The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned a campaign of intimidation against the private press which it says has seen the arrest of six journalists on alleged terrorism charges.

The Ethiopian government has accused two freelance Swedish journalists of ‘terrorism’, after they entered the country with insurgents from the Ogaden National Liberation Front. With Prime Minister Meles Zenawi backing the charges against them, they have little chance of a fair trial, writes Alemayehu G Mariam.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the authorities to drop accusations of terrorist activities leveled at five journalists including two Swedish reporters whose trial was due to start in Addis Ababa but was adjourned until 20 October 2011. The arrests of the journalists have sparked widespread criticism from the IFJ European and African groups, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) as well as the Eastern Africa Journalists Associations (EAJA) which have all accused the Ethiopian government of waging a campaign of intimidation against independent media under the cloak of anti-terror legislation.

The UN’s growing concern over Ethiopia’s construction of the controversial Gibe III dam has prompted it to demand urgent information from the African state. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has given Ethiopia until the end of January 2012 to provide reliable evidence that independent assessments have been carried out, and that tribal people in the region have been properly consulted.

Some 25,000 people have arrived in Ethiopia over the last three weeks to escape fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels in Blue Nile state, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said. 'Since 3 September, when the influx into Ethiopia started, an estimated 25,000 refugees have found refuge in Ethiopia,' said Adrian Edwards, UNHCR spokesperson. Fighting between government forces and rebels from the northern wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement broke out earlier this month, after the SPLM-N refused to disarm.

As Ethiopian women’s rights organisations struggle to stay afloat following government legislation that prohibits them from receiving international funding, violence against women continues to rise, writes Billene Seyoum Woldeyes. But in the absence of social and institutional support, where can victims of gender-based violence turn to for help?

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works at the crossroads of livestock and poverty, bringing high-quality livestock science, communications and capacity building to bear on poverty reduction and sustainable development. ILRI seeks to recruit a senior Project Manager to oversee and lead all aspects of the implementation of the 5 year Livestock and Irrigation Value-Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders project.

This project was formulated by the EU Delegation with full participation of NAO, EPA, MoA and MoWE aims to contribute towards the construction of a carbon neutral and climate resilient economy through the corresponding socio-economic development program (CRGE). Identification of Services is a key aspect of the project which focuses advisory and support functions.

Two prominent Ethiopian opposition politicians have been detained, at least one of them on terrorism-related charges. But opposition leaders are questioning the charges, saying the detentions appear politically motivated.

A new Land Deal Brief from the Oakland Institute (OI) exposes that the controversial Gibe III hydroelectric project located in Ethiopia's Omo Valley is ‘facilitating the take over of 350,000 hectares (ha) of land for sugar cane and cotton plantations and resulting in state-sponsored human rights violations.’

Why does Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi refuse to make public the details of a ‘large chunk’ of Ethiopian land given to Sudan, asks Alemayehu G. Mariam.

Thomas C. Mountain, writing on counterpunch.org, reports that the recently released, and long awaited, Wikileaks Files on Ethiopia expose the lies used to justify UN 'inSecurity' Council Sanctions in force against Eritrea.

According to a new Land Deal Brief from the Oakland Institute (OI) to be released on September 12, 2011, the controversial Gibe III hydroelectric project located in Ethiopia's Omo Valley is facilitating the take over of 350,000 hectares (ha) of land for sugar cane and cotton plantations.

Ethiopia has expelled a delegation of international rights group, the Amnesty International, and detained two opposition party leaders. Amnesty said its delegation was on an official visit to the Horn of Africa country. The opposition leaders were arrested on the back of individual meeting with the expelled delegation, a statement issued by Amnesty said. 'We are extremely concerned that the arrests of the two men occurred within days of talking with our delegates. Although the government denies it, we are worried that their arrests are not a coincidence,' said Michelle Kagari, deputy programmes director for Africa.

Containing video documentation, this report reveals that a joint undercover investigation by BBC Newsnight and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has uncovered evidence that the Ethiopian government is using development aid as a tool for political oppression. Posing as tourists, the team of journalists travelled to the southern region of Ethiopia.

Ethiopian authorities have turned down a strong demand by Kenyan lawmakers to stop the construction of the controversial Gibe III hydro-electric power dam, terming it 'unthinkable'. The massive dam, that is expected to cost $1.7 billion, has come under sustained criticism from mainly western rights groups over what they say are the negative environmental and social impacts and the threat it is said to pose to the livelihoods of an estimated 500,000 people living in Kenya. Kenyan Members of Parliament last week demanded the Ethiopian government stop all construction until an independent environmental impact assessment was done, saying that communities living around Lake Turkana would be affected.

While millions in East Africa are caught in the cobweb of a devastating drought that has spread its tentacles across Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, the government in Addis Ababa is snatching some of Ethiopia's most productive farmland from local tribes and leasing it to foreign companies to grow and export food. A Survival International investigation has uncovered shocking evidence that vast blocks of fertile land in the Omo River area in south west Ethiopia are being leased out to Malaysian, Italian and Korean companies. Vast stretches of land are also being cleared for huge state-run plantations producing export crops, even though 90,000 tribal people in the area depend on the land to survive.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi recently dismissed a question from an MP representing his ruling EPRDF about comments made by Ken Ohashi, former country director of the World Bank to Ethiopia. Ohashi believes Ethiopia’s economy has deeply structural flaws in competitiveness and is trapped in a low productivity quagmire. He concluded his four-year tenure in Ethiopia last month. He was known for his scepticism on the viability of the administration’s signature plan outlined in the Growth and Transformation Plan.

Ron Singer interviews Abiye Teklemariam, founding editor of 'Addis Neger’ (‘New Addis’), which until 2009 was Ethiopia’s leading dissident newspaper.

The Human Rights Committee of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reviewed Ethiopia's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recently, including its press freedom record. Peppered with questions about an indefensible record of abuse - jailing the second largest number of journalists in Africa and leading the continent in Internet censorship - representatives of the Ethiopian government responded with cursory talking points and bold denials in contradiction of the facts, says the Committee to Protect Journalists.