The House of Peoples' Representatives approved a proclamation stating that corruption suspects wouldn't be released on bail.

Two prominent human rights activists have been charged with attempting to change the "constitutional order" of Ethiopia by force, the pro-government Walta Information Centre has reported. Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, former head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), and Dr Berhanu Nega, head of the non-governmental Ethiopian Economic Association, were also charged with being members of an unlawful clandestine organisation, Walta said.

Ethiopian police have arrested several top officials and businessmen in the country's current crackdown campaign against corruption, said government officials Wednesday. Among the detained are former defense minister Siye Abraha and former head of the office of regional administration Bitew Belay, they said.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the coming to power of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), ARTICLE 19 today publishes a report exploring what progress has been made towards eliminating the
censorship dimensions of famine in Ethiopia over the past decade. Andrew Puddephatt, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, said: "The apparent return of famine to Ethiopia in 1999-2000 suggests that, despite the progress that has been made since 1991 by the ruling EPRDF in strengthening freedom of expression, including access to information, much more remains to be done. If, as Nobel prize winning economist Amartya Sen argues, poverty and famine are forms of 'unfreedom', then it makes it literally a matter of life and death that those who govern Ethiopia push forward urgently with the process of deepening and consolidating respect for fundamental human rights and democratic principles."

Ethiopian government has welcomed the decision of the UN Security Council to lift the embargo on arms sales to Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said. In a statement on Wednesday the Ethiopian foreign ministry said the decision by the council had reminded both countries "to desist from engaging in an arms race and other military activities, and turn to economic development and reconciliation in a bid to bring about peace and stability in the Horn of Africa".

Prof. Mesfin Wolde-Mariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega who have been detained by police since Tuesday (May 8, 2001) appeared before court on Wednesday (May 9, 2001) as the 5th Criminal Bench of the Federal High Court ordered the two academics to remain under police custody until May 18, 2001.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), a member of the OMCT network, that the government is engaged in cruel and inhumane actions against street children in Addis Ababa.
Due to the recent conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia, children who do not have parents or economically strong relatives to support them are forced to discontinue their education. The streets, churches, mosques, bus and taxi stations of cities in Ethiopia are crowded by a increasing number of these defenseless citizens.

Ethiopian security forces have used excessive force in dealing with student protests and are using the protests as an excuse for cracking down on all government critics, Human Rights Watch charged today. Attacks by security forces on Addis Ababa University, in Ethiopia's capital, have led to forty-one deaths, hundreds of injuries, and the detention of over two thousand students and scores of government critics since April 17.

The top United Nations peacekeeping official today confirmed the establishment of a Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) in Ethiopia and Eritrea along the countries' common border. Briefing the UN Security Council on developments in the region, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno called the TSZ's establishment, which was announced yesterday, an "important milestone in the peace process."

Ethiopia's post-socialist track record shows that the country has made a decisive break with its command economy in many, but not all, respects. Price controls have been largely dismantled, tax and tariff rates reduced, and the inflation rate kept low. The EPRDF Government has a strong sense of ownership of the reforms, and it is committed to several measures that go beyond stabilization and liberalization.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved in principle a three-year arrangement for Ethiopia under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)1 for SDR 87 million (about US$112 million) to support the government's 2000/01-2002/03 economic program.

Ethiopian troops have been found inside a buffer zone intended to keep apart the once-warring armies of Horn of Africa neighbors Ethiopia and Eritrea, the United Nations said on Thursday.

In Ethiopia, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has written to the prime minister to tell him that the watchdog organization "is appalled at the deplorable treatment of independent journalists and news outlets." CPJ contends that Ethiopia has become "Africa's foremost jailer of journalists in recent years."

Eight million threatened by meningitis epidemic in Ethiopia 8 March 2001 With some 8.4 million people threatened with a deadly epidemic of meningococcal meningitis - the Ethiopian Red Cross has mobilized thousands of volunteers to begin a major social mobilization campaign on the disease, and to make sure those at risk are vaccinated. "There is serious cause for alarm about the spread of this epidemic. While to date there have been 1,700 cases reported and 140 deaths confirmed, this is probably a serious underestimate of the reality on the ground. Ethiopian Ministry of Health figures that 8.4 million people could be at risk are very realistic. It is vital that we act now," said Dr. Bradley Hersh, a senior medical epidemiologist with the International Federation. The group most at risk is between the age of two and thirty years old.