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Ethiopian Community Development Program is seeking your help

Ethiopian Community Development Program (ECDP) is pleased to announce the opening of its new office in Washington DC. To better serve you, we are now conveniently located in the heart of Washington DC; at 1020 16th St. NW Suite LL2 Washington DC 20036 (Almost at the corner of 16th & K St. NW).

ECDP is committed to helping build and support a vibrant community. We strive to improve the quality of the lives of our community through various programs. Particularly during the current economic downturn, we provide free services to assist those seeking a job, such as giving references, free resume preparation, counseling, and free advising in preparing for job interviews, etc.

However, we need your assistance to devotedly continue our services and to explore new ways to better serve our community. Whatever your abilities, help us serve our community. Any donation you make ($5, $10, $20, etc), it will serve a good cause.
Monetary donations can be made through our website at www.theecdp.org OR checks can be mailed directly to our office: Ethiopian Community Development Program 1020 16th St. NW Suite LL2 Washington DC 20036. Get involved, help us serve our community!
If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at (202) 621-7398 or (240) 784-0281.
Metro Direction to Our New Office:

When traveling by Metro we are conveniently located only few blocks away from Farragut North. Off of the metro, turn left at K St. NW, turn left at 16th St NW, and we are located at 1020 16th St NW Suite LL2.

ECDP is a non-profit organization. It was established in April 2004 in Washington DC. Its core mission is to help Ethiopian refugees and immigrants as they make the difficult transition from newcomer to a new American.

Ethiopia - Cornerstone laid for “Tirunesh Beijing” Hospital construction

ENA - A cornerstone was laid on Saturday for the construction of a modern referral hospital named after the renowned Olympic gold medalist Tirunesh Dibaba here in the metropolis.

Mayor of the Addis Ababa City Administration, Kuma Demeksa, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, Gu Xiaojie, State Minister of Health, Dr. Kebede Worku and Tirunesh Dibaba laid down the cornerstone.

Speaking at the occasion, the ambassador said the hospital would be constructed in accordance with the eight policy agreements reached at the China-Africa Forum held in Beijing.

The Chinese government will fully cover the more than 97 million Birr budget for the construction of the hospital.

China would also provide various medical equipments for the hospital, he said.

Speaking on her part athlete Tirunesh expressed hope that the hospital would particularly provide efficient services for mothers and children.

The hospital would be constructed in Akaki Sub-City in the metropolis to commemorate the shinning victory of the athlete at Beijing Olympics.

Ethiopia - Gilgel Gibe II Project complets burrowing 26-km tunnel: Manager

ENA - Work on the burrowing of the 26-km tunnel, which transfers water from Gilgel Ghibe I to Gilgel Ghibe II Hydroelectric Power Supply Stations, has been completed after five years.

Gilgel Ghibe II Project Manager, Simegnew Bweleke said on Saturday that the burrowing process was the most difficult part of the construction of the Gilgel Ghibe II Project.

The establishment of the Gilgel Ghibe II Station, which has a capacity of generating 420 megawatt electric power, will not have any negative impact on the natural environment since the station utilizes the water coming from Gilgel Ghibe I.

According to the manager, about 98 percent of the construction of the Gilgel Ghibe II Project has already been finalized consuming some 5 billion Birr.

Ethiopia - Council refers over 64.5 billion Birr national budget to parliament

ENA - Holding its 87th Regular Meeting on Friday, the Council of Ministers held thorough discussions on the 2002 E.C National Draft Budget and passed the bill to the House of Peoples’ Representatives (HPR) for endorsement, Office of the Prime Minister indicated.

A statement from the office told ENA that the council decided to pass the drat bill for annual budget of the country, which amounts to more than 64.5 billion Birr, since the national budget for the coming fiscal year was prepared as per the priority agendas of the incumbent government.

The national budget comprises expenditures foe regular and capital budgets, expenditures for economic activities, provision of the various social services as well as for payments of loans, and other emergencies.

According to the statement, the national budget was also prepared in line with the governments’ policies and strategies aimed at eradicating poverty and bringing about sustainable development across the country.

Accordingly, it said, the regular budget allotted to the coming fiscal year will be over 14.46 billion Birr surpassing the regular budget of the previous year by 7.9 percent.

The capital budget allotted to the 2002 E.C will be more than 29.1 billion Birr, it said, adding the amount of budget earmarked to subsidize regional states will be over 20.9 billion Birr.

Ethiopia - Veterinary health service coverage reaches 70 percent in Afar

ENA - Veterinary health service coverage in Afar State has reached over 70 percent owing to the government’s prime attention to improve livelihood of pastoralists, regional pastoralist, agriculture and rural development bureau said.

Veterinary department head with the bureau, Dr. Gezahegn Eshete told ENA on Thursday that the service has grown following construction of a number of veterinary institutions during the last five years.

About 200 veterinary centers have gone operational while more than 800 veterinarians are providing service in the state.

Construction of veterinary laboratory is well in progress, the head said.

Ethiopian Press Agency endeavoring to realize nation’s vision

ENA - Ethiopian Press Agency said it is striving to realize nation' vision.

The agency held the 7th Annual Print Media Research Conference here on Friday.

Speaking at the 7th Annual Print Media Research Conference here on Friday Agency’s Acting Manager, Sebsebe Kebede said the agency is exerting strenuous effort to ensure democratic and human rights which are stipulated in the nation’s constitution, press and in other laws.

The agency is also working towards realizing the renaissance of the nation.

The manager said the agency has been offering various training for its employees.

The agency is conducting print media research conference aiming at improving the form and the content of newspapers and magazine of the agency periodically, he said.

He said the agency has gained constructive inputs from similar conferences, which entertain the participation of private and government media. The conferences also helped to address the gaps of agency’s products.

Research papers on various themes including Agenda Setting, Newspapers Role in Image Building, Arts Presentation and Readers’ Satisfaction for Addis Zemen daily were presented at the conference.

Over 150 participants drawn from private and government media, MPs and public relation practitioners were in attendance at the day-long conference.

Ethiopia, World Bank ink 245m USD loan agreement

ENA - Ethiopia and World Bank here on Friday signed a loan agreement amounting to 245 million USD, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) said.

As per the accord, World Bank will be assisting Ethiopia in its efforts toward expansion and upgrading of the various roads located at different parts of the country and improve the capacity of stakeholders in the sector.

MoFED Minister, Sufian Ahmed and World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia and the Sudan, Kenichi Ohashi signed the agreement.

After signing the accord, Sufian commends the WB for its renewed commitment in supporting Ethiopia in the road sector development program.

Over 180 million USD of the stated sum will be utilized to finance the upgrading of three roads that include the 89-km Ankober-Awash Arba, 181-km Mekenajo-Dembidolo, and 121-km Wolkitie-Hossana roads, according to the release of the ministry.

The balance will be utilized to finance the provision of technical advisory services, capacity building efforts, network management Studies, and other related activities, it said.

Ethiopia secures 75 million USDs from export of sesame, cotton

ENA -

Ethiopia - IDA’s USD 245mln loan to upgrade three link roads

By Melaku Demissie

The World Bank’s board of executive directors on Tuesday approved a USD 245 million International Development Association (IDA) credit to the Ethiopian government to support its continued effort to finance three link roads upgrading project in different parts of the country. The project will be implemented by the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA).

The credit, according to the bank, is the fourth phase of an Adaptable Program Loan (APL) designed to build, maintain, and improve national roads in the Ethiopia.

The World Bank said that Road Sector Development Stage IV Project (APL4) will continue assisting the government in strengthening and increasing its road transport infrastructure and its institutional efficiency in road sector management.

Under the first component, three link roads, Bekenajo-Dembi Dolo link road (181 km), Welkite-Hosaina link road (121 km), and Ankober-Awash Arba link road (89 km), will be upgraded from gravel to asphalt.

The second component seeks to strengthen and build the capacity of the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) and other agencies. Among the activities to be carried out are a preparatory study toward establishing a highway engineering research center to address weakness in maintenance quality and technology, training activities for ERA, regional roads authorities, and private sector contractors, and capacity building support for woreda administration and local small size labor based contractors.


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Ethiopian Federal Police File Photo

Ethiopia - Federal Police denies human rights abuses

By Bruck Shewareged

Ethiopia's Federal Police director Workneh Gebeyehu said that the federal police does not allow any kind of human rights violations by its members but conceded that there could always be incidents of abuses.

Briefing the parliamentary Standing Committee on Legal and Administrative Affairs, Workneh said that the track record of the police force over the past several years showed that there had been definitely improvements in handling human rights, rejecting accusations by foreign organizations which alleged that the police were involved in gross violations of human rights.

"We don't violate human rights; basically because we want to have good relationship with our citizens, Workneh said.

"I admit that some of our officers could bi people around, and tarnish the entire force's image," he added.


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Ethiopia - Whistle-blowers in danger

By Bruck Shewareged

Ethiopia's Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission head Ali Sulaiman said that whistle-blowers are in real danger as there is no law offering them protection from the persons or groups whom they testified against.

Commissioner Ali, while presenting the Commission's 2008-2009 budget year 10-month performance report to the parliament's Standing Committee on Legal and Administrative Affairs, said that currently there is no law which provides protection to persons who notify the commission of corrupt practices, or who testify against individuals involved in corruption.

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Ethiopia - Over 22 percent of large tax payers declare loss

By Hayal Alemayehu

Over 22 percent of large tax payers engaged in various businesses declared loss for the first nine months of the current Ethiopian fiscal year, it was learnt.

Large tax payers, which include state-owned enterprises and some private companies, represent the tiny portion of tax payers in the country whereas they contribute 90 percent of the overall tax revenue the tax authority collects, according to information gathered from the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA).

ERCA has collected close to eleven billion birr in tax revenues from large tax payers during the reported first nine months of the current fiscal year although close to a third of them declared loss and a major portion of them registered credits and nil profit for the same period in question. The total amount of tax revenues collected during the first nine months of the current fiscal was over 17.3 billion birr, 12 percent short of the target.

While there are 9,953 large tax payers in the country, it was only1785 of them which declared profits for the review period.


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Ethiopia - Gibe II hydropower project closer to joining national power grid

By Melaku Demissie and Firew Abebe

At a critical time when the whole country is under stress due to the power shedding scheme, and when all major manufacturing firms are disconnected from the national power grid, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) announced yesterday that 98 percent of the 420 MW Gilgel Gibe II hydroelectric power project has been completed.

The Gibe II project was expected to be operational in 2008, but the project was delayed for more than a year owing to problems related to natural causes which affected the construction of the tunnel and delayed the operation of earthmoving equipment. Except for the remaining mechanical and cleaning works, the plant is expected to join the national power grid within two months.

Gibe II is a continuation of the Gilgel Gibe I project, which involved the building of a conventional dam with a 917 million cu.m lake and that is capable of generating 184 MW of electric power. The Gibe II project is expected to increase the generating capacity of the country by 30 to 40 percent.


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Ethiopian Airlines plans to establish new airline, regional hub in southern Africa

By Kaleyesus Bekele

Ethiopian Airlines is planning to establish a regional hub in Southern Africa by establishing another airline.

Recently Ethiopian airlines bought a 25 percent stake on ASKY, a newly-established private airline in Togo. Ethiopian is now establishing a regional hub in West Africa, Lome. Girma Wake, CEO, told Airline Business that Ethiopian may ultimately duplicate the model by forming a southern Africa hub. “South is probably the next place we will look to. We are looking from Zambia to Mozambique, Botswana and Malawi,” Girma said.

However, he said his airline does not want to do many things at a time. “We do not want to do many things at once. We want to make sure ASKY is operating profitably first. Starting two carriers at once could cause problems. So we will do it gradually,” he said.

Ethiopian has a strong network in Africa. Today Ethiopian serves 33 destinations and hopes to reach at least 45 by 2015, starting with three additions this year.


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