🇪🇹EthiopiaEast Africa
Ethiopian Customs Commission proposes vehicle seizure to combat contraband trade
via The Reporter Ethiopia2 min read
Officials from the Ethiopian Customs Commission and the Ministry of Finance informed Parliament that transport service providers and vehicle owners are implicated in illicit trade. This statement was made during discussions on a proposed amendment to the Customs Proclamation, which aims to strengthen enforcement against smugglers by allowing the seizure of vehicles involved in contraband. Members of Parliament's Budget and Finance Affairs Committee expressed concerns that vehicle expropriation could infringe upon the constitutional right to property and questioned the Commission's authority to seize vehicles without the owner's knowledge. Azezew Chane, deputy head of the Customs Commission, defended confiscation as an international deterrent, stating that drivers are often used by contrabandists and lack the capacity to finance large-scale smuggling operations. Commissioner Debele Kabata added that contraband activities are driven by vehicle owners, not just drivers, citing assessments that show most vehicles caught smuggling weapons were operated under the direction of owners. Debele confirmed that over the past eight years, a rising number of smugglers, including vehicle owners working with their drivers, have been apprehended for bringing illegal goods into Ethiopia, underscoring the need for the amendment.
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Must ReadDespite being educated, networked, and aware of grievances, Tigrayan youth and pro-reform elites have struggled to achieve a non-violent transition away from the dominance of TPLF hardliners. This failure is attributed to historical legacies, coercive control, elite fragmentation, war fatigue, external interventions, and survival calculations. The article outlines five interacting factors: historical contingency shaping political identity, the coercive capture of security institutions by hardliners, elite fragmentation co-opting youth energy, war fatigue leading to a preference for stability, and external actors reshaping opportunity structures. A roadmap for non-violent transformation proposes four measures: a verifiable security deconcentration process, inclusive political engineering beyond personality politics, economic stabilization and civic reintegration, and a strategic civic coalition and communication plan. Potential positive scenarios include a managed stalemate evolving into gradual political opening, or a tipping point from successful decentralization of coercive structures. Conversely, negative scenarios include hardliner consolidation, intra-Tigrayan civil war, radicalization of disempowered youth, regional destabilization, and permanent political fragmentation. The article concludes that rekindling confidence among Tigrayan youth and elites requires verifiable, staged changes that reduce existential risks, supported by impartial external facilitation, calibrat