Media Roll-Up: May 10-16
Elections
Ethiopia again delays national election amid deadly tensions
The New York Times, May 15th, 2021, Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethiopia has again delayed its national election after some opposition parties said they wouldn’t take part and as conflict in the country’s Tigray region means no vote is being held there, further complicating Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s efforts to centralize power.
Ethiopia delays polls again amid security, logistical challenges
Al Jazeera, May 15th, 2021
Ethiopia has delayed its national election again after some opposition parties said they would not take part and as a conflict in the country’s Tigray region means no vote is being held there, further complicating Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s efforts to centralise power.
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UPDATE 1-Ethiopia postpones June 5 parliamentary elections (Reuters)
Journalism
Ethiopia revokes press credentials of New York Times reporter
National Post, May 14th, 2021, Reuters
NAIROBI — Ethiopia has revoked the press credentials of a foreign journalist working for the New York Times, according to the newspaper and an Ethiopian official.
Journalists Under Threat in Covering the Tigray Region of Ethiopia
Abdi Latif Dahir & Declan Walsh, May 14th, 2021, The New York Times
Authorities have detained journalists without charges and revoked the accreditation of a reporter for The New York Times.
US Statements
U.S. concerned about increasing political, ethnic polarization in Ethiopia
Daphne Psaledakis & Simon Lewis, May 14th, 2021, Reuters
The United States is deeply concerned about increasing political and ethnic polarization throughout Ethiopia, the U.S. State Department said on Friday, adding that Washington will work with allies to secure a ceasefire in the Tigray region, provide assistance and hold human rights abusers accountable.
Nima Elbagir & Nicky Robertson, May 15th, 2021, CNN
Washington, DC (CNN)The US has condemned Eritrea and Ethiopia for coordinating their troops to close off a key aid route to Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region, following an exclusive CNN investigation published earlier this week that found that Eritrean soldiers were blocking critical humanitarian aid to starving and wounded civilians.
Veronica Stracqualursi & Nima Elbagir, May 13th, 2021, CNN
(CNN) The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee is calling on the Biden administration to enact sanctions in response to the ongoing human rights abuses in the Tigray region of Ethiopia after a CNN investigation found that Eritrean soldiers were blocking critical humanitarian aid to starving and wounded civilians.
Famine & Aid
Eritrean troops disguised as Ethiopian military are blocking critical aid in Tigray
Nima Elbagir, Barbara Arvanitidis & Eliza Mackintosh, May 13th, 2021, CNN
Axum, Ethiopia — Eritrean troops are operating with total impunity in Ethiopia's war-torn northern Tigray region, killing, raping and blocking humanitarian aid to starving populations more than a month after the country's Nobel Peace Prize winning leader pledged to the international community that they would leave.
Similar Articles
UN confirms military forces blocking aid in Ethiopia's Tigray region following CNN investigation (CNN)
Hunger Threatens Ethiopia's Tigray Region
VOA News, May 14th, 2021
Six months into the conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the specter of widespread hunger and starvation looms, as continued military operations and violence stall aid delivery and threaten the approaching planting season, according to the United Nations and several other observers.
Religion
In Tigray's war, ancient Christian and Muslim houses of worship are increasingly under attack
Geoffrey York & Zecharias Zelalem, May 10th, 2021, The Globe and Mail
In a conflict in northern Ethiopia that’s claimed hundreds of lives, religious leaders are warning about another tragedy unfolding: The obliteration of centuries-old churches, mosques and manuscripts by bullets and shelling
Geoffrey York, May 10th, 2021, The Globe and Mail
After surviving 1,500 years of human history in a remote monastery, the Garima Gospels are now facing their most severe threat.
US hosts Ethiopian Orthodox Church head after Tigray warning
Cara Anna, May 10th, 2021, Associated Press (Globe & Mail)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United States ambassador to Ethiopia on Monday hosted the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church after he warned of “genocide” in the Tigray region in his first public comments on the war.
Refugees
Ethiopian peacekeepers moved to Sudanese refugee camp after seeking asylum
Reuters, May 10th, 2021
KHARTOUM, May 10 (Reuters) - Thirty-five Ethiopian peacekeeping soldiers were flown from Darfur in western Sudan to a refugee camp near the border with their country after they sought asylum in Sudan, a source at the Sudanese refugees commission and state media said.
Crimes Against Humanity
‘Bodies are being eaten by hyenas; girls of eight raped’: inside the Tigray conflict
Tracy McVeigh, May 14th, 2021, The Guardian
A nun working in war-torn Tigray has shared her harrowing testimony of the atrocities taking place.
Will Brown, May 15th, 2021, The Telegraph
When the first American bombs crashed into Baghdad in January 1991, the nature of war fundamentally changed.