Ethiopia is again facing food scarcity that has put the lives of over eight million Ethiopians at risk, particularly those in the South-West Oromia region where 11 people died of hunger and lack of clean water. The food insecurity, caused by a long period of drought in Oromia region, affected close to half a million people, the National Disaster, Prevention and Control Commission confirmed.

Land certification has been implemented in Ethiopia since 1998 and over 5 million certificates have been delivered. This is the largest delivery of non-freehold rights in such a short time period in Sub Saharan Africa. The new federal and regional land proclamations that form the basis for this land reform, aim to increase tenure security and strengthen women’s rights to land as to ensure more sustainable use of land resources. This study, conducted in the Oromiya region (OR) and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia, aims to assess the early impacts of land registration and certification that has been implemented there since 2004.

Ethiopia experienced a record harvest during the meher season that runs from June and October but pockets of poor food production across the country have still left millions of people needing food assistance, according to a food security update. Citing the Somali region in particular, the update issued by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) on 6 February stated that poor rains during the deyr season, from October to November, exacerbated extreme food insecurity in parts of the region.

Ethiopia has dismissed a "virtual" demarcation of its border with Eritrea, just a day after Asmara accepted the move by an independent boundary commission. The two nations have been deadlocked in a dispute over their 1,000km border since a 2002 decision by the Hague-based commission gave the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea.

Mursi tribal people living in and around the Omo National Park in Ethiopia are celebrating the withdrawal of conservation organisation African Parks from their land. The decision by African Parks (formerly Africa Parks Foundation) to terminate their agreement with the Ethiopian government to manage the Omo Park was announced in December, and was greeted with joy and relief by many Mursi.

Ethiopia will begin exporting electricity to neighbouring Sudan and Djibouti by 2010, after its series of hydroelectric power projects underway get accomplished. These include a dam construction in Mekelle by 3 Chinese companies, which is nearing completion.

The UN refugee agency has resumed the repatriation of Sudanese refugees from western Ethiopia after a six-month hiatus due to the rainy season and poor road conditions. A convoy of buses and trucks carrying 610 Sudanese refugees – more than half of them born in Ethiopia – left Bonga Camp on Saturday on a 820-kilometre-long journey to Sudan's Blue Nile state via the border crossing of Kurmuk.

A new range of mobile phones has just gone on sale in Ethiopia, with the onscreen menu in Amharic, and the ability to send SMS text messages in the Ge'ez script - used for Amharic and other languages in the region. This is something of a breakthrough in a country where until recently text messaging was not allowed in any language.

We are writing to ask your support for the release of two courageous Ethiopian civic and anti-poverty activists Daniel Bekele, the Head of Policy Research and Advocacy Department of ActionAid Ethiopia, and Netsanet Demessie, Executive Director and co-founder of the Ethiopian NGO, Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia (OSJE).

The feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from obstetric fistula, devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. The trials they endure -- and their attempts to rebuild their lives -- tell a universal story of hope, courage, and transformation.

This latest briefing from the International Crisis Group warns of the real risk of renewed conflict and calls on the international community to move fast to stop it. The UN Security Council and the U.S. in particular must give both sides the clearest message that no destabilising unilateral action will be tolerated, and that the parties must comply with their obligations under international law, disengage on the ground and restore the demilitarised Temporary Security Zone (TSZ).

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow for a two year, fixed-term, renewable appointment with its Environment and Production Technology (EPT) and International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) divisions.

The United Nations refugee agency has condemned the recent deportation of at least 15 Ethiopian refugees by the authorities in Sudan, calling it a breach of the country’s international legal obligations. Sudanese officials handed over the refugees to Ethiopian authorities at the Metema border crossing, about 500 kilometres southeast of Khartoum, on 27 September, but the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement issued in Geneva that it had only learned of the deportations this week.

Voicing his concern at escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the two East African neighbours to show maximum restraint and abide by the accords that ended their border war seven years ago. Of particular concern are “recent shooting incidents, as well as the building up of military forces in the border area,” according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.

Ethiopia on Thursday pledged 5,000 troops to a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region. The 26,000-strong joint mission is to replace a hard-pressed AU force that lacks experience, equipment and cash and has been unable to stop the conflict that has caused a humanitarian crisis in which some 200,000 people are estimated to have died.

A high attrition has been recorded in Ethiopia's health sector, as 80% of the country's medical graduates, including one of medical doctors left the country to chase greener pastures abroad annually, a study by a local non-governmental organisation, Unity for Development, disclosed. Ethiopia is described as the African country worst affected by brain drain. In fact, the study revealed that currently there are more working Ethiopian doctors in the United States than in Ethiopia. Many Ethiopian doctors also left for Botswana, South Africa and the Middle East in search of good pay.

Since July 18, 2007, several individuals have been reportedly arbitrary arrested and detained by the police in Nekemte town, Eastern Wellega Zone in Oromia Region for their alleged links with the armed opposition group Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).

The number of girls and women who undergo female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) has declined in Ethiopia's Southern Regional State, and could be reduced further if stronger penalties were enforced, an NGO leader said. "Previously people did not even mention FGM/C; it was a taboo," said Bogaletch Gebre, executive director of Kembatta Women's Self-Help Centre, a local NGO engaged in educating the public in Kembatta, Alaba and Tembaro zones.

While welcoming the pardoning of 38 opposition politicians and journalists in Ethiopia last week, CIVICUS and the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP ) remind the Ethiopian government that many others, including GCAP coordinators Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie, remain in prison anxiously awaiting their verdict.

Thirty Ethiopian opposition leaders have been pardoned and freed from prison just days after being given life sentences over election protests. Three minibuses have reportedly left the prison while the group's supporters whistled and shouted for joy outside. The group always said the trial was political and refused to enter a plea, leading to the men's conviction.