In a move to safeguard Ethiopia’s cultural heritage and bolster its creative economy, the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Sport (MOCS), the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Authority (EIPA), and MultiChoice Africa Holdings B.V. (MAH) announced the signing of a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This agreement aims to collaboratively combat piracy and enhance the protection of intellectual property rights in Ethiopia. 

The MOCS is dedicated to promoting and preserving Ethiopia’s rich cultural wealth, history, language, art, and sports. EIPA, established in 2003, is responsible for administering and implementing state policies on intellectual property to strengthen IP protection in Ethiopia. As Africa’s leading entertainment company, MultiChoice Africa has been providing high-quality entertainment to Ethiopian subscribers for nearly three decades, fostering a strong connection with its audience and contributing significantly to the local media landscape. 

The MoU builds upon previous collaborations under the Partners Against Piracy (PAP) program, MAH’s Pan-African initiative to combat piracy. It further solidifies the strategic partnership among the three entities, underscoring their shared commitment to address the escalating threat of piracy, which impacts creators, the economy, and cultural heritage. 

Digital blackouts reached a record high in 2024 in Africa as more governments sought to keep millions of citizens off the internet than in any other period over the last decade. A report released by the internet rights group Access Now and #KeepItOn, a coalition of hundreds of civil society organisations worldwide, found there were 21 shutdowns in 15 African countries, surpassing the existing record of 19 shutdowns in 2020 and 2021. Authorities in Comoros, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritius joined repeat offenders such as Burundi, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea and Kenya. Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania were also on the list. But perpetrators also included militias and other non-state actors…The details showed that most of the shutdowns were imposed as a response to conflicts, protests and political instability. There were also restrictions during elections…The increase in shutdowns led the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to pass a landmark resolution in March 2024 to help reverse the trend. (AP)

Ethiopia and Eritrea could be headed toward war, officials in a restive Ethiopian region at the center of the tensions have warned, risking another humanitarian disaster in the Horn of Africa.

Analysts said that direct clashes between two of Africa’s largest armies would signal the death blow for a historic rapprochement for which Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and could draw in other regional powers.

It would also likely create another crisis in a region where aid cuts have complicated efforts to assist millions affected by internal conflicts in Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia.

“At any moment, war between Ethiopia and Eritrea could break out,” Gen. Tsadkan Gebretensae, a vice president in the interim administration in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, wrote in Africa-focused magazine the Africa Report on Monday. (Africa Report)

Sudan’s deputy head of the ruling Sovereign Council, Malik Agar, signalled Khartoum’s intention to rejoin the regional bloc IGAD and the African Union during a visit to Djibouti on Sunday, both Sudanese and Djiboutian officials said. Agar delivered a letter from Sovereign Council leader and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The letter addressed bilateral ties and, crucially, Sudan’s desire to reactivate its membership…Sudan suspended its IGAD membership on January 20, 2024, protesting the participation of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemetti, at an extraordinary summit in Uganda. The African Union suspended Sudan after a military coup on October 25, 2021, led by al-Burhan and with Hemetti’s involvement. (Sudan Tribune)