Timeline Ethiopia
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Aksum was an ancient name of Ethiopia, also known as Abyssinia.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.12)(SFC, 6/4/99, p.W9)
The Konso people of Ethiopia produced funerary figures.
(NYT, 6/7/96, p.B9)
Africanet: http://www.africaodyssey.com/country/ethiopia
History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia#History
Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/afr/eth.htm
USLC: http://www.loc.gov/collections/country-studies/?q=ethiopia
USSD: http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/ethiopia_0398_bgn.html
27Mil BC Six species of prehistoric mammals from this were discovered in 2003 in the Chilga region of Ethiopia's northwestern highlands. They included 3 species of Palaeomastadon, one species Deinotherium, one Gompotherium, and an example of Arsinoitherium.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.D5)
10Mil BC In 2007 Ethiopian fossil hunter found molars of a large ape that bespoke gorilla origins from about this time. They named the large ape Chororapithecus abyssinicus.
(SFC, 8/23/07, p.A16)
5.8Mil-5.2Mil Yohannes Haile-Selassie and Giday WoldeGabriel reported in 2001 possible human fossils from this period in Ethiopia. They were tentatively named as a subspecies of Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba. Kadabba means progenitor in the Afar language.
(SFC, 7/12/01, p.A4)(AM, 9/01, p.16)
4.4Mil BC A partial skeleton in more than 90 pieces was found by a group led by Tim White, Gen Suwa and Berhane Asfaw in the Middle Awash at Aramis, Ethiopia, in late 1994. They name it Ardipithecus ramidus, which put it in a new genus and means ground ape root. A new argon-argon dating technique was used.
(SFC, 10/22/95, p.4-5)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A2)(SFC, 4/23/99, p.A21)(AM, 7/01, p.25)
4.1Mil BC-3Mil BC Fossils of Australopithecus anamensis and A. afarensis, later found in Ethiopia, showed that structures in the wrist bones had once supported knuckle walking.
(SFC, 3/23/00, p.A4)(SFC, 4/12/06, p.A2)
4Mil BC-3.8Mil BC 2005 hominid bones indicting bipedalism were discovered at a new site called Mille, in the northeastern Afar region of Ethiopia. They were estimated to be 3.8-4 million years old.
(AP, 3/6/05)
3.6Mil BC-3Mil BC A composite skull of adult male, Australopithecus afarensis, was found in 1975 by M. Bush at Hadar, Ethiopia. In 1978-1979 Mary Leakey’s team excavated a 75-foot long trail of 47 footprints, found at Laetoli, Tanzania, most likely made by Australopithecus afarensis.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p.568)(Hem., Dec. '95, p.24)(PacDisc, Spring ‘96, p.2)
3.58Mil In 2010 fossil hunters reported the discovery in Ethiopia’s Afar Desert of bones from a male specimen of Australopithecus afarensis dating to this time. The 40% skeleton was estimated to have stood about 5-5˝ feet tall.
(SFC, 6/24/10, p.A4)
3.4Mil BC The fossil of a pre-human footprint dating to this time was later found in Ethiopia and attributed by scientists in 2012 to a hominin line that never adapted to terrestrial mobility upright.
(SFC, 3/29/12, p.A5)
3.3Mil BC In northeastern Ethiopia scientists in 2000 found a remarkably complete skeleton of a 3-year-old Australopithecus afarensis female dating to about this time. This is the same ape-man species as represented by "Lucy," found in 1974.
(AP, 9/20/06)
3.2Mil BC Donald C. Johanson found Lucy's 3.2 million-year-old bones in Ethiopia in 1974. Dr. Johanson and an international team at Hadar, Ethiopia, discovered a female skeleton in 3 million year old strata and named it Lucy. Subsequent finds there and at Laetoli, Tanzania, led to the naming of a new species: Australopithecus afarensis.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p. 564)(SFC, 10/22/95, p.4-5)
3Mil BC A nearly complete male skull of A. afarensis was found in 1991 at Hadar, Ethiopia.
(www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/specimen.html#afarensis)
2.8Mil BC Scientists in 2015 reported that a jawbone found in northeast Ethiopia dated to about this time making it the oldest to date for the Homo branch of humans.
(SFC, 3/5/15, p.A2)
2.6Mil BC-2.52Mil BC Stone flakes, flake fragments and cores of the Oldowan type from the Afar region of Ethiopia have been dated to this time. They were excavated between 1992-1994 along the Gona River.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.13)
1Mil BC A homo erectus skull from Daka, Ethiopia, from this time was identified in 2001 as an ancestor to all modern humans. Tim D. White and Berhani Asfaw led the team that discovered the fossils in 1997.
(SFC, 3/21/02, p.A1)
600000BC A skull of this age from Bodo, Ethiopia, exhibits the largest nasal width of any Homo fossil.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.32)
500000BC-200000BC In Ethiopia a hominid skull from this period was discovered in 2006 at the Gawis river drainage basin in the Afar region.
(Reuters, 3/24/06)
195000BC Human fossils found in Ethiopia in 1967 were dated in 2005 to be about 195k years old.
(SFC, 2/17/05, p.A6)
160000BC-154000BC Fossils of human skulls, found in 1997 near Herto, Ethiopia, were dated in 2003 to this period. Tim D. White and colleagues made the find.
(SFC, 6/12/03, p.A10)
955BC-587BC The Ark of the Covenant, the sacred chest built by Moses containing the Ten Commandments, disappeared from Jerusalem during this period. Legend in Ethiopia holds that the Ark was stolen by Menelik I, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and taken to Aksum where Orthodox Christian monks have watched over it ever since.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)
c950BC The Queen of Sheba lived about this time. Local legends name her Makeda and claim that she was from Ethiopia. Archeologists have found inscriptions from the ancient Sabean kingdom but no mention of Makeda or Bilqis, the local name for Sheba in Yemen. The Koran claims she ruled from Yemen.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A1)
c950BC The Kebra Negast, a 14th cent. Ethiopian text, claims that the Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to see Solomon and that he tricked her into sleeping with him and bearing him a son.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A6)
155BC-213 Some evidence has it that the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia during this period. The 1992 book "The Sign and the Seal" by Graham Hancock presents the evidence.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)
330 Ezana (Aezianas), ruler of Aksum (northeast Ethiopia), converted much of his realm to Christianity. During his rule he constructed much of the monumental architecture of Aksum, including a reported 100 stone obelisks, the tallest of which loomed 98 ft over the cemetery in which it stood and weighed 517 tons. Most of the obelisks were later destroyed, but one 1,700-year-old monument was hauled off by Italian forces after their 1937 invasion. It was returned in 2003.
(http://archaeology.about.com/cs/africa/a/aksum.htm)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A2)
330 Frumentius became the first Bishop of Ethiopia. He was a Syrian who grew up in Axum and converted the King.
(www.africanet.com/africanet/country/ethiopia/history.htm)
c850 Outsiders found coffee in the region of Ethiopia called Kaffa, hence the name.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, Z1 p.4)(www.koffeekorner.com/koffeehistory.htm)
c1197 The sacred cross of Lalibela dates to this time. It was believed to belong to King Lalibela of Ethiopia who ordered "on command of God and with the help of angels" the construction of a holy city hewn from rock. In 1997 it was reported lost.
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.E4)
1268 The recorded lineage of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia begins with Yekuno Amlak. See the reference for a complete list.
(www.imperialethiopia.org/solomonids.htm)
1300-1400 The Kebra Negast, a 14th cent. Ethiopian text, claims that the Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to see Solomon and that he tricked her into sleeping with him and bearing him a son.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A6)
1351 The east African Kingdom of Dongala became hemmed in by Muslim states such as Kordofan and Darfur and was forced to surrender to Egypt its territory north of the third cataract. Axum was harried by the Muslims of Funj and the people retreated into the mountains and developed into the isolated Christian kingdom of Ethiopia.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.170)
1471 Jul 15, Eskender (d.1494), Emperor of Ethiopia, was born. Eskender was killed at age 22 fighting the Maya, a vanished ethnic group known for using poisoned arrows.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskender)
1494 Eskender (b.1471), Emperor of Ethiopia, was killed at age 22 fighting the Maya, a vanished ethnic group known for using poisoned arrows.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskender)
1543 Feb 21, In the Battle at Wayna Daga Ethiopian and Portuguese troops beat Moslem army. Ahmed Gran, sultan of Adal, died in the battle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelawdewos_of_Ethiopia)
1582 The Christian world adopted the revised Gregorian calendar, but Ethiopia stayed with the Julian calendar.
(www.gcw.nl/dissertations/3386/dis3386.pdf)
1854 British explorer Sir Richard Burton became one of the first foreigners to penetrate the "forbidden" walls of Harar, Ethiopia, disguised as a Muslim trader. Harar, also called Jugol, was founded in the 10th century and is reputed to be one of the oldest cities in east Africa.
(AFP, 8/22/14)
1735 Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) translated a book on Abyssinia by a Portuguese Jesuit: “A Voyage to Abyssinia." In 1759 Johnson authored his prose fiction “The History of Rasellas, Prince of Abissinia." In the novel morality and happiness are shown not as matters of simple alternatives but sometimes impossible ones.
(www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_se/personal/cjmm/Rasselas.html)(http://tinyurl.com/ld7bp)
1844 cAug 17, Menelik II, King of Ethiopia (1896-1913), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1855 Ras Kassa had himself crowned as the emperor at Axum (Ethiopia) under the name, Tewodros, and constructed an army to reunite the provinces of Tigre, Amhara and Shoa.
(www.africanet.com/africanet/country/ethiopia/history.htm)
1868 Apr 13, Tewodros II (1818-1868), also known as Theodore II, committed suicide at Magdala while under British siege. He was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855-1868.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tewodros_II)
1868 Ethiopia’s Prince Alemayehu (7), son of Tewodros II, was placed on a ship to Britain and enrolled in boarding school. Alemayehu (18) died 11 years later of suspected pleurisy in the northern city of Leeds, after years of loneliness. In 2007 Ethiopia called for the return of his remains.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/3/10)
1868 Following the defeat of Ethiopian emperor Tewodros by British troops, victorious soldiers stole an 18-carat gold crown, more than 500 ancient manuscripts and a painting. A British soldier took the wooden Tabot of St. Michael from the fortress of Emp. Tewodros II at Maqdala. It was returned in 2002.
(AM, 5/01, p.10)(AP, 6/3/10)
1869 Nov 11, Victor Emmanuel III, king of Italy (1900-46) and Ethiopia, was born.
(MC, 11/11/01)
1886 In Ethiopia Menelik II, a King of the Shewa province, founded Addis Ababa. The site was chosen by Empress Taytu Betul.
(Econ, 8/28/10, p.40)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addis_Ababa)
1889 Mar 10, In Ethiopia Emperor Yohannes was killed in a war against the dervishes during the Battle of Gallabat (Matemma). With his dying breaths, Yohannes declared his natural son, Dejazmach Mengesha Yohannes, as his heir. On 25 March, upon hearing of the death of Yohannes, Negus Menelik immediately proclaimed himself as Nəgusä Nägäst.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menelik_II_of_Ethiopia)
1889 Nov 3, In Ethiopia Emperor Menelik II (1844-1913) began ruling as emperor, fending off the encroachments of European powers.
(www.ethiopianembassy.org/history.shtml)
1892 Jul 23, Haile Selassie (d.1975), Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74), was born as Tafari Makonnen at Ejarsa Goro, near Harer. He pleaded with the League of Nations to halt the Italian invasion of his country. "Outside the kingdom of the Lord there is no nation which is greater than any other."
(AP, 7/23/02)(www.imperialethiopia.org/history3.htm)
1894 Dec, An uprising in Eritrea was swiftly put down by the Italians. Italian troops under Gen. Oreste Baratieri then marched south from Eritrea and seized the northwestern Agame region of Ethiopia.
(ON, 2/11, p.7)
1895 Sep 17, Ethiopia’s Emperor Menelik II issued a mobilization proclamation calling on men to gather to resist the Italian army.
(ON, 2/11, p.7)
1896 Mar 1, The Battle of Adowa (Adwa, Adua) began in Ethiopia between the 80,000 forces of Negus Menelik, Emperor Menelik II, and 18-20,000 Italian troops. The Italians suffered a crushing defeat with some 6,000 killed. Menalik II and his wife Taitu led Ethiopia to independence from Italy. In 2000 Haile Gerima made a 90 minute documentary of the event, "Adwa: An African Victory."
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-12)(AP, 3/1/98)(SFC, 5/15/00, p.D3)(Econ, 2/26/11, p.89)(ON, 2/11, p.9)
1906 Jul 4, Great Britain, France & Italy granted independence to Ethiopia.
(Maggio, 98)
1913 Dec 12, Ethiopia’s Emperor Menelik II (b.1844) died. After his death the council of regency continued the rule of Ethiopia. Lij Iyasu had been designated successor of Menelik II by Empress Taytu in May 1909 - however a problem occurred: the imperial Abyssinian rules of succession dictated, that only a Christian could rule Ethiopia as Emperor - and Lij Iyasu had taken the Muslim faith. Therefore Lij Iyasu was never crowned emperor of Ethiopia. In 1916 Empress Zewditu I of Ethiopia succeeded Menelik II, she was his oldest daughter.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menelik_II_of_Ethiopia)
1914 Jun 27, US signed a treaty of commerce with Ethiopia.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1916 Sep 27, In September 1916, an assembly of nobles with the agreement of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church deposed Emperor Lij Iyasu (Iyasu V), the grandson and heir of Emperor Menelik II, for suspected conversion to Islam. In his place they crowned Menelik's daughter Zauditu as Empress of Ethiopia and her cousin Ras (Duke) Tafari Makonnen as Crown Prince and Regent.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)
1923 Haile Selassie secured admission to the League of Nations.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)
1924 Sep 6, Forty teenagers from Armenia, who had escaped from the Armenian genocide in Turkey, arrived in Addis Ababa. They along with their bandleader Kevork Nalbandian became the first official orchestra of Ethiopia. Nalbandian composed the music for Ethiopia’s Imperial National Anthem, Marsh Teferi (words by Yoftahé Negusé), official from 1930 to 1974.
(www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Arba_Lijoch)
1924 Slavery itself was abolished by edict in Ethiopia.
(www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/ethiopia.htm)
1928 Tafari Makonnen (b.1892) became King of Shewa.
(www.imperialethiopia.org/history3.htm)
1930 Apr 2, Ethiopia’s Empress Zauditu died and Ras Tafari assumed the title of Emperor.
(www.ethiopianembassy.org/history.shtml)
1930 Nov 2, Haile Selassie was crowned emperor of Ethiopia. His coronation was taken as a sign by Jamaicans, who became known as Rastafarians, from the term Ras Tafari, a title held by Selassie. Ras Tafari crowned Haile Selassie I, 225th emperor of Solmonic Dynasty.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)(AP, 11/2/97)(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A12)
1931 Haile Selassie introduced Ethiopia’s first written constitution.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)
1931 Slavery was officially abolished in Ethiopia (1930 by the Ethiopian calendar).
(www.law.emory.edu/WAL/Advocacy/day1.htm)
1932 Aug 7, Abebe Bikila (d.1973), barefoot runner from Ethiopia, winner of the 1960 Olympic marathon, was born.
(HN, 8/7/98)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ZLB1-Ofyw)
1933 Count Byron De Prorok undertook an archeological expedition from Egypt into Ethiopia. His book "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" described the venture. He pioneered the use of motion pictures from 1920. His other books included "Digging for Lost African Gods" (1926), "Mysterious Sahara" (1929) and "In Quest of Lost Worlds" (1935).
(AM, 9/01, p.64)
1934 Dec 5, Italian and Ethiopian troops clashed at the Ualual on disputed Somali-Ethiopian border.
(HN, 12/5/98)
1935 Jun 30, Fascists caused an uproar at the League of Nations when Haile Selassie of Ethiopia spoke. He also warned the League of Nations of the dangers of appeasement.
(HN, 6/30/98)
1935 Jul 18, Ethiopian King Haile Selassie urged his countrymen to fight to the last man against the invading Italian army. He had previously warned the League of Nations of the dangers of appeasement.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1935 Oct 3, Italy invaded Ethiopia.
(DoD, 1999, p.237)(www.onwar.com/aced/data/india/italyethiopia1935.htm)
1935 Oct 6, Italian army occupied Adua, Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 10/6/01)
1935 Oct 11, The League of Nations met and voted 50 to 4 (Austria, Hungary, Italy and Albania opposed) to condemn Italy for the attack on Ethiopia.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1935 Dec 30, Italian bombers destroyed a Swedish Red Cross unit in Ethiopia.
(MC, 12/30/01)
1935-1936 The Italian army used chemical warfare against Ethiopia in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol.
(NH, 10/98, p.18)
1936 Jan 5, Daggha Bur, Ethiopia, was bombed by the Italians.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1936 Mar 29, Italy firebombed the Ethiopian city of Harar.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1936 May 2, With the Italian invasion Ethiopia’s Emp. Haile Selassie left for French Somaliland. He went into exile for 5 years during which time he was based in Bath, England.
(http://tinyurl.com/ahqhm)
1936 May 5, Italian troops occupied Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 1757 Italians and 1593 Eritreans were killed, more than 275,000 Ethiopians were killed.
(http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/Prelude05.html)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1936 May 9, Fascist Italy annexed Ethiopia as Benito Mussolini celebrated in Rome.
(AP, 5/9/97)(HN, 5/9/98)
1936 Jun 30, Haile Selassie asked the League of Nations for sanctions against Italy.
(www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive/speech_400.html)
1936 Jul 4, The League Council voted to end economic sanctions against Italy with the collapse of Ethiopia. The cancellation of economic sanctions against an aggressor state marked the failure of collective security under the League and was a harbinger of conflict in the upcoming years.
(http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1936.htm)
1937 Jan 9, Italian regime banned marriages between Italians and Abyssinians.
(MC, 1/9/02)
1937 Feb, More than 30,000 Ethiopians were massacred in Addis Ababa.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1937 The 1,700 year-old Axum Obelisk was dismantled and removed from Ethiopia by Italian forces. Mussolini used it to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his march on Rome. In 1998 Italy agreed to return it. The border war delayed the return to 2003.
(AM, 5/01, p.10)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A2)
1941 Mar 7, British troops invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 3/7/02)
1941 Apr 6, Italian-held Addis Ababa surrendered to British and Ethiopian forces.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1941 May 5, Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1941 May 18, Italian army under General Aosta surrendered to Britain in Ethiopia.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1941 Nov 18, Mussolini's forces left Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 11/18/01)
1942 Aug 26, Haile Selassie issued a new proclamation outlawing slavery in Ethiopia. Slavery was first outlawed in 1924.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R28)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1942 Aug 26, Haile Selassie established the State Bank of Ethiopia.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1944 Apr 4, British troops captured Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1945 After WW II Ethiopia annexed Eritrea, a former Italian colony, and ruled it ruthlessly.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)
1946 Dec, Ethiopian Airlines was founded.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1947 Dec 28, Victor Emmanuel (b.1869-1947), also known as Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy (1900-1946), Emperor of Ethiopia (1939-1943) and King of Albania (1939-1943), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_III_of_Italy)
1950 Dec 2, The UN voted 46-10 for Eritrea to be federated with Ethiopia. Union was to be achieved September 15, 1952.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1951 Feb 27, University College of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was opened.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1951 Oct 7, Dr. Eduardo Anze Matienzo of Bolivia, UN commissioner for Eritrea, announced that Eritrea had accepted the UN Federation plan.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1952 Jul 10, The new constitution of Eritrea, adopted and ratified on August 11, provided that Eritrea should have legislative, executive and judicial powers in matters not reserved to the federal government.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1952 Sep 11, Eritrean-Ethiopian federation act was signed and Eritrea became an independent (federated) nation. Washington, worried an emergent Eritrea would come under Soviet influence, had arranged for it to be yoked in a federation to U.S. client Ethiopia.
(AP, 1/3/05)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1955 Nov 4, Haile Selassie introduced a revised constitution under which he retained effective power while extending political participation by allowing the lower house of parliament become an elected body.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1955 King Selassie granted a group of Rastafarians a small area of fertile land in southern Ethiopia.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A14)
1955 US Col. Edward S. Berry (d.1999 at 93) helped establish the Ethiopian Military College.
(SFC, 7/28/99, p.C2)
1959 A water agreement between Egypt and Sudan was based on an annual net yield of 96.2 billion cubic yards of water and gave Egypt 72.15 billion and Sudan 20.04. Ethiopia got no allocation and never recognized the treaty.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A1)
1959 Catherine Hamlin (35) moved to Ethiopia from Australia to work as an obstetrician and gynecologist. Hamlin and her husband later founded a hospital where women can seek free treatment for obstetric fistulas, which are holes that develop between the birth canal and the bladder or rectum that can develop during long and difficult births.
(AP, 10/13/09)
1960 Sep 10, Abebe Bikila (1932-1973), barefoot runner from Ethiopia, won the Olympic marathon.
(HN, 8/7/98)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ZLB1-Ofyw)
1962 In Ethiopia a 16-year-old artist painted "Woman at the Market."
(SFEM, 1/12/97, DB p.20)
1962 Ethiopia made Eritrea a separate province.
(WSJ, 5/26/00, p.A22)
1963 May 25, The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2001 it was replaced the African Union.
(AP, 5/25/97)(SFC, 7/12/01, p.A12)
1966 Apr 21, Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) visited Kingston, Jamaica.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1970 The Finchaa Dam was built in Ethiopia.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A9)
1970 China established relations with Ethiopia.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A2)
1972 Mar 27, The Addis Ababa accords ended fighting between north and south Sudan. It made the south a self-governing region. Pres. Gaafar Muhammed Nimeiri ended the 17 year civil war in the Sudan between the north and south.
(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/sudan-civil-war1.htm)(WSJ, 10/22/03, p.A4)
1973 In Ethiopia the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was formed to seek greater autonomy for Oromia region.
(AFP, 11/10/06)
1974 Mar 1, The Ethiopian government of Makonnen Endelkacaw (1927-1974) formed.
(www.worldstatesmen.org/Ethiopia.html)
1974 Sep 12, Haile Selassie I, "King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah," was deposed by the military from the Ethiopian throne. A military committee (known as the Dergue) was established from several divisions of the Ethiopian Armed forces. General Aman Amdon was elected as spokesperson for the Dergue and implemented policies for the country, which included land distribution to peasants, nationalizing industries and services under public ownership and led Ethiopia into the Socialism.
(AP, 9/12/99)(http://tinyurl.com/7lnnz)
1974 Nov 23, In Ethiopia 60 government officials were executed.
(http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/ethiopia/ethiopia39.html)
1974 Dr. Donald C. Johanson and an international team at Hadar, Ethiopia, discovered a female skeleton in 3 million year old strata and name it Lucy. Subsequent finds there and at Laetoli, Tanzania, led to the naming of a new species: Australopithecus afarensis.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p. 564)
1974-1991 The regime of Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam ruled Ethiopia.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengistu_Haile_Mariam)
1975 Feb 18, The Tigray People’s Liberation Front began a rebellion in northern Ethiopia.
(www.scribd.com/doc/14967/The-Origins-Of-TPLF)
1975 Mar 21, Ethiopia ended its monarchy after 3000 years. In May the monarchy was formally abolished, and Marxism-Leninism was proclaimed the ideology of the state.
(www.worldstatesmen.org/Ethiopia.html)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derg)
1975 Aug 27, Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia’s 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83 almost a year after he was overthrown in a military coup. It was later discovered that the Derg, the ruling military committee, had voted to murder the imprisoned emperor. Selassie was born of royal blood and originally named Ras Tafari, and is regarded as the savior by a religious sect originating in Jamaica whose members are called Rastafarians. Crowned emperor in 1930 under the title Haile Selassie I (meaning "Power of the Trinity"), he was by tradition a descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. He reigned as emperor of Ethiopia until 1974. Ryszard Kapuscinski later authored "The Emperor," a biography of Selassie.
(AP, 8/27/00)(HNQ, 2/4/00)(WSJ, 4/18/01, p.A20)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.49)
1976 Feb 18, The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) issued a manifesto to secede from Ethiopia.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A14)(www.abugidainfo.com/?p=3393)(http://tinyurl.com/2j2pxf)
1977 Feb 24, Pres. Carter announced the US was cutting off all military aid to Ethiopia because of its human rights violations. The unstated reason was the US desire to cooperate with Saudi Arabia to lure Somalia from the Soviet camp, an effort which was ultimately successful.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Politics/africa.html)
1977 Somalia and Ethiopia engaged in battle. The Soviet Union provided tanks to both sides. Somalia tried and failed to push into the Ogaden area of Ethiopia. The Somalis managed to reach the walled city of Harer, a center for Islam in Ethiopia. An Ethiopian counter-offensive backed by Cuban troops wrecked Somalia’s army and led to the 1991 of the Somali regime.
(Econ, 8/12/06, p.19)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.49)(Econ, 1/7/12, p.42)
1977-1978 The Ethiopian Red Terror, or Qey Shibir, was a violent political campaign in Ethiopia undertaken during the leadership of the Derg, a socialist military junta. Hirut Abebe-Jiri, imprisoned and tortured during a purge known as the “Red Terror," later set up an organization to archive, translate and index the Derg files. As many as 100,000 people were killed during the campaign as Mengistu sought to transform the country into a Soviet-style workers' state. (Econ, 9/29/07, p.50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror_(Ethiopia))(AP, 3/7/10)
1978 Feb 7, Ethiopia mounted a counter attack against Somalia.
(HN, 2/7/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden_War)
1978 UNESCO named Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains National Park a World Heritage Site.
(SSFC, 5/24/15, p.L2)
1981 Karlheinz Boehm (1928-2014), Austrian actor and human rights activist, founded the Menschen fuer Menschen ("People for People") aid group dedicated to helping people in Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/30/14)
1982 Jan 2, The Somali National Movement (SNM) launched its first military operation against the Somali government. Operating from Ethiopian bases.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/sierra/somalia1982b.htm)
1984 Nov 18, The Soviets helped deliver U.S. wheat during the Ethiopian famine.
(HN, 11/18/98)
1984 In Ethiopia the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) was formed for the independence of Ogaden, which Rebels claimed has been marginalized by Addis Ababa. The region is suspected of holding large oil and natural gas reserves.
(AP, 7/25/07)
1984-1985 Severe famine hit Ethiopia and took an estimated 100,000 lives.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8,12)(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)
1985 Jan 5, Israel’s 6-week Operation Moses for the resettlement of 8,000 Ethiopian Jews ended. It began Nov 18, 1984, but new was blacked out for security reasons.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html)
1985 Jan 13, A train plunged into a ravine in eastern Ethiopia and killed at least 392 people.
(http://tinyurl.com/yznz8w)
1985 Jul 13, Live Aid, an international rock concert in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, took place to raise money for Ethiopia and Africa's starving people. It was organized by Bob Geldof of Ireland.
(TMC, 1994, p.1985)(AP 7/13/97)(Econ, 6/4/05, p.56)
1985 Ethiopia’s Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam gave some 570,000 people the choice of moving or being shot. It was part of a program to counter the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
(Econ, 7/17/04, p.50)(www.uscis.gov)
1988 Eritrea was victorious over Ethiopian forces.
(SSFC, 4/15/12, p.P3)
1988 In Slovenia journalists of the weekly magazine Mladina ran news stories about secret arms deals between Yugoslavia and Ethiopia.
(SFC, 4/14/97, p.A8)
1989 Aug 7, A small plane carrying Congressman Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 15 others disappeared during a flight in Ethiopia. The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.
(AP, 8/7/99)
1989 Aug 13, Searchers in Ethiopia found the wreckage of a plane which had disappeared almost a week earlier while carrying Texas Congressman Mickey Leland and 15 other people. There were no survivors.
(AP, 8/13/97)
1990 Feb, The port of Massawa, Eritrea, was liberated from Ethiopian forces.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C2)(http://tinyurl.com/8byua)
1991 May 21, Ethiopia’s Marxist president (Mengistu Haile Mariam) resigned and fled into exile as rebels continued to advance. Mengistu left behind thousands of pages of memoranda. (AP, 5/21/01)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.50)
1991 May 24, Eritrean rebels liberated Asmara from Ethiopian rule. Days later Ethiopian rebels from Tigray took Addis Ababa with the help of Eritrean counterparts and ended the 17-year rule of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1991 May 25, Foreigners fled the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa as rebels closed in on the city.
(AP, 5/25/01)
1991 May 25, Israel completed "Operation Solomon," which had evacuated 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to their promised land.
(AP, 5/25/01)
1991 May 27, Ethiopia ordered its troops to lay down their arms in the face of a rebel advance. An estimated 60,000 Eritreans died in the rebel war with Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/27/01)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.80)
1991 May 28, Ethiopian rebels seized control of the capital of Addis Ababa, a week after the country’s longtime Marxist ruler, Mengistu Haile Mariam, resigned his post and fled.
(AP, 5/28/01)
1991 May, In Ethiopia an armed revolution led by the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front took over the government from the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam known as the Dergue (Derg). Meles Zenawi (36), a former Marxist-Leninist and the guerrilla leader of the TPLF took control of the government. The Tigrean minority made up only 5% of the country’s population. Some 4 million Tigrayans lorded over 18 million Amharans and 20 million Oromos. Some experts say 150,000 university students, intellectuals and politicians were killed in a nationwide purge by Mengistu's regime. No one knew for sure how many suspected opponents were killed.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A12)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A14)(AP, 6/1/11)
1991-1995 Meles Zenawi (b.1956) served as Chairman of the EPRDF and President of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia.
(www.brandt21forum.info/BioAfricaCom-Zenawi.htm)
1993 Apr 23-1993 Apr 25, Eritrea voted to secede from Ethiopia.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1993 May 24, Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after a 30-year civil war. Some 65,000 Eritreans lost their lives in the fight for independence. Pres. Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia allowed Eritrea to secede as a reward for the support of its rebel forces in 1991.
(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.A14)(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)(MC, 5/24/02)
1993 The Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front was launched in the land of the Afars, over territory that straddled Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The Afars numbered some 2 million and their territory had previously been called the French Territory of Afars and Issas.
(Econ, 3/10/07, p.44)
1994 Meles Zenawi (39), was the president of Ethiopia and its 53 million people.
(CNT, Nov.,1994, p.245)
1994 Ethiopia adopted a new federal constitution with many powers devolved to the regions.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.33)
1994 Asrat Woldeyes, president of the All Amhara People’s Organization, was jailed.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
1995 Jun 26, Egypt’s Pres. Mubarak escaped unharmed after his motorcade came under fire during a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was en route to a summit of the Organization of African Unity. In 1996 an Ethiopian court sentenced 3 Egyptian men to death for the attack.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)(AP, 7/9/04)(SFC, 2/12/11, p.A4)
1995 Aug 22, Meles Zenawi was elected PM of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic.
(www.brandt21forum.info/BioAfricaCom-Zenawi.htm)
1995 In Ethiopia Almaz Meko was elected speaker of the House for Federation, the upper house of Parliament.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.A17)
1996 May 9, Bacterial meningitis has infected more than 100,000 people in West Africa over the last 3 months and more than 10,000 have died. The epidemic has been most intense in the region just south of the Sahara known as the Sahel. The 1996 epidemic resulted in some 20,000 deaths. The "meningitis belt" swept from Senegal to Ethiopia about every 10 years.
(SFC, 5/9/96, p.C-5)(WSJ, 3/17/03, p.B4)
1996 Jun 3, Two rivers overflowed in Ethiopia killing 12 people. Some 30,000 were forced from their homes.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C5)
1996 Sep 23, Ethiopian forces exchanged fire with Somali militiamen.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 23, An Ethiopian Boeing 767 airliner crashed into the Indian ocean near Grand Comore Island. It had been hijacked after takeoff from Addis Ababa and ran out of fuel under hijacker demands to fly to Australia. Some 54 of 175 people were saved. The plane was destined for the Ivory Coast with stops along the way.
(SFEC, 11/24/96, p.A1,10)
1997 Mar 10, The 800-year-old cross of Lalibela was reported lost.
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.E2)
1997 Apr 14, A grenade attack wounded 33 in the largest supermarket of Addis Ababa. Two similar attacks over the weekend killed one person and injured 41 at a restaurant and hotel in the capital.
(WSJ, 4/15/97, p.A9)
1997 May 13, It was reported that 6 teenage girls in Ethiopia had committed suicide over the last 9 months in order to avoid traditional marriages to elderly cousins as old as 80.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.A13)
1997 Aug 22, It was reported that Ethiopia has completed work on more than 200 dams that use 624 million cubic yards of Nile water per year.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug, Ethiopian officials set up an administration in the contested region known as Bada, that triggered skirmishes with Eritrea.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A14)
1997 Nov 15, It was reported that storms over the past three weeks have killed at least 1000 people in Ethiopia and Somalia and left some 100,000 families displaced and in competition with crocodiles and hippos for dry land. The overflowing Juba and the Shabelle Rivers originate in Ethiopia. The Juba had become 8 miles wide at some points.
(SFC,11/15/97, p.A3)(SFEC,11/16/97, p.A27)
1997 Nov 20, It was reported that flooding in Ethiopia had killed 297 people and uprooted 65,000 and that heavy rains continued to fall.
(SFC,11/20/97, p.B2)
1997 Nov-1997 Dec, Health workers in Ethiopia under int’l. financing worked to vaccinate every child under 5 against polio.
(SFC, 1/2/98, p.A14)
1997 Ethiopia received over $100 million in aid from the US and over $700 million in loans from the IMF.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
1997 Eritrea introduced its own currency, the nakfa, and sought to make it directly exchangeable with the Ethiopian burr in cross-border transaction.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A10)
1997 Assefa Maru, second in command of Ethiopia’s Teacher’s Association, was killed.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Jan, Editors and journalists of Tobia, the largest and most respected independent publication in Ethiopia, were arrested after publishing a secret UN document critical of the government.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 4, A locust plague in Ethiopia was reported covering an area of 3,700 acres in the regions of Jijiga and Dire Dawa. Aerial spraying was begun.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 20, Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won the 102nd Boston Marathon among the women in 2:23:21.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 May 6, There was a border skirmish between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the 150-square-mile area called the Badme triangle. Later a settlement of the border war was contingent on the borders prior to this date.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A12)(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)
1998 May 12, Eritrea accused Ethiopian militiamen of invading its territory in a border skirmish. Ethiopia later said 20 people were killed and 20 wounded by Eritrean forces.
(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)
1998 May 28, In Eritrea veterans were mobilized to be sent to Ethiopian border where the 160-square-mile Yigra triangle was under dispute. Eritrea claimed ownership under the still binding Italian colonial borders.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D4)
1998 May, An international panel in 2005, formed to resolve disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, said Eritrea violated int’l. law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia in May 1998.
(AFP, 12/22/05)
1998 Jun 3, Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers clashed in heavy fighting along their disputed border.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 5-1998 Jun 6, Eritrea and Ethiopia sent warplanes on bombing raids against each other. In Mekele, Ethiopia, at least 40 people were killed and over 100 wounded.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 8, Eritrea appealed for direct talks with Ethiopia to end the border war.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 9, Heavy fighting erupted on the Ethiopian-Eritrean frontier in the latest stage of their undeclared war.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 11, Fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia was reported 50 miles from Eritrea’s Red Sea port of Assab.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to halt the use of air strikes in their border war.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 22, It was reported that a 2.5 mile crack had opened up at Adami Tulu, 105 miles south of Addis Ababa. The growing depression was 16 feet wide and 40 feet deep and moving in the direction of lakes Abiyata and Shala.
(SFC, 8/22/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 22, In Ethiopia the government said that 2,000 Eritreans had been expelled over the past week bringing the total to 6,500. It charged that Eritrea had forced out 17,000 Ethiopians.
(SFC, 9/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 26-1998 Sep 30, In Ethiopia the Lions Club charity sponsored a free surgical program at the Adama hospital in Nazareth town. Over 700 cataract patients were treated. Some had been blind for 20 years.
(SFC, 10/3/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 17, Ethiopia deported over 650 Eritreans after 4 months of detainment.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.C5)
1998 China began to expand its influence in Ethiopia when the US evacuated its Peace Corps volunteers and scaled back military aid due to the border war with Eritrea.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
1998-2000 An estimated 70,000 people were killed in the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
(Econ, 8/4/07, p.42)
1999 Jan 29, Amnesty Int'l. reported that Ethiopia had forcefully deported 52,000 Eritreans since the eruption of war in 1998.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb 6, Ethiopia and Eritrea resumed their clash after an 8-month lull. Heavy casualties were reported.
(WSJ, 2/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 9, An Ethiopian plane bombed an Eritrean village and at least 5 civilians were killed. Eritrea reported that a large number of Ethiopian forces were killed near Tsorena, but Ethiopia denied the Eritrean version of the fighting.
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 14, Eritrea shot down an Mi-24 Ethiopian helicopter gunship at Bure and the crew was killed. Eritrea said that 16 civilians had been killed by Ethiopian aircraft since Feb 6.
(SFC, 2/15/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 15, Eritrea reported that Ethiopia had begun a new round of shelling southwest of Assab.
(SFC, 2/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 21, Ethiopian planes struck the airport at Assab but Eritrean officials said the 12 bombs dropped by 2 planes failed to hit their targets.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 23, Ethiopian troops attacked Eritrea with tanks and aircraft.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 24, Eritrea said that it had destroyed 31 Ethiopian tanks, captured 3 others and shot down a Mi-24 helicopter gunship.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 26, Ethiopia claimed to have shot down a 2nd Eritrean MiG-29.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 27, Eritrea agreed to accept an African sponsored proposal to end its border dispute with Ethiopia. This followed an Ethiopian breakthrough at Badme.
(SFEC, 2/28/99, p.A23)
1999 Feb 28, Ethiopia claimed victory over Eritrea and said that it had killed, wounded and captured tens of thousands of Eritrean soldiers.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A12)
1999 Mar 15, Eritrea claimed to have shot down an Ethiopian MiG-23 and to have destroyed 19 tanks. Ethiopia denied the claims.
(SFC, 3/16/99, p.A9)
1999 Mar 17, Eritrea said it repulsed Ethiopian troops after a 3-day battle. 300 Ethiopian soldiers were reported dead and 57 tanks destroyed. Ethiopia said the results of the battle were staged.
(SFC, 3/18/99, p.C3)
1999 Mar 28, Ethiopia claimed to have killed tens of thousands of Eritrean soldiers since Feb 23. Eritrea made equally high and unconfirmed claims of enemy casualties.
(WSJ, 3/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 30, Eritrea appealed to humanitarian organizations to account for some 1,000 missing citizens while Ethiopia continued shelling near Badme.
(SFC, 4/2/99, p.D3)
1999 Mar, At the Battle of Tsorona Ethiopia sent waves of soldiers over minefields along a 3-mile front to clear a path for better trained soldiers. Thousands died from entrenched Eritrean troops and artillery fire.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 19, The 103rd Boston Marathon was won by Joseph Chebet of Kenya in 2h:9m:52s. Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won the women's category in 2:23:25.
(WSJ, 4/20/99, A1)
1999 May 24, Ethiopia said Eritrea had launched attacks at the western Badme front over the weekend, but was thwarted by a counterattack that killed 400 Eritrean soldiers.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A12)
1999 May 25, Eritrea said that it had foiled a series of Ethiopian assaults over 4 days at Badme and that 380 Ethiopian soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A12)
1999 May 27, Ethiopia said it had killed 865 Eritrean troops in a 2 day battle near the Mereb River on the Badme front. Eritrea claimed that 585 Ethiopian troops were killed over 5 days of fighting.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.D3)
1999 Jun 11, Eritrea and Ethiopia clashed in a 2nd day of heavy fighting on the western Badme front.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 13, In Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu told his ministers to bring in some 2,500 to 3,000 Jews from the Quara region of Ethiopia.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C5)
1999 Jun 14, Eritrea and Ethiopia battled for a 5th day. Eritrea claimed to have killed, wounded or captured over 12,000 soldiers, while Ethiopia claimed the same for 8,200 soldiers. Over half a million soldiers were stationed along the 600-mile border.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C5)(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 25, Eritrea and Ethiopia began new fighting on their western front.
(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A16)
1999 Jun 28, In Somalia Ethiopian forces captured the regional capital of Garba Harre, 250 miles northwest of Mogadishu.
(SFC, 6/29/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 26, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to send delegates to Algeria to finalize arrangements to end their 14-month border war.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 7, Pres. Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea made an unconditional offer for cooperation with the OAU to end its war with Ethiopia during a meeting with Algerian Pres. Bouteflika, the OAU chairman.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 12, Ethiopia claimed to have almost eliminated 3 rebel groups based in Somalia which it said were supported by Eritrea. Most of the 1,103 killed or captured rebels were of the Oromo Liberation Front.
(SFC, 8/13/99, p.D2)
1999 Sep 4, Ethiopia claimed that the proposed outline for the implementation of a peace plan contradicted an original agreement regarding the withdrawal of Eritrea's forces. Eritrea the next day took the statement as "tantamount to a declaration of war."
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A14)
1999 The film "Endurance" was written and directed by Leslie Woodhead and was the story of Ethiopian long-distance runner and Olympics gold medalist Haile Gebrselassie.
(SFC, 5/17/99, p.D3)
1999 Jill Campbell and her husband, Gary, compiled evidence that helped convict the director of an Ethiopian orphanage that the Swiss charity Terre Des Hommes-Lausanne used to run. Their report on sexual abuse prompted the charity to apologize and leave Ethiopia. In 2001 Jill Campbell was convicted of defamation and ordered to apologize to Terre Des Hommes-Lausanne (TdH) or face jail. In 2003, an Ethiopian court sentenced orphanage director David Christie to nine years of hard labor for abusing several young boys. In 2008 lawyers for the charity said it had dropped the demand for an apology.
(AP, 3/7/08)
2000 Feb 23, It was reported that Ethiopia faced severe famine and the UN World Food Program planned an appeal to raise $50 million for emergency aid.
(SFC, 2/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Mar 16, Emergency food aid was planned after it was learned that 53 children under age 5 had died of malnutrition in one town in Ethiopia.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A16)
2000 Mar 31, Prof. William Alfred Shack of UC Berkeley died at age 76. Shack had a longtime interest in the Gurage culture of Ethiopia and had established the department of sociology and anthropology at Haile Selassie Univ. in Addis Ababa.
(SFC, 4/6/00, p.A21)
2000 Mar, A private group of US Peace Corp volunteers worked to settle the 2-year border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia based on the "status quo ante" border on May 6, 1998.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)
2000 May 12, War erupted between Eritrea and Ethiopia after Ethiopian troops left their trenches and attacked Eritrean defenses. 600,000 troops were dug in along the 600-mile border.
(SFC, 5/13/00, p.A8)
2000 May 14, Ethiopia claimed a major victory against Eritrea and claimed that 8 divisions had been destroyed over the last 2 days. Eritrea said 25,000 Ethiopian soldiers were killed or wounded.
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A14)
2000 May 14, In Ethiopia elections were held and 7 people were reported killed when government forces threw a grenade into a crowd of protestors and fired into another in the southern region of Hadiya. [see Jun 16]
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A14)
2000 May 15, In Ethiopia tens of thousands marched in Addis Ababa in support of the renewed border war with Eritrea.
(WSJ, 5/16/00, p.A1)
2000 May 16, Ethiopian troops penetrated into western Eritrea and attempted to cut off retreating forces.
(WSJ, 5/17/00, p.A1)
2000 May 17, Ethiopian forces pushed into Eritrean territory and the UN Security council approved an embargo against both countries.
(SFC, 5/18/00, p.A11)
2000 May 18, Ethiopian troops captured Barentu in Eritrea and some 250-550 thousand refugees were reported displaced by the fighting.
(SFC, 5/19/00, p.A18)
2000 May 24, Eritrea decided to withdraw from land it seized in 1998 following a 12-day offensive by Ethiopia.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A12)
2000 May 26, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to resume peace talks even as Ethiopia continued to push into Eritrean territory.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A12)
2000 May 28, Ethiopian warplanes bombed a nearly completed power plant in Massawa, Eritrea, as thousands of refugees fled north.
(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A12)
2000 May 29, Ethiopian planes launched air raids on a military airstrip near Asmara, Eritrea, as their foreign ministers prepared for talks in Algeria.
(SFC, 5/30/00, p.A1)
2000 May 30, Ethiopia and Eritrea opened peace talks in Algeria.
(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A10)
2000 May 31, Ethiopia declared victory over Eritrea as peace talks continued in Algeria.
(SFC, 6/1/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 5, Eritrea claimed that an Ethiopian attack near Assab was foiled and that 3,755 Ethiopian troops were "killed, wounded, or taken prisoner."
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 5, In Ethiopia 14 children were trampled to death at the Mega Amphitheater in Addis Ababa when a crowd pushed to get out of the rain.
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 5, Ethiopia accused Eritrea of rounding up 7,529 Ethiopian citizens and putting them under armed guard for deportation.
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 9, Eritrea accepted an Organization of African Unity plan to end the conflict with Ethiopia.
(SFC, 6/10/00, p.A12)
2000 Jun 10, Ethiopian troops stormed Eritrean positions on all 3 fronts of the disputed border in a break of the cease-fire. The Ethiopian government accepted cease-fire terms brokered in Algeria but asked for a "brief delay."
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A31)
2000 Jun 15, Ethiopia accepted a preliminary cease-fire plan and together with Eritrea planned to sign documents in Algeria.
(SFC, 6/16/00, p.A19)
2000 Jun 16, In Ethiopia the election board announced that the 4-party Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) won a landslide victory in 4 key regions in the may 14 elections.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 18, In Algeria the Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia and Eritrea signed an accord to cease hostilities immediately in a two-year-old border war. The agreement called for an int’l. peacekeeping force in a buffer zone reaching 15 miles into Eritrea.
(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A8)(SFC, 6/20/00, p.A12)(AP, 6/18/05)
2000 Oct 10, In Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was re-elected by acclamation in parliament to another 5-year term.
(SFC, 10/11/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 19, It was reported that 9 people had died in Ethiopia’s Afar region after the Awash River burst its banks and inundated the Danakil Lowlands. 30,000 people were left homeless.
(SFC, 8/19/00, p.B12)
2000 Nov 5, Haile Selassie (1892-1975), former ruler Ethiopia (1930-1974), was buried in a cathedral crypt. His body was found in 1992 on the grounds of his former palace, where he died while under house arrest.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 12, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a peace pact in Algiers. A 4,200 UN peacekeeping force was set to patrol the border. PM Zenawi and Pres. Afwerki signed the accord, which established a commission to mark the 620-mile border, exchange prisoners, returned displaced people and hear claims for war damages.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.E2)(WSJ, 12/5/00, p.A1)(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B3)
2001 Feb 6, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to set up a 16-mile wide UN-patrolled security zone effective Feb 12.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A14)
2001 Feb, The Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Assoc. organized a march of some 1,000 women to the office of PM Meles Zenawi and parliament to protest domestic violence. The group was banned in September.
(SFC, 9/8/01, p.A9)
2001 Apr 26, Six hijackers seized an Ethiopian plane with 50 passengers and diverted it to Sudan where they surrendered. They wanted to draw attention to economic conditions in Ethiopia and recent student protests for greater academic freedom during which 41 people were killed in Addis Ababa.
(SFC, 4/27/01, p.D4)
2001 Apr 26, It was reported that a meningitis outbreak had killed at least 3,500 people in Africa and that vaccine had been shipped to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.
(SFC, 4/26/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 11, Almaz Meko (39), speaker of the House for Federation, sought political asylum in Washington DC. She feared persecution for speaking out on the treatment of her Oromo people.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.A17)
2001 Sep 6, The Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Assoc., was banned. It had organized a Feb. march of some 1,000 women to the office of PM Meles Zenawi and parliament to protest domestic violence.
(SFC, 9/8/01, p.A9)
2001 Nov 4, Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia won the NYC Marathon in record time, 2:07:43. Margaret Okayo of Kenya set a woman’s record of 2:24:21.
(WSJ, 11/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 25, Ethiopia sent troops into the northeastern Somali region of Puntland to help Col. Abdullahi Yussuf regain power. Yussuf was overthrown Aug 26 after his 3-year term ended. On Nov 21 Yussuf launched an attack on Garoweh, the capital of Puntland.
(SFC, 11/26/01, p.A11)
2002 Apr 13, The Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC), established to determine the new border, released its report. The UN panel ruled in favor of Ethiopia on all territory contested with Eritrea, but Ethiopia contested some of the commission's decisions.
(WSJ, 4/15/02, p.A1)(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
2002 Jun 29, In Ethiopia the army declared an important victory over rebels in western Ethiopia, killing 20 and capturing more than 200 others. But rebels rejected those claims, vowing to continue their fight.
(AP, 6/29/02)
2002 Jul 19, Italy took steps to return the prized Axum obelisk to Ethiopia. The 1,700-year-old monument was hauled off by Italian forces after their 1937 invasion of the African country. It was returned in 2003.
(AP, 7/20/02)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A2)
2002 Sep 7, The U.N. Security Council has decided to keep U.N. peacekeepers in Ethiopia and Eritrea six more months to give the countries time to mark their border.
(AP, 9/7/02)
2002 Sep 30, The National Intelligence Council said China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Russia will have 50-75 million HIV-infected people by 2010, more than any other 5 countries.
(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A5)
2002 Dec 5, Kenya’s Pres. Moi and Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi met at the White House with Pres. Bush to discuss terrorism as well as drought, AIDS and other problems facing Africa.
(AP, 12/6/02)
2003 Jan 17, The Strategic Partnership with Africa (SPA), made of 15 developed nations, international lending institutions and U.N. agencies, concluded its annual meeting in Addis Ababa. More than 20 developed nations, lending institutions and U.N. agencies agreed to increase aid to Africa.
(AP, 1/17/03)
2003 Feb 15, It was reported that 11 million Ethiopians face famine due to drought affecting 15% of the nation’s harvest.
(SFC, 2/15/03, p.A12)
2003 Feb 16, The Israeli Cabinet voted to allow about 17,000 Ethiopians with Jewish roots to come to Israel, lifting immigration restrictions on the group known as Falash Mura.
(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 May 3, The Ethiopian drought was reported to be the worst in 2 decades with millions of people forced to stand in line each day for food.
(SFC, 5/3/03, p.B8)
2003 May, Ethiopia began a $220 million relocation program for some 2 million people, who otherwise faced starvation. It was part of a $3.2 billion rescue plan financed by the government and donor groups to reverse dependency on int’l. aid.
(SFC, 7/19/04, p.A1)
2003 Jul 2, The US was reported to be sending nearly 250,000 metric tons of wheat to Ethiopia to help ease the country's hunger crisis.
(AP, 7/2/03)
2003 Oct 31, A wildlife expert said a rabies outbreak is threatening the few hundred remaining Ethiopian wolves, one of the world's rarest animals.
(AP, 10/31/03)
2003 Nov 26, It was reported that a $50 million irrigation project on Ethiopia's Koga River, a tributary to the Blue Nile, would include a small dam.
(WSJ, 11/26/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 10, Ethiopian officials appealed for US$380 million for food and medicine to care for more than 7 million people who will go hungry next year if international aid doesn't make up for a chronic food shortfall.
(AP, 12/10/03)
2003 Dec 29, The roof of a centuries-old Ethiopian church carved out of rock collapsed while it was packed with worshippers, killing at least 15 people. The 800-year-old Mewa Tsadkan Gabriel church was in a remote area some 310 miles northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. It was built by King Lalibela, who ruled there from the late 12th century to the early 13th century.
(AP, 1/3/04)
2004 Jan 30, In remote southwestern Ethiopia tribal fighting, sparked by a raid on a gold mine, began. Over the following week nearly 200 people were killed and some 10,000 others were forced to flee their homes.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2004 Mar 3, Ethiopia was reported to have begun relocating hundreds of thousands of people from drought-prone areas to fertile lands to alleviate food shortages. Relocation began in May 2003 and many of the resettled people continued to face hunger, diarrhea and malaria.
(AP, 3/3/04)(SFC, 7/19/04, p.A1)
2004 May 25, In Ethiopia heads of state and government from at least 8 African countries attended a ceremony to inaugurate the new Peace and Security council (PSC) at the African Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa.
(AP, 5/25/04)
2004 Jul 6, In Ethiopia a major summit of the two-year-old African Union opened in Addis Ababa in the presence of about 40 heads of state and government. The crisis in Darfur took centre stage.
(AP, 7/6/04)
2004 Sep 21, The UN Children's Fund and the World Food Program launched a $123 million program to reduce the mortality rate of children in Ethiopia.
(Reuters, 9/21/04)
2004 Oct 7, In Ethiopia British PM Tony Blair spoke before the Africa Commission and warned that poverty and instability in Africa is providing a fertile breeding ground for terror and criminal organizations.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 21, An Ethiopian court sentenced three former rebels to death for killing dozens of people while rebel factions jockeyed for power in 1992. Iman Kelil Oumar was convicted for participating in the killings of 207 people; Beyan Ahmed Ousman was convicted of involvement in the murder of 205 people and Asli Ahmed, was found guilty of killing 89 people.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Nov 25, Ethiopia finally accepted a special commission's ruling designed to resolve a border dispute with Eritrea that sparked a devastating war between 1998 and 2000.
(AFP, 11/25/04)
2005 Jan 4, Kelbessa Negewo (54), an Ethiopian immigrant suspected of torturing and murdering more than a dozen political opponents of the Ethiopian government in the 1970s, was arrested at his home near Atlanta. Negewo has lived in the US since fleeing Ethiopia in 1987.
(Reuters, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 25, Ethiopia’s government said it has began giving free doses of life-prolonging drugs to about 14,000 HIV-infected Ethiopians in a US-funded program.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Feb 4, Boeing said Ethiopian Airlines plans to acquire up to 10 of Boeing Co.'s new 787s at an overall cost of about $1.3 billion.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb, In Ethiopia hominid bones indicting bipedalism were discovered at a new site called Mille, in the northeastern Afar region. They were estimated to be 3.8-4 million years old.
(AP, 3/6/05)
2005 Mar 24, A Human Rights Watch investigator said Ethiopian troops have committed widespread killings, rapes and torture of the tribal Anuak population in the southwestern corner of the country since late 2003.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Apr 14, Ethiopia police said authorities have seized more than 1,100 pounds of illegal ivory, stuffed animals and ostrich eggs that were destined for collectors abroad.
(AP, 4/14/05)
2005 Apr 18, The Boston Marathon was won by Hailu Negusie of Ethiopia, 2:11:45; Catherine Ndereba of Kenya led the women, 2:25:13.
(WSJ, 4/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 19, Ethiopians welcomed the return of the first piece of a giant, 1,700-year-old granite obelisk that was looted from the African country 68 years ago by Italian troops.
(AP, 4/19/05)
2005 Apr 24, Some 82 people died in floods that swept eastern Ethiopia on the weekend.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 Apr 25, The 3rd and final piece of the Axum obelisk was returned to Ethiopia from Italy.
(AP, 4/25/05)
2005 May 10, A leading human rights group said systematic political repression in Ethiopia's largest state has kept people there from freely participating in the country's third general election campaign on May 15.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 15, Ethiopia held elections. EU monitors later said the elections did not meet int’l. standards. Ethiopia's opposition soon claimed major gains in the unprecedented open parliamentary election that drew a turnout of 90%. Post election violence left close to 200 people dead.
(WSJ, 8/26/05, p.A1)(AP, 5/16/05)(AP, 12/22/09)
2005 May 17, Ethiopia's ruling party claimed to have won just over half the seats in parliamentary elections, but opposition leaders said it was still too early to tell who would form the next government.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May 18, Ethiopia's two main opposition parties claimed victory in parliamentary elections seen as a test of the African nation's commitment to democracy, saying they have won enough seats to form a government.
(AP, 5/18/05)
2005 May 28, In Ethiopia provisional results showed that the ruling coalition and its allies won a majority in parliamentary elections, but the opposition made significant gains.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 Jun 6, In Ethiopia one girl was killed and seven people were wounded in violence over disputed election results that gave the ruling party control of parliament.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 7, In Ethiopia police raided a technical college in Addis Ababa, firing rubber bullets and beating up students defying a government ban on protests during a 2nd day of violence.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 8, Security forces opened fire on stone-throwing demonstrators in Ethiopia, killing 26 people in a third day of protests over election results.
(AP, 6/8/05)(WSJ, 6/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 11,Two Ethiopian opposition leaders were placed under arrest, a day after the ruling party agreed to work with its foes to end violent protests that have left 29 dead.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 13, Ethiopia's main opposition leader was freed from house arrest after the country's main political parties agreed to work together for peace after 10 days of political unrest left at least 37 people dead.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 13, In Ethiopia police shot and killed an opposition politician, prompting the arrest of six officers, as the government rejected an opposition offer to renew a peace deal.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 15, A US-based human rights group said thousands of people have been arrested across Ethiopia following violent clashes in which police killed 36 people.
(AP, 6/15/05)
2005 Jun 28, In Ethiopia police arrested four independent newspaper editors on criminal charges of defaming the military. They were detained for seven hours and later released on bail. The arrests stem from reports in their Amharic-language weeklies about Ethiopian air force pilots who sought political asylum while training in Belarus.
(AP, 6/29/05)
2005 Jul 12, A raid by hundreds of Ethiopian bandits on a remote village in northern Kenya, left at least 45 people dead, including more than two dozen children. Kenyan security forces pursued the bandits, who numbered between 300 and 500, and killed 16 of them.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 24, In Ethiopia 6 separate bombings hit across the country's ethnic Somali province. A 5-year-old girl was among those killed in the wave of violence, which took place before a voter registration drive.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 27, In Ethiopia state media reported that police had arrested 25 people in connection with a series of bombings that killed five and injured 31 in an apparent attempt to disrupt elections in an eastern province.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Aug 9, In Ethiopia the National Electoral Board released results for the May 15 election. The ruling coalition captured a majority in parliamentary elections shadowed by fraud allegations and deadly violence.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 21, Voting in eastern Ethiopia ended peacefully, as elite forces, pro-government militia and police patrolled streets to secure the region's delayed elections. Dr. Berhanu Nega (b.1958) was elected mayor of Addis Ababa. He was jailed in Kaliti Prison following riots in October from where he authored a book entitled “Dawn of Freedom." Nega, the founder of Ginbot 7, was sentenced to death in absentia in 2009 after he moved to exile in the US.
(AP, 8/22/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berhanu_Nega)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.56)(AP, 9/15/11)
2005 Aug 26, The UN food relief agency said that it's battling to feed 90,000 Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees displaced in eastern Sudan mainly due to a serious funding shortfall.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Sep 2, Provisional results indicated that Ethiopia's ruling party won all 31 seats being contested in repeat elections following fraud allegations.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 19-2005 Sep 29, In Ethiopia authorities arrested 859 opposition members across the country and security forces killed one opposition member in the Amhara region, 250 miles south of the capital, Addis Ababa.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 20, Hundreds of Ethiopians who claim their ancestors were forced to convert from Judaism began a three-day hunger strike at a prayer house to press the Israeli government to let them migrate to the Jewish state.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep, The TV show “Ethiopian Idols" began in Ethiopia. Judges planned to whittle 2,000 contestants down to 96 and then let the public elect a winner.
(SFC, 1/9/06, p.A2)
2005 Oct 4, The UN Security Council warned Ethiopia and Eritrea against reigniting their border war and urged Eritrea to immediately reverse its ban on all helicopter flights by UN peacekeepers.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 19, The International Organization for Migration (IMO) said "Ethiopian women and girls who migrate to Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia suffer from maltreatment, physical, sexual and emotional abuses," in a report based on interviews with 443 women returning from the region.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Nov 1, In Ethiopia riot police clashed with dozens of opposition supporters in Addis Ababa, fatally shooting at least five people and wounding some 20 others in renewed protests of the disputed May elections.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 2, In Ethiopia clashes between police and protesters erupted in gunfire and grenade explosions, with police killing at least 33 people during a second day of renewed protests of disputed elections.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 3, In Ethiopia police shot and killed three people and wounded 12 others in a fourth day of protests against disputed parliamentary elections.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 4, Gunfire echoed sporadically around Addis Ababa for a fourth day as reports emerged that unrest had spread beyond the capital, a development likely to deepen international concern for Ethiopia's stability.
(Reuters, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, In northern Ethiopia 2 people were reported killed after a fifth day of political unrest that has shaken confidence in the vast African nation's stability.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 6, The EU and US urged Ethiopia to end its crackdown on independent journalists and release opposition leaders detained during a week of bloody clashes between demonstrators and police.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 9, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi said that opposition leaders and newspaper editors under detention will face treason charges, which carry the death penalty in Ethiopia, for their alleged roles in protests last week in which at least 46 people were killed.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 12, Ethiopia said it has released another 1,721 people detained in a massive round-up during clashes between police and protesters earlier this month which left at least 42 people dead.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 12, Africa Union leaders from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal met in Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the challenges of the global order: Desirability of union government," with the leaders discussing the broad principles of integration.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Dec 8, An Ethiopian court sentenced to death Major Melaku Tefera, one of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's top soldiers, for genocide and abetting the murder of 971 people during the country's 1977-78 "Red Terror" campaign.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 21, An international panel, formed to resolve disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, said Eritrea violated int’l. law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia in May 1998.
(AFP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 28, A group of 131 detained Ethiopian opposition figures and journalists refused en masse to plead on treason and other serious charges.
(AFP, 12/28/05)
2005 Dec 29, Ethiopia’s government said a plan by Western donors to withhold $375 million in aid from Ethiopia over the government's crackdown on opposition supporters would have an "insignificant" impact on its budget. Diplomats said the money would be reallocated to the UN and aid agencies working to combat poverty in Ethiopia.
(Reuters, 12/29/05)(SFC, 12/30/05, p.A3)
2005 Dec 29, Drought was reported to have triggered extreme food shortages in the East African countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, putting millions of people at risk of famine as the lean dry season approaches.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 In Ethiopia police under PM Meles Zenawi shot dead some 200 civilians following the disputed general elections.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.43)
2005 Ethiopian shoemaker Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu launched her SoleRebels shoes. Her eco-friendly "SoleRebels" brand of footwear, were made of recycled tires and traditional woven fabric. The brand took its name from the type of footwear favored by Ethiopian rebel fighters in the country's recent troubled past.
(AFP, 10/11/09)
2005 Ethiopia’s population stood at about 75 million.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.38)
2006 Jan 1, East African leaders said that millions of people in the region faced hunger because poor rains had affected vital crops and pasture. Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania faced acute food shortages.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2006 Jan 9, The US launched a diplomatic initiative to try to mark the contested border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, a dispute that led to a 2 1/2-year war in an area where both countries are again massing troops.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 13, A battle for livestock between Ethiopian and Kenyan nomads left 38 people dead in drought-stricken northern Kenya, in the remote village of Lokamarinyang, along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. The fighting killed 30 of the Dongiro raiders and eight Kenyans, all of them women and children. A drought that has impoverished some 11.5 million people in the area, most of them nomads, has exacerbated tensions between the tribes.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 20, In Ethiopia at least two people were killed and 36 injured, three seriously, after commotion erupted in Addis Ababa on the final day of celebrations marking the 2-day Orthodox Epiphany, or Timkat.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 31, An international human rights group said thousands of school and college students have been detained over the past three months in continued unrest in Ethiopia.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2006 Mar 10, Legal experts from Ethiopia and Eritrea flew to London for talks with international mediators to discuss demarcating their common border.
(Reuters, 3/10/06)
2006 Mar 22, An Ethiopia court dropped charges of treason, attempted genocide and other crimes against 18 people, including five Voice of America journalists, accused of attempting to overthrow the government.
(AP, 3/22/06)
2006 Mar 27, In Ethiopia a series of blasts killed one person and injured several others in Addis Ababa, the first fatality in a string of mysterious explosions in the capital.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Apr 30, In Ethiopia visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said he backed plans for an expanded United Nations Security Council, adding that he would present his country's position at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa.
(AFP, 4/30/06)
2006 May 12, In Ethiopia 9 bombs exploded in Addis Ababa, killing 4 people and wounding at least 26.
(AP, 5/12/06)(WSJ, 5/13/06, p.A1)
2006 May 27, In Ethiopia 3 blasts in the town of Jijiga injured 42 people.
(Reuters, 5/29/06)
2006 May 31, The UN Security Council cut the number of peacekeepers deployed in Eritrea and Ethiopia by at least one-third while extending the UN mission's mandate for another four months.
(AP, 5/31/06)
2006 Jun 27, Ethiopia claimed to have killed more than 110 rebels allegedly sent by arch-foe Horn of Africa neighbor Eritrea to destabilize the country since the beginning of the month. Eritrea flatly rejected the claim.
(AP, 6/27/06)
2006 Jul 1, About 100 Ethiopian troops entered the Somali border town of Beled-Hawo in eight military vehicles, the latest sign that Ethiopia might try to bolster this country's weak interim government as an Islamic militia gains increasing power.
(AP, 7/1/06)
2006 Jul 20, Residents of central Somalia said that hundreds of Ethiopian troops were patrolling the town of Baidoa in armored vehicles, less than a day after Islamic militants moved near the base of the weak, UN-backed government.
(AP, 7/20/06)
2006 Jul 21, An Islamic militia leader called for a holy war against Ethiopian troops protecting Somalia's weak UN-backed government.
(AP, 7/21/06)
2006 Jul 22, Ethiopian troops sent to bolster Somalia's weak government against a powerful Islamic militia moved into a second Somali town and seized a strategic airport.
(AP, 7/22/06)
2006 Aug 6, In eastern Ethiopia over 250 people were killed by flooding in Dire Dawa. As many as 300 remained missing.
(Reuters, 8/8/06)(AP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 6, A government spokesman said Somalia's top interim leaders have agreed to end a rift threatening the fragile administration after crisis talks led by Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's foreign affairs minister.
(Reuters, 8/6/06)
2006 Aug 8, Eritrea announced that Brigadier General Kemal Gelchu, a dissident Ethiopian general, had defected to Eritrea, said that he would be joining the OLF to fight for his Oromo people's rights.
(Econ, 8/19/06, p.44)
2006 Aug 9, Ethiopia’s army killed 13 rebels and caught other commanders of the eastern Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist movement, after they crossed from Somalia.
(Reuters, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 11, North Kenya authorities said they caught at least 45 sympathizers or members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a small Ethiopian group operating on the border. Ethiopia reported having shot dead 11 Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLH) fighters.
(Reuters, 8/11/06)(Econ, 8/19/06, p.44)
2006 Aug 14, In southern Ethiopia torrential rains spilled a river from its banks. At least 900 people died as continuing rains submerged five villages, knocked down grain silos and swept away cattle. Tens of thousands were marooned by the waters.
(AFP, 8/15/06)(Reuters, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 18, In southwest Ethiopia search and rescue teams kept up frantic efforts to save thousands marooned by fatal flash floods, where relief workers reported near-total devastation. Some 73,000 people had been affected by raging waters from unusually heavy seasonal rains.
(AFP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 22, Ethiopia began releasing water from dams taxed by two weeks of heavy rain to prevent them from bursting as the confirmed death toll from devastating floods climbed to 626.
(AP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 22, Ethiopian troops reportedly arrived in the central Somali town of Galkayo. The move may stoke tensions with the Islamic militiamen who control most of southern Somalia. They were seen inside the town in 13 vehicles.
(AP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 31, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., visited a sprawling tent camp in eastern Ethiopia for people displaced by devastating floods earlier this month, saying the US military will continue to help the region.
(AP, 8/31/06)
2006 Sep 25, Somalia's interim prime minister called on the UN to partially lift an arms embargo on his country to allow for the deployment of African peacekeepers, which he said are necessary to stop the advance of Islamic radicals. Ethiopian troops arrived in Somalia to support the internationally recognized government in its faceoff with radicals. The Islamic militia in the seaport of Kismayo opened fire on thousands protesting the fundamentalists' takeover of the southern town. Witnesses said a teenager was killed.
(AP, 9/25/06)(SFC, 9/26/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 29, The UN Security Council extended the mandate of peacekeepers in Eritrea and Ethiopia by four months, and threatened to overhaul the mission if the two sides don't make progress toward demarcating their border.
(AP, 9/29/06)
2006 Sep, In Ethiopia Shane Etzenhouser, an American software developer, premiered “Tsehai Loves Learning," an educational TV show for kids featuring a female giraffe with an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
(SFC, 12/28/06, p.E1)
2006 Oct 5, In Ethiopia Alemayehu Fantu, a businessman, was arrested and charged with distributing calendars with pictures of opposition leaders. The calendars called for non-violent civil disobedience to bring down the government.
(Econ, 10/28/06, p.56)
2006 Oct 8, Authorities in northeastern Somalia repatriated more than 1,000 Ethiopians whom smugglers were preparing to take across the Gulf of Aden to the promise of jobs and a better life in the Middle East.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 9, The Islamic militia that has seized much southern Somalia declared a holy war against Ethiopia accusing its neighbor of deploying thousands of troops to prop up the weak UN-backed government.
(SFC, 10/10/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 16, The UN accused Eritrea of moving 1,500 troops and 14 tanks into a buffer zone established after a 2 1/2-year border war with Ethiopia in "a major breach" of a cease-fire agreement reached in 2000.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 18, In Ethiopia a senior judge appointed to investigate 2005 post-election violence said Ethiopian security forces massacred 193 people, triple the official death toll. Six policemen were also killed in the June and November 2005 riots, bringing the overall death toll to 199.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 19, Ethiopia's PM Meles Zenawi told parliament that he had sent military trainers to help Somalia's struggling government, but had not deployed a fighting force. Yalemzewd Bekele, a human rights lawyer working for the European Commission in Addis Ababa, was arrested at the border with Kenya. Her arrest was likely related to the Oct 5 arrest of businessman Alemayehu Fantu.
(AP, 10/19/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.28)
2006 Oct 24, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia was "technically" at war with Somalia's Islamists because they had declared jihad on his nation.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 26, The charity organization Oxfam accused coffee house chain Starbucks of blocking attempts by Ethiopia to trademark three coffee bean types and thereby denying farmers substantial income.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 29, Somalia's Islamic group broke off peace talks with the transitional government, demanding that Ethiopian troops withdraw from the country.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 31, In Ethiopia 4 days of devastating floods along the eastern border killed dozens of people and prowling crocodiles hampered rescue efforts as rain continued to fall.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Nov 1, In Lawrenceville, Ga., Khalid Adem (30), an Ethiopian immigrant, was convicted of genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
(SFC, 11/2/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 6, Hundreds of Israelis of Ethiopian descent clashed with police and briefly blocked a main road leading into Jerusalem in a protest of the Health Ministry's wholesale discarding of donated Ethiopian blood.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, In northern Somalia Islamic fighters clashed with government militia backed by Ethiopian forces.
(SFC, 11/7/06, p.A18)
2006 Nov 7, An independent commission said it will demarcate the contested Ethiopian-Eritrean border on maps and leave the rival nations to establish the physical boundary themselves. It said both Ethiopian and Eritrean officials were invited to a November 20 meeting in The Hague to discuss the procedure.
(Reuters, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 15, Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki said the simmering border row between arch-foes Eritrea and Ethiopia is a "solved problem."
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 16, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan worked with key African, Arab, European leaders in Ethiopia to break the deadlock over worsening violence in Sudan's Darfur region. UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland arrived in Darfur to find security so bad he could not visit the camps outside el-Geneina town housing tens of thousands of displaced Darfuris.
(Reuters, 11/16/06)(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 17, UN aid bodies said torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and threatening to trigger epidemics. Torrential rains have pounded the Horn of Africa this month, bringing misery to large parts of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 19, In Somalia Islamic fighters used land mines and ambushed an 80-vehicle Ethiopian military convoy headed to Baidoa killing 6 soldiers and injuring 20.
(SFC, 11/20/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 20, Eritrea and Ethiopia both rejected plans by a UN-appointed border panel to demarcate their contentious frontier on paper.
(AFP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 22, The administrator of Ethiopia’s zoo in Addis Ababa said their rare Abyssinian lion cubs were being poisoned and sold to taxidermists because there was not enough money to care for them. It was estimated that only 1000 of the animals remained in the wild.
(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A23)
2006 Nov 28, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi met with Jim Donald, the CEO of Starbucks, but no deal was reached on branding local coffee. Ethiopia ranked 97th in the World Bank’s latest “ease of doing business" index. Transparency Int’l. ranked it 130th on its corruption-perceptions index.
(Econ, 12/2/06, p.67)
2006 Nov 30, In Somalia a car blast killed 9 people near the Somali government seat of Baidoa in an attack the administration blamed on Islamists backed by al Qaeda. An attack on Ethiopian troops left 20 dead.
(AFP, 12/1/06)(WSJ, 12/1/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 12, Ethiopia’s former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, in exile in Zimbabwe since 1992, was convicted of genocide and other charges in a rare case of an African strongman being held to account by his own country.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 12, Somalia’s PM Ali Mohamed Gedi said thousands of Islamic militants have surrounded Baidoa, the only town the internationally recognized government controls, as a top Islamic official promised to attack within a week unless Ethiopian troops leave.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 22, In Somalia Ethiopian attack helicopters and tanks headed for battle as fighting raged for a fourth day between Somalia's Islamic militia and the country's secular government.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 23, Somalia's Islamic militants called on foreign Muslim fighters to join their holy war against Ethiopian troops after days of fighting killed hundreds of people and threatened to engulf the region.
(AP, 12/23/06)
2006 Dec 24, Ethiopia launched an attack on Somalia's powerful Islamic movement, sending fighter jets across the border and bombarding several towns in a major escalation of the violence that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia's PM Meles Zenawi said his country had been "forced to enter a war."
(AP, 12/24/06)(AP, 12/24/07)
2006 Dec 25, Ethiopian fighter jets bombed Somalia's main airport, the first direct attack on the city that serves as the headquarters of an Islamic movement attempting to wrest power from the internationally recognized government.
(AP, 12/25/06)
2006 Dec 26, Islamic fighters retreated as Somali government and Ethiopian troops advanced on three fronts in a decisive turn in the battle for control of this Horn of Africa nation. Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi said up to 1,000 of the religious movement's fighters had been killed.
(AP, 12/26/06)(WSJ, 12/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 27, Ethiopian and Somali government troops drove Islamic fighters out of the last major town on the road to Mogadishu, the Islamist-held capital.
(AP, 12/27/06)
2006 Dec 30, Thousands of Somali and Ethiopian troops set off for a showdown with Islamic forces who have regrouped at a southern seaport since abandoning the Somali capital.
(AP, 12/30/06)
2006 Dec 31, Fighting erupted on the outskirts of the last remaining stronghold of Somalia's militant Islamic movement, as thousands of residents streamed from the area ahead of the feared battle with Ethiopian-backed government troops.
(AP, 12/31/06)
2006 Ethiopia’s economy struggled with exports of $1 billion vs. imports of $5 billion. Food prices in Addis Ababa rose by 27%.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.57)
2006 In Ethiopia singer Teddy Afro (Tewodros Kassahun) was arrested for an alleged hit-and-run incident. He was jailed in April, 2008. His supporters said he was jailed for his 3rd album “Yasteseryal," released just before the 2005 elections, which contained songs comparing the regime of Pres. Meles to a brutal junta. He was released on August 13, 2009.
(Econ, 8/22/09, p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_Afro)
2007 Jan 1, Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and fighter jets captured the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement, while hundreds of Islamic fighters, many of them Arabs and South Asians, fled the town. Somalia’s PM Ali Mohamed Gedi set a 3-day deadline for gun collection in Mogadishu.
(AP, 1/1/07)(SFC, 1/3/07, p.A3)
2007 Jan 2, Ethiopian helicopters pursuing Somali Islamists missed their target and bombed a Kenyan border post, prompting Kenyan fighter planes to rush to the area. The gun collection program in Mogadishu began with little response. 2 Ethiopian soldiers were shot dead.
(AFP, 1/2/07)(SFC, 1/3/07, p.A3)(Econ, 1/6/07, p.41)
2007 Jan 3, Kenya sent extra troops to its border with Somalia to keep Islamic militants from entering the country after Ethiopian helicopters attacked a Kenyan border post by mistake while pursuing suspected fighters.
(AP, 1/3/07)
2007 Jan 4, A Somali government spokesman said government troops, backed by Ethiopian soldiers, were fighting about 600 Islamic militiamen in the south.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 11, Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam was sentenced to life imprisonment, ending his 12-year trial in absentia for genocide and other crimes committed during his iron-fisted rule (1974-1991). Mariam lived comfortably in exile in Zimbabwe, where Pres. Robert Mugabe has said he won't deport Mengistu if he refrains from political activity.
(AP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 15, Somali troops and allied Ethiopian soldiers conducted house-to-house searches, pursuing gunmen who carried out an attack in the northeastern part of the capital.
(AP, 1/15/07)
2007 Jan 20, The last major warlord in Somalia surrendered his weapons and 200 militiamen to the army, while an Islamic leader claimed responsibility for a string of guerrilla attacks and promised there would be more until the government agreed to talks. An Ethiopian military convoy was ambushed in a new round of deadly violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu, hours after the African Union agreed to send peacekeepers to the war-torn country.
(AP, 1/20/07)(AFP, 1/20/07)
2007 Jan 23, Ethiopian troops who helped Somalia's government drive out a radical Islamic militia began withdrawing in military trucks and tanks.
(AP, 1/23/07)
2007 Jan 25, In southern Somalia gunmen attacked Ethiopian soldiers stationed there, killing one and wounding another.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 30, The African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ended with a proposed peacekeeping force for Somalia still lacking firm commitments for thousands of troops.
(Reuters, 1/30/07)
2007 Feb 12, A vessel smuggling 120 people across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen capsized as it approached the coast. At least 30 Somali and Ethiopian migrants trying to reach the Arabian peninsula drowned.
(AP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 13, In Ethiopia federal police said weekend clashes between Garbo and Borena nomads in the southeastern Oromia region with least 16 people killed. The clashes erupted after cattle were stolen from a rival group, sparking fresh revenge attacks.
(AFP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 14, In Ethiopia US former president Jimmy Carter announced distribution of thousands of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, in a drive that could save up to 100,000 lives annually.
(AFP, 2/14/07)
2007 Feb 16, US coffee giant Starbucks, locked in a trademark tussle with Ethiopia, said it will not oppose Addis Ababa's bid to brand its coffee in America and pledged to pursue dialogue over the matter.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, A Yemeni official said a boat loaded with Somali and Ethiopian migrants capsized in the Gulf of Aden during a night crossing in which at least 112 people died.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 18, Fierce inter-clan fighting killed at least 43 people in Ethiopia's southeastern Ogaden region, inhabited mainly by ethnic Somalis.
(AFP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Ethiopia the UN humanitarian office said that 684 people have died in a diarrhea epidemic and that neighboring countries were also affected. Ethiopia’s government has refused to declare the phenomenon as a cholera epidemic, preferring to refer to it as "acute watery diarrhea."
(AFP, 2/22/07)
2007 Mar 1, In northern Ethiopia 15 European tourists were kidnapped in the Afar desert. The ARDUF has been fighting for years against Ethiopia and Eritrea over lands inhabited by ethnic Afar.
(AP, 3/2/07)
2007 Mar 3, Britain sent a crisis team to Ethiopia in an effort to obtain the release of five British embassy workers or their relatives who were kidnapped along with a group of French while on a trip to remote northeastern Ethiopia. An Ethiopian administrator accused Eritrean forces of kidnapping a group of five Europeans and 13 Ethiopians in a remote part of Ethiopia, and taking them to a military camp near the Eritrean border. Several Ethiopians who were kidnapped along with five Britons touring the African country's remote northeast were found.
(AP, 3/3/07)(Reuters, 3/3/07)(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In Ethiopia a group of French tourists who had also been missing since March 1 arrived in Mekele, the Afar region's capital, and said they had not been kidnapped, as was previously believed. Eritrea denied accusations that it was behind the disappearance of five kidnapped Britons.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 6, In eastern Ethiopia 2 US troops were reported killed and another injured in a single-vehicle traffic accident.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 9, Ethiopia's foreign minister said 5 European tourists who went missing last week in northeastern Ethiopia are being held by kidnappers in a remote tribal region.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 13, Five Europeans, kidnapped in Ethiopia and held captive for 13 days, were released in good health in Eritrea. 8 Ethiopians kidnapped with the group were still missing.
(AP, 3/14/07)(WSJ, 3/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Mar 16, Ethiopia called for international pressure to be applied on Eritrea, which it accuses of holding eight Ethiopians still missing after the release of five European captives.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 22, Somali and Ethiopian troops battled insurgents for a second day in Mogadishu. The Somali government said Al-Qaeda has named Aden Hashi Ayro, a ruthless Islamist commander, as its leader in Mogadishu.
(AP, 3/22/07)(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Mar 23, A human rights group said Kenya has deported more than 100 people from 19 countries to Somalia after they crossed the border between the two countries illegally during fighting earlier this year, and the deportees were subsequently arrested by Ethiopian troops.
(AP, 3/23/07)
2007 Mar 29, Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies pounded insurgent positions in Mogadishu with bombs and tank shells, sending residents fleeing a surge in fighting that killed over 30 people including 7 Ethiopian soldiers.
(AP, 3/29/07)(SFC, 3/30/07, p.A20)
2007 Mar-2000 Apr, Ethiopia later said that during this period it killed at least a thousand Shabab fighters, the armed wing of Islamic courts in Somalia. Human-rights groups said most of the 1,670 recorded dead were civilians.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.47)
2007 Apr 2, In Somalia a human rights organization said fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents has killed 381 people over four days.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 3, An AP investigation said CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn of Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for torture and abuse.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 5, The US pressed Ethiopia for details on detainees from 19 nations taken to secret prisons there and interrogated by CIA and FBI agents.
(WSJ, 4/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 7, The New York Times reported in its Sunday edition that the Bush administration in January allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea in an apparent violation of a UN Security Council sanctions resolution passed months earlier over its nuclear test.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 9, An Ethiopian judge freed 25 journalists charged in a treason trial involving more than 100 opposition figures that has drawn international criticism as being politically motivated.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 10, The Ethiopian government acknowledged detaining 41 suspected international terrorists from 17 countries and said foreign investigators were given permission to question them. A statement said 29 of the suspects have been ordered released by a Military Court and five already have been freed.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Somalia Ethiopian-backed government troops and Islamic insurgents exchanged gunfire in northern Mogadishu, killing three people and ending more than a week of relative calm.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Somalia fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents left at least 12 people dead in Mogadishu, while a suicide car bomb exploded at an Ethiopian army base.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Somalia heavy fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the government left at least 52 civilians dead in Mogadishu.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 22, Government officials said 8 Ethiopians held hostage for 52 days after they were kidnapped along with five European tourists have been released unharmed. The ex-hostages later told Ethiopian television that they had been mistreated by their captors, who wore Eritrean army uniforms.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Ethiopia Ogaden rebels raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers. An Ethiopian rebel group claimed responsibility. The next day Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the attack. Eritrea issued a swift, angry denial. In 2008 security forces arrested eight men suspected of involvement in the deadly raid.
(AP, 4/24/07)(AP, 4/25/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)(AFP, 3/30/08)
2007 Apr 25, In Somalia civilians were caught in the crossfire as the government's Ethiopian backers used tanks and heavy artillery to pound insurgent strongholds. Human rights groups said more than 350 people have been killed in the last eight days, the majority civilians.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ethiopian rebels holding seven Chinese oil workers captured during an attack this week on an oil venture in Ethiopia said they would release them "as soon as possible."
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's ZTE signed a $200 million deal with Ethiopia's state-owned Telecom Corp.
(AFP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Ethiopia 7 Chinese oil workers and two Africans kidnapped during a rebel attack on a Chinese oil field near the Somali border were released.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 May 9, Saudi authorities beheaded an Ethiopian woman convicted of killing an Egyptian man over a dispute. Khadija Bint Ibrahim Moussa was the second woman to be executed this year. The kingdom last beheaded two women in 2005. Beheadings are carried out with a sword in a public square.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 17, The World Bank said that it and the European Commission and six other donors have committed $780 million to support basic services and transparency in Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, In Ethiopia 3 Swedish citizens were released after spending five months in jail. The three were among dozens of foreigners detained earlier this year as terror suspects.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 21, Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's fragile government killed one person and wounded another after their convoy was targeted by a land mine in Mogadishu. Two Ethiopian rebel groups, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), said they have killed 157 troops in the east of the country this month.
(AP, 5/21/07)(AFP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 25, In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, China and the African Union launched a 150-million-dollar project to build a new conference centre for the cash-strapped continental body.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 28, A blast ripped through a crowd in Ethiopia's volatile Somali region, killing 6 people and setting off a stampede that saw up to six more die. The attack happened as hundreds of people were gathered at the stadium in Jijiga town's Revolutionary Square for a ceremony marking the overthrow of Ethiopia's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. In 2008 an Ethiopian court sentenced to death 8 alleged members of the Ogaden National Liberation Force (ONLF) for the attack.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)(AFP, 5/22/08)
2007 May 29, Ethiopia began counting its population, a daunting task in a country where asking personal questions is considered socially taboo.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 30, In Somalia Ethiopian troops shot and killed five bystanders after a land mine exploded as their convoy passed through the center of a western Somali town.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 31, A wildlife expert said a thousand rare black-mane lions, an Ethiopian national symbol, and some 300 elephants are in danger after a swathe of forest that was part of their sanctuary was cut down.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Somalia Ethiopian troops fired at a would-be suicide bomber speeding toward their base, blowing up the car and killing the bomber and a civilian standing nearby.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 6, A government prosecutor said Ethiopia has charged 55 opposition members with trying to launch a rebellion. More than one hundred opposition figures were already on trial, accused of plotting a coup after disputed 2005 elections.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 9, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said his government had launched a crackdown on a rebel group blamed for several attacks in the country's eastern Ogaden region. It was reported that the World Food Program and others were launching the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECEX).
(AFP, 6/9/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 11, An Ethiopian court convicted 38 opposition activists in a trial stemming from violent unrest that followed disputed elections in 2005.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 14, A UN spokesman said that Ethiopia has accepted a UN commission's ruling to turn over the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea. In a letter last week to the UN Security Council, the Ethiopian government gave its unconditional acceptance of the commission's decision announced five years ago.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 20, Starbucks signed a deal to credit Ethiopia's unique bean varieties on its coffee labels, ending a long-brewing trademark dispute.
(AFP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 28, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said he had accepted a 2002-border ruling with the country's arch-foe Eritrea, but insisted on new talks on how to implement it.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jul 4, Human Rights Watch accused the Ethiopian army of burning homes and displacing thousands of civilians in a crackdown on rebels in the volatile east.
(AP, 7/4/07)
2007 Jul 16, In Ethiopia a court sentenced 35 opposition politicians and activists to life in prison and denied them the right to vote or run for public office for inciting violence in an attempt to overthrow the government. Those facing life imprisonment include the leader of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, Hailu Shawel; Berhanu Nega, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa; former Harvard scholar Mesfin Woldemariam; and former UN special envoy and former Norfolk (Va.) State University professor, Yacob Hailemariam.
(AP, 7/16/07)
2007 Jul 20, Ethiopia pardoned and freed 38 opposition politicians and activists following international condemnation of their imprisonment and days after US lawmakers took steps to criticize the country's human rights record.
(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jul 22, It was reported that the Ethiopian government was blockading emergency food and choking off trade to large parts of the east, home to a rebel force, and putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation.
(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.A7)
2007 Jul 25, Ethiopian authorities ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross to pull out of the volatile Ogaden region within 7 days for allegedly interfering in political issues. Five opposition members imprisoned since 2005 pleaded guilty to attempting to overthrow Ethiopia's government, but asked the judge for a pardon.
(AFP, 7/25/07)(AP, 7/25/07)
2007 Jul 28-2007 Jul 29, Nearly 12,000 people were displaced and one person died in western Ethiopia in flash floods over the weekend.
(AFP, 7/31/07)
2007 Aug 8, Ethiopia said it had killed more than 500 rebels and captured 170 in the past two months during an offensive in the volatile but energy-rich Ogaden region bordering Somalia.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 18, Ethiopia freed 32 opposition members who had been detained for post-election violence in 2005.
(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 22, State media reported that a volcanic eruption in northeastern Ethiopia killed five people and displaced more than 2,000 others. The volcano in the Afar region started spewing lava on August 12 and the eruption lasted for three days.
(AP, 8/22/07)
2007 Aug 27, Ethiopia ordered six Norwegian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 15, expressing "dissatisfaction" with Norway's conduct in the Horn of Africa region.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Aug 28, Ethiopia justified its decision to expel Norwegian diplomats arguing that Oslo was interfering in its internal affairs and destabilizing the Horn of Africa.
(AFP, 8/28/07)
2007 Aug 30, Addis Ababa city officials said Ethiopia will try to remove tens of thousands of beggars from the streets to create a more "conducive" atmosphere for coming Millennium celebrations. Still using the Julian calendar, abandoned by the West in the 16th century, Ethiopia enters its new millennium on September 12 with a huge concert expected to draw hundreds of thousands of partygoers and international celebrities.
(Reuters, 8/30/07)
2007 Sep 2, Ethiopian rebels declared a ceasefire to allow a UN mission to tour the eastern Ogaden region and assess alleged rights violations and a worsening humanitarian situation.
(AFP, 9/2/07)
2007 Sep 4, It was reported that Ethiopian authorities plan to kill tens of thousands of stray dogs in the capital using strychnine-laced meat, saying they want to eradicate rabies before next week's celebration of the Coptic millennium.
(AP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 12, Ethiopia entered the third millennium 7 years after the rest of the world, amid lavish celebrations, religious fervor and messages of hope from the troubled country's leaders.
(AFP, 9/12/07)
2007 Sep 21, The United States said it is donating 97 million dollars (69 million euros) to Ethiopia in recognition of the Horn of Africa country's "strategic importance."
(AP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 27, Somali and Ethiopian troops ordered thousands to vacate their homes in Mogadishu to allow the forces to search for arms and insurgents.
(AP, 9/29/07)
2007 Sep 30, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia broke the world record in winning the Berlin Marathon in two hours, four minutes and 26 seconds.
(AP, 9/30/07)
2007 Oct 3, German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Ethiopia overnight at the start of a tour of African countries that will also take in South Africa and Liberia.
(AFP, 10/3/07)
2007 Oct 4, Ethiopia pledged 5,000 troops to a future UN-African Union peacekeeping mission for Darfur.
(AP, 10/4/07)
2007 Oct 9, The Ethiopian parliament reelected President Girma Wolde-Giorgis for a new six-year-term to his largely ceremonial post.
(AP, 10/9/07)
2007 Oct 21, Ethiopia's Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels said they killed 140 government soldiers in a weekend assault targeting a visiting senior official, a statement Ethiopia immediately denounced as false.
(Reuters, 10/21/07)
2007 Nov 4, Ethiopia's Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels said they had killed another 270 government troops in heightened fighting in the eastern region of the country.
(Reuters, 11/4/07)
2007 Nov 16, Ethiopian officers claimed their forces had killed some 100 rebels in the Ogaden region over the past month where its forces are cracking down on insurgents.
(AFP, 11/17/07)
2007 Nov 18, Separatist rebels said Ethiopia's air force has been "carpet-bombing" villages and nomadic settlements in its oil- and gas-rich Ogaden region, leaving a trail of casualties.
(AFP, 11/18/07)
2007 Nov 27, PM Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia will sustain its crackdown on separatist rebels in the restive Ogaden region, adding that scores of insurgents had been killed. John Holmes, UN undersecretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs, arrived in the Ogaden region.
(AP, 11/27/07)(Reuters, 11/27/07)
2007 Nov 29, It was reported locals in eastern Ethiopia have accused soldiers fighting an insurgency of burning villages to the ground, committing gang rape and killing people "like goats." A September report by a UN fact-finding mission said villagers had been told not to speak to outsiders.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Dec 1, A deadline for Ethiopia and Eritrea to agree on the physical demarcation of their border expired amid escalating tension between the two nations, leaving the frontier only delineated on maps.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 22, Ethiopia claimed it was receiving an influx of around 600 Eritreans fleeing political oppression in their country every month.
(AP, 12/22/07)
2007 Dec 23, In Somalia a first contingent of 100 Burundian peacekeepers deployed in the capital, joining 1,800 Ugandan troops in an African Union force, AMISOM, that is still well short of the personnel strength needed to help restore order. Insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles attacked an Ethiopian army base in northern Mogadishu, triggering a deadly nighttime clash that sent stray mortar rounds crashing into homes. At least five Somalis were killed and eight wounded in the crossfire.
(AP, 12/23/07)(AFP, 10/22/11)
2007 Dec 31, In Sudan the African Union transferred authority to a new joint peacekeeping force with the UN in Darfur. An AU official said Ethiopia and Egypt will each send 850 troops early in the new year to serve with a joint UN-AU force in the Darfur region.
(AP, 12/31/07)(Reuters, 12/31/07)
2007 In Ethiopia the northern Tigrayans, who made up most of the ruling elite, comprised only about 7% of the population. The Oromos, mainly in the center and south, comprised 40% of the population and provided most of the country’s food. The Amharas comprised about 22% of the populations and have traditionally been the educated ruling class. Muslim Somalis occupied the south-east Ogaden region.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.33)
2008 Jan 19, Ethiopia’s justice minister Dimegn Wube said half of Ethiopian women are victims of domestic violence.
(AFP, 1/19/08)
2008 Jan 25, Ethiopia's administration for refugee and returnee affairs said that more than 450 Eritreans, including 234 soldiers, fled their country into Ethiopia in January alone.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 30, The UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the struggling UN peace force on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border for six months despite a request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for just one month.
(Reuters, 1/30/08)
2008 Jan 31, In Kenya an opposition lawmaker was gunned down by a police officer in the second fatal shooting of an opposition legislator this week. National police chief Hussein Ali said the police officer, who has been arrested, shot David Too in a dispute over the officer's girlfriend. The opposition said it was an assassination plot. Kofi Annan suspended crisis talks aimed at ending Kenya's political crisis after the lawmaker was shot dead, triggering further clashes. In Ethiopia UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Pres. Kibaki at the African Union summit and warned that the violence in Kenya could spiral out of control unless quick action was taken.
(AP, 1/31/08)(AFP, 1/31/08)
2008 Feb 1, In Ethiopia a summit of African Union leaders shifted its attention from the crisis in Kenya to Chad, with delegates voicing fears of a major conflict that could scupper peace efforts in Sudan.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 2, African Union leaders condemned the latest unrest in Chad and Kenya at the close of a summit overshadowed by new crises on the continent and which saw little headway achieved on older ones. Hundreds of rebels penetrated the capital of Chad, clashing with government troops and moving on the presidential palace after a three-day advance through the oil-producing central African nation.
(AFP, 2/2/08)(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 4, The UN Security Council sent a "firm and unwavering demand" that Eritrea immediately lift fuel restrictions hampering the efforts of peacekeepers monitoring a tense buffer zone between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 5, UN officials said Ethiopia and Bangladesh have offered to jump-start the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur by loaning it helicopters to fly troops and supplies around the vast region in western Sudan.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 8, The UN said it is being forced to prepare an imminent pullout from Eritrea and plans to relocate all its peacekeeping troops there across the border in Ethiopia.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 18, Ethiopia’s state-media reported that 309 police officers, suspected of links with separatists rebels, have been arrested in the Ogaden region as part of a government crackdown.
(AFP, 2/18/08)
2008 Mar 13, In Ethiopia a bus hit a landmine near the disputed Ethiopian-Eritrean border, killing at least eight people and wounding 27 others.
(AFP, 3/14/08)
2008 Apr 13, Ethiopians voted in a first round of elections that the main opposition coalition boycotted to protest alleged intimidation by ruling party officials.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Apr 14, In Ethiopia explosions at two national oil company gas stations killed two people in the capital of Addis Ababa.
(AP, 4/15/08)
2008 Apr 20, The second and final day of voting in Ethiopia's local and parliamentary polls was held amid tight security. The 2 largest opposition parties boycotted the elections saying intimidation had forced out over 17,000 of their candidates.
(AP, 4/20/08)(WSJ, 4/21/08, p.A8)
2008 Apr 21, The Ethiopian government announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the Gulf Arab state of destabilizing the Horn of Africa region.
(AFP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 23, In Somalia residents said four more corpses were found Mogadishu, bringing the death toll from last weekend's shelling and seizure of small towns by the Islamists' to at least 103. Amnesty Int’l. Ethiopian soldiers, stationed in Somalia to bolster the interim government, had killed 21 people and captured dozens of children in a raid on the Al Hidaaya mosque earlier this week during operations against Islamist insurgents.
(Reuters, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 24, Ethiopia launched a commodities exchange market, aimed at boosting fair trade and stabilizing its food market.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 29, An explosion in southwestern Somalia killed four Ethiopian troops and the subsequent gunfire killed two civilians.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 Apr 30, Ethiopian troops allied to Somalia's shaky government opened fire on civilians in a street in southwestern Somalia, killing 13 after an explosion there killed two soldiers.
(AP, 4/30/08)
2008 May 4, In Somalia Islamic insurgents killed at least three Ethiopian soldiers during a gunfight in Mogadishu. Inter-clan fighting in western Somalia, which broke out the previous evening, left at least 12 people dead and at least 15 others wounded in a land dispute.
(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 May 14, In Ethiopia Ginbot 7, a Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy, was formed.
(http://ginbot7.com/Ginbot_7-Movement_for_Justice_Liberty_and_Democracy_is_Formed.htm)
2008 May 18, Ethiopia's electoral board said the ruling party won nearly all seats in last month's local polls and parliamentary by-elections that were marred by boycotts and accusations of repression. Official data said the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) won 97 percent of the vote held on April 13 and 20.
(AFP, 5/18/08)
2008 May 20, In Ethiopia 3 people were killed and four wounded when a bomb exploded near the foreign ministry in central Addis Ababa.
(AFP, 5/20/08)
2008 May 20, The UN children's agency warned that a severe drought in Ethiopia threatens up to six million children.
(AP, 5/20/08)
2008 May 26, Ethiopia's Supreme Court sentenced former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam to death in his absence, along with 17 senior officials of his regime, overturning a previous life term on appeal. Mengistu has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since he was toppled in 1991.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 28, In southern Ethiopia a bomb exploded in a hotel, killing 3 people and wounding five others. The government suspected a terrorist group planted a bomb in the hotel in Negelle Borena.
(AFP, 5/28/08)
2008 May 29, In Ethiopia a flash flood hit Jijiga town late at night and swept away 200 houses, killing 25 people of whom 19 were children.
(Reuters, 5/31/08)
2008 Jun 9, Somalia’s government signed an agreement with an opposition alliance calling for an end to violence and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops. A leader of the ousted Islamic movement rejected the UN-brokered deal.
(SFC, 6/10/08, p.A3)(SFC, 6/11/08, p.A15)
2008 Jun 12, Human Rights Watch said Western donors have failed to condemn war crimes by Ethiopian forces during a year-old campaign against separatist fighters in the country's eastern Ogaden region.
(Reuters, 6/12/08)
2008 Jul 8, Sudan's army spokesman claimed Ethiopian forces had attacked a police base 17 kilometers (11 miles) inside Sudanese territory, killing 19 people, including one police officer. Ethiopia denied the accusations.
(AFP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 11, Ethiopia's Ogadeni rebels accused the regime in Addis Ababa of deliberately blocking international aid to their war-wracked and drought-stricken region.
(AFP, 7/11/08)
2008 Jul 12, Ethiopia said it has arrested eight "Eritrean-trained" rebels suspected of carrying out bombings that rocked the capital Addis Ababa and killed eight people earlier this year.
(Reuters, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 30, The UN Security Council voted to end an 8-year-long peacekeeping mission between Eritrea and Ethiopia despite continuing tensions, a move that the United Nations' chief has warned could lead to a new war.
(AP, 7/30/08)
2008 Aug 20, The Red Cross revised its emergency appeal for Ethiopia to five million euros (7.9 million dollars) as the situation in the drought-hit south of the country got worse.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Sep 1, The top UN aid official John Holmes called for greater international efforts to help millions of Ethiopians suffering from a severe drought.
(AP, 9/1/08)
2008 Sep 3, In Ethiopia an explosion rocked a bar in Addis Ababa, killing 4 people. 2 more died the next day.
(AFP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 4, Ethiopia unveiled its famed Axum Obelisk after more than three years of work to re-erect the 150-ton stela plundered by fascist Italy 70 years ago and returned only in 2005.
(AFP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 22, The UN appealed for $460 million to feed some 10 million Ethiopians hit by drought and high food prices. In southeastern Ethiopia two expatriate staff for French aid group Medecins du Monde were kidnapped in the rebellious Ogaden region.
(AP, 9/22/08)(AP, 9/23/08)
2008 Sep 23, The US said it has given Ethiopia 151 million dollars to boost its health and education services.
(AP, 9/23/08)
2008 Sep 24, Britain pledged 26.9 million pounds for drought-hit Ethiopia, where some 9.6 million people are in need of emergency food aid.
(AP, 9/24/08)
2008 Sep 28, In Ethiopia 4 people were killed and 22 injured in an explosion in eastern Somali province. Police the next day said a suspect had confessed to being a member of the Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya operating in the region.
(AFP, 9/28/08)(AFP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 28, In Germany Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia broke the marathon world record for the second straight year, becoming the first man to run the distance in under two hours and four minutes. He clocked 2:03.59 in winning his third straight Berlin Marathon, breaking the mark of 2:04.26 he set last year over the same flat course.
(AP, 9/28/08)
2008 Oct 1, Berhe Gebreegziabher, the head of Ethiopia’s animal health in the agriculture ministry, said an outbreak of African horse sickness has killed more than 2,000 horses, mules and donkeys in Ethiopia since March.
(AFP, 10/1/08)
2008 Oct 9, Ethiopia signed a 220-million-euro (300 million dollar) deal with a French company for the construction of Africa's largest wind farm.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 14, An Ethiopian minister said his country urgently needs US$265 million to feed 6.4 million people affected by drought.
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 16, The European Commission announced 15 million euros (20 million dollars) of emergency food aid for victims of drought and soaring food prices in five east African countries. The biggest share will go to Ethiopia and Somalia and smaller amounts to Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti.
(AFP, 10/16/08)
2008 Oct 27, In Ethiopia 19 people were killed when the bus they were traveling in hit a wall after its wheels snapped off some 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Addis Ababa. Turbo Tumo, who represented Ethiopia at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, was among those killed.
(AFP, 10/29/08)
2008 Nov 2, The bodies of 60 Somali and Ethiopian migrants washed up on the shores of southern Yemen over the last three days.
(AP, 11/3/08)
2008 Nov 5, In southern Ethiopian farmers stoned to death Legesse Wegi, a senior rebel figure suspected of organizing fatal blasts in the capital Addis Ababa.
(AFP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 17, Ethiopia’s state news agency said the Wabe Shebelle river in the southeast highlands burst its banks after heavy rains, killing 11 people and stranding hundreds more.
(AP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 21, Ethiopia’s government said the death toll from floods in southeastern Ethiopia has risen to 17 and more than 100,000 people have been left homeless.
(AP, 11/21/08)
2008 Nov 28, Ethiopia announced that it will withdraw its forces from Somalia by the end of the year, leaving this country's weak and fractured government to face an increasingly powerful Islamic insurgency.
(AP, 11/28/08)
2008 Dec 9, Ethiopian troops were reported to be pouring into neighboring Somalia to fight radical Islamists who have taken over much of the country, raising fears of more violence in a country fighting a deadly insurgency and piracy.
(AP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 29, In Ethiopia Birtukan Midekssa (35), head of the Unity for Democracy Justice party, was arrested and resumed serving her life term after her pardon from a life sentence was revoked. She had irked the regime when she reportedly claimed during a recent visit to Europe that she had never voiced remorse or acknowledged any mistake to obtain her pardon in 2007.
(AFP, 12/31/08)(www.jimmatimes.com/article.cfm?articleID=31713)
2008 Dec, A 131-page report by the UN Procurement Task Force said former officials Ventzislav Stoykov and Edgar Casals each scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars and ran outside ventures at the UN's Economic Commission for Africa. The task force recommended providing the ECA report to prosecutors in Ethiopia and the Philippines and to US authorities to review visas Casals apparently obtained through Santiago "Sonny" Busa, a former US consular chief in Addis Ababa.
(AP, 6/19/10)
2008 Ethiopia’s population stood at about 85 million and was growing by 2 million a year. The country’s defense budget was $300 million.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.38)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.36)
2009 Jan 3, In Somalia Islamic insurgents appeared to be scrambling for power, taking over several police stations in the capital as Ethiopian troops who have been propping up the government began to pull out.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 6, Ethiopia's parliament adopted a controversial bill imposing heavy restrictions on foreign-funded humanitarian groups operating in the war- and famine-ravaged country. Under the new law, any group that draws more than 10 percent of its funding from abroad will be classified as foreign, and thus banned from working on issues related to ethnicity, gender, children's rights and conflict resolution.
(AP, 1/6/09)(AFP, 1/9/09)
2009 Jan 13, Ethiopia handed over security duties in neighboring Somalia to a joint force of Somali government security forces and Islamic militiamen, a shift some fear will leave a power vacuum in the lawless African nation.
(AP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 15, The last Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's fragile government left Mogadishu, as Islamist forces took control of bases that the Ethiopians had vacated. An Islamist court under Shabab publicly executed politician Abdirahman Ahmed (55) to death by firing squad for showing sympathy for Christianity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdirahman_Ahmed)(AP, 1/15/09)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.48)
2009 Jan 29, The European Union signed an agreement to give Ethiopia 251 million euros (322 million dollars) in aid to boost development projects across the Horn of Africa nation.
(AFP, 1/30/09)
2009 Jan 30, Ethiopia said that 4.9 million of its people will need emergency food aid in the first six months of 2009 due to drought and appealed for $390 million from donors to pay for it.
(AP, 1/30/09)
2009 Jan, In Ethiopia an inauguration ceremony was held for the new headquarters of the 53-member AU. Completion was expected December 2011. The structure, a gift to the AU, was designed by China, managed by China, financed by China and constructed by China.
(AFP, 1/31/10)
2009 Feb 1, The African Union's 12th summit opened in Ethiopia with an agenda officially focused on infrastructure development. Leaders set aside the first day to discuss Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's long-standing pet project to establish a United States of Africa.
(AFP, 2/1/09)(Reuters, 2/1/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Ethiopia Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi was elected to head the 53-nation African Union at a summit amid concerns over deadly unrest in Madagascar and a bid to indict Sudan's president for war crimes.
(AFP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 7, In Ethiopia Brian Adkins (25) was killed in his home in Addis Ababa. He was serving as a consular officer at the US Embassy there. A suspect was arrested on Feb 11.
(AP, 2/11/09)(www.huffingtonpost.com/news/africa)
2009 Feb 17, The UN said some 4.9 million more Ethiopians are in urgent need of food aid, bringing the total number of people in Ethiopia who need relief aid to 12 million, or 15 percent of the population.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 20, Six African migrants drowned and 11 more are presumed dead after smugglers in the Gulf of Aden forced their passengers overboard in deep water off Yemen. The smuggling boat was carrying 40 Somalis and 12 Ethiopians when it approached Yemen's coast.
(AP, 2/24/09)
2009 Mar 3, In southern Ethiopia a cattle-herding tribe crowned Guyyoo Gobbaa (36) as their new king in a secret ceremony considered so sacred that the Borena people believe it has the power to kill unauthorized observers.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Apr 7, Ethiopia, the world's sixth largest coffee producer, said it did not intend to nationalize the coffee sector after revoking licenses of six exporters for hoarding the beans. PM Meles Zenawi had warned the exporters against hoarding coffee, accusing them of speculation in the world markets.
(AP, 4/7/09)
2009 Apr 16, Ethiopian opposition protesters staged a rare demonstration in Addis Ababa, demanding the release of an official jailed for life in January.
(AFP, 4/16/09)
2009 Apr 21, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir arrived in Ethiopia, on his sixth foreign trip since an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes was issued against him.
(AFP, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 21, The 114th Boston Marathon was won by Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga for the men and Salina Kosgei of Kenya for the women.
(WSJ, 4/21/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 24, Ethiopian authorities arrested 35 members of an opposition group accused of plotting to carry out a "terror attack" in the Horn of Africa nation.
(AFP, 4/26/09)
2009 May 1, In Ethiopia Communications Minister Bereket Simon said that senior military officers, including a general, had plotted to assassinate top government officials. He added that 40 people were under arrest. Bereket said the plotters belonged to the Ginbot 7 (May 15) opposition group, saying it was linked to the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) headed by Berhanu Nega, currently living in the United States.
(AFP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 19, In Somalia witnesses said that Ethiopian troops have crossed the border and appear to be stationing themselves at a strategic crossroads. Ethiopia denied the reports. Witnesses said they saw Ethiopian troops in the Somali town of Kalabeyr, 14 miles (22 km) from the Ethiopian border and 11 miles (18 km) north of Belet Weyne, the provincial capital of the Hiran region.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 23, It was reported that Saudi Arabian investors were spending $100 million to raise wheat, barley and rise on land leased from the government of Ethiopia. The World Food Program estimated that it would spend almost the same amount between 2007 and 2011 to provide 230,000 tons of food aid to some 4.6 million Ethiopians threatened by hunger and malnutrition.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.61)
2009 Jun 4, Ethiopia charged 46 people, most of them ex-military, of plotting to assassinate government officials. Ethiopia also said it has undertaken military reconnaissance operations in Somalia, but is not planning to re-deploy.
(AFP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 30, Ethiopian police shot dead two people and injured six others as they blocked an attempt by Christians to build a church at a site also claimed by Muslims.
(AFP, 7/1/09)
2009 Jul 6, Ethnic Somali rebels (ONLF) in Ethiopia's Ogaden region claimed they killed 90 government troops in recent clashes, but the government denied any losses, claiming victory instead.
(AFP, 7/6/09)
2009 Jul 7, Ethiopia's parliament adopted a new anti-terrorism bill despite criticism by rights groups that the legislation violates civil liberties.
(AFP, 7/7/09)
2009 Jul 27, In Ethiopia Bashir Ahmed Makhtal (36), an Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen, was found guilty of being a member of a rebel group fighting for autonomy for an ethnically Somali part of the country. Bashir was convicted of membership in the ONLF and supporting terrorism in Ogaden, and could face the death penalty. His grandfather was a founder of the ONLF. On August 3 he was sentenced to life in prison for terrorism-related charges.
(Reuters, 7/27/09)(AP, 8/3/09)
2009 Aug 6, Ethiopia’s Federal High Court issued the guilty verdicts against 13 men, including a US-based professor, convicted in absentia for plotting to overthrow the government. Berhanu Nega, Ethiopian-born professor with US nationality and teacher of economics at Philadelphia's Bucknell Univ., was accused of masterminding a plan to topple PM Meles Zenawi.
(Reuters, 8/7/09)
2009 Aug 18, An international claims commission in The Hague awarded Ethiopia slightly more than Eritrea as it settled mutual claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars for death, injury, rape, looting and destruction during their two-year border conflict. This concluded a complex arbitration that was part of the 2000 peace agreement closing out a border conflict that cost tens of thousands of lives.
(AP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 25, Four Ethiopian athletes, two women and two men, fled their hotel in London and failed to make a connecting flight to Edinburgh ahead of the Falkirk Cup athletics event.
(AFP, 8/26/09)
2009 Aug 29, Somali witnesses said hundreds of Ethiopian troops have crossed the border and seized control of the Somali town of Belet Weyne from Islamist insurgents.
(AP, 8/29/09)
2009 Sep 23, Ethiopia said its national electricity company has signed contracts with three Chinese firms to develop hydro-electric projects and made preliminary accords for wind power projects.
(AFP, 9/23/09)
2009 Sep 29, Ethiopian and Kenyan authorities seized more than 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of ivory from nearly 100 illegally killed elephants. Specially trained dogs sniffed out a consignment of bloodstained tusks at Kenya's national airport. Another shipment of tusks sent by the same individual had been seized a day earlier at the airport in Ethiopia's capital.
(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Oct 3, In Ethiopia Abdi Mohammed Awhasen, a top rebel leader in the restive Ogaden region, surrendered. His arrest led to the seizure of some four tons of explosive material.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 5, Ethiopia's President Girma Woldegiorgis told parliament that government is aiming to achieve double-digit economic growth in 2009. An official from the Oxfam charity said as many as 6.2 million Ethiopians need emergency humanitarian assistance due to severe drought.
(AFP, 10/6/09)(Reuters, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 10, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi accused Eritrea of sowing havoc in the region as Addis Ababa reiterated calls for sanctions over Asmara's alleged support for Somalia's rebels.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 22, Ethiopia said it needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million people, an appeal that comes 25 years after a devastating famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million and prompted one of the largest charity campaigns in history.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Nov 10, Ethiopia announced the discovery of a mine containing more than 40 tons of gold deposit worth 1.7 billion dollars (1.1 billion euros).
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 14, Ethiopian ONLF rebels fighting for independence for a region with potentially significant oil and gas reserves said they had captured seven towns near the border with neighboring Somalia.
(Reuters, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Uganda a new 12 million dollar family planning drive was launched in Kampala highlighting how Obama administration funding has revamped a contraception drive in Africa and developing states. Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya will share in the 12-million dollar funding, but international organizations still have to persuade certain African governments that it is in their interest to curb population growth.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 19, An Ethiopian court convicted 26 people who were accused of taking part in an alleged coup plot earlier this year and acquitted five others.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 30, Interpol and the Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3 months had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the wildlife authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Dec 4, A leading Ethiopian newspaper said it had closed down as a result of months of government "persecution and harassment" against its staff. The weekly Addis Neger newspaper, often critical of government policies, published its last edition on Dec 5 before some of its staff fled the country for fear of arrest.
(AFP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 17, Oxfam said some areas of East Africa had received less than 5% of the normal November rains and that many people are malnourished in Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. It was the sixth failed rainy season for war-ravaged Somalia and the worst drought there for 20 years. The European Commission announced that it would immediately release an extra $75 million to fund emergency relief for drought-stricken areas of East Africa. It estimated that 16 million people will need aid in the coming months.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 18, The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said an estimated 74,000 Africans, mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia, have fled to Yemen as refugees or economic migrants. That's a 50 percent higher than in 2008.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 22, An Ethiopian court sentenced five people to death, including Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian professor teaching at a US university, and 33 to life in prison for being members of a terror group and conspiring to assassinate government officials. Nega, an exiled opposition leader, was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. Berhanu and more than 100 other opposition politicians were arrested after the 2005 election and put on trial for treason. Berhanu and others were pardoned and freed after 20 months, but the government last week revoked Berhanu's pardon.
(AP, 12/22/09)
2010 Jan 13, Ethiopia’s biggest hydroelectric dam was opened by PM Meles Zenawi and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. The Gilegel Gibe II dam was financed by Italy.
(AFP, 1/14/10)
2010 Jan 25, An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people caught fire and crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Beirut. At least 34 bodies were recovered, but no survivors were found by nightfall. In 2012 a Lebanese report put the blame on pilot error and inexperience. Ethiopian Airlines immediately rejected the Lebanese findings saying the crash was likely caused by sabotage or a lightning strike.
(AP, 1/25/10)(AFP, 1/17/12)
2010 Jan 29, An Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to prison in connection with a January 2008 column that criticized PM Meles Zenawi's statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia. The journalist was later identified as Ezedin Mohamed, editor of Al-Quds, a Muslim-orientated newspaper.
(AFP, 2/2/10)
2010 Jan 31, In Ethiopia UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the AU's annual summit in Addis Ababa and again failed to pledge peacekeepers for Somalia. Ban Ki-Moon criticized power-grabs in Africa in a speech to the continent's leaders as Libya's Moamer Kadhafi reluctantly handed over the presidency of the African Union to Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika. The AU agreed to consider a Senegalese proposal to resettle Haiti's earthquake homeless and possibly create a state for them in Africa.
(Reuters, 1/31/10)(AFP, 1/31/10)(Reuters, 1/31/10)
2010 Feb 2, In Ethiopia African leaders wrapped up their annual summit less divided and looking at brighter economic prospects but still facing a raft of conflicts, including Sudan's predicted break-up. An AU official said leaders of the 53-member African Union want Madagascar's rival politicians to stick to the agreements meant to help the Indian Ocean island out of a prolonged crisis.
(AFP, 2/2/10)
2010 Feb 6, Ethiopia’s official news agency said US software giant Microsoft has launched Windows Vista in Amharic, the first operating system in its national language. 40 scholars from the Addis Ababa University had taken part in the translation of the software for the country of over 80 million people.
(AFP, 2/6/10)
2010 Mar 5, In Ethiopia 25 African states agreed to step up efforts to regulate mercenary activity on the continent amid an explosion of private security companies on the continent.
(AFP, 3/6/10)
2010 Mar 7, Ethiopia inaugurated a museum in Addis Ababa in memory of the victims of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's so-called Red Terror purge which killed tens of thousands in 1977-78.
(AFP, 3/7/10)
2010 Mar 15, Somalia's transitional government (TFG) and a faction of the country's moderate Ahlu Sunna Sufi sect signed a deal in Addis Ababa to jointly fight extremist elements in Somalia.
(AFP, 3/15/10)
2010 Mar 19, The US condemned Ethiopia's blocking of Voice of America broadcasts, calling the country's accusations of the US radio service "baseless and inflammatory."
(AFP, 3/19/10)
2010 Apr 5, In Ethiopia a British geologist (39) working on behalf of the state-run Malaysian energy company Petronas was shot dead near Danot town.
(Reuters, 4/9/10)
2010 Apr 6, An African Union conference on maritime security opened in Ethiopia. Somali Deputy PM Abdulrahman Adan Ibrahim Ibbi called for outside help to clear toxic waste dumped illegally on his country's vast coastline, arguing that the fight against dumping goes hand in hand with the fight against piracy.
(AFP, 4/8/10)
2010 Apr 9, In Ethiopia Communications Minister Bereket Simon announced that leaders of the United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF), a rebel group in the southeastern Somali region, has agreed to lay down arms after decades of guerrilla war.
(AFP, 4/9/10)
2010 Apr 13, Ethiopian authorities and the European Union signed accords allowing EU observers to monitor May's general elections in the Horn of Africa country.
(AFP, 4/13/10)
2010 Apr 20, Ethiopia said that it would go ahead with a new deal with six other countries on sharing the waters of the Nile and accused Egypt of "dragging its feet" on a more equitable treaty.
(AFP, 4/20/10)
2010 Apr 26, In Ethiopia gunmen shot dead an opposition party activist, days after the government accused the party of killing a policeman in the same region.
(AFP, 5/10/10)
2010 May 2, Ethiopia’s information minister said police have arrested 10 suspected Islamic militants they believe were sent by Eritrea to carry out attacks to upset May 23 general elections.
(AFP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 6, In southern Ethiopia attackers hurled a bomb at a political meeting in Adaba, killing two people and wounding 14 others just over two weeks before national elections. On May 20 Tadesse Haile was sentenced to death for throwing hand grenades into the packed stadium. He was also convicted on planting bombs close to a construction site on May 5.
(AFP, 5/7/10)(AFP, 5/20/10)
2010 May 14, Four African countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) signed a new treaty on the equitable sharing of the Nile waters despite strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan, who have the lion's share of the river waters. The new agreement, the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework, is to replace a 1959 accord between Egypt and Sudan that gives them control of more than 90 percent of the water flow. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit warned at the weekend that Cairo's water rights were a "red line" and threatened legal action if a partial deal is reached.
(AFP, 5/14/10)
2010 May 18, Ethiopia's main rebel group claimed to have captured an army garrison town and killed 94 government soldiers in a major operation. The Ethiopian government denied the town had been captured and said the attack had been successfully repelled.
(AFP, 5/18/10)
2010 May 23, Ethiopia held Parliamentary elections. PM Meles Zenawi rejected opposition complaints of fraud elections and said he expected to win on the strength of his economic record. The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and allied parties won 534 seats out of 536 declared, giving PM Meles Zenawi most seats in the 547-member parliament. The EU observation mission released its final report on Nov 8. It said the electoral process was short of international standards concerning transparency, and that state resources were used in the ruling party's campaign.
(Reuters, 5/23/10)(Reuters, 5/26/10)(AP, 11/8/10)
2010 May 24, An international human rights group said that Ethiopia's national election was marred by repression and intimidation, while the government said the vote was free and fair.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 25, Ethiopian police shot dead two opposition members in the sensitive Oromia region following the elections. One man was shot May 24 after trying to storm an office where ballots were being counted. The other was shot today by a policeman whom he had beaten during the same incident.
(Reuters, 5/26/10)
2010 May 26, Ethiopian opposition groups rejected results of parliamentary elections which gave long-time ruler Meles Zenawi a landslide win, and demanded fresh polls.
(AP, 5/26/10)
2010 Jun 2, A century-old Ethiopian prayer book stolen decades ago was returned to the African nation after American collector Gerald Weiner, who held it, agreed to the restitution.
(AFP, 6/3/10)
2010 Jun 11, Ethiopian rebels said the military had killed 71 civilians in the last month as part of a growing crackdown in a region where international oil and gas companies are exploring.
(Reuters, 6/11/10)
2010 Jun 21, Ethiopia's election board confirmed PM Meles Zenawi's landslide victory in a May 23 election disputed by opposition parties and criticized by the EU and the United States.
(Reuters, 6/21/10)
2010 Jun 24, In Ethiopia a government minister said that a faction of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), seeking a separate state in the west of the country, has agreed to lay down its arms following talks in Germany.
(AFP, 6/24/10)
2010 Jun 27, In Ethiopia water minister of Egypt and Sudan said they will not be forced into signing a new deal on the sharing of the Nile's waters. Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda inked a framework in March, 2010, replacing a 1929 colonial-era treaty between Egypt and Britain which gave Cairo veto power over upstream projects. A two-day meeting concluded of regional water ministers concluded with Egypt handing over the body's chair to Ethiopia.
(AFP, 6/27/10)
2010 Sep 14, Authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland said their troops have surrounded up to 300 Ethiopian rebels who entered the territory illegally.
(AP, 9/14/10)
2010 Sep 15, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said his often drought-ravaged country would not need food aid after 2015 as he formally launched a five-year development program.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Oct 4, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi was sworn in for another five-year term, almost five months after controversial polls propelled his party to victory.
(AFP, 10/4/10)
2010 Oct 6, Ethiopia freed opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa (36), saying it had granted a plea for pardon from her. Birtukan and other opposition figures were charged with plotting against the constitution in connection with those skirmishes, but were released in 2007 after being pardoned. She was sent back to prison in December 2008 after claiming she had never asked for pardon.
(AFP, 10/6/10)
2010 Oct 12, In Ethiopia senior leaders of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a breakaway rebel faction, gathered in Addis Ababa to sign a peace deal with the government. The government claimed the breakaway group represents around 80 percent of the ONLF.
(AFP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 19, Human Rights Watch said in a report that Ethiopia is denying opposition supporters food, other aid, loans and government services in a widespread effort to suppress political dissent.
(AP, 10/19/10)
2010 Nov 9, Ethiopia's Ogaden rebels said they had killed more than 200 soldiers in a string of successful military operations since the beginning of October, a claim promptly ridiculed by the government.
(AFP, 11/9/10)
2010 Nov 14, Israel’s Cabinet approved a proposal to allow 8,000 Ethiopians of Jewish descent to move to the Jewish state. The would-be immigrants are the last recognized members of the Falashmura, a community whose ancestors converted from Judaism to Christianity about 100 years ago.
(AP, 11/14/10)
2010 Nov 23, East African leaders met in the Ethiopian capital to discuss beefing up the African Union force in Somalia and tensions in Sudan ahead of January's referendum on autonomy for the south.
(AFP, 11/23/10)
2010 Peter Gill authored “Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid."
(Econ, 7/17/10, p.88)
2011 Jan 31, Leaders of 53 African countries met In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to tackle festering conflicts in Sudan and Somalia at a summit overshadowed by Egypt's popular uprising and the leadership crisis in Ivory Coast. The African Union named a panel of six African presidents to mediate Ivory Coast's political crisis.
(AFP, 1/31/11)(AP, 1/31/11)
2011 Jan 30, Equatorial Guinea’s Pres. Teodoro Obiang assumed the African Union chairmanship at the organization’s annual summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00012576.html)
2011 Jan, Ethiopia’s government imposed price controls to combat rising prices, giving food sellers long lines of customers but barely any profit.
(AP, 6/21/11)
2011 Mar 30, Ethiopia's government said it plans to build a hydroelectric power dam along the Blue Nile River despite objections from Egypt and Sudan.
(AP, 3/30/11)
2011 Apr 2, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi laid the foundation for the Grand Millennium Dam. Its cost was expected to exceed $4.8 billion with some underwriting coming from China.
(Econ, 4/23/11, p.52)
2011 Apr 5, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi told lawmakers Ethiopia is ready to help the people of Eritrea topple the regime of Issaias Afeworki, ruling out a military invasion.
(AFP, 4/5/11)
2011 Apr 20, Hundreds of Eritrean exiles marched in the capital of neighboring Ethiopia to protest their country's autocratic leadership.
(AP, 4/20/11)
2011 May 13, In Ethiopia a World Food Program driver was killed in the Ogaden region in an ambush that also injured another staff member.
(Reuters, 5/14/11)
2011 May 23, India's PM Manmohan Singh arrived in Ethiopia to begin a six-day trip that included a visit to Tanzania. He aimed to strike deeper economic ties with a continent rich in minerals and commodities, but where India lagged far behind rival China.
(Reuters, 5/23/11)
2011 May 24, In Ethiopia at an address to an India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa, Indian PM Manmohan Singh trumpeted his country's historical ties with Africa and offered $5 billion dollars for the next three years under lines of credit to help Africa achieve its development goals.
(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 Jun 1, Ethiopia's Pres. Girma Wolde Giorgis said the government has commuted the death sentences of 23 high-ranking officials from the ousted communist regime. The sentences were reduced to 25 years.
(AP, 6/1/11)
2011 Jun 13, Speaking in Ethiopia to members of the African Union, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke out against African leaders with despotic regimes, and encouraged democratic reforms in those countries. Mrs. Clinton, the first US Secretary of State to address a session of the African Union, encouraged members to break ties with Libyan strongman Muammar Khaddafi and to support the rebels fighting to overthrow him. She was on a five-day diplomatic trip to three countries.
(AP, 6/13/11)
2011 Jun 27, Two Swedish freelancer journalists, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, entered Ethiopia from Somalia to report about allegations of human rights violations in the region including torture and rape.
(AP, 7/4/11)
2011 Jun 27, The UN Security Council ordered a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Abyei to monitor the withdrawal of northern Sudanese troops who occupied the disputed border region on May 21.
(AFP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jun 29, Ethiopia’s government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said that two journalists were among 9 people arrested last week on suspicions of organizing a terrorist network and planning attacks.
(AP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jun 29, Ethiopia said it will build four more hydroelectric dams on the Nile river as part of a plan to become a power hub for Africa.
(AP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jun, The Ethiopian government labeled Ginbot 7 as a terrorist group, along with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), under the country's anti-terrorism proclamation. Ginbot 7, founded by Dr. Berhanu Nega, envisioned the creation of a nation wherein each and every Ethiopian enjoys the full respect of its democratic and human rights, achieves economic prosperity and social justice, and the respect of the citizen’s life, safety and human dignity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginbot_7)
2011 Jun, Ethiopian consumers started a text-message campaign to boycott meat in an attempt to force prices down. The campaign has not worked.
(AP, 6/21/11)
2011 Jul 1, In Ethiopia Swedish freelance journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye were arrested after entering the Ogaden region to report on allegations of human rights violations.
(AFP, 12/22/11)
2011 Jul 4, An Ethiopian official said government troops have killed have 15 rebels in the country's restive east and arrested two Swedish journalists who were with them. Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye were lightly wounded in last week's clash between troops and rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front. On Nov 3 an Ethiopian court dropped charges of participating in terrorism against the two journalists, but they still faced accusations of supporting terrorism.
(AP, 7/4/11)(AFP, 11/3/11)
2011 Jul 11, Ethiopia said it needed $398 million to help millions of people in need of food aid due to a severe drought. It was estimated that a total of 4.5 million people will require humanitarian assistance during the remaining period of the current year.
(AFP, 7/11/11)
2011 Jul 13, The United Nations made its first aid delivery to a rebel-held Somalia region after the insurgents lifted a ban on the operations of foreign aid agencies. The worst drought in 60 years affected over 10 million people in northern Kenya, south-eastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and Djibouti.
(AFP, 7/17/11)(Econ, 7/9/11, p.44)
2011 Jul 15, UNICEF said at least 17,584 measles cases, including 114 deaths, have been reported by Ethiopian health officials in the first half of the year. The WHO said says at least 462 cases of measles, including 11 deaths, have been confirmed in recent months among Somali refugee children in the Kenyan refugee complex known as Dadaab.
(AP, 7/15/11)
2011 Aug 2, In Sudan a landmine killed four Ethiopian UN peacekeepers and badly wounded seven others on patrol in the disputed territory of Abyei.
(AFP, 8/2/11)
2011 Aug 11, Ethiopian officials said they will not heed the UN's recommendation to halt construction on a dam that the world body says endangers a world heritage site. Project manager Azeb Asnake said that government impact studies found Gilgel Gibe III dam does not endanger Lake Turkana, the world's largest desert lake.
(AP, 8/11/11)
2011 Aug 17, Southern Ethiopia teetered on the brink of a food crisis. The Ethiopian government said 250,000 people need food aid amid what the UN says is the worst drought in 60 years. An aid organization and agricultural officials said the number of people who need emergency food aid in Ethiopia is bigger, around 700,000.
(AP, 8/17/11)
2011 Aug 19, The UN said tens of thousands of people have already died in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. It warned that the famine has not peaked and that 12 million people in the area need food aid.
(AP, 8/20/11)
2011 Aug 25, African Union leaders pledged nearly $380 million to help famine-hit families in the Horn of Africa during a donor conference in Ethiopia. Only 20 representatives of the AU’s 54 members showed up.
(AP, 8/25/11)(Econ, 9/3/11, p.48)
2011 Aug 30, Ethiopian ONLF rebels reportedly killed 25 soldiers protecting a Chinese oil exploration company called PetroTrans.
(AP, 9/2/11)
2011 Sep 3, Sudan's embattled main opposition party vowed to fight for regime change through armed struggle and mass protests, and called for international support, after clashes erupted in Blue Nile state. The UN refugee agency said some 16,000 people have fled across the Sudan’s border to Ethiopia since fighting erupted on Sep 1.
(AFP, 9/3/11)(AP, 9/3/11)
2011 Sep 12, In Mozambique a group of 15 Ethiopian athletes, after competing at the 10th All Africa Games, went missing and left some of their possessions in the athletes' village outside the capital Maputo.
(AFP, 9/15/11)
2011 Sep 14, Ethiopian authorities arrested four opposition members suspected of plotting attacks on state security. Prominent opposition leader Andualem Arage was among those arrested. Independent journalists Sileshi Hagos and Eskinder Nega were also reported arrested, joining 4 others detained under terrorism laws.
(AFP, 9/15/11)(AP, 9/17/11)
2011 Sep 19, The UN refugee agency said nearly 3,000 Eritreans were flooding into Sudan and Ethiopia every month from Eritrea, a country of some five million people and about the size of England.
(AFP, 9/19/11)
2011 Sep 27, The UN refugee agency said some 25,000 people have fled Sudan's troubled Blue Nile state to Ethiopia in the last three weeks amid fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels.
(AFP, 9/27/11)
2011 Oct 4, USAID director Raj Shah said the US will donate more than $121 million to Ethiopia to fight food insecurity amid a drought in the East African nation.
(AP, 10/5/11)
2011 Oct 24, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged another $100 million in food aid to drought-hit East Africa amid warnings that millions of people face starvation for drought-affected areas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 28, The UN refugee agency said fresh aerial bombings in Sudan's border Blue Nile state are sending more refugees fleeing to Ethiopia, with 2,000 arriving in the last four days.
(AFP, 10/28/11)
2011 Nov 10, Ethiopian authorities charged 24 people with terrorism offenses including an opposition politician and a journalist. Prominent opposition leader Andualem Arage and journalist Eskinder Nega were among those charged. Ethiopia has the largest number of exiled journalists in the world with 82 living abroad, according to the Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
(AFP, 11/10/11)(AFP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 17, The UN refugee agency said Yemen has seen a surge of refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia, with a record 12,545 arriving by sea last month as they fled unrest, famine and persecution.
(AFP, 11/17/11)
2011 Nov 19, Several hundred Ethiopian troops crossed into southern and central Somalia, local elders said, but Addis Ababa dismissed the reports as "absolutely not true."
(AFP, 11/19/11)
2011 Nov 20, A convoy of Ethiopian troops entered the central Somali town of Guriel in a possible attempt to open a third front against Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab insurgents.
(SFC, 11/21/11, p.A2)
2011 Nov 24, The UN warned that Ethiopia's reported deployment of troops into Somalia could worsen what is already the world's most severe humanitarian crisis.
(AFP, 11/24/11)
2011 Nov 25, Ethiopia said it may contribute troops to the African Union force in Somalia fighting al-Qaida-affiliated insurgents.
(AP, 11/25/11)
2011 Dec 1, Amnesty International urged Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to arrest former US president George W. Bush for violating international torture laws, during his African tour this week.
(AFP, 12/1/11)
2011 Dec 21, An Ethiopian court convicted Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson of supporting a terrorist group and entering the country illegally, with the prosecution calling for a maximum sentence of 18 years and six months. On Dec 27 a court sentenced the two journalists to 11 years in prison on charges of supporting terrorism.
(AFP, 12/22/11)(AP, 12/27/11)
2011 Dec 31, Ethiopian troops captured Beledweyne, a rebel-held town in central Somalia, leaving at least 18 people dead.
(Reuters, 12/31/11)(AFP, 12/31/12)
2012 Jan 17, Gunmen in Ethiopia's arid north attacked a group of European tourists traveling in one of the world's lowest and hottest regions, killing five, wounding two and kidnapping two. The attack was blamed on groups trained and armed by the Eritrean government. Two Germans held hostage were released on March 5.
(AP, 1/18/12)(AFP, 3/6/12)
2012 Jan 19, An Ethiopian court found three journalists, a politician and a politician's assistant guilty of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, in a case that drew rebukes from rights groups who fear the country's anti-terrorism law is being used to suppress dissent.
(AP, 1/19/12)
2012 Jan 20, The UN refugee agency raised concern over the record numbers of Ethiopians and Somalis flocking to Yemen, despite the deteriorating security situation there. Last year 103,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants crossed the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea, almost double the 2010 figure of 53,000.
(AFP, 1/20/12)
2012 Jan 24, In Somalia a truck bomb targeted an Ethiopian military base. Islamist militants claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabab on its Twitter feed claimed that 33 Ethiopian troops were killed in the attack.
(AP, 1/24/12)
2012 Jan 27, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said he would pull troops out of Somalia "as soon as feasible," admitting for the first time that forces had crossed into the war-torn neighboring country.
(AFP, 1/27/12)
2012 Jan 28, In Ethiopia African leaders inaugurated a new $200 million headquarters that was funded by China as a gift. They said the massive complex in Addis Ababa is a symbol of China's rapidly changing role in Africa.
(AP, 1/28/12)
2012 Jan 29, Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi was elected the African Union Chairman, taking over the one-year post from Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema at the AU summit meeting in the Ethiopian capital.
(AFP, 1/29/12)
2012 Jan 30, In Ethiopia a vote by African leaders for the head of their African Union executive ended in deadlock amid a drive by southern Africa to wrest influence from the continent's French-speaking countries. Gabon's Jean Ping (69), who has headed the African Union Commission since 2008 and was seeking a new term, was challenged by South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a former foreign minister. The AU extended the mandate of Jean Ping until fresh polls are held during the next summit in Malawi.
(AFP, 1/30/12)
2012 Feb 21, Ethiopian troops in battle tanks thrust into rebel-held Somalia regions, sparking heavy fighting as they advanced towards the major Shebab stronghold of Baidoa.
(AFP, 2/21/12)
2012 Feb 22, In Somalia truckloads of Ethiopian and Somali troops captured the strategic city of Baidoa from Al-Qaeda allied Shebab insurgents, who vowed to avenge their loss. The blow to the insurgency coincided with the UN Security Council boosting the strength of an African force in Mogadishu by more than 5,000 troops and came on the eve of conference in London aimed at reviving peace efforts.
(AFP, 2/22/12)
2012 Feb, In Ethiopia 20 Motorola Xoom tablet computers were dropped off in Wenchi village by a group called One Laptop Per Child. The tablets were charged from a solar station built by One Laptop. By year’s end all the kids could chant the English alphabet, and some spelled words.
(AP, 12/24/12)
2012 Mar 10, In Somalia an offensive by Islamist Shebab fighters on Ethiopian troops left at least 23 people dead including 17 al-Shabab fighters and 6 Ethiopian troops.
(AFP, 3/10/12)(SSFC, 3/11/12, p.A4)
2012 Mar 12, In western Ethiopia an attack by gunmen on a public bus left 19 people dead and eight others injured.
(AFP, 3/13/12)
2012 Mar 15, Ethiopian forces entered archrival Eritrea and carried out what a government spokesman described as "a successful attack" against military posts.
(AP, 3/15/12)
2012 Mar 16, The Eritrean government said that an attack on its military outposts by neighboring Ethiopia was carried out with the help of the US and meant to divert attention from a decade-old border dispute between the two countries.
(AP, 3/16/12)
2012 Mar 24, In central Somalia hundreds of heavily armed Ethiopian troops advanced into Dhusamareb with the aim of attacking the main stronghold of the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab militia in the region.
(AFP, 3/24/12)
2012 Mar 26, In central Somalia Ethiopian forces seized El Bur, the main regional base of the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents. Shebab rebels in Mogadishu killed two civilians at a camp for the displaced near the presidential compound, which they targeted with mortar bombs.
(AFP, 3/26/12)
2012 Apr 1, In Ethiopia African Union mediators redoubled their efforts to kickstart crisis talks between Sudan and South Sudan after fresh fighting that Khartoum accuses Juba of backing.
(AFP, 4/1/12)
2012 Jun 2, Kenyan troops were officially integrated into the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with Kenya's defense minister signing an agreement at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(AFP, 6/2/12)
2012 Jun 7, In Ethiopia peace talks between Khartoum and Juba to set up a demilitarized buffer zone ended with Sudan accusing South Sudan of seeking to create "10 disputed areas."
(AFP, 6/8/12)
2012 Jun 18, An Ethiopian security officer with the United Nations faced up to 10 years in jail after a court in Addis Ababa found him guilty of "participating in a terrorist organization." Abdurahman Sheikh Hassan was charged last July with having links to the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a secessionist rebel group. On June 22 Hassan was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison.
(AFP, 6/18/12)(AFP, 6/22/12)
2012 Jun 18, Human Rights Watch said Ethiopia is forcing thousands of people from their land in the southern Omo valley to make way for sugar plantations. Between 5,000 and 10,000 people were estimated to have been displaced. The government denied the charge and said any relocation in the area is happening voluntarily.
(AFP, 6/18/12)
2012 Jun 18, In Malawi a boat carrying about 60 illegal immigrants from Ethiopia capsized on Lake Malawi. All aboard were feared drowned.
(AP, 6/21/12)
2012 Jun 26, In Tanzania a truck driver abandoned Ethiopian and Somali migrants after letting a number of them suffocate to death inside his vehicle. He dumped 43 bodies and abandoned survivors.
(AP, 6/27/12)
2012 Jun 27, Twenty-four Ethiopians, including a leading opposition figure and a prominent journalist, faced life in prison after a court found them guilty on charges of terrorism. They were accused of links to US-based group Ginbot 7, considered a terrorist group under Ethiopian law, and other outlawed groups.
(AFP, 6/27/12)
2012 Jun 29, The Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) said it has forged two deals with Turkish and Chinese companies to build a railway connecting the landlocked country to Djibouti.
(AFP, 6/29/12)
2012 Jul 2, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it appears Ethiopia is extending and refining its censorship of Internet news with a sophistication that could encourage other authoritarian regimes in Africa. The rollout of a pervasive and sophisticated blocking system started in April to include smaller blogs by exiles and news services, and even individual Facebook pages.
(AP, 7/2/12)
2012 Jul 7, Egyptian border guards arrested 68 Eritreans and Ethiopians trying to sneak across the border into Israel.
(AFP, 7/8/12)
2012 Jul 13, An Ethiopian court jailed journalist Eskinder Nga for 18 years for "terrorism" and 23 other reporters and activists for between eight years and life, in sentences condemned by rights groups.
(AFP, 7/13/12)
2012 Jul 15, In Ethiopia the leaders of Congo and Rwanda agreed in principle to back a neutral international armed force to combat Congo's newest rebellion and other fighters terrorizing civilians in the country's mineral-rich east. The African Union said it could help by sending soldiers.
(AP, 7/16/12)
2012 Jul 26, In southern Ethiopia ethnic clashes erupted between the Borana and Garri tribes over a land dispute and left 18 dead and scores displaced.
(AFP, 7/30/12)
2012 Aug 2, A court in London jailed an Ethiopian diplomat for trying to smuggle a large stash of cannabis through London's Heathrow Airport. Amelework Wondemagegne (36), an official at the Ethiopian embassy in Washington, had tried to claim diplomatic immunity when she was caught at the airport in April with 56 kilograms (123 pounds) of cannabis.
(AFP, 8/2/12)
2012 Aug 17, Ethiopian Airlines received Africa's first Boeing 787 Dreamliner, making Ethiopia the only country aside from Japan to operate the innovative aircraft. Ethiopian Airlines has purchased ten 787 Dreamliners from Boeing.
(AFP, 8/17/12)
2012 Aug 20, Meles Zenawi (b.1955), Ethiopia's long-time ruler, died of an undisclosed illness in Belgium. He was credited with economic gains, but blamed for human rights abuses, and was a major US counter-terrorism ally. Hailemariam Desalegn, who was appointed deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in 2010, became acting prime minister.
(AP, 8/21/12)
2012 Aug, In Aurora, Colorado, an Ethiopian identified as Kefelegn Alemu Worku was arrested for torturing political prisoners decades ago in his home country. He was spotted by happenstance and confronted in May 2011 in a suburban Denver restaurant by a former prisoner who recognized him as a guard at Higher 15, a detention center established during the late 1970s in a campaign known as the Red Terror.
(AP, 9/4/12)
2012 Sep 10, Ethiopia said Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye are to be pardoned and released. They have been in jail since July 2011 for abetting terrorism and entering the country illegally.
(AP, 9/10/12)
2012 Sep 15, Ethiopia's ruling party named as its leader acting PM Hailemariam Desalegn, who took over after the death last month of longtime leader Meles Zenawi at the end of a congress of party bosses.
(AP, 9/15/12)
2012 Oct 8, In Ethiopia Feteh, the country’s largest weekly at 27,500 copies, and Finote Netsanet, published by the largest opposition group, said they have been unable to reach their readers for several weeks. The papers said the state-owned Berhanena Selam printing company refuses to print them. The publishers were appealing to the country's newly appointed PM Hailemariam Desalegn to intervene.
(AP, 10/8/12)
2012 Oct 29, In Ethiopia federal prosecutors charged a group of 29 Muslims, including a wife of a senior Cabinet minister, with terrorism and working to establish an Islamic republic. Before the charges were filed, the minister defended his wife, Habiba Mohammed, saying he had asked the Saudi ambassador for the money to help construct a mosque their family is building.
(AP, 11/2/12)
2012 Nov 29, Ethiopia’s PM Hailemariam Desalegn fired the country's civil minister, Junedin Sado, whose wife is one of 29 people facing terrorism charges related to protests by Muslims who accuse of the government of meddling in their religious affairs. Hailemariam also promoted two ministers to double as deputy prime ministers, giving the country three deputy prime ministers for the first time.
(AP, 11/29/12)
2013 Jan 1, An Ethiopian court found 10 men guilty of plotting terror attacks with Islamist extremist rebels from neighboring Somalia.
(AP, 1/1/13)
2013 Jan 2, Ethiopian security forces announced the arrest of 15 people alleged to be members of a terror cell linked with al-Qaida. Authorities said the suspects were trained by al-Shabab militants in neighboring Somalia and Kenya.
(AP, 1/3/13)
2013 Jan 10, Journalist Paul Salopek (50) departed a small Ethiopian village and took the first steps of a planned 21,000-mile (34,000-km) walk that will cross some 30 borders, where he will encounter dozens of languages and scores of ethnic groups. The walk from Ethiopia to Chile, which took human ancestors some 50,000 years to make, is called Out of Eden and is sponsored by National Geographic, the Knight Foundation and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.
(AP, 1/10/13)
2013 Jan 15, Ethiopia sentenced 10 men to jail terms of between three to 20 years for plotting terror attacks with Islamist extremist rebels from neighboring Somalia. Kenyan national, Hassan Jarso, who pleaded guilty when first charged in May, was sentenced with nine Ethiopians.
(AP, 1/15/13)
2013 Jan 17, Ethiopian Airlines grounded its four Boeing 787 Dreamliners following a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration to take the planes out of service in the United States because of a risk of fire from its lithium batteries.
(AP, 1/17/13)
2013 Jan 19, Officials in Ethiopia said South Sudan and Sudan have failed to reach an agreement on security arrangements and oil exports after several days of talks in Addis Ababa.
(AP, 1/19/13)
2013 Jan 27, African Union leaders met in the Ethiopian capital for talks dominated by the conflict in Mali as well as lingering territorial issues between the two Sudans. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the two-day summit in Addis Ababa, where Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn took over from President Yayi Boni of Benin as chairperson of the African Union.
(AP, 1/27/13)
2013 Jan, Paul Salopek (b.1962), American journalist, began a 7-year trek from Ethiopia to Chile aiming to reproduce man’s global migration.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Salopek)(SSFC, 11/24/13, p.A19)
2013 Feb 24, In Ethiopia 11 African countries signed a UN-drafted peace deal to stabilize Congo DRC, where rebels allegedly backed by neighboring countries last year threatened to oust the government.
(AP, 2/24/13)
2013 Mar 1, In Israel Abraham Kabeto Ketla of Ethiopia won the third Jerusalem marathon, setting a record for the race. About 20,000 runners took part despite protests by Palestinians.
(AP, 3/1/13)
2013 Apr 27, Ethiopian Airlines flew a Boeing 787 from Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya, the first commercial flight of the Dreamliner since it was grounded for smoldering batteries.
(SSFC, 4/28/13, p.A5)
2013 May 4, Ethiopian authorities detained reporter Muluken Tesfaw of the private weekly Ethio-Mehedar as he covered evictions 100 km from the site of the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The government has acknowledged the March evictions were illegal and Tesfaw was later released.
(AP, 5/31/13)(AP, 6/7/13)
2013 May 14, An Ethiopian court ruled that prosecutors have two weeks to finalize corruption charges against two dozen people who have been arrested, including a senior Cabinet minister.
(AP, 5/14/13)
2013 May 28, Ethiopia’s Deputy PM Demeke Mekonnin told officials at a ceremony diverting Blue Nile flow at the dam construction site that the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will provide hydroelectricity not only for Ethiopia but also for neighboring countries.
(AP, 5/28/13)
2013 May 31, A UN official said more than 23,500 people have fled fighting in South Sudan's Jonglei state and sought refuge in neighboring countries of Uganda (2.5k), Kenya (5k) and Ethiopia (16k).
(AP, 6/1/13)
2013 Jun 2, In Ethiopia at least 4,000 demonstrators marched peacefully in Addis Ababa against unemployment and corruption and demanded the release of political prisoners.
(Econ, 6/8/13, p.55)
2013 Jun 10, Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil said the country will work diplomatically, legally and technically to negotiate with Ethiopia over the so-called Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
(AP, 6/10/13)
2013 Jun 13, Ethiopia's parliament ratified the new Nile River Cooperative Framework Agreement, an accord already signed by five other Nile River countries. It replaces colonial-era deals that awarded Egypt and Sudan the majority of the world's longest river.
(AP, 6/13/13)
2013 Aug 9, In Somalia an Ethiopian military aircraft carrying ammunition crash-landed at Mogadishu's international airport, bursting into flames and killing 4 of the six crew members.
(Reuters, 8/9/13)
2013 Oct 12, In Ethiopia foreign ministers of the 54-member African Union agreed that sitting heads of state should not be tried by the International Criminal Court where Kenya's leaders are in the dock. They also called for deferring the cases of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto.
(Reuters, 10/12/13)
2013 Oct 13, In Ethiopia an explosion killed two people and impacted a home used by US Embassy personnel in Addis Ababa. Two Somali suicide bombers, who had planned to kill soccer fans during Ethiopia's World Cup qualifying match against Nigeria, blew themselves up accidentally.
(AP, 10/13/13)(Reuters, 10/14/13)
2013 Oct 18, Ethiopia unveiled the first phase of a space exploration program, which includes East Africa's largest observatory designed to promote astronomy research in the region.
(AFP, 10/18/13)
2013 Oct 19, In Somalia a suicide bomber killed at least 16 people, including 4 Ethiopian soldiers, in an attack on a cafe in Beledweyne, a town close to the Ethiopian border frequented by local and foreign soldiers fighting al Qaeda-linked rebels.
(AFP, 10/19/13)(SSFC, 10/20/13, p.A7)
2013 Oct 25, Ethiopia banned domestic workers from moving overseas for employment, following an "exodus" of workers leaving the country through illegal placement agencies.
(AFP, 10/25/13)
2013 Oct 26, In Ethiopia Africa's biggest wind farm began production, aiding efforts to diversify electricity generation from hydropower plants and help the country become a major regional exporter of energy.
(Reuters, 10/26/13)
2013 Nov 5, In Ethiopia 4 people were killed in a bomb blast on a bus near the Sudanese border. Security forces were on high alert following attack warnings.
(AFP, 11/7/13)
2013 Nov 10, In Saudi Arabia thousands of illegal migrants, targeted in a nationwide crackdown, surrendered to police. In Riyadh 2 people were killed when a police raid targeting Ethiopian residents sparked a minor riot.
(AFP, 11/10/13)(SFC, 11/11/13, p.A2)(Econ, 11/16/13, p.52)
2013 Nov 12, In Saudi Arabia thousands of Africans, mostly Ethiopians, surrendered to authorities for a second day Ethiopia announced the death of three citizens during clashes in the Gulf kingdom.
(AFP, 11/12/13)
2013 Nov 13, In Saudi Arabia Ethiopia’s ambassador in Riyadh said some 23,000 Ethiopians have handed themselves in since Saudi authorities clamped down on illegal foreign workers 10 days ago. A Sudanese man was killed in a second flare of clashes since Nov 9 between Saudi riot police, citizens and foreign workers in Riyadh.
(AFP, 11/13/13)(Reuters, 11/13/13)
2013 Dec 5, Ethiopia said it has repatriated over 100,000 citizens from Saudi Arabia, following a violent crackdown against illegal immigrants in the oil-rich kingdom.
(AFP, 12/5/13)
2013 Dec 9, Water ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan held talks on an Ethiopian dam project, after Egypt's objections delayed formation of a committee to implement expert advice.
(AFP, 12/9/13)
2013 Dec 25, In Ethiopia Asfaw Berhanu, a former contributor to the private paper The Reporter, was convicted of charges stemming from a news story he wrote saying three government officials had been removed from their posts. An Ethiopian court sentenced him to two years and nine months in jail.
(AP, 12/31/13)
2014 Jan 1, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir declared a state of emergency in Unity and Jonglei states. Negotiators from the two warring sides arrived in Ethiopia for peace talks.
(Reuters, 1/1/14)(AP, 1/1/14)
2014 Jan 3, In Ethiopia South Sudan's warring parties began negotiations to end nearly three weeks of raging conflict which has left thousands feared dead and taken the world's youngest nation to the brink of all-out civil war. Fighting intensified as the army moved on rebel-held Bor.
(AFP, 1/3/14)
2014 Jan 4, South Sudan’s rebel and government sides met mediators from the regional IGAD grouping in Ethiopia for a second day but did not sit down together.
(Reuters, 1/4/14)
2014 Jan 23, South Sudan's government and rebels signed a peace deal in Ethiopia aimed at ending the month-old conflict as fighting continued in oil-rich Unity state and in Jonglei state.
(AP, 1/24/14)
2014 Jan 30, Leaders of the 54-member African Union met in Ethiopia for a two-day summit with the conflict in the Central African Republic and South Sudan dominating the agenda.
(AFP, 1/30/14)
2014 Jan, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe visited the Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Ethiopia to counter China’s success in building diplomatic support and winning access to raw materials.
(Econ, 1/25/14, p.34)
2014 Feb 17, Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn (31) locked his colleague out of the cockpit, hijacked a Rome-bound plane and landed in Geneva, all in an attempt to seek asylum in Switzerland. On March 16, 2015, Tagegn was convicted in absentia by Ethiopia’s high court.
(AP, 2/17/14)(AFP, 2/17/14)
2014 Mar 13, East African heads of state met in Addis Ababa in the latest push for peace in war-torn South Sudan, where almost three months of raging conflict has left thousands dead.
(AFP, 3/13/14)
2014 Apr 10, Two groups in Ethiopia said that they will hold an anti-gay demonstration later this month, a move that puts Ethiopia in line to become the next African country to increase the public demonization of gays.
(AP, 4/10/14)
2014 Apr 15, In western Ethiopia gunmen ambushed a bus carrying dozens of people near the Sudanese border, killing 9 and wounding six.
(Reuters, 4/16/14)
2014 Apr 29, Ethiopian police said they have arrested several people for "serious criminal activities." Rights groups said they were journalists and “Zone 9" bloggers detained in a sweeping crackdown against free speech. On Oct 16, 2015, Four of the bloggers and journalists were acquitted of terrorism after 18 months in jail. Journalist Befekadu Hailu, while being acquitted of terrorism charges, remained in custody on charges of inciting violence. Soleyana Gebremichael, in exile in the US, was acquitted of all charges in absentia.
(AFP, 4/29/14)(AFP, 10/16/15)
2014 May 1, Ethiopia authorities said at least 11 students have been killed in violent clashes with police. Violence erupted April 28 in a number of university campuses across Oromia state as ethnic Oromo students protested a plan by the government to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into parts of Oromia.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 3, In Sudan hundreds of exhausted illegal migrants reached the safety of a northern town, after 10 died when human traffickers abandoned them in the desert. Most appeared to be Ethiopian or Eritrean but there were some Sudanese as well.
(AP, 5/3/14)
2014 May 9, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to meet rebel leader Riek Machar under growing international pressure for an end to ethnic fighting that has raised fears of genocide.
(Reuters, 5/9/14)
2014 May 23, In Colorado a federal judge sentenced a former Ethiopian jail guard to 22 years in prison for immigration crimes. Kefelgn Alemu Worku was convicted of genocide in absentia in Ethiopia in 2000 and sentenced to death. He reportedly had tortured and killed dozens of people during government sponsored violence in the 1970s.
(SFC, 5/24/14, p.A11)
2014 May 31, Sixty migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia and two Yemeni crew members drowned in the Red Sea in the worst such tragedy off the coast of Yemen this year.
(AFP, 6/6/14)
2014 Jun 2, A Yemeni security official and witnesses said the bodies of dozens of illegal immigrants, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia, have been found on western beaches after their boat capsized in the Red Sea. The bodies started turning up on May 30.
(AP, 6/2/14)
2014 Jun, Andargachew Tsigie, the exiled secretary general of Ethiopia’s Ginbot 7 opposition movement, was detained in transit through Yemen and flown to Ethiopia.
(Econ, 8/9/14, p.42)
2014 Jul 2, The UN's food aid agency warned that Ethiopia is facing a huge wave of refugees from South Sudan, where the specter of famine threatens to heap further misery on a people already rocked by civil war.
(AFP, 7/2/14)
2014 Aug 19, The UN said the spiraling crisis in war-ravaged South Sudan has sent nearly 200,000 refugees into Ethiopia, making it Africa's largest refugee-hosting country.
(AFP, 8/19/14)
2014 Sep 8, In Ethiopia African Union chiefs held an emergency meeting to hammer out a continent-wide strategy to deal with the Ebola epidemic, which has killed over 2,000 people in west Africa.
(AFP, 9/8/14)
2014 Oct 27, UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced at the start of a visit to Ethiopia that the EU and several regional development banks have pledged $8 billion in development aid for projects across eight countries in the Horn of Africa. Countries targeted are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
(AFP, 10/27/14)(AP, 10/27/14)
2014 Nov 8, The African Union, African Development Bank and regional business leaders meeting in in Ethiopia announced a crisis fund to help areas hit by the Ebola outbreak.
(AFP, 11/9/14)
2014 Dec 19, The pilot of the Ethiopian attack helicopter forced his co-pilot and technician to land in Eritrean territory. The helicopter was conducting a routine training flight when it disappeared.
(AP, 12/23/14)
2015 Jan 13, Ethiopia reported that the city of Mekele has banned smoking in public places with fines more than an average monthly wage, the first city in the country to do so.
(AFP, 1/13/15)
2015 Jan 30, African Union leaders opened a two-day annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The 54-member bloc called for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to defeat the "horrendous" rise of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants.
(AFP, 1/30/15)
2015 Jan 30, In Ethiopia Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (90) took over the post of African Union chairman, replacing Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
(AFP, 1/30/15)
2015 Feb 1, After a two-day summit held in the African Union's Chinese-built headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, heads of state proposed new taxes on airline tickets, hotel stays and text messages.
(AFP, 2/1/15)
2015 Feb 23, Kenyan police arrested 101 Ethiopian nationals suspected of traveling illegally through Kenya on their way to South Africa.
(AP, 2/24/15)
2015 Mar 4, Scientists reported that a jawbone found in northeast Ethiopia was about 2.8 million years old making it the oldest to date for the Homo branch of humans.
(SFC, 3/5/15, p.A2)
2015 Mar 12, In Somalia 6 policemen were killed when al Shabaab Islamist militants detonated a car bomb outside a regional government headquarters in Baidoa. Five Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab militants opened fire at the gate of the high-security zone in Baidoa but were held off by Ethiopian and Somali government troops. An Ethiopian soldier was killed, three of the attackers blew themselves up, another was shot dead and the fifth was shot and wounded, ending the attack.
(AP, 3/12/15)(Reuters, 3/12/15)
2015 Mar 20, Ethiopian officials set fire to6.1 tons of illegal elephant tusks, ivory trinkets, carvings and various forms of jewelry on a wooden pyre in Addis Ababa to discourage poaching and the ivory trade.
(AP, 3/20/15)
2015 Mar 24, The leaders of Egypt and Ethiopia promised to boost cooperation on the Nile river and turn a page on a long-running row over Addis Ababa's controversial dam project.
(AFP, 3/24/15)
2015 Apr 19, The new video was posted by the Islamic State appeared to show militants shooting and beheading about 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya.
(Reuters, 4/19/15)
2015 May 12, Eritrean diplomat Mohammed Idris, from the Red Sea state's mission to the African Union, sought asylum in Ethiopia, citing rights abuses at home.
(Reuters, 5/13/15)
2015 May 17, Ethiopia said two hundred suspected human smugglers have been detained as part of the government's efforts to stem the number of citizens trying to illegally migrate to Europe.
(AP, 5/18/15)
2015 May 24, Ethiopians voted in the country's first general elections since the death of strongman Meles Zenawi in 2012. On May 27 the electoral board said the ruling party and its allies won an overwhelming majority in parliament in the weekend elections. Final results on June 22 showed the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) swept all but one seat in the 547-seat parliament. The opposition complained of voting abuses.
(AFP, 5/24/15)(AFP, 5/27/15)(Reuters, 6/22/15)
2015 Jul 1, In Ethiopia $1.8 billion the Gibe III dam was completed on the Omo river. It was expected to lower the water level of Lake Turkana by 30 feet.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgel_Gibe_III_Dam)(Econ, 7/11/15, p.44)
2015 Jul 26, President Barack Obama arrived in Ethiopia, the first time a sitting US president has been to this East African country.
(AP, 7/26/15)
2015 Jul 27, In Ethiopia US President Barack Obama praised the country for its fight against Shebab militants in Somalia, but also challenged Addis Ababa on its democratic record.
(AFP, 7/27/15)
2015 Jul 28, In Ethiopia US President Barack Obama said that Ethiopia "cannot unleash the full potential of its people" if it jails journalists and restricts legitimate opposition groups. In a speech at the African Union, Obama also said Central African Republic leaders needed to commit to inclusive elections and a peaceful transition of power.
(Reuters, 7/28/15)
2015 Aug 16, East African leaders met in Ethiopia ahead of a deadline for South Sudan's warring leaders to strike a peace deal or risk international sanctions.
(AFP, 8/16/15)
2015 Oct 14, Ethiopia called for $556 million in int’l. assistance to help feed 8.2 million people after erratic rains devastated crop yields.
(SFC, 10/15/15, p.A2)
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Subject = Ethiopia
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Return to home
Aksum was an ancient name of Ethiopia, also known as Abyssinia.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.12)(SFC, 6/4/99, p.W9)
The Konso people of Ethiopia produced funerary figures.
(NYT, 6/7/96, p.B9)
Africanet: http://www.africaodyssey.com/country/ethiopia
History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia#History
Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/afr/eth.htm
USLC: http://www.loc.gov/collections/country-studies/?q=ethiopia
USSD: http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/ethiopia_0398_bgn.html
27Mil BC Six species of prehistoric mammals from this were discovered in 2003 in the Chilga region of Ethiopia's northwestern highlands. They included 3 species of Palaeomastadon, one species Deinotherium, one Gompotherium, and an example of Arsinoitherium.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.D5)
10Mil BC In 2007 Ethiopian fossil hunter found molars of a large ape that bespoke gorilla origins from about this time. They named the large ape Chororapithecus abyssinicus.
(SFC, 8/23/07, p.A16)
5.8Mil-5.2Mil Yohannes Haile-Selassie and Giday WoldeGabriel reported in 2001 possible human fossils from this period in Ethiopia. They were tentatively named as a subspecies of Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba. Kadabba means progenitor in the Afar language.
(SFC, 7/12/01, p.A4)(AM, 9/01, p.16)
4.4Mil BC A partial skeleton in more than 90 pieces was found by a group led by Tim White, Gen Suwa and Berhane Asfaw in the Middle Awash at Aramis, Ethiopia, in late 1994. They name it Ardipithecus ramidus, which put it in a new genus and means ground ape root. A new argon-argon dating technique was used.
(SFC, 10/22/95, p.4-5)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A2)(SFC, 4/23/99, p.A21)(AM, 7/01, p.25)
4.1Mil BC-3Mil BC Fossils of Australopithecus anamensis and A. afarensis, later found in Ethiopia, showed that structures in the wrist bones had once supported knuckle walking.
(SFC, 3/23/00, p.A4)(SFC, 4/12/06, p.A2)
4Mil BC-3.8Mil BC 2005 hominid bones indicting bipedalism were discovered at a new site called Mille, in the northeastern Afar region of Ethiopia. They were estimated to be 3.8-4 million years old.
(AP, 3/6/05)
3.6Mil BC-3Mil BC A composite skull of adult male, Australopithecus afarensis, was found in 1975 by M. Bush at Hadar, Ethiopia. In 1978-1979 Mary Leakey’s team excavated a 75-foot long trail of 47 footprints, found at Laetoli, Tanzania, most likely made by Australopithecus afarensis.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p.568)(Hem., Dec. '95, p.24)(PacDisc, Spring ‘96, p.2)
3.58Mil In 2010 fossil hunters reported the discovery in Ethiopia’s Afar Desert of bones from a male specimen of Australopithecus afarensis dating to this time. The 40% skeleton was estimated to have stood about 5-5˝ feet tall.
(SFC, 6/24/10, p.A4)
3.4Mil BC The fossil of a pre-human footprint dating to this time was later found in Ethiopia and attributed by scientists in 2012 to a hominin line that never adapted to terrestrial mobility upright.
(SFC, 3/29/12, p.A5)
3.3Mil BC In northeastern Ethiopia scientists in 2000 found a remarkably complete skeleton of a 3-year-old Australopithecus afarensis female dating to about this time. This is the same ape-man species as represented by "Lucy," found in 1974.
(AP, 9/20/06)
3.2Mil BC Donald C. Johanson found Lucy's 3.2 million-year-old bones in Ethiopia in 1974. Dr. Johanson and an international team at Hadar, Ethiopia, discovered a female skeleton in 3 million year old strata and named it Lucy. Subsequent finds there and at Laetoli, Tanzania, led to the naming of a new species: Australopithecus afarensis.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p. 564)(SFC, 10/22/95, p.4-5)
3Mil BC A nearly complete male skull of A. afarensis was found in 1991 at Hadar, Ethiopia.
(www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/specimen.html#afarensis)
2.8Mil BC Scientists in 2015 reported that a jawbone found in northeast Ethiopia dated to about this time making it the oldest to date for the Homo branch of humans.
(SFC, 3/5/15, p.A2)
2.6Mil BC-2.52Mil BC Stone flakes, flake fragments and cores of the Oldowan type from the Afar region of Ethiopia have been dated to this time. They were excavated between 1992-1994 along the Gona River.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.13)
1Mil BC A homo erectus skull from Daka, Ethiopia, from this time was identified in 2001 as an ancestor to all modern humans. Tim D. White and Berhani Asfaw led the team that discovered the fossils in 1997.
(SFC, 3/21/02, p.A1)
600000BC A skull of this age from Bodo, Ethiopia, exhibits the largest nasal width of any Homo fossil.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.32)
500000BC-200000BC In Ethiopia a hominid skull from this period was discovered in 2006 at the Gawis river drainage basin in the Afar region.
(Reuters, 3/24/06)
195000BC Human fossils found in Ethiopia in 1967 were dated in 2005 to be about 195k years old.
(SFC, 2/17/05, p.A6)
160000BC-154000BC Fossils of human skulls, found in 1997 near Herto, Ethiopia, were dated in 2003 to this period. Tim D. White and colleagues made the find.
(SFC, 6/12/03, p.A10)
955BC-587BC The Ark of the Covenant, the sacred chest built by Moses containing the Ten Commandments, disappeared from Jerusalem during this period. Legend in Ethiopia holds that the Ark was stolen by Menelik I, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and taken to Aksum where Orthodox Christian monks have watched over it ever since.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)
c950BC The Queen of Sheba lived about this time. Local legends name her Makeda and claim that she was from Ethiopia. Archeologists have found inscriptions from the ancient Sabean kingdom but no mention of Makeda or Bilqis, the local name for Sheba in Yemen. The Koran claims she ruled from Yemen.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A1)
c950BC The Kebra Negast, a 14th cent. Ethiopian text, claims that the Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to see Solomon and that he tricked her into sleeping with him and bearing him a son.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A6)
155BC-213 Some evidence has it that the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia during this period. The 1992 book "The Sign and the Seal" by Graham Hancock presents the evidence.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)
330 Ezana (Aezianas), ruler of Aksum (northeast Ethiopia), converted much of his realm to Christianity. During his rule he constructed much of the monumental architecture of Aksum, including a reported 100 stone obelisks, the tallest of which loomed 98 ft over the cemetery in which it stood and weighed 517 tons. Most of the obelisks were later destroyed, but one 1,700-year-old monument was hauled off by Italian forces after their 1937 invasion. It was returned in 2003.
(http://archaeology.about.com/cs/africa/a/aksum.htm)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A2)
330 Frumentius became the first Bishop of Ethiopia. He was a Syrian who grew up in Axum and converted the King.
(www.africanet.com/africanet/country/ethiopia/history.htm)
c850 Outsiders found coffee in the region of Ethiopia called Kaffa, hence the name.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, Z1 p.4)(www.koffeekorner.com/koffeehistory.htm)
c1197 The sacred cross of Lalibela dates to this time. It was believed to belong to King Lalibela of Ethiopia who ordered "on command of God and with the help of angels" the construction of a holy city hewn from rock. In 1997 it was reported lost.
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.E4)
1268 The recorded lineage of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia begins with Yekuno Amlak. See the reference for a complete list.
(www.imperialethiopia.org/solomonids.htm)
1300-1400 The Kebra Negast, a 14th cent. Ethiopian text, claims that the Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to see Solomon and that he tricked her into sleeping with him and bearing him a son.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A6)
1351 The east African Kingdom of Dongala became hemmed in by Muslim states such as Kordofan and Darfur and was forced to surrender to Egypt its territory north of the third cataract. Axum was harried by the Muslims of Funj and the people retreated into the mountains and developed into the isolated Christian kingdom of Ethiopia.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.170)
1471 Jul 15, Eskender (d.1494), Emperor of Ethiopia, was born. Eskender was killed at age 22 fighting the Maya, a vanished ethnic group known for using poisoned arrows.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskender)
1494 Eskender (b.1471), Emperor of Ethiopia, was killed at age 22 fighting the Maya, a vanished ethnic group known for using poisoned arrows.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskender)
1543 Feb 21, In the Battle at Wayna Daga Ethiopian and Portuguese troops beat Moslem army. Ahmed Gran, sultan of Adal, died in the battle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelawdewos_of_Ethiopia)
1582 The Christian world adopted the revised Gregorian calendar, but Ethiopia stayed with the Julian calendar.
(www.gcw.nl/dissertations/3386/dis3386.pdf)
1854 British explorer Sir Richard Burton became one of the first foreigners to penetrate the "forbidden" walls of Harar, Ethiopia, disguised as a Muslim trader. Harar, also called Jugol, was founded in the 10th century and is reputed to be one of the oldest cities in east Africa.
(AFP, 8/22/14)
1735 Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) translated a book on Abyssinia by a Portuguese Jesuit: “A Voyage to Abyssinia." In 1759 Johnson authored his prose fiction “The History of Rasellas, Prince of Abissinia." In the novel morality and happiness are shown not as matters of simple alternatives but sometimes impossible ones.
(www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_se/personal/cjmm/Rasselas.html)(http://tinyurl.com/ld7bp)
1844 cAug 17, Menelik II, King of Ethiopia (1896-1913), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1855 Ras Kassa had himself crowned as the emperor at Axum (Ethiopia) under the name, Tewodros, and constructed an army to reunite the provinces of Tigre, Amhara and Shoa.
(www.africanet.com/africanet/country/ethiopia/history.htm)
1868 Apr 13, Tewodros II (1818-1868), also known as Theodore II, committed suicide at Magdala while under British siege. He was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855-1868.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tewodros_II)
1868 Ethiopia’s Prince Alemayehu (7), son of Tewodros II, was placed on a ship to Britain and enrolled in boarding school. Alemayehu (18) died 11 years later of suspected pleurisy in the northern city of Leeds, after years of loneliness. In 2007 Ethiopia called for the return of his remains.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/3/10)
1868 Following the defeat of Ethiopian emperor Tewodros by British troops, victorious soldiers stole an 18-carat gold crown, more than 500 ancient manuscripts and a painting. A British soldier took the wooden Tabot of St. Michael from the fortress of Emp. Tewodros II at Maqdala. It was returned in 2002.
(AM, 5/01, p.10)(AP, 6/3/10)
1869 Nov 11, Victor Emmanuel III, king of Italy (1900-46) and Ethiopia, was born.
(MC, 11/11/01)
1886 In Ethiopia Menelik II, a King of the Shewa province, founded Addis Ababa. The site was chosen by Empress Taytu Betul.
(Econ, 8/28/10, p.40)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addis_Ababa)
1889 Mar 10, In Ethiopia Emperor Yohannes was killed in a war against the dervishes during the Battle of Gallabat (Matemma). With his dying breaths, Yohannes declared his natural son, Dejazmach Mengesha Yohannes, as his heir. On 25 March, upon hearing of the death of Yohannes, Negus Menelik immediately proclaimed himself as Nəgusä Nägäst.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menelik_II_of_Ethiopia)
1889 Nov 3, In Ethiopia Emperor Menelik II (1844-1913) began ruling as emperor, fending off the encroachments of European powers.
(www.ethiopianembassy.org/history.shtml)
1892 Jul 23, Haile Selassie (d.1975), Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74), was born as Tafari Makonnen at Ejarsa Goro, near Harer. He pleaded with the League of Nations to halt the Italian invasion of his country. "Outside the kingdom of the Lord there is no nation which is greater than any other."
(AP, 7/23/02)(www.imperialethiopia.org/history3.htm)
1894 Dec, An uprising in Eritrea was swiftly put down by the Italians. Italian troops under Gen. Oreste Baratieri then marched south from Eritrea and seized the northwestern Agame region of Ethiopia.
(ON, 2/11, p.7)
1895 Sep 17, Ethiopia’s Emperor Menelik II issued a mobilization proclamation calling on men to gather to resist the Italian army.
(ON, 2/11, p.7)
1896 Mar 1, The Battle of Adowa (Adwa, Adua) began in Ethiopia between the 80,000 forces of Negus Menelik, Emperor Menelik II, and 18-20,000 Italian troops. The Italians suffered a crushing defeat with some 6,000 killed. Menalik II and his wife Taitu led Ethiopia to independence from Italy. In 2000 Haile Gerima made a 90 minute documentary of the event, "Adwa: An African Victory."
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-12)(AP, 3/1/98)(SFC, 5/15/00, p.D3)(Econ, 2/26/11, p.89)(ON, 2/11, p.9)
1906 Jul 4, Great Britain, France & Italy granted independence to Ethiopia.
(Maggio, 98)
1913 Dec 12, Ethiopia’s Emperor Menelik II (b.1844) died. After his death the council of regency continued the rule of Ethiopia. Lij Iyasu had been designated successor of Menelik II by Empress Taytu in May 1909 - however a problem occurred: the imperial Abyssinian rules of succession dictated, that only a Christian could rule Ethiopia as Emperor - and Lij Iyasu had taken the Muslim faith. Therefore Lij Iyasu was never crowned emperor of Ethiopia. In 1916 Empress Zewditu I of Ethiopia succeeded Menelik II, she was his oldest daughter.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menelik_II_of_Ethiopia)
1914 Jun 27, US signed a treaty of commerce with Ethiopia.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1916 Sep 27, In September 1916, an assembly of nobles with the agreement of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church deposed Emperor Lij Iyasu (Iyasu V), the grandson and heir of Emperor Menelik II, for suspected conversion to Islam. In his place they crowned Menelik's daughter Zauditu as Empress of Ethiopia and her cousin Ras (Duke) Tafari Makonnen as Crown Prince and Regent.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)
1923 Haile Selassie secured admission to the League of Nations.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)
1924 Sep 6, Forty teenagers from Armenia, who had escaped from the Armenian genocide in Turkey, arrived in Addis Ababa. They along with their bandleader Kevork Nalbandian became the first official orchestra of Ethiopia. Nalbandian composed the music for Ethiopia’s Imperial National Anthem, Marsh Teferi (words by Yoftahé Negusé), official from 1930 to 1974.
(www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Arba_Lijoch)
1924 Slavery itself was abolished by edict in Ethiopia.
(www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/ethiopia.htm)
1928 Tafari Makonnen (b.1892) became King of Shewa.
(www.imperialethiopia.org/history3.htm)
1930 Apr 2, Ethiopia’s Empress Zauditu died and Ras Tafari assumed the title of Emperor.
(www.ethiopianembassy.org/history.shtml)
1930 Nov 2, Haile Selassie was crowned emperor of Ethiopia. His coronation was taken as a sign by Jamaicans, who became known as Rastafarians, from the term Ras Tafari, a title held by Selassie. Ras Tafari crowned Haile Selassie I, 225th emperor of Solmonic Dynasty.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)(AP, 11/2/97)(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A12)
1931 Haile Selassie introduced Ethiopia’s first written constitution.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)
1931 Slavery was officially abolished in Ethiopia (1930 by the Ethiopian calendar).
(www.law.emory.edu/WAL/Advocacy/day1.htm)
1932 Aug 7, Abebe Bikila (d.1973), barefoot runner from Ethiopia, winner of the 1960 Olympic marathon, was born.
(HN, 8/7/98)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ZLB1-Ofyw)
1933 Count Byron De Prorok undertook an archeological expedition from Egypt into Ethiopia. His book "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" described the venture. He pioneered the use of motion pictures from 1920. His other books included "Digging for Lost African Gods" (1926), "Mysterious Sahara" (1929) and "In Quest of Lost Worlds" (1935).
(AM, 9/01, p.64)
1934 Dec 5, Italian and Ethiopian troops clashed at the Ualual on disputed Somali-Ethiopian border.
(HN, 12/5/98)
1935 Jun 30, Fascists caused an uproar at the League of Nations when Haile Selassie of Ethiopia spoke. He also warned the League of Nations of the dangers of appeasement.
(HN, 6/30/98)
1935 Jul 18, Ethiopian King Haile Selassie urged his countrymen to fight to the last man against the invading Italian army. He had previously warned the League of Nations of the dangers of appeasement.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1935 Oct 3, Italy invaded Ethiopia.
(DoD, 1999, p.237)(www.onwar.com/aced/data/india/italyethiopia1935.htm)
1935 Oct 6, Italian army occupied Adua, Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 10/6/01)
1935 Oct 11, The League of Nations met and voted 50 to 4 (Austria, Hungary, Italy and Albania opposed) to condemn Italy for the attack on Ethiopia.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1935 Dec 30, Italian bombers destroyed a Swedish Red Cross unit in Ethiopia.
(MC, 12/30/01)
1935-1936 The Italian army used chemical warfare against Ethiopia in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol.
(NH, 10/98, p.18)
1936 Jan 5, Daggha Bur, Ethiopia, was bombed by the Italians.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1936 Mar 29, Italy firebombed the Ethiopian city of Harar.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1936 May 2, With the Italian invasion Ethiopia’s Emp. Haile Selassie left for French Somaliland. He went into exile for 5 years during which time he was based in Bath, England.
(http://tinyurl.com/ahqhm)
1936 May 5, Italian troops occupied Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 1757 Italians and 1593 Eritreans were killed, more than 275,000 Ethiopians were killed.
(http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/Prelude05.html)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1936 May 9, Fascist Italy annexed Ethiopia as Benito Mussolini celebrated in Rome.
(AP, 5/9/97)(HN, 5/9/98)
1936 Jun 30, Haile Selassie asked the League of Nations for sanctions against Italy.
(www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive/speech_400.html)
1936 Jul 4, The League Council voted to end economic sanctions against Italy with the collapse of Ethiopia. The cancellation of economic sanctions against an aggressor state marked the failure of collective security under the League and was a harbinger of conflict in the upcoming years.
(http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1936.htm)
1937 Jan 9, Italian regime banned marriages between Italians and Abyssinians.
(MC, 1/9/02)
1937 Feb, More than 30,000 Ethiopians were massacred in Addis Ababa.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1937 The 1,700 year-old Axum Obelisk was dismantled and removed from Ethiopia by Italian forces. Mussolini used it to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his march on Rome. In 1998 Italy agreed to return it. The border war delayed the return to 2003.
(AM, 5/01, p.10)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A2)
1941 Mar 7, British troops invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 3/7/02)
1941 Apr 6, Italian-held Addis Ababa surrendered to British and Ethiopian forces.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1941 May 5, Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1941 May 18, Italian army under General Aosta surrendered to Britain in Ethiopia.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1941 Nov 18, Mussolini's forces left Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 11/18/01)
1942 Aug 26, Haile Selassie issued a new proclamation outlawing slavery in Ethiopia. Slavery was first outlawed in 1924.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R28)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1942 Aug 26, Haile Selassie established the State Bank of Ethiopia.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1944 Apr 4, British troops captured Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1945 After WW II Ethiopia annexed Eritrea, a former Italian colony, and ruled it ruthlessly.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)
1946 Dec, Ethiopian Airlines was founded.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1947 Dec 28, Victor Emmanuel (b.1869-1947), also known as Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy (1900-1946), Emperor of Ethiopia (1939-1943) and King of Albania (1939-1943), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_III_of_Italy)
1950 Dec 2, The UN voted 46-10 for Eritrea to be federated with Ethiopia. Union was to be achieved September 15, 1952.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1951 Feb 27, University College of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was opened.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1951 Oct 7, Dr. Eduardo Anze Matienzo of Bolivia, UN commissioner for Eritrea, announced that Eritrea had accepted the UN Federation plan.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1952 Jul 10, The new constitution of Eritrea, adopted and ratified on August 11, provided that Eritrea should have legislative, executive and judicial powers in matters not reserved to the federal government.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1952 Sep 11, Eritrean-Ethiopian federation act was signed and Eritrea became an independent (federated) nation. Washington, worried an emergent Eritrea would come under Soviet influence, had arranged for it to be yoked in a federation to U.S. client Ethiopia.
(AP, 1/3/05)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1955 Nov 4, Haile Selassie introduced a revised constitution under which he retained effective power while extending political participation by allowing the lower house of parliament become an elected body.
(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Haile_Selassie)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1955 King Selassie granted a group of Rastafarians a small area of fertile land in southern Ethiopia.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A14)
1955 US Col. Edward S. Berry (d.1999 at 93) helped establish the Ethiopian Military College.
(SFC, 7/28/99, p.C2)
1959 A water agreement between Egypt and Sudan was based on an annual net yield of 96.2 billion cubic yards of water and gave Egypt 72.15 billion and Sudan 20.04. Ethiopia got no allocation and never recognized the treaty.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A1)
1959 Catherine Hamlin (35) moved to Ethiopia from Australia to work as an obstetrician and gynecologist. Hamlin and her husband later founded a hospital where women can seek free treatment for obstetric fistulas, which are holes that develop between the birth canal and the bladder or rectum that can develop during long and difficult births.
(AP, 10/13/09)
1960 Sep 10, Abebe Bikila (1932-1973), barefoot runner from Ethiopia, won the Olympic marathon.
(HN, 8/7/98)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ZLB1-Ofyw)
1962 In Ethiopia a 16-year-old artist painted "Woman at the Market."
(SFEM, 1/12/97, DB p.20)
1962 Ethiopia made Eritrea a separate province.
(WSJ, 5/26/00, p.A22)
1963 May 25, The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2001 it was replaced the African Union.
(AP, 5/25/97)(SFC, 7/12/01, p.A12)
1966 Apr 21, Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) visited Kingston, Jamaica.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1970 The Finchaa Dam was built in Ethiopia.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A9)
1970 China established relations with Ethiopia.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A2)
1972 Mar 27, The Addis Ababa accords ended fighting between north and south Sudan. It made the south a self-governing region. Pres. Gaafar Muhammed Nimeiri ended the 17 year civil war in the Sudan between the north and south.
(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/sudan-civil-war1.htm)(WSJ, 10/22/03, p.A4)
1973 In Ethiopia the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was formed to seek greater autonomy for Oromia region.
(AFP, 11/10/06)
1974 Mar 1, The Ethiopian government of Makonnen Endelkacaw (1927-1974) formed.
(www.worldstatesmen.org/Ethiopia.html)
1974 Sep 12, Haile Selassie I, "King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah," was deposed by the military from the Ethiopian throne. A military committee (known as the Dergue) was established from several divisions of the Ethiopian Armed forces. General Aman Amdon was elected as spokesperson for the Dergue and implemented policies for the country, which included land distribution to peasants, nationalizing industries and services under public ownership and led Ethiopia into the Socialism.
(AP, 9/12/99)(http://tinyurl.com/7lnnz)
1974 Nov 23, In Ethiopia 60 government officials were executed.
(http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/ethiopia/ethiopia39.html)
1974 Dr. Donald C. Johanson and an international team at Hadar, Ethiopia, discovered a female skeleton in 3 million year old strata and name it Lucy. Subsequent finds there and at Laetoli, Tanzania, led to the naming of a new species: Australopithecus afarensis.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p. 564)
1974-1991 The regime of Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam ruled Ethiopia.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengistu_Haile_Mariam)
1975 Feb 18, The Tigray People’s Liberation Front began a rebellion in northern Ethiopia.
(www.scribd.com/doc/14967/The-Origins-Of-TPLF)
1975 Mar 21, Ethiopia ended its monarchy after 3000 years. In May the monarchy was formally abolished, and Marxism-Leninism was proclaimed the ideology of the state.
(www.worldstatesmen.org/Ethiopia.html)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derg)
1975 Aug 27, Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia’s 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83 almost a year after he was overthrown in a military coup. It was later discovered that the Derg, the ruling military committee, had voted to murder the imprisoned emperor. Selassie was born of royal blood and originally named Ras Tafari, and is regarded as the savior by a religious sect originating in Jamaica whose members are called Rastafarians. Crowned emperor in 1930 under the title Haile Selassie I (meaning "Power of the Trinity"), he was by tradition a descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. He reigned as emperor of Ethiopia until 1974. Ryszard Kapuscinski later authored "The Emperor," a biography of Selassie.
(AP, 8/27/00)(HNQ, 2/4/00)(WSJ, 4/18/01, p.A20)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.49)
1976 Feb 18, The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) issued a manifesto to secede from Ethiopia.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A14)(www.abugidainfo.com/?p=3393)(http://tinyurl.com/2j2pxf)
1977 Feb 24, Pres. Carter announced the US was cutting off all military aid to Ethiopia because of its human rights violations. The unstated reason was the US desire to cooperate with Saudi Arabia to lure Somalia from the Soviet camp, an effort which was ultimately successful.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Politics/africa.html)
1977 Somalia and Ethiopia engaged in battle. The Soviet Union provided tanks to both sides. Somalia tried and failed to push into the Ogaden area of Ethiopia. The Somalis managed to reach the walled city of Harer, a center for Islam in Ethiopia. An Ethiopian counter-offensive backed by Cuban troops wrecked Somalia’s army and led to the 1991 of the Somali regime.
(Econ, 8/12/06, p.19)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.49)(Econ, 1/7/12, p.42)
1977-1978 The Ethiopian Red Terror, or Qey Shibir, was a violent political campaign in Ethiopia undertaken during the leadership of the Derg, a socialist military junta. Hirut Abebe-Jiri, imprisoned and tortured during a purge known as the “Red Terror," later set up an organization to archive, translate and index the Derg files. As many as 100,000 people were killed during the campaign as Mengistu sought to transform the country into a Soviet-style workers' state. (Econ, 9/29/07, p.50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror_(Ethiopia))(AP, 3/7/10)
1978 Feb 7, Ethiopia mounted a counter attack against Somalia.
(HN, 2/7/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden_War)
1978 UNESCO named Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains National Park a World Heritage Site.
(SSFC, 5/24/15, p.L2)
1981 Karlheinz Boehm (1928-2014), Austrian actor and human rights activist, founded the Menschen fuer Menschen ("People for People") aid group dedicated to helping people in Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/30/14)
1982 Jan 2, The Somali National Movement (SNM) launched its first military operation against the Somali government. Operating from Ethiopian bases.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/sierra/somalia1982b.htm)
1984 Nov 18, The Soviets helped deliver U.S. wheat during the Ethiopian famine.
(HN, 11/18/98)
1984 In Ethiopia the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) was formed for the independence of Ogaden, which Rebels claimed has been marginalized by Addis Ababa. The region is suspected of holding large oil and natural gas reserves.
(AP, 7/25/07)
1984-1985 Severe famine hit Ethiopia and took an estimated 100,000 lives.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8,12)(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)
1985 Jan 5, Israel’s 6-week Operation Moses for the resettlement of 8,000 Ethiopian Jews ended. It began Nov 18, 1984, but new was blacked out for security reasons.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html)
1985 Jan 13, A train plunged into a ravine in eastern Ethiopia and killed at least 392 people.
(http://tinyurl.com/yznz8w)
1985 Jul 13, Live Aid, an international rock concert in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, took place to raise money for Ethiopia and Africa's starving people. It was organized by Bob Geldof of Ireland.
(TMC, 1994, p.1985)(AP 7/13/97)(Econ, 6/4/05, p.56)
1985 Ethiopia’s Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam gave some 570,000 people the choice of moving or being shot. It was part of a program to counter the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
(Econ, 7/17/04, p.50)(www.uscis.gov)
1988 Eritrea was victorious over Ethiopian forces.
(SSFC, 4/15/12, p.P3)
1988 In Slovenia journalists of the weekly magazine Mladina ran news stories about secret arms deals between Yugoslavia and Ethiopia.
(SFC, 4/14/97, p.A8)
1989 Aug 7, A small plane carrying Congressman Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 15 others disappeared during a flight in Ethiopia. The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.
(AP, 8/7/99)
1989 Aug 13, Searchers in Ethiopia found the wreckage of a plane which had disappeared almost a week earlier while carrying Texas Congressman Mickey Leland and 15 other people. There were no survivors.
(AP, 8/13/97)
1990 Feb, The port of Massawa, Eritrea, was liberated from Ethiopian forces.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C2)(http://tinyurl.com/8byua)
1991 May 21, Ethiopia’s Marxist president (Mengistu Haile Mariam) resigned and fled into exile as rebels continued to advance. Mengistu left behind thousands of pages of memoranda. (AP, 5/21/01)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.50)
1991 May 24, Eritrean rebels liberated Asmara from Ethiopian rule. Days later Ethiopian rebels from Tigray took Addis Ababa with the help of Eritrean counterparts and ended the 17-year rule of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1991 May 25, Foreigners fled the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa as rebels closed in on the city.
(AP, 5/25/01)
1991 May 25, Israel completed "Operation Solomon," which had evacuated 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to their promised land.
(AP, 5/25/01)
1991 May 27, Ethiopia ordered its troops to lay down their arms in the face of a rebel advance. An estimated 60,000 Eritreans died in the rebel war with Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/27/01)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.80)
1991 May 28, Ethiopian rebels seized control of the capital of Addis Ababa, a week after the country’s longtime Marxist ruler, Mengistu Haile Mariam, resigned his post and fled.
(AP, 5/28/01)
1991 May, In Ethiopia an armed revolution led by the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front took over the government from the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam known as the Dergue (Derg). Meles Zenawi (36), a former Marxist-Leninist and the guerrilla leader of the TPLF took control of the government. The Tigrean minority made up only 5% of the country’s population. Some 4 million Tigrayans lorded over 18 million Amharans and 20 million Oromos. Some experts say 150,000 university students, intellectuals and politicians were killed in a nationwide purge by Mengistu's regime. No one knew for sure how many suspected opponents were killed.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A12)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A14)(AP, 6/1/11)
1991-1995 Meles Zenawi (b.1956) served as Chairman of the EPRDF and President of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia.
(www.brandt21forum.info/BioAfricaCom-Zenawi.htm)
1993 Apr 23-1993 Apr 25, Eritrea voted to secede from Ethiopia.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1993 May 24, Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after a 30-year civil war. Some 65,000 Eritreans lost their lives in the fight for independence. Pres. Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia allowed Eritrea to secede as a reward for the support of its rebel forces in 1991.
(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.A14)(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)(MC, 5/24/02)
1993 The Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front was launched in the land of the Afars, over territory that straddled Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The Afars numbered some 2 million and their territory had previously been called the French Territory of Afars and Issas.
(Econ, 3/10/07, p.44)
1994 Meles Zenawi (39), was the president of Ethiopia and its 53 million people.
(CNT, Nov.,1994, p.245)
1994 Ethiopia adopted a new federal constitution with many powers devolved to the regions.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.33)
1994 Asrat Woldeyes, president of the All Amhara People’s Organization, was jailed.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
1995 Jun 26, Egypt’s Pres. Mubarak escaped unharmed after his motorcade came under fire during a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was en route to a summit of the Organization of African Unity. In 1996 an Ethiopian court sentenced 3 Egyptian men to death for the attack.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)(AP, 7/9/04)(SFC, 2/12/11, p.A4)
1995 Aug 22, Meles Zenawi was elected PM of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic.
(www.brandt21forum.info/BioAfricaCom-Zenawi.htm)
1995 In Ethiopia Almaz Meko was elected speaker of the House for Federation, the upper house of Parliament.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.A17)
1996 May 9, Bacterial meningitis has infected more than 100,000 people in West Africa over the last 3 months and more than 10,000 have died. The epidemic has been most intense in the region just south of the Sahara known as the Sahel. The 1996 epidemic resulted in some 20,000 deaths. The "meningitis belt" swept from Senegal to Ethiopia about every 10 years.
(SFC, 5/9/96, p.C-5)(WSJ, 3/17/03, p.B4)
1996 Jun 3, Two rivers overflowed in Ethiopia killing 12 people. Some 30,000 were forced from their homes.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C5)
1996 Sep 23, Ethiopian forces exchanged fire with Somali militiamen.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 23, An Ethiopian Boeing 767 airliner crashed into the Indian ocean near Grand Comore Island. It had been hijacked after takeoff from Addis Ababa and ran out of fuel under hijacker demands to fly to Australia. Some 54 of 175 people were saved. The plane was destined for the Ivory Coast with stops along the way.
(SFEC, 11/24/96, p.A1,10)
1997 Mar 10, The 800-year-old cross of Lalibela was reported lost.
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.E2)
1997 Apr 14, A grenade attack wounded 33 in the largest supermarket of Addis Ababa. Two similar attacks over the weekend killed one person and injured 41 at a restaurant and hotel in the capital.
(WSJ, 4/15/97, p.A9)
1997 May 13, It was reported that 6 teenage girls in Ethiopia had committed suicide over the last 9 months in order to avoid traditional marriages to elderly cousins as old as 80.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.A13)
1997 Aug 22, It was reported that Ethiopia has completed work on more than 200 dams that use 624 million cubic yards of Nile water per year.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug, Ethiopian officials set up an administration in the contested region known as Bada, that triggered skirmishes with Eritrea.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A14)
1997 Nov 15, It was reported that storms over the past three weeks have killed at least 1000 people in Ethiopia and Somalia and left some 100,000 families displaced and in competition with crocodiles and hippos for dry land. The overflowing Juba and the Shabelle Rivers originate in Ethiopia. The Juba had become 8 miles wide at some points.
(SFC,11/15/97, p.A3)(SFEC,11/16/97, p.A27)
1997 Nov 20, It was reported that flooding in Ethiopia had killed 297 people and uprooted 65,000 and that heavy rains continued to fall.
(SFC,11/20/97, p.B2)
1997 Nov-1997 Dec, Health workers in Ethiopia under int’l. financing worked to vaccinate every child under 5 against polio.
(SFC, 1/2/98, p.A14)
1997 Ethiopia received over $100 million in aid from the US and over $700 million in loans from the IMF.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
1997 Eritrea introduced its own currency, the nakfa, and sought to make it directly exchangeable with the Ethiopian burr in cross-border transaction.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A10)
1997 Assefa Maru, second in command of Ethiopia’s Teacher’s Association, was killed.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Jan, Editors and journalists of Tobia, the largest and most respected independent publication in Ethiopia, were arrested after publishing a secret UN document critical of the government.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Apr 4, A locust plague in Ethiopia was reported covering an area of 3,700 acres in the regions of Jijiga and Dire Dawa. Aerial spraying was begun.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 20, Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won the 102nd Boston Marathon among the women in 2:23:21.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 May 6, There was a border skirmish between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the 150-square-mile area called the Badme triangle. Later a settlement of the border war was contingent on the borders prior to this date.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A12)(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)
1998 May 12, Eritrea accused Ethiopian militiamen of invading its territory in a border skirmish. Ethiopia later said 20 people were killed and 20 wounded by Eritrean forces.
(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)
1998 May 28, In Eritrea veterans were mobilized to be sent to Ethiopian border where the 160-square-mile Yigra triangle was under dispute. Eritrea claimed ownership under the still binding Italian colonial borders.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D4)
1998 May, An international panel in 2005, formed to resolve disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, said Eritrea violated int’l. law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia in May 1998.
(AFP, 12/22/05)
1998 Jun 3, Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers clashed in heavy fighting along their disputed border.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 5-1998 Jun 6, Eritrea and Ethiopia sent warplanes on bombing raids against each other. In Mekele, Ethiopia, at least 40 people were killed and over 100 wounded.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 8, Eritrea appealed for direct talks with Ethiopia to end the border war.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 9, Heavy fighting erupted on the Ethiopian-Eritrean frontier in the latest stage of their undeclared war.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 11, Fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia was reported 50 miles from Eritrea’s Red Sea port of Assab.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to halt the use of air strikes in their border war.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 22, It was reported that a 2.5 mile crack had opened up at Adami Tulu, 105 miles south of Addis Ababa. The growing depression was 16 feet wide and 40 feet deep and moving in the direction of lakes Abiyata and Shala.
(SFC, 8/22/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 22, In Ethiopia the government said that 2,000 Eritreans had been expelled over the past week bringing the total to 6,500. It charged that Eritrea had forced out 17,000 Ethiopians.
(SFC, 9/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 26-1998 Sep 30, In Ethiopia the Lions Club charity sponsored a free surgical program at the Adama hospital in Nazareth town. Over 700 cataract patients were treated. Some had been blind for 20 years.
(SFC, 10/3/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 17, Ethiopia deported over 650 Eritreans after 4 months of detainment.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.C5)
1998 China began to expand its influence in Ethiopia when the US evacuated its Peace Corps volunteers and scaled back military aid due to the border war with Eritrea.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
1998-2000 An estimated 70,000 people were killed in the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
(Econ, 8/4/07, p.42)
1999 Jan 29, Amnesty Int'l. reported that Ethiopia had forcefully deported 52,000 Eritreans since the eruption of war in 1998.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb 6, Ethiopia and Eritrea resumed their clash after an 8-month lull. Heavy casualties were reported.
(WSJ, 2/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 9, An Ethiopian plane bombed an Eritrean village and at least 5 civilians were killed. Eritrea reported that a large number of Ethiopian forces were killed near Tsorena, but Ethiopia denied the Eritrean version of the fighting.
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 14, Eritrea shot down an Mi-24 Ethiopian helicopter gunship at Bure and the crew was killed. Eritrea said that 16 civilians had been killed by Ethiopian aircraft since Feb 6.
(SFC, 2/15/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 15, Eritrea reported that Ethiopia had begun a new round of shelling southwest of Assab.
(SFC, 2/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 21, Ethiopian planes struck the airport at Assab but Eritrean officials said the 12 bombs dropped by 2 planes failed to hit their targets.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 23, Ethiopian troops attacked Eritrea with tanks and aircraft.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 24, Eritrea said that it had destroyed 31 Ethiopian tanks, captured 3 others and shot down a Mi-24 helicopter gunship.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 26, Ethiopia claimed to have shot down a 2nd Eritrean MiG-29.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 27, Eritrea agreed to accept an African sponsored proposal to end its border dispute with Ethiopia. This followed an Ethiopian breakthrough at Badme.
(SFEC, 2/28/99, p.A23)
1999 Feb 28, Ethiopia claimed victory over Eritrea and said that it had killed, wounded and captured tens of thousands of Eritrean soldiers.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A12)
1999 Mar 15, Eritrea claimed to have shot down an Ethiopian MiG-23 and to have destroyed 19 tanks. Ethiopia denied the claims.
(SFC, 3/16/99, p.A9)
1999 Mar 17, Eritrea said it repulsed Ethiopian troops after a 3-day battle. 300 Ethiopian soldiers were reported dead and 57 tanks destroyed. Ethiopia said the results of the battle were staged.
(SFC, 3/18/99, p.C3)
1999 Mar 28, Ethiopia claimed to have killed tens of thousands of Eritrean soldiers since Feb 23. Eritrea made equally high and unconfirmed claims of enemy casualties.
(WSJ, 3/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 30, Eritrea appealed to humanitarian organizations to account for some 1,000 missing citizens while Ethiopia continued shelling near Badme.
(SFC, 4/2/99, p.D3)
1999 Mar, At the Battle of Tsorona Ethiopia sent waves of soldiers over minefields along a 3-mile front to clear a path for better trained soldiers. Thousands died from entrenched Eritrean troops and artillery fire.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 19, The 103rd Boston Marathon was won by Joseph Chebet of Kenya in 2h:9m:52s. Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won the women's category in 2:23:25.
(WSJ, 4/20/99, A1)
1999 May 24, Ethiopia said Eritrea had launched attacks at the western Badme front over the weekend, but was thwarted by a counterattack that killed 400 Eritrean soldiers.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A12)
1999 May 25, Eritrea said that it had foiled a series of Ethiopian assaults over 4 days at Badme and that 380 Ethiopian soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A12)
1999 May 27, Ethiopia said it had killed 865 Eritrean troops in a 2 day battle near the Mereb River on the Badme front. Eritrea claimed that 585 Ethiopian troops were killed over 5 days of fighting.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.D3)
1999 Jun 11, Eritrea and Ethiopia clashed in a 2nd day of heavy fighting on the western Badme front.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 13, In Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu told his ministers to bring in some 2,500 to 3,000 Jews from the Quara region of Ethiopia.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C5)
1999 Jun 14, Eritrea and Ethiopia battled for a 5th day. Eritrea claimed to have killed, wounded or captured over 12,000 soldiers, while Ethiopia claimed the same for 8,200 soldiers. Over half a million soldiers were stationed along the 600-mile border.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C5)(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 25, Eritrea and Ethiopia began new fighting on their western front.
(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A16)
1999 Jun 28, In Somalia Ethiopian forces captured the regional capital of Garba Harre, 250 miles northwest of Mogadishu.
(SFC, 6/29/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 26, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to send delegates to Algeria to finalize arrangements to end their 14-month border war.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 7, Pres. Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea made an unconditional offer for cooperation with the OAU to end its war with Ethiopia during a meeting with Algerian Pres. Bouteflika, the OAU chairman.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 12, Ethiopia claimed to have almost eliminated 3 rebel groups based in Somalia which it said were supported by Eritrea. Most of the 1,103 killed or captured rebels were of the Oromo Liberation Front.
(SFC, 8/13/99, p.D2)
1999 Sep 4, Ethiopia claimed that the proposed outline for the implementation of a peace plan contradicted an original agreement regarding the withdrawal of Eritrea's forces. Eritrea the next day took the statement as "tantamount to a declaration of war."
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A14)
1999 The film "Endurance" was written and directed by Leslie Woodhead and was the story of Ethiopian long-distance runner and Olympics gold medalist Haile Gebrselassie.
(SFC, 5/17/99, p.D3)
1999 Jill Campbell and her husband, Gary, compiled evidence that helped convict the director of an Ethiopian orphanage that the Swiss charity Terre Des Hommes-Lausanne used to run. Their report on sexual abuse prompted the charity to apologize and leave Ethiopia. In 2001 Jill Campbell was convicted of defamation and ordered to apologize to Terre Des Hommes-Lausanne (TdH) or face jail. In 2003, an Ethiopian court sentenced orphanage director David Christie to nine years of hard labor for abusing several young boys. In 2008 lawyers for the charity said it had dropped the demand for an apology.
(AP, 3/7/08)
2000 Feb 23, It was reported that Ethiopia faced severe famine and the UN World Food Program planned an appeal to raise $50 million for emergency aid.
(SFC, 2/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Mar 16, Emergency food aid was planned after it was learned that 53 children under age 5 had died of malnutrition in one town in Ethiopia.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A16)
2000 Mar 31, Prof. William Alfred Shack of UC Berkeley died at age 76. Shack had a longtime interest in the Gurage culture of Ethiopia and had established the department of sociology and anthropology at Haile Selassie Univ. in Addis Ababa.
(SFC, 4/6/00, p.A21)
2000 Mar, A private group of US Peace Corp volunteers worked to settle the 2-year border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia based on the "status quo ante" border on May 6, 1998.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)
2000 May 12, War erupted between Eritrea and Ethiopia after Ethiopian troops left their trenches and attacked Eritrean defenses. 600,000 troops were dug in along the 600-mile border.
(SFC, 5/13/00, p.A8)
2000 May 14, Ethiopia claimed a major victory against Eritrea and claimed that 8 divisions had been destroyed over the last 2 days. Eritrea said 25,000 Ethiopian soldiers were killed or wounded.
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A14)
2000 May 14, In Ethiopia elections were held and 7 people were reported killed when government forces threw a grenade into a crowd of protestors and fired into another in the southern region of Hadiya. [see Jun 16]
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A14)
2000 May 15, In Ethiopia tens of thousands marched in Addis Ababa in support of the renewed border war with Eritrea.
(WSJ, 5/16/00, p.A1)
2000 May 16, Ethiopian troops penetrated into western Eritrea and attempted to cut off retreating forces.
(WSJ, 5/17/00, p.A1)
2000 May 17, Ethiopian forces pushed into Eritrean territory and the UN Security council approved an embargo against both countries.
(SFC, 5/18/00, p.A11)
2000 May 18, Ethiopian troops captured Barentu in Eritrea and some 250-550 thousand refugees were reported displaced by the fighting.
(SFC, 5/19/00, p.A18)
2000 May 24, Eritrea decided to withdraw from land it seized in 1998 following a 12-day offensive by Ethiopia.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A12)
2000 May 26, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to resume peace talks even as Ethiopia continued to push into Eritrean territory.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A12)
2000 May 28, Ethiopian warplanes bombed a nearly completed power plant in Massawa, Eritrea, as thousands of refugees fled north.
(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A12)
2000 May 29, Ethiopian planes launched air raids on a military airstrip near Asmara, Eritrea, as their foreign ministers prepared for talks in Algeria.
(SFC, 5/30/00, p.A1)
2000 May 30, Ethiopia and Eritrea opened peace talks in Algeria.
(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A10)
2000 May 31, Ethiopia declared victory over Eritrea as peace talks continued in Algeria.
(SFC, 6/1/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 5, Eritrea claimed that an Ethiopian attack near Assab was foiled and that 3,755 Ethiopian troops were "killed, wounded, or taken prisoner."
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 5, In Ethiopia 14 children were trampled to death at the Mega Amphitheater in Addis Ababa when a crowd pushed to get out of the rain.
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 5, Ethiopia accused Eritrea of rounding up 7,529 Ethiopian citizens and putting them under armed guard for deportation.
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 9, Eritrea accepted an Organization of African Unity plan to end the conflict with Ethiopia.
(SFC, 6/10/00, p.A12)
2000 Jun 10, Ethiopian troops stormed Eritrean positions on all 3 fronts of the disputed border in a break of the cease-fire. The Ethiopian government accepted cease-fire terms brokered in Algeria but asked for a "brief delay."
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A31)
2000 Jun 15, Ethiopia accepted a preliminary cease-fire plan and together with Eritrea planned to sign documents in Algeria.
(SFC, 6/16/00, p.A19)
2000 Jun 16, In Ethiopia the election board announced that the 4-party Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) won a landslide victory in 4 key regions in the may 14 elections.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 18, In Algeria the Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia and Eritrea signed an accord to cease hostilities immediately in a two-year-old border war. The agreement called for an int’l. peacekeeping force in a buffer zone reaching 15 miles into Eritrea.
(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A8)(SFC, 6/20/00, p.A12)(AP, 6/18/05)
2000 Oct 10, In Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was re-elected by acclamation in parliament to another 5-year term.
(SFC, 10/11/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 19, It was reported that 9 people had died in Ethiopia’s Afar region after the Awash River burst its banks and inundated the Danakil Lowlands. 30,000 people were left homeless.
(SFC, 8/19/00, p.B12)
2000 Nov 5, Haile Selassie (1892-1975), former ruler Ethiopia (1930-1974), was buried in a cathedral crypt. His body was found in 1992 on the grounds of his former palace, where he died while under house arrest.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 12, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a peace pact in Algiers. A 4,200 UN peacekeeping force was set to patrol the border. PM Zenawi and Pres. Afwerki signed the accord, which established a commission to mark the 620-mile border, exchange prisoners, returned displaced people and hear claims for war damages.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.E2)(WSJ, 12/5/00, p.A1)(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B3)
2001 Feb 6, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to set up a 16-mile wide UN-patrolled security zone effective Feb 12.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A14)
2001 Feb, The Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Assoc. organized a march of some 1,000 women to the office of PM Meles Zenawi and parliament to protest domestic violence. The group was banned in September.
(SFC, 9/8/01, p.A9)
2001 Apr 26, Six hijackers seized an Ethiopian plane with 50 passengers and diverted it to Sudan where they surrendered. They wanted to draw attention to economic conditions in Ethiopia and recent student protests for greater academic freedom during which 41 people were killed in Addis Ababa.
(SFC, 4/27/01, p.D4)
2001 Apr 26, It was reported that a meningitis outbreak had killed at least 3,500 people in Africa and that vaccine had been shipped to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.
(SFC, 4/26/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 11, Almaz Meko (39), speaker of the House for Federation, sought political asylum in Washington DC. She feared persecution for speaking out on the treatment of her Oromo people.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.A17)
2001 Sep 6, The Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Assoc., was banned. It had organized a Feb. march of some 1,000 women to the office of PM Meles Zenawi and parliament to protest domestic violence.
(SFC, 9/8/01, p.A9)
2001 Nov 4, Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia won the NYC Marathon in record time, 2:07:43. Margaret Okayo of Kenya set a woman’s record of 2:24:21.
(WSJ, 11/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 25, Ethiopia sent troops into the northeastern Somali region of Puntland to help Col. Abdullahi Yussuf regain power. Yussuf was overthrown Aug 26 after his 3-year term ended. On Nov 21 Yussuf launched an attack on Garoweh, the capital of Puntland.
(SFC, 11/26/01, p.A11)
2002 Apr 13, The Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC), established to determine the new border, released its report. The UN panel ruled in favor of Ethiopia on all territory contested with Eritrea, but Ethiopia contested some of the commission's decisions.
(WSJ, 4/15/02, p.A1)(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
2002 Jun 29, In Ethiopia the army declared an important victory over rebels in western Ethiopia, killing 20 and capturing more than 200 others. But rebels rejected those claims, vowing to continue their fight.
(AP, 6/29/02)
2002 Jul 19, Italy took steps to return the prized Axum obelisk to Ethiopia. The 1,700-year-old monument was hauled off by Italian forces after their 1937 invasion of the African country. It was returned in 2003.
(AP, 7/20/02)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A2)
2002 Sep 7, The U.N. Security Council has decided to keep U.N. peacekeepers in Ethiopia and Eritrea six more months to give the countries time to mark their border.
(AP, 9/7/02)
2002 Sep 30, The National Intelligence Council said China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Russia will have 50-75 million HIV-infected people by 2010, more than any other 5 countries.
(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A5)
2002 Dec 5, Kenya’s Pres. Moi and Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi met at the White House with Pres. Bush to discuss terrorism as well as drought, AIDS and other problems facing Africa.
(AP, 12/6/02)
2003 Jan 17, The Strategic Partnership with Africa (SPA), made of 15 developed nations, international lending institutions and U.N. agencies, concluded its annual meeting in Addis Ababa. More than 20 developed nations, lending institutions and U.N. agencies agreed to increase aid to Africa.
(AP, 1/17/03)
2003 Feb 15, It was reported that 11 million Ethiopians face famine due to drought affecting 15% of the nation’s harvest.
(SFC, 2/15/03, p.A12)
2003 Feb 16, The Israeli Cabinet voted to allow about 17,000 Ethiopians with Jewish roots to come to Israel, lifting immigration restrictions on the group known as Falash Mura.
(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 May 3, The Ethiopian drought was reported to be the worst in 2 decades with millions of people forced to stand in line each day for food.
(SFC, 5/3/03, p.B8)
2003 May, Ethiopia began a $220 million relocation program for some 2 million people, who otherwise faced starvation. It was part of a $3.2 billion rescue plan financed by the government and donor groups to reverse dependency on int’l. aid.
(SFC, 7/19/04, p.A1)
2003 Jul 2, The US was reported to be sending nearly 250,000 metric tons of wheat to Ethiopia to help ease the country's hunger crisis.
(AP, 7/2/03)
2003 Oct 31, A wildlife expert said a rabies outbreak is threatening the few hundred remaining Ethiopian wolves, one of the world's rarest animals.
(AP, 10/31/03)
2003 Nov 26, It was reported that a $50 million irrigation project on Ethiopia's Koga River, a tributary to the Blue Nile, would include a small dam.
(WSJ, 11/26/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 10, Ethiopian officials appealed for US$380 million for food and medicine to care for more than 7 million people who will go hungry next year if international aid doesn't make up for a chronic food shortfall.
(AP, 12/10/03)
2003 Dec 29, The roof of a centuries-old Ethiopian church carved out of rock collapsed while it was packed with worshippers, killing at least 15 people. The 800-year-old Mewa Tsadkan Gabriel church was in a remote area some 310 miles northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. It was built by King Lalibela, who ruled there from the late 12th century to the early 13th century.
(AP, 1/3/04)
2004 Jan 30, In remote southwestern Ethiopia tribal fighting, sparked by a raid on a gold mine, began. Over the following week nearly 200 people were killed and some 10,000 others were forced to flee their homes.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2004 Mar 3, Ethiopia was reported to have begun relocating hundreds of thousands of people from drought-prone areas to fertile lands to alleviate food shortages. Relocation began in May 2003 and many of the resettled people continued to face hunger, diarrhea and malaria.
(AP, 3/3/04)(SFC, 7/19/04, p.A1)
2004 May 25, In Ethiopia heads of state and government from at least 8 African countries attended a ceremony to inaugurate the new Peace and Security council (PSC) at the African Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa.
(AP, 5/25/04)
2004 Jul 6, In Ethiopia a major summit of the two-year-old African Union opened in Addis Ababa in the presence of about 40 heads of state and government. The crisis in Darfur took centre stage.
(AP, 7/6/04)
2004 Sep 21, The UN Children's Fund and the World Food Program launched a $123 million program to reduce the mortality rate of children in Ethiopia.
(Reuters, 9/21/04)
2004 Oct 7, In Ethiopia British PM Tony Blair spoke before the Africa Commission and warned that poverty and instability in Africa is providing a fertile breeding ground for terror and criminal organizations.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 21, An Ethiopian court sentenced three former rebels to death for killing dozens of people while rebel factions jockeyed for power in 1992. Iman Kelil Oumar was convicted for participating in the killings of 207 people; Beyan Ahmed Ousman was convicted of involvement in the murder of 205 people and Asli Ahmed, was found guilty of killing 89 people.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Nov 25, Ethiopia finally accepted a special commission's ruling designed to resolve a border dispute with Eritrea that sparked a devastating war between 1998 and 2000.
(AFP, 11/25/04)
2005 Jan 4, Kelbessa Negewo (54), an Ethiopian immigrant suspected of torturing and murdering more than a dozen political opponents of the Ethiopian government in the 1970s, was arrested at his home near Atlanta. Negewo has lived in the US since fleeing Ethiopia in 1987.
(Reuters, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 25, Ethiopia’s government said it has began giving free doses of life-prolonging drugs to about 14,000 HIV-infected Ethiopians in a US-funded program.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Feb 4, Boeing said Ethiopian Airlines plans to acquire up to 10 of Boeing Co.'s new 787s at an overall cost of about $1.3 billion.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb, In Ethiopia hominid bones indicting bipedalism were discovered at a new site called Mille, in the northeastern Afar region. They were estimated to be 3.8-4 million years old.
(AP, 3/6/05)
2005 Mar 24, A Human Rights Watch investigator said Ethiopian troops have committed widespread killings, rapes and torture of the tribal Anuak population in the southwestern corner of the country since late 2003.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Apr 14, Ethiopia police said authorities have seized more than 1,100 pounds of illegal ivory, stuffed animals and ostrich eggs that were destined for collectors abroad.
(AP, 4/14/05)
2005 Apr 18, The Boston Marathon was won by Hailu Negusie of Ethiopia, 2:11:45; Catherine Ndereba of Kenya led the women, 2:25:13.
(WSJ, 4/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 19, Ethiopians welcomed the return of the first piece of a giant, 1,700-year-old granite obelisk that was looted from the African country 68 years ago by Italian troops.
(AP, 4/19/05)
2005 Apr 24, Some 82 people died in floods that swept eastern Ethiopia on the weekend.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 Apr 25, The 3rd and final piece of the Axum obelisk was returned to Ethiopia from Italy.
(AP, 4/25/05)
2005 May 10, A leading human rights group said systematic political repression in Ethiopia's largest state has kept people there from freely participating in the country's third general election campaign on May 15.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 15, Ethiopia held elections. EU monitors later said the elections did not meet int’l. standards. Ethiopia's opposition soon claimed major gains in the unprecedented open parliamentary election that drew a turnout of 90%. Post election violence left close to 200 people dead.
(WSJ, 8/26/05, p.A1)(AP, 5/16/05)(AP, 12/22/09)
2005 May 17, Ethiopia's ruling party claimed to have won just over half the seats in parliamentary elections, but opposition leaders said it was still too early to tell who would form the next government.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May 18, Ethiopia's two main opposition parties claimed victory in parliamentary elections seen as a test of the African nation's commitment to democracy, saying they have won enough seats to form a government.
(AP, 5/18/05)
2005 May 28, In Ethiopia provisional results showed that the ruling coalition and its allies won a majority in parliamentary elections, but the opposition made significant gains.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 Jun 6, In Ethiopia one girl was killed and seven people were wounded in violence over disputed election results that gave the ruling party control of parliament.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 7, In Ethiopia police raided a technical college in Addis Ababa, firing rubber bullets and beating up students defying a government ban on protests during a 2nd day of violence.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 8, Security forces opened fire on stone-throwing demonstrators in Ethiopia, killing 26 people in a third day of protests over election results.
(AP, 6/8/05)(WSJ, 6/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 11,Two Ethiopian opposition leaders were placed under arrest, a day after the ruling party agreed to work with its foes to end violent protests that have left 29 dead.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 13, Ethiopia's main opposition leader was freed from house arrest after the country's main political parties agreed to work together for peace after 10 days of political unrest left at least 37 people dead.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 13, In Ethiopia police shot and killed an opposition politician, prompting the arrest of six officers, as the government rejected an opposition offer to renew a peace deal.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 15, A US-based human rights group said thousands of people have been arrested across Ethiopia following violent clashes in which police killed 36 people.
(AP, 6/15/05)
2005 Jun 28, In Ethiopia police arrested four independent newspaper editors on criminal charges of defaming the military. They were detained for seven hours and later released on bail. The arrests stem from reports in their Amharic-language weeklies about Ethiopian air force pilots who sought political asylum while training in Belarus.
(AP, 6/29/05)
2005 Jul 12, A raid by hundreds of Ethiopian bandits on a remote village in northern Kenya, left at least 45 people dead, including more than two dozen children. Kenyan security forces pursued the bandits, who numbered between 300 and 500, and killed 16 of them.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 24, In Ethiopia 6 separate bombings hit across the country's ethnic Somali province. A 5-year-old girl was among those killed in the wave of violence, which took place before a voter registration drive.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 27, In Ethiopia state media reported that police had arrested 25 people in connection with a series of bombings that killed five and injured 31 in an apparent attempt to disrupt elections in an eastern province.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Aug 9, In Ethiopia the National Electoral Board released results for the May 15 election. The ruling coalition captured a majority in parliamentary elections shadowed by fraud allegations and deadly violence.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 21, Voting in eastern Ethiopia ended peacefully, as elite forces, pro-government militia and police patrolled streets to secure the region's delayed elections. Dr. Berhanu Nega (b.1958) was elected mayor of Addis Ababa. He was jailed in Kaliti Prison following riots in October from where he authored a book entitled “Dawn of Freedom." Nega, the founder of Ginbot 7, was sentenced to death in absentia in 2009 after he moved to exile in the US.
(AP, 8/22/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berhanu_Nega)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.56)(AP, 9/15/11)
2005 Aug 26, The UN food relief agency said that it's battling to feed 90,000 Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees displaced in eastern Sudan mainly due to a serious funding shortfall.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Sep 2, Provisional results indicated that Ethiopia's ruling party won all 31 seats being contested in repeat elections following fraud allegations.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 19-2005 Sep 29, In Ethiopia authorities arrested 859 opposition members across the country and security forces killed one opposition member in the Amhara region, 250 miles south of the capital, Addis Ababa.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 20, Hundreds of Ethiopians who claim their ancestors were forced to convert from Judaism began a three-day hunger strike at a prayer house to press the Israeli government to let them migrate to the Jewish state.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep, The TV show “Ethiopian Idols" began in Ethiopia. Judges planned to whittle 2,000 contestants down to 96 and then let the public elect a winner.
(SFC, 1/9/06, p.A2)
2005 Oct 4, The UN Security Council warned Ethiopia and Eritrea against reigniting their border war and urged Eritrea to immediately reverse its ban on all helicopter flights by UN peacekeepers.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 19, The International Organization for Migration (IMO) said "Ethiopian women and girls who migrate to Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia suffer from maltreatment, physical, sexual and emotional abuses," in a report based on interviews with 443 women returning from the region.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Nov 1, In Ethiopia riot police clashed with dozens of opposition supporters in Addis Ababa, fatally shooting at least five people and wounding some 20 others in renewed protests of the disputed May elections.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 2, In Ethiopia clashes between police and protesters erupted in gunfire and grenade explosions, with police killing at least 33 people during a second day of renewed protests of disputed elections.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 3, In Ethiopia police shot and killed three people and wounded 12 others in a fourth day of protests against disputed parliamentary elections.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 4, Gunfire echoed sporadically around Addis Ababa for a fourth day as reports emerged that unrest had spread beyond the capital, a development likely to deepen international concern for Ethiopia's stability.
(Reuters, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, In northern Ethiopia 2 people were reported killed after a fifth day of political unrest that has shaken confidence in the vast African nation's stability.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 6, The EU and US urged Ethiopia to end its crackdown on independent journalists and release opposition leaders detained during a week of bloody clashes between demonstrators and police.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 9, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi said that opposition leaders and newspaper editors under detention will face treason charges, which carry the death penalty in Ethiopia, for their alleged roles in protests last week in which at least 46 people were killed.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 12, Ethiopia said it has released another 1,721 people detained in a massive round-up during clashes between police and protesters earlier this month which left at least 42 people dead.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 12, Africa Union leaders from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal met in Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the challenges of the global order: Desirability of union government," with the leaders discussing the broad principles of integration.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Dec 8, An Ethiopian court sentenced to death Major Melaku Tefera, one of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's top soldiers, for genocide and abetting the murder of 971 people during the country's 1977-78 "Red Terror" campaign.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 21, An international panel, formed to resolve disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, said Eritrea violated int’l. law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia in May 1998.
(AFP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 28, A group of 131 detained Ethiopian opposition figures and journalists refused en masse to plead on treason and other serious charges.
(AFP, 12/28/05)
2005 Dec 29, Ethiopia’s government said a plan by Western donors to withhold $375 million in aid from Ethiopia over the government's crackdown on opposition supporters would have an "insignificant" impact on its budget. Diplomats said the money would be reallocated to the UN and aid agencies working to combat poverty in Ethiopia.
(Reuters, 12/29/05)(SFC, 12/30/05, p.A3)
2005 Dec 29, Drought was reported to have triggered extreme food shortages in the East African countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, putting millions of people at risk of famine as the lean dry season approaches.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 In Ethiopia police under PM Meles Zenawi shot dead some 200 civilians following the disputed general elections.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.43)
2005 Ethiopian shoemaker Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu launched her SoleRebels shoes. Her eco-friendly "SoleRebels" brand of footwear, were made of recycled tires and traditional woven fabric. The brand took its name from the type of footwear favored by Ethiopian rebel fighters in the country's recent troubled past.
(AFP, 10/11/09)
2005 Ethiopia’s population stood at about 75 million.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.38)
2006 Jan 1, East African leaders said that millions of people in the region faced hunger because poor rains had affected vital crops and pasture. Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania faced acute food shortages.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2006 Jan 9, The US launched a diplomatic initiative to try to mark the contested border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, a dispute that led to a 2 1/2-year war in an area where both countries are again massing troops.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 13, A battle for livestock between Ethiopian and Kenyan nomads left 38 people dead in drought-stricken northern Kenya, in the remote village of Lokamarinyang, along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. The fighting killed 30 of the Dongiro raiders and eight Kenyans, all of them women and children. A drought that has impoverished some 11.5 million people in the area, most of them nomads, has exacerbated tensions between the tribes.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 20, In Ethiopia at least two people were killed and 36 injured, three seriously, after commotion erupted in Addis Ababa on the final day of celebrations marking the 2-day Orthodox Epiphany, or Timkat.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 31, An international human rights group said thousands of school and college students have been detained over the past three months in continued unrest in Ethiopia.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2006 Mar 10, Legal experts from Ethiopia and Eritrea flew to London for talks with international mediators to discuss demarcating their common border.
(Reuters, 3/10/06)
2006 Mar 22, An Ethiopia court dropped charges of treason, attempted genocide and other crimes against 18 people, including five Voice of America journalists, accused of attempting to overthrow the government.
(AP, 3/22/06)
2006 Mar 27, In Ethiopia a series of blasts killed one person and injured several others in Addis Ababa, the first fatality in a string of mysterious explosions in the capital.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Apr 30, In Ethiopia visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said he backed plans for an expanded United Nations Security Council, adding that he would present his country's position at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa.
(AFP, 4/30/06)
2006 May 12, In Ethiopia 9 bombs exploded in Addis Ababa, killing 4 people and wounding at least 26.
(AP, 5/12/06)(WSJ, 5/13/06, p.A1)
2006 May 27, In Ethiopia 3 blasts in the town of Jijiga injured 42 people.
(Reuters, 5/29/06)
2006 May 31, The UN Security Council cut the number of peacekeepers deployed in Eritrea and Ethiopia by at least one-third while extending the UN mission's mandate for another four months.
(AP, 5/31/06)
2006 Jun 27, Ethiopia claimed to have killed more than 110 rebels allegedly sent by arch-foe Horn of Africa neighbor Eritrea to destabilize the country since the beginning of the month. Eritrea flatly rejected the claim.
(AP, 6/27/06)
2006 Jul 1, About 100 Ethiopian troops entered the Somali border town of Beled-Hawo in eight military vehicles, the latest sign that Ethiopia might try to bolster this country's weak interim government as an Islamic militia gains increasing power.
(AP, 7/1/06)
2006 Jul 20, Residents of central Somalia said that hundreds of Ethiopian troops were patrolling the town of Baidoa in armored vehicles, less than a day after Islamic militants moved near the base of the weak, UN-backed government.
(AP, 7/20/06)
2006 Jul 21, An Islamic militia leader called for a holy war against Ethiopian troops protecting Somalia's weak UN-backed government.
(AP, 7/21/06)
2006 Jul 22, Ethiopian troops sent to bolster Somalia's weak government against a powerful Islamic militia moved into a second Somali town and seized a strategic airport.
(AP, 7/22/06)
2006 Aug 6, In eastern Ethiopia over 250 people were killed by flooding in Dire Dawa. As many as 300 remained missing.
(Reuters, 8/8/06)(AP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 6, A government spokesman said Somalia's top interim leaders have agreed to end a rift threatening the fragile administration after crisis talks led by Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's foreign affairs minister.
(Reuters, 8/6/06)
2006 Aug 8, Eritrea announced that Brigadier General Kemal Gelchu, a dissident Ethiopian general, had defected to Eritrea, said that he would be joining the OLF to fight for his Oromo people's rights.
(Econ, 8/19/06, p.44)
2006 Aug 9, Ethiopia’s army killed 13 rebels and caught other commanders of the eastern Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist movement, after they crossed from Somalia.
(Reuters, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 11, North Kenya authorities said they caught at least 45 sympathizers or members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a small Ethiopian group operating on the border. Ethiopia reported having shot dead 11 Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLH) fighters.
(Reuters, 8/11/06)(Econ, 8/19/06, p.44)
2006 Aug 14, In southern Ethiopia torrential rains spilled a river from its banks. At least 900 people died as continuing rains submerged five villages, knocked down grain silos and swept away cattle. Tens of thousands were marooned by the waters.
(AFP, 8/15/06)(Reuters, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 18, In southwest Ethiopia search and rescue teams kept up frantic efforts to save thousands marooned by fatal flash floods, where relief workers reported near-total devastation. Some 73,000 people had been affected by raging waters from unusually heavy seasonal rains.
(AFP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 22, Ethiopia began releasing water from dams taxed by two weeks of heavy rain to prevent them from bursting as the confirmed death toll from devastating floods climbed to 626.
(AP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 22, Ethiopian troops reportedly arrived in the central Somali town of Galkayo. The move may stoke tensions with the Islamic militiamen who control most of southern Somalia. They were seen inside the town in 13 vehicles.
(AP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 31, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., visited a sprawling tent camp in eastern Ethiopia for people displaced by devastating floods earlier this month, saying the US military will continue to help the region.
(AP, 8/31/06)
2006 Sep 25, Somalia's interim prime minister called on the UN to partially lift an arms embargo on his country to allow for the deployment of African peacekeepers, which he said are necessary to stop the advance of Islamic radicals. Ethiopian troops arrived in Somalia to support the internationally recognized government in its faceoff with radicals. The Islamic militia in the seaport of Kismayo opened fire on thousands protesting the fundamentalists' takeover of the southern town. Witnesses said a teenager was killed.
(AP, 9/25/06)(SFC, 9/26/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 29, The UN Security Council extended the mandate of peacekeepers in Eritrea and Ethiopia by four months, and threatened to overhaul the mission if the two sides don't make progress toward demarcating their border.
(AP, 9/29/06)
2006 Sep, In Ethiopia Shane Etzenhouser, an American software developer, premiered “Tsehai Loves Learning," an educational TV show for kids featuring a female giraffe with an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
(SFC, 12/28/06, p.E1)
2006 Oct 5, In Ethiopia Alemayehu Fantu, a businessman, was arrested and charged with distributing calendars with pictures of opposition leaders. The calendars called for non-violent civil disobedience to bring down the government.
(Econ, 10/28/06, p.56)
2006 Oct 8, Authorities in northeastern Somalia repatriated more than 1,000 Ethiopians whom smugglers were preparing to take across the Gulf of Aden to the promise of jobs and a better life in the Middle East.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 9, The Islamic militia that has seized much southern Somalia declared a holy war against Ethiopia accusing its neighbor of deploying thousands of troops to prop up the weak UN-backed government.
(SFC, 10/10/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 16, The UN accused Eritrea of moving 1,500 troops and 14 tanks into a buffer zone established after a 2 1/2-year border war with Ethiopia in "a major breach" of a cease-fire agreement reached in 2000.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 18, In Ethiopia a senior judge appointed to investigate 2005 post-election violence said Ethiopian security forces massacred 193 people, triple the official death toll. Six policemen were also killed in the June and November 2005 riots, bringing the overall death toll to 199.
(AP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 19, Ethiopia's PM Meles Zenawi told parliament that he had sent military trainers to help Somalia's struggling government, but had not deployed a fighting force. Yalemzewd Bekele, a human rights lawyer working for the European Commission in Addis Ababa, was arrested at the border with Kenya. Her arrest was likely related to the Oct 5 arrest of businessman Alemayehu Fantu.
(AP, 10/19/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.28)
2006 Oct 24, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia was "technically" at war with Somalia's Islamists because they had declared jihad on his nation.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 26, The charity organization Oxfam accused coffee house chain Starbucks of blocking attempts by Ethiopia to trademark three coffee bean types and thereby denying farmers substantial income.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 29, Somalia's Islamic group broke off peace talks with the transitional government, demanding that Ethiopian troops withdraw from the country.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 31, In Ethiopia 4 days of devastating floods along the eastern border killed dozens of people and prowling crocodiles hampered rescue efforts as rain continued to fall.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Nov 1, In Lawrenceville, Ga., Khalid Adem (30), an Ethiopian immigrant, was convicted of genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
(SFC, 11/2/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 6, Hundreds of Israelis of Ethiopian descent clashed with police and briefly blocked a main road leading into Jerusalem in a protest of the Health Ministry's wholesale discarding of donated Ethiopian blood.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 6, In northern Somalia Islamic fighters clashed with government militia backed by Ethiopian forces.
(SFC, 11/7/06, p.A18)
2006 Nov 7, An independent commission said it will demarcate the contested Ethiopian-Eritrean border on maps and leave the rival nations to establish the physical boundary themselves. It said both Ethiopian and Eritrean officials were invited to a November 20 meeting in The Hague to discuss the procedure.
(Reuters, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 15, Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki said the simmering border row between arch-foes Eritrea and Ethiopia is a "solved problem."
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 16, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan worked with key African, Arab, European leaders in Ethiopia to break the deadlock over worsening violence in Sudan's Darfur region. UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland arrived in Darfur to find security so bad he could not visit the camps outside el-Geneina town housing tens of thousands of displaced Darfuris.
(Reuters, 11/16/06)(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 17, UN aid bodies said torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and threatening to trigger epidemics. Torrential rains have pounded the Horn of Africa this month, bringing misery to large parts of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 19, In Somalia Islamic fighters used land mines and ambushed an 80-vehicle Ethiopian military convoy headed to Baidoa killing 6 soldiers and injuring 20.
(SFC, 11/20/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 20, Eritrea and Ethiopia both rejected plans by a UN-appointed border panel to demarcate their contentious frontier on paper.
(AFP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 22, The administrator of Ethiopia’s zoo in Addis Ababa said their rare Abyssinian lion cubs were being poisoned and sold to taxidermists because there was not enough money to care for them. It was estimated that only 1000 of the animals remained in the wild.
(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A23)
2006 Nov 28, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi met with Jim Donald, the CEO of Starbucks, but no deal was reached on branding local coffee. Ethiopia ranked 97th in the World Bank’s latest “ease of doing business" index. Transparency Int’l. ranked it 130th on its corruption-perceptions index.
(Econ, 12/2/06, p.67)
2006 Nov 30, In Somalia a car blast killed 9 people near the Somali government seat of Baidoa in an attack the administration blamed on Islamists backed by al Qaeda. An attack on Ethiopian troops left 20 dead.
(AFP, 12/1/06)(WSJ, 12/1/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 12, Ethiopia’s former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, in exile in Zimbabwe since 1992, was convicted of genocide and other charges in a rare case of an African strongman being held to account by his own country.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 12, Somalia’s PM Ali Mohamed Gedi said thousands of Islamic militants have surrounded Baidoa, the only town the internationally recognized government controls, as a top Islamic official promised to attack within a week unless Ethiopian troops leave.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 22, In Somalia Ethiopian attack helicopters and tanks headed for battle as fighting raged for a fourth day between Somalia's Islamic militia and the country's secular government.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 23, Somalia's Islamic militants called on foreign Muslim fighters to join their holy war against Ethiopian troops after days of fighting killed hundreds of people and threatened to engulf the region.
(AP, 12/23/06)
2006 Dec 24, Ethiopia launched an attack on Somalia's powerful Islamic movement, sending fighter jets across the border and bombarding several towns in a major escalation of the violence that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia's PM Meles Zenawi said his country had been "forced to enter a war."
(AP, 12/24/06)(AP, 12/24/07)
2006 Dec 25, Ethiopian fighter jets bombed Somalia's main airport, the first direct attack on the city that serves as the headquarters of an Islamic movement attempting to wrest power from the internationally recognized government.
(AP, 12/25/06)
2006 Dec 26, Islamic fighters retreated as Somali government and Ethiopian troops advanced on three fronts in a decisive turn in the battle for control of this Horn of Africa nation. Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi said up to 1,000 of the religious movement's fighters had been killed.
(AP, 12/26/06)(WSJ, 12/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 27, Ethiopian and Somali government troops drove Islamic fighters out of the last major town on the road to Mogadishu, the Islamist-held capital.
(AP, 12/27/06)
2006 Dec 30, Thousands of Somali and Ethiopian troops set off for a showdown with Islamic forces who have regrouped at a southern seaport since abandoning the Somali capital.
(AP, 12/30/06)
2006 Dec 31, Fighting erupted on the outskirts of the last remaining stronghold of Somalia's militant Islamic movement, as thousands of residents streamed from the area ahead of the feared battle with Ethiopian-backed government troops.
(AP, 12/31/06)
2006 Ethiopia’s economy struggled with exports of $1 billion vs. imports of $5 billion. Food prices in Addis Ababa rose by 27%.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.57)
2006 In Ethiopia singer Teddy Afro (Tewodros Kassahun) was arrested for an alleged hit-and-run incident. He was jailed in April, 2008. His supporters said he was jailed for his 3rd album “Yasteseryal," released just before the 2005 elections, which contained songs comparing the regime of Pres. Meles to a brutal junta. He was released on August 13, 2009.
(Econ, 8/22/09, p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_Afro)
2007 Jan 1, Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and fighter jets captured the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement, while hundreds of Islamic fighters, many of them Arabs and South Asians, fled the town. Somalia’s PM Ali Mohamed Gedi set a 3-day deadline for gun collection in Mogadishu.
(AP, 1/1/07)(SFC, 1/3/07, p.A3)
2007 Jan 2, Ethiopian helicopters pursuing Somali Islamists missed their target and bombed a Kenyan border post, prompting Kenyan fighter planes to rush to the area. The gun collection program in Mogadishu began with little response. 2 Ethiopian soldiers were shot dead.
(AFP, 1/2/07)(SFC, 1/3/07, p.A3)(Econ, 1/6/07, p.41)
2007 Jan 3, Kenya sent extra troops to its border with Somalia to keep Islamic militants from entering the country after Ethiopian helicopters attacked a Kenyan border post by mistake while pursuing suspected fighters.
(AP, 1/3/07)
2007 Jan 4, A Somali government spokesman said government troops, backed by Ethiopian soldiers, were fighting about 600 Islamic militiamen in the south.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 11, Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam was sentenced to life imprisonment, ending his 12-year trial in absentia for genocide and other crimes committed during his iron-fisted rule (1974-1991). Mariam lived comfortably in exile in Zimbabwe, where Pres. Robert Mugabe has said he won't deport Mengistu if he refrains from political activity.
(AP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 15, Somali troops and allied Ethiopian soldiers conducted house-to-house searches, pursuing gunmen who carried out an attack in the northeastern part of the capital.
(AP, 1/15/07)
2007 Jan 20, The last major warlord in Somalia surrendered his weapons and 200 militiamen to the army, while an Islamic leader claimed responsibility for a string of guerrilla attacks and promised there would be more until the government agreed to talks. An Ethiopian military convoy was ambushed in a new round of deadly violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu, hours after the African Union agreed to send peacekeepers to the war-torn country.
(AP, 1/20/07)(AFP, 1/20/07)
2007 Jan 23, Ethiopian troops who helped Somalia's government drive out a radical Islamic militia began withdrawing in military trucks and tanks.
(AP, 1/23/07)
2007 Jan 25, In southern Somalia gunmen attacked Ethiopian soldiers stationed there, killing one and wounding another.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 30, The African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ended with a proposed peacekeeping force for Somalia still lacking firm commitments for thousands of troops.
(Reuters, 1/30/07)
2007 Feb 12, A vessel smuggling 120 people across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen capsized as it approached the coast. At least 30 Somali and Ethiopian migrants trying to reach the Arabian peninsula drowned.
(AP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 13, In Ethiopia federal police said weekend clashes between Garbo and Borena nomads in the southeastern Oromia region with least 16 people killed. The clashes erupted after cattle were stolen from a rival group, sparking fresh revenge attacks.
(AFP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 14, In Ethiopia US former president Jimmy Carter announced distribution of thousands of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, in a drive that could save up to 100,000 lives annually.
(AFP, 2/14/07)
2007 Feb 16, US coffee giant Starbucks, locked in a trademark tussle with Ethiopia, said it will not oppose Addis Ababa's bid to brand its coffee in America and pledged to pursue dialogue over the matter.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 16, A Yemeni official said a boat loaded with Somali and Ethiopian migrants capsized in the Gulf of Aden during a night crossing in which at least 112 people died.
(AP, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 18, Fierce inter-clan fighting killed at least 43 people in Ethiopia's southeastern Ogaden region, inhabited mainly by ethnic Somalis.
(AFP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Ethiopia the UN humanitarian office said that 684 people have died in a diarrhea epidemic and that neighboring countries were also affected. Ethiopia’s government has refused to declare the phenomenon as a cholera epidemic, preferring to refer to it as "acute watery diarrhea."
(AFP, 2/22/07)
2007 Mar 1, In northern Ethiopia 15 European tourists were kidnapped in the Afar desert. The ARDUF has been fighting for years against Ethiopia and Eritrea over lands inhabited by ethnic Afar.
(AP, 3/2/07)
2007 Mar 3, Britain sent a crisis team to Ethiopia in an effort to obtain the release of five British embassy workers or their relatives who were kidnapped along with a group of French while on a trip to remote northeastern Ethiopia. An Ethiopian administrator accused Eritrean forces of kidnapping a group of five Europeans and 13 Ethiopians in a remote part of Ethiopia, and taking them to a military camp near the Eritrean border. Several Ethiopians who were kidnapped along with five Britons touring the African country's remote northeast were found.
(AP, 3/3/07)(Reuters, 3/3/07)(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In Ethiopia a group of French tourists who had also been missing since March 1 arrived in Mekele, the Afar region's capital, and said they had not been kidnapped, as was previously believed. Eritrea denied accusations that it was behind the disappearance of five kidnapped Britons.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 6, In eastern Ethiopia 2 US troops were reported killed and another injured in a single-vehicle traffic accident.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 9, Ethiopia's foreign minister said 5 European tourists who went missing last week in northeastern Ethiopia are being held by kidnappers in a remote tribal region.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 13, Five Europeans, kidnapped in Ethiopia and held captive for 13 days, were released in good health in Eritrea. 8 Ethiopians kidnapped with the group were still missing.
(AP, 3/14/07)(WSJ, 3/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Mar 16, Ethiopia called for international pressure to be applied on Eritrea, which it accuses of holding eight Ethiopians still missing after the release of five European captives.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 22, Somali and Ethiopian troops battled insurgents for a second day in Mogadishu. The Somali government said Al-Qaeda has named Aden Hashi Ayro, a ruthless Islamist commander, as its leader in Mogadishu.
(AP, 3/22/07)(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Mar 23, A human rights group said Kenya has deported more than 100 people from 19 countries to Somalia after they crossed the border between the two countries illegally during fighting earlier this year, and the deportees were subsequently arrested by Ethiopian troops.
(AP, 3/23/07)
2007 Mar 29, Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies pounded insurgent positions in Mogadishu with bombs and tank shells, sending residents fleeing a surge in fighting that killed over 30 people including 7 Ethiopian soldiers.
(AP, 3/29/07)(SFC, 3/30/07, p.A20)
2007 Mar-2000 Apr, Ethiopia later said that during this period it killed at least a thousand Shabab fighters, the armed wing of Islamic courts in Somalia. Human-rights groups said most of the 1,670 recorded dead were civilians.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.47)
2007 Apr 2, In Somalia a human rights organization said fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents has killed 381 people over four days.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 3, An AP investigation said CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn of Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for torture and abuse.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 5, The US pressed Ethiopia for details on detainees from 19 nations taken to secret prisons there and interrogated by CIA and FBI agents.
(WSJ, 4/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 7, The New York Times reported in its Sunday edition that the Bush administration in January allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea in an apparent violation of a UN Security Council sanctions resolution passed months earlier over its nuclear test.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 9, An Ethiopian judge freed 25 journalists charged in a treason trial involving more than 100 opposition figures that has drawn international criticism as being politically motivated.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 10, The Ethiopian government acknowledged detaining 41 suspected international terrorists from 17 countries and said foreign investigators were given permission to question them. A statement said 29 of the suspects have been ordered released by a Military Court and five already have been freed.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Somalia Ethiopian-backed government troops and Islamic insurgents exchanged gunfire in northern Mogadishu, killing three people and ending more than a week of relative calm.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Somalia fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents left at least 12 people dead in Mogadishu, while a suicide car bomb exploded at an Ethiopian army base.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Somalia heavy fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the government left at least 52 civilians dead in Mogadishu.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 22, Government officials said 8 Ethiopians held hostage for 52 days after they were kidnapped along with five European tourists have been released unharmed. The ex-hostages later told Ethiopian television that they had been mistreated by their captors, who wore Eritrean army uniforms.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Ethiopia Ogaden rebels raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers. An Ethiopian rebel group claimed responsibility. The next day Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the attack. Eritrea issued a swift, angry denial. In 2008 security forces arrested eight men suspected of involvement in the deadly raid.
(AP, 4/24/07)(AP, 4/25/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)(AFP, 3/30/08)
2007 Apr 25, In Somalia civilians were caught in the crossfire as the government's Ethiopian backers used tanks and heavy artillery to pound insurgent strongholds. Human rights groups said more than 350 people have been killed in the last eight days, the majority civilians.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ethiopian rebels holding seven Chinese oil workers captured during an attack this week on an oil venture in Ethiopia said they would release them "as soon as possible."
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's ZTE signed a $200 million deal with Ethiopia's state-owned Telecom Corp.
(AFP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Ethiopia 7 Chinese oil workers and two Africans kidnapped during a rebel attack on a Chinese oil field near the Somali border were released.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 May 9, Saudi authorities beheaded an Ethiopian woman convicted of killing an Egyptian man over a dispute. Khadija Bint Ibrahim Moussa was the second woman to be executed this year. The kingdom last beheaded two women in 2005. Beheadings are carried out with a sword in a public square.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 17, The World Bank said that it and the European Commission and six other donors have committed $780 million to support basic services and transparency in Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, In Ethiopia 3 Swedish citizens were released after spending five months in jail. The three were among dozens of foreigners detained earlier this year as terror suspects.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 21, Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's fragile government killed one person and wounded another after their convoy was targeted by a land mine in Mogadishu. Two Ethiopian rebel groups, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), said they have killed 157 troops in the east of the country this month.
(AP, 5/21/07)(AFP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 25, In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, China and the African Union launched a 150-million-dollar project to build a new conference centre for the cash-strapped continental body.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 28, A blast ripped through a crowd in Ethiopia's volatile Somali region, killing 6 people and setting off a stampede that saw up to six more die. The attack happened as hundreds of people were gathered at the stadium in Jijiga town's Revolutionary Square for a ceremony marking the overthrow of Ethiopia's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. In 2008 an Ethiopian court sentenced to death 8 alleged members of the Ogaden National Liberation Force (ONLF) for the attack.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)(AFP, 5/22/08)
2007 May 29, Ethiopia began counting its population, a daunting task in a country where asking personal questions is considered socially taboo.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 30, In Somalia Ethiopian troops shot and killed five bystanders after a land mine exploded as their convoy passed through the center of a western Somali town.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 31, A wildlife expert said a thousand rare black-mane lions, an Ethiopian national symbol, and some 300 elephants are in danger after a swathe of forest that was part of their sanctuary was cut down.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Somalia Ethiopian troops fired at a would-be suicide bomber speeding toward their base, blowing up the car and killing the bomber and a civilian standing nearby.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 6, A government prosecutor said Ethiopia has charged 55 opposition members with trying to launch a rebellion. More than one hundred opposition figures were already on trial, accused of plotting a coup after disputed 2005 elections.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 9, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said his government had launched a crackdown on a rebel group blamed for several attacks in the country's eastern Ogaden region. It was reported that the World Food Program and others were launching the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECEX).
(AFP, 6/9/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 11, An Ethiopian court convicted 38 opposition activists in a trial stemming from violent unrest that followed disputed elections in 2005.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 14, A UN spokesman said that Ethiopia has accepted a UN commission's ruling to turn over the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea. In a letter last week to the UN Security Council, the Ethiopian government gave its unconditional acceptance of the commission's decision announced five years ago.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 20, Starbucks signed a deal to credit Ethiopia's unique bean varieties on its coffee labels, ending a long-brewing trademark dispute.
(AFP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 28, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said he had accepted a 2002-border ruling with the country's arch-foe Eritrea, but insisted on new talks on how to implement it.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jul 4, Human Rights Watch accused the Ethiopian army of burning homes and displacing thousands of civilians in a crackdown on rebels in the volatile east.
(AP, 7/4/07)
2007 Jul 16, In Ethiopia a court sentenced 35 opposition politicians and activists to life in prison and denied them the right to vote or run for public office for inciting violence in an attempt to overthrow the government. Those facing life imprisonment include the leader of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, Hailu Shawel; Berhanu Nega, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa; former Harvard scholar Mesfin Woldemariam; and former UN special envoy and former Norfolk (Va.) State University professor, Yacob Hailemariam.
(AP, 7/16/07)
2007 Jul 20, Ethiopia pardoned and freed 38 opposition politicians and activists following international condemnation of their imprisonment and days after US lawmakers took steps to criticize the country's human rights record.
(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jul 22, It was reported that the Ethiopian government was blockading emergency food and choking off trade to large parts of the east, home to a rebel force, and putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation.
(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.A7)
2007 Jul 25, Ethiopian authorities ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross to pull out of the volatile Ogaden region within 7 days for allegedly interfering in political issues. Five opposition members imprisoned since 2005 pleaded guilty to attempting to overthrow Ethiopia's government, but asked the judge for a pardon.
(AFP, 7/25/07)(AP, 7/25/07)
2007 Jul 28-2007 Jul 29, Nearly 12,000 people were displaced and one person died in western Ethiopia in flash floods over the weekend.
(AFP, 7/31/07)
2007 Aug 8, Ethiopia said it had killed more than 500 rebels and captured 170 in the past two months during an offensive in the volatile but energy-rich Ogaden region bordering Somalia.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 18, Ethiopia freed 32 opposition members who had been detained for post-election violence in 2005.
(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 22, State media reported that a volcanic eruption in northeastern Ethiopia killed five people and displaced more than 2,000 others. The volcano in the Afar region started spewing lava on August 12 and the eruption lasted for three days.
(AP, 8/22/07)
2007 Aug 27, Ethiopia ordered six Norwegian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 15, expressing "dissatisfaction" with Norway's conduct in the Horn of Africa region.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Aug 28, Ethiopia justified its decision to expel Norwegian diplomats arguing that Oslo was interfering in its internal affairs and destabilizing the Horn of Africa.
(AFP, 8/28/07)
2007 Aug 30, Addis Ababa city officials said Ethiopia will try to remove tens of thousands of beggars from the streets to create a more "conducive" atmosphere for coming Millennium celebrations. Still using the Julian calendar, abandoned by the West in the 16th century, Ethiopia enters its new millennium on September 12 with a huge concert expected to draw hundreds of thousands of partygoers and international celebrities.
(Reuters, 8/30/07)
2007 Sep 2, Ethiopian rebels declared a ceasefire to allow a UN mission to tour the eastern Ogaden region and assess alleged rights violations and a worsening humanitarian situation.
(AFP, 9/2/07)
2007 Sep 4, It was reported that Ethiopian authorities plan to kill tens of thousands of stray dogs in the capital using strychnine-laced meat, saying they want to eradicate rabies before next week's celebration of the Coptic millennium.
(AP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 12, Ethiopia entered the third millennium 7 years after the rest of the world, amid lavish celebrations, religious fervor and messages of hope from the troubled country's leaders.
(AFP, 9/12/07)
2007 Sep 21, The United States said it is donating 97 million dollars (69 million euros) to Ethiopia in recognition of the Horn of Africa country's "strategic importance."
(AP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 27, Somali and Ethiopian troops ordered thousands to vacate their homes in Mogadishu to allow the forces to search for arms and insurgents.
(AP, 9/29/07)
2007 Sep 30, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia broke the world record in winning the Berlin Marathon in two hours, four minutes and 26 seconds.
(AP, 9/30/07)
2007 Oct 3, German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Ethiopia overnight at the start of a tour of African countries that will also take in South Africa and Liberia.
(AFP, 10/3/07)
2007 Oct 4, Ethiopia pledged 5,000 troops to a future UN-African Union peacekeeping mission for Darfur.
(AP, 10/4/07)
2007 Oct 9, The Ethiopian parliament reelected President Girma Wolde-Giorgis for a new six-year-term to his largely ceremonial post.
(AP, 10/9/07)
2007 Oct 21, Ethiopia's Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels said they killed 140 government soldiers in a weekend assault targeting a visiting senior official, a statement Ethiopia immediately denounced as false.
(Reuters, 10/21/07)
2007 Nov 4, Ethiopia's Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels said they had killed another 270 government troops in heightened fighting in the eastern region of the country.
(Reuters, 11/4/07)
2007 Nov 16, Ethiopian officers claimed their forces had killed some 100 rebels in the Ogaden region over the past month where its forces are cracking down on insurgents.
(AFP, 11/17/07)
2007 Nov 18, Separatist rebels said Ethiopia's air force has been "carpet-bombing" villages and nomadic settlements in its oil- and gas-rich Ogaden region, leaving a trail of casualties.
(AFP, 11/18/07)
2007 Nov 27, PM Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia will sustain its crackdown on separatist rebels in the restive Ogaden region, adding that scores of insurgents had been killed. John Holmes, UN undersecretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs, arrived in the Ogaden region.
(AP, 11/27/07)(Reuters, 11/27/07)
2007 Nov 29, It was reported locals in eastern Ethiopia have accused soldiers fighting an insurgency of burning villages to the ground, committing gang rape and killing people "like goats." A September report by a UN fact-finding mission said villagers had been told not to speak to outsiders.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Dec 1, A deadline for Ethiopia and Eritrea to agree on the physical demarcation of their border expired amid escalating tension between the two nations, leaving the frontier only delineated on maps.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 22, Ethiopia claimed it was receiving an influx of around 600 Eritreans fleeing political oppression in their country every month.
(AP, 12/22/07)
2007 Dec 23, In Somalia a first contingent of 100 Burundian peacekeepers deployed in the capital, joining 1,800 Ugandan troops in an African Union force, AMISOM, that is still well short of the personnel strength needed to help restore order. Insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles attacked an Ethiopian army base in northern Mogadishu, triggering a deadly nighttime clash that sent stray mortar rounds crashing into homes. At least five Somalis were killed and eight wounded in the crossfire.
(AP, 12/23/07)(AFP, 10/22/11)
2007 Dec 31, In Sudan the African Union transferred authority to a new joint peacekeeping force with the UN in Darfur. An AU official said Ethiopia and Egypt will each send 850 troops early in the new year to serve with a joint UN-AU force in the Darfur region.
(AP, 12/31/07)(Reuters, 12/31/07)
2007 In Ethiopia the northern Tigrayans, who made up most of the ruling elite, comprised only about 7% of the population. The Oromos, mainly in the center and south, comprised 40% of the population and provided most of the country’s food. The Amharas comprised about 22% of the populations and have traditionally been the educated ruling class. Muslim Somalis occupied the south-east Ogaden region.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.33)
2008 Jan 19, Ethiopia’s justice minister Dimegn Wube said half of Ethiopian women are victims of domestic violence.
(AFP, 1/19/08)
2008 Jan 25, Ethiopia's administration for refugee and returnee affairs said that more than 450 Eritreans, including 234 soldiers, fled their country into Ethiopia in January alone.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 30, The UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the struggling UN peace force on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border for six months despite a request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for just one month.
(Reuters, 1/30/08)
2008 Jan 31, In Kenya an opposition lawmaker was gunned down by a police officer in the second fatal shooting of an opposition legislator this week. National police chief Hussein Ali said the police officer, who has been arrested, shot David Too in a dispute over the officer's girlfriend. The opposition said it was an assassination plot. Kofi Annan suspended crisis talks aimed at ending Kenya's political crisis after the lawmaker was shot dead, triggering further clashes. In Ethiopia UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Pres. Kibaki at the African Union summit and warned that the violence in Kenya could spiral out of control unless quick action was taken.
(AP, 1/31/08)(AFP, 1/31/08)
2008 Feb 1, In Ethiopia a summit of African Union leaders shifted its attention from the crisis in Kenya to Chad, with delegates voicing fears of a major conflict that could scupper peace efforts in Sudan.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 2, African Union leaders condemned the latest unrest in Chad and Kenya at the close of a summit overshadowed by new crises on the continent and which saw little headway achieved on older ones. Hundreds of rebels penetrated the capital of Chad, clashing with government troops and moving on the presidential palace after a three-day advance through the oil-producing central African nation.
(AFP, 2/2/08)(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 4, The UN Security Council sent a "firm and unwavering demand" that Eritrea immediately lift fuel restrictions hampering the efforts of peacekeepers monitoring a tense buffer zone between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 5, UN officials said Ethiopia and Bangladesh have offered to jump-start the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur by loaning it helicopters to fly troops and supplies around the vast region in western Sudan.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 8, The UN said it is being forced to prepare an imminent pullout from Eritrea and plans to relocate all its peacekeeping troops there across the border in Ethiopia.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 18, Ethiopia’s state-media reported that 309 police officers, suspected of links with separatists rebels, have been arrested in the Ogaden region as part of a government crackdown.
(AFP, 2/18/08)
2008 Mar 13, In Ethiopia a bus hit a landmine near the disputed Ethiopian-Eritrean border, killing at least eight people and wounding 27 others.
(AFP, 3/14/08)
2008 Apr 13, Ethiopians voted in a first round of elections that the main opposition coalition boycotted to protest alleged intimidation by ruling party officials.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Apr 14, In Ethiopia explosions at two national oil company gas stations killed two people in the capital of Addis Ababa.
(AP, 4/15/08)
2008 Apr 20, The second and final day of voting in Ethiopia's local and parliamentary polls was held amid tight security. The 2 largest opposition parties boycotted the elections saying intimidation had forced out over 17,000 of their candidates.
(AP, 4/20/08)(WSJ, 4/21/08, p.A8)
2008 Apr 21, The Ethiopian government announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the Gulf Arab state of destabilizing the Horn of Africa region.
(AFP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 23, In Somalia residents said four more corpses were found Mogadishu, bringing the death toll from last weekend's shelling and seizure of small towns by the Islamists' to at least 103. Amnesty Int’l. Ethiopian soldiers, stationed in Somalia to bolster the interim government, had killed 21 people and captured dozens of children in a raid on the Al Hidaaya mosque earlier this week during operations against Islamist insurgents.
(Reuters, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 24, Ethiopia launched a commodities exchange market, aimed at boosting fair trade and stabilizing its food market.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 29, An explosion in southwestern Somalia killed four Ethiopian troops and the subsequent gunfire killed two civilians.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 Apr 30, Ethiopian troops allied to Somalia's shaky government opened fire on civilians in a street in southwestern Somalia, killing 13 after an explosion there killed two soldiers.
(AP, 4/30/08)
2008 May 4, In Somalia Islamic insurgents killed at least three Ethiopian soldiers during a gunfight in Mogadishu. Inter-clan fighting in western Somalia, which broke out the previous evening, left at least 12 people dead and at least 15 others wounded in a land dispute.
(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 May 14, In Ethiopia Ginbot 7, a Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy, was formed.
(http://ginbot7.com/Ginbot_7-Movement_for_Justice_Liberty_and_Democracy_is_Formed.htm)
2008 May 18, Ethiopia's electoral board said the ruling party won nearly all seats in last month's local polls and parliamentary by-elections that were marred by boycotts and accusations of repression. Official data said the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) won 97 percent of the vote held on April 13 and 20.
(AFP, 5/18/08)
2008 May 20, In Ethiopia 3 people were killed and four wounded when a bomb exploded near the foreign ministry in central Addis Ababa.
(AFP, 5/20/08)
2008 May 20, The UN children's agency warned that a severe drought in Ethiopia threatens up to six million children.
(AP, 5/20/08)
2008 May 26, Ethiopia's Supreme Court sentenced former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam to death in his absence, along with 17 senior officials of his regime, overturning a previous life term on appeal. Mengistu has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since he was toppled in 1991.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 28, In southern Ethiopia a bomb exploded in a hotel, killing 3 people and wounding five others. The government suspected a terrorist group planted a bomb in the hotel in Negelle Borena.
(AFP, 5/28/08)
2008 May 29, In Ethiopia a flash flood hit Jijiga town late at night and swept away 200 houses, killing 25 people of whom 19 were children.
(Reuters, 5/31/08)
2008 Jun 9, Somalia’s government signed an agreement with an opposition alliance calling for an end to violence and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops. A leader of the ousted Islamic movement rejected the UN-brokered deal.
(SFC, 6/10/08, p.A3)(SFC, 6/11/08, p.A15)
2008 Jun 12, Human Rights Watch said Western donors have failed to condemn war crimes by Ethiopian forces during a year-old campaign against separatist fighters in the country's eastern Ogaden region.
(Reuters, 6/12/08)
2008 Jul 8, Sudan's army spokesman claimed Ethiopian forces had attacked a police base 17 kilometers (11 miles) inside Sudanese territory, killing 19 people, including one police officer. Ethiopia denied the accusations.
(AFP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 11, Ethiopia's Ogadeni rebels accused the regime in Addis Ababa of deliberately blocking international aid to their war-wracked and drought-stricken region.
(AFP, 7/11/08)
2008 Jul 12, Ethiopia said it has arrested eight "Eritrean-trained" rebels suspected of carrying out bombings that rocked the capital Addis Ababa and killed eight people earlier this year.
(Reuters, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 30, The UN Security Council voted to end an 8-year-long peacekeeping mission between Eritrea and Ethiopia despite continuing tensions, a move that the United Nations' chief has warned could lead to a new war.
(AP, 7/30/08)
2008 Aug 20, The Red Cross revised its emergency appeal for Ethiopia to five million euros (7.9 million dollars) as the situation in the drought-hit south of the country got worse.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Sep 1, The top UN aid official John Holmes called for greater international efforts to help millions of Ethiopians suffering from a severe drought.
(AP, 9/1/08)
2008 Sep 3, In Ethiopia an explosion rocked a bar in Addis Ababa, killing 4 people. 2 more died the next day.
(AFP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 4, Ethiopia unveiled its famed Axum Obelisk after more than three years of work to re-erect the 150-ton stela plundered by fascist Italy 70 years ago and returned only in 2005.
(AFP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 22, The UN appealed for $460 million to feed some 10 million Ethiopians hit by drought and high food prices. In southeastern Ethiopia two expatriate staff for French aid group Medecins du Monde were kidnapped in the rebellious Ogaden region.
(AP, 9/22/08)(AP, 9/23/08)
2008 Sep 23, The US said it has given Ethiopia 151 million dollars to boost its health and education services.
(AP, 9/23/08)
2008 Sep 24, Britain pledged 26.9 million pounds for drought-hit Ethiopia, where some 9.6 million people are in need of emergency food aid.
(AP, 9/24/08)
2008 Sep 28, In Ethiopia 4 people were killed and 22 injured in an explosion in eastern Somali province. Police the next day said a suspect had confessed to being a member of the Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya operating in the region.
(AFP, 9/28/08)(AFP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 28, In Germany Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia broke the marathon world record for the second straight year, becoming the first man to run the distance in under two hours and four minutes. He clocked 2:03.59 in winning his third straight Berlin Marathon, breaking the mark of 2:04.26 he set last year over the same flat course.
(AP, 9/28/08)
2008 Oct 1, Berhe Gebreegziabher, the head of Ethiopia’s animal health in the agriculture ministry, said an outbreak of African horse sickness has killed more than 2,000 horses, mules and donkeys in Ethiopia since March.
(AFP, 10/1/08)
2008 Oct 9, Ethiopia signed a 220-million-euro (300 million dollar) deal with a French company for the construction of Africa's largest wind farm.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 14, An Ethiopian minister said his country urgently needs US$265 million to feed 6.4 million people affected by drought.
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 16, The European Commission announced 15 million euros (20 million dollars) of emergency food aid for victims of drought and soaring food prices in five east African countries. The biggest share will go to Ethiopia and Somalia and smaller amounts to Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti.
(AFP, 10/16/08)
2008 Oct 27, In Ethiopia 19 people were killed when the bus they were traveling in hit a wall after its wheels snapped off some 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Addis Ababa. Turbo Tumo, who represented Ethiopia at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, was among those killed.
(AFP, 10/29/08)
2008 Nov 2, The bodies of 60 Somali and Ethiopian migrants washed up on the shores of southern Yemen over the last three days.
(AP, 11/3/08)
2008 Nov 5, In southern Ethiopian farmers stoned to death Legesse Wegi, a senior rebel figure suspected of organizing fatal blasts in the capital Addis Ababa.
(AFP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 17, Ethiopia’s state news agency said the Wabe Shebelle river in the southeast highlands burst its banks after heavy rains, killing 11 people and stranding hundreds more.
(AP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 21, Ethiopia’s government said the death toll from floods in southeastern Ethiopia has risen to 17 and more than 100,000 people have been left homeless.
(AP, 11/21/08)
2008 Nov 28, Ethiopia announced that it will withdraw its forces from Somalia by the end of the year, leaving this country's weak and fractured government to face an increasingly powerful Islamic insurgency.
(AP, 11/28/08)
2008 Dec 9, Ethiopian troops were reported to be pouring into neighboring Somalia to fight radical Islamists who have taken over much of the country, raising fears of more violence in a country fighting a deadly insurgency and piracy.
(AP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 29, In Ethiopia Birtukan Midekssa (35), head of the Unity for Democracy Justice party, was arrested and resumed serving her life term after her pardon from a life sentence was revoked. She had irked the regime when she reportedly claimed during a recent visit to Europe that she had never voiced remorse or acknowledged any mistake to obtain her pardon in 2007.
(AFP, 12/31/08)(www.jimmatimes.com/article.cfm?articleID=31713)
2008 Dec, A 131-page report by the UN Procurement Task Force said former officials Ventzislav Stoykov and Edgar Casals each scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars and ran outside ventures at the UN's Economic Commission for Africa. The task force recommended providing the ECA report to prosecutors in Ethiopia and the Philippines and to US authorities to review visas Casals apparently obtained through Santiago "Sonny" Busa, a former US consular chief in Addis Ababa.
(AP, 6/19/10)
2008 Ethiopia’s population stood at about 85 million and was growing by 2 million a year. The country’s defense budget was $300 million.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.38)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.36)
2009 Jan 3, In Somalia Islamic insurgents appeared to be scrambling for power, taking over several police stations in the capital as Ethiopian troops who have been propping up the government began to pull out.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 6, Ethiopia's parliament adopted a controversial bill imposing heavy restrictions on foreign-funded humanitarian groups operating in the war- and famine-ravaged country. Under the new law, any group that draws more than 10 percent of its funding from abroad will be classified as foreign, and thus banned from working on issues related to ethnicity, gender, children's rights and conflict resolution.
(AP, 1/6/09)(AFP, 1/9/09)
2009 Jan 13, Ethiopia handed over security duties in neighboring Somalia to a joint force of Somali government security forces and Islamic militiamen, a shift some fear will leave a power vacuum in the lawless African nation.
(AP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 15, The last Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's fragile government left Mogadishu, as Islamist forces took control of bases that the Ethiopians had vacated. An Islamist court under Shabab publicly executed politician Abdirahman Ahmed (55) to death by firing squad for showing sympathy for Christianity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdirahman_Ahmed)(AP, 1/15/09)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.48)
2009 Jan 29, The European Union signed an agreement to give Ethiopia 251 million euros (322 million dollars) in aid to boost development projects across the Horn of Africa nation.
(AFP, 1/30/09)
2009 Jan 30, Ethiopia said that 4.9 million of its people will need emergency food aid in the first six months of 2009 due to drought and appealed for $390 million from donors to pay for it.
(AP, 1/30/09)
2009 Jan, In Ethiopia an inauguration ceremony was held for the new headquarters of the 53-member AU. Completion was expected December 2011. The structure, a gift to the AU, was designed by China, managed by China, financed by China and constructed by China.
(AFP, 1/31/10)
2009 Feb 1, The African Union's 12th summit opened in Ethiopia with an agenda officially focused on infrastructure development. Leaders set aside the first day to discuss Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's long-standing pet project to establish a United States of Africa.
(AFP, 2/1/09)(Reuters, 2/1/09)
2009 Feb 2, In Ethiopia Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi was elected to head the 53-nation African Union at a summit amid concerns over deadly unrest in Madagascar and a bid to indict Sudan's president for war crimes.
(AFP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 7, In Ethiopia Brian Adkins (25) was killed in his home in Addis Ababa. He was serving as a consular officer at the US Embassy there. A suspect was arrested on Feb 11.
(AP, 2/11/09)(www.huffingtonpost.com/news/africa)
2009 Feb 17, The UN said some 4.9 million more Ethiopians are in urgent need of food aid, bringing the total number of people in Ethiopia who need relief aid to 12 million, or 15 percent of the population.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 20, Six African migrants drowned and 11 more are presumed dead after smugglers in the Gulf of Aden forced their passengers overboard in deep water off Yemen. The smuggling boat was carrying 40 Somalis and 12 Ethiopians when it approached Yemen's coast.
(AP, 2/24/09)
2009 Mar 3, In southern Ethiopia a cattle-herding tribe crowned Guyyoo Gobbaa (36) as their new king in a secret ceremony considered so sacred that the Borena people believe it has the power to kill unauthorized observers.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Apr 7, Ethiopia, the world's sixth largest coffee producer, said it did not intend to nationalize the coffee sector after revoking licenses of six exporters for hoarding the beans. PM Meles Zenawi had warned the exporters against hoarding coffee, accusing them of speculation in the world markets.
(AP, 4/7/09)
2009 Apr 16, Ethiopian opposition protesters staged a rare demonstration in Addis Ababa, demanding the release of an official jailed for life in January.
(AFP, 4/16/09)
2009 Apr 21, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir arrived in Ethiopia, on his sixth foreign trip since an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes was issued against him.
(AFP, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 21, The 114th Boston Marathon was won by Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga for the men and Salina Kosgei of Kenya for the women.
(WSJ, 4/21/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 24, Ethiopian authorities arrested 35 members of an opposition group accused of plotting to carry out a "terror attack" in the Horn of Africa nation.
(AFP, 4/26/09)
2009 May 1, In Ethiopia Communications Minister Bereket Simon said that senior military officers, including a general, had plotted to assassinate top government officials. He added that 40 people were under arrest. Bereket said the plotters belonged to the Ginbot 7 (May 15) opposition group, saying it was linked to the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) headed by Berhanu Nega, currently living in the United States.
(AFP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 19, In Somalia witnesses said that Ethiopian troops have crossed the border and appear to be stationing themselves at a strategic crossroads. Ethiopia denied the reports. Witnesses said they saw Ethiopian troops in the Somali town of Kalabeyr, 14 miles (22 km) from the Ethiopian border and 11 miles (18 km) north of Belet Weyne, the provincial capital of the Hiran region.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 23, It was reported that Saudi Arabian investors were spending $100 million to raise wheat, barley and rise on land leased from the government of Ethiopia. The World Food Program estimated that it would spend almost the same amount between 2007 and 2011 to provide 230,000 tons of food aid to some 4.6 million Ethiopians threatened by hunger and malnutrition.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.61)
2009 Jun 4, Ethiopia charged 46 people, most of them ex-military, of plotting to assassinate government officials. Ethiopia also said it has undertaken military reconnaissance operations in Somalia, but is not planning to re-deploy.
(AFP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 30, Ethiopian police shot dead two people and injured six others as they blocked an attempt by Christians to build a church at a site also claimed by Muslims.
(AFP, 7/1/09)
2009 Jul 6, Ethnic Somali rebels (ONLF) in Ethiopia's Ogaden region claimed they killed 90 government troops in recent clashes, but the government denied any losses, claiming victory instead.
(AFP, 7/6/09)
2009 Jul 7, Ethiopia's parliament adopted a new anti-terrorism bill despite criticism by rights groups that the legislation violates civil liberties.
(AFP, 7/7/09)
2009 Jul 27, In Ethiopia Bashir Ahmed Makhtal (36), an Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen, was found guilty of being a member of a rebel group fighting for autonomy for an ethnically Somali part of the country. Bashir was convicted of membership in the ONLF and supporting terrorism in Ogaden, and could face the death penalty. His grandfather was a founder of the ONLF. On August 3 he was sentenced to life in prison for terrorism-related charges.
(Reuters, 7/27/09)(AP, 8/3/09)
2009 Aug 6, Ethiopia’s Federal High Court issued the guilty verdicts against 13 men, including a US-based professor, convicted in absentia for plotting to overthrow the government. Berhanu Nega, Ethiopian-born professor with US nationality and teacher of economics at Philadelphia's Bucknell Univ., was accused of masterminding a plan to topple PM Meles Zenawi.
(Reuters, 8/7/09)
2009 Aug 18, An international claims commission in The Hague awarded Ethiopia slightly more than Eritrea as it settled mutual claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars for death, injury, rape, looting and destruction during their two-year border conflict. This concluded a complex arbitration that was part of the 2000 peace agreement closing out a border conflict that cost tens of thousands of lives.
(AP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 25, Four Ethiopian athletes, two women and two men, fled their hotel in London and failed to make a connecting flight to Edinburgh ahead of the Falkirk Cup athletics event.
(AFP, 8/26/09)
2009 Aug 29, Somali witnesses said hundreds of Ethiopian troops have crossed the border and seized control of the Somali town of Belet Weyne from Islamist insurgents.
(AP, 8/29/09)
2009 Sep 23, Ethiopia said its national electricity company has signed contracts with three Chinese firms to develop hydro-electric projects and made preliminary accords for wind power projects.
(AFP, 9/23/09)
2009 Sep 29, Ethiopian and Kenyan authorities seized more than 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of ivory from nearly 100 illegally killed elephants. Specially trained dogs sniffed out a consignment of bloodstained tusks at Kenya's national airport. Another shipment of tusks sent by the same individual had been seized a day earlier at the airport in Ethiopia's capital.
(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Oct 3, In Ethiopia Abdi Mohammed Awhasen, a top rebel leader in the restive Ogaden region, surrendered. His arrest led to the seizure of some four tons of explosive material.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 5, Ethiopia's President Girma Woldegiorgis told parliament that government is aiming to achieve double-digit economic growth in 2009. An official from the Oxfam charity said as many as 6.2 million Ethiopians need emergency humanitarian assistance due to severe drought.
(AFP, 10/6/09)(Reuters, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 10, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi accused Eritrea of sowing havoc in the region as Addis Ababa reiterated calls for sanctions over Asmara's alleged support for Somalia's rebels.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 22, Ethiopia said it needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million people, an appeal that comes 25 years after a devastating famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million and prompted one of the largest charity campaigns in history.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Nov 10, Ethiopia announced the discovery of a mine containing more than 40 tons of gold deposit worth 1.7 billion dollars (1.1 billion euros).
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 14, Ethiopian ONLF rebels fighting for independence for a region with potentially significant oil and gas reserves said they had captured seven towns near the border with neighboring Somalia.
(Reuters, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Uganda a new 12 million dollar family planning drive was launched in Kampala highlighting how Obama administration funding has revamped a contraception drive in Africa and developing states. Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya will share in the 12-million dollar funding, but international organizations still have to persuade certain African governments that it is in their interest to curb population growth.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 19, An Ethiopian court convicted 26 people who were accused of taking part in an alleged coup plot earlier this year and acquitted five others.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 30, Interpol and the Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3 months had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the wildlife authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Dec 4, A leading Ethiopian newspaper said it had closed down as a result of months of government "persecution and harassment" against its staff. The weekly Addis Neger newspaper, often critical of government policies, published its last edition on Dec 5 before some of its staff fled the country for fear of arrest.
(AFP, 12/5/09)
2009 Dec 17, Oxfam said some areas of East Africa had received less than 5% of the normal November rains and that many people are malnourished in Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. It was the sixth failed rainy season for war-ravaged Somalia and the worst drought there for 20 years. The European Commission announced that it would immediately release an extra $75 million to fund emergency relief for drought-stricken areas of East Africa. It estimated that 16 million people will need aid in the coming months.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 18, The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said an estimated 74,000 Africans, mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia, have fled to Yemen as refugees or economic migrants. That's a 50 percent higher than in 2008.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 22, An Ethiopian court sentenced five people to death, including Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian professor teaching at a US university, and 33 to life in prison for being members of a terror group and conspiring to assassinate government officials. Nega, an exiled opposition leader, was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. Berhanu and more than 100 other opposition politicians were arrested after the 2005 election and put on trial for treason. Berhanu and others were pardoned and freed after 20 months, but the government last week revoked Berhanu's pardon.
(AP, 12/22/09)
2010 Jan 13, Ethiopia’s biggest hydroelectric dam was opened by PM Meles Zenawi and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. The Gilegel Gibe II dam was financed by Italy.
(AFP, 1/14/10)
2010 Jan 25, An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people caught fire and crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Beirut. At least 34 bodies were recovered, but no survivors were found by nightfall. In 2012 a Lebanese report put the blame on pilot error and inexperience. Ethiopian Airlines immediately rejected the Lebanese findings saying the crash was likely caused by sabotage or a lightning strike.
(AP, 1/25/10)(AFP, 1/17/12)
2010 Jan 29, An Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to prison in connection with a January 2008 column that criticized PM Meles Zenawi's statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia. The journalist was later identified as Ezedin Mohamed, editor of Al-Quds, a Muslim-orientated newspaper.
(AFP, 2/2/10)
2010 Jan 31, In Ethiopia UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the AU's annual summit in Addis Ababa and again failed to pledge peacekeepers for Somalia. Ban Ki-Moon criticized power-grabs in Africa in a speech to the continent's leaders as Libya's Moamer Kadhafi reluctantly handed over the presidency of the African Union to Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika. The AU agreed to consider a Senegalese proposal to resettle Haiti's earthquake homeless and possibly create a state for them in Africa.
(Reuters, 1/31/10)(AFP, 1/31/10)(Reuters, 1/31/10)
2010 Feb 2, In Ethiopia African leaders wrapped up their annual summit less divided and looking at brighter economic prospects but still facing a raft of conflicts, including Sudan's predicted break-up. An AU official said leaders of the 53-member African Union want Madagascar's rival politicians to stick to the agreements meant to help the Indian Ocean island out of a prolonged crisis.
(AFP, 2/2/10)
2010 Feb 6, Ethiopia’s official news agency said US software giant Microsoft has launched Windows Vista in Amharic, the first operating system in its national language. 40 scholars from the Addis Ababa University had taken part in the translation of the software for the country of over 80 million people.
(AFP, 2/6/10)
2010 Mar 5, In Ethiopia 25 African states agreed to step up efforts to regulate mercenary activity on the continent amid an explosion of private security companies on the continent.
(AFP, 3/6/10)
2010 Mar 7, Ethiopia inaugurated a museum in Addis Ababa in memory of the victims of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's so-called Red Terror purge which killed tens of thousands in 1977-78.
(AFP, 3/7/10)
2010 Mar 15, Somalia's transitional government (TFG) and a faction of the country's moderate Ahlu Sunna Sufi sect signed a deal in Addis Ababa to jointly fight extremist elements in Somalia.
(AFP, 3/15/10)
2010 Mar 19, The US condemned Ethiopia's blocking of Voice of America broadcasts, calling the country's accusations of the US radio service "baseless and inflammatory."
(AFP, 3/19/10)
2010 Apr 5, In Ethiopia a British geologist (39) working on behalf of the state-run Malaysian energy company Petronas was shot dead near Danot town.
(Reuters, 4/9/10)
2010 Apr 6, An African Union conference on maritime security opened in Ethiopia. Somali Deputy PM Abdulrahman Adan Ibrahim Ibbi called for outside help to clear toxic waste dumped illegally on his country's vast coastline, arguing that the fight against dumping goes hand in hand with the fight against piracy.
(AFP, 4/8/10)
2010 Apr 9, In Ethiopia Communications Minister Bereket Simon announced that leaders of the United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF), a rebel group in the southeastern Somali region, has agreed to lay down arms after decades of guerrilla war.
(AFP, 4/9/10)
2010 Apr 13, Ethiopian authorities and the European Union signed accords allowing EU observers to monitor May's general elections in the Horn of Africa country.
(AFP, 4/13/10)
2010 Apr 20, Ethiopia said that it would go ahead with a new deal with six other countries on sharing the waters of the Nile and accused Egypt of "dragging its feet" on a more equitable treaty.
(AFP, 4/20/10)
2010 Apr 26, In Ethiopia gunmen shot dead an opposition party activist, days after the government accused the party of killing a policeman in the same region.
(AFP, 5/10/10)
2010 May 2, Ethiopia’s information minister said police have arrested 10 suspected Islamic militants they believe were sent by Eritrea to carry out attacks to upset May 23 general elections.
(AFP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 6, In southern Ethiopia attackers hurled a bomb at a political meeting in Adaba, killing two people and wounding 14 others just over two weeks before national elections. On May 20 Tadesse Haile was sentenced to death for throwing hand grenades into the packed stadium. He was also convicted on planting bombs close to a construction site on May 5.
(AFP, 5/7/10)(AFP, 5/20/10)
2010 May 14, Four African countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) signed a new treaty on the equitable sharing of the Nile waters despite strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan, who have the lion's share of the river waters. The new agreement, the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework, is to replace a 1959 accord between Egypt and Sudan that gives them control of more than 90 percent of the water flow. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit warned at the weekend that Cairo's water rights were a "red line" and threatened legal action if a partial deal is reached.
(AFP, 5/14/10)
2010 May 18, Ethiopia's main rebel group claimed to have captured an army garrison town and killed 94 government soldiers in a major operation. The Ethiopian government denied the town had been captured and said the attack had been successfully repelled.
(AFP, 5/18/10)
2010 May 23, Ethiopia held Parliamentary elections. PM Meles Zenawi rejected opposition complaints of fraud elections and said he expected to win on the strength of his economic record. The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and allied parties won 534 seats out of 536 declared, giving PM Meles Zenawi most seats in the 547-member parliament. The EU observation mission released its final report on Nov 8. It said the electoral process was short of international standards concerning transparency, and that state resources were used in the ruling party's campaign.
(Reuters, 5/23/10)(Reuters, 5/26/10)(AP, 11/8/10)
2010 May 24, An international human rights group said that Ethiopia's national election was marred by repression and intimidation, while the government said the vote was free and fair.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 25, Ethiopian police shot dead two opposition members in the sensitive Oromia region following the elections. One man was shot May 24 after trying to storm an office where ballots were being counted. The other was shot today by a policeman whom he had beaten during the same incident.
(Reuters, 5/26/10)
2010 May 26, Ethiopian opposition groups rejected results of parliamentary elections which gave long-time ruler Meles Zenawi a landslide win, and demanded fresh polls.
(AP, 5/26/10)
2010 Jun 2, A century-old Ethiopian prayer book stolen decades ago was returned to the African nation after American collector Gerald Weiner, who held it, agreed to the restitution.
(AFP, 6/3/10)
2010 Jun 11, Ethiopian rebels said the military had killed 71 civilians in the last month as part of a growing crackdown in a region where international oil and gas companies are exploring.
(Reuters, 6/11/10)
2010 Jun 21, Ethiopia's election board confirmed PM Meles Zenawi's landslide victory in a May 23 election disputed by opposition parties and criticized by the EU and the United States.
(Reuters, 6/21/10)
2010 Jun 24, In Ethiopia a government minister said that a faction of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), seeking a separate state in the west of the country, has agreed to lay down its arms following talks in Germany.
(AFP, 6/24/10)
2010 Jun 27, In Ethiopia water minister of Egypt and Sudan said they will not be forced into signing a new deal on the sharing of the Nile's waters. Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda inked a framework in March, 2010, replacing a 1929 colonial-era treaty between Egypt and Britain which gave Cairo veto power over upstream projects. A two-day meeting concluded of regional water ministers concluded with Egypt handing over the body's chair to Ethiopia.
(AFP, 6/27/10)
2010 Sep 14, Authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland said their troops have surrounded up to 300 Ethiopian rebels who entered the territory illegally.
(AP, 9/14/10)
2010 Sep 15, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said his often drought-ravaged country would not need food aid after 2015 as he formally launched a five-year development program.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Oct 4, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi was sworn in for another five-year term, almost five months after controversial polls propelled his party to victory.
(AFP, 10/4/10)
2010 Oct 6, Ethiopia freed opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa (36), saying it had granted a plea for pardon from her. Birtukan and other opposition figures were charged with plotting against the constitution in connection with those skirmishes, but were released in 2007 after being pardoned. She was sent back to prison in December 2008 after claiming she had never asked for pardon.
(AFP, 10/6/10)
2010 Oct 12, In Ethiopia senior leaders of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a breakaway rebel faction, gathered in Addis Ababa to sign a peace deal with the government. The government claimed the breakaway group represents around 80 percent of the ONLF.
(AFP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 19, Human Rights Watch said in a report that Ethiopia is denying opposition supporters food, other aid, loans and government services in a widespread effort to suppress political dissent.
(AP, 10/19/10)
2010 Nov 9, Ethiopia's Ogaden rebels said they had killed more than 200 soldiers in a string of successful military operations since the beginning of October, a claim promptly ridiculed by the government.
(AFP, 11/9/10)
2010 Nov 14, Israel’s Cabinet approved a proposal to allow 8,000 Ethiopians of Jewish descent to move to the Jewish state. The would-be immigrants are the last recognized members of the Falashmura, a community whose ancestors converted from Judaism to Christianity about 100 years ago.
(AP, 11/14/10)
2010 Nov 23, East African leaders met in the Ethiopian capital to discuss beefing up the African Union force in Somalia and tensions in Sudan ahead of January's referendum on autonomy for the south.
(AFP, 11/23/10)
2010 Peter Gill authored “Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid."
(Econ, 7/17/10, p.88)
2011 Jan 31, Leaders of 53 African countries met In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to tackle festering conflicts in Sudan and Somalia at a summit overshadowed by Egypt's popular uprising and the leadership crisis in Ivory Coast. The African Union named a panel of six African presidents to mediate Ivory Coast's political crisis.
(AFP, 1/31/11)(AP, 1/31/11)
2011 Jan 30, Equatorial Guinea’s Pres. Teodoro Obiang assumed the African Union chairmanship at the organization’s annual summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00012576.html)
2011 Jan, Ethiopia’s government imposed price controls to combat rising prices, giving food sellers long lines of customers but barely any profit.
(AP, 6/21/11)
2011 Mar 30, Ethiopia's government said it plans to build a hydroelectric power dam along the Blue Nile River despite objections from Egypt and Sudan.
(AP, 3/30/11)
2011 Apr 2, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi laid the foundation for the Grand Millennium Dam. Its cost was expected to exceed $4.8 billion with some underwriting coming from China.
(Econ, 4/23/11, p.52)
2011 Apr 5, Ethiopia’s PM Meles Zenawi told lawmakers Ethiopia is ready to help the people of Eritrea topple the regime of Issaias Afeworki, ruling out a military invasion.
(AFP, 4/5/11)
2011 Apr 20, Hundreds of Eritrean exiles marched in the capital of neighboring Ethiopia to protest their country's autocratic leadership.
(AP, 4/20/11)
2011 May 13, In Ethiopia a World Food Program driver was killed in the Ogaden region in an ambush that also injured another staff member.
(Reuters, 5/14/11)
2011 May 23, India's PM Manmohan Singh arrived in Ethiopia to begin a six-day trip that included a visit to Tanzania. He aimed to strike deeper economic ties with a continent rich in minerals and commodities, but where India lagged far behind rival China.
(Reuters, 5/23/11)
2011 May 24, In Ethiopia at an address to an India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa, Indian PM Manmohan Singh trumpeted his country's historical ties with Africa and offered $5 billion dollars for the next three years under lines of credit to help Africa achieve its development goals.
(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 Jun 1, Ethiopia's Pres. Girma Wolde Giorgis said the government has commuted the death sentences of 23 high-ranking officials from the ousted communist regime. The sentences were reduced to 25 years.
(AP, 6/1/11)
2011 Jun 13, Speaking in Ethiopia to members of the African Union, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke out against African leaders with despotic regimes, and encouraged democratic reforms in those countries. Mrs. Clinton, the first US Secretary of State to address a session of the African Union, encouraged members to break ties with Libyan strongman Muammar Khaddafi and to support the rebels fighting to overthrow him. She was on a five-day diplomatic trip to three countries.
(AP, 6/13/11)
2011 Jun 27, Two Swedish freelancer journalists, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, entered Ethiopia from Somalia to report about allegations of human rights violations in the region including torture and rape.
(AP, 7/4/11)
2011 Jun 27, The UN Security Council ordered a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Abyei to monitor the withdrawal of northern Sudanese troops who occupied the disputed border region on May 21.
(AFP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jun 29, Ethiopia’s government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said that two journalists were among 9 people arrested last week on suspicions of organizing a terrorist network and planning attacks.
(AP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jun 29, Ethiopia said it will build four more hydroelectric dams on the Nile river as part of a plan to become a power hub for Africa.
(AP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jun, The Ethiopian government labeled Ginbot 7 as a terrorist group, along with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), under the country's anti-terrorism proclamation. Ginbot 7, founded by Dr. Berhanu Nega, envisioned the creation of a nation wherein each and every Ethiopian enjoys the full respect of its democratic and human rights, achieves economic prosperity and social justice, and the respect of the citizen’s life, safety and human dignity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginbot_7)
2011 Jun, Ethiopian consumers started a text-message campaign to boycott meat in an attempt to force prices down. The campaign has not worked.
(AP, 6/21/11)
2011 Jul 1, In Ethiopia Swedish freelance journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye were arrested after entering the Ogaden region to report on allegations of human rights violations.
(AFP, 12/22/11)
2011 Jul 4, An Ethiopian official said government troops have killed have 15 rebels in the country's restive east and arrested two Swedish journalists who were with them. Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye were lightly wounded in last week's clash between troops and rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front. On Nov 3 an Ethiopian court dropped charges of participating in terrorism against the two journalists, but they still faced accusations of supporting terrorism.
(AP, 7/4/11)(AFP, 11/3/11)
2011 Jul 11, Ethiopia said it needed $398 million to help millions of people in need of food aid due to a severe drought. It was estimated that a total of 4.5 million people will require humanitarian assistance during the remaining period of the current year.
(AFP, 7/11/11)
2011 Jul 13, The United Nations made its first aid delivery to a rebel-held Somalia region after the insurgents lifted a ban on the operations of foreign aid agencies. The worst drought in 60 years affected over 10 million people in northern Kenya, south-eastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and Djibouti.
(AFP, 7/17/11)(Econ, 7/9/11, p.44)
2011 Jul 15, UNICEF said at least 17,584 measles cases, including 114 deaths, have been reported by Ethiopian health officials in the first half of the year. The WHO said says at least 462 cases of measles, including 11 deaths, have been confirmed in recent months among Somali refugee children in the Kenyan refugee complex known as Dadaab.
(AP, 7/15/11)
2011 Aug 2, In Sudan a landmine killed four Ethiopian UN peacekeepers and badly wounded seven others on patrol in the disputed territory of Abyei.
(AFP, 8/2/11)
2011 Aug 11, Ethiopian officials said they will not heed the UN's recommendation to halt construction on a dam that the world body says endangers a world heritage site. Project manager Azeb Asnake said that government impact studies found Gilgel Gibe III dam does not endanger Lake Turkana, the world's largest desert lake.
(AP, 8/11/11)
2011 Aug 17, Southern Ethiopia teetered on the brink of a food crisis. The Ethiopian government said 250,000 people need food aid amid what the UN says is the worst drought in 60 years. An aid organization and agricultural officials said the number of people who need emergency food aid in Ethiopia is bigger, around 700,000.
(AP, 8/17/11)
2011 Aug 19, The UN said tens of thousands of people have already died in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. It warned that the famine has not peaked and that 12 million people in the area need food aid.
(AP, 8/20/11)
2011 Aug 25, African Union leaders pledged nearly $380 million to help famine-hit families in the Horn of Africa during a donor conference in Ethiopia. Only 20 representatives of the AU’s 54 members showed up.
(AP, 8/25/11)(Econ, 9/3/11, p.48)
2011 Aug 30, Ethiopian ONLF rebels reportedly killed 25 soldiers protecting a Chinese oil exploration company called PetroTrans.
(AP, 9/2/11)
2011 Sep 3, Sudan's embattled main opposition party vowed to fight for regime change through armed struggle and mass protests, and called for international support, after clashes erupted in Blue Nile state. The UN refugee agency said some 16,000 people have fled across the Sudan’s border to Ethiopia since fighting erupted on Sep 1.
(AFP, 9/3/11)(AP, 9/3/11)
2011 Sep 12, In Mozambique a group of 15 Ethiopian athletes, after competing at the 10th All Africa Games, went missing and left some of their possessions in the athletes' village outside the capital Maputo.
(AFP, 9/15/11)
2011 Sep 14, Ethiopian authorities arrested four opposition members suspected of plotting attacks on state security. Prominent opposition leader Andualem Arage was among those arrested. Independent journalists Sileshi Hagos and Eskinder Nega were also reported arrested, joining 4 others detained under terrorism laws.
(AFP, 9/15/11)(AP, 9/17/11)
2011 Sep 19, The UN refugee agency said nearly 3,000 Eritreans were flooding into Sudan and Ethiopia every month from Eritrea, a country of some five million people and about the size of England.
(AFP, 9/19/11)
2011 Sep 27, The UN refugee agency said some 25,000 people have fled Sudan's troubled Blue Nile state to Ethiopia in the last three weeks amid fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels.
(AFP, 9/27/11)
2011 Oct 4, USAID director Raj Shah said the US will donate more than $121 million to Ethiopia to fight food insecurity amid a drought in the East African nation.
(AP, 10/5/11)
2011 Oct 24, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged another $100 million in food aid to drought-hit East Africa amid warnings that millions of people face starvation for drought-affected areas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 28, The UN refugee agency said fresh aerial bombings in Sudan's border Blue Nile state are sending more refugees fleeing to Ethiopia, with 2,000 arriving in the last four days.
(AFP, 10/28/11)
2011 Nov 10, Ethiopian authorities charged 24 people with terrorism offenses including an opposition politician and a journalist. Prominent opposition leader Andualem Arage and journalist Eskinder Nega were among those charged. Ethiopia has the largest number of exiled journalists in the world with 82 living abroad, according to the Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
(AFP, 11/10/11)(AFP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 17, The UN refugee agency said Yemen has seen a surge of refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia, with a record 12,545 arriving by sea last month as they fled unrest, famine and persecution.
(AFP, 11/17/11)
2011 Nov 19, Several hundred Ethiopian troops crossed into southern and central Somalia, local elders said, but Addis Ababa dismissed the reports as "absolutely not true."
(AFP, 11/19/11)
2011 Nov 20, A convoy of Ethiopian troops entered the central Somali town of Guriel in a possible attempt to open a third front against Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab insurgents.
(SFC, 11/21/11, p.A2)
2011 Nov 24, The UN warned that Ethiopia's reported deployment of troops into Somalia could worsen what is already the world's most severe humanitarian crisis.
(AFP, 11/24/11)
2011 Nov 25, Ethiopia said it may contribute troops to the African Union force in Somalia fighting al-Qaida-affiliated insurgents.
(AP, 11/25/11)
2011 Dec 1, Amnesty International urged Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to arrest former US president George W. Bush for violating international torture laws, during his African tour this week.
(AFP, 12/1/11)
2011 Dec 21, An Ethiopian court convicted Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson of supporting a terrorist group and entering the country illegally, with the prosecution calling for a maximum sentence of 18 years and six months. On Dec 27 a court sentenced the two journalists to 11 years in prison on charges of supporting terrorism.
(AFP, 12/22/11)(AP, 12/27/11)
2011 Dec 31, Ethiopian troops captured Beledweyne, a rebel-held town in central Somalia, leaving at least 18 people dead.
(Reuters, 12/31/11)(AFP, 12/31/12)
2012 Jan 17, Gunmen in Ethiopia's arid north attacked a group of European tourists traveling in one of the world's lowest and hottest regions, killing five, wounding two and kidnapping two. The attack was blamed on groups trained and armed by the Eritrean government. Two Germans held hostage were released on March 5.
(AP, 1/18/12)(AFP, 3/6/12)
2012 Jan 19, An Ethiopian court found three journalists, a politician and a politician's assistant guilty of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, in a case that drew rebukes from rights groups who fear the country's anti-terrorism law is being used to suppress dissent.
(AP, 1/19/12)
2012 Jan 20, The UN refugee agency raised concern over the record numbers of Ethiopians and Somalis flocking to Yemen, despite the deteriorating security situation there. Last year 103,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants crossed the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea, almost double the 2010 figure of 53,000.
(AFP, 1/20/12)
2012 Jan 24, In Somalia a truck bomb targeted an Ethiopian military base. Islamist militants claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabab on its Twitter feed claimed that 33 Ethiopian troops were killed in the attack.
(AP, 1/24/12)
2012 Jan 27, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said he would pull troops out of Somalia "as soon as feasible," admitting for the first time that forces had crossed into the war-torn neighboring country.
(AFP, 1/27/12)
2012 Jan 28, In Ethiopia African leaders inaugurated a new $200 million headquarters that was funded by China as a gift. They said the massive complex in Addis Ababa is a symbol of China's rapidly changing role in Africa.
(AP, 1/28/12)
2012 Jan 29, Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi was elected the African Union Chairman, taking over the one-year post from Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema at the AU summit meeting in the Ethiopian capital.
(AFP, 1/29/12)
2012 Jan 30, In Ethiopia a vote by African leaders for the head of their African Union executive ended in deadlock amid a drive by southern Africa to wrest influence from the continent's French-speaking countries. Gabon's Jean Ping (69), who has headed the African Union Commission since 2008 and was seeking a new term, was challenged by South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a former foreign minister. The AU extended the mandate of Jean Ping until fresh polls are held during the next summit in Malawi.
(AFP, 1/30/12)
2012 Feb 21, Ethiopian troops in battle tanks thrust into rebel-held Somalia regions, sparking heavy fighting as they advanced towards the major Shebab stronghold of Baidoa.
(AFP, 2/21/12)
2012 Feb 22, In Somalia truckloads of Ethiopian and Somali troops captured the strategic city of Baidoa from Al-Qaeda allied Shebab insurgents, who vowed to avenge their loss. The blow to the insurgency coincided with the UN Security Council boosting the strength of an African force in Mogadishu by more than 5,000 troops and came on the eve of conference in London aimed at reviving peace efforts.
(AFP, 2/22/12)
2012 Feb, In Ethiopia 20 Motorola Xoom tablet computers were dropped off in Wenchi village by a group called One Laptop Per Child. The tablets were charged from a solar station built by One Laptop. By year’s end all the kids could chant the English alphabet, and some spelled words.
(AP, 12/24/12)
2012 Mar 10, In Somalia an offensive by Islamist Shebab fighters on Ethiopian troops left at least 23 people dead including 17 al-Shabab fighters and 6 Ethiopian troops.
(AFP, 3/10/12)(SSFC, 3/11/12, p.A4)
2012 Mar 12, In western Ethiopia an attack by gunmen on a public bus left 19 people dead and eight others injured.
(AFP, 3/13/12)
2012 Mar 15, Ethiopian forces entered archrival Eritrea and carried out what a government spokesman described as "a successful attack" against military posts.
(AP, 3/15/12)
2012 Mar 16, The Eritrean government said that an attack on its military outposts by neighboring Ethiopia was carried out with the help of the US and meant to divert attention from a decade-old border dispute between the two countries.
(AP, 3/16/12)
2012 Mar 24, In central Somalia hundreds of heavily armed Ethiopian troops advanced into Dhusamareb with the aim of attacking the main stronghold of the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab militia in the region.
(AFP, 3/24/12)
2012 Mar 26, In central Somalia Ethiopian forces seized El Bur, the main regional base of the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents. Shebab rebels in Mogadishu killed two civilians at a camp for the displaced near the presidential compound, which they targeted with mortar bombs.
(AFP, 3/26/12)
2012 Apr 1, In Ethiopia African Union mediators redoubled their efforts to kickstart crisis talks between Sudan and South Sudan after fresh fighting that Khartoum accuses Juba of backing.
(AFP, 4/1/12)
2012 Jun 2, Kenyan troops were officially integrated into the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with Kenya's defense minister signing an agreement at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(AFP, 6/2/12)
2012 Jun 7, In Ethiopia peace talks between Khartoum and Juba to set up a demilitarized buffer zone ended with Sudan accusing South Sudan of seeking to create "10 disputed areas."
(AFP, 6/8/12)
2012 Jun 18, An Ethiopian security officer with the United Nations faced up to 10 years in jail after a court in Addis Ababa found him guilty of "participating in a terrorist organization." Abdurahman Sheikh Hassan was charged last July with having links to the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a secessionist rebel group. On June 22 Hassan was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison.
(AFP, 6/18/12)(AFP, 6/22/12)
2012 Jun 18, Human Rights Watch said Ethiopia is forcing thousands of people from their land in the southern Omo valley to make way for sugar plantations. Between 5,000 and 10,000 people were estimated to have been displaced. The government denied the charge and said any relocation in the area is happening voluntarily.
(AFP, 6/18/12)
2012 Jun 18, In Malawi a boat carrying about 60 illegal immigrants from Ethiopia capsized on Lake Malawi. All aboard were feared drowned.
(AP, 6/21/12)
2012 Jun 26, In Tanzania a truck driver abandoned Ethiopian and Somali migrants after letting a number of them suffocate to death inside his vehicle. He dumped 43 bodies and abandoned survivors.
(AP, 6/27/12)
2012 Jun 27, Twenty-four Ethiopians, including a leading opposition figure and a prominent journalist, faced life in prison after a court found them guilty on charges of terrorism. They were accused of links to US-based group Ginbot 7, considered a terrorist group under Ethiopian law, and other outlawed groups.
(AFP, 6/27/12)
2012 Jun 29, The Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) said it has forged two deals with Turkish and Chinese companies to build a railway connecting the landlocked country to Djibouti.
(AFP, 6/29/12)
2012 Jul 2, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it appears Ethiopia is extending and refining its censorship of Internet news with a sophistication that could encourage other authoritarian regimes in Africa. The rollout of a pervasive and sophisticated blocking system started in April to include smaller blogs by exiles and news services, and even individual Facebook pages.
(AP, 7/2/12)
2012 Jul 7, Egyptian border guards arrested 68 Eritreans and Ethiopians trying to sneak across the border into Israel.
(AFP, 7/8/12)
2012 Jul 13, An Ethiopian court jailed journalist Eskinder Nga for 18 years for "terrorism" and 23 other reporters and activists for between eight years and life, in sentences condemned by rights groups.
(AFP, 7/13/12)
2012 Jul 15, In Ethiopia the leaders of Congo and Rwanda agreed in principle to back a neutral international armed force to combat Congo's newest rebellion and other fighters terrorizing civilians in the country's mineral-rich east. The African Union said it could help by sending soldiers.
(AP, 7/16/12)
2012 Jul 26, In southern Ethiopia ethnic clashes erupted between the Borana and Garri tribes over a land dispute and left 18 dead and scores displaced.
(AFP, 7/30/12)
2012 Aug 2, A court in London jailed an Ethiopian diplomat for trying to smuggle a large stash of cannabis through London's Heathrow Airport. Amelework Wondemagegne (36), an official at the Ethiopian embassy in Washington, had tried to claim diplomatic immunity when she was caught at the airport in April with 56 kilograms (123 pounds) of cannabis.
(AFP, 8/2/12)
2012 Aug 17, Ethiopian Airlines received Africa's first Boeing 787 Dreamliner, making Ethiopia the only country aside from Japan to operate the innovative aircraft. Ethiopian Airlines has purchased ten 787 Dreamliners from Boeing.
(AFP, 8/17/12)
2012 Aug 20, Meles Zenawi (b.1955), Ethiopia's long-time ruler, died of an undisclosed illness in Belgium. He was credited with economic gains, but blamed for human rights abuses, and was a major US counter-terrorism ally. Hailemariam Desalegn, who was appointed deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in 2010, became acting prime minister.
(AP, 8/21/12)
2012 Aug, In Aurora, Colorado, an Ethiopian identified as Kefelegn Alemu Worku was arrested for torturing political prisoners decades ago in his home country. He was spotted by happenstance and confronted in May 2011 in a suburban Denver restaurant by a former prisoner who recognized him as a guard at Higher 15, a detention center established during the late 1970s in a campaign known as the Red Terror.
(AP, 9/4/12)
2012 Sep 10, Ethiopia said Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye are to be pardoned and released. They have been in jail since July 2011 for abetting terrorism and entering the country illegally.
(AP, 9/10/12)
2012 Sep 15, Ethiopia's ruling party named as its leader acting PM Hailemariam Desalegn, who took over after the death last month of longtime leader Meles Zenawi at the end of a congress of party bosses.
(AP, 9/15/12)
2012 Oct 8, In Ethiopia Feteh, the country’s largest weekly at 27,500 copies, and Finote Netsanet, published by the largest opposition group, said they have been unable to reach their readers for several weeks. The papers said the state-owned Berhanena Selam printing company refuses to print them. The publishers were appealing to the country's newly appointed PM Hailemariam Desalegn to intervene.
(AP, 10/8/12)
2012 Oct 29, In Ethiopia federal prosecutors charged a group of 29 Muslims, including a wife of a senior Cabinet minister, with terrorism and working to establish an Islamic republic. Before the charges were filed, the minister defended his wife, Habiba Mohammed, saying he had asked the Saudi ambassador for the money to help construct a mosque their family is building.
(AP, 11/2/12)
2012 Nov 29, Ethiopia’s PM Hailemariam Desalegn fired the country's civil minister, Junedin Sado, whose wife is one of 29 people facing terrorism charges related to protests by Muslims who accuse of the government of meddling in their religious affairs. Hailemariam also promoted two ministers to double as deputy prime ministers, giving the country three deputy prime ministers for the first time.
(AP, 11/29/12)
2013 Jan 1, An Ethiopian court found 10 men guilty of plotting terror attacks with Islamist extremist rebels from neighboring Somalia.
(AP, 1/1/13)
2013 Jan 2, Ethiopian security forces announced the arrest of 15 people alleged to be members of a terror cell linked with al-Qaida. Authorities said the suspects were trained by al-Shabab militants in neighboring Somalia and Kenya.
(AP, 1/3/13)
2013 Jan 10, Journalist Paul Salopek (50) departed a small Ethiopian village and took the first steps of a planned 21,000-mile (34,000-km) walk that will cross some 30 borders, where he will encounter dozens of languages and scores of ethnic groups. The walk from Ethiopia to Chile, which took human ancestors some 50,000 years to make, is called Out of Eden and is sponsored by National Geographic, the Knight Foundation and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.
(AP, 1/10/13)
2013 Jan 15, Ethiopia sentenced 10 men to jail terms of between three to 20 years for plotting terror attacks with Islamist extremist rebels from neighboring Somalia. Kenyan national, Hassan Jarso, who pleaded guilty when first charged in May, was sentenced with nine Ethiopians.
(AP, 1/15/13)
2013 Jan 17, Ethiopian Airlines grounded its four Boeing 787 Dreamliners following a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration to take the planes out of service in the United States because of a risk of fire from its lithium batteries.
(AP, 1/17/13)
2013 Jan 19, Officials in Ethiopia said South Sudan and Sudan have failed to reach an agreement on security arrangements and oil exports after several days of talks in Addis Ababa.
(AP, 1/19/13)
2013 Jan 27, African Union leaders met in the Ethiopian capital for talks dominated by the conflict in Mali as well as lingering territorial issues between the two Sudans. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the two-day summit in Addis Ababa, where Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn took over from President Yayi Boni of Benin as chairperson of the African Union.
(AP, 1/27/13)
2013 Jan, Paul Salopek (b.1962), American journalist, began a 7-year trek from Ethiopia to Chile aiming to reproduce man’s global migration.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Salopek)(SSFC, 11/24/13, p.A19)
2013 Feb 24, In Ethiopia 11 African countries signed a UN-drafted peace deal to stabilize Congo DRC, where rebels allegedly backed by neighboring countries last year threatened to oust the government.
(AP, 2/24/13)
2013 Mar 1, In Israel Abraham Kabeto Ketla of Ethiopia won the third Jerusalem marathon, setting a record for the race. About 20,000 runners took part despite protests by Palestinians.
(AP, 3/1/13)
2013 Apr 27, Ethiopian Airlines flew a Boeing 787 from Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya, the first commercial flight of the Dreamliner since it was grounded for smoldering batteries.
(SSFC, 4/28/13, p.A5)
2013 May 4, Ethiopian authorities detained reporter Muluken Tesfaw of the private weekly Ethio-Mehedar as he covered evictions 100 km from the site of the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The government has acknowledged the March evictions were illegal and Tesfaw was later released.
(AP, 5/31/13)(AP, 6/7/13)
2013 May 14, An Ethiopian court ruled that prosecutors have two weeks to finalize corruption charges against two dozen people who have been arrested, including a senior Cabinet minister.
(AP, 5/14/13)
2013 May 28, Ethiopia’s Deputy PM Demeke Mekonnin told officials at a ceremony diverting Blue Nile flow at the dam construction site that the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will provide hydroelectricity not only for Ethiopia but also for neighboring countries.
(AP, 5/28/13)
2013 May 31, A UN official said more than 23,500 people have fled fighting in South Sudan's Jonglei state and sought refuge in neighboring countries of Uganda (2.5k), Kenya (5k) and Ethiopia (16k).
(AP, 6/1/13)
2013 Jun 2, In Ethiopia at least 4,000 demonstrators marched peacefully in Addis Ababa against unemployment and corruption and demanded the release of political prisoners.
(Econ, 6/8/13, p.55)
2013 Jun 10, Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil said the country will work diplomatically, legally and technically to negotiate with Ethiopia over the so-called Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
(AP, 6/10/13)
2013 Jun 13, Ethiopia's parliament ratified the new Nile River Cooperative Framework Agreement, an accord already signed by five other Nile River countries. It replaces colonial-era deals that awarded Egypt and Sudan the majority of the world's longest river.
(AP, 6/13/13)
2013 Aug 9, In Somalia an Ethiopian military aircraft carrying ammunition crash-landed at Mogadishu's international airport, bursting into flames and killing 4 of the six crew members.
(Reuters, 8/9/13)
2013 Oct 12, In Ethiopia foreign ministers of the 54-member African Union agreed that sitting heads of state should not be tried by the International Criminal Court where Kenya's leaders are in the dock. They also called for deferring the cases of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto.
(Reuters, 10/12/13)
2013 Oct 13, In Ethiopia an explosion killed two people and impacted a home used by US Embassy personnel in Addis Ababa. Two Somali suicide bombers, who had planned to kill soccer fans during Ethiopia's World Cup qualifying match against Nigeria, blew themselves up accidentally.
(AP, 10/13/13)(Reuters, 10/14/13)
2013 Oct 18, Ethiopia unveiled the first phase of a space exploration program, which includes East Africa's largest observatory designed to promote astronomy research in the region.
(AFP, 10/18/13)
2013 Oct 19, In Somalia a suicide bomber killed at least 16 people, including 4 Ethiopian soldiers, in an attack on a cafe in Beledweyne, a town close to the Ethiopian border frequented by local and foreign soldiers fighting al Qaeda-linked rebels.
(AFP, 10/19/13)(SSFC, 10/20/13, p.A7)
2013 Oct 25, Ethiopia banned domestic workers from moving overseas for employment, following an "exodus" of workers leaving the country through illegal placement agencies.
(AFP, 10/25/13)
2013 Oct 26, In Ethiopia Africa's biggest wind farm began production, aiding efforts to diversify electricity generation from hydropower plants and help the country become a major regional exporter of energy.
(Reuters, 10/26/13)
2013 Nov 5, In Ethiopia 4 people were killed in a bomb blast on a bus near the Sudanese border. Security forces were on high alert following attack warnings.
(AFP, 11/7/13)
2013 Nov 10, In Saudi Arabia thousands of illegal migrants, targeted in a nationwide crackdown, surrendered to police. In Riyadh 2 people were killed when a police raid targeting Ethiopian residents sparked a minor riot.
(AFP, 11/10/13)(SFC, 11/11/13, p.A2)(Econ, 11/16/13, p.52)
2013 Nov 12, In Saudi Arabia thousands of Africans, mostly Ethiopians, surrendered to authorities for a second day Ethiopia announced the death of three citizens during clashes in the Gulf kingdom.
(AFP, 11/12/13)
2013 Nov 13, In Saudi Arabia Ethiopia’s ambassador in Riyadh said some 23,000 Ethiopians have handed themselves in since Saudi authorities clamped down on illegal foreign workers 10 days ago. A Sudanese man was killed in a second flare of clashes since Nov 9 between Saudi riot police, citizens and foreign workers in Riyadh.
(AFP, 11/13/13)(Reuters, 11/13/13)
2013 Dec 5, Ethiopia said it has repatriated over 100,000 citizens from Saudi Arabia, following a violent crackdown against illegal immigrants in the oil-rich kingdom.
(AFP, 12/5/13)
2013 Dec 9, Water ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan held talks on an Ethiopian dam project, after Egypt's objections delayed formation of a committee to implement expert advice.
(AFP, 12/9/13)
2013 Dec 25, In Ethiopia Asfaw Berhanu, a former contributor to the private paper The Reporter, was convicted of charges stemming from a news story he wrote saying three government officials had been removed from their posts. An Ethiopian court sentenced him to two years and nine months in jail.
(AP, 12/31/13)
2014 Jan 1, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir declared a state of emergency in Unity and Jonglei states. Negotiators from the two warring sides arrived in Ethiopia for peace talks.
(Reuters, 1/1/14)(AP, 1/1/14)
2014 Jan 3, In Ethiopia South Sudan's warring parties began negotiations to end nearly three weeks of raging conflict which has left thousands feared dead and taken the world's youngest nation to the brink of all-out civil war. Fighting intensified as the army moved on rebel-held Bor.
(AFP, 1/3/14)
2014 Jan 4, South Sudan’s rebel and government sides met mediators from the regional IGAD grouping in Ethiopia for a second day but did not sit down together.
(Reuters, 1/4/14)
2014 Jan 23, South Sudan's government and rebels signed a peace deal in Ethiopia aimed at ending the month-old conflict as fighting continued in oil-rich Unity state and in Jonglei state.
(AP, 1/24/14)
2014 Jan 30, Leaders of the 54-member African Union met in Ethiopia for a two-day summit with the conflict in the Central African Republic and South Sudan dominating the agenda.
(AFP, 1/30/14)
2014 Jan, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe visited the Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Ethiopia to counter China’s success in building diplomatic support and winning access to raw materials.
(Econ, 1/25/14, p.34)
2014 Feb 17, Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn (31) locked his colleague out of the cockpit, hijacked a Rome-bound plane and landed in Geneva, all in an attempt to seek asylum in Switzerland. On March 16, 2015, Tagegn was convicted in absentia by Ethiopia’s high court.
(AP, 2/17/14)(AFP, 2/17/14)
2014 Mar 13, East African heads of state met in Addis Ababa in the latest push for peace in war-torn South Sudan, where almost three months of raging conflict has left thousands dead.
(AFP, 3/13/14)
2014 Apr 10, Two groups in Ethiopia said that they will hold an anti-gay demonstration later this month, a move that puts Ethiopia in line to become the next African country to increase the public demonization of gays.
(AP, 4/10/14)
2014 Apr 15, In western Ethiopia gunmen ambushed a bus carrying dozens of people near the Sudanese border, killing 9 and wounding six.
(Reuters, 4/16/14)
2014 Apr 29, Ethiopian police said they have arrested several people for "serious criminal activities." Rights groups said they were journalists and “Zone 9" bloggers detained in a sweeping crackdown against free speech. On Oct 16, 2015, Four of the bloggers and journalists were acquitted of terrorism after 18 months in jail. Journalist Befekadu Hailu, while being acquitted of terrorism charges, remained in custody on charges of inciting violence. Soleyana Gebremichael, in exile in the US, was acquitted of all charges in absentia.
(AFP, 4/29/14)(AFP, 10/16/15)
2014 May 1, Ethiopia authorities said at least 11 students have been killed in violent clashes with police. Violence erupted April 28 in a number of university campuses across Oromia state as ethnic Oromo students protested a plan by the government to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into parts of Oromia.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 3, In Sudan hundreds of exhausted illegal migrants reached the safety of a northern town, after 10 died when human traffickers abandoned them in the desert. Most appeared to be Ethiopian or Eritrean but there were some Sudanese as well.
(AP, 5/3/14)
2014 May 9, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to meet rebel leader Riek Machar under growing international pressure for an end to ethnic fighting that has raised fears of genocide.
(Reuters, 5/9/14)
2014 May 23, In Colorado a federal judge sentenced a former Ethiopian jail guard to 22 years in prison for immigration crimes. Kefelgn Alemu Worku was convicted of genocide in absentia in Ethiopia in 2000 and sentenced to death. He reportedly had tortured and killed dozens of people during government sponsored violence in the 1970s.
(SFC, 5/24/14, p.A11)
2014 May 31, Sixty migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia and two Yemeni crew members drowned in the Red Sea in the worst such tragedy off the coast of Yemen this year.
(AFP, 6/6/14)
2014 Jun 2, A Yemeni security official and witnesses said the bodies of dozens of illegal immigrants, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia, have been found on western beaches after their boat capsized in the Red Sea. The bodies started turning up on May 30.
(AP, 6/2/14)
2014 Jun, Andargachew Tsigie, the exiled secretary general of Ethiopia’s Ginbot 7 opposition movement, was detained in transit through Yemen and flown to Ethiopia.
(Econ, 8/9/14, p.42)
2014 Jul 2, The UN's food aid agency warned that Ethiopia is facing a huge wave of refugees from South Sudan, where the specter of famine threatens to heap further misery on a people already rocked by civil war.
(AFP, 7/2/14)
2014 Aug 19, The UN said the spiraling crisis in war-ravaged South Sudan has sent nearly 200,000 refugees into Ethiopia, making it Africa's largest refugee-hosting country.
(AFP, 8/19/14)
2014 Sep 8, In Ethiopia African Union chiefs held an emergency meeting to hammer out a continent-wide strategy to deal with the Ebola epidemic, which has killed over 2,000 people in west Africa.
(AFP, 9/8/14)
2014 Oct 27, UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced at the start of a visit to Ethiopia that the EU and several regional development banks have pledged $8 billion in development aid for projects across eight countries in the Horn of Africa. Countries targeted are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
(AFP, 10/27/14)(AP, 10/27/14)
2014 Nov 8, The African Union, African Development Bank and regional business leaders meeting in in Ethiopia announced a crisis fund to help areas hit by the Ebola outbreak.
(AFP, 11/9/14)
2014 Dec 19, The pilot of the Ethiopian attack helicopter forced his co-pilot and technician to land in Eritrean territory. The helicopter was conducting a routine training flight when it disappeared.
(AP, 12/23/14)
2015 Jan 13, Ethiopia reported that the city of Mekele has banned smoking in public places with fines more than an average monthly wage, the first city in the country to do so.
(AFP, 1/13/15)
2015 Jan 30, African Union leaders opened a two-day annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The 54-member bloc called for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to defeat the "horrendous" rise of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants.
(AFP, 1/30/15)
2015 Jan 30, In Ethiopia Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (90) took over the post of African Union chairman, replacing Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
(AFP, 1/30/15)
2015 Feb 1, After a two-day summit held in the African Union's Chinese-built headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, heads of state proposed new taxes on airline tickets, hotel stays and text messages.
(AFP, 2/1/15)
2015 Feb 23, Kenyan police arrested 101 Ethiopian nationals suspected of traveling illegally through Kenya on their way to South Africa.
(AP, 2/24/15)
2015 Mar 4, Scientists reported that a jawbone found in northeast Ethiopia was about 2.8 million years old making it the oldest to date for the Homo branch of humans.
(SFC, 3/5/15, p.A2)
2015 Mar 12, In Somalia 6 policemen were killed when al Shabaab Islamist militants detonated a car bomb outside a regional government headquarters in Baidoa. Five Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab militants opened fire at the gate of the high-security zone in Baidoa but were held off by Ethiopian and Somali government troops. An Ethiopian soldier was killed, three of the attackers blew themselves up, another was shot dead and the fifth was shot and wounded, ending the attack.
(AP, 3/12/15)(Reuters, 3/12/15)
2015 Mar 20, Ethiopian officials set fire to6.1 tons of illegal elephant tusks, ivory trinkets, carvings and various forms of jewelry on a wooden pyre in Addis Ababa to discourage poaching and the ivory trade.
(AP, 3/20/15)
2015 Mar 24, The leaders of Egypt and Ethiopia promised to boost cooperation on the Nile river and turn a page on a long-running row over Addis Ababa's controversial dam project.
(AFP, 3/24/15)
2015 Apr 19, The new video was posted by the Islamic State appeared to show militants shooting and beheading about 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya.
(Reuters, 4/19/15)
2015 May 12, Eritrean diplomat Mohammed Idris, from the Red Sea state's mission to the African Union, sought asylum in Ethiopia, citing rights abuses at home.
(Reuters, 5/13/15)
2015 May 17, Ethiopia said two hundred suspected human smugglers have been detained as part of the government's efforts to stem the number of citizens trying to illegally migrate to Europe.
(AP, 5/18/15)
2015 May 24, Ethiopians voted in the country's first general elections since the death of strongman Meles Zenawi in 2012. On May 27 the electoral board said the ruling party and its allies won an overwhelming majority in parliament in the weekend elections. Final results on June 22 showed the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) swept all but one seat in the 547-seat parliament. The opposition complained of voting abuses.
(AFP, 5/24/15)(AFP, 5/27/15)(Reuters, 6/22/15)
2015 Jul 1, In Ethiopia $1.8 billion the Gibe III dam was completed on the Omo river. It was expected to lower the water level of Lake Turkana by 30 feet.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgel_Gibe_III_Dam)(Econ, 7/11/15, p.44)
2015 Jul 26, President Barack Obama arrived in Ethiopia, the first time a sitting US president has been to this East African country.
(AP, 7/26/15)
2015 Jul 27, In Ethiopia US President Barack Obama praised the country for its fight against Shebab militants in Somalia, but also challenged Addis Ababa on its democratic record.
(AFP, 7/27/15)
2015 Jul 28, In Ethiopia US President Barack Obama said that Ethiopia "cannot unleash the full potential of its people" if it jails journalists and restricts legitimate opposition groups. In a speech at the African Union, Obama also said Central African Republic leaders needed to commit to inclusive elections and a peaceful transition of power.
(Reuters, 7/28/15)
2015 Aug 16, East African leaders met in Ethiopia ahead of a deadline for South Sudan's warring leaders to strike a peace deal or risk international sanctions.
(AFP, 8/16/15)
2015 Oct 14, Ethiopia called for $556 million in int’l. assistance to help feed 8.2 million people after erratic rains devastated crop yields.
(SFC, 10/15/15, p.A2)
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