Tag Archives: Ethiopia

Children in a classroom in Gondar in the Amhara Region. Ethiopia has signed a deal to register 5 million school children using blockchain. Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images Iwa Salami, University of East London At the launch of bitcoin in 2009 the size of the potential of the underlying technology, the blockchain, was not fully appreciated. What has not been fully …

Ijebu Garri refers to processed cassava from the Ijebu region of western Nigeria. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Samuel Samiai Andrews, University of Gondar Around the world, people commonly associate certain foods and products with particular geographical areas. These products are known for characteristics like aroma, flavour, and the traditional knowledge systems used to make them. Legal and agricultural scholars speak of …

Ethiopian refugees who fled the fighting in Tigray Region are pictured at Um Rakuba camp in Eastern Sudan. Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images Namhla Matshanda, University of the Western Cape From a historical standpoint, the current conflict in Ethiopia fits within an established political pattern. There have been power struggles between the centre and the border regions since the modern …

An Ethiopan soldier mans a position near Zala Anbesa in the northern Tigray region of the country, about 1,6 kilometres from the Eritrean border. Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images Richard Reid, University of Oxford The missile attack by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front on Eritrea in mid-November transformed an internal Ethiopian crisis into a transnational one. In the midst of …

It has long been recognised that mental disorders can run in families. And often members of such families differ in their symptoms. Getty Images Lukoye Atwoli, Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications (GSMC) and Anne Stevenson, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In July 2009, a woman brought her husband to the hospital where our colleagues …

A man enters a polling station for Tigray’s regional elections, which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed deemed illegal. EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images Francesca Baldwin, University of Reading and Heike I Schmidt, University of Reading Ethiopia’s government, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, is carrying out a military offensive in Tigray, Ethiopia’s most northern state. A six month state of emergency has …

Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed (centre) pictured outside his office awaiting dignitaries in February 2020. EPA-EFE/STR Yohannes Gedamu, Georgia Gwinnett College For three years, between 2015 and early 2018, there were popular protests across Ethiopia, but particularly in the country’s two largest regions – Oromia and Amhara. The popular discontent was driven by the 27-year-long marginalisation of most ethnic …

Cairo, Egypt. AlexAnton/Shutterstock Emad Hasan, Binghamton University, State University of New York y Aondover Tarhule, Illinois State University Flowing through 11 African countries, the Nile River plays an important role in the lives of more than 24% of Africa’s population. To both upstream and downstream countries, the Nile waters are crucial in development planning, food and energy production. As countries …

The famed singer Baxsan in her later years. Screengrab/Youtube Mohamed Haji Ingiriis, University of Oxford Seynab Haji Ali Siigaale, widely known as Baxsan, passed away on 19 October 2020 and was buried a day later in Sheikh Sufi Cemetery behind the Somali National Theatre building in the capital Mogadishu. Along with the likes of Halima Khalif Omar ‘Magool’, Baxsan was …

Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki in China in the 1960s. He is fifth from the left, rear row. Martin Plaut, School of Advanced Study There are few leaders as enigmatic as Eritrea’s president, Isaias Afwerki. In my book, Understanding Eritrea: Inside Africa’s Most Repressive State, I profile the president who led the country as it fought for its freedom from Ethiopia …