Kichuu (2025)

27/05/2025

Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera is latest addition to On’s growing athlete roster
By Gary -May 27, 2025
Swiss sportswear and run shoe brand On has announced the addition of Samuel Tefera to its roster of African athletes. The Ethiopian youngster, born on October 23, 1999, has already made his mark on the world stage, winning the 1500m World Indoor Championships in 2018 at just 18 years old.

Tefera debuted in On kit in the 5000m at the Doha Diamond League competition on May 16. Leading the race at times, Tefera ended his On debut in fourth position, in a time of 13:18.63.

Tefera’s running journey began at school in Midakegn, in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. As a grade eight student, he finished second in a race, facing runners much older and more experienced than he was.

This became a turning point in Tefera’s life. While he enjoyed the sport and running with friends, his talent was very clear, and the second-place finish gave him the belief and encouragement he needed to take his running to the next level. At the regional level, Tefera went on to win the 1500m and was picked up by a club and started training more seriously as a grade ten student.

Tefera made his first appearance on the world stage, aged 17, at the World Championships in London. He competed in his preferred distance, the 1500m, but was eliminated in the heats. A year later, he won gold at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, taking the win in a time of 3:58.19.

A year later, still a teenager, Tefera broke the world indoor record for the 1500m, which had stood for 22 years. His new world record of 3:31.04 stood for three years before it was broken more recently by Jakob Ingebrigsten.

Tefera was called up to represent Ethiopia at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, but an injury hindered him from progressing further than the heats in the 1500m competition. Returning to the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in 2022, Tefera defended his title and set a new championship record of 3:32.77.

Speaking on his decision to join On, Tefera said “On’s commitment to performance and their unique approach resonate deeply with my own aspirations on the track.
https://endurance.biz/2025/industry-news/ethiopias-samuel-tefera-is-latest-addition-to-ons-growing-athlete-roster/

27/05/2025

Why Young Ethiopians are 'Risking All' to Reach Saudi Arabia

Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian migrants have made the perilous journey across the Red Sea in search of a better life. Many say they have faced uncertain future in the east African nation as they struggle to care for their families.

"People lose hope. Then you think, whether I die or not, it's better I try my chance [at migrating]," one migrant said, describing his desperation.

The International Organization for Migration has said nearly 235,000 people left Ethiopia last year and headed towards the Red Sea coastline. Much of the exodus has been directed along the so-called "Eastern migration route", which crosses the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden into Yemen, and ultimately Saudi Arabia.
https://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00092918.html

27/05/2025

Photos: A free clinic for donkeys, vital to Ethiopia’s economy
Ethiopia is thought to host about one-fifth of the world’s population of donkeys.

Ethiopia is believed to host the world’s largest population of donkeys – one in five of the global total, according to the United Nations.

The humble donkey is a cornerstone of the national economy, and the Donkey Sanctuary – a free clinic run by a British charity – is crucial in Addis Ababa. Set near Merkato, the city’s sprawling open-air market, it provides care for animals that are often indispensable to their owners’ livelihoods.

Several dozen donkeys stand in enclosures at the clinic – some agitatedly kicking their legs, others hungrily tucking into their food. Caregivers and veterinarians move from animal to animal, treating a range of ailments including injuries, colic and eye conditions.

Among them is Guluma Bayi, 38, who had walked more than an hour and a half, leading his two donkeys to the clinic.

“It has been three weeks since my donkeys became sick,” said Guluma. “One has a leg problem and the other has a stomach issue.”

Like many, Guluma depends on his donkeys for his livelihood, using them to transport jerrycans of water for sale in his community.
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/5/27/photos-a-free-clinic-for-donkeys-vital-to-ethiopias-economy

27/05/2025

This Ethiopian Woman Was Tortured by Her Government. The US is Sending Her Home Anyway
By Mark Betancourt,

Abeba’s story is summarized only briefly in the document that seals her impending deportation: After she inadvertently witnessed an extrajudicial killing by members of the Ethiopian military, she was imprisoned and beaten for more than a week.

But that was only the beginning. Abeba — who asked to be called by a pseudonym due to safety concerns for herself and her family — fled Ethiopia and made her way to Mexico. She was planning to ask for protection in the United States. But by the time she made it to the banks of the Rio Grande, her options had narrowed.

President Donald Trump, on the day he was inaugurated for the second time, had declared that anyone trying to cross the southern border without prior authorization was part of an “invasion.” The order suspended their right to apply for asylum at the border. So Abeba swam across the river to Texas, where she sought out Border Patrol agents to ask for help.

She didn’t know it, but there was still a way to avoid being sent home — a narrow form of protection, called the United Nations Convention Against Torture, that applies to people whose governments could torture them or allow them to be tortured. CAT is harder to qualify for than asylum and doesn’t come with the same benefits, like a path to citizenship and the possibility of bringing her family to the U.S. as well. It would, however, stop her from being deported to Ethiopia.

But under the president’s order, nearly all of Abeba’s rights as a CAT applicant — such as the right to bring a lawyer to interviews with asylum officers and to appeal denials — had been quietly and deliberately erased, and what remains of the process now takes place under a veil of secrecy. That’s according to federal guidance cited in a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, a new report by two prominent human rights organizations, and independent reporting by the California Newsroom, including nearly a dozen interviews with immigration attorneys and immigrants’ rights advocates around the country, as well as a former asylum officer.

The Department of Homeland Security has declined to answer the California Newsroom’s questions about Abeba’s case or how the asylum system — in particular the process of applying for protection under the Convention Against Torture — is currently working.

But the changes in practice appear to mean that, for thousands of people fleeing or trying to avoid torture by their own governments, the process of applying for humanitarian protection in the U.S. provides little more than false hope. And its dismantling has been so well hidden that immigration attorneys are only just now starting to catch on.

Ginger Jacobs, a senior partner at the San Diego firm that represents Abeba, worries that many people who have legitimate claims to humanitarian protection could end up casualties of the Trump administration’s zeal to effect mass deportations.

“The danger is that it’s another way to disappear people,” she said.

‘There’s nothing you can do’
Before they can go before an immigration judge to formally plead their cases, applicants for CAT protection must first convince an asylum officer with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that their fear of torture is credible. For her interview on April 27th, Abeba spoke with the officer by phone. She sat alone in a tiny booth in the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a massive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility outside San Diego, where she has been detained since early April.
https://www.kqed.org/news/12041326/this-ethiopian-woman-was-tortured-by-her-government-the-us-is-sending-her-home-anyway

26/05/2025

IMF Executive Board to Review Ethiopia’s $3.4 Billion Program This Summer Amid Economic Reform Push

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to hold a crucial Executive Board meeting this summer to review the third installment of Ethiopia’s $3.4 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, according to IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack. The meeting could unlock the disbursement of around $265 million, offering the Ethiopian government a financial lifeline as it navigates complex macroeconomic reforms, restructuring efforts, and a fragile post-conflict recovery.

Background: A Program Anchored in Reform
In December 2019, the IMF approved the $3.4 billion blended ECF/EFF arrangement for Ethiopia to support wide-ranging structural reforms, stabilize the macroeconomic environment, and reduce debt vulnerabilities. While the initial momentum was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of civil conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia resumed reform efforts in late 2022. These included steps to liberalize the exchange rate regime, curb inflation, improve tax administration, and begin restructuring external debt under the G20 Common Framework.

The third review, anticipated since early 2024, comes at a critical juncture. Ethiopia’s economy has shown signs of resilience, with projected real GDP growth of 6.1% in 2025, according to the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook. However, mounting debt service obligations, double-digit inflation, a persistent foreign currency shortage, and high unemployment—particularly among the youth—remain pressing challenges.

Delayed Staff-Level Agreement Signals Complex Negotiations
According to Julie Kozack, IMF staff concluded their assessment in mid-April. Ethiopian officials had expressed optimism for a swift staff-level agreement, but no such announcement has yet materialized. Analysts suggest that the delay may be due to ongoing technical discussions around debt sustainability, exchange rate alignment, and progress on fiscal consolidation.

The IMF has historically emphasized the need for Ethiopia to adopt a more flexible exchange rate to address external imbalances, reduce the black-market premium, and rebuild foreign exchange reserves. However, liberalizing the birr risks fueling inflation and social unrest, especially in an already volatile political environment.

Negotiations have also been complicated by the slow pace of Ethiopia’s engagement with private and bilateral creditors. While the government secured a debt service suspension agreement with China in 2023, talks with other official creditors under the G20 Common Framework have not yet yielded a comprehensive restructuring deal—an important precondition for unlocking IMF resources.

What’s at Stake: $265 Million and Policy Credibility
Should the IMF Executive Board approve the third review—expected tentatively in June—it would release about $265 million in funding. This disbursement would be crucial for easing balance-of-payments pressures and restoring investor confidence in Ethiopia’s economic reform agenda.
https://www.addisinsight.net/2025/05/26/imf-executive-board-to-review-ethiopias-3-4-billion-program-this-summer-amid-economic-reform-push/

26/05/2025

Ethiopia confirms the country's first monkey pox case

Ethiopian health authorities confirmed the country's first monkey pox or mpox case on Sunday involving a 21-day-old infant and the child's mother in Moyale town near the Kenyan border. Both patients are currently stable and quarantined as officials launch coordinated contact tracing and containment measures, joining 25 other African nations confronting a growing outbreak that has been particularly severe in Sierra Leone.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Health and Public Health Institute said in a joint statement that the infant tested positive for mpox, and subsequent tests confirmed the mother's infection. While neither has suffered serious health complications, they remain under close medical supervision.

"The source of the infection is under investigation, but initial findings suggest cross-border transmission," a joint statement released on Sunday said. "Public health teams have been deployed to trace contacts and prevent further spread, particularly in border areas."

Mpox, a viral infection transmitted through close contact, typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions. The virus has spread to multiple countries across Africa since last year, prompting the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or Africa CDC to closely monitor the evolving situation.

Sierra Leone remains the epicenter of the current outbreak, accounting for half of all confirmed cases on the continent, according to Africa CDC. Africa CDC official Ngashi Ngongo, head of the Mpox Incident Management Support Team, stated in an online briefing that Sierra Leone reported 384 cases, representing 50.7 percent of Africa's total confirmed mpox infections.

"The country has seen a 63 percent increase in confirmed cases in just one week," Ngongo said.

"They have a bed capacity in mpox treatment centers of only 60 beds, but we are talking about over 800 active cases," Ngongo said, adding that most infected people had to stay at home.

Since declaring mpox a public health emergency in January, Sierra Leone has recorded over 1,000 confirmed cases and 14 deaths. Official data from the National Public Health Agency of Sierra Leone on Thursday shows a total of 1,904 active Mpox cases, 14 deaths or fatalities, and 893 recoveries.

He said Sierra Leone, with a population of 8 million people, has received just over 61,000 doses of the Mpox vaccine, and those at highest risk will be prioritized.

"Most infected people are forced to stay at home, which complicates isolation efforts," he said.

Additionally, Liberia's Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Institute have expressed concern over a rapid increase in mpox cases in neighboring Sierra Leone.
https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202505/26/WS68346e58a310a04af22c197a.html

26/05/2025

Searching for a better life, young Ethiopians risk all to reach Saudi Arabia

“People were fighting over the food, and then the guards would come in and make us lie on our chests. Then they would spray water on us and beat us with different sticks.”

Yasin Omar is a tall, slim man on the cusp of middle age. His face is gaunt, his forehead grooved with injury, his voice quiet and slightly hoarse.

The cause of Yasin’s suffering is neither mysterious nor uncommon. He is one of the hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian migrants who in the past few years have made the perilous journey across the Red Sea in search of a better life in Saudi Arabia.

Like many of his compatriots, Yasin braved the trip because he felt he had no choice. A native of a small village near Dire Dawa, a city in eastern Ethiopia, he struggled for years to support his wife and three children, working intermittently for meagre, uncertain wages as a day-labourer in the countryside.

“It’s hard to live if you don’t even have work,” Yasin explained. “People lose hope. Then you think, whether I die or not, it's better I try my chance [at migrating].”
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2025/05/26/searching-better-life-young-ethiopians-risk-all-reach-saudi-arabia-south-south-migration

23/05/2025

South Sudan refugees in Ethiopia face ‘health catastrophe’, charity warns
Thousands of South Sudanese refugees face worsening health conditions in Ethiopia as cholera spreads and conflict escalates.

An international medical charity has warned of a looming “health catastrophe” among South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia, citing surging cholera cases and widespread malnutrition in overcrowded camps near the border.

In a statement issued Friday, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), said the local health system is overwhelmed and unable to cope with the needs of tens of thousands of new arrivals.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/23/south-sudan-refugees-in-ethiopia-face-health-catastrophe-charity-warns

23/05/2025

Ethiopia: Authorities must engage in negotiations with striking healthcare professionals, unconditionally release detained medics
Ethiopian authorities must immediately engage in negotiations with striking healthcare professionals, unconditionally release those detained in relation to the ongoing peaceful strike and end harassment and intimidation against the medics, Amnesty International said today.

“With no resolution in sight, the strike has entered its second week, causing massive disruption to the provision of much needed healthcare services across the country. The government must not further prolong the crisis that has severely restricted patients’ right to access healthcare across the country. Instead, both the government and healthcare professionals must engage collectively and constructively in negotiations to settle this dispute,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.

“Now is not the time for grandstanding and draconian clampdowns. Authorities must urgently come to the negotiation table, with the aim of resolving outstanding issues and allowing resumption of healthcare services.”

On 22 May, an online movement of healthcare professionals sent Amnesty International, a list of 121 professionals who have been arrested across the country since the strike began on 12 May 2025.

Family members and lawyers interviewed said detainees were arrested without being informed of the reasons for their arrest and detention. Police also searched their homes without presenting a search warrant, citing a “search for weapons and explosives.” Those interviewed by Amnesty International reported that only electronic devices were confiscated during the search operation.

Now is not the time for grandstanding and draconian clampdowns. Authorities must urgently come to the negotiation table, with the aim of resolving outstanding issues and allowing resumption of healthcare services.”

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/05/ethiopia-authorities-must-engage-in-negotiations-with-striking-healthcare-professionals-unconditionally-release-detained-medics/

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