According to the reports made by Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) and other media, the Ethiopian Ministerial Conference (Cabinet) held an emergency meeting on February 16th, announcing the immediate entry of the country into the state of national emergency. In a statement, the Ethiopian Ministers’ Meeting stated that some areas of Ethiopia had witnessed the eruption of certain violent activities recently, which have undermined the constitutional order and endangered peace and public security, and are becoming increasingly fierce. In order to maintain the constitutional order and the peace and stability of the country, and protect the interests of the people, according to paragraph 1 (a), Article 93 of the Constitution of the country, Ethiopia will enter a state of national emergency immediately.

According to the Ethiopian Constitution, the state of emergency order must still be submitted to the Parliamentary People’s Court for approval. As the current parliament is in recess, the state of emergency order will be submitted to the Parliament for consideration within 15 days. With the approval of the Parliament, the emergency implementation period can be as long as six months and may be extended as appropriate. Measures adopted under the state of emergency include prohibiting demonstrations and strikes, implementing curfews, etc.

On February 15th, Ethiopian Prime Minister Haier Mariam suddenly announced his resignation, which has attracted great attention from international media. It is widely believed that the re-announcement of the state of national emergency by Ethiopia is related to the unexpected resignation of the Prime Minister and the large-scale anti-government demonstrations that have recently erupted. In order to quell the riots around the country, the Ethiopian government have announced a 10-month state of national emergency in October 2016.