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Two international aid groups said Tuesday that the Ethiopian government had suspended part or all of their operations.
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
An apparent hit-and-run killed a pedestrian at about 10 p.m. Friday on Brookman Road, St. Thomas, according to the V.I. Police Department. The victim was identified by next of kin as 37-year-old Royson JnoBaptiste.
Ethiopia's confirmed Covid-19 cases on Sunday reached 582 after 88 more infections were confirmed, the Ethiopian Ministry of Health said in a statement.
This is so far the highest daily increase in the Horn of Africa country, which on Saturday reported 61 new confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The Ministry of Health said all 88 new Covid-19 cases are Ethiopian nationals – 51 males and 37 females – with their ages ranging between 8 to 75 years.
The Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health also said that 152 patients who tested positive for Covid-19 have so far recovered from the virus.
Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation with about 107 million people, confirmed its first case of Covid-19 on March 13.
[Addis Standard] Addis Abeba -- Judges at the Federal First Instant Court have today granted the federal police 14 days to remand and investigatie Tsegaye Hagos, an editor at The Herald, the english language publications of Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) Today.
[African Arguments] The state's one-sided narrative has not just shattered Ethiopians' shared understanding of reality but eroded the social fabric that held us together.
July 10: Hachalu’s ‘murders’ arrested
The Ethiopian government says it has identified three people believed to have been behind the killing of Hachalu Hundessa. According to the federal attorney general, Adanech Abeibe, the suspects have confessed to their crimes.
Two of the suspects are in custody whiles one is on the run. Tilahun Yami is identified at the gunman while Abdi Alemayehou is accused of being an accomplice. The suspects held three meetings with a their ‘instructors’ as they planned the murder, the attorney general added.
Authorities say that they were given instructions to undertake the killing by a group called Shane, which broke away from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). OLF is a former rebel group currently registered as a political party. It is one of the main opposition parties in the Oromia region.
The region was the epicenter of protests that killed over 230 people demanding justice for the famed musician who was shot dead in Addis Ababa. The government cut internet as protests began to spread last week.
The capital Addis Ababa also recorded significant violence. Calm has been restored by the government has kept an internet outage in place since July 30. Over 3,500 people were also arrested for their roles in instigating violence.
TPLF tells Ethiopia PM to face challenges, stop scapegoating
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July 2: Hachalu buried in Ambo, blast rocks Addis
The funeral of Oromo protest singer Hachalu Hundessa has been held in his hometown of Ambo in the Oromia regional state, the BBC reports.
The event was under heavy security as a sparse crowd joined the final rites for the artist whose killing earlier this week sparked spontaneous protests in parts of the country leading to at least 80 other deaths.
Pictures on national television show the funeral procession at a stadium in the singer’s hometown of Ambo, about 100km (62miles) west of the capital, Addis Ababa.
Photos courtesy: BBC Africa LIVE page
Meanwhile there are reports of a deadly blast in the capital Addis Ababa with most people on Twitter citing local police. It will be the fourth blast in the last few days. Police confirmed three blasts during protests against Hachalu’s murder on Tuesday.
“Reports coming in of blast in Ethiopian capital Addis. Possibly hand grenade. Scores killed,” Rashid Abdi, a researcher and analyst of the Horn of Africa tweeted.
A Reuters report also said police fired in the air to prevent mourners entering the Ambo stadium for the funeral. Members of the military, federal police and regional police were out in force, and two residents said police were firing in the air to deter mourners.
A live broadcast showed sparse numbers of people seated inside. One resident said large crowds had been turned away by police.
The slain singer’s wife, Santu Demi
The Florida legislation bans cruise ships embarking from its ports from requiring proof of vaccination, an action that Bryan said contradicts the CDC guidelines and would stifle the restart of the cruise industry.
[Nation] Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday arrived in the Senegalese capital Dakar for a one-day visit.
[Nation] More than 60 rights organisations in Africa have called for an immediate inquiry into allegations of violation against women and girls' rights including sexual violence in the Tigray region, Ethiopia.
[Nation] Ethiopia on Monday said that it will reconsider its relationship with the US if America continues to interfere in its internal affairs.
[Addis Fortune] For Grave Rights Concerns, Truth Should not be Casualty of Conflict
The new coronavirus could be spreading undetected through camps across Somalia hosting some 2.6 million displaced people, the Red Cross warned on Tuesday, as floods and conflict swelled the numbers fleeing into overcrowded settlements.
Almost 500,000 people have been forced from their homes by recent floods in central Somalia, the United Nations said, putting further pressure on some 2,000 camps across the Horn of Africa nation, which has been mired in conflict since 1991.
\"We are concerned that many Covid cases are going undetected, especially in the internal displaced camps,\" said Ana Maria Guzman, health coordinator for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in a statement.
Aid workers said the virus could spread undetected in the camps - where maintaining a safe distance and regular hand-washing are a challenge - with particular concern for the capital Mogadishu, host to some 800,000 displaced people.
Most internally displaced people (IDP) live in congested camps in towns and cities across Somalia, dependent on daily wage labour and with limited access to quality healthcare and sanitation services.
Ethiopian forces blocked people from the country's embattled Tigray region from crossing into Sudan on Thursday at the busiest crossing point for refugees, Sudanese forces said.
Their account follows allegations by refugees in previous days of Ethiopian forces stopping people from fleeing the month-old deadly conflict in Tigray.
The Sudanese forces, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the events, said people tried to cross from Ethiopia around 6 a.m. to Hamdayet in Sudan but were stopped, and refugees waiting on the Sudan side became upset and began throwing rocks.
The Sudanese forces then cleared the area, and on Thursday evening they confirmed that the border crossing remained closed.
Tensions have been rising at the border in recent days as the flow of Ethiopians crossing has slowed to hundreds per day from several thousands.
A senior Ethiopian government official who has served as spokesman during the conflict did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
End fighting
The European Union's crisis management commissioner Thursday urged the Ethiopian government to restore communications in its northern Tigray region and called on both sides to cease hostilities.
\"I urge... the Ethiopian authorities to lift the communication blockade,\" Janez Lenarcic said at Um Raquba camp in neighboring Sudan, where he spoke with Ethiopian refugees who had fled their homeland over the last month.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last month ordered military operations against the northern Ethiopian region's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in response to what he said were attacks on Ethiopian federal army camps.
Tens of thousands of refugees have since poured into eastern Sudan, with many complaining that they have not been able to re-establish contact with those left behind or lost on the scramble to leave due to a communications blackout.
\"I spoke with a number of refugees in this camp today and what is perhaps most painful to hear is that they have zero information... about their relatives and friends who stayed behind,\" Lenarcic said.
Abiy on Saturday claimed the conflict was over after federal troops took control of the Tigrayan capital, Mekele, but the TPLF threatened a full-scale counter-offensive on Wednesday.
Lenarcic also urged Ethiopia's government to provide access for humanitarian workers and goods, while calling on both sides to \"cease the hostilities\".
Ethiopia has formally granted the United Nations access to deliver aid to Tigray.
AFP
\"We know that the Ethiopian government is doing its best, but we want more to be done to ensure that people do not starve,\" AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Bankole Adeoye said Friday. \"Women and children (must) not continue to be victims of a conflict that is not of their..
Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in Africa with 110 million people, and by far the most important power in the Horn of Africa.
East Africa’s largest nation declared the ceasefire earlier this week, amid doubts about whether fighting would actually stop between the Federal government and rebel forces in Tigray.
[Monitor] By Agencies
Tigray forces entered the Amhara town of Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site for its rock-hewn churches, on Thursday
