Ethiopia announced a state of emergency on Friday, the day after the prime minister’s resignation, as pressure mounted on the country’s ruling coalition. The coalition decided emergency rule was “vital to safeguarding the constitutional order,” state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation said. The announcement gave no further details but the defence minister was expected to hold a news conference on Saturday morning. Ethiopia only fully lifted its last state of emergency in August following months of curfews, restrictions on movement and the detention of 29,000 people. Those measures followed two years of anti-government protests in which security forces killed hundreds of people in Amhara and Oromiya, the nation’s two most populous provinces. The imposition of a new state of emergency may indicate that Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s resignation on Thursday was the result of tensions among the four parties in the ruling coalition. The coalition has been in power since 1991 and controls all 547 seats in parliament. But cracks have appeared since the outbreak of unrest, with some senior officials resigning and others being sidelined. Opposition demands The two largest ethnic groups in the Horn of Africa country, the Oromo and Amharic, complain they are under-represented in the country’s corridors of power. Mulatu Gemechu, deputy secretary of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, said on Friday Ethiopia needed a completely new political system. The Oromo Federalist Congress is one of seven parties that make up the biggest opposition coalition, MEDREK. “Ethiopians now need a government that respects their rights, not one that… [Read full story]
Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on September 2 imposed a state of emergency in Bangkok after overnight clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters left three people dead and dozens injured. Under the state of emergency, which was announced in all Thai TV channels, all gatherings of above five people were banned. Following the implementation of the state of emergency, PM Samak appointed Army chief Gen. Anupong Paochinda to head the emergency decree enforcement team in Bangkok while the National Police Chief and First Regional Army Commander are his deputies. Meanwhile, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leaders stated that they…... [read more]
Laos has declared state of emergency after the fifth case of poliomyelitis was confirmed in the country. In a decree issued on January 13, Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong ordered all public and private organisations and communities, mostly in rural areas, to work together to prevent the further spread of polio virus. He also recommended that businessmen and travellers from ASEAN member states be vaccinated against polio before entering Laos. The decree is set to remain in force until six months after the end of the state of emergency is officially announced. The country’s health authorities have been working closely…... [read more]
The People’s Committee of the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long on Monday declared state of natural disasters level 1 (the lowest level) due to land erosion. Landslide on the Hau river bank has caused houses to collapse. Earlier, on the night of August 22 and early morning of August 23, as many as 34 households along the riverbank of Vinh River in Thanh Phuoc Ward, Binh Minh Town, were affected by land erosion. The erosion encroached upon nearly 20m of the mainland and covered a length of some 200m. Three of the houses totally collapsed, while the others suffered…... [read more]
Intense flooding has prompted two northern communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia to declare states of emergency, just a month after forest fires prompted evacuations in the region. The city of Dawson Creek, which sits atop the gas rich Montney formation, declared a state of emergency on Friday due to heavy rain that washed out bridges, flooded sewers and forced some 60 people from their homes, the mayor said. "It was a crazy, crazy couple of days," Mayor Dale Bumstead said, adding that the rain had stopped and the town's focus was now on assessing the damage and…... [read more]
China has declared an emergency in eight northern and central drought-hit regions, where nearly four million people are suffering water shortages and nearly half of China's winter crop (some 10million hectares of wheat and rape seed) is under threat. At a State Council meeting on Thursday, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered all-out efforts to fight the drought, allocating an additional 300 million yuan (US$44m) in relief assistance. China's drought relief office called it an event "rarely seen in history". China faces droughts and floods annually but has seen a recent increase in extreme weather conditions. The Chinese…... [read more]
