what he did was
so unprecedented, so at odds with the known style of the exercise of power in
Ethiopia that it causes a brief disconnection with reality. To understand the
feeling of disconnect, it is necessary to point out what apologizing means
under normal circumstances. It means that, in addition to feeling remorse for
what a person did to another person or persons and admitting full responsibility
for the committed offense, he/she is willing to make amends and promises that
it will not happen again.
In
a country that has valued for centuries absolute power and has considered invincibility
as the mark of legitimacy, nothing could be more repugnant and antithetical to
its implementation than to hear the person holding the highest authority expressing
remorse for his deed. This simple but extremely difficult task to accomplish denotes,
in its own way, the cornerstone of any democratic practice, namely, the
accountability of state power to the people. In its application to politics,
apology admits responsibility for an offense to the people and, in so doing,
restores the legitimate right of the people. If we ask the question of knowing
why the person who has the highest authority in the society feels the need to
apologize, the answer is that the person gives due respect to the people. Respect
entails the recognition of rights, the very ones that in politics we call democratic
rights.
To be sure, previous Ethiopian regimes have, however rarely and reluctantly, openly admitted mistakes. Such was the case with the Derg subsequent to a change of policy introducing the system of mixed economy. In the face of burgeoning unrest in the country, the EPRDF, too, admitted that mistakes were committed and promised improvements. However, none of them ever apologized to the Ethiopian people, choosing instead to blame other people or circumstances for the committed mistakes. When you divert the blame to something else, you neither feel remorse nor assume responsibility. In thus making excuses for the offense, you remove yourself from the path of genuine apology. Moreover, the mentioned regimes felt the need to acknowledge mistakes at a time when they were losing their grip on power. This timing suggests that the acceptance of mistakes was nothing but a calculated attempt to appease the ongoing popular uprisings by promising reforms. Let alone leading to apology, this late promise of change cast doubt on the sincerity of the admission of mistakes.
An apology issued under the condition of assured authority has all the appearance of being sincere.
By contrast, in his apology, Abiy avoids making excuses by assuming
full responsibility for the offence, even if he briefly alludes to being
somewhat misunderstood. He also expressed remorse by saying that he is sorry
for the wrong he did, especially for the indiscriminate vilification of the
intellectual elite. He even emphasized its unfairness by stating that many
among the intellectuals perfectly live up to expectations. Most of all, Abiy’s
apology comes at a time when he seems to be at the peak of his power. I do not
see what could have changed in terms of the exercise of power if he did not
apologize, all the more so as he had little chance of bringing to his side the
many intellectuals who dislike his policy for one reason or another. An apology
issued under the condition of assured authority has all the appearance of being
sincere, since it is hard to find any other reason for its offering than the
fact that the apologizer regrets the hurt he has caused.
One may still retort that the apology is just a make-believe,
that behind the soothing words lies the intention to deceive so as to reinforce
one’s popularity. According to this objection, those who have been hurt and
those who are listening will see the apology as the expression of a caring and
morally tactful leader when in reality it is nothing more than deceit to shore
up popularity. First, as already indicated, I do not see what Abiy would gain
by engaging in this kind of theatrics. Second, viewed from Ethiopia’s political
culture, which culture intractably mixes power with invincibility, the offering
of apology can only be seen as a sign of weakness. For the one who holds power,
to admit wrong, or worse, to express regret for it, is to exhibit vulnerability
and invite insubordination. Since in line with the Machiavellian precept, modern
Ethiopian leaders think that the one who has power has the right to command
regardless of any moral concern, to use apology to strengthen one’s power base
is at best inconsistent and at worst self-damaging. In a word, the safest way
to make sense of an apology coming from an unweakened Ethiopian leader is to
bet on his sincerity.
The Machiavellian divorce of politics from morality was tempered in traditional Ethiopia by the religious injunction compelling kings to protect Orthodox Christianity and obey its rules. As a result, the injunction had somewhat lessened the brutality of political power. However, since the Revolution of 1974, all moral restriction has been lifted by the spread of Leninist atheism and the doctrine of class struggle among intellectuals and the modern political elite. As the great Russian novelist, Dostoyevsky, predicted when he said, “if there is no God, everything is permitted,” for the twin principles of Leninism, the end justified the means, that is, all moral considerations must be suspended to achieve the goal of socialism. We know what horrendous bloodbath and inhumane treatments resulted from the implementation in Ethiopia of the principle demanding the suspension of morality in political struggle. Those who followed the Derg replaced the doctrine of class struggle with the doctrine of ethnic struggle, but retained the atheism and the amorality of political struggle characteristic of Leninism. For them, too, no moral scruple should hamper the struggle to achieve ethnic ascendancy. Apart from the defense of national unity, the outcome was no different from that of the Derg in terms of the treatment of human rights.
It seems that Abiy wants to reinject some dose of morality into politics by simply saying that it is wrong to hurt people.
Precisely, with his apology, it seems that Abiy wants to reinject some dose of morality into politics by simply saying that it is wrong to hurt people, even for the one who holds the highest power. Commentators show here and there some exasperation over Abiy’s attempt to moralize public life, not to mention his occasional inclinations to sprinkle his discourse with religious references, as, for instance, the use of the word “love”. This is to forget that one of the problems of Ethiopia is that it introduced elements of modernity without concurrently developing the democratic institutions necessary to protect human dignity. The consequence was that the tempering role of religion in traditional Ethiopia was removed––following the modern principle of separation of church and state—without, however, providing any viable replacement. Atheism and the revolutionary spirit filtered through the created void, the outcome of which was the separation of politics from morality. Without democratic institutions yet in place, Ethiopians were thus left unprotected to the savagery of political competitions.
Daniel Gebre, 34, drives a dilapidated Lada taxi. From his usual stand at Haya Hulet, he navigates his clients to different parts of Addis Ababa. He said business is slow these days, with customers opting for Ride, an Uber-style ride-sharing service. The coronavirus pandemic escalating in Ethiopia and overseas is making him wary. “We are being traumatized with this stuff,” he said. He feels this is God’s wrath at the prevailing sin of society in the nation and the only solution is to turn to Him “to deliver us from plague and from all harm.”
In a country where the overwhelming majority of the population claims a religious affiliation, Daniel’s words echo many other’s thoughts amidst the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. For many Ethiopians, plague, famine, natural catastrophe, and events of such kinds are part of a divine plan and are seen as punitive for evil deeds and a way for God to bring the faithful closer to Him.
The mobilization of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church this past week to organize a street cleansing program with incense burning and processions in front of hundreds of people in Addis Ababa and many other towns across the country, despite a government ban on mass gatherings, was a case in point. “Ethiopia is a deeply religious society and as such a ritualistic response or the resort to a concentrated prayer is understandable,” says Dereje Feyissa, a senior research advisor to the Life and Peace Institute, and adjunct associate professor at Addis Ababa University. “After all, the pandemic has instanced the crisis of modernity – despite technological sophistication and civilizational arrogance humanity is reminded of its limitation; a gap which spiritual schemes of interpretations often fill,” he analyzes.
Ethiopia has 16 confirmed coronavirus cases, if the government reports are anything to go by. The country has introduced restrictive measures to contain the virus’ spread by closing schools and large cultural and sporting events. But so far it has steered clear of applying similar measures for churches and mosques, places where many people gather closely together regularly.
Spirituality as a cure for coronavirus?
As there is no treatment the COVID-19 other than preventive measures such as social isolation and better hygiene, a wave of claims about how to prevent, treat and cure it has surfaced. Religious figures across the religious spectrum are recommending prayer and, faith healing as the remedy. While some rely on divine intervention, others count on traditional advice and folk-based practices, like garlic, seeds of feto (Lepidium sativum) and lemon, items that have seen a surge in demand since the beginning of the outbreak.
Despite the cancellation of large events and school closures, churches and mosques in the country are continuing their activities, some of them only encouraging maintaining reasonable distance amongst those who come to pray.
Videos and images coming out from charismatic churches show how they were filled to capacity with throngs of people, in apparent defiance of instructions from the medical profession. Of course, institutions that seemed to be concerned about the charges of inaction have made public declarations. For example, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has announced steps it has taken to help reduce dangers of the spread of the coronavirus. Though the measures included temporary suspension of «any spiritual assemblies, public preaching, and teaching, and trips to monasteries, and large meetings in which the laities participate », like other churches, such as the Egyptian Coptic Church, it has not altogether banned liturgical celebrations, eucharist, baptism, or sprinkling of holy water. The church simply recommended limiting the number of people who attend those services, organizing a designated time for the elderly and children taking the eucharist, urged believers to attend service with social distance maintained, and bring their own containers for holy water, according to a communiqué sent to media on Monday signed by Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Mathias. The Church has called for a cleansing program with incense burning and procession without a congregation physically present. However, photos and videos posted on social media showed several ceremonies held in Addis Ababa and other towns this week crowded with believers, sparking criticism from various sections of society concerned about the public’s apparent indifference and defiance of public health rules in the face of COVID-19. There are also alarms raised about church rituals such as kneeling and kissing the cross worn by a priest.
On March 21, the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council also asked worshippers to perform prayers at home. The Council cited an edict that permits the abstention of Friday Jummah prayers, considering the harmfulness of the coronavirus. The council has said it is forbidden for anyone infected with or suspected to be infected by the virus to attend prayers and large gatherings, but in some places, believers defied the advice to join together in worship.
Muslims praying in Addis Ababa mosque on Friday, March 27. Photo/ Ethiopia Live Update
Andrew DeCort, an American scholar and researcher, acknowledges the public statements from senior Orthodox, Protestant, and Muslim leaders calling their communities to follow the health instructions of the World Health Organization and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health. However, some consider these statements to be too late and too open-ended in their guidelines, he said.
Celebrity evangelical pastors, it seems, are using the pandemic to sell their prosperity theology that claims God will protect and bless the faithful. A video making its way around social media shows Israel Dansa, a self-proclaimed prophet giving what he called the spiritual remedy to the coronavirus. (During which he struggles to pronounce the word coronavirus.) The Pastor is heard saying he experienced a vision in which “the Lord’s spirit put the coronavirus” on his palm (he is seen pouring droplets into his palms from a plastic bottle) and “when I uttered a word, I saw the virus drying up and dissipating like flour” spoken before of an ululating congregation. “This is dangerous creating a delusion about the magnitude of the threat posed by the pandemic,” says Dereje Feyissa.
“I also see major failing in the secular world which has shown shocking recklessness- such as political leaders still holding meetings or the failure to keep the social distancing protocol because of cultural reasons,” he adds.
It seems that Ethiopia’s strong sense of national exceptionalism convinces some followers that the coronavirus doesn’t apply to them.
Several commentators raged about the «complacency » that could invite calamity in the middle of an epidemic. Mohammed Girma, a Research Associate at the University of Pretoria and the author of Understanding Religion and Social Change in Ethiopia says, “complacency” might be the wrong term to use in this situation. “Religion is an important way of knowing and seeking solution for the overwhelming majority of Ethiopians. Disparaging them with elitist epithets will not be helpful. Clergies, medical professionals, the media and policymakers need to work on culturally relevant ways of communicating,” he says. “The faithful need to understand COVID-19 can be combated with both scientific and spiritual resources,” he adds.
Andrew DeCort observes that some are extremely offended by suggestions that Ethiopia could be affected and “it seems that Ethiopia’s strong sense of national exceptionalism convinces some followers that the coronavirus doesn’t apply to them”.
“But others are taking the situation very seriously and doing everything in their power to raise awareness, aid public service efforts, and collect emergency supplies for our impoverished neighbors.”
A cleaning staff waits in protective gear to disinfect a metro carriage in Addis Ababa, on March 20, 2020.| MICHAEL TEWELDE | AFP
A tension between science and conservative faith communities
For Andrew DeCort, the virus is exposing a deep tension – -even allergy – – in some faith communities’ response to science. « Many clearly see science as unspiritual. I have gotten numerous Facebook comments from Ethiopian Christians telling me that faith and science have nothing to do with each other and that connecting them is a dangerous mistake.”
DeCort, who is the director of the Institute for Faith and Flourishing, explains many Christians “fail to see the deep contradiction between (1) affirming that God created the world and (2) rejecting the rigorous study of how God designed the world. Thus, they call exclusively for prayer, fasting, and other spiritual rituals and, at best, see public health measures as a secondary matter.” However, he says, other Christians are raising their voice and defending the importance of science and the rich integration of faith and science that Christianity has historically celebrated.
Mohammed Girma also says that what is important in such times of crisis is “downplaying our ideology, however tempting it is, and highlight the aspect integrality between science and faith so people could draw resources from both domains.”
According to Mohammed, COVID-19 is a national security issue. “There is no ambiguity about this. Ensuring the safety of its citizens is the primary call of the state. The state, therefore, needs to use every resource available to keep its citizens safe.”
DeCort echoes the same sentiment. “The government should fulfill its primary duty of protecting the health and wellbeing of its citizens, even if doing so is unpopular among those suspicious of science and public health guidelines. The wellbeing of our neighbors is the most important and urgent embodiment of authentic faith.”
Gete Tadesse contributed reporting from Addis Ababa.
Main photo: A cleansing program with incense burning and procession Photo BBC Amharic
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A police officer has shot and killed a young man in Tigray as the region imposed a curfew amid efforts to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, according to reports.
The officer shot and killed Hagos Nigus in Naeder Adet woreda for allegedly failing to comply with orders related to the region-wide state of emergency that aims to prevent the spread of coronavirus, according to BBC Tigrigna.
The woreda police department Yemane Kidanemariam said the young man was shot by one of the officers on Saturday during a dispersal operation at a drinking house in a village called Jira. The police officer in question Constable Angaw Eshete was placed in custody, according to the report.
The Tigray regional state declared a 15-state of emergency on March 26, taking action to limit the size of public gatherings and activities such as weddings, markets, bars, and restaurants.
Image: Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD), vice president of Tigray Regional State
Ethiopia puts forward a 15 billion birr as liquidity for private banks to support businesses
State Minister of Finance announced plans for larger measures depending on the impact of the pandemic
The Ethiopian government is considering schemes to mitigate the economic impact in the face of a growing coronavirus epidemic, the country’s State Minister of Finance said.
Eyob Tekalign said in an interview with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) on Tuesday that the government was discussing a package of measures to help sectors likely to be affected, should the country enters a complete lockdown.
‘The macroeconomic team led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been looking at two scenarios, a best-case scenario, and a worst-case scenario,’ the State Minister of Finance said. ‘The current situation is what we call the best-case scenario. Sectors such as tourism, the airline, hospitality, flower export are already suffering huge losses. If things take turn for the worse, and the country enters complete lockdown, various recovery packages would be applied,’ he said.
Such a move would address requests by the flower and tourism industries for a grace period to help them retain their employees for two or three months and working capital. ‘The main focus is on those sectors that have been affected more than others and to support people through these difficult times,’ Eyob said.
To address that the National Bank of Ethiopia would inject 15 billion Ethiopian birr as liquidity for private banks, he said. The State Minister said there are also plans for larger fiscal measures to support businesses and delivering food for those in need. The government would do its level best to prevent the temporary economic hit resulting from those costs having a permanent impact, he concluded.
Loss of livelihood and lack of food due to containment measures and quarantine orders threaten a large part of the country’s population and could kill more people than the COVID-19, warns this writer.
Coronavirus has started hitting Ethiopia, so it looks. It’s no fun to imagine what the disease could do here, having seen how Western nations with more developed and better-financed healthcare systems have faltered in. By now, only a few would cast doubts about the danger and ruthlessness of the disease.
Since the emergence of the virus in China, Ethiopia stayed alert, yet holding the hope that it was escaping the worst. But that early optimism was shattered when the number of cases jumped to 35 in less than three weeks, including six new cases reported on Friday. So far, most of those affected are those who came from abroad and the people who had contact with them. That said, all indications are that the country is in the early stages of the pandemic, as some call it incubation period, and these numbers are sadly to go up. Hospitals and treatment centers are bracing for a wave of cases that could break an already fragile healthcare system. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said a few days ago said that the next two or three weeks will be a pivotal moment that determines the extent coronavirus’s impact could have in the country. Those weeks would also determine whether the country would enter into a complete lockdown or not. Under the circumstances, it is understandable the need to take drastic efforts to prevent its spread. The first country in sub-Saharan Africa to put lockdown measures, Rwanda has now extended it by two weeks, with Uganda and Kenya entering their own lockdowns last week.
And necessary though such kind of stringent methods might be, they should take into account the country’s context. The measures applied in western countries cannot be appropriate in a nation where people rely on daily earnings to survive. If the country follows suit of the complete lockdown restrictions introduced in those countries, the implications could be severe and counter-productive. How is it that people who work day-to-day could stay confined in their houses for fifteen days or a month? Hunger and starvation would kill people before any disease does.
The privileged people might stock their refrigerators, get groceries and foodstuff delivered to their doorsteps and could work from home. But the underprivileged, which represents the majority of the country, could not in any way afford those things. The choice would be, stay at home and practice strict social distancing measures, with a risk of going hungry or defy restrictions in search of food.
People with limited and inconsistent income, day laborers, the unemployed, the homeless are already feeling the brunt of the restrictions already put in place and the economic stagnation. For these groups, access to water, soap and hand sanitizer are constant sources of worries and severe concerns about food shortages during the lockdown could only lead them to desperate measures. Children could be particularly susceptible to malnutrition. About 50 % of the country’s people live below the poverty line, according to the latest data from the World Bank. Most of those people have neither social security nor unemployment benefits. Should the country enters into a full quarantine, these issues will need to be addressed. The alternative is that the country could well see millions of the most vulnerable sectors of society — those that the lockdown was supposed to protect — perish from starvation before coronavirus strike them.
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Ethiopia has registered its first coronavirus death since the outbreak began, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute announced. A 60-year-old woman, who was in critical condition after being admitted to Eka Kotebe hospital, succumbed to the disease, marking the first death in the country. The woman identified as an Ababa Ababa resident flew into the capital from Paris on 25 March. “She was in a follow-up and upon the developments of symptoms, reported to the hotline service and laboratory test confirmed positive for COVID-19,” according to a statement. She had been intensive care for the past six days, it was said.
As of midday on Sunday, Ethiopia had 43 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection.
Image: An Ethiopian health worker at a testing station in Addis Ababa. REUTERS/Giulia Paravicini.
As two confirmed cases have appeared in the city, officials and residents have begun to brace for the possibility of a widespread outbreak.
There is growing anxiety in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia’s third-largest city after the city saw its first two confirmed cases. There is a scene of eerie silence unfolding. “This virus came to town and frightened everyone,” lamented Lidetu Alemu, who owns a souk on Feres magalaa. He fears that a local outbreak could be devastating.
A challenge for the health system
Health practitioners described a growing concern about the illness and how a serious outbreak could quickly overwhelm the local health system. Poor sanitation facilities, limited access to health-care services mean the infectious disease is already a major problem. The International WHO Readiness Assessment checklist by nine Ethiopian regions describes Dire Dawa as having a limited capacity of preparedness for the pandemic with an overall score of 62 percent, slightly better score than Gambella and Gumuz regions but lower than other regions in the country. The autonomous city administration does not possess enough critical care beds and ventilators. There is a worry that too so few people were currently being tested, leaving an incomplete picture of how widespread the pandemic, a scenario similar in the whole of the country. So far Ethiopia had administered only 1,386 tests. The country has focused on physical distancing policies to contain the virus but has resisted some of the tough measures and nationwide lockdown put in place in many countries, while two deaths have been recorded in the country.
The Ethio-Djibouti Railway Hospital in Dire Dawa
Details about the town’s first coronavirus case
In Dire Dawa, it all started with the arrival of a 42-year-old man, Testi Yisehak from Australia who has been confirmed to be the city’s’ first coronavirus case. He came to Dire Dawa for a wedding ceremony, traveling through Addis Ababa. His fiancée, 33, lived here. Upon arriving at the airport, he telephoned his brother, Adil Yisehak who took him to a family home, a family friend told Ethiopia Observer. «On the sixth day of his arrival, he started feeling run down and he headed to a local clinic. He was told that he was suffering from insomnia and went back home. But his symptoms worsened within three days. It was only when he announced that he came from abroad that his blood sample was taken and sent to Addis Ababa. A few days later, the result came positive for COVID-19 on March 31,” the family friend explains. The patient was in the city for almost two weeks before isolated. He is being treated at a hospital in the city and he is well recovering, he said.
Town residents raise questions, such as how contagious the patient was from the very start his arrival, and how many of the people he came in contact with were tracked. On April 2, the patient’s fiancée tested positive. In Dire Dawa, the city of around 300, 000, thirty-six people were quarantined at the Ethio-Djibouti Railway Hospital, more commonly referred to as Ferensay Hospital, following exposure to the subject and his fiancée. So far 13 people were tested and four of them, including the brother Adil Yisehak, were found not to have the virus. The other results are still pending, according to officials.
“We are not having as much testing as we would like to, but we’re hopeful,” the newly assigned Dire Dawa Administrative Regional Health Bureau head Lemlem Bezabih said Monday.
Dire Dawa Administrative Regional Health Bureau head Lemlem Bezabih
The nearby Haramaya University has acquired a testing lab and it would start to administer tests in a few day’s time, she said. “Increasing the number of tests would help both for medical treatment and also to immediately move those people into isolation, identify their close contacts,” Lemlem said.
“The number will continue to rise.”
The Regional Health Bureau head warned that the number of infections will continue to rise during the next two weeks. “Increases are to be expected at this stage as more tests and results become available,” she said.
People are being advised to protect against the virus’s spread with actions like washing their hands and covering their mouth and nose when coughing and maintaining physical distance. Efforts to persuade people to adhere to those safety guidelines and maintain physical distancing have not always proven successful. Keeping a safe distance from one’s neighbors and friends is not a common practice in Dire Dawa where people drink coffee together, sit for a Khat chewing ceremony for longer hours. “People are fearful and nervous. They are concerned about their health but are not necessarily taking the precaution,” Mezgebu Leulkal, a town resident says. “People continue getting together and gatherings as usual,” says Mezegebu who delivered a one-story house for use by people who have to go into quarantine.
Another resident says the group khat chewing ceremony has reduced by seventy percent but there are still pockets of people doing it here and there.
A coronavirus task force
Dire Dawa had established a coronavirus task force, comprising members from various government bodies to lead the prevention measures. The task force has begun converting schools, and hotels into isolation wards to deal with an anticipated outbreak. Robel Getachew, the taskforce’s logistic head says 464 places in four high schools have been set up in addition to already designated treatment centers in the town’s three major hospitals. According to Robel, the facilities are being equipped with vital medical equipment and beds. “But there are some challenges as some people are protesting about the coronavirus isolation centers becoming too close to their residential houses, Robel says. “We are trying to convince them that if we have to contain the virus, we need to isolate people in those centers, and we are succeeding in most cases,” he says. Community figures and businesspeople have come together to try to support those with no income and so far 15 million Ethiopian birr was collected, he said.
Health professionals in Dire Dawa say they are doing their best to implement systems for handling new coronavirus cases but they fear how the health systems would cope with an outbreak of the virus.
On April 6, an activist in Dire Dawa calls for respecting physical distance to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. Courtesy of Dire Dawa Mass Media Enterprise.
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Ethiopia on Tuesday reported another 8 new coronavirus cases, including a nine-month-old baby, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 52, Ethiopia’s Health Minister Lia Tadesse just announced. The eight new cases were recorded from 264 tests conducted over the past 24 hours, the Minister added.
Five of the new cases are related to travelers who recently came to Dubai and who are in quarantine. One other case, a 25-year-old female, is related to travel to Thailand. A 30-year-old female Eritrean national, with a travel history to the UK, is also part of the 8 cases, it was revealed.
A 65-year-old patient became the third person known to be infected with the coronavirus to die in Ethiopia, Minister of Health Lia Tadesse said on Friday, as the number of people contracting the virus continued to mount.
The death of the woman from Dukem, a town on the Addis-Bishoftu road, followed that of a 60-year-old woman and a 56-year-old man on Sunday, the first victim of coronavirus in Ethiopia.
The 65-year-old patient, who had no travel history, had been hospitalized on April 4 for an underlying medical condition and diagnosed with COVID-19 two days later, said Lia. She was later moved to the intensive care unit, she said.
The country has confirmed nine new cases today, all related to a recently returned overseas traveler who was already in quarantine. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 65, prompting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to declare a state of emergency two days ago.
Image: Ethiopian Orthodox faithful practice social distancing as they attend a morning prayer session at the St. Michael church, April 1. REUTERS
Ethiopia banned public gatherings of more than four people, in measures introduced as part of a state of emergency to tackle the spread of coronavirus.
Attorney general Adanech Abiebie announced the measures on Saturday which included the banning of meetings of more than four people for religious, political, Iddir (bereavement gatherings), Ekub (rotating savings association), Debo (voluntary collective work). However, funerals and “other important activities” could be authorized under certain conditions.
Other regulations included banning landlords from evicting tenants and increasing rent prices, and companies from laying off workers and terminating employment. Visits to prison except for lawyers would be suspended. Outdoor sports venues, places of amusement for children are also required to close. Public transportation services will limit passenger numbers to 50 percent of capacity, the Attorney General said. The measure also prohibits handshakes.
On April 8, Ethiopia has declared a five-month state of emergency in response to the growing number of COVID-19 across the country. “Failure to observe the measures would lead to imprisonment for a period of three years or fine of ranging in scale from 1,000 birr to 200,000 birr,” it was said.
The country currently has 69 coronavirus cases and three deaths.
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs says it is part of an initiative to rehabilitate children, beggars
The Ethiopian government has launched a massive clampdown on streets children and elderly beggars in the capital using coronavirus as an excuse, a number of witnesses told Ethiopia Observer.
Security forces are routinely and arbitrarily rounding up street children and elderly beggars in various parts of Addis Ababa, and boarding them in busses to take them to alternative accommodation elsewhere in the capital and other parts of the country, according to multiple sources and eyewitnesses.
The clearing up of areas such as Piazza, Tewodros Square, St.George Church, the National Theatre, Ghion Hotel area, was ordered by the Addis Ababa City Administration and Addis Ababa mayor’s office, it was said.
Child rights workers say there are more than 80,000 children and thousands of other elderly vulnerable people living on the city’s streets. “They are telling us we must go back to where we came from. They say we would spread contagious diseases,” said a 14-year-old boy. Zema 16-year-old girl: “They have taken many among us and have taken them to detention centers.”
A street vendor in the Addis Ababa Municipality area said he has seen disproportionate police harassment of youths, elderly people children. “It was not done with their approval and some of them had already left in the knowledge that the clearing up was imminent,” he told Ethiopia Observer.”They might have sought refuge in other nearby areas,” he added.
The Amhara region Bureau of Labour and Social Affairs announced on Saturday that five buses filled with children and other vulnerable peoples from Addis Ababa have been “damped” in parts of the region, with the claim they asked to be returned to their families. « Now we are forced to shelter two hundred of them in Bahir Dar University’s Yibaba Campus. They were transported in five buses without the necessary care in view of the coronavirus outbreak, » the bureau said on a Facebook post.
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ergoge Tesfaye
However, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ergoge Tesfaye told Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation that it is part of an initiative to rehabilitate 22 thousand children, mothers with children, youths and the elderly by signing an agreement with 27 non-governmental organizations. She said the project is being implemented in Addis Ababa, Dessie, Mekele, Hawassa, Harar, and Gambella. “The project has been in the pipeline for some time but now it being accelerated with the outbreak of the virus,” she said. Ergoge was quoted as saying that in order to avoid the risk of coronavirus contamination, the operation is being implemented with caution.
Main Image: Street children beg on the streets of Addis Ababa recently. Photo Ethiopia Observer
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