Ethiopia's Music of Resistance Stays Strong, Despite Repression

Screenshot from one the more melancholic music videos of Teferi Mekonen viewed more than 200,000 times from the group's YouTube channel.

In Ethiopia, journalists and bloggers have long been subjected to imprisonment and terrorism charges, but musicians have been relatively free — until recently.

Over the past year, what activists call “resistance songs” have flooded a tiny corner of the Ethiopian internet. But as political music has become more visible in public life and online, Ethiopian authorities have expanded their political repression tactics to musicians whom they see as sympathizers with opposition.

Since December 2016, multiple popular Ethiopian musicians aligned with the country's growing opposition movement have been arrested and jailed. Last month, the prominent group of rising start singer Seenaa Solomon was charged with terrorism for “inciting” lyrics and uploading their music video to YouTube.

The contentious political environment in which these arrests took place has grown out of the Ethiopian government's plan to expand Addis Ababa, the nation's capital. In 2014, the ruling EPRDF party announced plans to expand the capital into adjacent farm lands of Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest region that is primarily home to the country's largest ethnic group, the Oromo.

The plan led to wide-scale protests and a violent government crackdown, ultimately resulting in a state of emergency declared in October 2016 and still effective today. Some say the state of emergency, which was extended to four more months in March 2017 has brought some calm after two years of political unrest.

While the state of emergency may be curbing the demonstrations, feelings and narratives of resistance remain alive and well. And Afan Oromo (the region's language) musicians have begun to rise as a visible — and audible — driving inspiration for the opposition movement.

For Oromos, resistance songs have long been at the heart of their political movements. However, over the last few months the ‘resistance songs’ have grown louder and angrier in tones and have gained a much larger following. And of late, even Amharic singers who have not sung overtly political songs have joined the chorus resistance songs. Prominent Amharic singer Yehune Belay released a popular Amharic song in which he pleaded with Ethiopian soldiers to stop killing people.

Large numbers of YouTube channels and Facebook pages have sprung up, documenting the cultural aspects of the protest. Websites and blogs frequently post resistance songs.

On YouTube, channels carrying montages of protest images linked to the resistance songs regularly garner hundreds of thousands of views.

Addis Ababa in the late afternoon. Photo by Amanda Lichtenstein.

Offline, street CD vendors and small CD rental shops are part of an informal chain of supply of resistance songs for Ethiopians who don’t have internet access.

The government has tried all methods to censor ‘resistance songs’. It has arrested singers, denied them gigs and even driven them out of Ethiopia. It haas blocked YouTube channels and jammed diaspora-based satellite television stations.

But the government’s tactics in repressing critical singers often seems only to increase the popularity of resistance songs. For example, Yai Gulalle Film, the YouTube channel run by Seena Solomon and her colleagues before their arrest, has been viewed more than 3,525,996 times. Read more here

Building collapse kills 4 in southern Ethiopian city

ADDIS ABABA, July 17 (Xinhua) -- A building collapse in Ethiopia's Arba Minch city, 435 km south of capital Addis Ababa, has killed four people and injured 11 others.

Those killed were tenants in the two-storey guesthouse and an unknown number of people were trapped in the rubble, according to a report on Monday by the state-owned Ethiopian News Agency.

Arba Minch mayor Ezo Emaqo said the owner of the building has been put under arrest for constructing an unsafe building structure that had possibly led to the collapse of the edifice.

Read more here

Ethiopia’s biggest lake on the verge of dying

Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake and the source of Blue Nile, is suffocating under toxic plant species known as the water hyacinth, raising questions about the federal governments’ response and efficiency of the community efforts to eliminate it. The Amhara region Environment, Forest and Wildlife Protection and Development Authority, Dr. Belayneh Ayele says with the current rainy season, the weed is spreading widely, infesting about 50,000 hectares of the lake.

Three million people rely on the lake to preserve their livelihoods in an environment that has increasingly come under threat. The lake has thirty-seven islands, twenty of which host ancient churches and monasteries that lie hidden in the remaining native forests.
But locals say the number of hotels and commercial establishments, constructed on the southern shores of the lake, Bahir Dar town, are sending thousands of tonnes of sewerage waste into the lake every year, causing the weed to thrive. In addition to this, farmers in the area are using large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are washed into the lake. Dr. Belayneh confirmed the phosphates and nitrates entering into the lake are blocking out light needed by species living below and posing danger to the fishing industry.

Dr. Belayneh said his bureau has organized an initiative to save Lake Tana in partnership with local communities, who harvest the weed manually. For instance, he mentioned, more than 22,000 hectares have been uprooted with the participation of 184,000 people this year.Experts say the weed will remain difficult to eradicate with such initiative. “Resource mobilization from various regional, national and international institution need to be considered as water hyacinth management requires huge sources,” the Water Hyacinth Coverage Survey Report compiled by scholars from Bahir Dar University in 2015 commended.

The Amhara region has requested support from the federal government and international organizations to control the effluent and waste that pours into the waters. Not much help came except the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that promised to develop a project in order to support the effort technically and financially, a project that has to be realized on the ground.

Activists say water hyacinth weed is just a symptom of what is ailing the lake. Pollution, over fishing and ecological destruction are bigger problems causing the catastrophe. The German-government funded the Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), involved in the conservation of the lake since 2012 warned that there is a real danger that the lake will be permanently damaged as almost all of the forests in the catchment area of the lake have been converted into farmland and an intensification of agriculture, the overgrazing of pastures and expansion of farmland has contributed to the problem of land degradation and soil erosion. Read more here 

Somali traders heed to Al Shabaab ban on local currency, use Ethiopian Birr

After Islamist group al Shabaab’s ban on the Somali Shilling in the central and southern regions under its control over alleged influx of fake notes, some traders are reported to have resorted to the use of Ethiopian Birr

According to a report by Somalia’s Dalsan Radio in Mogadishu, traders in Galmudug are using the Ethiopian currency in respect of the instructions.

Business in the central Somalia’s region of Hiiraan also stalled last week following the ban of the 1000 Shilling banknote which is the only Somali currency in circulation.

The order follows reports that the semi-autonomous state of Puntland had printed and circulated counterfeit banknotes to float the exchange rate between the dollar and shilling.

The Puntland authorities responded to the allegations and ban in a statement saying the militant group wants to “devalue the Somali shilling and empowering the foreign currency”.

“Puntland government warns business owners in Puntland against following the ban on the Somali shillings. Anybody found complying Al-Shabaab ban will be considered as a member of them and will face consequences,” the statement cited by local media said.

Some residents are reported to have staged protests outside shops over refusal to accept the Shilling.

Puntland is partly under the control of al Shabaab. Read more here

U.K. funeral for Ethiopian boy, 5, who died in London tower inferno

A funeral has been held for one of the victims of the recent tower inferno at the Grenfell Tower in London.

Five-year-olf Isaac Paulos, was among eight British nationals with Ethiopian origin who died when an inferno engulfed the high rise residential apartment in London.

Prayers were said for the little boy in a church ceremony. The BBC shared photos that showed pall bearers carrying his coffin which had flowers placed on it. He is the only member of the family of four that perished in the blaze.

He lived with his parents on the 18th floor of the facility. Genet Shawo and Paulos Petakle are now left with their three-year-old son, Lukas, the BBC said.

The Ethiopian Embassy in the United Kingdom (UK) through its Twitter handle confirmed that there were a number of Ethiopians were among the casualties. ‘‘We can confirm that there are a number of Ethiopian-born citizens among the casualties,’‘ a June 15 statement read.

An updated statement issued a day later , provided details of some of the missing persons. Amongst them was Paulos, a mother and son Berikti and Biruk Habtom and Hashim Kidir, his wife and their three children.

The Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK, Hailemichael Aberra Afework visited families of the affected persons to offer the government’s support.

The Metropolitan Police reported that the Grenfell Tower Block incident claimed about 80 lives with over 20 others in hospital, a number of them in critical condition.

The 24-storey building in West London dates back to the 1970s and had recently been refurbished. The head of London’s fire service said in nearly 30 years of service, he’d never seen anything like this.

The estate in a multi-ethnic area of London forms a recognisable part of the capital’s skyline. As the fire tore upwards and sideways through the building, trapped residents could be seen desperately seeking help. Read more here