Release of 10,000 detainees announced

(Dec 22,  (Al jazeera))--About 12,500 people have been detained since state of emergency was declared in October in Oromia and Amhara regions. Ethiopia says it is releasing nearly 10,000 people detained under its ongoing state of emergency but plans to charge almost 2,500 others accused of destabilising the country.

Saudi official denies any funding of Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam

(Dec 22, (MEM))--The head of the Middle East Centre for Strategic and Legal Studies, Anwar Eshki, has denied media reports claiming that Saudi Arabia intends to finance the construction of Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam.

Ethnic tensions in Gondar reflect the toxic nature of Ethiopian politics

(Dec 22, (The guardian))--From uneven development to authoritarian government, the morass of issues facing the city of Gondar offer a snapshot of Ethiopia’s wider problems. In Gondar, a city in Ethiopia’s northern highlands, a lone tourist pauses to take a photo of a fortress built more than two centuries ago. Nearby, past a row of gift shops, lies the wreck of a coach torched during unrest in August.