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Ethiopia - Queens college graduates 618 students
Source: ENA
Queens College of Ethiopia, one of the private higher learning institutions, graduated on Saturday 618 students with first degrees, diplomas, and certificates upon completion of relevant training.
The graduates attended various lessons on Business Management, Management Information System, Accounting, Marketing, Law, Information Technology, Secretarial Science and Office Management during the course of the training.
Some 14 percent of the graduates got free scholarships.
At the graduation ceremony, Director General of Institute of Biodiversity Conservation Dr. Girma Balcha higher learning institutions shall exert utmost efforts to ensure efficient utilization of the resources of the nation toward brining about sustainable development.
Dr. Girma, who was also event’s guest of honor, urged the graduates to make use of the skills and knowledge they obtained during the training toward the overall development of the nation.
College president, Tilahun Molla on his part said the private sector and other stakeholders shall synchronize efforts toward improve the quality of education throughout the country.
Higher education institutions like Queens College shall also strive to boost the leadership and decision making role of women and their participation to the development of the nation.
The guest of honor handed over diplomas to graduates and special awards to outstanding ones.
The college has so far graduated 2,900 students trained in various fields of study, it was learned.
Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway Enterprise launches maintenance, expansion project
Source: ENA
The Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway Enterprise said it has been undertaking expansion and maintenance project with a view to improving its services to customers in the years ahead.
Enterprise General Manager, Ti’ume Teklie told ENA on Friday that a 40-km rail track weighing some 6,000 tones was imported from Italy for the same cause.
The general manager said the on-going project includes, among others, replacing the 114-Km rail track, maintenance of 40 bridges, and changing nine others along the route.
The project aims at improving the cargo capacity of the rail track to 17 tones, which stands at 14 tones. Upon completion, the project will boost the national trade volume significantly.
He said the enterprise has collected 20 million Birr in the venue during the past Ethiopian budget year by transporting more than 105,000 passengers and over 65,000 tones of freight.
Bekele may be in his comfort zone but he is still streets ahead
Effortless Ethiopian tops the bill at British Grand Prix
By Simon Turnbull
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Approaching 9.35pm in the Letzigrund Stadion on Friday night, Kenenisa Bekele picked up the pace at the front of the field with four laps remaining in the men's 5,000m at the Weltklasse meeting. He pulled clear with seemingly effortless ease, much to the delight of the crowd jammed into the compact Swiss arena.
By the time the bell sounded, they had whipped themselves into a state of frenzy, shouting, screaming and banging their palms on the metal advertising hoardings skirting the track. In Mexican Wave fashion, they followed the Ethiopian's progress around the last lap by raising both arms and bowing like 26,000 unworthy Wayne Campbells paying homage to an awesome Alice Cooper
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More Ethiopian double joy as Bekele wins 5000m
Kenenisa Bekele smashed Olympic Record in 10K
Special Section: Athletics
A major blow for football fans in Ethiopia
FIFA, the world football governing body, announced that it canceled Ethiopia's upcoming world cup qualifier game with Morocco which was scheduled for September 7 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. FIFA suspended Ethiopia's Football Federation (EFA) last month in a dispute over the dismissal of the EFA's leaders.
Ethiopia was in third place with 6 points in Group 8 for the World Cup qualifier from Africa. In its last game in Addis Abba, Ethiopia's national football, the Waliya's trashed Mauritania 6-1 last June.
The suspension of Ethiopia from FIFA is a major blow for the football crazy country. Ethiopia has slipped in the FIFA rankings recently, which is now placed 107th in the world.
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Ethiopia rejects calls to reinstate federation president
Ethiopia moved up 15 places to 90th in FIFA ranking
Ethiopia defeated Mauritania 1-0 in World Cup Qualifier
Rwanda beats Ethiopia 2-1 in the 2010 World/Africa Cup qualifier
Special Section: Football news from nazret.com archives
CPJ site blocked in Ethiopia
By Mohamed Keita/Africa Research Associate
Reliable sources in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa have informed CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists] this week that our site was inaccessible on the servers of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, the country's official Internet service provider. A handful of separate Internet users in the country have independently confirmed seeing "The page cannot be displayed" messages when attempting to access our site. The same sources have reported that e-mails they have tried to send to CPJ have not gone through.
Web sites, particularly foreign-based independent sites and blogs discussing political reform and human rights, have been blocked on a recurring basis in Ethiopia since the government cracked down on free media following disputed elections in 2005. In 2007, OpenNet said it has gathered "overwhelming evidence" that Ethiopia was among the nations worldwide restricting the Internet access of its citizens.
This time, the reports emerged over the weekend as CPJ was investigating the detention of newspaper editor Amare Aregawi in northern Ethiopia. Last year, sources in the country disclosed that the CPJ site was blocked on World Press Freedom Day, when CPJ named Ethiopia the world's worst backslider on press freedom. The moves are part of the Ethiopian government's pattern of restricting coverage of issues deemed sensitive such as the political activities of the foreign-based opposition, the high-profile trial of Ethiopian pop singer Teddy Afro, food shortage conditions, or the insurgency in the western Ogaden region.
More from CPJ
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Amare Aregawi, jailed Ethiopian editor, released
Amare Aregawi, Reporter's Editor, Arrested
Draft law threatens to criminalise Ethiopian civil society
IPI Concerned About Ethiopian Government's Continued Failure to Grant Publishing Licenses to Journalists
Ethiopian police threaten paper over opposition party coverage
Ethiopian judge detains editor over pop singer case
IFJ Calls for End to Media Repression in Ethiopia
New Ethiopian media law draws criticism
Press Freedom Still Under Attack in Ethiopia
Special Section Press and The Media in Ethiopia
A major blow for football fans in Ethiopia
FIFA, the world football governing body, announced that it canceled Ethiopia's upcoming world cup qualifier game with Morocco which was scheduled for September 7 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. FIFA suspended Ethiopia's Football Federation (EFA) last month in a dispute over the dismissal of the EFA's leaders.
Ethiopia was in third place with 6 points in Group 8 for the World Cup qualifier from Africa. In its last game in Addis Abba, Ethiopia's national football, the Waliya's trashed Mauritania 6-1 last June.
The suspension of Ethiopia from FIFA is a major blow for the football crazy country. Ethiopia has slipped in the FIFA rankings recently, which is now placed 107th in the world.
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Ethiopia to go to court over FIFA ban
Ethiopia suspended by Fifa
Ethiopia trashed Mauritania 6-1 in World Cup Qualifier
Ethiopia rejects calls to reinstate federation president
Ethiopia moved up 15 places to 90th in FIFA ranking
Ethiopia defeated Mauritania 1-0 in World Cup Qualifier
Rwanda beats Ethiopia 2-1 in the 2010 World/Africa Cup qualifier
Special Section: Football news from nazret.com archives
Obama: the view from an Ethiopian restaurant
African immigrants paying close attention to Barack Obama's speech tonight
By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News
DENVER — Barack Obama was the clear favorite among the majority of people dining at the Cafe Africana on East Colfax Avenue in Denver one night last week.
None of Ethiopian immigrants interviewed had the right to vote. However, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been paying attention to the race.
Teddy Gazahay, a 35-year-old warehouse worker from Denver, started tuning in back in the spring when the primary battle between Obama and Hillary Clinton was running at full tilt.
“I just like the way he talks. It has meaning,” Gazahay said. “I’m just convinced that he’s going to be president.”
Somali Insurgents welcome Ethiopian hint of military withdrawal
MOGADISHU, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Somali insurgents welcomed Ethiopia's hint that it will withdraw its troops from Somalia even before the current Somali interim government is stable and effective, spokesman for the group said on Friday.
"We welcome Ethiopian Prime Minister's admission that he cannot rule Somalia and we will continue fighting his troops until the last soldier leaves Somali border," Abdurahim Isse Adow, spokesman for the Union of Islamic Courts, told Xinhua by phone.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Thursday suggested in an interview with the Financial Times that Ethiopia would withdraw its forces from Somalia, saying Ethiopia's military commitment to the war-torn Horn of Africa country was "not open-ended".
Ethiopia send thousands of its troops to Somalia in late 2006 to oust the Union of Islamic Courts that it deemed a threat to its national security and to help the Somali transitional government establish in the capital.
Ethiopian troops backing Somali government troops succeeded in toppling the Islamist movement within weeks but deadly insurgent ensued within months and continued on a daily bases ever since.
The statement by the Ethiopian prime minister came a day after authorities in Addis Ababa managed to narrow a growing conflict between Somali President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
The civil war in the country has resulted in a serious humanitarian disaster. UN agencies has warned this week that more than 3 million Somalis, about half the country's population, will be totally dependent of food aid and emergency assistance over the next 12 months.
Ethiopia - Tirunesh Dibaba plans to repeat golden double
By Sabrina Yohannes
NEW YORK, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Olympic 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion Tirunesh Dibaba plans to repeat her golden double at the world athletics championships in Berlin next year.
"God willing, I hope to attempt it," Dibaba told Reuters during a reception this week at the Ethiopian embassy in Beijing.
Dibaba, 23, who completed the double at the 2005 Helsinki world championships also said she expects to marry Ethiopian team mate and fiance Sileshi Sihine, the Olympic 10,000 metres silver medallist, within the year.
"We haven't settled on the month or date yet, but we're thinking some time next year," said Dibaba, referring to the Ethiopian calendar year which starts on Sept. 11, 2008.
Dibaba recorded the second-fastest time ever, 29 minutes 54.66 seconds, in winning the Beijing 10,000 before taking the 5,000 a week later in a slow 15:41.40.
"A race is more entertaining when it's faster, but I was tired from running the 10,000 and I didn't want to take the lead," said Dibaba. "But I'm very happy I won."
Sihine said he was happier for Dibaba than he was for himself.
"It greatly encourages her to work hard, and myself to work hard, to achieve better things," he said.
Dibaba has followed in the footsteps of her cousin Derartu Tulu, who became black Africa's first female Olympic gold medalist when she won the 10,000 at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
"I may not be quite like her, but I am working hard," said Dibaba.
Dibaba and Kenenisa Bekele, who won the men's 5,000-10,000 double in Beijing, were acclaimed by coach Miruts Yifter, who completed the same double at the 1980 Moscow Games.
"When, 28 years later, Kenenisa and Tirunesh meet with the same great fortune I had, what else can I say but that it gives me limitless joy," said Yifter.
Ethiopia's four gold medals in Beijing matched the nation's previous best gold tally won at the 2000 Sydney Games. The two doubles were celebrated abroad and at home by jubilant Ethiopians who feted the athletes in Beijing and upon their subsequent return to Addis Ababa.
FIFA cancels Ethiopia World Cup qualifier
ZURICH (Reuters) - 
Ethiopia's hopes of taking part in the 2010 World Cup were dealt a further blow on Friday when FIFA confirmed that it was cancelling a qualifying match against Morocco scheduled for September 7.
The world governing body suspended the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) last month following a long-running row over what FIFA considered the wrongful dismissal of the association's leaders.
"FIFA today confirmed that the match is cancelled due to the current suspension of the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) from international football," FIFA said in a statement.
FIFA said that the World Cup organising committee would meet on an unspecified date to decide what effect the cancelled game would have on the situation in Ethiopia's qualifying group.
Ethiopia are currently third in the four-man group which also includes Rwanda and Mauritania.
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Ethiopia suspended by Fifa
Ethiopia trashed Mauritania 6-1 in World Cup Qualifier
Ethiopia rejects calls to reinstate federation president
Ethiopia moved up 15 places to 90th in FIFA ranking
Ethiopia defeated Mauritania 1-0 in World Cup Qualifier
Rwanda beats Ethiopia 2-1 in the 2010 World/Africa Cup qualifier
Special Section: Football news from nazret.com archives
McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate
DAYTON, Ohio — In a surprise move, Senator John McCain announced here Friday that he had chosen Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, shaking up the political world at a time when his campaign has been trying to attract women, especially disaffected supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Obama tells Americans 'our dreams can be one'
DENVER, Colorado (AFP) — Barack Obama told Americans their "dreams can be one" if they unite in a stirring new crusade for change, in a riotous finale to the historic Democratic National Convention.
Obama accepted the party's presidential nomination before 75,000 delirious supporters, becoming the first-ever black major-party White House pick, exactly 45 years after Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" anthem to racial harmony.
Evoking King's 1963 march on Washington, Obama said what "people of every creed and color, from every walk of life" heard "is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one."
"'We cannot walk alone,'" the preacher cried. "'And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.'
More from AFP
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Jailed Ethiopian editor released
Ethiopian authorities released a newspaper editor detained last week after it reported on a labour dispute at a local brewery, a media watchdog says.
Amare Aregawi was held for five days in a prison 750 kilometres north of Addis Ababa, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement.
He was released yesterday on bail of 300-birr (around 31-dollars).
RSF urged Ethiopian government to "amend the newly-adopted media law in order to eliminate prison sentences for press offences."
Aregawi’s private Amharic language weekly Reporter published an article last month citing two former employees of the brewery as saying they were wrongfully dismissed.
The brewery company had sued the paper for libel.
Ethiopia was only removed from RSF’s blacklist of media offenders in May, having been labelled "an enemy of the internet" along with Zimbabwe.
Related Links
Amare Aregawi, Reporter's Editor, Arrested
Draft law threatens to criminalise Ethiopian civil society
IPI Concerned About Ethiopian Government's Continued Failure to Grant Publishing Licenses to Journalists
Ethiopian police threaten paper over opposition party coverage
Ethiopian judge detains editor over pop singer case
IFJ Calls for End to Media Repression in Ethiopia
New Ethiopian media law draws criticism
Press Freedom Still Under Attack in Ethiopia
Special Section Press and The Media in Ethiopia
Ethiopia - Ethiopian Olympic heroes arrive home
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - A team of gallant Ethiopian athletes, who took part in the 29th International Olympics held in Beijing, China received hero’s welcome on Wednesday at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi welcomed the athletes upon their arrival at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.
Thousands of people at the Addis Ababa stadium welcomed the athletes, who were decorated in gold, silver and bronze medals, with fanfare and cheers. Senior government officials presented wreath of flowers to the victorious Olympic team.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Youth and Sport Aster Mamo said the Ethiopian athletes scored shining victories in the Beijing Olympic.
The minister expressed her appreciation to the athletes for honoring Ethiopians with remarkable achievements in the new Ethiopian millennium. A lot has to be done to produce successor athletes, she added.
Ethiopia, represented by some 30 athletes at the Beijing Olympics, received a total of 7 medals - four Gold, Silver, and 2 Bronze.
Source: ENA
Explaining the Ethiopian drought
Population growth and land ownership are not the only causes
Published on August 28, 2008
The Times of London
Sir, Regrettably, the effects of climate change have brought severe drought to parts of Ethiopia in recent months and we welcome the assistance given by the international community to help us to address hardship among our people. However, your report (“Ethiopia — another famine, another avoidable disaster”, (Aug 20) does not help to address these issues. Attributing the current drought to population growth and land ownership rules reflects a superficial analysis of Ethiopia’s recent history, politics and the economic realities that Ethiopia currently faces.
The Ethiopian Government is working closely with partner governments, international organisations and NGOs. Together we are striving to assist those people who have been exposed to drought and resulting food shortages by supplying food, medical supplies and animal fodder across our country. We are also working hard to improve the distribution of water, particularly in the Somali region.
Ethiopia has been distributing food from its national reserves. Like many countries we have suffered severely from sharp rises in global food prices. This has been exacerbated by the failure of the short rainy season this year, and our reserves have been significantly overstretched.
Your report distorts Ethiopia’s agricultural policy, which has been praised for its focus on improving the livelihoods of the 85 per cent of our population who live in rural areas. It is wrong to imply that the Government is abandoning the people of the Somali region when, in fact, the federal and regional governments are working together on a ten-billion-birr (£560 million) infrastructure development project to transform the region.
The land-holding system in Ethiopia should also be viewed within the context of our economic structure. Although our system does not allow the privatisation of rural land, farmers have the right of use on the land they occupy. This includes the right to lease it and to pass it to their children.There is much to be done in our country. We are very aware of the need to reduce our dependency on imported raw materials, to improve our low level of capacity utilisation and to limit population growth. Structural issues will take time to resolve and we have implemented a comprehensive agricultural policy package to address them. This is aimed at improving farming techniques and irrigation, delivering seeds and fertilisers and allocating agricultural advisers to each district. These measures are being implemented in a sustainable fashion and we sincerely hope that they will bring about a lasting solution to the food problem. Until that time all efforts are being made to address the shortages and the assistance of our international partners is appreciated.
Berhanu Kebede
Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK
Meles Zenawi was quoted as saying these in an interview with Financial Times
Ethiopia was "not joined at the hip" with Somalia
a stronger and more effective Somali government was "not necessarily a precondition for our withdrawal".
"We didn't anticipate the international community would be happy riding the Ethiopian horse and flogging it at the same time."
"There are also requirements of our own, including financial requirements. The operation has been extremely expensive so we will have to balance the domestic pressures on the one hand and pressures in Somalia on the other and try to come up with a balanced solution."
Ethiopian PM signals shift over Somalia
By Barney Jopson in Addis Ababa
Published: August 27 2008
Ethiopia would be prepared to withdraw its troops from Somalia even if the interim government they were sent in to install 20 months ago were still not stable or functioning, the country’s prime minister has said.
Meles Zenawi told the Financial Times that Ethiopia was “not joined at the hip” with the Somali government as frustration in Addis Ababa grows over its perennial in-fighting and the financial cost of the occupation.
More from FT
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Related Links
Financial Times Interview with Meles Zenawi
01:51:06 pm, by nazret.com, 515 words, 5740 views 
Ethiopian athletes return to rapturous welcome
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The Ethiopian Olympic team arrived home to a hero's welcome Wednesday, as thousands of ecstatic fans lined up the capital's streets to greet the track stars.
The team, led by double gold medallists Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba, was greeted by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and other government officials as they stepped off their plane at the capital's Bole Airport.
They were then paraded on a convoy of black, open-top Cadillacs amid chanting fans that crammed almost every street pavement that stretched for a few miles.
"Kenenisa and Tirunesh were absolutely fantastic in Beijing. They really deserve such welcoming," one fan said of the enthusiasm shown in the athletics-mad nation.
A ceremony was held afterwards at the 30,000-capacity National Stadium on the city centre where an overly-packed crowd had gathered since 7 AM (1000GMT) and braved rainfall to attend the event.
"Our athletes have placed the country among the elite of countries that excel in athletics," Ethiopia's Minister of youth and sport, Aster Mamo, said during the event.
"We, as a country and government, are very proud of the achievements," she added.
Moments earlier, Kenenisa said he was overwhelmed by the crowd's affectionate response.
"It was a special moment. The fans have repaid our success with their enthusiastic welcome," he said, as dozens of cameramen hounded the 26-year old track star for photographs.
Ethiopia finished 18th in Beijing with four gold, one silver and two bronze at the final medals standing, a massive improvement from Athens where they finished 28th with two gold, three silver and two bronze.
The country's success story, was however a tale of their two athletes.
Tirunesh Dibaba, also known as "the baby-faced assassin", became the first woman in Olympic history to have won a long-distance double when she produced her traditional final lap burst to grab the 5,000m race on August 22, a week after winning the 10,000m.
Compatriot Kenenisa also repeated the feat a day later and become the first man to have taken both titles since 1980, when another Ethiopian, Miruts Yifter, won in Moscow.
But the Ethiopians did not forget a mention of their icon Haile Gebrselassie, who chose to compete on the 10,000m rather than the marathon and finished a disappointing sixth.
They gave him a rapturous cheer as his name was announced in the stadium.
"Let's not forget that he had opted out of the marathon due to reasonable reasons, and Kenenisa had also benefitted from Haile's tactics", a young fan told AFP, refering to Haile's role during the 10,000 win.
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Team Ethiopia had a magnificent Olympic in Beijing
In Pictures: Team Ethiopia
NBC Olympics Video Marathon, 5000m, 10,000m and more
Tsegay Kebede wins bronze medal in Marathon
More Ethiopian double joy as Bekele wins 5000m
Tirunesh Dibaba wins gold in 5000m and makes history.
Kenenisa Bekele smashed Olympic Record in 10K
Tiruye smashed the Olympic Record in 10,000 meters
Special Section: Beijing 2008
Ethiopia - Today in History - Aug. 27
Today is Wednesday, Aug. 27, the 240th day of 2008.
In 1975, Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia's 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83, almost a year after being overthrown.
Source: AP
Transcript: FT Interview with Meles Zenawi
Ethiopia - Financial Times Interview with Meles Zenawi
Published: August 27 2008
FT
Meles Zenawi, the prime minister who has led Ethiopia since the rebel movement he belonged to overthrew dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, spoke to Barney Jopson, FT East Africa Correspondent, at his office in Addis Ababa on August 21, 2008. The following is a transcript of the interview.
Financial Times: The president and the prime minister of Somalia are here in Addis Ababa and have been here for the last few days. There’s been a lot of talk about a rift between the two of them. I wonder if you could give me your perspective on that and what affect it is having on the situation in Somalia?
Meles Zenawi (MZ): Well, there is still some rift between the key political leaders and inevitably that does tend to undermine the joint effort of all of them to achieve peace and fight terrorism. They’re all here. We have provided a space for them to be able to talk to each other outside of the daily hustle in Mogadishu and my hope and expectation is that they will sort out their problems.
FT: How exactly are those problems getting in the way of the effort to find peace?
MZ: All of them need to pull together and that is not happening to the extent that we would all like to see. It is not having an immediate and direct impact on the [peace] talks in Djibouti. As you know they have progressed well, but that’s only one aspect of achieving peace albeit an important aspect, and therefore the efforts of everyone in the TFG [Transitional Federal Government] are required for us to make progress in the right direction.
FT: What’s your understanding of the underlying causes of these disagreements?
MZ: I’m not privy to their discussions but I would be surprised if the usual problems amongst Somali politicians were to be absent.
FT: Meaning clan issues?
MZ: Clan issues.
FT: Of course you’ve still got troops in Somalia. How close or far away are you from being able to bring them back home?
MZ: Well, as I said in the past technically we could bring them back home tomorrow. We feel we have done what we planned to do in terms of preventing a total takeover of Somalia by a jihadist group. We have done what we could to help an alternative framework so technically we could remove our troops any day, but we have obligations including to the African Union to hold the rein until they are able to deploy their troops and they have been hindered by all sorts of problems, but most particularly, logistical ones. So we feel we need to continue to hold the ring until the African Union is able to deploy actional troops and hopefully the Somalis sort out some of these lingering problems amongst them so that they can take care of their own security requirements together with the African Union.
FT: So would you want to see a full Amisom [African Union Mission to Somalia] force of 8,000 people before you take your own soldiers out?
MZ: We would preferably want to see a full deployment or as close to full deployment as possible.
FT: When you think about withdrawal, do you see a stable and functioning TFG as a precondition or would you be willing to take your troops out even if the TFG is not functioning as well as it might?
MZ: We will try everything in our capacity to create an environment where our withdrawal would not seriously disrupt this process in Somalia but that is not necessarily precondition for our withdrawal. Our obligation towards peace in Somalia is only one aspect. There are also requirements of our own including financial requirements. The operation has been extremely expensive so we will have to balance the domestic pressures on the one hand and pressures in Somalia on the other and try to come up with a balanced solution.
FT: But that means that you could withdraw even if that withdrawal then left the TFG in danger.
MZ: We would try to avoid that but our legs are not joined at the hip.
FT: It’s 19 or 20 months since your troops came in. When you came in nobody seemed to expect that the troops would remain for this long. Looking back were there things that you think you didn’t anticipate, or things that developed in a way that was unexpected, which explain why you’ve been there for quite so long now?
MZ: We didn’t anticipate that the international community would be happy riding the Ethiopian horse and flogging it at the same time for so long. We had hoped and expected that the African Union would be able to intervene much quicker and that the international community would recognise that this is a unique opportunity for the stabilisation of Somalia and capitalise on it and act quickly.
FT: You mean by providing financial assistance?
MZ: By providing financial assistance and providing peacekeepers and so on. That hasn’t happened. Problems amongst Somalis could perhaps be anticipated and there may not be any surprises in that regard.
FT: People often compare the situation in Somali with Ethiopian troops to the Americans in Iraq. Do you see any sensible parallels there?
MZ: No. In the case of Ethiopian intervention in Somalia, it was purely defensive. The jihadists who had taken over southern Somalia had declared war publicly against Ethiopia. And we had been invited by a proper government, the TFG, which was recognised by United Nations among others, to intervene, and our task was very limited. We didn’t have a mission of transforming Somalia in one way or the other, just to prevent a jihadist takeover in Somalia. Now having done that, it was perhaps reasonable on the part of the international community and ourselves to try and capitalise on the opportunities opened up by that intervention to try and help the Somalis stabilise the situation. That is what kept us there for so long. The original mission had been completed let’s say, within a few weeks of our intervention and we could have withdrawn in a month or so.
FT: Are you using the possibility of withdrawal to put some pressure on the Somali president and the prime minister here? Is that one of the levers you can use?
MZ: No. We don’t need to use any levers. This is their country. They are more interested in peace than anybody else outside of their country and in the end only a solution that they are comfortable with can be sustained. External pressure may give the impression of short term movement in the right direction, but it does not provide a lasting solution so we do not need any such leverage and we do not think any such leverage would be helpful. What I’m telling you is first that we would do everything in our capacity to stay as long as possible to help them out. Hopefully our withdrawal will come as a result of more progress in peace in Somalia and more deployment of the African Union, but given past practise we could never be sure when the African Union could deploy in any meaningful sense and so it doesn’t make sense for any government to say that we have an open ended commitment until the international community, in its own good time, decides to relieve us of that responsibility. So what I’m saying is we do not have an open-ended commitment.
FT: You mentioned the financial cost and to use an over-used metaphor it would seem Ethiopia is at the centre of a financial perfect storm, funding Somalia on the one hand, while dealing with the consequences of a drought, and the consequences of food and fuel price inflation on the other. Could you tell me a little bit more about where all that leaves the government finances?
MZ: Government finances in terms of the budget deficit and so on and so forth have been reasonable as the IMF would tell you but of course there is what the economists would call opportunity cost. Every dollar we spend in Somalia could have been spent elsewhere in dealing with issues of a domestic nature. And that is what I meant. That’s why I said that our commitment to Somalia is not open-ended. As far as the economic situation here is concerned, some people see a perfect storm. I don’t. I see a bit of a rough stretch, but not the perfect storm. The perfect storm has the risk of wrecking the ship or the boat, or at least that is my assumption. There is no risk here of shipwreck. The economy on balance is growing very well and we expect it to continue to do so, however the fuel prices have very significantly undermined our balance of payments situation. The increase in food prices has pushed a significant number of Ethiopians, particularly among the urban poor and in some pastoralist regions and areas of drought, to the brink and so these are very serious challenges even though they do not pose an extensive threat.
FT: There’s been a lot of discussion about hunger in Ethiopia and I’m interested in putting this in the context of agricultural development. In the past few years of course, the agriculture sector has been performing well and indeed it’s been driving GDP growth, but what we’ve seen this year is that when the rains fail, problems emerge again. So it strikes me that whereas people thought agriculture was getting stronger in the last few years, maybe it was just getting lucky and maybe there are some underlying structural things that keep the sector vulnerable. What would you say to that?
MZ: Well, I think it’s very important to look at the macro issues and local specific issues. When we look at the macro issues, agriculture has been growing at double-digit rates for five years now. Now the chances of being lucky five years in a row, of growing at double digit growth rates, is not that high.
FT: But they have been five good years of rains as well, have they not?
MZ: We have always had good rains in some parts of the country and droughts in other parts of the country. What has happened is in the areas where we normally have good rains we have had sustained growth in productivity, and in those parts of the country millions of people have seen very significant improvements in their lives. Agriculture has been the key driver of growth as a whole and of export growth in particular so the macro situation as far as agricultural growth is concerned is very good. Now we have two groups that have been hit by the dramatic increase in commodity prices including agricultural prices and hit negatively.
But by the way, there are more people in Ethiopia who have benefited from the high food prices than those who have lost out from them. Farmers selling their own products have benefitted enormously and there are many more of them than those who have been damaged, but of course the purpose of government is not to hail those who have succeeded. The purpose of government is to support those who have not. What has happened is the pastoralist areas have not benefitted from the agricultural development activities because most of our agricultural development activities are based on settled farming. These are pastoralists and as pastoralists they will always be vulnerable to any change in precipitation. The pastoralists regions have the main problems as far as the rural areas are concerned.
There is an exceptional problem in the south. The exceptional problem in the south is that we have had two failed crops: the first one because there was too much rain, the second one because there was too little rain, and the loss of two harvests was well beyond the capacity of the farmers to cope. If you remove this freak event of two consecutive failures, then you see the structural problems. The structural problems are that the pastoralist areas have not been involved and have not benefitted from the growth that has happened. The second structural problem in our growth has been in the urban areas where the growth has not been such as to provide adequate employment opportunities to the urban poor. When agricultural prices moved against consumers who in any case were on the precipice many of the urban poor suffered, so the structural problem is related to how fast we can create jobs in the urban areas and how quickly we can integrate the pastoralist regions in the economic growth process. The problem in the south is in the short term a very serious problem but it is a freak event. It does not show a basic trend. The basic trends are the ones that I mentioned.
FT: But some people would say that there are also structural problems with arable farming in the south, namely that productivity remains low compared to neighbouring countries and that the population growth is such that the land simply cannot support the people.
MZ: I am told that many journalists feel that Ethiopians are procreating at a faster rate than is healthy for them. We have had programmes to deal with that and there has been a very significant reduction in the population growth rate. The latest data that some journalists are bandying around is that there are about 80m people living in Ethiopia. The census of 2007 seems to indicate that we have significantly less than 80m, about 6m less, and the population growth rate, which was close to 3 per cent has been sliding towards 2 or 2.5 per cent and I think it is continuing to slide. So those who think that Ethiopians are procreating with abandon because they are being given food assistance, assuming that is what they are saying, are getting their facts wrong.
FT: What about the productivity issue though?
MZ: The productivity issue is a challenge. Productivity was extremely low and has been growing very significantly throughout the five years of growth that we have had. Interestingly, fertiliser prices have gone through the roof but fertiliser consumption during the rainy season now has also gone up and interestingly again in many of the surplus-producing regions of our country farmers, unlike in the past, were not given credit to buy fertiliser. They bought with cash so the fact that many millions of farmers were able to buy fertiliser at such high prices cash is very encouraging just as the fact that there are many Ethiopians who do not have enough to eat on a daily basis is a very serious challenge.
FT: Yes. But in the context of commodity price inflation it looks unfortunate that the government was encouraging a shift from growing food to growing cash crops, because if people had been growing food perhaps they would not have to deal with the problem of buying very expensive goods in the market. Are you thinking about that shift any differently nowadays, given that food has become so expensive?
MZ: The point is the farmers should make the decision and the farmers should make that decision on the basis of the net benefit to them. If it is beneficial for them to produce sesame and sell it at $2,000 per ton and buy wheat at $400 per ton, if they find the productivity difference between sesame and wheat is such that it makes sense to produce and export sesame and buy wheat from the Ukraine, then I see no reason why this should be a problem.
There is no reason why every person has to produce whatever he consumes. Actually our programme was designed to commercialise small scale farming so that these market pressures will result in more efficient allocation of land, labour and so on, and would result in improved livelihoods for those who are producing. The fact is that those who did not face the challenge of the pastoralists, those who did produce have benefitted enormously. So the way to help the urban poor is for us, for example, to use the foreign exchange earned by the farmers to buy wheat and we are doing this. We have already bought about 150,000 tonnes of wheat in Europe and we are distributing it through the market. We completed a contract for another 150,000 tonnes of wheat and that will help us dampen the prices in the urban areas and that’s the way it should be.
FT: One comment I’ve heard from several people about agriculture is that the government has been focusing very much, as you said, on commercialising small-scale farms. But these people say is you should be focused on big-scale farming and creating large commercial enterprises, because that’s the way to prevent a recurrence of the food shortages. Why have you decided to focus on the small scale rather than go big?
MZ: Because the alternative is patently stupid.
FT: Why is that?
MZ: Let’s look at two factors. The first factor is the availability of capital and savings in this economy. There are very, very low savings and very limited capital availability. If we were to invest in large-scale, commercial, mechanised farming, then we would have to deplete whatever savings we have in establishing these large-scale farms, and what do we get in return? We get in return some employment, but not much. If we were to focus on the commercialisation of small-scale farming, we wouldn’t need that much capital. We would be using the excess resource we have, which is labour and land, and we would be combining these two without too much capital to produce more. Secondly, we would be employing millions of people on their farms and giving them income. The problem that we face this year is not about production. It’s about income distribution and income distribution in Ethiopia is not going to be improved by abandoning small-scale farms and concentrating on large-scale farms. Fortunately in our case, to the extent that capital can be imported from abroad, we can do both because we have unutilised land in the lowlands where there is not much labour and we can combine that with foreign capital to supplement the small-scale farming. Such supplementary large-scale commercial farming is part of our strategy, but it is not the central piece of our strategy.
FT: And this is why you were meeting a delegation from Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks ago?
MZ: Yes, and many other investors including those who are involved in flower farms, horticulture and so on.
FT: They will be given land which is not being farmed at the moment?
MZ: Yes, and we have quite a bit of it, in the western lowlands and part of the eastern lowlands. We have a shortage in the central highlands and that’s where 70-80 per cent of the population live.
FT: But your strategy remains focused on the small scale?
MZ: Yes, because the small-scale farms are where we have the 9m households and what happens there determines their income. Large-scale commercial farming is not going to create millions of jobs and without those jobs, even if we had mountains of food in the country, it would not mean that people had access to that food.
FT: Because they wouldn’t have money to buy it?
MZ: They wouldn’t have the money to buy it and that has been the real problem here. It is not the availability of food. It’s the availability of money in the pockets of individuals.
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Related Links
Meles Zenawi Q and A with TIME Magazine
Newsweek Interview with P.M. Meles Zenawi
Meles Zenawi's Interview with Al Jazeera
TIME Magazine Interview with Meles Zenawi (September 2007)
Special Section: Interview from nazret.com archives
Well-known newspaper editor arrested for article questioning big brewery’s labour practices
Source: Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is dismayed to learn that Amare Aregawi, the editor of the big-circulation weekly Reporter, was arrested on 22 August in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and was then illegally transferred to a prison in Gondar, 750 km north of the capital, in connection with a libel case brought by the Gondar-based Dashen brewery.
“The Ethiopian government reminds the press about the law so often that it is hard to understand how it allows prosecutors to violate it so openly,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Amare’s unjustified arrest exposes the unfairness of legislation that allows journalists to be imprisoned for defamation. His newspaper dared to question a big company’s practices. Now he, like the reporter who wrote the offending article before him, are paying the price for having the courage to do their job properly and serve the public interest. He should be released at once.”
Police from the Amhara region arrested Amare on the afternoon of 22 August at his office in the Addis Ababa headquarters of Media and Communication Centre, a company that owns two well-known weeklies, the Amharic-language Reporter and the English-language The Reporter.
Journalists who were present at his arrest told Reporters Without Borders that the police were also looking for deputy editor Eshete Assefa and Teshome Neku, the young reporter who wrote the article last month quoting two former Dashen brewery employees as saying they were wrongfully dismissed. Neither Eshete nor Teshome were in the office at the time.
Amare, who ran Ethiopia’s public television after the fall of the Derg dictatorship in 1991, was initially taken to the headquarters of the Addis Ababa police. He was later transferred to Gondar where he appeared in court yesterday. A member of the newspaper’s staff told Reporters Without Borders that the prosecutor and judge offered to release Amare on bail in Gondar, but he refused on the grounds that it was illegal for him to have been taken there.
Under a new press law that was adopted last month, defamation cases are supposed to be tried in the place where the alleged offence took place. As Reporter’s registered headquarters is in Addis Ababa, the case should be heard in the capital and there were no grounds for taking Amare to such a remote location.
A few days after the article appeared, Teshome was arrested and taken to Gondar, where he was freed on bail after three days. The judge who ordered his release told the prosecutor that Teshome should be tried before a court in Addis Ababa because the newspaper was duly registered there.
A second story about the unfair dismissals at the brewery, published by Reporter on 20 July, quoted two representatives of the Confederation of Ethiopian Employee Associations (CEEA), who accused the brewery’s management of breaking up its union, firing its leader, setting up a new, company-controlled union and other illegal practices.
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Special Section Press and The Media in Ethiopia
UN top aid official to visit drought-hit Ethiopia
GENEVA (AFP) — The United Nations' top aid official John Holmes will next month visit drought-hit Ethiopia, where some eight million people need urgent food aid, a UN spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Holmes begins the visit on September 1 in the Horn of Africa nation where "4.6 million people need emergency assistance and eight million need immediate food relief," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian office OCHA.
More from AFP
Maids in Lebanon dying every week - rights group
BEIRUT, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Lebanon must improve working conditions for migrant domestic workers, who often commit suicide or die while trying to escape from their employers, a U.S.-based rights group said on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch said there were an estimated 200,000 such workers in Lebanon, including those with illegal status, mostly from Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Ethiopia.
Out of about 95 foreign housemaids who died in Lebanon since Jan. 2007, 40 deaths were classified by their embassies as suicides and 24 as workers falling from high buildings, often trying to escape their employers, it said in a statement.
"Domestic workers are dying in Lebanon at a rate of more than one per week," said Nadim Houry, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
More from Reuters ...
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Ethiopia - Vehicle taxation period extended to avoid fraud
By Tedla Yeneakal
The tax payment period for on imported vehicles, which was previously collected at the same time as customs duty, has been extended to allow the newly structured Revenues and Customs Authority enough time to inspect details of vehicles imported into the country.
Abebe Kebede, Head of the Public Relations at the authority, told Capital it is not a new regulation but rather part of a re-structuring to effective tax collection from imported vehicles by investigating the actual tariff of vehicles in the international market and checking this against the price claimed by the importer.
“Inspecting prices internationally and giving time for imposing taxes appropriately would enable us to operate efficiently,” Abebe said, “we need to regularly update our operations to allow us to obtain all the required information about the vehicle that has been imported.”
More from Capital ...
Ethiopia - Mobile phones prices skyrocket
By Kirubel Tadesse
The local market has increased prices on mobile handsets, taking advantage of the sudden huge demand that came following the pre-paid SIM cards release, which had been suspended for several months.
When the sole telecom provider, Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC), launched its latest sale of pre paid SIM cards almost two weeks ago, residents of Addis Ababa and neighboring cities formed long queues in front of shops selling the SIM cards. The mobile handsets market - like customers - was caught off guard when ETC released the SIM cards, and to take advantage of the sudden demand, has increased the prices of the handsets.
In Merkato, Gojam Berenda, Piassa and Bole road shops Capital surveyed, some of the handsets have nearly doubled in price. Nokia’s 1600 model which was just 450 birr two weeks ago is now sells for 750 birr.
The popular Motorola model L6 was sold for twelve hundred birr in recent weeks-only to go up by three hundred birr. Another Motorola, V3, which was once popular and sold for 3000 birr, had drooped down to one thousand birr in recent months. Following the SIM cards price shake up, it now sells for 1500 birr in Bole while Merkato shops asks 1450 birr.
Mobile shop sales persons- upon anonymity- explained to Capital that the price climb is only due to the increase in demand.
More from Capital ...
Ethiopia - Sheik Al-amoudi’s upcoming biography
By Muluken Yewondwossen
A biography of Ethiopian-Saudi business tycoon Sheik Mohammed
Al-amoudi, titled ‘Who is Al-amoudi’ has been written by Ethiopian-American Mohamed Abdella. The Amharic version will be released next month for the Ethiopian New Year and two months later, an English version.
Mohamed Abdella, a tour and transport operator for the last 23 years in the US, told Capital that, he wrote the book to show the Ethiopian business society who live abroad how Al-amoudi is contributing to the country’s development by investing here.
“This is an educational biography since the man is a good role model through his contribution to eradicate poverty from Ethiopia. I have spent over 300,000 birr and twenty months of work for the realization of the book,” said Mohamed.
For compiling the biography the author traveled to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Wollo, the birthplace of Al-amoudi.
The 157 page book is illustrated with relevant photographs describing Al-amoudi’s family background, his personality, businesses in and out of Ethiopia, controversies around him, the public’s views on him and his contribution towards the new Ethiopian millennium.
The author explains that the biography is different from the movie about Al-amoudi released ten months ago. He claims that his book has more detail.
More from Capital ...
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Commercial Bank of Ethiopia opens branches in Sudan, Somaliland
By Tedla Yeneakal
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) is finalizing processes to open branches in Juba, Southern Sudan, and Hargessa, the capital of Somaliland.
An official at the CBE told Capital that due to the growing imports of these countries, increasing the trade activities in the region the management has decided to open branches in these countries.
"We want to benefit from the growing market along the border towns of Somaliland and also in Juba, where oil companies are competing for resources," the official said, "Currently a number Ethiopians in search of better jobs are migrating to Sudan, a country where relatively fast economic growth is registering."
More from Capital ...
Electoral Board of Ethiopia accredits UDJ
By Kirubel Tadesse
The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has issued a certificate of accreditation to the latest national political party, Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), Capital learnt.
In its ordinary session held on Friday August 22, 2008, the Electoral Board decided to issue accreditation after it examined that UDJ has met all the legal criteria, filed the necessary documents, and made adjustments as per recommendations of the Board, Tesfaye Mengesha, NEBE Office Chief, explained to Capital.
Formed by the former Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP) majority, UDJ has been striving to join mainstream politics after it named former CUDP first vice chair Birtukan Medeksa its Chair at a founding congress held on June 18, 2008.
More from Capital ...
ETHIOPIA: Urban poor finding it harder to get food
ADDIS ABABA, 25 August 2008 (IRIN) - Fatuma Ali and Tieba Hussein left Hara village in Wollo, Amhara region of northeastern Ethiopia with some of their neighbours, believing that they could improve their livelihoods in the capital city, Addis Ababa.
"Our husbands decided to stay in the village with the children," Fatuma, a mother of three, told IRIN as her sister and mother of one looked on. "If rain comes, we will return to the village."
Like various villages across Ethiopia, Hara did not receive adequate precipitation in the short, or belg rainy season, which usually begins in February and ends in late April or early May.
As a result, local residents have had to endure serious food and water shortages. The situation was exacerbated by a poor harvest from the 2007 meher growing season.
Fatuma and Tieba worked hard to help their husbands try and get a good harvest. "After harvest, we sold the produce in the market and bought cattle," Tieba said.
Unfortunately, the short rains failed, killing the village pasture as well as their cattle.
Two weeks after arriving in the city, however, life for the two sisters proved just as tough as it was in Hara. "We came to Addis Ababa expecting to get [a better life]," Fatuma explained. "Sometimes the residents give us some food, but sometimes we sleep hungry."
Faced by increasing hardship, the two turned to begging. Moving from door-to-door, they often turn up at people's gates and ask for help. On a lucky day, they will barely get enough to eat.
High food inflation
Fatuma and Tieba are just two of the thousands of Ethiopians who have flocked to urban areas to escape food shortages in the rural areas. Instead, the influx, according to aid workers, has increased demand and pushed urban prices even higher.
In Somali region, for example, decreasing food availability and price increments in local markets have led to migration from Woredas along the Shabelle river banks to Gode town, according to the UN World Food Programme.
This, however, has increased the numbers of malnourished children in the town.
In Amhara, according to the zonal Food Security Disaster Prevention and Preparedness office, serious food shortages exist in some areas of the region. At least five people have died while 300 have been forced to migrate from the area, in recent months.
Addis Ababa has, however, borne the biggest influx. The number of city dwellers, according to local officials, has swelled significantly over the last few months. Most new arrivals, however, have been forced to eke a living on the margins due to high costs of living and food.
The Consumer Price Index published by Ethiopia's Central Statistics Agency, showed the country's food inflation rate stood at 43. 3 percent in July, compared to 17.9 percent at the same time a year ago; with significant variations between regions.
The index is based on regional indices and measures the average change in prices paid by consumers for a fixed market basket of goods and services. The agency attributed the sharp rise to changes in the prices of food components, such as cereals which rose by 171.9 percent.
Should there be a decrease in food production during the September harvest season, warn aid workers, the situation will get worse. Last year, Ethiopia produced 16.1 million metric tonnes of grain during the September to November harvest, against an expected 16.5 million tonnes.
Economists blame a combination of factors for the current situation, including increasing numbers of mouths to feed, Ethiopia's largely subsistence farming systems, the global food crisis and high oil prices. Aid workers said there were also the broader questions of land ownership and the need for modern farming methods.
"One reason for the urban food crisis is the huge gap between demand and supply," said a lecturer from Addis Ababa University, who requested anonymity. "The demand is increasing beyond expectation while the supply is less."
Ethiopia's population has doubled to nearly 80 million in 22 years. Officially, an estimated 4.6 million people across Ethiopia are in need of emergency food assistance, but aid workers say the number is expected to increase in light of recent assessments.
More food insecurity
The current high staple food prices, according to the Famine Early Warning System Network (Fews Net) have compounded already extreme levels of food insecurity.
"Increases in staple food prices are coming at a time of already high and extreme levels of food insecurity in [some] regions," Fews Net said on 12 August. "At the same time, livestock prices and labour rates have increased only minimally, further reducing the overall purchasing power of poor and very poor households."
Tewodros Makonnen, an economist from the Ethiopian Economist Association, said urban livelihoods had also been affected negatively by changes in prices of agricultural inputs on the international markets.
"When local production fails to feed the people, one looks at global markets," the university lecturer who requested anonymity, added. "But despite Ethiopia's move to import food from the international market, the prices are [still] not affordable to urban dwellers."
There was, however, differing opinion on this. "The global situation has affected the response, not the problem," said one aid worker. "The problem remains the increasing population and poor farming methods. There has to be emphasis on helping people to recover."
Some 16 percent of Ethiopia's population live in urban areas. According to the UN Population Fund, Ethiopia is one of the fastest urbanising nations in sub-Saharan Africa with 4.3 percent growth per year.
But much of the growth is a result of migration, rather than just natural population increase. By 2020, the level of urbanisation is expected to reach 25 percent, meaning one out of four Ethiopians will be an urban dweller.
Meanwhile the government and aid agencies are grappling with the situation. Apart from increasing imports, such as wheat for distribution to bakers, especially in Addis Ababa, various strategies have been designed to try and deal with the situation.
The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, for example, which started operations in April, is being strengthened to provide a marketplace where buyers and sellers can come together to trade and be assured of quality, delivery and payment.
Improvements in farming systems are also on the table, along with microfinance schemes and cooperative unions. But while some of these strategies have helped raised farm incomes, they have increased the burden on urban dwellers.
"Previously farmers brought their products and sold to wholesalers without prefixed price," the university economist said. "Now, unless they get a buyer at their price, they wait for a good offer."
According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, Ethiopia's agricultural markets had, over the years, been plagued by high transaction costs and excessive risk. Only a third of output reached the market.
Even then, small-scale farmers, who produce 95 percent of output, came to market with little information and were often at the mercy of the local merchants. If farmers in a particular region were especially productive, the local market got glutted and prices would drop.
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Ethiopian food crisis (The World)
Ethiopia's new famine: 'A ticking time bomb' (USA Today)
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Meles Zenawi says no famine in Ethiopia in Q&A with TIME magazine
Pain amid Plenty (TIME)
Ethiopia faces a new food crisis (Los Angeles Times)
Special Section: Food Shortage in Ethiopia
ETHIOPIA: A little money gets big results
Source: PlusNews
ADDIS ABABA, 25 August 2008 (PlusNews) - Birkay Gadenah is not any bank's idea of a good credit risk. The 36-year-old mother of five lives in the tin-roof shantytown of Burayu, 12km west of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. But eight months ago, she and nine other women from the neighbourhood funeral society, or "edir", formed a community savings and loan group. "It has changed my life," she said.
In the previous year she was earning 90 Ethiopian Birr (US$9.38) a month, doing laundry for three neighbouring families. "It was very tiring work," she told IRIN/PlusNews.
With a 300 Birr (US$30) loan from the group, she started a business making beaded necklaces to sell in Addis's central market. Today she has quadrupled her income and though she is still a long way from a middle-class life, she says she'll be able to pay her loan back with interest when it falls due in three months. "I can sit at home with my children and get a rest," she said.
Gadenah has an added incentive to repay her loan. If she defaults, she will be kicked out of the edir. Funeral societies are a pillar of Ethiopian life, even among the poorest of the poor. If a family member dies, members of the edir help pay for the burial and come to comfort survivors during the three-day mourning period.
"You're discriminated against if you're not a member of the edir," said Almaz Kebede, who also belongs to Gadenah's group. "No one will help you if your house burns; no one will bury you if you die."
Microfinance projects have taken off in developing countries in the past decade, a trend highlighted when businessman Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace prize in 2006 for creating the microfinance Grameen Bank in his native Bangladesh.
Small financial cooperatives have been touted as a way to help poor communities like Burayu, which have been hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But they are no panacea.
One recent World Bank study in a district in Kenya found that more than 30 percent of recipients defaulted on their loans. In Burayu, however, the international aid group, CARE, hit on the tactic of linking savings and loan schemes to funeral societies, thus increasing social pressure on loan recipients to keep up their repayments.
The scheme itself is simple. Gadenah and nine of her friends in the Burayu neighbourhood – all members of the same funeral society – received training in how to set up a simple savings and loan programme as part of a project funded by CARE and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
For the past eight months, the women have met on Friday afternoons and each has put three Birr ($0.29) into a steel lockbox. Saving even that small amount of money hasn't been easy.
"We believed it was very difficult to save," said Kebede, whose husband died of an unknown illness more than a decade ago. "We are very poor, how can we save?"
The women in the group decided to cut back on one of the small luxuries in their lives: coffee. Ethiopia is widely thought to be the birthplace of coffee, and even in a poor neighbourhood like Burayu, women roast coffee beans three times a day as part of a coffee ceremony. By cutting back on coffee once a day, each was able to save enough for her weekly contribution.
Within months the group had enough to offer Gadenah a loan for her bead business and extend credit to Kebede to start a business baking "injera", a traditional Ethiopian sponge-bread made from "teff", a local grain.
If a recipient doesn't repay her loan plus three percent interest, the other members can report her to the head of their funeral society, who can expel her from the group. She will then face the social ostracism that comes from not belonging to an edir.
"It's like when a country doesn't abide by the rules of the United Nations, there is an embargo," explained Biniyam Habtewold, a programme manager for the Tesfa Social Development Association, an alliance of funeral societies.
So far the Burayu women's group hasn't had to kick anyone out, and the project looks to be a lifesaver for women living on the brink. Of the 10 members of the Burayu group, all of whom are under 50, eight are widows.
Many of the women say their husbands died of an unknown illness – often code for HIV/AIDS in a community where discrimination against those with the virus is widespread. Ethiopia's urban HIV/AIDS rate is about nine percent, but aid workers believe it is likely higher in Burayu because it has a long-distance bus station that may provide a route for transmission from other parts of the country.
Adama Tsehay's husband died seven years ago. Since then she has struggled to raise a family on a janitor's salary of 230 Birr (US$23.71) per month. A loan from the group has helped her start a business baking bread in the mornings before work.
Although rising food prices mean she's earning just enough to pay back her loan, her four children are now getting their breakfast from her output, a meal she couldn't provide before the savings and loan group was founded. "I have really benefited; it's helped me a lot to be independent," she said.
Thousands displaced by floods in Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Flooding in Ethiopia's western Gambella region has killed three people, displaced thousands and destroyed crops, an official said on Monday.
"Flash floods following heavy rains for nearly a week have caused major rivers in Gambella to burst their banks, submerging residential areas and farmlands and forcing 18,000 people to be displaced", said Akway Ojulu, head of emergency assistance in Gambella.
"So far we have reports of the deaths of three people including one child," he told Reuters by telephone.
More from Reuters ...
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Floods affect Ethiopia and much of Africa
(BBC September 2007)
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(Reuters September 2007)
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Special Section: Floods and other natural disasters from nazret.com archive
10:52:14 am, by nazret.com, 303 words, 942 views 
Team Ethiopia's performance at the Beijing Olympics was impressive
By Ayele Bekerie*
Team Ethiopia athletes' performance at the Beijing Olympics was impressive. Given the hot and humid weather of the city, our athletes have demonstrated not only their remarkable capacity to endure, but also their consistent skills and efforts to aim and achieve victory for our beloved motherland, Ethiopia.
I stayed up in the wee hours of the night day after day to be with our great athletes, to share repeated moments of joy and togetherness. I am deeply touched by the selfless sacrifice Haile Gebrselassie made so that Kenenisa and Seleshi became medal winners. I am also touched when the Ethiopian athletes shared their bottles of water with the Eritrean and Kenyan athletes. They showed us the extent of possibilities and remarkable achievements we can make as peaceful competitors and neighbors. My optimism has been strengthened by the remarkable and historic achievements of the great Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar. Let us enjoy this historic and great moment of unity and pledge to uphold it at all times. Let us build stadiums and training facilities so that our youth will be able to repeat the achievements of Kenenisa and Tirunesh. I congratulate all, athletes and coaches, fans and leaders, who contributed to the victories.
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Ayele Bekerie is a reader of nazret.com. Send us your analysis of Team Ethiopia in Beijing 2008
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Team Ethiopia had a magnificent Olympic in Beijing
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A very successful Olympic for Team Ethiopia
Ranking Summary
- 18th in the World
- 2nd in Africa
- 5th in Athletics
Ethiopia has just concluded the second most successful Olympic in history by medal counts. Only in Sydney, did Ethiopia win more medals. Team Ethiopia won a total of 7 medals; 4 gold medals, 1 silver and 2 bronze, finishing 18th in the world and 2nd in Africa. In Athletics, Ethiopia finished 5th in the world after United States, Russia, Jamaica and Kenya. It was only short of the record in Sydney by 1 bronze medal when Ethiopia won a record 4 gold medals, 1 Silver and 3 bronze medals in 2000 in Sydney.
Tirunesh Dibaba made history by becoming the first woman ever to win double gold in the 5000m and 10,000m in Olympics. Also Kenenisa Bekele became the second Ethiopian after Mirtus Yifter, to win double gold medals in 5000m and 10,000m, making him the first Ethiopian to win 3 gold medals in Olympic, a record for any athlete in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has also came close to winning a medal in Men's 3000m Steeplechase for the first time since 1980, when rising star Yakob Jarso finished 4th. In the Women's 3000m Steeplechase, Zemzem Ahmed broke the national record in the event finishing 7th. In the Men's marathon, Team Ethiopia has done more than many anticipated with all three team members finishing in the top 7 and Tsegaye Kebede taking the bronze medal with Deriba Merga finishing 4th and Gashaw Asfaw finishing 7th.
Ethiopia has performed poorly in the Women's Marathon where two of the runners, Gete Wami and Berhane Adere, dropping out with out finishing. Relatively Dire Tune did well, finishing in 15th place.
Another poor performance was in the Men's 1500m and Women's 1500m where no one managed to advance to the finals.
Ethiopia has sent a total of 36 athletes plus a boxer to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Boxer Getachew Molla was disqualified for not meeting the weight requirement before he even enters the ring. The team participated in both Men's and Women's 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, 10,000m and Marathon. Ethiopia was able to sweep the gold medals in 5000m, and 10,000m confirming its supremacy in long distance running.
Overall, Beijing Olympics has been quite successful for Team Ethiopia, what do you think?
Have Your Say
Olympic Medals By Year since 1960.
| Year | Athlete | Medal | Event | Host |
| 2008 | Tirunesh Dibaba |  Gold |
10,000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Tirunesh Dibaba | Gold |
5000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Kenenisa Bekele | Gold |
10,000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Kenenisa Bekele | Gold |
5000m | Beijing | 2008 | Sileshi Sihine |  Silver |
10,000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Meseret Defar |  Bronze |
5000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Tsegaye Kebede | Bronze |
Marathon | Beijing |
| 2004 | Meseret Defar | Gold |
5000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Kenenisa Bekele | Gold |
10,000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Kenenisa Bekele | Silver |
5000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Sileshi Sihine | Silver |
10,000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Ejegayehu Dibaba | Silver |
10,000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Tirunesh Dibaba | Bronze |
5000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Derartu Tulu | Bronze |
10,000m | Athens |
| 2000 | Millon Wolde | Gold |
5000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Derartu Tulu | Gold |
10,000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Haile Gebrselassie | Gold |
10,000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Gezahgne Abera | Gold |
Marathon | Sydney |
| 2000 | Gete Wami | Silver |
10,000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Tesfaye Tola | Bronze |
Marathon | Sydney |
| 2000 | Assefa Mezgebu | Bronze |
10,000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Gete Wami | Bronze |
5000m | Sydney |
| 1996 | Haile Gebrselassie | Gold |
10,000m | Atlanta |
| 1996 | Fatuma Roba | Gold |
Marathon | Atlanta |
| 1996 | Gete Wami | Bronze |
10,000m | Atlanta |
| 1992 | Derartu Tulu | Gold |
10,000m | Barcelona |
| 1992 | Fita Bayissa | Bronze |
5000m | Barcelona |
| 1992 | Addis Abebe | Bronze |
10,000m | Barcelona |
| 1980 | Miruts Yifter | Gold |
5000m | Moscow |
| 1980 | Miruts Yifter | Gold |
10,000m | Moscow |
| 1980 | Mohamed Kedir | Bronze |
10,000m | Moscow |
| 1980 | Eshetu Tura | Bronze |
3000m Steeplechase | Moscow |
| 1972 | Miruts Yifter | Bronze |
10,000m | Munich |
| 1972 | Mamo Wolde | Bronze |
Marathon | Munich |
| 1968 | Mamo Wolde | Gold |
Marathon | Mexico City |
| 1968 | Mamo Wolde | Silver |
10,000m | Mexico City |
| 1964 | Abebe Bikila | Gold |
Marathon | Tokyo |
| 1960 | Abebe Bikila | Gold |
Marathon | Rome |
Medal Table for African countries
| Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total | |
| Kenya | 5 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| Ethiopia | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Zimbabwe | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Cameroon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Tunisia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nigeria | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Algeria | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Morocco | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| South Africa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sudan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Egypt | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mauritius | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Togo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
All Team Ethiopia Video now available from NBC.
High Quality Video from NBC Click here to watch
12:01:54 pm, by nazret.com, 769 words, 934 views 
Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia comes from behind and wins Bronze medal in Men's Marathon
Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia comes from behind and wins Bronze medal in Men's Marathon, Deriba Merga who was in the lead pack for most of the race finished 4th. Kenya's Wanjiru wins Kenya's first ever Olympic gold medal in Marathon. Morocco finished second and takes the Silver. Well done for team Ethiopia.
Congratulations Kenya!!! You finally made it, Olympic Gold Medal in Marathon
We all Ethiopians should be proud of Team Ethiopia's performance today in the Marathon.
Tsegaye Kebede gets the bronze, Deriba Merga finished 4th and Gashaw Asfaw finished 7th. Great job !!! Eritrea's Yared Asmerom finished 8th, not bad result for someone with little experience in marathon.
GO AFRICA !!! How about that !!!
Men's Marathon Results
1. WANSIRU Samuel Kamau Kenya
2. GHARIB Jaouad Morocco
3. KEBEDE Tsegay Ethiopia
4. MERGA Deriba Ethiopia
5. LEL Martin Kenya
6. ROTHLIN Viktor Switzerland
7. ASFAW Gashaw Ethiopia
8. ASMEROM Yared Eritrea
9. RITZENHEIN Dathan United States
10. HALL Ryan United States
35. KIFLE Yonas Eritrea
MESFN Tesfayohannes Eritrea Did not Finish
KIBET Luke Kenya Did not Finish
Here is how BBC's online reporter puts it, to what has happened today in the Bird's Nest.
"241: It's practically a sprint finish for bronze between Ethiopia's Deriba Merga and Tsegay Kebede... Kebede glides past! How gutting must that be for Merga, who's been up with the leading pack for miles and miles, but now he's run out of puff at the crucial moment. Kebede pushes himself home for bronze and it's fourth - the worst place to finish at the Games - for Merga. How tempted would you have been to trip the other guy up? I feel for him" BBC
----------
Oh man, at least they are both part of Team Ethiopia. Tsegaye Kebede said something to Deriba Merga when he passes him in the last few hundred meters, I just wonder what he said to him, "Nefse yikerta engde" I don't know. Nice job Tsegaye and Deriba
---------
Team Ethiopia in Men's Marathon running under way Tune to NBC and Watch Live now (for our readers in America).
Deriba Merga No. 1650 DOB Oct 26 1980 Personal Best 2:06:38
Tsegay Kebede No. 1651 DOB Jan 15 1987 Personal Best 2:06:40
Gashaw Asfaw No. 1652 DOB Sep 25 1978 Personal Best 2:08:03
Post your comments during commercial break ...
8:15 PM ET Eritrean leading at mile 9
8:15 PM ET Deriba Merga looking good in the front pack
8:17 PM Ethiopian and Eritreans sharing water nice
8:28 Deriba Merga in lead 12 mile mark. Deriba is "too aggressive" commentator
8:39 "An amazing Ethiopia tradition dating back to 1960 when Abebe Bikila became the first African athlete to win the gold medal
Deriba Merga running very well " commentator
8:43 Lead Pack Deriba of Ethiopia, Kifle of Eritrea and 2 from Kenya and 1 from Morocco Mile 12
8:46 Tsegay Kebede what a story used to make 30 cents a day as a day laborer carrying wood now he makes up to $100,000. Go Tegeaye!!!
Run Deriba Run ...
8:56 Deriba leads Mile 18 pace is past Kifle of Eritrea is slowing down
8:58 Kenyan and Deriba Merga in the front. Deriba Merga is looking good. Please please Merga make my day
9:00 PM Commercial break. Kenya has never won Olympic gold medal in the Marathon. Could Ethiopia win its 6th Olympic Gold
9:04 PM Ethiopia's Deriba Merga, Kenyan and Morocco in the lead
9:11 PM 21 mile mark Deriba still in the lead pack near Peking University
9:16 PM Merga and Wanjiru of Kenya sharing water they are in the lead.
9:21 Deriba is fading looks tired and he is now in third place Wanjiru of Kenya is leading followed by Morocco
Run Deriba Run ...
9:27 Kenya's Wanjiru way ahead almost at Bird's Nest
9:32: Kenya's Wanjiru has a significant lead on track to win the first Olympic gold medal for Kenya
Kenya's Wanjiru wins Kenya's first Olympic Gold in Marathon Morocco wins the Silver medal.
Deriba just arrives at the Stadium Tesgaye Kebede is following him at 4th place
Tsegaye Kebede came from behind and finished third. Merga runs out of gas
Ethiopia - In Pictures Beijing 2008 Olympics
Team Ethiopia had successful games at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing finishing 18th in the medal counts with 4 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. Here is Team Ethiopia in pictures. nazret is proud to have covered the 2008 Olympics for Team Ethiopia more than any other. If you have missed any of the coverage for Beijing 2008, you can find the entire archive in our Beijing 2008 special section.
Medal Ceremony
Kenenisa Bekele wins Men's 5000m
Tirunesh Dibaba wins gold in Women's 5000m
Kenenisa Bekele Smashed Olympic Record in 10,000m
Tirunesh Dibaba wins 10,000m, breaks Olympic record
Team Ethiopia had a magnificent Olympic in Beijing
Ranking Summary
- 18th in the World
- 2nd in Africa
- 5th in Athletics
Ethiopia has just concluded the second most successful Olympic in history by medal counts. Only in Sydney, did Ethiopia win more medals. Team Ethiopia won a total of 7 medals; 4 gold medals, 1 silver and 2 bronze, finishing 18th in the world and 2nd in Africa. In Athletics, Ethiopia finished 5th in the world after United States, Russia, Jamaica and Kenya. It was only short of the record in Sydney by 1 bronze medal when Ethiopia won a record 4 gold medals, 1 Silver and 3 bronze medals in 2000 in Sydney.
Tirunesh Dibaba made history by becoming the first woman ever to win double gold in the 5000m and 10,000m in Olympics. Also Kenenisa Bekele became the second Ethiopian after Mirtus Yifter, to win double gold medals in 5000m and 10,000m, making him the first Ethiopian to win 3 gold medals in Olympic, a record for any athlete in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has also came close to winning a medal in Men's 3000m Steeplechase for the first time since 1980, when rising star Yakob Jarso finished 4th. In the Women's 3000m Steeplechase, Zemzem Ahmed broke the national record in the event finishing 7th. In the Men's marathon, Team Ethiopia has done more than many anticipated with all three team members finishing in the top 7 and Tsegaye Kebede taking the bronze medal with Deriba Merga finishing 4th and Gashaw Asfaw finishing 7th.
Ethiopia has performed poorly in the Women's Marathon where two of the runners, Gete Wami and Berhane Adere, dropping out with out finishing. Relatively Dire Tune did well, finishing in 15th place.
Another poor performance was in the Men's 1500m and Women's 1500m where no one managed to advance to the finals.
Ethiopia has sent a total of 36 athletes plus a boxer to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Boxer Getachew Molla was disqualified for not meeting the weight requirement before he even enters the ring. The team participated in both Men's and Women's 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, 10,000m and Marathon. Ethiopia was able to sweep the gold medals in 5000m, and 10,000m confirming its supremacy in long distance running.
Overall, Beijing Olympics has been quite successful for Team Ethiopia, what do you think?
Have Your Say
Olympic Medals By Year since 1960.
| Year | Athlete | Medal | Event | Host |
| 2008 | Tirunesh Dibaba | Gold |
10,000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Tirunesh Dibaba | Gold |
5000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Kenenisa Bekele | Gold |
10,000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Kenenisa Bekele | Gold |
5000m | Beijing | 2008 | Sileshi Sihine | Silver |
10,000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Meseret Defar | Bronze |
5000m | Beijing |
| 2008 | Tsegaye Kebede | Bronze |
Marathon | Beijing |
| 2004 | Meseret Defar | Gold |
5000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Kenenisa Bekele | Gold |
10,000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Kenenisa Bekele | Silver |
5000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Sileshi Sihine | Silver |
10,000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Ejegayehu Dibaba | Silver |
10,000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Tirunesh Dibaba | Bronze |
5000m | Athens |
| 2004 | Derartu Tulu | Bronze |
10,000m | Athens |
| 2000 | Millon Wolde | Gold |
5000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Derartu Tulu | Gold |
10,000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Haile Gebrselassie | Gold |
10,000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Gezahgne Abera | Gold |
Marathon | Sydney |
| 2000 | Gete Wami | Silver |
10,000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Tesfaye Tola | Bronze |
Marathon | Sydney |
| 2000 | Assefa Mezgebu | Bronze |
10,000m | Sydney |
| 2000 | Gete Wami | Bronze |
5000m | Sydney |
| 1996 | Haile Gebrselassie | Gold |
10,000m | Atlanta |
| 1996 | Fatuma Roba | Gold |
Marathon | Atlanta |
| 1996 | Gete Wami | Bronze |
10,000m | Atlanta |
| 1992 | Derartu Tulu | Gold |
10,000m | Barcelona |
| 1992 | Fita Bayissa | Bronze |
5000m | Barcelona |
| 1992 | Addis Abebe | Bronze |
10,000m | Barcelona |
| 1980 | Miruts Yifter | Gold |
5000m | Moscow |
| 1980 | Miruts Yifter | Gold |
10,000m | Moscow |
| 1980 | Mohamed Kedir | Bronze |
10,000m | Moscow |
| 1980 | Eshetu Tura | Bronze |
3000m Steeplechase | Moscow |
| 1972 | Miruts Yifter | Bronze |
10,000m | Munich |
| 1972 | Mamo Wolde | Bronze |
Marathon | Munich |
| 1968 | Mamo Wolde | Gold |
Marathon | Mexico City |
| 1968 | Mamo Wolde | Silver |
10,000m | Mexico City |
| 1964 | Abebe Bikila | Gold |
Marathon | Tokyo |
| 1960 | Abebe Bikila | Gold |
Marathon | Rome |
Medal Table for African countries
| Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total | |
| Kenya | 5 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| Ethiopia | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Zimbabwe | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Cameroon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Tunisia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nigeria | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Algeria | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Morocco | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| South Africa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sudan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Egypt | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mauritius | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Togo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
All Team Ethiopia Video now available from NBC.
High Quality Video from NBC Click here to watch
Marathon Video now available from NBC. Click here for all Team Ethiopia videos from NBC
Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia comes from behind and wins Bronze medal in Men's Marathon
Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia comes from behind and wins Bronze medal in Men's Marathon, Deriba Merga who was in the lead pack for most of the race finished 4th. Kenya's Wanjiru wins Kenya's first ever Olympic gold medal in Marathon. Morocco finished second and takes the Silver. Well done for team Ethiopia.
Congratulations Kenya!!! You finally made it, Olympic Gold Medal in Marathon
We all Ethiopians should be proud of Team Ethiopia's performance today in the Marathon.
Tsegaye Kebede gets the bronze, Deriba Merga finished 4th and Gashaw Asfaw finished 7th. Great job !!! Eritrea's Yared Asmerom finished 8th, not bad result for someone with little experience in marathon.
GO AFRICA !!! How about that !!!
Men's Marathon Results
1. WANSIRU Samuel Kamau Kenya
2. GHARIB Jaouad Morocco
3. KEBEDE Tsegay Ethiopia
4. MERGA Deriba Ethiopia
5. LEL Martin Kenya
6. ROTHLIN Viktor Switzerland
7. ASFAW Gashaw Ethiopia
8. ASMEROM Yared Eritrea
9. RITZENHEIN Dathan United States
10. HALL Ryan United States
35. KIFLE Yonas Eritrea
MESFN Tesfayohannes Eritrea Did not Finish
KIBET Luke Kenya Did not Finish
Here is how BBC's online reporter puts it, to what has happened today in the Bird's Nest.
"241: It's practically a sprint finish for bronze between Ethiopia's Deriba Merga and Tsegay Kebede... Kebede glides past! How gutting must that be for Merga, who's been up with the leading pack for miles and miles, but now he's run out of puff at the crucial moment. Kebede pushes himself home for bronze and it's fourth - the worst place to finish at the Games - for Merga. How tempted would you have been to trip the other guy up? I feel for him" BBC
----------
Oh man, at least they are both part of Team Ethiopia. Tsegaye Kebede said something to Deriba Merga when he passes him in the last few hundred meters, I just wonder what he said to him, "Nefse yikerta engde" I don't know. Nice job Tsegaye and Deriba
---------
Team Ethiopia in Men's Marathon running under way Tune to NBC and Watch Live now (for our readers in America).
Deriba Merga No. 1650 DOB Oct 26 1980 Personal Best 2:06:38
Tsegay Kebede No. 1651 DOB Jan 15 1987 Personal Best 2:06:40
Gashaw Asfaw No. 1652 DOB Sep 25 1978 Personal Best 2:08:03
Post your comments during commercial break ...
8:15 PM ET Eritrean leading at mile 9
8:15 PM ET Deriba Merga looking good in the front pack
8:17 PM Ethiopian and Eritreans sharing water nice
8:28 Deriba Merga in lead 12 mile mark. Deriba is "too aggressive" commentator
8:39 "An amazing Ethiopia tradition dating back to 1960 when Abebe Bikila became the first African athlete to win the gold medal
Deriba Merga running very well " commentator
8:43 Lead Pack Deriba of Ethiopia, Kifle of Eritrea and 2 from Kenya and 1 from Morocco Mile 12
8:46 Tsegay Kebede what a story used to make 30 cents a day as a day laborer carrying wood now he makes up to $100,000. Go Tegeaye!!!
Run Deriba Run ...
8:56 Deriba leads Mile 18 pace is past Kifle of Eritrea is slowing down
8:58 Kenyan and Deriba Merga in the front. Deriba Merga is looking good. Please please Merga make my day
9:00 PM Commercial break. Kenya has never won Olympic gold medal in the Marathon. Could Ethiopia win its 6th Olympic Gold
9:04 PM Ethiopia's Deriba Merga, Kenyan and Morocco in the lead
9:11 PM 21 mile mark Deriba still in the lead pack near Peking University
9:16 PM Merga and Wanjiru of Kenya sharing water they are in the lead.
9:21 Deriba is fading looks tired and he is now in third place Wanjiru of Kenya is leading followed by Morocco
Run Deriba Run ...
9:27 Kenya's Wanjiru way ahead almost at Bird's Nest
9:32: Kenya's Wanjiru has a significant lead on track to win the first Olympic gold medal for Kenya
Kenya's Wanjiru wins Kenya's first Olympic Gold in Marathon Morocco wins the Silver medal.
Deriba just arrives at the Stadium Tesgaye Kebede is following him at 4th place
Tsegaye Kebede came from behind and finished third. Merga runs out of gas
12:29:35 pm, by nazret.com, 424 words, 375 views Ethiopia - Kenenisa becomes the first Ethiopian to win 3 Olympic Gold Medals
Kenenisa Bekele not only becomes the second Ethiopian ever to double the 5000m and 10,000m gold medals in Olympic, he has now made history to become the first Ethiopian ever to win 3 Olympic gold medals in his career. He has won more Olympic gold medals tha
