nazret.com

Ethiopia plays down war fears
30/09/2006 20:30 - (SA)

Les Neuhaus

Addis Ababa - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Saturday that the threat of war with neighbouring Eritrea over their disputed border was fading.

"As time passes the risk of war is diminishing not increasing," Meles told journalists at a news conference in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

The United Nations security council extended the mandate of peacekeepers in Eritrea and Ethiopia by four months on Friday, but threatened to overhaul the mission if the two sides didn't make progress toward demarcating their border.

Ethiopia has refused to implement an international commission's April 2002 ruling that awarded the key town of Badme to Eritrea.

Eritrea, meanwhile, has expelled and arrested UN staff and imposed restrictions on patrols of the border area.

Meles said Ethiopia had accepted the ruling but did not say whether his country would implement it, which was supposed to be "final and binding".

Border never agreed to

The security council has cut the number of peacekeepers deployed in the two countries from 3 500 to 2 300 in frustration over the lack of progress.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, but a border was never agreed to.

Violence erupted again in 1998 and ended two years later. Ttens of thousands of people were killed.

Under the 2000 peace agreement, both countries agreed to abide by an independent commission's ruling on the position of the disputed 1 000km border, while UN troops patrolled a 25km buffer zone between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Meles told journalists that if Somalia's Islamic courts attacked that country's virtually powerless government it would be cause for concern for Ethiopia and the international community at large.

Witnesses say Ethiopian troops are already in Somalia, but the Ethiopian government has denied this.

Jury convicts Columbus man in murder of immigrant from Ethiopia
The Columbus Dispatch
Friday, September 29, 2006 3:48 PM

A jury today found a Columbus man guilty of aggravated murder in the shooting death of an Ethiopian immigrant last year.

Dean Small, 34, was sentenced by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye to 30 years to life for the murder, for having a weapon as a convicted felon and for being a repeat violent offender. The latter two charges stemmed from a 1991 conviction for felonious assault.

The jury deliberated less than four hours before finding Small guilty of killing Robel Medhin, 21.

Small's wife, Sharon, said she and another man saw Small put the gun in Medhin's mouth before he shot him about 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2005, in front of the Parsons Avenue apartment building where they all lived

Sharon Small had just learned that her husband was having an affair, and she was arguing with him and his pregnant girlfriend when the 21-year-old Medhin walked up at the wrong time, Franklin County prosecutors said.

Medhin knew Dean Small because he owed him money. When he tried to break up the argument, he was shot, Sharon Small and another neighbor, Jeff Hairston, testified in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Mr. Small insisted through the trial that he is innocent.

But Medhin's mother and brother said Mr. Small forced Robel to sell drugs and wouldn't give him more time to repay the $900 he owed.

Police obtained a warrant for Small four days after the killing, but Small wasn't arrested until February, when a law-enforcement task force caught him in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Source: Columbus Dispatch

----------------

Related Links

Columbus murder suspect arrested in New York



Special Section: Crime and Punshiment

Taytu: Made In Ethiopia
Fashion Radar Picks Up Ethiopian Leather

World trade in leather and leather products -- worth more than $60 billion in 2004 -- is expected to grow. With a quarter of the world’s sheep and goats and 15% of its cattle, Africa is bursting with potential, but there is a gap between resources and production. African countries produce just 14.9% of the global output of hides and skins and hardly any ready-for-market finished leather goods. When a country such as Ethiopia makes high-end leather products, it shows that promise can become a reality. Ethiopia has tremendous potential to develop leather exports, which the Government has singled out as a priority sector. It wants to move the country’s production up the value chain from the "wet blue" stage to "crust" leather and finally to finished leather and leather goods. ITC is contributing to this process through a project called "Made in Ethiopia", led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Not only are they producing leather bags and other accessories, but they are aiming at one of the most difficult markets: high-end luxury fashion.

Project participants have formed a cooperative between local companies and created a new brand -- Taytu -- named after the legendary, strong-willed Empress of Ethiopia who reigned from 1889 to 1913.

Taytu is already attracting attention. The label’s first collection will be ready at the beginning of 2007. It was showcased at Première Classe, the prime accessories trade show in Paris, in September 2006. Big fashion retailers in London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo and New York placed preliminary orders.

Culture and ethics are selling point

The decorative, colourful accessories include leather handbags, wraps, sandals, shoes and jewellery. They are a unique blend of ethnic and sophisticated modern design.

"We chose not to compete on price and mass production, but in markets where we would have a competitive advantage," says ITC Market Development Officer Simone Cipriani.

"Our marketing concept is based on understanding the importance of the origin of a given fashion product for a certain kind of new consumer."

Extensive market research and preparatory work for the project showed that handcrafted Ethiopian leather goods, particularly handbags, would appeal to consumers defined by fashion gurus as "new authentics." These affluent people are interested in quality, beauty and exclusivity first -- and are willing to pay for them -- but they also want products created by a fair process.

Such consumers have traditionally bought into the qualities of big-name luxury brands. Today, they are gravitating towards products they believe reflect their personal style.

"We are witnessing the emergence of a new trend, where what really matters is a product’s capacity to convey a message about the personality of the consumer," Ms Cipriani explains. "Many consumers are more aware of global, ethical issues. They want a product to communicate involvement, activism and hope for a brighter future."

A tall order for any product to fill. But the enterprising collective of people behind the elegant Taytu line meet the discerning shoppers’ criteria: they are new-world creative, work collectively under fair conditions, share profits and are boosting family incomes.

Through an innovative use of traditional raw materials, they are creating highly individual and contemporary pieces, imbued with ethical value. Their collection delivers a charming artistic, abstract edge that breathes Ethiopia, but caters to the Western market.

Strengthening social capital

"We brought together 12 manufacturers in a cooperative and designed a fashion collection with them based on Ethiopia’s cultural traditions," says Ms Cipriani. The project also recruited Italian accessory designer Barbara Guarducci to find the right balance of handicraft, fashion and culture. She spent six months working with the selected manufacturers, while UNIDO consultants trained local leather workers and suppliers. They also brought in other people in the textile and handicraft industries to embroider, bead and embellish. Some of them are poor women who had only worked in the informal sector. They formed a cooperative and for the first time, had the chance to do business with "official" companies.

About 250 people from Addis Ababa and surrounding communities are involved in Taytu. Because the project fits in with the Government’s leather sector development plan, officials untangled bureaucratic red tape to help establish the cooperative company. Could this bag, combining beauty and ethics, be the next fashionista musthave?

Big retailers and the press in fashion capitals think it’s a possibility.

One year into the project, the 2007 summer collection is being prepared. Taytu is turning out products and people are being trained in processing and filling orders. Technical assistance will continue through three fashion seasons -- from summer 2007 to 2009 – after which Taytu is expected to be self-sustaining. An Ethiopian general manager for the label is already in place and international assistance is decreasing as local capacities grow. The project partners set up a quality testing facility at the Leather and Leather Products Technology Institute and are looking into creating a design school, in partnership with an established international luxury brand.

Under a partnership agreement among the 12 companies in the cooperative, profits are shared with a percentage reinvested to develop the new collections.

"So far, the project is dispelling the notion that this country lacks social capital. Our collaboration is helping to strengthen social capital. It shows that Ethiopians have the capacity to work together, to trust each other and to succeed," Simone Cipriani concludes.

The Ethiopian leather industry has been manufacturing mainly wet blue leather for the last 10 to 15 years. It is a typical feature of developing countries, as wet blue is the first stage of the leather value chain. In order to generate higher added value, however, the Ethiopian industry is struggling towards crust (the next stage) or finished leather. The Government of Ethiopia has designed, along with UNIDO, a strategy to achieve this goal. It is based on developing leather products -- the "downstream" part of the chain -- in order to pull up finishing capacities in leather manufacturing. The idea is that a higher demand for finished leather would cause higher production in the country.

The Government is adopting policy measures that support this shift towards finished leather. The Made in Ethiopia project falls within this framework, as it is about producing a collection of leather goods, using local -- not imported -- leather. In addition to UNIDO, other Made in Ethiopia partners include the Leather and Leather Products Technology Institute and the Ethiopian Tanners, Footwear and Leather Goods Manufacturers Association.

"Over the long term, all hides and skins from Ethiopia should be used for locally made finished leather products," says Simone Cipriani, ITC Market Development Officer. "This is why this project is so important. It shows that producing and marketing leather products sets the wheel of development in motion by creating export-ready products rather than exporting raw materials."

ITC’s contribution to the Made in Ethiopia project is a continuation of its efforts to develop the leather sector in Africa. It launched its ongoing Integrated Leather Sector Export Development Programme for Africa in 1997, with financial support from the Netherlands. The programme recognized that leather -- a labourintensive industry -- is an important source of employment. It promotes the capacities of African countries to export high-quality leather, for example through a series of highly successful trade shows, Meet in Africa, which were launched in 2002.

Ethiopians Rally for H.R. 5680 in Washington
September 29, 2006
For Immediate Release

The Coalition for H.R. 5680 extends its heartfelt congratulations to all who organized and participated in the H.R. 5680 Rally on the Hill on September 28, 2006.

By all accounts, the peaceful demonstration was a massive success both for its attendance levels as well as the passionate display of support for H.R. 5680 by participants.

The Coalition believes the Rally on the Hill today has served to smash the caricature of Ethiopians as a group of “do nothings, all-talk-and-no-action types incapable of uniting to accomplish anything.” You have proven that Ethiopians, regardless of our ethnic affiliation, socioeconomic status or station in life in the Diaspora, are able to come together on the Hill of the Law Givers and exercise our constitutional rights to petition for redress of our grievances. “YOU HAVE BEEN HEARD!” So said, Congressman Mike Honda. “Your cause is now well-known to members of the United States Congress,” said Greg Simpkins of the House International Relations Committee. YOU ARE VICTORIOUS!!!

The Coalition knows it is a matter of time before H.R. 5680 is enacted into law. There is no doubt about that! The struggle to pass H.R. 5680 will end only when it is signed by the President of the United States. However long that takes, you have proven to the world that: “Ethiopians finish what they start.”

As you stood on those hallowed grounds of the U.S. Congress and pressed your cause for democracy and human rights, the Coalition beheld your presence and contemplated on the words of Martin Luther King, who facing similar challenges said: “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."

All of you who organized the Rally on the Hill, and all of you who participated in it have proven that the “goal of justice” in Ethiopia requires sacrifice, and that you are prepared to make it, not for your selves, but for your mothers and father, brothers and sisters, friends, relatives and neighbors you have left behind. How proud they would have been if they could see you on the Hill draped in the beautiful Ethiopian flag, while waving the American one in your hands! If only they could have seen you speaking for them after they have been rendered mute by their oppressors! If only they could have seen you raising your voices in unison, from every ethnic group and region in Ethiopia, and shouting a mighty shout for democracy, equality and human rights in Ethiopia! If they could only have seen, heard and felt the fire and passion in your voices on this day on the Hill, how proud, how contented, how blessed they would have felt that their children, brothers and sisters and friends are at the helm of the freedom train. Thank you for giving your people unfailing hope, that Freedom Train #5680 will be passing every hamlet, town and city to pick them up and take them to freedomland.

THANK YOU FOR A JOB WELL DONE.

Coalition for H.R. 5680

Boston premiere of LIVE AND BECOME – the feature epic of an Ethiopian Jewish boy's struggle and triumph after his airlift to Israel – October 6 at the West Newton Cinema , 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, Massachusetts.

My dear fellow Ethiopians,
My name is Sirak M.Sabahat, an Ethiopian-born actor.

When I was twelve years old I immigrated with my family to the Western world, escaping from starvation.

Many in the Ethiopian population have suffered from it endlessly.

We all saw the images of starving children or heard about the struggling of Ethiopian women and men.

We must help raise the awareness of the world for the need of survival tools, tools like education.

I am the lead actor of a film that won many awards from film festivals and audiences around the world and around the U.S.

In this film, which called "Live and Become," I play a Christian child that was sent by his mother to Israel to survive the Ethiopian famine in 1984.

It is the first time that a film was made about the Ethiopians in this unique way.

I would like to invite you to stand proud by this tremendous film and be part of the opening night.

It is our obligation as human beings not to forget the children that lost their lives before they could reach their hands for growth, and it is our obligation as Ethiopians who were born in that land to not forget our neighbors,our wives, and our children who struggle every day to see the son.

Your presence at opening night will give the statement that we don't forget those who are less fortunate than us.

Sincerely,

Sirak M. Sabahat.

---
We are writing to announce the Boston premiere of LIVE AND BECOME – the feature epic of an Ethiopian Jewish boy's struggle and triumph after his airlift to Israel – October 6 at the West Newton Cinema , 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, Massachusetts .

"A remarkable journey of discovery –

extremely affecting and unforgettable!"

—Box Office Magazine

BY SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT: Sirak M. Sabahat, the film's lead actor, who himself made the dangerous journey from Ethiopia to Israel, will speak following all screenings Opening Weekend. Don't miss the opportunity to meet this remarkable actor and hear his story.

Live and Become smashed French box office records with more than 1 million tickets sold. It won the French Oscar, the Cesar, as well as the Audience Awards at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival and numerous others. It has won the Audience Award at every single U.S. festival it has played, 16 and counting – including, of course, the Boston Jewish Film Festival.

View the trailer and forward the link to friends and family.

Read the blog of the film's lead, Sirak M. Sabahat.

Read reviews, synopsis and other info about the film on our web site.

Come see the film on premiere night, October 6!

Sincerely,

Neil Friedman and the Menemsha Team

Ethiopian 'Sesame Street' seeks to fill educational void

By Lea-Lisa Westerhoff (AFP)
Addis Ababa Ethiopia: In the sing-song voice of a little girl, Tsehai, an inquisitive, wide-eyed giraffe, speaks to Ethiopian youngsters about the dangers of drinking unclean water, littering and deforestation.

The creators of the Ethiopian television show "Tsehai loves learning", Bruktawit Tigabu(L) and Shane Etzenhouser hold the show's puppet characters in Addis Ababa. Tsehai, 'Sun' in Ahmaric, is a six-year-old giraffe fashioned out of an old yellow sock and is the star of a groundbreaking bi-weekly eight to ten minute television segment meant to fill an educational void for Ethiopia's three to six-year olds.(AFP/Lea-Lisa Westerhoff)

In the ancient language of Amharic, the long-necked marionette offers the friendly warnings and lessons about values, culture and hygiene on Ethiopia's version of the acclaimed US children's television show "Sesame Street."

Tsehai, Amharic for "sun," has top billing on "Tsehai Loves Learning," a puppet and animated production that premiered this month in Ethiopia, hoping to emulate Sesame Street's wild success and its own yellow star, Big Bird.

Along with her giraffe parents and grand-parents, an elderly tortoise, a dog, a sheep and a foreign human friend, Tsehai navigates life's pitfalls in Amharic, interspersed with a few words of English every other week.

The product of a young Ethiopian-American couple, the groundbreaking biweekly eight-to-10-minute segments are intended to fill an educational void for three-to-six-year-olds in the impoverished nation.

"Especially for kids of this age, very little is being done in terms of public education in Ethiopia," says the show's co-founder and -producer Bruktawit Tigabu, half of the husband-and-wife team behind the show.

"Only a few people can afford to send their kids to private kindergarten, most of them would just stay at home or play on the streets, so there was really a gap to fill," the 25-year-old voice of Tsehai says.

The primary school teacher and her husband, American software engineer Shane Etzenhouser, 35, met at an Ethiopian school in 2003 and say the show is their first child, born of a desire to give something back to the country.

With their Whiz Kids Workshop they aim to boost early childhood development in Ethiopia, by following the lead of the pioneering Children's Television Workshop, now Sesame Workshop, that created Sesame Street in 1969.

"Over the last 35 years, there is a lot of data and research that has been done on how these animated puppet programs can benefit children," says Etzenhouser, who manipulates the characters.

"We wanted Ethiopian children to benefit from this," he said, adding that "Tsehai Loves Learning" is the first-ever edcuational show in the Horn of Africa nation to feature Amharic-speaking animated characters and puppets.

Armed with a few homemade muppet-like creatures and a laptop computer, Bruktawit and Etzenhouser have so far produced eight episodes at a cost of 4,800 dollars (3,780 euros) each since coming up with the idea two years ago.

The first was broadcast on September 17 on state-run Ethiopian television, which has agreed to air the program on a provisional basis for six months before deciding on a longer-term contract.

There are 30 more in the pipeline, and although some have been funded with a grant from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the couple is looking for financing to complete them.

"Using puppets is cost effective in terms of doing a production compared to a classical animated film ... so we think this is within the grasp of what could be economically sustainable in this country," says Etzenhouser.

Because 80 percent of Ethiopia's 77 million population live in rural areas with uncertain access to electricity, let alone television, the reach of "Tsehai Loves Learning" is not yet clear.

According to projections based on government statistics only about 2.2 million Ethiopian children are in a position to be able see the adventures of Tsehai and her friends but Bruktawit and Shane are convinced of its value.

"Perseverance, hard working or giving services to your community: these values are key elements to help Ethiopia recover from poverty," he says.

"There is so much history of develoment efforts that have been destroyed through corruption, greed or conflict, so we feel that these personal values really should be a part of early child education," he says.

Bruktawit echoes that sentiment and says she hopes the show can be produced in other languages, notably Oromifa, the most-spoken in Ethiopia, and perhaps expanded to other African countries.

"I hope it will have a long existance," she says. "The next step will be to show it in Oromifa and then Swahili and make it more African, so that perhaps one day the whole continent could benefit from it."

Until then, though, Tsehai learns the lessons her grand-mother and parents teach her every other Sunday, singing an Amharic theme song with the refrain "she asks a lot of questions because she loves learning."

---------------------------

Related Links


Ethiopia hoping for doll success

Senzero is the first ever doll to be manufactured in Ethiopia
BBC News

Papa Senzero is proud of his Ethiopian version of Walt Disney

France props up Ethiopia's child nutrition programme
ADDIS ABABA, September 29 -- France Friday donated US $897,305 in support of Ethiopia's initiative to provide better nutrition to pregnant and lactating mothers, malnourished children under the age of five and HIV/AIDS affected people.

Backed by UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Ethiopia is currently running a targeted supplementary feeding programme in order to reduce child mortality rates.

The initiative is designed to increase access to health care for the target group and to provide supplementary food and essential nutrition education to those identified as malnourished.

"As part of their commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the French authorities pay particular attention to the health of pregnant and lactating women as well as of children, and they work in close relation with UNFP and WHO to improve their situation," said French Ambassador Stephane Gompertz.

The donation followed the signing of an agreement between the Government of France and WFP. Gompertz and WFP Country Director in Ethiopia, Mohamed Diab, signed the agreement.

"This is a generous donation from the Government of France which will allow WFP to provide children and pregnant and lactating women with vitally nutritional food and supplements under our targeted supplementary feeding programme," Diab said.

"The programme has been a hugely successful humanitarian intervention for WFP Ethiopia. By the end of this year, we plan to have provided approximately 270,000 pregnant and nursing women and 481,000 children under the age of five with enhanced nutritional support," he added.

Part of the French donation will be used to assist HIV/AIDS infected and affected people in Ethiopia.

With an official estimated prevalence of 3.5 percent, HIV/AIDS poses a real threat to the development and prosperity of Ethiopia.

In a bid to contribute to food security among HIV/AIDS affected and infected households in urban Ethiopia, WFP provides a monthly ration of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil and blended food to symptomatic beneficiaries under its HIV/AIDS development programme.
- PANA
Source: Africast

Ethiopia is not on track to achive Millennium Development Goal(MDG) Goal 7, a goal to Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015.

In 1990 15% of Rural population in Ethiopia had access to clean water and 14 years later in 2004 only 11% of Rural population has access to clean water according to a report released by UNICEF.

-----
Progress for Children’ reports mixed results on access to water and sanitation worldwide
By Tim Ledwith (UNICEF)
NEW YORK, USA Safe water is fundamental to human life, yet more than 1 billion people do not have access to it. Another 2.6 billion live without basic sanitation. Under Millennium Development Goal 7, the world has pledged to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to these essential services by 2015.

In a new report released today – ‘Progress for Children No. 5: A Report Card on Water and Sanitation’ – UNICEF assesses the results of efforts since 1990 to expand access to safe water and basic sanitation worldwide.

The report’s conclusions on global progress toward MDG 7 are mixed, with impressive achievements made but much more work needed to prevent 1.5 million child deaths each year.

While an ever-growing population and rapid urbanization are increasing the challenge, the world is essentially on track to meet the goal for safe water, the report concludes. Still, millions of people in the developing world, including an estimated 425 million children under the age of 18, still do not have access to an improved water supply.

And the report finds that indicators on sanitation are worse. Over 980 million children still do not have access to adequate sanitation.

Source: UNICEF

Excerpts from the report titled
Progress for Children A Report Card on Water and Sanitation Number 5 September 2006

Endemic in 20 countries in the late 1980s,
Guinea worm is now endemic in just 9 African
countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia,
Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan and Togo.

Urban-rural disparities in access to improved
drinking-water sources are large – with 86 per
cent coverage in urban areas, compared to
just 42 per cent in the countryside. These
disparities are greatest in Ethiopia, with 81 per
cent coverage in urban areas and 11 per cent
coverage in rural areas.

Two countries of the Horn of Africa – Ethiopia
and Somalia – require the most urgent attention, with coverage in improved drinkingwater sources of 22 per cent in Ethiopia and 29 per cent in Somalia, and in basic sanitation of just 13 per cent in Ethiopia and 26 per cent in Somalia. Both countries also have especially
large populations, high under-fi ve mortality rates and low levels of school attendance. School sanitation is a particular priority in poor rural areas, as it is in Eritrea, where sanitation coverage stands at a mere 9 per cent.

UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman discusses the importance of providing safe drinking water for children.


Ugandan Minister of State for Water Maria Mutagamba speaks at the launch of ‘Progress for Children: A Report Card on Water and Sanitation’.

More Info on UNICEF

--------------

Girls collect drinking water in Tunisia. The Middle East and North Africa region is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal 7 targets for both safe water and basic sanitation. (UNICEF)

Related Links


Another School Barrier for African Girls: No Toilet (NY Times)

Ethiopia can beat malaria with its latest programme, says official at UN children’s agency

29 September 2006 – Ethiopia has a chance of defeating malaria, its biggest killer, an official from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today as the Horn of Africa country’s Government launched a major push against the disease ahead of the annual transmission season.

Speaking at the launch in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, UNICEF Country Representative Bjorn Ljungqvist said: “We now have an historic opportunity to get on top of malaria. We can make this killer disease as manageable as measles and other childhood conditions in the West.”

Malaria infects nine million Ethiopians each year and can kill more than 100,000 people, mostly young children, within just a few months during an epidemic. The peak of the annual transmission season is October to November.

The three-pronged programme will cost at least $140 million over the next three years and is being supported by UNICEF, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank and several foreign governments and public agencies.

Under the campaign the distribution of insecticide-treated malaria nets across the country is being expanded drastically. Before 2004, there were only 1.8 million nets; by the end of this year there will be eight million nets and that number will increase to 20 million by 2008.

Ethiopia will start treating the overwhelming majority of its malaria cases with the drug Coartem, which has a 99 per cent success rate, compared with the 36 per cent rate of the current preferred drug, Fansidar.

Health posts around the vast country are also being supplied with cheap rapid diagnostic test kits that can detect serious malaria cases within minutes, avoiding the delays that come with sending samples from patients to distant laboratories.

Mr. Ljungqvist urged international donors to keep up their support of the campaign as it continues, especially “the hard-to-fund parts of any malaria campaign – the monitoring and evaluation and the general management costs to run such a large operation.”

Source: UN

Fake passports land two men from Ethiopia and Somalia in hot water

Johannesburg police have arrested two foreign nationals found in possession of 59 fake passports, as well as equipment used to make fraudulent documents.

Constable Sefako Xaba on Thursday said the two men, from Ethiopia and Somalia, were operating from a house in Orange Grove.

Crime intelligence officials heard of their operation and upon searching the premises, found passports from South Africa, Cuba, Chile, Nairobi, Mozambique and several other countries.

Xaba said police also found identity documents, passport photos, rubber stamps and stamp pads.

The two suspects, aged 20 and 22, will appear in the Hillbrow magistrate's court on Friday.
- Sapa
Source: IOL

--------------
Related Links

8 Ethiopians nabbed in warehouses sting in South Africa


Crime Related Stories from nazret.com archives

University to Enrol Over 4,400 Students
The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa)
September 28, 2006
By WIC
Bahir Dar Ethiopia
The Bahir Dar University announced that it will enroll 4,405 regular students this academic year.

University External Relations Office Head Dr. Abiy Yigzaw told WIC that the university is finalizing preparations to admit the stated number of students in five faculties this year.

Photo: Bahir Dar University

Though the buildings of the Education, Engineering, Agriculture, Business and Economics faculties under construction with 200 million birr are not yet fully completed, the university is making efforts to enroll new students as per the schedule.

The third phase construction which included the construction of classrooms, offices, library and other buildings has mostly become functional, according to the head.

Recalling last year's delay on beginning classes for freshmen, Dr. Abiy said the university is striving to avoid similar problem this year.

He further stated that the university is currently training more than 50 students in Educational Psychology, Curriculum, Amharic, Biology, Mathematics and Physics at post graduate level, while it is making preparations to train students in Geo-information system, Watershed, School Administration and English this academic year.

In addition to the post-graduate degree programmes, the university has also finalized preparations to train students in Land Administration at first degree level.

Source: The Ethiopian Herald
-----------------

Related Links

List of Ethiopian Colleges and Universities from nazret.com Directory

Education Related Articles from nazret.com archives

Water - the Next Milk And Honey
The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
COLUMN
September 28, 2006
By Berhe W. Aregay
Addis Ababa

A few years back, the United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep), announced that on average, globally, that a bottle of water costed more than a bottle of milk. Here too, you might have noticed that a ½ litter of bottled "highland" water costs more than the same amount of milk in the neibourhood. We should thank our luck that tap water is still much cheaper and affordable; even if you have to overlook the occasional murky mixture gushing out of the faucets.

What do we attribute this phenomenon to; I mean the fact that water is dearer than milk? Partly due to the additional cost of packaging and so on, of course. Whatever the reason, the new trend maybe a portent to the future demands for water outstripping its supply.

Water, in the future to come, it is thought by many, is poised to become more precious than oil is at present. And not just in some abstract sense but in real dollars-and-cents. Much less uninviting scenario is what some pundits tell, that in some water-constrained parts of the world, "war of the waters", even if it comes in the form of proxy wars, can't be totally avoided.

It might sound far-fetched, but scientists tell us that the world is neither running out of water nor gaining in the overall balance. According to the Spectator 9 September 2006, " .there is exactly the same amount of water on the planet as there was a million years ago. The problems are those of distribution, contamination. An awful of water is not where people need it" Just think of all the water that fell in this country in the first weeks of the current rainy season. The flush floods that occurred in Dire Dawa and South Omo may be characterized as aberrations of nature. But if all the rainwater that happened during that period were collected, hypothetically speaking, the city of Dire Dawa would not have needed any additional water for domestique purposes for years to come.

Distribution is critical. Water in Ethiopia, as in many other places, is characterized by shortages and excesses in turns. Some parts of the country remain rainless while others have too much. Even in the same place, some years receive excessive rains while others are dry. So since no one can control that, the next best thing is to mitigate extreme fluctuations.

In a denuded landscape (more of a rule in Ethiopia than the exception) extreme fluctuations are the de fault mode. Forest canopy, grass cover, well-placed conservation structures and waterways mitigate the force of heavy rains and give protection against uncommon floods.

In protected landscapes, a good deal of the rainwater is encouraged to go into the soil profile. It ends up as reserve water underneath and in the immediate soil surface. Whatever ends up outside these two becomes almost impossible to retrieve. Imagine Ethiopia attempting to get some of the Nile water back from the Mediterranean Sea. In countries like Ethiopia, one shortcoming in their agriculture has been their inability to increase the percentage of water percolating the soil.

It should be mentioned, perhaps, that there is also such a thing as "physical water shortage". There're countries like Canada, for instance, that have water readily available more than they know what to do with. Others like in many countries in Africa and the Middle East may never have all the water they need. But the dream of irrigation water on our fields and swimming pools in our backyards goes on, regardless.

Contamination is the other culprit. Let's say for argument's sake that the streams that flow through Addis on their way to the Rift Valle were free from any contamination. That people treat them with respect and don't dump into them everything that they don't want to even see in their backyards.

And that factories and hotels respect them and don't directly empty their waste matter and toxic substance into them. If such a highly hypothetical case were true, then Addis would have had plenty of water at its disposal. As it stands, these rivers are now a blot on the landscape.

What about free market and private investors, can they have any role in shaping better water development in this country? Possibly, if we begin to think outside the box. The provision of drinking water or other has several aspects to it. There is the matter of filtration, treatment, management of storm waters, urban runoff generated from storms, sewer overflow systems etc. not to mention the colossus civil works like the building of dams.

Barefoot Runner, by Paul Rambali
Fairy-tale story of the shoeless wonder who left us gasping for breath
By Peter Carty
Published: 28 September 2006

Serpent's Tail, £11.99. Order for £10.99 (free p&p) on 08700 798 897

The story of Abebe Bikila is a modern fairy tale. He was the first African to win an Olympic gold medal, and his underdog status was unmissable: Bikila won the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics in bare feet. He was the son of peasants and unused to footwear, but his upbringing on Ethiopia's high plateau gave him an enormous advantage. Runners raised at altitude can run further and faster because they need less oxygen and are less vulnerable to dehydration. Bikila complemented this unusual physical capacity with rare competitive spirit. Even confinement to a wheelchair following a car crash did not finish his athletic career; he soon switched to the Paralympics.

Bikila's first gold medal was political capital for his emperor. Haile Selassie I, King of Kings and the Elect of God, was then an autocrat with power of life and death over his subjects. Selassie wished Ethiopia - and Africa as a whole - to assume equal status with the developed world , but by the 1960s the gap between the emperor's medieval governance and Ethiopia's need to modernise was becoming unbridgeable.

Bikila's sporting glory meant he was beloved by the masses, and this made him a political pawn. Unwillingly conscripted into a coup attempt, he narrowly escaped execution for treason. Reluctantly, Selassie allowed him to continue running and he won his second marathon in Tokyo in 1964.

Bikila's victories are isolated positives in Ethiopia's modern history, otherwise saturated in tragedy. Paul Rambali delivers engrossing accounts of the Byzantine intrigues at Selassie's court. The final days of empire were marked by starvation and insurrection; the famine of the 1980s that prompted Live Aid was one of a ghastly sequence that continues.

Rambali is strong on documentary detail, but his narrative relies on imaginative recreation of Bikila's thoughts and feelings (he died in 1973). Factional biography has impressive literary credentials, but here Rambali's creative stamina sometimes flags as he struggles to keep pace. Bikila remains an enigma, forever a few tantalising strides out of reach.

Rambali's descriptions of the races that brought Bikila fame make up some of this ground. It is impossible to remain unmoved by his accounts of the two great Olympic feats, of the astonishment and joy that gripped crowds on the sidelines and television audiences as this unassuming Ethiopian came padding out of nowhere to leave the rest of humanity gasping in his wake.

Source:
Independent
--------------------
Related Links

Abebe Bikila Page on nazret.com Watch IOC Video from 1960's

Updated on March 14 2007

ATLANTA (FOX5) -- Two teenage brothers face charges in a murder last fall that shocked the local Ethiopian community. Daniel and Nicholas Mitchell are accused of killing Yohannes Terfa and leaving his body in a dumpster behind a DeKalb County apartment complex. George Franco reports. Click video for more information


More Here

Atlanta businessman Yohannes Terfa* of Ethiopia was buried

Reward For Murder of Businessman from Ethiopia

September 28, 2006 An Atlanta businessman whose body was found in a dumpster in Dekalb County last Thursday, was buried Wednesday. 52-year-old Yohannes Terfa of Ethiopia owned several businesses in the Atlanta area.

Yohannes Terfa's son and wife comfort each other at his funeral on Wednesday, Sept. 27. 11ALive Photo


At a memorial service, his family announced a $10,000 reward to help find his killer.

In Atlanta's Ethiopian community, Terfa was a leader and successful businessman who gave back to his community with his time and money. His family says he was a good husband and father to his 16-year-old son Yonatan Terfa.

Terfa’s sister Senaiet Terfa said, “My brother helped so many people. People (who) come from Ethiopia don’t have any place to live; he made sure they had a place to live.”

She says her brother helped pay for 800 children back in his poverty stricken country to go to school.

Last Thursday morning, maintenance workers at Hidden Pointe apartments off Covington Highway, were about to turn on a trash compactor when they spotted Terfa's body in the garbage.

Dekalb County police found a crime scene at Terfa's home off LaVista road. His 2003 Nissan Murano is still missing. It has a Georgia tag 2580-ANH.

One week after his murder homicide detectives say they are hot on a trail.

“They advise me that they're following a very strong lead at this point. They're optimistic about this lead,” said Officer Jason Gagnon.

Terfa’s brother Solomon said his brother was very trusting but would never let a stranger into his house.

“He trusted somebody, he let somebody in his house and he ended up being shot, killed and dumped in a dumpster where he didn't deserve to be in,” his brother said.

After the memorial service, an endless parade of cars left A.S. Turner and Sons Funeral home to lay Terfa to rest. But his family and friends won't rest until they find out who took a brother and community leader from them. Senaiet Terfa said she can’t think of anyone who would kill him.

“It’s something you could not imagine. I have no idea, I wish I knew,” she said.

In one week the family has collected $10,000 for a reward. They expect that reward to increase significantly.

11Alive News TV

Source: 11Alive TV Atlanta

-------------------

Related Links

Body Found in DeKalb Dumpster (Video) CBS 46 Atlanta


Berhanu Yassin, Metro Atlanta cab driver murdered

Motive sought in shooting at Ethiopian wedding party in Atlanta


Crime Related Stories from nazret.com archives

*Editor's Note: We regret changing the last name from Terfa to Tefera. The original story on 11Alive has the last name as Terfa

Moved here

Ethiopia, Eritrea use UN assembly to trade charges
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Ethiopia and Eritrea used a U.N. General Assembly debate this week to accuse each other of using illegal tactics to block the stalemated peace process launched in 2000 to end their two-year border war.

Ethiopian diplomat Negash Kebret Botora accused Eritrea on Wednesday of seeking to perpetuate "an interminable boundary problem with Ethiopia" while Eritrean Health Minister Dr. Saleh Meki, speaking two days earlier, faulted Ethiopia for defying international law for years with help from the United States.

The long peace-process impasse has left Security Council members with a tough juggling act when the mandate of the U.N. mission policing the border between the two Horn of Africa neighbors expires on Friday, council diplomats said.

They said the 15-nation council must decide by Friday how to balance the two nations' intransigence against fears that cutting back on the mission out of frustration could lead to a fresh outbreak of fighting in the highly unstable region.

The council previously voted in May to trim the peacekeeping force to 2,300 troops from 3,300.

Council members said they would likely adopt a resolution on Friday extending the mission for a few more months but warning of further cutbacks if the impasse continued.

U.N. troops were sent to Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2000 to enforce a cease-fire agreement ending the border conflict that killed more than 70,000 people.

As part of the agreement, both countries pledged to accept a new border marked out by an international commission.

ERITREA SEES U.S. 'SCHEME'

But Ethiopia rejected the border and insisted on further talks, prompting Eritrea to restrict peacekeepers' movements, including a ban on helicopter flights over its territory.

The October 2005 restrictions, which remain in place, stoked tensions on both sides of the border by limiting peacekeepers' ability to monitor troop movements.

They also irritated the governments that contributed troops to the mission, because they limited the ability to carry out medical evacuations and keep the soldiers' bases supplied.

Eritrea further aggravated the international community by arresting civilian U.N. employees and holding some of them for weeks without charges and cut off from U.N. officials.

The United States earlier this year launched a diplomatic initiative to complete the task of marking out the new border.

But border commission meetings scheduled for June and August were canceled after Eritrea refused to attend.

Washington also proposed an outside facilitator to work with the parties to break the impasse. But Eritrea's Meki described that idea to the General Assembly as a "scheme" to help Ethiopia violate the peace agreement.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton rejected accusations that Washington had taken sides.

"The failure to make progress on the boundary delineation is obviously still a problem and a reflection that the peacekeeping mission itself is not accomplishing its objective," Bolton told reporters on Tuesday. "But we're not trying to tilt it one way or another. We want the parties to carry through on the agreement that they made and have not been living up to."

--------------------

Related Links


H.E. Ambassador Negash Kebret BOTORA Ethiopian Deputy Permanent Representative Speech at UN General Assembly
Text of the Speech

Eritrea Says US Sides With Ethiopia



Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Addresses 2005 World Summit at United Nations in New York VIDEO

EC President to Visit Ethiopia, AU Headquarter
The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa)
September 27, 2006
By ENA
Addis Ababa

A delegation led by the European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso will pay a working visit to Ethiopia and the African Union (AU) from September 30 to October 2, 2006, Head of European Commission Delegation said.

In an EU-AU joint press conference held here yesterday Delegation, Head Ambassador Tim Clarke said that the primary focus of the visit is to deepen existing cooperation and partnership between the AU and the EU, and added that a grant agreement amounting 55 million Euros would be signed between the E.C. and the AU to enhance the capacity of the latter.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed on the exchange of officials and trainees, Ambassador Clarke added.

"This is a landmark visit to Ethiopia and the AU. It marks the continued deepening and consolidation of the political and economic relations between the EC, Ethiopia and the AU," he said.

The President will also pay a courtesy visit to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and a 155 million euros grant agreement would be signed with the Ethiopian government to be used for the implementation of various projects in the transport sector, Ambassador Clarke said.

Similarly, he said the respective commissioners on both the EU and the AU, sides will discuss important issues of relationship such as migration, trade, infrastructure, health, among others.

Corporate communication expert with AU, Wynne Z Musabayana on her part said that the visit is also aimed facilitating EU's financial and technical assistance to the AU so that it could strengthen its capacity.

She added the technical assistance will be in the form of training and exchange of officials.

The European Commission has so far mobilized a total of 12.5 million euros in support of the AU's institutional capacity and to develop its governance and trade agenda.

Moreover, the Commission has mobilized not less than 243 million euros for AU-led peace support operations in Darfur, the Central African Republic and the Comoros.

-----------
Related Links

The First Stop for the EU High-Level Delegation Visit of the AU should be Kalati Prison!

Amnesty International fears for two teachers arrested in Ethiopia
September 27 2006

A human rights organisation has expressed fears for two teachers arrested in Ethiopia last month.

According to Amnesty International, the two men are being held incommunicado without charge.

Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet are members of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association - the oldest trade union representing some 500,000 teachers.

The ETA has criticised the government in the past and says the authorities have targeted it since last year's election.

Amnesty International says that Wasihun Melese, a prominent activist in the Addis Ababa branch, was arrested at his home by police and taken to the Central Investigation Bureau where he is still being held without charge.

Shortly after his arrest, three men in plain clothes reportedly entered the ETA's office in the capital and left with Anteneh Getnet, another union activist.

His whereabouts are still unknown.

The Association says government officials have repeatedly tried to close it down.

The union criticized the government's handling of the post-election protests which led to the deaths of about 80 people and thousands of others being arrested.

No one from the government or police was able to comment on the claims.

Source: BBC News

Related Links

Detention without charge Amnesty International

Press Release
September 27, 2006
Ethiopian Americans for H.R. 5680
Dr. Abraham Bekele: 703-980-6650
Mr. Girma Kassa: 630-667-4338

ETHIOPIAN AMERICANS TO RALLY IN SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS BILL

Several thousand Ethiopian-Americans, Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia are expected to rally on Capitol Hill to show their support for a bill called “The Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 5680). In an unusual act, the Speaker of the U.S. House, Dennis Hastert has intervened to prevent the bill from going to the House floor for a final vote. A separate rally is also scheduled in Batavia, IL, a city in Speaker Hastert’s Congressional district.

H.R. 5680 is intended to help Ethiopia build strong democratic institutions, establish mechanisms for the protection of human rights and civil liberties, strengthen the U.S-Ethiopian partnership in the war against terrorism and release of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.

H.R. 5680, authored by New Jersey Congressmen Christopher Smith [R] and Donald Payne [D], passed unanimously in the House International Relations Committee this past June, but was unable to proceed to the floor after being blocked by Speaker Hastert. Ethiopian-Americans across the Unites States are dismayed and surprised that Speaker Hastert has decided to thwart freedom, democracy and human rights in their homeland. The bill is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of more than 25 members of Congress.

The rally is organized by concerned Ethiopian Americans in Washington, D.C., and Illinois. The Washington, D.C. rally will be held on Capitol Hill West Front at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 28, 2006. The Capitol Hill West Front is expected to overflow with thousands of Ethiopian Americans who reside in and around the Washington, D.C. metro area.

The rally in Illinois will be held on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. in front of Speaker Hastert’s District Office in Batavia, Illinois located at 27 North River Street. Ethiopian-Americans in and around the Speaker’s 14th Congressional District, as well as residents of neighboring cities, counties, and states are expected to join the rally in front of the Speaker’s district office.

The rally is expected to ask Speaker Hastert why he has taken the unusual step of intervening in a bill that has the unanimous support of the International Relations Committee and authored and supported by global champions of human rights such as congressmen Chris Smith and Tom Lantos, and the former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and Africa expert Donald Payne. Despite hundreds of telephone calls and in person visits, Speaker Hastert and his office have offered no explanations for his unusual actions in preventing H.R. 5680 from getting to the floor. Ethiopians hope to get a response from the Speaker’s office at the rally.

-----------------
Related Links


Call for a peaceful rally in Washington


Washington Updated

Ethiopia religious holiday unusually quiet
Will Connors
Middle East Times
September 27, 2006

ADDIS ABABA -- Unlike more violent episodes last year, and despite a few rock-throwers, Tuesday's religious celebration in Ethiopia was held largely without incident.

Ceremonies for the Orthodox Christian holiday Meskel, honoring Queen Elena's "finding of the true cross" in the fourth century, were held in downtown Addis Ababa, and although several men were detained by police for throwing rocks or chanting anti-government slogans, the day was calm compared to the post-election riots of late 2005.

STRANGELY QUIET: The Orthodox Christian day honoring Queen Elena’s ‘finding of the true cross’ went off almost without incident in Abbas Ababa September 26.
(WILL CONNORS)

Many residents stayed away from the celebration at first out of fear of violence, but as the day wore on the area surrounding Meskel Square filled up beyond capacity, leading some onlookers to resort to creative methods of gaining a vantage point, including climbing up the scaffolding of unused nearby billboard supports.

The government took several measures to ensure that a more peaceful holiday was observed, including starting the proceedings an hour and a half early, and limiting the speakers and religious presentations to a few minutes each.

Perhaps the most important step taken by officials, however, was limiting the security forces to city police officers only, rather than using the much hated blue-camouflaged federal police.

"The federals, they are dogs. Dogs," said one fiery young man who did not give his name, adding, "The city police, we don't mind them. They are our brothers."

The brown-uniformed city police, most with riot-gear helmets and batons, were everywhere. Officers were positioned every five meters (16 feet) in the densely packed viewing area, directing traffic and watching spectators attentively.

Plainclothes officers were also scattered throughout the crowd, listening for potentially incendiary conversations. Towards the end of the ceremony, a young man discussing last year's violence was identified by a non-uniformed man and taken away. Whether the identifier was an officer or a civilian was not clear.

Another moment that highlighted the unusual calm of the crowd was during a speech by the Orthodox Church's patriarch, Abune Paulos. A controversial figure who has survived at least one known assassination attempt, Paulos' speech last year was met by a chorus of jeers and boos and led to violent riots. This year, however, his speech rumbled out over the loudspeakers and was received with a resolute silence.

When the culminating moment of the ceremony (the burning of a large bonfire, or Damera) began, the atmosphere tensed. Small groups began chanting anti-government slogans, and a few rocks were thrown. Police reacted quickly, converging on the trouble spots and detaining several dozen men.

Later, a state-owned gas station a half-kilometer away from the ceremonies was vandalized by several stone-toting youths. Two station guards were injured and a gas pump was damaged before another guard, who had a pistol, fired a shot into the air to scare the young men off.

One of the guards, an elderly man, was hit in the leg by a rock and his wound was bleeding. He said that police arrived shortly after the youths ran away, but he was not sure if any were apprehended.

Public gatherings of any kind in Ethiopia have been platforms for disaffected citizens to voice their displeasure with the ruling government since controversial May, 2005 elections. And though this day's events were calm in comparison to demonstrations last year in which over 80 people were killed and some 10,000 arrested, the desire to protest appears to be alive and well.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment.

--------------------

CALL FOR PEACEFUL RALLY

CAPITOL HILL WEST FRONT- U.S. CONGRESS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 9:00 a.m.

H.R. 5680, ALSO KNOWN AS “THE ETHIOPIA FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACT OF 2006”, IS CURRENTLY AWAITING ACTION IN THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.

IN SUMMARY, H.R. 5680 HELPS:

1.ETHIOPIA BUILD STRONG DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS, PROCESSES AND PRACTICES;

2.ETHIOPIANS ENJOY HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES;

3.ETHIOPIA BECOME A JUST SOCIETY BY REQUIRING THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS WHO ARE JAILED UNLAWFULLY;

4.ETHIOPIA PROFESSIONALIZE AND MODERNIZE ITS JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND PROMOTE THE RULE OF LAW;

5.ETHIOPIA STRENGTHEN ITS TIES TO THE UNITED STATES AND FORGE AN EFFECTIVE ANTI-TERRORISM PARTENERSHIP IN AFRICA; AND

6.ETHIOPIA BY PROVIDING $20 MILLION OVER TWO YEARS TO COVER COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BILL.

ALL ETHIOPIANS, ETHIOPIAN-AMERICANS, AND FRIENDS OF ETHIOPIA ARE INVITED TO FULFILL THEIR CIVIC DUTY OF SUPPORTING H.R. 5680 BY ATTENDING THIS PEACEFUL RALLY:

ETHIOPIAN-AMERICANS FOR H.R. 5680

(THE RALLY IS SUPPORTED BY DIVERSE CONCERNED INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS, AND IS INDEPENDENT OF ANY AND ALL POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS.)

-----------------

Related Links

Press Release


Washington Update Sep 26 2006

Toolkit for Ethiopian Americans visiting Congress member

Open Letter to Speaker Dennis Hastert

What is H.R. 5680?
Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006
(Introduced in House)
To encourage and facilitate the consolidation of security, human rights, democracy, and economic freedom in Ethiopia.
Find More Information from Library of Congress

Daresalam could borrow a leaf from Addis city plan

Daily News Tanzania

JOURNALISTS from various mass media institutions in the country visited Addis Ababa, Ethiopia recently to acquaint themselves with socio-economic development issues of the country and visit key areas. In this article, Staff Writer PUDENCIANA TEMBA gives highlights of salient features of the country.

Addis Ababa’s eight lane road Pictur Daily News Tanzania

SITUATED in the Horn of Africa, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is unique among African countries. Firstly Ethiopia was never colonised. It maintained its independence throughout the Scramble for Africa onward, except for a five-year period (1936-41) when it was under Italian occupation.

There was no Italian colonization of Ethiopia during this period since the Italians occupied only a few key cities and major routes. The Italian period is thus considered an "occupation" and not colonial rule.

Apart from being the oldest independent country in Africa, Ethiopia founded the UN headquarters in Africa and is the headquarters of the former OAU and current AU. It is also the headquarters of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
Ethiopia is the 2nd-most populous nation in Africa with about 70 million people. The ruling party, Ethiopia People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), controls more than fifty large business enterprises in Ethiopia, following the Chinese model.

Ethiopia's population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigrayans make up more than three-fourths of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members.

Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia and a vibrant African city with many issues of interest. It is a sprawling metropolis of huge contrasts and a population of four million. It has no city centre but consists of a number of centres or sub-cities.
One of the salient features of Addis Ababa which Dar es Salaam and other Tanzanian Cities could borrow a leaf is the city plan which has left ample space for roads. The city has good roads almost all with between double lanes to twelve lane roads.

There is also one elevated ring road around the city. This has helped clear traffic jams, according to the Tanzania Ambassador to Ethiopia and permanent representative to AU and ECA, Ambassador Msuya. W. Mangachi.

"One of the things that you will not see here is traffic jams at any time of the day. Vehicles here move fairly well due to good road network. You will hardly see single lane roads. All roads have between two to twelve lanes," he told the Journalists.

Ambassador Mangachi said there was a plan that was being worked out for Dar es Salaam Mayor, Mr Adam Kimbisa and his councillors to visit Addis Ababa for them to see and learn from their Ethiopian counterparts.

The city has a huge market called Merkato that is said to be the largest in Africa. It is a major trading centre accommodating 14,000 businesses. It is the focal point for receiving all the country's produce in bulk then redistributing it in a large variety of smaller quantities.

Ethiopia is also the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari movement, whose adherents believe Ethiopia is Zion. The Rastafari view Emperor Haile Selassie I as Jesus, the human incarnation of God, a view apparently not shared by Haile Selassie himself, who was staunchly Ethiopian Orthodox Christian.

Another area where Ethiopia has excelled is in Air travel. Ethiopian Airlines commenced operations in 1945 with a weekly service between Addis Ababa and Cairo. Now, almost 60 years on, the airline continues to spread its wings. A modern fleet currently provides passengers and cargo shippers coverage of Africa, along with convenient access to a growing number of destinations across Europe, the USA, Asia and the Middle East.

Since pioneering the first east-west flights across Africa in the 1950s, the airline has steadily expanded services throughout the continent to establish the largest pan-African network of any airline.

Another area where Tanzania could learn from their Ethiopian counterparts is sports. Ethiopia has some of the finest athletes of the world, most notably middle-distance and long-distance runners.

Kenya and Morocco are often its opponents in World Championships and Olympic middle and long-distance events.

As of March 2006, two Ethiopians dominate the long-distance running scene. They are Haile Gebreselassie (World champion and Olympic champion) who has broken more than 10 World records and currently holds the 20 km, Half Marathon, and 25 km world record, and young Kenenisa Bekele (World champion, World cross country champion, and Olympic champion), who holds the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres world records.

Other notable Ethiopian distance-runners include Derartu Tulu, Abebe Bikila and Miruts Yifter. Derartu Tulu was the first black woman from Africa to win an Olympic gold medal, doing so over 10,000 metres at Barcelona.

Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon in 1960 and 1964, setting world records both times. He is well-known to this day for winning the 1960 marathon in Rome while running barefoot. Miruts Yifter, the first in a tradition of Ethiopians known for their brilliant finishing speed, won gold at 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the Moscow Olympics.

He is the last man to achieve this feat. Like anything, Ethiopia has its other side of the coin. Poverty is overwhelming. It has experienced severe droughts and hunger in the past.

Pavements and church compounds are home to countless
homeless of all ages, with many, many beggars surrounding your car at each intersection. Young women with babies, children of all ages and sizes and those maimed by nature or by war are plenty in the street begging.

"If there is anything that has disappointed me in this trip is the big number of children in the street begging. I thought in Tanzania we had a serious problem of beggars but after what I have seen in Addis streets, I beg to change my mind. Tanzania is a country with very few beggars," said Richard Mwaikenda from 'Majira' newspaper.

Source: Daily News Tanzania

-------------------------------------
Related Links


Google Satellite Map of Addis Ababa
Must See


Pictures from Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
Ring Road (aka Beltway), Bole etc

The project brief anticipated a development of 200,000 square meters of accommodation consisting of retail, office, cultural facilities and open landscaped areas.

The Design Solution is realised in the sculptural arrangement of high-rise office towers forming a dramatic landmark adjacent to Menelik II Square, a major city space and a low-rise multi-level shopping centre arranged around a central piazza and a curved shopping mall.

In addition there will be a choice of restaurants, coffee shops, terrace cafes, and ice cream parlours, grouped around a food court with an outlook over the central events arena and shopping mall.

Source: JSBP Architects

PUBLIC
AI Index: AFR 25/028/2006
26 September 2006

UA 255/06
Detention without charge/ Incommunicado detention/ Fear for safety

ETHIOPIA
Wasihun Melese (m) ] teachers and trade unionists
Anteneh Getnet (m), aged 43]

Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet, both members of the teachers' trade union, the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA), were arrested in the capital, Addis Ababa, on 23 September. They are being held incommunicado without charge and are at risk of torture, ill-treatment, or "disappearance".

Wasihun Melese was arrested at his home by police, who took him to the police Central Investigation Bureau (known as Maekelawi), where he is still detained. He is a teacher at Addis Ketema High School in Addis Ababa and a prominent activist in the Addis Ababa branch of the ETA. He is an elected member of the ETA's National Executive Committee.

Shortly after his arrest, three men in plain clothes reportedly entered the ETA's office in Addis Ababa and were later seen leaving in a car with Anteneh Getnet, a teacher and ETA activist who had been in the organisation's office. He had been attending an Addis Ababa Region teachers’ meeting. His whereabouts are still unknown. Anteneh Getnet was previously abducted and beaten in May 2006, allegedly by members of the security forces. He is still suffering from injuries sustained when he was beaten.

These new arrests may be a response by the Ethiopian authorities to a complaint lodged by the ETA and the global union federation Education International with the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association, citing government interference with ETA activities and intimidation of ETA members, including the arrest of numerous teachers since May 2005.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The ETA, which is affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and Education International, is the oldest trade union in Ethiopia, to which half a million teachers in primary, secondary and higher educational institutions belong. The ETA has been critical of government education policies and has been subject to numerous government attempts to close it. There have been attempts by the Ethiopian authorities to replace it with a pro-government union created with the same name.

The ETA issued statements criticizing the government in connection with the post-election crisis in mid-2005. In two incidents in June and November 2005, over 80 opposition party supporters were killed by the security forces, and seven police officers were also killed by demonstrators protesting at alleged election fraud in the May 2005 elections. There were mass arrests of opposition members and many are reportedly still detained without charge.

Hundreds of teachers and ETA members in different regions have been detained or arbitrarily dismissed in recent years, reportedly because they failed to support the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Kassahun Kebede, an ETA official arrested in November 2005 in connection with the demonstration, is now on trial alongside the leaders of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), several journalists and human rights defenders. He faces serious charges including ‘outrage against the Constitution’ and could be punished with the death penalty. He is a teacher and the chair of the Addis Ababa branch of the ETA. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience and has called for his immediate and unconditional release (see AI report Ethiopia: Prisoners of conscience on trial for treason: opposition party leaders, human rights defenders and journalists, AI Index AFR 25/013/2006, May 2006).
.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:

- expressing concern over the arrests on 23 September of Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet, who appear to be prisoners of conscience arrested on account of their non-violent trade union activities;
- asking the authorities to disclose the location where Anteneh Getnet is held;
- urging the authorities to either bring charges, within the 48 hours provided by the law, against Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet if they are reasonably suspected of a criminal offence; or to release them immediately;
- urging the authorities to ensure Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet are given immediate access to their families and legal representatives, with medical treatment if required, and are treated in accordance with regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners.

APPEALS TO:

Minister of Justice
Mr Assefa Kesito
Ministry of Justice
PO Box 1370
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: + 251 11 5517775
+ 251 11 5520874
Salutation: Dear Minister

Minister of Education
Dr Sintayehu Woldemikael
Ministry of Education
PO Box 1367
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 5511355
Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES TO:
Prime Minister
His Excellency Meles Zenawi
Office of the Prime Minister
PO Box 1031,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Salutation: Your Excellency

and to diplomatic representatives of Ethiopia accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 7 November 2006.

Ethiopia to Export Power to Kenya in 18 Months
Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
September 26, 2006
By Issayas Mekuria

Ethiopia and Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding to supply electric power to Kenya in the coming 15 months. Though the Ethio-Kenya deal is in place, the negotiation between Ethiopia and Sudan is still underway.

The signing between Henry O. Obwocha, Kenyan minister for Energy, and Alemayehu Tegenu, the Ethiopian minister for Mines and Energy, was held last Friday September 22, 2006 at the Hilton hotel.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) held a four-day negotiation with the Kenyan Power Company (KPLC) and Kenyan Generation (KENGEN) regarding the Ethiopia-Kenya power systems interconnection project.

The third technical committee meeting started on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 and concluded on Friday, September 22, 2006 according to the schedule. The ministers signed the agreement at the closing of their meetings.

According to the agreements made between the two parties, EEPCo will supply electricity to border towns in Kenya in the coming 15 months from a power line that will go from Hagere Mariam to Moyale, a bordering town to Kenya in the southern region.

The technical committee meeting last week proposed that EEPCo build a hydroelectric power generation station in the Genale Dawa River near Hagere Mariam, 467Km from Addis Abeba within five years. It will supply 600mw with a line capacity of 400kv, which will be transmitted to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

During the discussions, it was agreed that Kenya would open a project office within two weeks. EEPCo already has theirs in place.

One million dollars will be required to do the feasibility study. The Kenyan team disclosed during the meeting that KFW, a German company, has already approached them with a proposal to provide the funding, as long as a German company do the power interconnection project.

"To implement this project the problem is not technical," said Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of Mines and Energy. "The bigger challenge is finance and we have to work hard to get the finance from donors."

Finance was given the bigger part of the agenda in the ministerial level discussions.

According to the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries, the two project offices are given the responsibility to start negotiations with KFW immediately and to look for other financiers.

"It is an extremely important project to our country," said Minister Obwocha. "That is why we are here; we should implement this project very fast."

Kenya has a population of 34.7 million and generates 1,232.6mw of hydro, geothermal, oil thermal, gas turbine and wind electric power. Out of this power, 20mw is imported from Uganda. According to the Kenyan energy minister, in the coming 30 years, his country will require 2,000mw of electric power.

The power project is projected to cost 240 million dollars. Ethiopia estimates that it could earn 300 million euros a year from the power export.

Currently, EEPCo has a 790mw power generation capacity and when the four hydro electric generation stations get completed by 2011, the power generation capacity will grow to 3,840mw.

EEPCo has started negotiations on its power interconnection project with the Sudanese, National Electricity Company (NEC) as well.

Though the negotiations between the two parties was expected to conclude in four days, the meeting was still progressing when Fortune went to printers on Saturday evening.

Discussions revolved around the Construction and Power Purchase Agreement documents and an agreement on the feasibility study which HIFAB, a consulting firm, had prepared.

Sources told Fortune that they have yet to reach an agreement, especially regarding the power purchase agreement.

From the Sudanese negotiators side, they would like to conclude the agreement at the current EEPCo and world tariff, while the EEPCo side say the tariff agreement should be done after the project construction is done and that it will be handled according to the market tariff at that time.

According to our sources, the negotiations might continue until next week.

Source: AddisFortune
---------------------

Related Links

Business: Energy Sector

New Film Depicts Coup Attempt Against Military Regime

Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
September 26, 2006
Posted to the web September 26, 2006

By Selam Geremew

In early October 2006, Abugida, a two hour-long Amharic movie, directed and produced by renowned Ethiopian actor Mulualem Tadesse, will be released at Alem Cinema.

Abugida is based on events that took place in Ethiopia during and after the May 1989 coup attempt, when high ranking generals and senior officers plotted to overthrow Mengistu Hailemariam.

The coup d'etat, which was immediately thwarted, resulted in officers involved in the plot being killed, others facing the same fate following the verdict reached at a special military tribunal and many more thrown in jail.

One of the key pieces of evidence that surfaced following the coup attempt hinted that some of the officers involved in the plotting were actually being promoted.

Instantly, the government, out of fear that those involved in the plot may further continue with their actions, launched a massive manhunt.

revolves around this period as it weaves a story of passion for power, greed and betrayal as well as the possible disintegration of the family.

The film reveals an account that is not even two decades old, and yet surprisingly, one that has become forgotten with the survival of only faint memories. Abugida tries to explore the how and why of what happened; and which lessons viewers can draw from the particular event.

Tesfaye Gebremariam, who wrote the original script for Abugida, has had his recent work, "Cleopatra" showing at the National Theatre. Mulualem who helped streamline the original script of the soon to be released movie also played the lead role in his play; she has so far acted in mostly lead roles in several plays including Shakespeare's Hamlet, plays by Noel Coward, and several original Amharic plays by Ethiopian playwrights.

The cast of Abugida includes a long list of celebrated Ethiopian actors including Teferi Alemu whose appearance in The Father, an M-NET production, has received critical mentions in several film festivals around the world. Another cast member is Abebe Balcha, an actor whose role in the Channel 4 production of The Great Battalions as well as several plays, such as Othello, as the title role, and Tewodros brought him instant recognition; Mulualem is also a cast member in this production.

Abugida was produced by Mulualem Film Company and MATI Cinema for 700,000 Br and is being sponsored by Abyssinia Bank and Nile Insurance

---------------

Related Links


Mengistu Hailemariam

Yamamoto Vows to Promote Transparency in Ethiopian Politics

Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
September 26, 2006
Posted to the web September 26, 2006

Donald Yamamoto, an American senior diplomat with vast experience in Africa, told the US Senate last week that he will promote an open and transparent electoral process in Ethiopia.

Mr. Yamamoto sees such a process to include full engagement with all opposition parties in order to ensure "dynamic participation in political decision-making, tolerance to dissent, an independent judiciary with transparent and accountable judicial processes, the consistent protection of human rights, and a free and responsible press."

He, however, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, September 20, that the ongoing trial of more than 100 CUD leaders and their supporters, civil society leaders, and journalists, will be an obstacle to progress. He expressed his fears that the trial will continue to generate concerns about the future of Ethiopia's democratic development.

A 25-year diplomacy veteran, Yamamoto, who is now serving as deputy assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, is seeking the confirmation of the US Senate for his new position as his country's Ambassador to Ethiopia. If confirmed, he will be the 25th American ambassador to serve in Ethiopia since diplomatic relations began between the two countries in 1903.

Mr. Yamamoto was nominated to his new position by President George Bush at the beginning of this month. He has been the main official in US State Department's Africa Bureau for Ethiopia-Eritrean border issues and has helped shepherd a Great Lakes peace effort a.k.a. the Tripartite Process. He also has been involved in talks with the Chadian government about its relations with Sudan over the Darfur crisis and has helped to facilitate recent elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"Don's experience and knowledge of the region and his understanding of Ethiopia and the issues will serve him well," said a veteran American diplomat in Washington D.C.

Yamamoto, characterized Ethiopia during his appearance before the Senate, as a country "mired in a decade long border dispute with Eritrea and faces difficult and pressing challenges at home".

"The United States remains deeply concerned about Ethiopia's domestic political environment," said Yamamoto, describing the government's reaction to demonstrators following the May 2005 elections as "harsh".

"These are very complex issues to tackle, but at least everyone is listening and dialogue is taking place," he told the Senate's Committee.

Nevertheless, Yamamoto feels he has cooperation with the Ethiopian government, particularly on the issue of fighting terrorism. The Administration of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is considered to be a strong ally of the United States in this fight, participating in Mr. Bush's East Africa Counter-Terrorism Initiative.

"[Ethiopia] shares and supports many of our strategic goals on the continent," Yamamoto told the Senate.

Eradicate poverty, creating jobs, promoting education and expanding access to quality healthcare are "primary goals of the Ethiopian government, which we share and are committed to supporting," he said.

On the economic front, Yamamoto said he would continue to press for foreign assistance that already amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian, emergency, and development aid to Ethiopia each year.

"We need to carefully coordinate in the interagency process and with other donors, to ensure that we are using these limited funds effectively and productively," he told the lawmakers.

Diplomats say he will have little challenge from the Senate to be confirmed as an ambassador. The Foreign Relations Committee will vote on his nomination before it presents him to the full Senate floor for final vote before the latter goes out for session at the end of this month, according to knowledgeable sources of US diplomatic procedures.

"I see no reason why Don will not be confirmed," said the veteran diplomat.

In all likelihood, Mr. Yamamoto will have a swearing-in in front of the Senate before he is off to Addis Abeba by January 2006.

By Tamrat G. Giorgis

Fortune Staff Writer
------------------

Related Link


Yamamoto Cites U.S. Strategic Partnership with Ethiopia

Firms seek positive brand for Ethiopia
Anaclet Rwegayura
Posted Tue, 26 Sep 2006

Addis Ababa – Around 30 Ethiopian firms were actively seeking a common approach to market their country abroad.

The key issue that industries and the government were addressing in the marketing drive was to improve the image of Ethiopia as a location where business could thrive.

Ethiopian entrepreneurs had little to show thus far, but their effort was indicative of their determination to succeed.

The hope of the Ethiopian industries to make an impact on regional and overseas markets lies with the abundance of raw materials, such as coffee, livestock, leather and minerals as well as the new technologies being introduced into the country.

In their enthusiasm to create a new image of Ethiopia, though, both the government and the local entrepreneurs were up against the challenges of competition that include communications, market intelligence gathering, packaging and branding their products.

"There is a knowledge gap of how to sell goods in the global market and stick with it," said Stephan Willms, a German product branding and marketing expert, after conducting a training session for Ethiopian industrialists in Addis Ababa.

"There are very successful companies in Ethiopia, very well-led too in different areas, but their products are not known by consumers outside the country."

Through its capacity building ministry, the Ethiopian government was working to improve the competitiveness of local industries at national and international levels.

In this endeavour, Germany was providing essential support through its Development Co-operation Agency (GTZ) by training managers of Ethiopian industries to develop their own product branding strategies.

"By developing their own corporate and product brands these companies can increase their recognition as suppliers in national and world markets," said Katharina Binhack of GTZ.

In order to reach that milestone, Ethiopian firms need to have a common national vision and be empowered as part of the country's business re-engineering process.

"When you have a very strong brand as a company everybody knows you. They know that you have a good quality product. People will have a good feeling when they buy your product," Willms said.

For Ethiopia, however, there was more at stake than industrial products. "It is the image of the country," Willms said, noting that negative images derived from Ethiopia's past linger in the mind of the people in other parts of the world.

"There is no war or drought any more. People in Ethiopia are doing something positive. They are doing business and want to be successful. But nobody outside Ethiopia knows this. The picture in their heads is still the same as it was 10 years ago.

"Like the Ethiopian great runners, Ethiopian companies can assist the image of this country if they manage to get their products into the world market," he said. Through the joint Ethiopian-German Engineering capacity Building Programme (ECBP), it was believed, Ethiopia would acquire a new international image while the private sector played a catalytic role in overall development and employment generation.

However, ECBP laid emphasis on micro and small enterprises that were likely to promote employment and thus enable Ethiopia, with a population of over 78 million, to pull itself out of poverty.

Gearing up for Ethiopia's millennium festivities on September 11 2007, government officials said the occasion would be marked with a difference that would give the rest of the world a memorable impression of the country both as a tourist and investment location.

"If the present image can be changed, it will be possible to leverage the name of Ethiopia as a great country to import from and invest in," said Willms.

Industrial associations dealing in coffee, horticulture, floriculture, leather and textile products, he suggested, needed to brand Ethiopia as a country where these commodities were produced in order to attract more foreign investment.

"Using the opportunities that lie ahead such as the Millennium celebration, the ministries and the regional states have to re- brand and re-design Ethiopia so that its potential is known to the outside world. That is a development path that leads to more prosperity in the end," Willms added.

The underlying idea in capacity building for Ethiopian enterprises was to market the core Ethiopian products.

Once the entrepreneurs access and penetrate the markets with a perception of their own product brands, consumers should respond with a loyalty to the new image of Ethiopia.

-panapress

Related Links

Ethiopia 120th in World Economic Forum Competitive Index


Ethiopian Business News

Ethiopia ranks 120th in World Economic Forum Competitive Index

GENEVA -Ethiopia is one of the least competitive economies in the world according to a report by the World Economic Forum. Out of 125 countries, Ethiopia ranks near the bottom at 120th falling from 116th in 2005.

Tunisia, the most competitive economy in the region ranked 30th, Algeria (76) and Morocco (70) all improved remarkably from last year, thanks in part to significant improvements in institutions. Egypt dropped nine ranks to 63rd this year, due to an extremely sharp drop of 58 places to rank 108 in the macroeconomy pillar, as it struggled with worsening government finances and a large debt ratio. It also fell back in the areas of higher education and training and innovation.

• In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa (45th) does particularly well in a number of areas typically reserved for rich, innovation-driven economies. Its economic sophistication is reflected in high ranks for property rights, private institutions, goods and financial market efficiency, business sophistication and innovation.
• Botswana, ranked 81st, has succeeded in using its wealth from key natural resources to boost the growth rate. Key to Botswana’s success have been its reliable and legitimate institutions, the prudence of government spending and public trustworthiness of its politicians. The transparency and accountability of public institutions have contributed to a stable macroeconomic environment, efficient bureaucracy and market-friendly regulation.

• On the other hand, Tanzania and Uganda ranked 104th and 113th, respectively, suffer from large weaknesses in health and education. Their failure to make a significant improvement in these basic requirements is likely to continue to dent their growth prospects. Nigeria is down 18 places to 101, on the back of poor macroeconomic management despite the surge in oil export revenues and Zimbabwe at 119 continues its rapid descent to the bottom of the rankings, due to a further deterioration of the institutional climate, including the erosion of property rights and rule of law, as well as problems of corruption and the implications these and other factors have had for macroeconomic management.

Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world’s most competitive economies according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007, released by the World Economic Forum on 26 September 2006. Denmark, Singapore, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom complete the top ten list, but the United States shows the most pronounced drop, falling from first to sixth.

The rankings are drawn from a combination of publicly available hard data and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the Report. This year, over 11,000 business leaders were polled in a record 125 economies worldwide.

Source: World Economic Forum
------------------

Related Links


Find Complete Rankings and Report on World Economic Forum Site

Ethiopia ranked dead last on the World Economic Forum Networked Readiness Index in 2005, 115 out of 115 countries.
World Economic Forum


Ethiopia ranks 137 in Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.


Ethiopia ranks 170th in Human Development Index 2005

-------------------

Why Ethiopia ranks so low?

Have Your Say.

Ethiopian Talk Show Interview with Neway Debebe

Washington DC Nigist Abate of Ethiopian Talk Show interviews Ethiopian renowned artist Neway Debebe.
Posted Sep 25 2006
Related Links


ETS Archived Shows

Haile still wants that world record

Ethiopia's double Olympic 10 000m champion Haile Gebrselassie has set the lofty double goal of breaking the world record and winning the marathon at the 2008 Olympics in Peking.

Gebrselassie (33) posted the world's best time of the year - 2hr 5min 55sec - in winning Sunday's 42.2km Berlin marathon, but was left frustrated at failing to break Kenyan Paul Tergat's world record of 2hr 4min 55sec.

Asked what was more important, the world record or Olympic glory, the four-time world champion replied: "Both would be nice. Winning the Olympics with the record would be the ultimate."

Tergat set his world record at the Berlin marathon in September 2003, but Gebreselassie said the conditions had not given him a chance to better that mark.

"The conditions needed to be 100% right. They were only 90% right in Berlin," said the Ethiopian. "I had the chance for the world record but the last 5km really hurt and I could not push on.

"It was too windy for a better time, but I will break the record at some stage." - Sapa-AFP

Published on the web by Pretoria News on September 25, 2006.

Ethiopia Kenya Power Interconnection Project Well in Progress
The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa)
Posted to the web September 26, 2006
By ENA
Addis Ababa

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has announced the conclusion between Ethiopia and Kenya of an agreement allowing for the commencement of physical construction of a transmission line to the Sudan in the framework of the Ethiopia-Kenya Interconnection Project.

Corporation General Manager Mehiret Debebe told ENA at the end of the ministerial and technical meeting between Ethiopia and Kenya of a power system interconnection cooperation that the delegations of the two countries had reviewed the progress of their cooperation in the interconnection project and the joint development of hydropower resources in Ethiopia. The two sides during their four-day session sought ways of finalizing a project consultant tender document, preparing financial proposal documents and identifying potential financers.

A body overseeing the project implementation has been designated in addition to selecting projects found most feasible for intercontinental power exports based on a master plan of the two countries, he said.

The meeting also formed a technical committee and worked out preliminaries for entering physical construction, he indicated.

Minister of Mines and Energy, Alemayhu Tegenu on his part said that Ethiopia is endowed with huge potentials of hydro power which are suitable for intercontinental hydropower markets. "The big hydropower sites located in the Nile Basin and Gibe-Omo Basins are true examples".

The project is economically viable for both countries, helps forge closer cooperation between the two sisterly countries and contribute largely for continental ties, he added.

Kenyan Energy Minster, Henry Obwocha on his part said that the supply of electricity would play significant role to speed up Kenyan economy.

The Kenyan Government's technical committee would be working diligently to see to it that physical construction begins within the period of 18 months now, he said.

A general consultative meeting with international and continental financial institutions and donors would be held as part of securing the required funds for the project, he added.

Eritrea Says US Sides With Ethiopia, Has Narrow Interests
Tuesday September 26th, 2006 / 7h36

UNITED NATIONS (AP)--
An Eritrean government minister accused the United States of pursuing its "perceived narrow interests" and siding with rival Ethiopia at the expense of peace in the Horn of Africa region.
In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, Eritrea's Health Minister Saleh Meky said years of failure to resolve a border dispute with Ethiopia were a result of the West's condoning Ethiopia's violations of a peace settlement.

"To single out Ethiopia as the primary and only culprit would be missing the forest for the woods," Meky said. "The fact is Ethiopia has neither the power not the political skill to defy international law for a single day, let along for four long years."

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, but their border was never settled. In April 2002, following another, 2 1/2-year, border war, an international boundary commission awarded the key town of Badme to Eritrea - but Ethiopia has refused to implement the deal.

Angered at the international community's failure to ensure that the ruling is obeyed, Eritrea banned U.N. helicopter flights and vehicle movements at night on its side of the buffer zone and ordered Western peacekeepers to leave the U.N. force in December.

Meky accused the United States of insincere rhetoric and of going along with Ethiopia's attempts to revise the boundary commission ruling.
"Solemn pledges on upholding international justice and the rule of law, such as collective commitments to prevent and resolve conflicts and avoid humanitarian disasters, that we have heard on this podium from leaders of major powers ring hollow on the altar of reality," he said.

"When the chips are down, major powers, and especially the United States, continue to pursue their perceived narrow interests at the expense of regional peace and security, and the sovereign rights of nations and peoples," Meky said.

Amid the dispute, Eritrea has arrested civilians working for the United Nations and the United States, often holding them for weeks without charge. All private media outlets have been shut down in Eritrea, which is considered one of the most repressive regimes in Africa

VIDEO: UN General Assembly Speech by Eritrea H.E. Mr. Saleh Said MEKY
Minister of Health



Text of UN General Assembly Speech by H.E. Mr. Saleh Said MEKY
Minister of Health of Eritrea

SpectrumData in Ethiopian rescue mission
September 26, 2006 - 2:25PM

A Perth-based data recovery company is mounting a rescue mission in Ethiopia - where over a million files containing the country's seismic data are at risk of being lost forever.

Using special data recovery software, SpectrumData will retrieve more than one million files on 3000 deteriorating magnetic tapes, which house seismic data on 5,000 linear kilometres in the country's Ogaden Basin.

Expensive to record, the information is crucial to international oil and gas exploration companies searching for suitable places to explore.

Under the contract signed with the Ethiopian government, SpectrumData - one of the biggest data migration, conversion and recovery companies in the world - will have distribution rights for the data to third parties over a period of four years.

Company CEO Guy Holmes said the contract proved Western Australia's IT sector could compete with competition from Europe and the US.

The project would also promote SpectrumData's services to countries and companies in a similar situation to Ethiopia, Holmes said.

"We have already received interest for similar projects in Mongolia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Peru," Mr Holmes said.

"This project showcases the unique service offering that SpectrumData is providing to the exploration industry, both at home and internationally."

The Ethiopian project is one of many being undertaken by the company, with work secured in other parts of Africa and New Zealand.

Source: The Age

Ethiopia: Open Letter to Speaker Dennis Hastert
September 26, 2006

I write this letter on behalf of hundreds of thousands of proud and loyal Ethiopian Americans who have placed their trust in the United States Congress to spread the blessings of freedom, democracy and human rights to our birthplace of Ethiopia.

Background on H.R. 5680

Mr. Speaker: Two great members of the United States Congress from New Jersey, Representatives Christopher Smith, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, and Vice Chairman of the International Relations Committee, and Donald Payne, former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and ranking member on the Subcommittee, worked collaboratively to craft H.R. 5680, the “Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006”. They drafted this bill with the conviction that it will help Ethiopia become a stable democratic society with strong human rights protections for the Ethiopian people, and to strengthen the Ethiopian American partnership in the global war on terror. For this purpose, Chairman Smith and Mr. Payne worked hard to persuade and enlist other distinguished members of the House to cosponsor the bill; and representatives Tom Lantos (CA), Charles Rangel (NY), Jim Leach (IA) and Martin Sabo (MN), among others, accepted the call and did so.

Mr. Speaker: Chairman Smith and Mr. Payne exerted extraordinary efforts to convince the Chairman of the International Relations Committee, Representative Henry Hyde and the 50 members of that Committee to favorably consider H.R. 5680. They succeeded in their efforts, and on June 27, 2006, H.R. 5680 passed unanimously in the International Relations Committee.

Mr. Speaker: The Ethiopian American community in the United States rejoiced upon learning that H.R. 5680 had passed unanimously in the International Relations Committee. We rejoiced because we believed, at last, the people we had left in Ethiopia, our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, relatives, neighbors and friends, may be able to experience for the second time in just over a year the irresistible exhilaration of democracy, and smell the wholesome fragrance of liberty and human rights. We sat in anxious anticipation when Congress took its August recess. We never doubted the outcome of H.R. 5680.

Recent Developments on H.R. 5680

Mr. Speaker: When Congress returned after Labor Day, Ethiopian Americans throughout the United States were in full celebratory mood. We felt joyous because we believed President Bush’s prediction in his second inaugural speech had come to pass in H.R. 5680:
“All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.”

We believed the dye had been cast for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia in the International Relations Committee, and no force could stop the freedom train carrying H.R. 5680 from the International Relations Committee to the floor of the House.”

And we waited for H.R. 5680 to show up on the House floor in early September, but we found no trace of it on the House calendar. We became concerned. We began to inquire.

Mr. Speaker, our inquires yielded the most agonizing news. We learned that the train carrying the Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act to the House floor had been stopped dead in its tracks in your office. We were heartbroken; we felt let down. We began to ask questions of ourselves: “Why did the Speaker block H.R. 5680? What is it that he did not like about the bill? What reservations could he possibly have about a bill whose only aim and focus is freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia?

Mr. Speaker: As we asked these questions of ourselves, we became even more bewildered: Why would the Speaker block a bill that passed with the unanimous support of the Chair and Vice Chair and 50 members of the House International Relations Committee? Why would he stop a bill authored by one of the truly great giants of international human rights, a great republican, Chris Smith, and one of the prominent experts on Africa in the entire United States Congress, Donald Payne?

We were mightily confused because we felt, if you opposed H.R. 5680 and blocked it from getting to the floor, it must surely mean Chris Smith, Don Payne, Tom Lantos, Jim Leach, Charles Rangel, Martin Sabo and all of the many co-sponsors of the bill were misguided and ill-advised in authoring and co-sponsoring it. Of course, none of these members would be part of any scheme that would subvert their constitutional duties.

And so we began to inquire with your office. We made telephone calls, sent you faxes and emails. We came to your offices to be heard. We had our friends and supporters in the 14th Congressional district of Illinois call on our behalf, and find out why you had blocked the bill from getting to the floor.
We received no answers, not a single official word, from your office. We were merely informed in general terms that that you had issues and concerns about H.R. 5680.

Quandary of Ethiopian Americans Over Blockage of H.R. 5680 in the Speaker’s Office

Mr. Speaker: Your reasons for blocking H.R. 5680 from a floor vote mystify us; and we are dismayed by your silence to our inquiries.

And so, Mr. Speaker, we present our petition to you once more:

Is your concern with the language in H.R. 5680 that requires the “Secretary of State [to] establish a mechanism to provide financial support to local and national human rights groups and other relevant civil society organizations to help strengthen human rights monitoring and regular reporting on human rights conditions in Ethiopia”?

Or are you concerned about the provision having to do with “establish(ing) a program to provide legal support for political prisoners and prisoners of conscience and to assist local groups or groups from outside Ethiopia that are active in monitoring the status of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia”?

Could it be the language in H.R. 5680 which “seek(s) to increase the independence of the Ethiopian judiciary through facilitation of joint discussions for court personnel, officials from the Ethiopian Ministry of Justice, relevant members of the legislature, and civil society representatives on international human rights standards”?

Or the provision which “create(s) and support(s) a judicial monitoring process, consisting of local and international groups, to monitor judicial proceedings throughout Ethiopia, with special focus on unwarranted government intervention on strictly judicial matters, and to investigate and report on actions to strengthen an independent judiciary”?

Are you concerned about the provision “encourag(ing) the Government of Ethiopia to enter into discussions with the Oromo Liberation Front to bring them into full participation in the political and economic affairs of Ethiopia, including their legalization as a political party”?

Does the provision which “establish(es) a program to strengthen private media in Ethiopia, provide support for training purposes, offer technical and other types of support as necessary, and expand programming by the Voice of America to Ethiopia” trouble you?
Is it possible that the language in H.R. 5680 which “seek(s) the unconditional release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia” presents some ambiguity for you?

Do you find repugnant the provision which directs the U.S. “President [to] provide assistance for the rehabilitation of victims of torture in Ethiopia at centers established for such purposes”?

Mr. Speaker, please help us understand! We want to know what concerns you. What is it that you do not like about H.R. 5680?

Mr. Speaker: We know you are a great champion of human rights. We know that you are a member of the highly respected Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Your recent actions demonstrate that you are a champion of human rights. You said on August 26th in California, and just last week, that you will bring the Armenian Genocide Act (H.R. 398) to the floor of the House before the end of September. We are impressed by your commitment and courage to the Armenian Genocide Act, because we can imagine the difficult hurdles you had to overcome -- strong opposition by the Turkish Government, the State Department, and Turkey’s allies in the defense and oil industries. And you have our sincere admiration for the courage and determination you have shown to bring the Armenian Genocide Act to the floor.

But then we looked at our situation, and asked the obvious question: “If Mr. Hastert can help Armenian Americans, why couldn’t he help us? Why wouldn’t he allow H.R.5680 to just tag along H.R. 398 to the floor?”

Mr. Speaker, we are in a quandary. We are at a loss.

Opponents of H.R. 5680

In all candor, Mr. Speaker, the Ethiopian American community believes that the legislative intent and aims of H.R. 5680 have been mischaracterized by opponents of the bill, and the lobbyists for the Ethiopian government.
We believe you have been misinformed on H.R. 5680: that the bill will undermine American counter-terrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa, particularly in light of the recent crisis in Somalia, that it could strain the Ethiopian American partnership in the war against terror, that is really the work of Ethiopian elites in America who have an axe to with the government and has no real support among Ethiopians or Ethiopian Americans, that its passage will derail and reverse the economic growth in the country and “calamity” will befall the millions of ordinary Ethiopians if H.R. 5680 were to pass. We also believe that you have heard laudatory words about Mr. Zenawi: one of a new breed of African leaders, dedicated to democracy and human rights, a loyal and dutiful friend of America, a dependable partner in the global and regional war on terror.
We also believe you have been misled on the issue of political prisoners, and the demand in the bill for their immediate release. As you are aware, the top leadership of the opposition and numerous independent journalists and many others remain incarcerated today in Ethiopia for exercising their consciences. As aptly stated in H.R. 5680, the opposition leaders
“were imprisoned and charged with treason and genocide. These measures were deliberately taken to stifle and criminalize opposition party activity in the country. The measures also were intended to intimidate and silence independent press and civil society, raising serious question about the Ethiopian Government’s commitment to democracy and good governance.”

Mr. Speaker: Passage of H.R. 5680 will have no negative impact on U.S. counter-terrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa. The suggestion that passage of the bill undermine the role played by the Ethiopian government in cooperating with the U.S. is unfounded because the bill provides a clear exception to “humanitarian assistance, assistance under emergency food programs, assistance to combat HIV/AIDS, and other health care assistance [and does] not apply with respect to peacekeeping or counter-terrorism assistance.”

Similarly, Mr. Speaker, the current Somali crises has nothing to do with freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. If anything H.R. 5680 sends a stern and unmistakable warning to those regimes in the region that provide support and aid to terrorists. As President Bush stated in his March, 2005 speech at the National Defense University on the centrality of promoting democracy as a potent weapon in the war against global terrorism:

“Our strategy to keep the peace in the longer term is to help change the conditions that give rise to extremism and terror, especially in the broader Middle East. Parts of that region have been caught for generations in a cycle of tyranny and despair and radicalism…. It should be clear that the best antidote to radicalism and terror is the tolerance and hope kindled in free societies. And our duty is now clear: For the sake of our long-term security, all free nations must stand with the forces of democracy and justice that have begun to transform the Middle East.”

Mr. Speaker, that is all H.R. 5680 aims to do, help the “forces of democracy and justice that have begun to transform” Ethiopia.

Issue of “Sanctions” in H.R. 5680

Mr. Speaker: We believe the crux of the issue and your concerns with H.R. 5680 most likely have to do with the so-called sanctions provisions of H.R. 5680. Indeed, the word “sanctions” is a misnomer, because the bill contains only reasonable accountability provisions.

The accountability provisions in the bill are twofold: First, there are restrictive provisions which prohibit delivery of “nonessential United States assistance to the Government of Ethiopia if the Government of Ethiopia acts to obstruct United States technical assistance to advance human rights, democracy, independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press, economic development and economic freedom in Ethiopia.” This restriction does not apply to humanitarian assistance and counter-terrorism and peacekeeping assistance. (Emphasis added.) There is also a travel restriction on “any official of the Government of Ethiopia who has been involved in giving orders to use lethal force against peaceful demonstrators in Ethiopia, or has been accused of gross human rights violations.”

Second, there are reporting and certification provisions which require (1) the U.S. President to present “to Congress a report on the implementation of this Act, including a description of a comprehensive plan to address the security, human rights, democratization, and economic freedom concerns that potentially threaten the stability of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia”, and (2) certify to “Congress that the Government of Ethiopia is making credible, quantifiable efforts to ensure that all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia have been released, the Ethiopian judiciary is able to function independently, the investigation of the killing of civilian protesters by Ethiopian security forces is credible, transparent, and those involved in the unlawful killing are punished and print and broadcast media in Ethiopia are able to operate free from undue interference and laws.”

These are reasonable, and not burdensome accountability provisions.

Mr. Speaker: Regardless of the foregoing accountability provisions, the U.S. President is invested with waiver authority under the bill, and he may decline to apply the relevant provisions of the bill if he “determines that to the maximum extent practicable, the Government of Ethiopia has met the requirement of paragraph and such a waiver is in the national interests of the United States.” There is really no concern.

Mr. Speaker: We surmise that you have been told that the accountability provisions in the bill will somehow serve to embolden and strengthen Mr. Zenawi’s opposition in Ethiopia and abroad, and that his opponents will use this bill to undertake other hostile legislative efforts. Such arguments have no merit, and merely seek to divert attention from the real issues at hand, namely, the need for reasonable mechanisms to promote freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia.

We suspect, Mr. Speaker, that you have probably been told that the accountability provisions of H.R. 5680 will cause international embarrassment to Mr. Zenawi and stigmatize him and his government as violators of human rights. But if there is any such stigma, it is not found in H.R. 5680. One must look elsewhere in the reports of the United States State Department Annual Human Rights Reports, and Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reports for evidence.

Mr. Speaker: We are sure you agree that accountability is the soul of any meaningful piece of legislation. Without accountability, H.R. 5680 will not be worth the paper it is written on. And if H.R. 5680 were to pass without its accountability provisions, it would not only lack teeth, it will be a mockery of the hard work and efforts of Chris Smith and Don Payne and all of the others members who have cosponsored the bill. It would be ultimately a mockery of a solemn act of the United States Congress. It would be worse than having no law at all, because H.R. 5680 without accountability would be an empty proclamation that tells the Ethiopian people that U.S. Congress gives only lip service to their yearning for freedom, human rights and democracy. There must be accountability!

Mr. Speaker: Let me emphasize again that there really should be no concern with the accountability provisions of H.R. 5680.The accountability provisions apply only, and only, if the Ethiopian government fails to carry out the freedom, democracy and human rights provisions of the bill; and the President has full discretion to waive application of the provisions if he makes certain determinations or finds waiver to be in the national interest of the United States.

But Mr. Speaker, there is even a more compelling reason why you should have no concerns at all about the accountability provisions. It is unlikely that they will ever be applied because Mr. Zenawi and his ruling party in Ethiopia have always proclaimed that “Ethiopia is a true democracy. Human rights are respected, and the rule of law is supreme in Ethiopia.” H.R. 5680 would only make their jobs infinitely easier, and provide them $20 million to implement practically what they have been professing to the world for well over a decade now. You should have no concerns.

But as President Bush stated in June, 2003, “Notorious human rights abusers, including, among others, Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Zimbabwe, have long sought to shield their abuses from the eyes of the world by staging elaborate deceptions and denying access to international human rights monitors.”

H.R. 5680 without its accountability provisions will itself serve as “shield of abuse.” The Ethiopian government will trumpet to the world that the U.S. Congress passed a law which has no binding legal effect; that Congress did so because Congress believed the Ethiopian government has an unblemished human rights record, and an unquestioned commitment to democracy. Indeed, such a view would be manifestly justified if H.R.5680 were to pass without its current accountability provisions.

But Mr. Speaker, the so-called sanctions issue is a non-issue, and unsupported by any legal or informed political analysis. We must have the current accountability mechanisms in H.R. 5680 if the U.S. is serious about freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia.

The Clock is Running on H.R. 5680

Mr. Speaker: As you are well aware, the clock is running on H.R. 5680. We know that if H.R.5680 is not placed on the suspension calendar by September 27, 2006, it will not have much of a chance to be considered this year. Surely, we do not doubt your authority to make things happen in the House; and we believe you can send H.R. 5680 to the floor on the last day of the legislative session, if you so choose. But realistically, if H.R. 5680 is not on the suspension calendar by midweek, it is unlikely to be up for floor consideration this year.

Mr. Speaker: We Ethiopian Americans despair over the fate of H.R. 5680 in your office. We are deeply disappointed by what appears to be a silence of indifference in your office. We are wondering if you have turned a deaf ear to our pleas for help? Many of us despair that you have abandoned us, and the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia.
In our desperation, we have sought refuge among the good people of DuPage, Kane, Kendall, LaSalle, DeKalb, and Lee counties in Illinois. Many of our Christian brothers and sisters, and all people of faith in Illinois, have opened their arms and commiserated with us, and cried with us over the misfortunes we have experienced in getting H.R. 5680 to the floor. By the hundreds they volunteered to help us, intercede on our behalf. We are deeply grateful to them for their assistance in calling your office on our behalf.

Mr. Speaker: As the hour hand sweeps ever so closely to midnight on H.R. 5680, many in the Ethiopian American community have given up hope that you will relent and allow the bill to get to the floor this legislative session. But I tell them they are wrong, dead wrong: that even in the midnight hour, you will be with us. You will be shepherding H.R. 5680 to the floor of the House.

Mr. Speaker: We Ethiopian Americans are new to the American political process. We are new to grassroots advocacy. We lack the sophistication and polish of the professional lobbyists. We do not have the savvy and cleverness of those professionals who can talk to members of Congress in pithy phrases and diplomatic eloquence.
But as we take “baby steps” in the American political process and begin to exercise our democratic rights under the U.S. Constitution, we feel empowered and our spirits are uplifted into the heavens by the knowledge of the freedoms guaranteed us under this sacred document. And so, as we place our petition in your hands to let H.R. 5680 go to the floor, we are ever so mindful and thankful for what America has given us -- a precious gift of freedom and liberty that we could not get anywhere in the world, least of all in the country of our birth.

Mr. Speaker: As we feast on the cornucopia of freedom in America -- the freedom to speak our minds, to petition the highest officers of our government, to freely associate and assemble with our American friends, live our lives with fear of a midnight knock on our doors -- we remember our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and the friends, relatives and neighbors we have left in Ethiopia; and we are saddened. We are saddened because free speech, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, honest elections, a fair justice system are all forbidden fruits to them. Yes, they may take a chance to taste these fruits, but they may have to pay with their lives. And many have paid with their lives.
And so, Mr. Speaker, we Ethiopian Americans of all faiths believe in the power of prayer. We will pray that you will have a change of mind, that God will guide your heart and direct your hand to pick up H.R. 5680 from the International Relations Committee and deliver it safely to the floor of the House so that the representatives of the American people could pass judgment on it. We will pray that God will show you that our cause of freedom, democracy and human rights is the same cause the Founders of the American Republic defended in the American Revolution -- that “all men are created equal by their Creator and have the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
We call upon you to hearken to the memorable words of President Bush: “All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.”

Mr. Speaker, stand with us! Help us! Be that strong link in the chain of freedom, democracy and human rights forged by Chris Smith and Donald Payne in the House International Relations Committee. History will remember you that when the clock struck midnight, you were on the side of your proud and loyal Ethiopian American constituents, and not the distant tyrants repudiated by their own people.

Mr. Speaker, we make a final appeal to you:

Let freedom ring in Ethiopia!

Let democracy flourish and thrive in the land of the Blue Nile!

Let human rights triumph for our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, friends, relatives and neighbors in Ethiopia!

Let H.R. 5680 go!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Sincerely,

Alemayehu G. Mariam, Ph.D. J.D. (Esq.,)
Professor and Attorney at Law

cc: President George Bush, The White House
Dr. Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of State
Mr. Donald Yamamoto, Ambassador Designate to Ethiopia

United States House of Representatives:

Hon. Nancy Pelosi
Hon. Dana Rohrabacher
Hon. Henry Hyde
Hon. Jim Moran
Hon. Christopher Smith
Hon. Loretta Sanchez
Hon. Donald Payne
Hon. Steve Chabot
Hon. Tom Lantos
Hon. Al Green
Hon. Jim Leach
Hon. Cynthia McKinney
Hon. Charles Rangel
Hon. Edolphous Towns
Hon. Martin Sabo
Hon. Tom Tancredo
Hon. Frank R. Wolf

Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) Suspends Senior Officials

The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
September 25, 2006
Posted to the web September 25, 2006

By Yonas Abiye
Addis Ababa

Four senior officials of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) have been suspended from their official duties, sources told The Daily Monitor on Saturday.

Attempts by The Daily Monitor to obtain information from official sources on ETC's decision concerning the suspension were unsuccessful.

As a reasult, it was not immediately clear why the decision was made against the officials.

According to the sources, the officials were informed of the decision in a letter distributed to them late on Friday.

The high ranking Corporation officials ordered to quit are Deputy CEO Abdulsemed (name of father not known), Telecom Business Department Head Abayneh Abebe, Senior Advisor Asfaw Hailemariam, and the Chief Information Officer Badege (name of father not known).

Asked on ITC's latest decision Asfaw said on Sunday that it only came as a surprise to him.

He did not expect for such an abrupt decision, either, he said.

Asfaw was formerly IT and Database System Head with the corporation.

Although the Corporation has recently launched ICT infrastractur development projects to upgrade services, there has been reports saying the Corporations is still far from meeting the ever-increasing customer demands in the country.

In what many said was a response to the public outrage , ETC has in recent years been taking various disciplinary measures of demotions, reshuffling and reproaches involving high ranking officials.

Mr. Obang O. Metho,
Director of International Advocacy, Anuak Justice Council (AJC)
Speech at the Crown Plaza Hotel, at the United Nations, New York,
September 22, 2006

First, I would like to thank you for coming to this rally today. Some of you did not know there would be
an opportunity at the end of the rally to see the new documentary, Betrayal of Democracy: Ethiopia. This
documentary is about the betrayal of democracy and the human rights abuses in Ethiopia.

Complete Speech

Mr. Obang Metho with Congress Man Chris Smith in Washington

You can get in touch with Obang MEtho by email at: obang@anuakjustice.org

Ethiopia, Russia Sign Trolley Bus Importation, Production Accord

The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
September 24, 2006
Posted to the web September 25, 2006

By ENA
Addis Ababa

Ethiopia and Russia signed accord for the importation and production of electricity-driven buses.

File: St Petersburg city trolley-bus Picture right

In a statement it sent to ENA Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the agreement would enable Ethiopia to import 'trolley bus' and to produce them in the future.

The accord was signed between an Ethiopian company called Afro-Asia Technical Trading Enterprise and two Russian companies last Wednesday.

According to the agreement a company called 'Rusoafro-Trol' would be established in a joint venture to produce and to promote the buses in Ethiopia as well as in Africa, the Ministry said quoting Ethiopian Embassy in Russia.

The agreement was signed by Eng. Getachew Eshetu of the Afro-Asia Technical Trading Enterprise and Mr.Alimbekov Rais Fatihouich and Ayavazov yury Sergeerich of Troiza, and VIP holding Ltd companies.

Speaking on the occasion, acting attaché and economic expert with Ethiopian Embassy in Moscow said that the agreement would serve as a role model for other Ethiopian and Russian companies to work jointly.

The Ethiopian Embassy in Russia would render the necessary assistances for the success of the projects as they are viable economically and environmentally.

Get Ethiopian troops out of Somalia
The Christian Science Monitor
Opinion
By Gregory H. Winger
Mon Sep 25
Source:
The Christian Science Monitor

In matters of war, America must be wary of an ally who greets her with a beggar's hand. This is the case with Ethiopia and its involvement in the war on terror: The country hopes that if it helps keep radical Islam at bay in the horn of Africa, the US will send aid its way.

In early summer, at the request of the fledgling Somali government, neighboring Ethiopia moved troops into Somalia to halt the advance of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which already controls much of the south, including Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.

Ethiopia's actions seem to be in the best interest of the United States, as a militant Islamic regime in Somalia would be a major complication in the war on terror. However, Ethiopia is neither suited to promoting peace in Somalia nor interested in pacifying the troubled land. In truth, no country stands to gain more than Ethiopia from a war against the Islamic militias in Somalia.

Ethiopian troops in Somalia are regarded as hated foreign interlopers whose sole purpose is to prop up an unpopular and powerless regime. Ethiopian soldiers on Somali soil strengthen the Islamic Courts by allowing them to claim the mantle of nationalist defenders, which garners them popular support and undermines the country's transitional government. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is not only aware that his actions have increased the possibility of conflict, but is counting on the outbreak of war to win him aid.

The past year has not been kind to the Ethiopian government. After fixed elections that allowed Mr. Zenawi to win a third term, the government began a crackdown on the opposition. In response, the US Congress passed a bill branding the government as undemocratic and an abuser of human rights. Additionally, international donors have stopped the flow of cash to the Ethiopian government, and have not been in contact with the regime for several months. The loss of aid has hurt, as Ethiopia is one of the most aid-dependent countries in the world.

But an anti-Islamist war in Somalia would enable Zenawi to position himself as a key ally in the war on terror. Zenawi reasons that if his country plays an essential role in supporting Somalia's transitional government against the UIC, the United States will provide economic and diplomatic support, despite other objections to Ethiopia's policies. All Zenawi has to do is wait for civil war in Somalia to reignite - an outcome made more likely by his deployment of troops.

Last week, Somalia's president, Abdullah Yusuf, escaped a suicide car bomb meant to take his life. The transitional government and its Ethiopian allies have been quick to link this attack to the UIC and Al Qaeda. However, even following this attack, war is not inevitable, and the US does not have to play the fool in this potential African tragedy. While both the UIC and Ethiopia would benefit from war, three groups critical to peace would lose in this equation: The struggling transitional government, which has no interest in a war that would lead to its own destruction, and the civil war-weary population and Mogadishu business community, without whose support the UIC cannot keep control of southern Somalia.

America can appeal to these factions within Somalia by offering economic incentives - such as lifting sanctions on certain Somali companies - as a reward for cooperation in seeking a peaceful solution. By assisting a regional peacekeeping mission and supporting the current peace talks in Khartoum between the UIC and the transitional government, the US can help prevent Somalia from becoming a new front in the war on terrorism.

Yet moderation will never triumph as long as Ethiopian troops are on Somali soil and remain a rallying cry for Islamic extremists. Since 2002, the US military has operated a task force in Djibouti to provide humanitarian assistance and military instruction to the horn of Africa. One of the key benefactors has been Ethiopia. America must call immediately for Ethiopia to remove all of its forces from Somali territory. And if Zenawi does not comply, the US should suspend all nonhumanitarian operations inside Ethiopia and all future assistance to the government until Ethiopian soldiers leave Somalia.

America is prepared to help governments in need of assistance, but this aid should not go to a leader eager to spark an unnecessary war. Only when Ethiopia proves itself to be a supporter of progress in the horn of Africa, and a true ally of America in its conduct of both its foreign and domestic affairs, should it enjoy the rewards of American friendship. Until then, the US must show Ethiopia and the world that America refuses to define its allies based solely on whom they battle against, and that fighting in the war on terror merely out of self-interest is not a quick way to curry favor.

* Gregory H. Winger is a senior research assistant at the National Defense Council Foundation in Alexandria, Va.

--------------------

Related Links

Special Section: Somalia

Ethiopian officer defects to Germany
Monday 25 September 2006 00:10.

Sept 24, 2006 (BERLIN) — Defections in the Ethiopian armed forces continue unabated. The latest to defect is Maj. Tesfaye Yemane, an officer in the Ethiopian army, the opposition Ethiopian Review website reported.

Maj. Tesfaye told Germany radio (Deutsche Welle) the Amharic service Wednesday 20 September that he is seeking political asylum in Germany, where he was taking a six-month course.

Tesfaye, who served in the army for 15 years, said that he decided to defect because the atrocities the Meles regime is currently perpetrating on the people of Ethiopia has bothered his conscience.

Several other officers are taking various steps in opposition to the injustice by the regime against the people, Tesfaye said in his interview with Germany radio.

He added, the people of Ethiopia are currently living in a hell-like condition.

In the past two months alone, two generals, several colonels, and other high-ranking officers have defected, and most of them joined member organizations of the Alliance for Freedom & Democracy.

Brig. Gen. Kemal Geltu (Pic Left)defected to Eritrea with with 150 Ethiopian soldiers on 10 August. Since, he was followed by several defections.

Source: Sudan Tribune/ER

Editor's Note: No other independent source to confirm the story.

Have Your Say
------
Related Links


Two senior Ethiopian army officers have defected



Brig. General Kemal Gelchi defect to Eritrea

ETHIOPIA - Amleset MUCHIE
* Age: 19
* Occupation: Independent Journalist
* Height: 171

The 56th Miss World from Warsaw Poland September 30 2006

Amleset was born and grew up in Addis Ababa, the capital city. Ethiopia is a very authentic country with its particular old culture. Amleset has completed her studies at the Journalism Unity University College and is now an Independent Journalist. Her dream is to become an actress and work in the film industry. Hobbies and sporting interests are: Listening to Country music, writing poems, swimming Horse riding, Taekwando, and she enjoys dancing the Salsa and the traditional Ethiopian Dance. Personal motto is “Be strong”.

Source: Miss World

Photo Credit
Copy Right Miss World 2006

More Pictures at
Miss World Website

Video from Miss World

Vote For Amleset Muchie MW605

-----------------------
Related Links


Special Section: Style



Liya Kebede

Betrayal of Democracy in Ethiopia is a must-see documentary that depicts the brutal repression of the people of Ethiopia by the ruling EPDRF party.

Betrayal of Democracy features interviews with: The Honorable Ana Gomez, Chief of the European Union Parliament Election Observers Team for the elections held in Ethiopia in May 2005.

Betrayal of Democracy in Ethiopia
Ottawa Canada
must-see documentary
Betrayal of Democracy features:
Obang Metho, Director of International Advocacy, Anuak Justice Council

Date: Thursday, September 28, 2006
Time: 6 PM
Place: The Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Ave., Ottawa

Gebrselassie eases to Berlin win

Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie narrowly missed out on a new world record as he romped to a resounding victory in the Berlin Marathon.

Gebrselassie's provisional time was two hours five minutes 56 seconds, one minute and one second outside Paul Tergat's record set in Berlin in 2003.

Ethiopia's Gete Wami attends a victory ceremony after she won the women's competition of the Berlin marathon September 24, 2006. Wami made it a double victory for Ethiopia by winning the women's race in 2:21:34, a national record. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (GERMANY)

Gete Wami's win in the women's race ensured an Ethiopian double.

Leading from the start, her provisional time of 2:21.33 was the fourth fastest time in the world this year.

With his nearest rival nearly five minutes behind him, Gebrselassie was left to do much of the running on his own.

"I'm sure this is the place to set a world record, but when you're alone it's very difficult to push. You need someone to assist you," he said afterwards.

"I was OK going through halfway.

"I knew I had a chance of breaking the world record but the last five kilometres really hurt me and I couldn't push at all."

Berlin Marathon men's result:

1 H Gebrselassie (Eth) 2:05:56
2 G Shentema (Eth) 2:10:43
3 K Umeki (Jpn) 2:13:43
4 T Yae (Eth) 2:15:04
5 A Ezzobayry (Fr) 2:15:27
6 D El Himer (Fr) 2:16:43

Berlin Marathon women's result:
1 G Wami (Eth) 2:21:34
2 S Kosgei (Ken) 2:23:22
3 M Drybulska (Pol) 2:30:12
4 A Gigi (Eth) 2:32:32
5 M Narloch (Bra) 2:35:27
6 M Kraus (Ger) 2:35:37

Story from BBC SPORT

Expectations high Gebrselassie will be latest to break world record in Berlin

IHT
BERLIN Two-time Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie will attempt to break his 21st world record in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday.

The 33-year-old Ethiopian has set 20 world records in winning two Olympic gold medals and four world titles in the 10,000 meters. In just his fourth marathon as an adult, he will aim to beat Kenyan runner Paul Tergat's mark of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 55 seconds, set in Berlin in 2003.

"I saw him two or three months after he won," Gebrselassie said of Tergat. "He said it's a magical course in Berlin, you can do what you want. That is why I am here."

Four world records have been eclipsed in nine years on the flat course weaving through the German capital, but Gebrselassie sought to downplay expectations of a fifth mark.

"Everybody expects a world record. We'll see," Gebrselassie said. "I don't predict any time at the moment. I will just accept my result, a good one or a bad one."

Gebrselassie finished ninth at the rainy London Marathon in April and called it the worst performance of his career. He blamed the slippery course for having to adjust his gait and, subsequently, hurting his leg.

"My first three marathons, my targets were different," said Gebrselassie, who has twice broken 2:07 in the 42-kilometer (26-mile) races. "My times weren't so bad, but it wasn't what I aimed at — I thought it would be better."

The Berlin race is the third of the five major marathons. Like the two already contested — Boston and London — the men's and women's races look to be a duel between Ethiopian and Kenyan runners.

Gebrselassie will compete against Sammy Korir, who finished one second behind Tergat in the 2003 edition to own the second fastest time in history.

If Gebrselassie wins on Sunday it would snap a seven-year winning streak for Kenyans in Berlin.

"That is good for the spectators, for it will be an exciting race," the Ethiopian said. "That is less good for me. I hope that Sammy has trained hard, as I will be in top form."

In the women's race, Olympic gold medalist and defending champion Mizuki Noguchi of Japan has withdrawn due to an injury.

Gete Wami of Ethopia, whose personal best is 2:22:19, and Salina Kosgei of Kenya, who has run 2:24:32, are now favored to win.

Wami, a three-time Olympic medallist in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, has struggled with injury since giving birth to her first child in 2003.

"But I am now fully fit again and I have trained for a big goal — a sub 2:20 time," Wami said.

Organizers predict one million spectators will line Berlin's streets to watch the 39,636 runners in the main races. Other events will raise the total number of participants to 60,000.

Gebrselassie will debut in Berlin with temperatures predicted to hit 25 Celsius (77 Fahrenheit). That's warmer than most runners faced during their record runs.

"I prefer this kind of weather," Gebrselassie said. "If it is around 20, 18 (Celsius), you relax."

-----------

Related Links


Special Section: Athletics

Bethany Lutheran to install pastor

From our news staff
ReadingEagle.com

The Rev. Abera B. Hellemo will be installed as pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, 331 Franklin St., West Reading, on Sunday at 4 p.m. Bishop David R. Strobel of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod will preside, assisted by the Rev. D. Michael Bennethum, associate to the bishop. The Rev. William Stickley, pastor of Christ Lutheran, Harrisburg, will be among the participants.

Hellemo, 42, is a native of Ethiopia who was ordained in February. He lived in Denmark for many years, where he worked in the field of industrial technology.

While in Denmark, he established the Ethiopian Christian Fellowship, which ministered to refugees, and served as its leader.

Hellemo said he became interested in evangelizing and decided to enter a seminary. He said he considered seminaries in Europe but chose to come to the U.S. because the seminaries had more of a focus on pastoral care.

Related Link

Directory of churches and mosques from nazret.com directory

He entered the program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, from which he graduated.

Hellemo did his internship at Epiphany Lutheran Church, Baltimore.

He said that preaching is his passion but he also enjoys teaching and visiting shut-ins. He hopes to start a prayer ministry at Bethany.

He and his wife, Mary Yohannes, reside in Sinking Spring with their children, Ruth, 9, and Efraim, 12.

He replaces the Rev. Paul D. Hansen, who resigned approximately a year ago. The congregation has been served by the Rev. Byard Ebling, interim pastor, for several months.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Two International Committee of the Red Cross workers abducted earlier this week in southern Ethiopia have been released unharmed, the Irish government said on Saturday.

"He was released and is now safely back in his base," a spokesman for Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs said of Irish aid worker Donal O'Suilleabhain.

His Ethiopian colleague had also been freed as part of what had been an unconditional release, the spokesman said, adding that both were "very well, completely unharmed".

The aid workers were kidnapped on Monday while working about 50 kms (31 miles) outside Gode town in Ethiopia's southeastern Ogaden area, located within the Somali region.

The rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a movement of ethnic Somalis fighting for independence, is known to be active in the area.

------
Related Link

Red Cross suspends activities over Ethiopia kidnap

Ethiopian Human Rights Lawyer refused entry to Britain

Original Story Published on Zimbabwe Journalists

By a Correspondent

LONDON - Prominent Ethiopian human rights lawyer Derbew Temesgen Meshesha, who is supposed be addressing a seminar on ‘Public Order, State Security and Press Freedom in Ethiopia’ at the Royal African Society next week and the Frontline (journalists) Club, has been refused an entry visa by the British Embassy in Addis Ababa.

This is despite expectations from Foreign and Commonwealth officials in London who were hoping he could brief them on the current situation in the Horn of Africa. Meshesha was also set to address a meeting at the Frontline Club on the situation in the Horn of Africa.

Recently the British Embassy in Harare refused Raymond Majongwe, a leading critic of President Robert Mugabe's regime, a visa for travel to the UK.

Majongwe, the secretary general of the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe, was due to arrive in London for last week’s Open Forum discussion on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

After a long career in journalism Mr Meshesha has spent the last 15 years as a lawyer, specialising in press freedom cases. Ethiopia has the highest number of jailed and exiled journalists in Africa .

Many publishers and journalists are currently imprisoned in Addis Ababa , where his clients include Leikun Engda, Editor in Chief of DagimWorchif and Solomon Aregawi publisher of another weekly newspaper Hardar.

Meshesha, who is well-travelled, and married with four children, was to have spoken alongside Ato Kifle Mulat, President of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association now living in exile in Uganda , who has been granted a visa. Other speakers include representatives from Article 19, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.

EJN Coordinator Forward Maisokwadzo, who has organised his visit, says: “Our aim is to raise public awareness about the harassment and censorship facing journalists in Ethiopia . It is a grave disappointment that one of their strongest defenders is being prevented from coming to Britain to speak out on their behalf. We are calling on the Foreign Office to reverse this decision as a matter of urgency. We would urge press freedom activists everywhere to make representations on his behalf to the British authorities.”

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office website states: ‘The human rights situation in Ethiopia is poor… Journalists in the independent press who criticise the Government are at risk of arbitrary arrest and detention.’

Britain has been rigorously enforcing a new visa regime designed to stop the flow of African migrants into the UK, especially with the new European Union countries releasing millions of workers onto the UK labour market.

Several Zimbabwean sporting and entertainment stars have been barred from the UK over fears that they would not return.

Ethiopian Talk Show Interview with Thomas Hailu and Wondwossen Kidane
Sep 22 2006

Other Interviews By ETS

Ethiopian Talk Show Interview with Dr. Kinfe M Kassaye
Sep 21 2006

Interview with Professor Lemma W. Senbet

ETS Interview and documentary about American born Andrew Laurence

His trip to find his Ethiopian Father Seyoum "Cha-Cha" Tekle-Haimanot. Given up by his Irish American Mother and raised in a New York City foster home he tracks down his "Roots" in Ethiopia.

Hosted By Nigist Abate

About Ethiopian Talk Show (ETS)
An informative, entertaining, and community-oriented program produced and hosted by Nigest Abate. The show highlights a variety of topics of interest to the Ethiopian community and will feature local, national, and international guests.

In Washington DC Metro Area
Sundays at 3:30PM on WNVC/MHz1
MHZ Networks

Updated Sep 22, 2006 5:40 PM EST

Seyoum MESFIN speech for today at UN Summit Cancelled.

His schedule has been taken off from UN website

No further details available. Monday's schedule is now published on the website, but Ethiopia is not on the list.

Watch Live Webcast

VOA Report on New York Protest

It appears that P.M. Meles Zenawi will not be coming to New York after all.
UN General Assembly website just updated the speaker's name to H.E. Mr. Seyoum MESFIN, Minister Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, scheduled to speak this afternoon (Sep 22, 2006).

A Grand Public Demonstration
Date: Friday, September 22, 2006
Time: 10:00 A.M.
Place: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
(2nd Ave, 47th Street, NYC)

Have Your Say.

Red Cross suspends activities over Ethiopia kidnap

By Tsegaye Tadesse
Reuters
Friday, September 22, 2006; 6:26 AM

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has temporarily suspended its activities in Ethiopia's Somali region where two aid workers were kidnapped, officials said on Friday.

The humanitarian agency said it was in contact with the unknown kidnappers and hoped its two staff -- an Ethiopian and his Irish colleague -- would be freed soon.

"We've halted all our field activities in the Somali region temporarily," Kurg Eglin, deputy head of the ICRC in Ethiopia, told Reuters.

"We're not pulling out of the Somali region, but we're halting operations until the kidnap saga ends," he added.

The aid workers were kidnapped on Monday while working about 50 kms (31 miles) outside Gode town in Ethiopia's southeastern Ogaden area, located within the Somali region.

Another ICRC official said the kidnappers had told the aid agency its staff were "safe and in good condition."

"We are trying to persuade the perpetrators that the aid workers were in the area doing their routine work related to improved access to clean water for the people of the region and that ICRC has no other motives," Patrick Megezand, an ICRC information officer, told Reuters.

The Ethiopian government has launched an investigation into the kidnapping in the region where the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a movement of ethnic Somalis fighting for independence, is known to be active.

ICRC has been active in Gode since 1995.

Megezand declined to give details of talks with the kidnappers, saying that the ICRC hoped the aid workers would be released unconditionally as soon as possible.

He said the ICRC would not release name of the Ethiopian aid worker upon the request of his family. The Irish government has named his colleague as Donal O'Suilleabhain.

Also

Rebels say they abducted Red Cross workers in Ethiopia, but will release them
The Associated Press
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2006
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia A rebel group said Friday it abducted two international Red Cross workers in a remote part of eastern Ethiopia, but that the men will be released in 48 hours.

The United Western Somali Liberation Front said it mistook the men for oil workers exploring in the Ogaden region, largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis. Somalia lost control of the region to Ethiopia in 1977, but the rebels believe it belongs to them.

The International Committee of the Red Cross engineers were kidnapped Monday near Gode, 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) east of Addis Ababa.

"The UWSLF court ruled after an investigation that the two were not working for any oil company contracted by Ethiopia but are ICRC staffers. They will walk to freedom within the coming 48 hours," the group's spokesman, Abdullahi Osman Gashan, said from Mogadishu.

The UWSLF also warned companies against exploring for oil or other resources in the region "without the consent of its people."

"Whoever tries to do this will be responsible for whatever befall on him," Gashan said.

State's Yamamoto Cites U.S. Strategic Partnership with Ethiopia

As ambassador, he would promote transparency in Ethiopia political process

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – Ethiopia is one of the United States’ most important partners because "it shares and supports many of our strategic goals on the [African] continent," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Don Yamamoto told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee September 20. The committee is considering his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia.

Yamamoto, a 25-year veteran of the State Department’s Foreign Service, has been the main official in State’s Africa Bureau for Ethiopia/Eritrean border issues and has helped shepherd a Great Lakes peace effort called the Tripartite Process. He also has been involved in talks with the Chadian government about its relations with Sudan over the Darfur crisis and has helped to facilitate recent elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). (See related article.)

Yamamoto told the Senate panel that at a time when the United States was pressed to furnish troops for the global War on Terror, Ethiopia is "a full participant in the President's East Africa Counter-Terrorism Initiative, and works closely with the United States and other partners in the region to fight terrorism."

It is also "the world’s sixth largest troop contributor to peacekeeping operations, promoting regional stability," he added.

Still, "Ethiopia remains mired in a decadelong border dispute with Eritrea and faces difficult and pressing challenges at home" such as poverty and problems with political openness, Yamamoto said. These are very complex issues to tackle, but at least everyone is listening and dialogue is taking place, he said.

"Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has articulated the need for poverty eradication, job creation, and economic development. Promoting education and expanding access to quality health care are also primary goals of the Ethiopian government, which we share and are committed to supporting," he said.

In light of the Ethiopian government's harsh reaction to demonstrators following the May 2005 parliamentary elections, Yamamoto said, "the United States remains deeply concerned about Ethiopia’s domestic political environment."

If confirmed by the full Senate, Yamamoto said he would work with Ethiopians to promote "an open and transparent electoral process, inclusion of all parts of society in the democratic process, engagement of all opposition parties to ensure full and dynamic participation in political decision-making, tolerance of dissent, an independent judiciary with transparent and accountable judicial processes, the consistent protection of human rights, and a free and responsible press."

An obstacle to progress, he told the Senate panel, was the ongoing trial of more than 100 opposition leaders and their supporters, civil society leaders, and journalists, which "continues to generate concerns about the future of Ethiopia’s democratic development."

On the economic front, Yamamoto said he would continue to press for foreign assistance that already amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian, emergency, and development aid to Ethiopia each year.

"Our assistance aims to spur economic development, improve the availability and quality of health care, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, bolster education, and promote democratization and good governance in Ethiopia. We need to carefully coordinate in the interagency process and with other donors, to ensure that we are using these limited funds effectively and productively," he told the lawmakers.

For more information on U.S. policy, see Africa.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

FRANCE: UNFPA to move Africa bureau to Ethiopia

Paris, 09/22 - The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has decided to move its Africa Bureau based in New York to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a reliable source disclosed here Thursday

The Ethiopian capital was also selected to host the UNFPA East Africa sub-regional Bureau that will cover Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and Tanzania.

This transfer is part of UNFPA new global strategy, which provides for the decentralisation of its activities as well as the setting up of Bureau for each of the five African regions - North, West, East, Central and Southern Africa.

UNFPA provides countries with assistance in population-related activities, notably in the area of reproductive health.

Source: AngolaPress

Ethiopian-American group tries to raise profile on Capitol Hill
By Jim Snyder
The HILL Newspaper

(The HILL is :The Newspaper for and about the U.S. Congress)

In the spare moments before the lunch rush and then later before the dinner crowd arrives, Mesfin Mekonen, manager of the Reliable Source restaurant, works a second, unpaid job: lobbyist.

Mekonen, who moved to the United States from Ethiopia in 1972 at age 20, is the Washington representative for the Ethiopian-American Council, which is trying to add the Ethiopian diaspora to the list of prominent ethnic lobbying groups.

The Council started in the late 1990s out of frustration at recurrent famine problems in Ethiopia. Determined to convince Congress to provide aid but not sure how the process worked, Mekonen began by appealing to the sympathies of office receptionists, asking them in fluent though accented English to let him talk to a person who best could help.

That person, he found, was often out to lunch. Even when a name was forthcoming, success was not always guaranteed.

“Sometimes that person says, ‘I’ll call you back.’ But sometimes they never call you back,” says Mekonen, who spends most of his day ensuring his restaurant can serve around 200 meals at lunch and dinner.

Reflecting on his lobbying effort, he says, “It’s been a tough road, especially in this town, if you don’t know anybody, don’t have any money, and if you have another job.”

Slowly, with persistence and the advice from the journalists who eat at his restaurant, which is located in the National Press Club, and a few members of Congress and key staff, Mekonen began to build his Rolodex and understand a system that had been foreign to him even after all his years in the States.

The Council, too, has evolved, into a growing network of more than 500 immigrants across the country. Begun as an effort to relieve famine, its main focus now is to support a bill written by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the chairman of the International Relations Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations subcommittee, which criticizes the Ethiopian government’s human rights record.

More than 80 people were killed by government security personnel in violent demonstrations in June and November of 2005 that followed an open election.

“The passage of the bill is very important,” Mekonen says.

Getting it passed, though, is proving a tough test for the Council and other like-minded groups. Those other groups include the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, an opposition group in Ethiopia whose leaders were jailed there in the aftermath of a wave of violence that followed elections last year.

The measure passed the International Relations committee in June but hasn’t moved since.

The administration opposes much of the bill. The Smith measure, which the congressman crafted after traveling to Ethiopia last August, would fund human-rights monitoring groups, train political parties, and restrict the travel of Ethiopian officials involved in using lethal force against peaceful demonstrators.

The bill also calls on Ethiopia to release political prisoners.

During a March hearing in Smith’s committee, Ethiopian ambassador Fessesha Asgehdom Tessema said the country is learning to be a better democracy. But he blamed the violence on demonstrators who came “armed with clubs and grenades.”

To help repair frayed relations, Ethiopia is paying DLA Piper and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) $50,000 a month. Part of the lobbying strategy has been to stress Ethiopia’s commitment to the war on terror, congressional sources said.

Armey and the Ethiopian ambassador met with Smith for two hours last week, but reached no compromise. Smith said his bill is necessary to force the Ethiopian government to take human rights seriously.

Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto, nominated to become ambassador to Ethiopia, said during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing yesterday that the relationship between the two countries is “very strong and mutually supportive.”

But he also said the recent violence and the continued detention of opposition leaders is the “number-one topic” of discussion between Ethiopian and American officials.

The role Ethiopian Americans are struggling to play has a long precedence in America’s political system. Abraham Lincoln appealed, for example, to Carl Schurz and other German Americans in both of his presidential campaigns.

As groups assimilate, attachment to a separate political identity tied to ancestral homeland fades. Once powerful groups like German Americans give way to groups of newer arrivals, says David Paul, an Ohio State University professor who along with his wife, Raquel, is studying the ability of ethnic lobbying groups to influence American foreign policy.

Paul mentioned specifically Indian Americans, Korean Americans and Cuban Americans as among the most effective ethnic lobbying groups, along with the prominence American Jews play in supporting Israel.

The key to success for ethic communities is the development of an “organizational apparatus” that encourages grassroots activism, Paul said.

“Politics is about relationships,” Paul said. “Ethnic groups need to get to know members before they ask them for something.”

Ethiopian Americans are seen as being too dispersed to be among the most effective groups, Paul said.

Yamamoto says, “The amount of wealth in the community, and the business sense, [Ethiopian Americans] can be a tremendous force for positive change.”

To be effective, Yamamoto added, Ethiopians Americans should focus their energy on “development and prosperity in the future.”

The community has scored some success. A couple of weeks after a congressional hearing in 2002 on Ethiopian famine, help from the U.S. government was on its way.

“That was the best day of my life,” Mekonen says.

The Council is trying to develop the grassroots base that Paul describes. At home, Mekonen continues his work, sending out missives that stress the importance of a “free and democratic” Ethiopia to his council listserv, urging members to contact their congressional representatives about Smith’s bill.

Paul said another key to success is for ethnic groups to link to American values.

Several prominent ethnic lobbying groups also operate a PAC, Paul’s research shows. Ethiopian Americans have yet to develop one, however.

“It is not in our culture, fundraising,” Mekonen says. “We are learning the process.”

Ethiopian Wins African Airline of the Year 2006 Award
Posted Sep 21 2006
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Ethiopian Airlines has been chosen ‘African Airline of the Year 2006’ by African Aviation Journal. The key criteria for Ethiopian Airlines to have won the African Aviation Award include its financial performance and overall profitability, passenger growth, route network expansion, fleet modernization, in-flight services, and overall customer care.

CEO Girma Wake receiving the award from H.E Ms. Susan Mcdernoff

The award plaque was handed over to Ethiopian Airlines’ Chief Executive Officer, Ato Girma Wake by Her Excellency Ms. Susan Mcdernoff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation & International Affairs of the USA Department of Transport at the Gala Dinner hosted at the end of the African Aviation’s 15th Annual Air Finance for Africa Conference in Cape Town, South Africa on September 18, 2006.

The African Aviation Awards were introduced by African Aviation Journal in 1999 in order to give international recognition to those individuals, companies, and organizations that have made significant contributions to Aviation Development in Africa.

It is a special privilege for Ethiopian to have been awarded African Airline of the Year 2006. The award inspires the airline to enhance its commitment to provide excellent quality services to its esteemed customers.

Since its inception on December 5, 1945, Ethiopian has steadily grown to become a reputable African airline with an unparalleled coverage of Africa to the Middle East, Asia, Europe and America. Right from the beginning Ethiopian Airlines has been persuing its goal of Bringing Africa Together and Closer to the World. As a result today it is operating the largest network in the African continent both in passengers and cargo services. Ethiopian Airlines continuously strives to live up to its motto of being Africa’s World Class Airline.

Destinations Served

One of the largest airlines in Africa, Ethiopian -

www.ethiopianairlines.com – made its maiden flight to Cairo on April 8, 1946.

Ethiopian provides seamless connections to 47 destinations spread around the globe including 28 in Africa via its Addis Ababa hub.

Major destinations served include:

Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Bahar Dar, Bamako, Bangkok, Beijing, Beirut, Brazzaville, Brussels, Bujumbura, Cairo, Dakar, Dar Es-Salaam, Delhi, Dire Dawa, Djibouti, Douala, Dubai, Entebbe, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Harare, Hargiesa, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Kigali, Kilimanjaro, Kinshasa, Lagos, Libreville, Lilongwe, Lome, London, Luanda, Lusaka, Mumbai, Nairobi, N'djamena, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tel-Aviv, and Washington.

Source: EAL
PR & Publications
19 September 2006

-------------------------

Related Links


Related Articles about Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopia's HIV Prevalence Lower Than Expected, Survey Says
Thursday, September 21, 2006

Global Challenges

HIV prevalence in Ethiopia is lower than expected, according to results of the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey 2005, which was released on Monday at the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, the Daily Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports.

The survey, conducted by the country's Central Statistical Agency and the Ministry of Health, reports that about 1.4% of Ethiopians ages 15 to 49, or one million people, are HIV-positive. The study also finds that about 1.9% of women are HIV-positive, compared with 0.9% of men; that 1% of women and 4% of men reported having more than one sexual partner in the year prior to the survey; and that 3% of women and 9% of men reported having engaged in sexual intercourse with a "nonmarital, noncohabiting partner," according to the study.

In addition, the study finds that nearly 6% of adults in urban areas are HIV-positive, while less than 1% of rural residents age 15 to 49 are HIV-positive. The majority of men and women in Ethiopia have limited knowledge about HIV/AIDS. According to the study, 40% of women and 64% of men say they know that using a condom can reduce the risk of contracting HIV. Sixty percent of women and 80% of men say they know that having sex with one faithful, HIV-negative partner reduces HIV transmission risk, and the same percentages report knowing that abstinence reduces the risk of contracting HIV, the study shows.

The 2005 EDHS data was based on interviews with more than 14,000 women and more than 6,000 men. The survey was funded by the Dutch, Irish and Ethiopian governments, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, UNFPA and USAID

(Girma, Monitor/AllAfrica.com, 9/19).

Source:
Kaiser Network

I am an American, too



Tribune Opinion
September 21, 2006

I have never felt like less than an American than I do today.

I am a U.S. citizen. I know the Pledge of Allegiance. I have thanked a war veteran, and I have challenged friends of different faiths on how religion and terrorism have danced a scary tango in recent history.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, as I walked to my car to begin an hour drive to work in Greeley, an FBI agent's words kicked me in the stomach and, suddenly, made me feel like an impostor. He was among about a dozen agents who were in the parking lot at the Denver apartment I was leaving.

Somewhere in the midst of random questioning, an agent asked: "Where are you from?"

"Denver."

"No, where are you from?" he repeated.

"Denver."

"Are you a U.S. citizen?"

"Yes."

"I hear an accent," he said, ever more confrontational, almost demanding a different answer.

I explained that I speak three languages from three continents, but I didn't see how it was relevant. "If you are asking where my ancestors are from, they are from Ethiopia," I said.

"That is what I thought," he barked back.

I repeatedly asked why I was being questioned by the "Men In Black" types, complete with a black Suburban-type van, but got no answer. They wouldn't even show me any identification. I may as well have been mute.

I have heard stories recently about Muslim friends being confronted by federal agents for questioning, but I never thought I would be this close to it (especially since I am an Orthodox Christian). The only thing I gleaned from the 45-minute encounter was that the agents, among them an air marshal, wanted to question a friend of mine, an African Muslim.

I don't know why they want to talk to my friend, and I don't mind even that they do. I am as frightened as the next American about security issues, and I understand that sometimes the means used to ensure our safety will make us uncomfortable.

But I just couldn't help but wonder the implications for first-generation or naturalized citizens. Are we second-class Americans? Even worse: Has terrorism succeeded in pitting good-intentioned Americans against unwitting Americans?

Millete Birhanemaskel is the family/health and faith reporter for the Tribune. She may be reached at (970) 352-0211, Ext. 11223, or by e-mail at mbirhanemaskel@greeleytribune.com.

I'd rather die than go back

Sep 21 2006

EXCLUSIVE by Adrian Butler, Liverpool Echo

A FAILED asylum seeker found hanged left a note saying: "I can't go back. I'd rather die."

Engineer Abiy Abebe was found dead in Liverpool just hours after his application was rejected.

Liverpool coroner Andre Rebello told an inquest into the 35-year-old's death it was "more likely than not" he had killed himself.

Today his family spoke of their horror at his death on July 5.

Brother-in-law Abera Tessema, who flew over from America for yesterday's inquest, said: "Abiy's sister can't handle it anymore.

"She can't accept what's happened - she will just burst into tears three times a day."

In his letter, Mr Abebe writes of his fear at returning to his old workplace after they found out he had been trying to get into Britain.

He had taken leave from his job with the roads authority in Ethiopia to try to get into Britain, not telling them what he was doing.

Related Article

Asylum seekers 'driven to suicide'

The engineer claimed staff at the British Embassy in Ethiopean capital Addis Ababa had told a colleague about his claim.

His note added: "When I get back everyone will know everything about me."

Today his family accused civil servants of breaking confidentiality rules by contacting his employer.

Mr Tessema said: "They shouldn't have called his employers and told them about him.

"What's going to happen to the next person in this situation?"

Merseyside refugee support network co-ordinator Margaret McAdam added: "This is appalling. We want answers from the Home Office."

Mr Abebe had seemed calm when he heard the news his application had been turned down on July 4, his case worker Christopher McLeod told the inquest. He said he had not been worried about the Ethiopian, adding: "He did appear disappointed, but I would not use the word upset."

Mr McLeod said Mr Abebe had talked about returning to Ethiopia voluntarily.

At the time of his death, support workers described Mr Abebe as the first victim of a new fast-track system, under which new arrivals are assessed within 11 days.

Around 150 asylum seekers in Liverpool have now sent a petition to the Home Office, and around 50 took to the streets to demonstrate after his death at Liverpool's largest asylum accommodation centre, near Sefton Park.

Mr Rebello recorded a narrative verdict.

Home office guidelines

A HOME Office spokesman said: "Caseworkers are instructed in the Home Office's Asylum Policy Instruction (API) on Disclosure of Information in Asylum Cases 'not to disclose any information about an individual's asylum claim to the country of origin while the claim is under consideration, unless the claimant has given his explicit consent for the transfer of the data.

"To do so may be unlawful and may also jeopardise the safety of the claimant in the event that he returns to his country of origin or the safety of members of his family who have remained there.

"!I an application for asylum is unsuccessful it may be necessary to provide information about the identity of the applicant to the authorities in his/her own country in order to obtain travel documentation.

"However, the information disclosed would be limited to that which was necessary for re-documentation purposes and no reference would ever be made to the fact that an individual had claimed asylum in the UK."

nazret.com is proud to name Dr. Zeresenay Alemseged as Person of The Week for his discovery of "Lucy's baby".

Photo: Courtesy of Meskel Square

Listen to The World interview with Zeresenay Alemseged

Listen to NPR

Streaming video from Nature Magazine

Watch Skull Revealed (BBC)

'Lucy's baby' found in Ethiopia

The 3.3-million-year-old fossilised remains of a human-like child have been unearthed in Ethiopia's Dikika region.

The female Australopithecus afarensis bones are from the same species as an adult skeleton found in 1974 which was nicknamed "Lucy".

Scientists are thrilled with the find, reported in the journal Nature.

They believe the near-complete remains offer a remarkable opportunity to study growth and development in an important extinct human ancestor.

Read Full Report from BBC News

----------

Also

Related Link

Lucy (Dinknesh) is coming to America

Ethiopia's pride in 'Lucy' find
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News, Addis Ababa

A tropical storm beats against the national museum in Addis Ababa. The violent thunder and lashing rain contrasts with the serene activity within.

Zeresenay Alemseged and the skull of "Lucy's baby"

Inside a solitary figure is cleaning up a 3.3-million-year-old skull.

Dr Zeresenay Alemseged has spent five years removing sandstone, grain by grain, from his precious find.

Illuminated by a single focussed beam of light, this is intricate, delicate work: one mistake and crucial scientific detail could be lost forever.

Alemseged showed me that what has emerged are the delicate features of a creature that was part ape and part human.

"What you have here is the backbone and the thoracic and all the ribs, the shoulder blades the collar bones. But in addition, what you have here is a compete face and the sandstone impression of the brain of a 3.3-million-year-old infant."

Early sound

Six years ago Alemseged set off toward the north-eastern deserts of Ethiopia. Working in the blistering heat, his team discovered what he thought was the skull of a creature that was one of the first apes to have walked on two feet.

Unable to contain his excitement, the scientist called his friend Tefera Ghedamu.

HUMAN EVOLUTION
Different fossil in the 'human story' have been found
Not all will be a direct line to our Homo group
Scarce and fragmentary finds complicate the story
Scientists expect many more discoveries in Africa
"He said I think I got it! And he knew exactly what he'd got. He's a very cautious person, a very shy person - but then he knew and told himself, ' this is the bone'," Ghedamu recalls.

Alemseged had found the most complete skeleton to date of a species called Australopithecus afarensis , thought to be an important pre-cursor to the first true humans.

Not only was it in a fantastic state of preservation but the specimen was that of an infant. This combination makes the find a gold mine for those studying human evolution.

It will now be available for other specialists to study; but already Alemseged has made a number of startling discoveries. Although the baby afarensis toddled on two feet like a human child, it also had many important ape-like features.

"The shoulder blades are very gorilla-like and it may ignite old questions about whether afarensis could climb trees or not. But what was really exciting was to find the tongue bone. We will, based on this bone, be able to understand what the voice box was like and about the kind of sound this creature made," he explains.

Initial thoughts suggest the bone is ape-like and that the creature probably sounded like a chimp.

'On the cusp'

What really excites Alemseged, however, is his study of the ape-girl's brain.

He believes it is still developing. Slow and gradual development in an extended childhood is a uniquely human feature - probably to enable our higher functions to fully develop.

Alemseged is the first Ethiopian team leader to make such a find

So, according to Alemseged, this infant and her like may have been the first to show real human-like characteristics

"It's the earliest girl ever found with a mix of features that are ape-like and human-like at the same time, and this puts her in a special position to play a pivotal role. She is on the cusp of humanity," he says.

The creature is the latest of many recent fossil finds important to the understanding of human evolution - the most famous of which was the first Australopithecus afarensis specimen - and adult nicknamed "Lucy" - in 1974.

It has prompted the Ethiopia's culture minister, Mahmud Dirr Gade, to invite more scientists to come to the African nation to help unearth humankind's origins.

"We welcome researchers to delve into the secrets and mystery of the creation of man in Ethiopia; the 'home of humanity'," he tells me.

Home grown

Zeresenay Alemseged is the first Ethiopian to lead a research team that has made such an important discovery.

He is a bright young scientist who has studied in the US and Europe and is currently attached to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Human anthropology is a cut-throat field, even for those who have established themselves and have the backing of big funding bodies.

So, according to Tefera Ghedamu, it is especially remarkable that an outsider like Alemseged has worked his way up and to win the respect of the scientific community - and the pride of his nation.

"From my angle, from an ordinary Ethiopian's point of view, they think it is quite a heritage. They are proud that the discovery has been made in Ethiopia and they are proud that it's been made by one of their own," he says.

Story from BBC NEWS:

BBC News

Published: 2006/09/20 17:05:38 GMT

About Scientist Zeresenay Alemseged
Born 4 June 1969 in Axum, Ethiopia
BSc. in Geology (AAU 1987-1990)
1993-1994 M.Sc. in paleontology from the University of Montpellier II and Paris VI, France.
1995-1998 Ph.D. in paleoanthropology and paleoenvironment from the University of Paris VI and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle et Paris VI.
Source: MPG.de

"Lucy," the celebrated skeletal remains of a female hominid who lived 3.2 million years ago will leave Ethiopia next year for her first-ever foreign exhibition, officials said.

Beginning in September 2007, Lucy will enjoy top billing among 200 other Ethiopian exhibits that will tour museums in 10 US cities for four years, they said Wednesday.

"Lucy has been in Ethiopia over the last 30 years," said Gezahgen Kebede, Ethiopia's honorary consul in Houston in the US state of Texas, where the exhibition begins at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences.

"It is time for us to share her with the whole world because she is the origin of mankind," he told AFP.

A full-scale model of "Lucy," the celebrated skeletal remains of a female hominid who lived 3.2 million years ago, is seen at a prehistoric museum in Bidon, France. Lucy will leave Ethiopia next year for her first-ever foreign exhibition, officials said.(AFP/File) Pictured Right

The trip will be Lucy's first overseas visit for exhibition purposes since she was discovered by American paleontologists Donald Johanson and Tom Gray in 1974 in Ethiopia's northern Afar region.

Named after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," she was taken once to the United States for lab tests but has remained in the country since, stored in a special vault with a replica on display at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.

Gezahgen said he hoped the traveling exhibit would help alter the image of the Horn of Africa nation, which is perhaps better known to the outside world for famine, floods and other human suffering than science.

"The idea is to promote Ethiopia in a positive way," he said. "We have a lot of attractions but it is not well known abroad, where images of drought and poverty are still dominant."

Lucy, part of a hotly disputed branch of the human tree known as Australopithecus afarensis, was for more than 20 years, the earliest known member of the hominid family.

Hominids are primates who split from apes between five and seven million years ago and are considered the forerunners of anatomically modern humans, who appeared on the scene about 200,0000 years ago.

Once thought by some to be our ancestor, A. afarensis is now widely considered to be a failed branch of the human tree, for many experts suspect the hominid was anatomically far closer to apes than humans.

Source: AFP

Updated October 10 2006

Marcus Samuelsson on CBS TV

Chef's African Cuisine on CBS News
Chef Marcus Samuelsson has had an amazing journey. He was born in Ethiopia, adopted and raised in Sweden, and now lives in New York. Samuelsson shares his unique culture and cuisine with Julie Chen.

----------------------
Ethiopian Chocolate Rum Cake anyone?
Marcus Samuelsson will show you the receipe in his new book.

Heat and spice marry in the continent's cuisine, which is finding fresh appreciation in America

Baltimore Sun

Read Original Story from Baltimore Sun

Moroccan and Ethiopian restaurants long have been favored by adventurous eaters, and every metropolis worth its injera bread has one whose authenticity has the blessing of local immigrants.

But the launch of a line of African spices and the publication of a new cookbook by chef Marcus Samuelsson mean that lesser-known tastes of Africa are within easier reach.

"We don't know enough about Africa when it comes to food," said Samuelsson, an Ethiopian orphan raised in Sweden who made his mark in Scandinavian cuisine at Aquavit, his celebrated restaurant in New York.

He made a culinary tour of Africa in the spring of 2005 - a kind of home-cooking homecoming - that produced The Soul of A New Cuisine, a coffee-table cookbook that will be released in October.

Starred Review. Born Ethiopian, raised Swedish, and now one of New York City's top chefs, Samuelsson (Aquavit: And the New Scandinavian Cuisine) has written an exotic yet accessible book that will hasten the coming of the African fusion cookery he envisions. His 204 recipes and 258 color photos are enriched with personal and political history; as in his many condiments and sauces, the balance is right. While he stresses the diversity and bounty of the second-largest continent, he repeatedly describes African cuisine as poor people's cooking, crafted with simple tools and necessarily emphasizing starches, vegetables and big flavors. Whether it's rosemary for Honey Bread or turmeric, ginger and cinnamon in his Vegetable Samosas, herbs and spices are always sauteed in oil or tossed in a hot dry pan, to intensify and mellow. He even proposes toasting the cinnamon for the whipped cream accompanying his Ethiopian Chocolate Rum Cake. The recipe for the cake is typical: the batter is prepared in a single bowl, mixed with a spoon, and bakes up moist and gingerbread-like, with great keeping properties. Toasting the cinnamon takes seconds and is impressive in the complexity it delivers. (Oct.) Source: Amazon.com