Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi dead at 57

(OPride) –– After months of rampant online rumors and speculations about his health and whereabouts, the state-run media pronounced Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's strongman of two decades, dead. He was 57.

Muslim protests in Ethiopia reach point of no return

(OPride) -- After eight months of staging sporadic protests in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Sunday, the Ethiopian Muslim protesters stepped the ante, hitting a crescendo. As hundreds of thousands flocked to Addis Ababa Stadium to celebrate the end of Ramadan, massive protests were reported across the country.

Ethiopian patriarch’s death adds to the succession drama

(OPride) -- Abune Paulos, the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, died of an unknown illness last night. He was 76.

The patriarch’s death sets the stage for another succession struggle among rival church groups while also opening a new chapter of an already bizarre succession drama surrounding the Prime Minister, one kicked off by his unexplained disappearance nearly two months ago.

Ethiopia: Junedin Saddo in fresh row with police over wife’s arrest

New York (OPride) –– Ethiopia’s Civil Service Minister, Junedin Saddo, embroiled in a public controversy after lambasting the police for failing to properly investigate his wife before her detention last month.

The police say the minister, who recently sent an angry letter to the media, acted inappropriately, interfering with an ongoing investigation and judicial process.

Ethiopia After Meles: Prospects for Change and Stability

by Buri Waddesso | July 31, 2012 | Part I

Uncertainty about the health of Ethiopia's long serving Prime Minister and growing protests by that country's restive Muslim population brings into question its image as the linchpin to the stability of the volatile Horn of Africa region.

Ethiopia After Meles: Prospects for Change and Stability

by Buri Waddesso | August 3, 2012 | Part II

Getting rid of dictatorship by any means necessary is obviously very appealing. But any aspirant to true emancipation has a lot of lessons to draw from the recent experience of the Arab Spring as well as Africa's tortuous past on the pitfalls of this urge.

ICG denies report, Abebe Gellaw insists Meles is dead

by Mohammed Ademo

New York (OPride) – Brussels-based nonprofit, the International Crisis Group, categorically denied rumors that cited the organization and pronounced the death of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

On July 30, shortly after 2 p.m. an opposition outlet, ESAT radio announced the premier dead as breaking news citing diplomatic and international sources, including the ICG. Social media exploded when rumors spread that "ICG declared Meles Dead."

Tweeps and websites to follow for news about Meles Zenawi

by EndalKachew H (@Endalk2006)

Addis Ababa –– Forty-one days had passed since Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was seen in public. In the days after his last public appearance on state-run Ethiopian Television, activists and journalists turned to social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, first to speculate about his frail appearance, and later to inform the public about his health, the hospital where he was being treated, the kind and the cause of his ailment, and even his widely rumored “death.”

Oromo Struggle: causes of the conundrum and towards a covenant

By Firew Kebede Tiba, PhD*

This Op-Ed is an outgrowth of my brief response, on a social media, to Magarsa Muhktar’s “Ethiopia's Beleaguered Opposition: Fighting Goliath”, which appeared on OPride.com on 28 July 2012. Magarsa makes an apt observation of the state of resistance to political repression.