Although bureaucracy and consumer behavior have long been obstacles to the use of mobile money in Ethiopia, new regulations and the global COVID-19 pandemic are starting to change how Ethipians pay their bills.

By Mahlet Fasil @MahletFasil Addis Abeba, November 23/2020 – Judges at the Federal First Instant Court have today granted the federal police eight more day to remand and investigate ten detainees, four of them journalists including Medihane Ekubamichael,…

#Ethiopia: @HeikoMaas announced a 5m € support; said the armed conflict in #Tigray region "extremely dangerous." He also discussed the huge challenges Ethiopia & its neighbors were facing this year "in the form of floods, the locust invasion & #COVID19" …

#Ethiopia: @AddisPolice said some 796 people are arrested in #AddisAbeba alone as of Nov. 04, since the federal gov't started the ongoing military operation in #Tigray, for alleged plots, including "carrying out #TPLF's mission to conduct terrorist acts."…

By Mahlet Fasil @MahletFasil Addis Abeba, November 23/2020 – Dozens of civilians were killed and more than 94, 000 displaced from various localities in the Konso Zone of Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s regional state (SNNPRS) in sustained attacks…

#US naval ship docks in #Sudan for 'Red Sea security' https://t.co/4UvcNacdKo “The Military Sealift Command expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Carson City arrived in Port Sudan, Sudan. This is the first US Navy ship to visit Sudan in decades...," US Embassy…

#Ethiopia: Important to note that "While @EthioHRC has not finalized its investigation, preliminary findings indicate the killing of an, as yet, unknown number of civilians by #Eritrean soldiers in the city of #Axum in retaliation for an earlier attack..…

#Ethiopia’s War Leads to Ethnic Cleansing in #Tigray, U.S. Report Says https://t.co/VIuo6uHf4w An internal U.S. gov't report found that people in Tigray are being driven from their homes in a war begun by Ethiopia, an American ally -posing Pres Biden’s first…

#Ethiopia-#Tigray: Massacre in the mountains They thought they'd be safe at a #church. Then the soldiers arrived https://t.co/Ih04TPBgfk @cnni on yet another massacre by a group of #Eritrean soldiers on Maryam Dengelat church while hundreds of congregants…

Breaking: Immediate withdrawal of #Eritrean, #Amhara region forces from #Tigray, unilateral cessation of hostilities by all & unhindered delivery of assistance: @SecBlinken https://t.co/0NY019tmjb The "USAID will deploy a Disaster Assistance Response Team…

@SecBlinken also said the U.S. asks "international partners, especially the @_AfricanUnion and regional partners, to work with us to address the crisis in #Tigray, including through action at the #UN and other relevant bodies." https://t.co/0NY019tmjb

Just In: In a phone call with PM Abiy Sec. Blinken "pressed for the immediate end to hostilities and the withdrawal of outside forces from #Tigray, including #Amhara regional security forces and #Eritrean troops" -https://t.co/MkoeTX36mx

#Ethiopia: Diplomats: #UN Security Council to Meet Thursday on Ethiopia's #Tigray https://t.co/fCtA47EcZ4 The Council's last meeting on Tigray was held Feb, 2 to call for more humanitarian access. African Council members, however, had rejected in advance…

News Alert: The opposition #Oromo Federalist Congress (#OFC) pulls out of upcoming election. Tiruneh Gemta, OFC Secretariat, told @dw_amharic that the party's executive has decided to pull out of the 6th national election scheduled to take place on June 05…

OFC leaders & members: Bekele Gerba, Deputy Chairman, Prof. Merera Gudian, Chairman, @Jawar_Mohammed & Hamza Adane, both members, & Dejene Tafa, Exec. member with the rank of deputy chairman. All except for Prof. Merera are currently in prison facing terrorism…

#BREAKING: UN rights chief says grave violations that could amount to 'war crimes and crimes against humanity' have been committed in Ethiopia's Tigray region, including by Eritrean troops. @AFP

#Ethiopia - #Tigray https://t.co/bfhMBWFGq5 The scale of humanitarian needs is alarming & the response on the ground is still extremely limited. Access remains challenging, but possible in some areas. @MSF & other humanitarian org's not able to gain meaningful…

Breaking: #UN Sec. General António Guterres calls on #Eritrean forces to leave #Tigray. He “fully supports” the statement made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights @mbachelet,his spokesperson said. Earlier Bachelet called for access to Tigray to probe…

New Report on #Axum: #Eritrean Forces Massacre #Tigray Civilians: @HRW https://t.co/ZqzYvtSjzo “They killed her children and locked the compound door behind them, so no one could get in at first. She was left alone with the bodies of her two dead children…

The conflict in Tigray, the northern region of Ethiopia, has mostly been unfolding under a media blackout since early November. Thousands of civilians have likely died as a result of the crisis.