By Amnesty International:
Thousands of members of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, are being ruthlessly targeted by the state based solely on their perceived opposition to the government, said Amnesty International in a new report released today.
“Because I am Oromo” – Sweeping repression in the Oromia region of Ethiopiaexposes how Oromos have been regularly subjected to arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without charge, enforced disappearance, repeated torture and unlawful state killings as part of the government’s incessant attempts to crush dissent.

Paris ( DIPLOMAT.SO) – At least six publications have had to close in recent months and around 30 journalists have fled abroad since the start of the year as a result of the biggest crackdown on the privately-owned press since 2005, one reflecting a government desire to make a clean sweep of independent media before parliamentary elections next May, local analysts say.

I have often contended that the ruling regime in Ethiopia controlled by the Tigrean Liberation Front (TPLF) is a thugtatorship, the highest stage of African dictatorship.  If democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people, a thugocracy is a government of thugs, for thugs, by thugs.

Whether or not Ethiopia’s external debt is growing too fast and too large has become an emerging topic of conversation among many observers.  While the government is seeking to tap any and all sources of financing domestic and foreign, observers argue that the country needs to be very careful about acquiring any more loans.  As always, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are the thought leaders and have taken it upon themselves to point out all of the hidden dangers of the growing external indebtedness.  But others, including Ethiopian academics, are chiming in their agreement with the concerns raised by the two multilateral institutions.