At least 157 people were killed in mudslides in a remote part of Ethiopia that has been hit with heavy rainfall, many of them as they tried to rescue survivors of an earlier mudslide, local authorities said Tuesday.

Young children and pregnant women were among the victims of the mudslides in the Kencho Shacha Gozdi district of southern Ethiopia, said Dagmawi Ayele, a local administrator.

The death toll rose from 55 late Monday to 157 on Tuesday as search operations continued in the area, said Kassahun Abayneh, head of the Gofa Zone communications office. Gofa Zone is the administrative area where the mudslides occurred.

Most of the victims were buried in a mudslide on Monday morning as rescue workers searched the steep terrain for survivors of another mudslide the previous day.

At least five people have been pulled alive from the mud, Ayele said.

Another official in Gofa, Markos Melese, said many people remained unaccounted for among the group that was covered by mud while trying to rescue others.

“We are still searching for the missing,” said Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone.

“There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister, due to the accident,” he said.

Landslides are common during Ethiopia’s rainy season, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.

Africanews

Ethiopian social media lovers have a reason to smile as they are now back online after being blocked for five months.

Ethiopians are now able to access Social media networks like Facebook and Instagram  on Wednesday 19 July 2023 ,according to an internet advocacy organisation and an AFP journalist.

A service run by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), an association that tracks online censorship, showed that access to social networks in Africa’s second-most populous country was freely available after being shut down in early February.

An AFP journalist in Addis Ababa was able to access sites including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok without using a virtual private network (VPN), a mechanism that enables an internet connection from a different location.

OONI and other internet censorship watchdogs reported a social media blackout in Ethiopia since February 9.

But the government has not commented on the shutdown, and neither the government in Addis Ababa nor the state provider Ethio Telecom has responded to queries from AFP.

Amnesty International said the blockage followed calls for street protests by leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church after a group of rebel archbishops created a dissident synod.

Planned demonstrations over the move were eventually cancelled after a meeting of church leaders brokered by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in mid-February, but social media sites remained offline.

Ethiopian authorities have cut or throttled access to the internet and social media platforms many times in recent years.

Between 2015 and 2017, connectivity was interrupted on a number of occasions by the previous government as it faced the largest street protest movement in 25 years.

Under Abiy, this tendency has continued.

The northern region of Tigray, the scene of an armed conflict with the federal government, was largely deprived of telecommunications for the two-year duration of the war.

Networks in Tigray have been partially restored since a peace agreement was signed in November 2022.

An journalist in Addis Ababa was able to access sites including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok without using a virtual private network (VPN), a mechanism that enables an internet connection from a different location.

Ethiopia’s government said on Wednesday its soldiers had recaptured a city in southern Tigray from Tigrayan fighters, marking its first major advance inside the war-torn region in many months and dashing hopes for peace following a rebel retreat.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPFL) rebel group, which announced its withdrawal from the Amhara and Afar regions this week and called for a ceasefire, did not immediately react to the government’s claims.

The government communication service said the “gallant Ethiopian Defence Forces and the Amhara region security forces after sweeping the enemy force… have captured Alamata city”, indicating that fighting would continue.

“The Ethiopian National Defence Forces and the Amhara region security forces which are… destroying the fleeing terrorist clique are marching on Abergele,” the government said, referring to a district in Tigray.

Although unconfirmed, the TPLF pullout from Amhara and Afar had raised hopes there would be talks to end the brutal 13-month conflict that has killed thousands and created a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine.

Both sides have been claiming major territorial gains in recent months, with the rebels at one point saying there were only 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has returned to the frontline and announced more victories against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

In a statement, his office said the Ethiopian leader is resuming battle leadership as the country “continues to achieve crucial successes against the TPLF”, a former ruling party that is fighting the government.

“Ethiopian forces led by the Prime Minister, who has headed to the front again, have captured the mountain chains of Zobel, strategic towns of Arjo, Fokisa, Boren…and cut through the main Woldia-Mekelle highway,” his office said in a tweet on Sunday.

“On the same front, forces have also taken control of strategic towns of Dire Roqana and Sodoma. On the Wuchalie front, joint Ethiopian forces have taken control of the Ambasel mountain chain and towns in the vicinity.”

His claims, however, could not be independently verified as journalists are barred from the frontline and there has been a communication blockade in much of the warzone.

Meanwhile, TPLF is fighting off accusations of looting. In a letter, the TPLF external office on Saturday rubbished claims that the group looted a WFP food stock warehouse in Kombolcha.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday, December 1 defended his frontline actions and declared ‘victory’ over the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

The premier’s office said that his actions did not negate the need for peace, just that his forces were pushing back against a group he labeled a terrorist.

“The Prime Minister’s decision to join the army in the battlefield does not mean a change of the government’s position for a peaceful solution to the conflict in principle. Rather, he is averting the conspiracy of terrorist organizations and their foreign allies,” a statement from the PM’s office said.

“His decision has boosted troop morale and emboldened the people of Ethiopia to resist and push back the threat of a terrorist organization. Great strides have been made in forcing the TPLF to relinquish their occupation of key areas, particularly Kasagita, Chifra, Burqa.”

Abiy also claimed victory in Mezezo, Molale, Shoa Robit and Rasa, which were supposedly liberated from TPLF forces, although there was no independent confirmation of this claim by publication time.

This is the first time PM Abiy has given an update on the fight against TPLF since announcing that he would go to the frontline a week ago.