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Meles SpeaksBy Tedla Yeneakal Q- The Prime Minister of Somalia has said that if Baidowa is invaded, Ethiopia and Kenya will come in support of the transitional government... PM Meles - The recent occupation of Kismayu by the Union of Islamic Court contradicts the agreement that has been signed in Khartoum . The pattern of behavior that appears in the recent months whereby the Islamic courts signed cease fire agreements and as soon as they were able to they went to expand their area of control. If this process continues in this manner, it would not be good for the peace process.
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Meles SpeaksBy Tedla Yeneakal Q- The Prime Minister of Somalia has said that if Baidowa is invaded, Ethiopia and Kenya will come in support of the transitional government... PM Meles - The recent occupation of Kismayu by the Union of Islamic Court contradicts the agreement that has been signed in Khartoum . The pattern of behavior that appears in the recent months whereby the Islamic courts signed cease fire agreements and as soon as they were able to they went to expand their area of control. If this process continues in this manner, it would not be good for the peace process. We believe that their occupation of Kismayu is an unwelcome development. It jeopardizes the dialogue that resulted in a number of civilian deaths as a result of the protest of the residents against the occupation by the Islamic courts militia. As far as the invasion of Baidowa is concerned, we have said on a number of occasions that the transitional government recognized by the international community as a whole and supported by the African Union, can not and should not be removed by force and all attempts to do so will be unwelcome for Ethiopia and for the rest of the international community. I am not sure as to what Kenya plans to do. As far as Ethiopia is concerned, we have made our stand abundantly clear that such developments are intolerable. Q- Ethiopia's agriculture led economic growth has reportedly grown by 10%. What is Ethiopia 's annual crop production in 2004 and 2005 and can we say that Ethiopia has become fully self sufficient? PM - For this budget year, 2005-6, the estimates are still evolving and are under revision. As far as the construction sector is concerned, this has had an impact on the overall growth rate for this fiscal year. As regards to the agricultural sector, there has not been any revision that I am aware of and as you rightly said, agricultural growth has been 10% for the past three years. In terms of total production of crops, I believe the total is in the range of 13 million tones or so. As far as our back study shows, we would need up to 20 million tones to be fully self sufficient. Q- As the situation worsen in Somalia, will Ethiopia be prepared to intervene without waiting for the UN Security Council to lift the arms embargo? PM - Our hope and expectation is that there won't be any such need and we hope that the Security Council will act in view of the fact that IGAD and the African Union have called the Security Council to partially lift the embargo. I can not see how the Security Council would not act accordingly. In any case, I would not want to speculate to act outside the Council's mandate. We would like to point out the fact that, in Baidowa we have an internationally recognized government and it has the right to defend itself like everyone and it has the right to seek assistance to defend itself. The Security Council's decision in my view does not affect in any way the inherent right of a constituted government. Q-What are the major weaknesses that have been identified in your recent party meetings during the evaluation and how are you going to improve on them? PM - In the party congress we have had recently, we have reviewed our performance in the last three years. We feel that our performance in terms of economic growth has been quite good; nevertheless there is still room for improvement. We believe that we need to do more in the pastoralists' areas of the country that have not benefited as much as for example, the surplus producing regions. We believe that more work should be done in the urban areas as opposed to the rural areas; we feel that women and youth have not been as actively involved in the process as they should. In terms of governance, we feel that we have done less well in governance, capacity building and democratization as compared to the economic growth. We have had our civil service reform program but have not progressed as much as we had hoped. We have had a very important capacity building program. There has been some achievement in this regard and therefore developed plans to revamp our work in the area of capacity building, civil service program and democratization as a whole. Q- Some military officers have defected to Eritrea . We are wondering what is going on in the military? PM- As part of our civil service reform program, we have developed a reform program in the army. It has been under implementation for the past six months now and in the process of this reform program, serious weaknesses have been identified, involving among other things, infiltration into the army by certain groups. So the military has in the past six months been involved in cleaning up its house. Some, who have been aware of this program, have run off. Q- Why don't you accept the boundary commission's decision to turn over the town of Badme to Eritrea to end this conflict? PM- We have on a number of occasions highlighted the problems of the Boundary Commission's decision itself. Openly, publicly and repeatedly we have accepted the Boundary Commission's decision in spite of our reservations. We recognize that in the end this is a decision by a boundary commission and its decisions are final and binding Therefore we have accepted it as such. Anybody who knows about delimitation and demarcation, these are two separate steps. The Boundary Commission's decision is a delimitation decision. One, the boundary is delimited, demarcating the delimited is a second step and when demarcating boundaries, there is always room for adjustment, when it comes to the implementation level. Adjustments are carried out through dialogue on the implementation of the decision; we are not questioning the decision itself. We believe we have done what is expected of us under the Algiers ' agreement. As to whether resolving this problem would necessarily bring peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea , it is a very open question. I have no reason to believe that Eritrea has boundaries with Darfur but as everybody knows Eritrea is deeply involved in the destabilization of Darfur . In my view the key problem is not the border; the key problem is the strategy of the Eritrean government, which is one of destabilizing the region. Until and unless such an approach by the Eritrean government is changed and it starts to behave like a normal state it is difficult to see how we could achieve peace. Q- Can you elaborate in what sense is Eritrea destabilizing Darfur ? PM- I think it's in the public records of institutions such as the Security Council. Eritrea has been training, arming and harboring the armed opposition in Darfur . I believe the Security Council is well aware of this fact. Q- There are reports of judges and journalists leaving the country protesting the justice system of the country and seeking asylum abroad, do you think this signals a loss of trust in your government? PM- With regards to defection of journalists or judges, I believe that sometimes it is not easy to travel as a normal person to get visas and residence permit. If you claim to be refugee of some sort in other countries, but people, if they feel like going, they would be free to do so. As to whether there are problems within the government, I don't thinkso. As I said, the army for example was aimed at cleaning its house and it was part of our program to clean up. Q-How do you respond to some official reports that Ethiopian troops have been and are in Somalia ? PM- We do have people who are training within the security elements of the transitional government but we do not have an armed presence as such. If and when we have such presence, it will not be possible to disguise it, nor will we be interested in disguising it. Q- Haw many troops do you have in Baidowa doing training with the transitional government with Somalia ? PM- I don't have the exact number of our people training in Baidowa but I would be surprised if they were as many as 400. Q- There was a great deal of hope by the public and it was mentioned in your party meeting about term limitation of a party leader, according to my information this was decided to be postponed. Why is the EPRDF reluctant to limit the term in the government and leadership roles? PM- Indeed there was discussions whether term limit would be applicable to party leadership positions. A study was made to see if there are experiences in that regard and the study suggests that there are very few experienced in party membership and party leadership. Nevertheless, the party has made the decision to facilitate the emergence of new leadership with special emphasis on the youth and women. This would be done through the normal process of due elections. In this regard there have been some changes made in the leadership of the EPRDF and we expect more changes as we go along. Q- One major area of people's dissatisfaction in the government is the issue of fair and speedy justice, in this light an ideological debate on why EPRDF is adamant not to have an independent concerned constitutional justice appointed by parliament, people whose constitutional rights have been violated can not go to the house of federation, a political body that is highly dominated by your party, 15 years in power and 1 0 years since the constitution is at work, why haven't you established an independent constitutional court? PM- Interpretation of the constitution is an inherently political issue. Constitution is a contract of citizens and governments. An independent court becoming an interpreter of the constitution, which was started in the United States and was not started for the purpose that you are mentioning. They are referring to the federalist papers that were written by the originators of the American constitution as to why they chose to have the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution. It has nothing to do with the rights of citizens as such. It had everything to do with suspicions that the mob or the mass would be able to contain their urge to dispossess people. At a political, philosophical level, we do not see any reason why our process of constitutional order would be inferior. As a result we have no plan to change and we do not believe that there is a problem as far as respecting constitutional rights. People have the right to go to court; if a law passed by parliament is considered to be consistent with the constitution or not, that is passing final judgment on the powers of the legislative body is giving it to a few judges in my view. For protection of peoples' rights is clearly enshrined in our constitution and people have reported to the courts when their rights are violated. What we do not have in this country is a court which decides on laws passed by the legislator. We feel this is the right democratic approach. Q- Why were the party conferences held at this particular time? What unique feature does it have unlike the previous ones? What were the major weaknesses of the party identified by the congress? PM- The reason we held the Congress in September, is that members of EPRDF suggested the congress must be held every two and a half years, however the leadership of the party has the right to postpone the congresses for six months. We reviewed the experience of the past three years, our performance in all sectors of the economy, governance and peace. A number of unique features could be sighted as it is the first time that we have had considerable growth in the past three consecutive years in our economy, we feel that we have achieved our target and secondly for the first time we have had non party members participating in the conferences, from the private sectors as well as professional associations and a number of individuals from abroad were present as observers at the congress. As far as the internal issues are concerned revaluation of the congress is that the public relations activity of the public was very weak particularly so before the 2005 elections. Its organizational work has been neglected to some extent and after the elections there were some improvements that were made. For example, prior to the 2005 elections the number of members of the EPRDF were in the range of 700,000 since then massive recruitment drive have been taking place and we currently have 4 million members. The recruitment drive was focused on the youth and woman. Q-In light of critical issues that needed to be addressed in the New York heads of State summit recently, why don't you prioritize the meeting that you did not take part in it? PM- There are times when I participate and when I don't. It depends on the menu and the agenda for discussion. During the current general assembly meeting on the side line the issue of Darfur was going to be discussed among the peace and Security Council. As Ethiopia is a member of the peace and Security Council, it was represented by capable representatives within the government; on the whole I felt the party congress was more important than the UN summit. When I feel that the needs of my people are served on my behalf I do so, if I feel that is not the case I would decide otherwise. There is a general assembly every year and not all heads of state participate in this summit, sometimes they do sometimes they don't based on the agenda. Q-As you know there is hyper-inflation prevailing at the moment and the price of consumer goods have risen affecting your people added to this the price of fuel has gone up to the extent that we are buying fuel nearly a dollar per liter, there is discrepancy in the rate of inflation, the government says it is around 12% and the independent economists whom we talk to say 14 %. Will there be any adjustments to reduce this hardship? PM- I don't know how these independent economists get their data. There is a survey designed with the participation of experts from the United Nations and the World Bank and that is the data that ever body evaluates the inflation in Ethiopia . Hyperinflation is a term usually used for inflation rates that are in three digits, we are no where close to it. Mesfin Industrial wins duty-free license plate contractBy Tedla Yeneakal Mesfin Industrial Engineering PLC, one East Africa's largest industrial engineering companies which operates under the auspices of the ruling EPRDF as an endowment company, is to manufacture new plates for duty-free imported cars after entering an agreement with the Road and Transport Authority, reliable sources disclosed. The need for new plates to identify duty-free imported vehicles came after officials at the Ministry of Revenue launched random searches on the streets of the capital in a bid to seize what they claim are vehicles transferred to third parties without duty paid to the government. The Ministry suspects that close to 144 vehicles were imported with forged documents, avoiding duties, and were sold to third parties in violation of the government's goodwill directive issued in 2001. According to sources, the government extended the deadline until mid-October for individuals to pay their dues and the new plates are expected to be issued before the deadline ends. About five years ago the government issued the directive to exempt Ethiopians who lived abroad for over five years, those working at international organizations and members of diplomatic missions, from paying duty on vehicles and personal items brought into the country. The Ministry of Revenue claims that after the new directive was issued over 10,000 vehicles were imported, particularly from the Middle East , losing the government one billion Birr in duties. Sources at Mesfin Industrial told Capital that the new plates have a different design and color and will have the mark D.F (Duty Free) in English and KE. NE in Amharic ( Kerete Netsa ) as opposed to the current plates which indicate the town where the vehicle was registered. The marketing department of Mesfin Industrial Engineering refused for comments, saying it had no information at hand on the subject. Mesfin Industrial, a manufacturing and industrial engineering company, d esigns, manufactures and installs equipment and components for the energy, mining, manufacturing transport and agriculture sectors. ETC to suspend more officialsBy Groum Abate The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) is going to suspend more officials in addition to five others previously suspended. Sources at the corporation told Capital that the committee set up to clear up the corruption case involving Customer Billing and Billing System project, also identified other officials working. However, those who were suspended, according to sources are not directly connected with the project but they were fired because they have objected to a the recent memorandum of understanding with the four Chinese companies. They said that other companies should also have the chance to participate on the tender and that it should not be limited to Chinese companies only. The officials were informed of the decision in the letter distributed to them on Friday, September 22. Abayneh Abebe, former Telecom Business Service Department Head, Asfaw Hailemariam, former Information Technology and Data Service Department Head, and Abebe Belayneh, former Corporate Planning and Business Development Department Head were suspended from their positions. Furthermore, Abdulsemed Hussein Deputy Executive Officer of Operations and Badeg Kebede Chief Information Officer were also temporarily relived of positions. The suspended employees had been working for the corporation from three up to 30 years. According to sources, the suspended employees are to appeal to higher authorities protesting the suspension. According to our sources, the latest decision came after the recent reshuffling process at the corporation which also goes up to the higher management level that reaches to the managing director. City to start issuing title deeds mid-OctoberBy Groum Abate The Addis Ababa City Caretaker Administration will start issuing title deeds by mid-October for individuals who have acquired land in the city, sources from the municipality disclosed to Capital . The Caretaker Administration has not given any deeds for individuals ever since it took but urban plots of 2000sqm have been granted free of lease to some 26 African countries and other diplomatic missions residing in Addis Ababa. According to sources, the delay for the caretaker administration not to issue title deeds to individuals came after the appointment of the caretaker administration. The administration suspended giving title deeds for reasons related to efficiency but is to resume after six months. In a related development, the Metropolitan Transport and Communication Branch Office announced that it has assigned 146 medium-scale buses to serve as taxis to alleviate the transport problem in the city. The buses will serve areas affected by transport shortages. The assignment of the medium scale buses was made following an agreement made between the Office and Public Transport Owners' Association. The Addis Ababa City Caretaker Administration approved a budget of over 5.1 billion birr for the 1999 EC fiscal year. Ministry to construct 400,000 housesBy Eskinder Michael The EPRDF's ambitious plans of building an airtight infrastructure was yet displayed as the Ministry of Works and Urban Development announced that it was getting ready to construct 400,000 houses in the coming four years. Condominiums will be constructed in 33 towns in Addis Ababa , Oromia, Tigray, Amhara, SNNP states and the design for the construction of the condominiums (this fiscal year) has already been sent to the regions. The catch, however, is that the construction of the low cost houses would start with a healthy and generous 16 million birr loan coming from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). While Addis Ababa gets the biggest chunk of the 16 million birr (8 million birr), the other regions get to share the remaining 8 million to launch the construction of the houses. The construction sector, according to many, employs the largest number of people in Ethiopia next to agriculture. An extra 200,000 people are expected to be employed in towns where the constructions will take place. The regional governments are, however, still expected to provide more land and loans for this plan to become a reality. The plan was announced at a workshop organized for journalists in connection with the World Habitat Day. Representatives of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Action Professionals Association, Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA) were present at the workshop and were quoted as pledging continuing support for the plan. About 3,000 extension workers have received training and will take part in the construction in all the regions. Cargo scanning machine to officially start operationBy Tedla Yeneakal An ultra modern 50 million birr cargo machine will be officially inaugurated after two weeks in the presence of higher officials from the Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL) and Customs Authority. The scanning machine has been installed in Mile, about 540 km from Addis Ababa and 400 km from the Djibouti border and when operational, the work load at other customs stations – Awash, Metehara, Kaliti and Galafi – will be eased as the new machine is deemed very effective. Galafi, a town in Afar bordering Djibouti used to be a vital check point, with hundreds of incoming and outbound trucks congregating daily at the customs station and was installed by a company called Pan African Construction Company at a cost of 30 million birr while other construction and installation work has cost 20 million birr. The installation of the machine and related construction took a total of two years. For the purpose, the government has trained 10 engineers, technicians and electricians were trained in China for two weeks followed by 10 more training days upon their return at the Ethiopian National Radiation Center . The sources also said that the customs point was built by Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL) on behalf of the Ethiopian Customs Authority (ECA) and the latter would pay the former the money in installment method. Trucks coming from Djibouti will have to go through the scanner and the goods that they are carrying will be displayed on a computer and will be checked to see whether the goods they are carrying are according to their documents. Illegal and contraband goods could be identified. While going through the scanner, the trucks will also be weighed and will be informed if they exceed the limit. One of the reasons for installing such a state of the art machine is that the amount of cargo entering Ethiopia through Djibouti has increased. This modern cargo scanning machine is the first of its kind in Ethiopia . ETC employee disappear with 2 mln brBy Groum Abate An employee of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has disappeared with two million birr after selling Mobile and public phone prepaid cards. Sources told Capital that the employee disappeared with the money from its office after taking an annual leave. These sources also said that the Ayer Tena branch in the Southern Region of the Corporation has not been audited for a long time and this had led to the robbery. The corporation usually audits the sale of mobile and public phone cards everyday. However, this particular branch office has not been monitored. According to our sources, the employee disappeared with a sum of money such as the corporation had never lost before. The corporation estimates that it sells up to 700,000 birr worth of prepaid mobile and public phone cards in each of its outlets. African media must find its own voiceBy our staff reporter “The engine that drives a nation is not its physical wealth, or impressive inventory of sophisticated technological gadgetry, but the informed minds of its constituency,” said Professor Abiyi R. Ford, Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism and Communications of Addis Ababa University, at the Eastern African sub-regional consultation meeting on strengthening African media, held in Nairobi on 25-26 th September 2006. The professor made the remark in relation to the role that a responsible media has in promoting equitable development. Over 50 representatives of the media and stakeholders from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia and Ethiopia met in Nairobi to deliberate on strategic means of how best to strengthen media institutions and their democratic development potential in Africa. More often than not, the western models of media and communication adopted by African media practitioners are not wholly suitable for Africa . The development of western media went hand in hand with the social changes in their societies, said Prof Abiyi Ford. This made media practitioners to have a closer understanding of public desire which gave them the respect of citizens and government. Although this is a goal African media should strive to adopt, western media practices will not be the answer toward creating a viable African media as modern media was used as one of the tools of colonialism and post colonial repression. In the West the media is considered as the ‘fourth estate' in society, after the executive, judiciary, and legislative branches, and acts as a watchdog over government's actions. However, African media cannot claim this position yet, as it and the state are often on adversarial terms rather than being complementary as in the west. This places African media practitioners at risk, since they consider themselves as absolute judges of the government and the latter feel threatened by this. ‘Who watches the watchdog' then becomes the issue. In his paper, Theoretical Framework: Man, Information and Society, where he outlined the challenges faced by African media in the goal of becoming a tool of development, Prof. Abiyi Ford appreciated that “… at long last, there is a growing trend by scholars to seriously consider the anthropology of mass communication as the keystone to the formulation of new paradigms for development.” Major concerns cited at the conference were the low participation of women in the media and sexual harassment, the need for quality training, the general lack of respect for mass communication training, even within academic circles, and brain drain from journalism practice, as well as the absence of a credible journalistic review in the region. Ineffective media monitoring and weak professional media associations in the region were also highlighted as concerns. The poor terms of journalists and violation of their rights, lack of capacity, corruption in the media, advertising driven content, - in brief the vicious cycle created by the poverty of the media - were among the themes that emerged from the discussions. Among the other speakers was Mr. Ezekiel Mutua, Secretary General of the Kenya Union of Journalists who, in his presentation on the Future of an Endangered Profession: Freedom of the Press, Ethics, and Journalists' Welfare , laid out the situation in an uncompromising way saying: “despite token improvements registered in a few countries over the last six months, the obtained situation in the region paints an ugly picture of the dilemma of the journalist and the disintegration of the practice. The trend is taking a scarier dimension where media houses, institutions and facilities are not spared the wrath of the enemy of the free press.” He reminded the audience that a total of 338 journalists worldwide have been killed and jailed in the last ten years as per the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) account. The issue of regulation and policy was discussed at length along with the media-monopolies, the lack of regulation of advertising, and the new challenges posed by technological advances, among other issues. The abuse of intellectual property rights by media houses, bad governance within media houses, media houses and practitioners turning on each other were among the themes that transpired during the discussion. The way forward should start primarily by establishing dialogue between government and media, between media owners and media practitioners. The two-day intensive meeting in Nairobi which Capital attended was a follow up of the initial brainstorming session held in Addis Ababa in March 2006 with the support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and facilitated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The Nairobi conference was organized by the African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) in conjunction with the Strengthening Africa's Media Secretariat at the UNECA. Ethio-Belgian centennial markedBy Mina Yirga On the occasion of the 100 th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Belgium , a drawing competition was held in Addis Ababa between schools from 9 sub-cites at Dile Ber High School Hall on September 30, 2006. The 900 competing students, all below 15 years of age, were given photographs of different cultural heritages and renowned buildings in Belgium so that they can get an inspiration for their paintings. Simultaneously, 200 Belgian students will also perform a similar drawing competition in their home towns. Photographs of Axum, and Lalibela were presented for them to gain a look at Ethiopia . The occasion intends to strength the relations between Ethiopian and Belgian children and will feature a cross checking of knowledge among contesting students' in both countries. Lack of funding forces ETC to reopen bids in mobile expansionBy Groum Abate The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has failed to secure a fund for the projects planned in the coming five years, including the seven million mobile lines the corporation hoped to install. Recently, three Chinese companies signed a memorandum of understanding to increase the standard and the infrastructure of telecom services in Ethiopia . Sources told Capital that other telecom companies have also been invited to participate in the projects, where, if they get the loan, the contract would be given to the company that secures the loan. The project of the corporation will expand the network of mobile, fixed and wireless telephone services as well as the optical fiber line network in the rural and urban area of over 2,000 kebeles in the country. ZTE Corporation, Huawei Technologies Company and Chinese International Telecommunication Construction Corporation are the three companies ETC picked to implement the telecom service project. ETC has been perusing various strategies to secure financing required for the implementation of the telecom infrastructure projects. According to officials, due to the size and complexity of the projects, the Corporation has devised a scheme whereby telecom equipment suppliers will make use of this opportunity and arrange a vendor financing scheme so that they can supply goods and services as may be required by the project. The Corporation had designed a strategic plan for the years 2007-2010 to extend the infrastructure estimated to cost close to 2.4 billion dollars. Among the strategic plans are an increase in the number of mobile users to seven million from 1.5 million and expansion of the fixed telephone network capacity, which is now one million to four million, and the deployment of optical fiber network from 4,000km to 10,000km. Fifth African Development Forum to focus on youth and leadershipBy our staff reporter The Fifth African Development Forum, a multi-stakeholder platform for debating, discussing and initiating concrete strategies for Africa 's development, is to take place from November 16-18 at the United Nations Conference Center. The Forum, initiated in 1999, has already been held four times with very good concrete outcomes including the initiation of a program to support national ICT policy formulation and implementation in Africa . The fifth forum will be organized under the theme "Youth and Leadership in the 21 st Century" by the Economic Commission for Africa with the Africa Union and in collaboration with other stakeholders in African development. The decision to devote the Fifth African Development Forum (ADF-V) to youth is a frank acknowledgement by various stakeholders that political stability, social solidification, and economic prosperity lies in harnessing the capacities of the youth. Globally, youth concerns have been receiving increasing attention. The World Bank, for example, is devoting its 2007 edition of the World Development Report to youth under the theme, "Development and the Next Generation". In October 2005, following the review of progress on implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY), the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution reaffirming WPAY, which called upon governments to develop, in consultation with youth organizations, holistic and integrated youth policies based on WPAY. Furthermore it requested Regional Commissions to organize regional consultations with Member States and youth organizations in order to evaluate the implementation of the WPAY. The resolution also called upon organizations, programs and specialized agencies in the UN system to enhance inter-agency arrangements on youth policies and programs with a view to improving coordination and enhancing linkages among relevant system activities in this regard. The African Union has already adopted an African Youth Charter that seeks to provide the political framework for youth development on the continent. At the national level several countries have also initiated attempts to develop national youth policies. However, the policy deficiencies in youth development and the gap between the real situation of youth in Africa and the potential contribution youth could make towards the achievement of development on the continent warrants further discussion that would lead to stronger concerted effort in developing our youth at all levels. Liquor factories halt production -Appeal to Girma BirruBy Tedla Yeneakal About 11 liquor factories in the country have halted production due to a shortage of molasses, a key ingredient of the alcoholic drinks obtained from sugar factories, a concerned company owners disclosed. According to the owners of the factories, the lack of molasses may be caused by the factories undergoing maintenance and that the lack of sugar in the market. “The sugar factories should have considered our demand for the molasses and thought beforehand of the crisis we are in,” a desperate owner of one of the liquor companies, employing up to 40 employees, anonymously said. “We do not have direct contact with the sugar companies; our deal is on a third party basis, which made the problem more complicated.” The factories reported losses of thousands of birr after they halted production during the past month, but were unable to give specific figures. As it stands, all the liquor factories have stopped production and have sent their employees home. Some owners told Capital that they felt the shortage was not caused by the maintenance of the sugar factories, but rather the new market trend of selling the byproduct of molasses on the international market. Sources disclosed that the 11 factories have appealed to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Girma Birru, for a remedy to their crisis. After three years, Hawzen Hotel gets a new ownerBy Groum Abate Hawzen Hotel, which was auctioned three years ago, has finally found a new owner. The buyer, who came from Italy , has refurbished the hotel it bought from the development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) for 11 million birr. The hotel has also been renamed the Milano Hotel . DBE repeatedly tried to foreclosed Hawzen Hotel, claming that the hotel couldn't make payments on a loan it took from the bank. But the bank failed to attract potential buyers. The hotel cost a minimum of 11.03 million birr when it was built eight years ago. The hotel, located at Mekelle, Tigray Regional State , has been abandoned for the last three years. Hawzen Hotel was constructed by a private investor by the name of Haileselassie who also owns another hotel in Addis Ababa , the Adwa Hotel, located at the heart of Kazanchis. UNMEE mission extended with warningBy Eskinder Michael With just a few months left in office, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended that the date of the UN monitoring mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea should be extended by six months. The acting United Nations envoy to Ethiopia and Eritrea delivered Annan's latest report to a closed session of the Security Council. It was learnt that Annan has warned of the potential for disaster if the “untenable” stalemate between the two sides is not resolved. The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was reduced to an observatory mission six months ago following the stalemate between the two countries prevented the mission from performing its duties. About a year ago the Eritrean government decided to deny UNMEE helicopters use of its air space, crippling its ability to perform its duties. UNMEE stated that about 45% of its monitoring capacity had been stripped due to the decision and several other Eritrean restrictions. The already heightened tension between the two countries was exacerbated when Somalia considered Ethiopia as an enemy and Eritrea decided to stand firm on its policy of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend' “Four years after the 2002 decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, I remain deeply concerned about the stalemate in the Ethiopia-Eritrea peace process. This is an untenable situation, which, if allowed to fester, could lead intentionally or unintentionally to events with disastrous consequences for the two countries and the whole region.” Annan said in the report. “The situation in the Horn of Africa remains politically tense and fragile. The continuing conflict in Somalia and the unresolved crisis affecting Darfur contribute to the instability affecting the region. Having the foregoing facts in mind, I recommend to the Security Council that it extend the mandate of UNMEE for six months, until 31 March 2007,” he added. Ethiopia and Eritrea plunged into a two year long bloody war that led to the deaths of almost 100,000 on both sides. World Bank tells Africa : invest in youthBy our staff reporter The Middle East and North Africa region alone must create 100 million jobs by 2020 in order to stabilize its employment situation according to a new World Bank report launched at the Bank's Annual Meetings in Singapore. According to the report, young people make up nearly half of the ranks of the world's unemployed, and surveys of young people in East Asia and Eastern Europe and Central Asia — carried out as research for the report — indicate that access to jobs, along with physical security, has been their biggest concern. “Developing countries which invest in better education, healthcare, and job training for their record numbers of young people between the ages of 12 and 24 years of age,” the report says, “could produce surging economic growth and sharply reduced poverty.” Investing in youth has never been a priority until now, proof of which being that over 130 million 15-24 year olds are reportedly unable to read or write. According to the report, secondary education and skill acquisition makes sense only if primary schooling has been successful. This is still far from being the case and efforts have to be reinforced in this area. In addition, more than 20 percent of firms in countries such as Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Estonia, and Zambia, rate poor education and work skills among their workforce as ‘a major or severe obstacle to their operations.' Overcoming this handicap starts with more and better investments in youth. The world is witnessing the largest ever number of youth (1.3 billion youth) and the report believes that there has never been a better time to invest in youth. “Now is the time to invest in youth because they are healthier and better educated than previous generations, and they will join the workforce with fewer dependents because of changing demographics. However, failure to seize this opportunity to train them more effectively for the workplace, and to be active citizens, could lead to widespread disillusionment and social tensions,” it stated. “Such large numbers of young people living in developing countries present great opportunities, but also risks,” says François Bourguignon, the World Bank's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “Most developing countries have a short window of opportunity to get this right before their record numbers of youth become middle-aged, and they lose their demographic dividend. This isn't just enlightened social policy. This may be one of the profound decisions a developing country will ever make to banish poverty and galvanize its economy, ” said Manny Jimenez, lead author of the report, and Direct or of Human Development in the World Bank's East Asia and the Pacific Department. One study attributes more than 40% of the higher growth in East Asia over Latin America in 1965-1990 to progressive policies on macro-economics, trade, education, healthcare, and vocational training, and the faster growth of its working-age population. Countries that miss this demographic window will find themselves lagging increasingly further behind in the global economy. The report says that most policymakers know that their young people will greatly influence their national social and economic fortunes, but nonetheless face acute dilemmas in how to invest more effectively in their youth. The World Development Report identifies three strategic policies that may enhance investment in young people: (1) Expanding opportunities, (2) improving capabilities, and (3) offering second chances for young people who have fallen behind due to difficult circumstances or poor choices. These address five fundamental transitions facing young people and affecting their whole economic, social and family life, namely getting an education, finding work, staying healthy, forming families, and exercising citizenship. Linking oral health and HIV/AIDSBy Mina Yirga A case study indicated that a significant rate of risk behaviors for oral and pre-oral disease were found in the study among HIV/AIDS patients of which 126 (33%) HIV/AIDS male patients', oral and pre-oral lesions occurred in 64.3% of them. The finding was presented at the 20 th annual congress of the First Scientific Meeting Of Ethiopian Association For Dental Research The International Association For Dental Research East and Southern Africa Division from September 28-29 at Africa Hall, ECA. The theme of the first congress in Ethiopia was “Poverty and HIV/AIDS as number one enemies of oral health promotion in Africa .” A cross sectional study was conducted from December 2005-December 2006 on a total of 384 HIV/AIDS patients at the Anti-Retroviral Treatment clinic of Tikur Anbasa hospital. Both oral and pre-oral lesions were significantly associated with means of cleaning teeth, smoking, CD4 level and stage of HIV. As a conclusion, it was indicated that high prevalence of poor oral care (30.7% clean their teeth occasionally and risk oral habits, 14% smoker, alcoholics) were identified. The finding calls for health education to improve, oral care in HIV/AIDS patients and increase awareness of clinicians to examine for oral and pre oral on the presence of risks and advanced disease and further studies on specific oral and pre oral lesions. In related news Dr. Mekonen Neway took over the presidency of IADR from Dr. Susan Mariana from Kenya who had been the from president More Egyptian aid for Dire DawaBy Endale Assefa Mr. Shamel Nasser, Ambassador of Egypt to Ethiopia , disclosed to journalists last Monday, September25, that Egypt , in the framework of its AID program, has presented 223 metric tons of maize to the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency warehouse in Dire Dawa. According to the Ambassador, the donation was presented to help the relief efforts in areas affected by the recent floods. Mr. Nasser also said: “Medical aid of 250,000 Egyptian pounds worth of drugs is on its way to Addis Ababa , donated by the Egyptian Government and expected to arrive in the next few days.” Another consignment from the Egyptian Red Crescent to the Ethiopian Red Cross consisting of wheat flour and rice has already arrived at Djibouti Port and is also expected to reach its destination in Ethiopia within days, the Ambassador explained. It was learnt that Egyptian assistance to Ethiopia in recent times includes 75.5 tons of rice and wheat in August 2005 through the Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Africa, 855 kg of drugs to the Ministry of Health in March 2006, a gift of 170 metric tons of locally produced maize to the DPPA in May 2006, and 18 metric tons of food and drugs which was one of the first airlifts to respond to the recent flood crisis. Japan grants $355,064 to grassroots causesBy Mina Yirga The Embassy of Japan signed grant contracts with four local organizations for Grant Assistance For Grass Roots And Human Security Projects (GGP) amounting to 355,064 USD on 28 th September 2006 at the Embassy of Japan. The four organizations are Aba Woldetensae Gizaw Mothers And Children's Welfare Association, Gozamen High School Building Committee, Rural Organization For Betterment Of Agro Pastoralists (ROBA) and Save The Children Norway for the project of the Erbore primary school at Hamer, SNNPR. Ambassador Kenjiro Izumi remarked after the grant ceremony that the Grant Assistant For Grass Roots And Human Security Project was designed to be as flexible as possible in order to be effective in meeting the diverse needs of the people it supports and forwarded his hope that the grant amount would make a substantial contribution towards improving the lives of the people of Ethiopia. The recently approved projects of GGP focus on improving health and educational facilities for the benefit of the local communities in Ethiopia . It was learnt that 70,000 people are expected to benefit with adequate health service from Aba Woldetensae Gizaw Mothers And Children Welfare Association and a total of 7,500 school aged children from the remaining three school projects enrolled in the school will benefit from this project every year. Kifle appears in London in chainsBy Eskinder Michael Kifle Mulat, former President of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA), appeared in London with his hands bound in chains, saying that he wanted to portray the struggle of journalists, lawyers and other human rights activists in Ethiopia . Kifle reportedly arrived in chains at a public debate on press freedom and state control in Ethiopia , held at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on 27 September. The former Ethiopian Herald editor, who was invited for the debate in London , is now in exile in Uganda in exile and is on the government's wanted list. He faces charges of treason if he were to return to his country. After becoming President of the EFJA, Kifle has time and again found himself in spats with the government for which he was arrested several times. Though not a favorite of the government, he has received recognition from foreign organizations, most notably when he was awarded the “Human Rights Journalism Under Threat” award by Amnesty International (AI) UK in 2004. According to reports received via the internet from London , Kifle was quoted as saying that there was no press freedom in Ethiopia . He also was quoted as pleading with international journalism organizations to protect the rights of journalists. Though Kifle was the recognized president of the EFJA and elected by his peers, his actions were not liked by the government, prompting the latter to disband and form a new association in its place with another leader. Press freedom has been a highly debated matter in Ethiopia as several journalists have faced jail sentences for various reasons. But the most recent clamp down on the private press came after the government indicted several newspaper owners and editors-in-chief. The individuals were arrested for allegedly inciting violence and are standing trial on charges of treason and attempted genocide. The incidents came following the controversial May 15, 2005, Ethiopian elections. The government recently finished revising a new draft press law that faced strong opposition when it was originally released. The revised draft press law will be discussed by the House of People's Representatives and could be passed soon. World Habitat Day ExhibitionBy Andualem Sisay To mark World Habitat Day, an exhibition was opened in Addis Ababa Exhibition Center on Friday, September 29, 2006. Of the 108 companies displaying their products and services at the exhibition, organized by Afro Dan Pvt. Company, 68 were real estate companies and 40 of investment offices from Ethiopian cities. “By talking to the concerned stakeholders, we decided to celebrate the World Habitat Day by organizing this trade fair,” says Ato Daniel Werkshet, Owner and Manger of Afro Dan Pvt. Company. “We believe that it will help real estate [companies] to create market networks and look for business opportunities in the sector.” The exhibition will be open to the public until Tuesday. The exhibition is sponsored by Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA), Urban Development Forum of NGOs, and “Cities Magnets of Hope”. “Since we have opened our company with around one million USD a year ago using the information we obtained from the Turkish Ambassador in Ethiopia , people have started to know our products.” says S. Ufuk Akgun General Manager of Plaswin PVC Widows and Doors Systems Company. “We have good local markets so far and we are currently working on other investment areas to supply our products from Ethiopia to the neighboring countries. We believe that such an exhibition will help us to identify business opportunities.” City and towns like Awassa, Modjo, Bishoftu, and Tigray are among those showing investment activities in their region. Some regions are represented by their mayors and Investment Heads and it is believed interested investors will be able to get accurate and full information on the spot from the officials. According to Ato Daniel, this is the eighth times that Afro Dan has organized local and international trade fairs since its establishment ten years ago. Ethio- Israel in Tel Aviv , Ethio-Italy in Barrie , Ethio-Turkey in Deli Maier , Ethio-Djibouti in Djibouti are among the international trade fairs organized by the company. Other than organizing trade fairs, the company is also involved in general import and advertisement fields. |
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