The human rights watchdog says the crackdown threatens the new era of human rights gains in Ethiopia.

Fighting between Oromo activists and other ethnic groups in the Ethiopian capital and the suburb of Burayu has left 65 people dead in recent days.

Ethiopian police has responded by making 3 200 arrests.

The police say only 1 000 of these are people people involved in the fighting. 107 have been charged.

The other arrests have been in casinos, bars and sisha dens where people chew the narcotic khat leaves.

Under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, reforms have taken the edge off Ethiopia’s authoritarian security forces and enabled many  opposition political figures to feel confident enough to return from exile.

The post Amnesty International slams thousands of arrests in Addis Ababa appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The semi autonomous region of  Puntland says it will not heed neighboring Somalia’s ban on the import of the mildly narcotic khat from Kenya.

Daily flights of the leaf have continued despite the conflict that’s torn the Horn of Africa country.

From today, Somalia’s barred these Kenyan aircraft  from its airspace.

Puntland’s saying the planes can land there and trade across its open borders with Somalia.

Fearful that the donkey population is being rapidly depleted, Niger’s banned the export of these animals.

Donkeys are a vital part of the rural economy used for transporting goods.

The demand for donkeys for export has meant that their price has increased three fold in recent months.

One animal can now fetch up to $150.

The post Elsewhere in Africa appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.