Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia on Sunday inaugurated a 209.15-meter-tall landmark building located at the heart of its capital city, which houses the country's largest public-owned commercial bank.

The new headquarters of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) was built by Chinese construction giant China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).

The inauguration event coincided with the CBE's 80th anniversary and was attended by senior Ethiopian government officials, Chinese diplomats in Ethiopia, and representatives of the CBE and the CSCEC.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Sunday called on all actors to the conflict in Northern Ethiopia to find a lasting political solution as it reiterated its call for an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire."

AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (AU-PAPS), Bankole Adeoye, told reporters on Sunday that immediate and unconditional ceasefire, guaranteeing humanitarian access and finding political solution to the conflict have been its major priorities since the conflict erupted in Northern Ethiopia back in November 2020.

06 Feb 2022; MEMO: The African Union summit has cancelled a decision to grant Israel an observer status in the pan-African organization, an Algerian source said on Sunday.

Algeria is participating in the two-day AU summit, which opened in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Saturday.

"The summit decided to abolish the decision to grant Israel an observer status at the AU," the source in the Algerian delegation was quoted as saying by the private Echorouk TV channel.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh urged the African Union to withdraw Israel’s observer status as heads of state from the 55-member body met for a two-day summit.

“Israel should never be rewarded for its violation and for the apartheid regime it does impose on the Palestinian people,” he said.

The relationship with Israel is a rare point of contention for a body that values consensus and is expected to dominate the Addis Ababa summit this weekend.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Africa welcomes the "generous offer" China is set to provide members of the African Union (AU) to help augment exports in the coming years, a senior official has said.

Wamkele Mene, the secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), told Xinhua that Africa welcomes China's investments and trade partnership based on mutual benefits.

ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Wednesday decided to end the six-month state of emergency ahead of its expiration amid improving security situation.

The Ethiopian Council of Ministers in its latest Extraordinary Session decided to shorten the six-month state of emergency, pending endorsement by the Ethiopian House of People's Representatives (HoPR), the lower house of the Ethiopian parliament, according to a statement issued by the Ethiopian Prime Minister's Office.

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's military is planning to enter the Tigray regional capital of Mekelle and "eliminate" rebellious forces, a top military official said late on Friday amid diplomatic efforts to end conflict in the country's north.

The Horn of Africa country has been gripped by war for more than a year, with the federal military and its allies battling forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the political party that controls Tigray.

MEKELLE (Tigray, Ethiopia), Jan 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Fifty-six people have been killed and dozens more injured in an airstrike on a camp for the displaced in northern Ethiopia, aid workers say.

Images on social media purportedly show people receiving treatment after the strike on a school in the town of Dedebit, in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

There has been no independent confirmation of the attack.

Government forces have been fighting rebels in Tigray for over a year in a war that has ended thousands of lives.

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Tigray People's Liberation Front, the party that controls most of the northern Ethiopia region of Tigray, on Sunday accused Eritrea of attacking its troops.

In another development in the conflict, aid organisations suspended their operations in an area of northwest Tigray where 56 civilians were killed by an air strike over the weekend, the U.N. agency for humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA) said. 

ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 10,065,082 as of Sunday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.

The specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) said the death toll across the continent stands at 231,437 and that 8,946,039 patients have recovered from the disease so far.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Libya are among the countries with the most cases on the continent, said the Africa CDC.