Marburg case confirmed in #Hawassa as #Ethiopia’s death toll reaches seven – Health Ministry

Addis Abeba – Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health has confirmed a new Marburg virus infection in Hawassa City Sidama Region, as the country’s death toll from the outbreak rises to seven.

In a briefing on the current status of the outbreak, Health Minister Dr. Mekdes Daba said an individual who had returned from Jinka City was confirmed to be infected with Marburg in Hawassa.

She said contact tracing and medical care for the patient and their contacts are ongoing, alongside intensive preparatory work to ensure treatment can be provided in parts of the country where the virus has not yet been detected.

According to the Ministry’s latest Marburg Virus Disease Situational Report, issued on 26 November 2025, a total of 78 laboratory investigations have been carried out since the outbreak was first ....

https://web.facebook.com/AddisstandardEng/posts/pfbid02ETm1kxotT5ahaYDZhRPUFPzjeWQL1VwSTSp2dbrZcpcxn8sN7kQ5bgd7s1J38Ma6l

Analysis: GEM #Tigray warns of deepening protection crisis for women and girls as 16 Days Campaign begins

As global attention turns to the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, women-led organization #GEM_Tigray has released a comprehensive compendium of its 2025–2026 submissions to UN human rights mechanisms, warning that women and girls in Tigray continue to face severe, overlapping, and unresolved protection needs in the aftermath of the two-year war.

The report’s release comes just weeks after a landmark October publication by the Commission of Inquiry on Tigray Genocide (#CITG) documented “war-induced genocidal sexual and gender-based violence” across the region. According to CITG, out of 481,201 women and girls surveyed, 286,250 suffered at least one form of gender-based violence, while 166,621 (58.2%) experienced sexual violence.

The report further reveals that 152,108 (53.14%) survivors were raped, 70% of them gang-raped by between two ....

https://addisstandard.com/?p=53859

#Ethiopia’s Birr erodes at record pace amid policy shift

The Ethiopian birr has experienced an unprecedented depreciation following the government’s July 2024 shift from a crawling-peg to a market-based exchange rate. The official rate surged from 56 to over 150 birr per dollar by mid-November 2025—a 165% drop in 15 months.

Forex bureaus and the black market report rates near 177–180 birr per dollar, highlighting the currency’s rapid erosion. This marks the sharpest loss of purchasing power in Ethiopia’s history.

A recent Addis Standard commentary argues the decline triggers “short-term inflationary pressures” and “fuels inflation indirectly” by raising costs for imports and industrial inputs.

Click the link below to read the full commentary.

https://addisstandard.com/?p=53783

#Ethiopia: The village enduring climate catastrophe as #Trump’s aid cuts bite

For the 900 residents of #Kebena village, in the northeastern #Afar region of Ethiopia, 2025 has been a year of one calamity after another.

First, there were earthquakes at the start of the year, tearing through homes and forcing families to relocate to a camp four miles down the road. “The health facility, school, and homes were all destroyed, and a lot of the communities remain traumatised by what happened,” explains Mehamed Ali-Sisa, the village leader.

After the community’s initial evacuation to the camp, drought conditions, caused by a lack of rainfall during the February to May rainy season, meant villagers had to travel far and wide with their cattle, camels and sheep in search of pastures.

When the rains finally came during the second rainy season, which runs from June to September, they came too ...

https://web.facebook.com/AddisstandardEng/posts/pfbid02Tr8k7jDiEAW1fJejmbkfxbDs5NrszdobrJVzMfFBoSg8fzeNNVUpm67GwsNPEdGJl

#Op_ed: #Ethiopia’s Unheeded Oracle: How Huntington’s blueprint presaged #EPRDF rise, fall

After the Marxist #Derg’s collapse in 1991, the EPRDF sought a framework for stability, commissioning Samuel P. Huntington’s 1993 confidential report, “A Peasant-Based Dominant-Party Democracy.” The author of this op-ed, Mohammedawel Hagos, calls the report a "prophetic text" to understand "the spectacular rise… and disintegration of the political project that would define modern Ethiopia."

He explains that Huntington’s proposed a six-pillar, dominant-party system, warning that Western-style democracy was "desirable but improbable" in an ethnically fragmented, poor country. Yet the EPRDF contradicted his advice, turning politics into an "existential ethnic struggle."

The article contends that the Prosperity Party #(PP) inherited this flawed system, showing that “changing the party in power cannot overcome a system designed around division.”

https://addisstandard.com/?p=53864

#Somaliland, #US. deepen security cooperation during AFRICOM Commander’s visit to Hargeisa, Berbera

A senior U.S. military and diplomatic delegation visited Somaliland on Wednesday for high-level security talks and an assessment of strategic infrastructure along the Red Sea corridor.

Somaliland President Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi (Irro) received #AFRICOM Commander Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Justin Davis, and a large U.S. delegation at the Presidential Palace in #Hargeisa for a wide-ranging strategic dialogue.

President Abdillahi said the talks focused on expanding cooperation in several priority areas.
“Today, I received AFRICOM Commander Gen. Dagvin Anderson, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Justin Davis, and a large U.S. delegation in Hargeisa.

Our discussions focused on strengthening security cooperation, protecting Red Sea maritime routes, and enhancing ....

https://web.facebook.com/AddisstandardEng/posts/pfbid033MrbGozXMEfhArLDL7hWKRgr41pFrkrDUgzi39iG5cQYriGN6UTJ5xsFgxQgdURol

News: Scientists confirm two early hominin species lived side by side in #Ethiopia more than three million years ago

- Ancient Ethiopian foot fossil identified as close, distinct relative of Lucy

Scientists have confirmed that two closely related early human species, Australopithecus afarensis & Australopithecus deyiremeda, coexisted in Ethiopia’s #Afar_Rift more than three million years ago, challenging long-held assumptions of a single, linear path in human evolution.

An unusual 3.4 million-year-old foot fossil discovered in Ethiopia’s #Afar_region has now been conclusively identified as belonging to Australopithecus deyiremeda, a close but distinct relative of Lucy & her species Australopithecus afarensis, Archaeology News online magazine reported.

The fossil, known as the “Burtele foot,” was found in 2009 at the Woranso-Mille site in the Afar Rift. Although clearly hominin, it ...

https://web.facebook.com/AddisstandardEng/posts/pfbid0EqGue7PemXaJq5Jb7ixizMeMLhTG3sPiYwHrN83ozVUotWQmerzXSAKDkUgiAmBSl

#TPLF says restoring its legal status under #Pretoria deal is “best for everyone – anything else is unacceptable”

The #Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has renewed its call for the restoration of its legal status ahead of the upcoming election.

Speaking to regional media on 26 November 2025, spokesperson Michael Asgedom said the federal government must honor the Pretoria peace agreement and reinstate the party’s recognition.

He argued that the TPLF, as principal signatory to the deal and recognized by the international community, was unlawfully stripped of its status, adding that restoring its legality is “what’s best for everyone – anything else is unacceptable.”

Watch!

Don't blame #Ethiopia volcano for poor air quality in #Mumbai: Bombay HC

Bench asks government to clarify what effective measures can be adopted to tackle Mumbai’s pollution

The #Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed the Maharashtra government’s claim that ash clouds from a volcanic eruption in Ethiopia were responsible for Mumbai’s deteriorating air quality, observing that the city’s pollution levels had already been “consistently poor” long before the eruption.

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad was hearing a batch of petitions filed in 2023 concerning worsening pollution levels and the city’s persistently high AQI (air quality index) Senior advocates Darius Khambata and Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for the petitioners, pointed out that the AQI in Mumbai has repeatedly crossed 300 this month.

In response, additional government pleader...

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/environment/bombay-hc-rejects-ethiopia-hayli-gubbi-volcano-theory-for-mumbais-poor-air-quality

#Ethiopia charges, jails senior officials over misuse of authority in above 40-Million-Dollar fertilizer scheme

Addis Abeba – The Ethiopian Federal Police has announced that eleven senior officials have been charged and remanded in prison over what it described as a serious corruption case involving more than 40 million US dollars linked to fertilizer procurement.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Federal Police said the officials are accused of abusing the powers granted to them, both jointly and individually, in connection with international soil fertilizer procurement carried out through the Ethiopian Agricultural Businesses Corporation.

According to the statement, the defendants allegedly violated the mandate given by regional governments to the Corporation to execute international fertilizer purchases. They are further accused of breaching decisions of the Corporation’s Board ...

https://web.facebook.com/AddisstandardEng/posts/pfbid06nwxVxK6UMXouCmsthLa2qhXrWa3iusGePi1LfY6n1d1aPTQFj5p8Ub7ichbffD9l

#Ethiopia: Blast reported in #Mekelle overnight; authorities say no casualties, call incident a “deliberate act”

Mekelle – City authorities in Mekelle, #Tigray region, say an explosion that occurred overnight in #Adi_Haqi sub-city caused no casualties or property damage, describing the incident as a “deliberate act of terrorism.”

Redhegn Fisseha, head of the Mekelle City Peace and Security Sector Office, told local media the blast took place at around 10:25 p.m. in Adi Haqi. He said no injuries or material losses were reported, although the sound of the explosion alarmed residents in the area.

Redhegn said the incident was “deliberately orchestrated” and that regional and city security institutions are working together to identify and apprehend those responsible. “Once investigations progress, the findings will be made public,” he said...

https://web.facebook.com/AddisstandardEng/posts/pfbid02jZiDpdddAeuK3RbwABUufdU1UNLCq59kuJeA7SuxTWJtFsT81zY3mT5TH525aM5ul

Migrant #Ethiopian women say Pope Leo's #Lebanon visit brings little comfort amid kafala exploitation

Sunday Mass begins at dawn in the Ethiopian Orthodox church in Ain Aar, a hillside village a few miles east of #Beirut. For seven hours, some 200 worshippers sit crammed between technicolour murals of saints and seraphs, while the hymns, prayers and sermons mingle with the incense and birdsong outside.

For the women – almost all of them domestic workers from Ethiopia – this is their only day of rest after six days of drudgery. Yet they dedicate the day to God. As news spread that #Pope_Leo would be visiting Lebanon soon, most of the women beamed.

"I’m very happy to see the Pope abroad. It's useful for creating Christian unity," said Beruk Azane, who was collecting money from worshippers to expand the church grounds.

Other worshippers shared the sentiment. "A lot of Ethiopians will try to see him when he arrives ...

https://www.newarab.com/features/migrant-ethiopian-women-see-no-relief-popes-lebanon-visit

#Ethiopia: Owners of sports betting companies and accomplices arrested over suspected concealment of 100 Billion birr

The National Intelligence and Security Service (#NISS) announced the arrest of sports betting company owners and their accomplices suspected of concealing over 100 billion Birr in revenue owed to the government.

The Service said it had been conducting surveillance and studies on sports betting operators and their partner institutions, known as Fintech or Aggregators (payment system providers). As a result of the investigation, 24 suspects were taken into custody.

According to NISS, the probe confirmed that sports betting companies failed to pay taxes corresponding to the amounts they collected and circulated. Investigators found that the companies had been concealing income by converting it into foreign currency through cryptocurrencies and various international Hawala money transfer networks, effectively moving capital out of the country illegally....

https://addisstandard.com/?p=53879

#Opinion: Past Shadows, Future Stakes: Nostalgia trap holding back #Tigray’s political renewal

Tigray’s political debate is heavily shaped by memory and identity, especially among Tigreans raised in #Addis_Abeba and #Asmara, argues Ermias Amare.

For those from Addis, “politics was less about ideology and more about reclaiming dignity,” and the #TPLF’s 1991 rise felt like “a moment of vindication.” Those from Asmara, displaced after #Eritrea’s independence, saw the TPLF as “a shield against Eritrean hostility.” Despite these different experiences, Ermias states that both groups remain trapped in “emotional…nostalgia,” convinced that “TPLF protected us; therefore, TPLF must lead us again.”

The author cautions this fixation—“amplified by the diaspora”—blocks the “urgent need for comprehensive reforms” and “hinders efforts to build accountable, inclusive leadership” for Tigray’s future.

https://addisstandard.com/?p=53876

The second line of defence: vaccinating children in #Tigray

War is a recent memory for families in Tigray, and knock-on dangers from years of conflict still lurk. But vaccinators like Mebratu are on defensive manoeuvres.

Tigray, in northern #Ethiopia, spent most of the period between 2020 & 2022 roiled by civil war. Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands are estimated to have been killed in conflict; many more have died from war’s fatal knock-ons. Vaccinator Mebratu Gebreselasie Kidanemariam, 38, has witnessed some of the conflict’s youngest second-order casualties.

“Because of the war, there are children who weren’t able to receive the vaccine shot that was supposed to have been given at 45 days old. Illnesses which had been eradicated many years ago were seen to reappear en masse,” he explains. Now Mebratu, who works at Semamoket Hospital in #Addiet District, is making it his business to change that, and get as ...

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/second-line-defence-vaccinating-children-tigray