central African Repblic

This is the ninth edition of Africa 2000-our special page devoted to introducing each African nation to our wide readership. The republics of Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon and Cape Verde have been profiled in the last eight issues and we would like to thank all who e-mailed or called to express enthusiastic appreciation of the informative Africa 2000 country profiles. CAPITAL has noted your suggestions, comments, and frank criticisms and shall endeavor to incorporate them in succeeding issues. Readers will have noted that Africa 2000 is a work in progress. It will attain a permanent format after the readership survey launched last week is completed. The survey will be available online at www.capitalethiopia.com and also as a cut-out questionnaire at the bottom of this page.

Among the e-mailed comments was one from Torit Johnson,a South Sudanese college student and a fresh returnee from peaceful exile in Ethiopia, who wanted to know why the page was called Africa 2000. Well Torit, you may recall our introduction, which clearly stated that the page is dedicated to linking Africa with the new Ethiopian Millennium. This aim is to assist the efforts of the Ethiopian Millennium Festival organizers and also that of the African Union, which decided at the 8th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State that the great occasion shall also be an African celebration. To this end, CAPITAL chose to profile each African nation in alphabetical order. Africa 2000 aptly describes the continent and Ethiopia’s new millennium. Selam! Jambo!

History
The Central African Republic is one of the least known countries in Africa. It was briefly notorious in 1976. when the eccentric then President Jean Bedel Bokassa declared himself Emperor. An admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte and all things French, Bokassa dreamed of establishing a royal dynasty in his resource rich country.
The C.A.R used to be known as Ubangi-Shari until complete independence was gained in 1960. The area was inhabited by various Bantu tribes and had fallen under French control since the late 19th century. The modern history of the C.A.R has been characterized by several coups.
Almost immediately after independence, the C.A.R abolished all political parties and established close links with the Peoples Republic of China. In fact, it was the center of Chinese political influence in Africa up to 1965 when relations were severed, following a military coup which installed to power President Jean-Bedel Bokossa. A decade of misrule later, Bokassa proclaimed himself constitutional emperor in 1976.
During an era in Franco-African relations which saw heavy involvement of France in the domestic politics of its former colonies, Bokassa’s ruthless authoritarian and even bizarre regime was over thrown in a French supported bloodless coup in 1979. Yet another coup brought General Andre’ Kolingba to power in 1981. A true African politician, Kolingba cancelled legislative and presidential elections in 1992 when he sensed he was losing.
Finally, in 1993, new elections replaced Kolingba and the first civilian government took the reins, led by President Ange Felix Patasse.
Unrest in armed forces in 1996 and 1997 was quelled by the French Army. Patasse was nevertheless ousted in 2003 by rebels under former army chief Francois Bozize, who went on to win a presidential run-off election in 2005.
The C.A.R is richly endowed with natural resources including strategic minerals such as uranium and titanium. The country also has fertile soil and abundant water resources. However, there is a great imbalance in distribution of wealth as the modest income from barely exploited deposits hardly reaches the majority of its citizens.

The Big Man

Thuggish rulers have plagued several African nations in the post-colonial period. The "Big Men" have generally taken power in military coups and repressed any disagreement in their nations. Most of the "Big Men" have been uneducated soldiers who were poorly equipped to lead. They often used elaborate displays to impress their people, but their actions sometimes bordered on buffoonery.
Jean-Bedel Bokassa saw himself as a modern Napoleon when he installed himself as "emperor" of the Central African Republic. Bokass’s $22 million "coronation" consumed one quarter of his poor nation's annual revenue. After Bokassa’s overthrow two years later, he was convicted, among other things, of murdering members of his army and poisoning his grandchild. Bokassa personally participated in the massacre of school children who protested against paying for school uniforms bearing Bokassa's picture. Bokassa was exiled after a 1979 coup. He later voluntarily returned to face murder charges for the killing of the school children, and served six years in prison. Bokassa was released in 1993 and died three years later.

Facts and Figures
Location-Almost exact center of Africa, bordered by Chad on North, Sudan on West , DRC on South and Cameroon on East and Republic of Congo on South east
Area –622,984 sq km
Topography - Plateaus, river land, Savanna, arid in NE, rain forest in SW
Population - 4,363,560
Distribution - 42.7% urban
Principal Ethnic Groups – Baya 33%, Banda 27%, Mandjia 13%, Sara 10%, other 15%
Principal Languages – French, (official), Sangho (national), tribal languages
Principal Religions –Christian, Indigenous
Capital City – Bangui, 541,000
Government Type – Republic
Head of government – Prime Minister Ellie Dote’, since 2005
Head of State – President Francois Bozize’, since 2005
Economy= Cotton, other agriculture, diamonds, lumber, textiles, bicycle and motor assembly
Literacy – 48.6%
Life Expectancy – 43.5 male, 43.6 female
Aids Rate – 10.7%
Currency – CFA Franc (XAF)= 512.27= 1USD
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) = 4.8 bln USD
Per Capita GDP -1100 USD
Economic Growth Rate - 2.2%
Electric Production = 110 mln kwh
Vehicles - 12,000 units
Airports – 3
Radios – 83/per 1000
TV sets – 6 per 1000
Newspaper Circulation - 1.7 per 1000
Internet – 9,000 users
Facts and figures are the latest available at time of publication and may not necessarily be the most accurate.

‘Wesanae’ at a glance

By Mina Yirga

Just along the side of Addis cinema halls, it has been a common scene to observe a long line of eager people that have queued to see the constantly talked about Amharic movie ‘Wesanae’.
The gloomy storyline is just the thing for new couples since it creates a good opportunity for the man to lend his date a shoulder to cry on. However, those who have seen ‘Wesanae’ promise that this cinema tradition does not apply since the man can no more withstand the movie’s heartbreaking act and tip off the girl to kiss the consolation good bye!
Even passer bys are chased by the young tissues paper vendors’ non-stop talk about the movie’s tearful scenes. They try to take advantage of the tear-jerker to sell you their products.
The movie narrates about a young married couple with four children that have marital problems. The character Yosef is played by Derege Demeke as a kind hearted alcoholic husband. And the character Hiwot played by Genet Negatu as a devoted mother, loving wife and a teacher at the town’s KG who is seen as the bearer of the enormous burdens in her family.
Teferi, the town milkman has a secret infatuation on Hiwot and stalks her every where she goes. When Yosef left town, Hiowt’s stalker saw an opportunity to attack her and kept on threatening her.
The movie reaches its peak when the milkman Teferi( Admasu Kebede) intentionally hit their boy, Roble (Nathan Michael) with the car. A blood transfusion was needed to secure Roble’s life. His mother was the first candidate. After examining her blood, the doctor confirmed she has cancer and does not have much time left. The four little kids kept on praying for their mother’s well being and for their father to turn his eyes unto them with mercy. Hiwot on her part tried to approach her illness with an irrepressible spirit and decided to spend her remaining days living life to the fullest.
Following the incident, both Yosef and Teferi wanted vengeance on each other. The milkman who was buying time to be back to Yosef got an opportunity to pick up a brawl that finally cost Yosef’s life.
Hiwot’s health condition started to deteriorate through time. With the help of the Father confessor , the kids somehow managed to reside with foster parents…...
The series of scenes are packed with nicely observed and played mysterious clichés in life. Nevertheless, equal attention has not been given to all aspects and some left out scenes have paved the way for a critique. The movie would have had a thicker plot if those holes were filled with the necessary answers. To cite some scenes from the movie;
In an attempt to heat up the suspense, the medical doctor who has been examining Roble seems to forget the doctor- patient confidentially rules. Instead of handling the medical case by himself, he chooses to hand it over to the Father confessor to break the news. Sincerely speaking there are a number among the audiences that see the movie as a mirror of their life. At this spot, the information conveyed does not
indicate any hope except all cancer patients will fail with out a fight. The movie could have been a good prospect in taking away the deceptive image about cancer and advocate it as preventable and curable disease;
The felony of the milkman Teferi who was accused of murder has not been well dealt with investigation and not addressed given that the movie is fast paced at the final hour and ends without asserting the final verdict;
It’s not realistic to bring the youngest child of the deceased(less than a year old) to attend his mother’s funeral. It’s true that everyone has a soft spot for that lonely kid’s destiny to grow up in the hands of his foster parents, the fact that not knowing his real mother and growing with that wish of what it feels like to have his brothers and sister by his side, the sweetness of a mother’s care and love. However, this particular episode became a good reminder for an audience who is sitting at an escape hatch that a movie is not more than a fiction, which tries to gain the audience attention purely for commercial purpose.
The kind of dialogue made between characters automatically clues you in as to how it all winds up. Yet the movie is intense to watch because the chemistry between actors makes the audience feel as though sharing the family’s agony from inside. Departure has always been tough especially for a mother who wishes to see each inch of growth of her kids, the pain becomes unbearable.
Turn by turn the family experienced a tearful good bye and joined a new family, hope and future…
Bottom line, the movie is a copy from life which teaches us a new understanding better than ever about the nature of love, the power of destiny and what it really means to follow your heart, given that human beings are often thrust into different life situations as a result of factors beyond control.

Witnessing Rotary

By Tsion Aklilu

People from different walks of life devote their time, money and energy supporting the needy. Some with the same agenda gather and form a club or an association to run and meet their target effectively and visibly.
Rotary Club of International is one of the pioneer clubs in the world that stands to promote public service free of charge-voluntarily. Every Rotary club has a duty of sponsoring Rotract clubs of young generation to in able them achieving their dream of projects. One of these, the Rotract Club of Keraggie has presented a photo exhibition to put across the activities of the club in Ethiopia since its foundation.
“Witness Rotary Activities”, is an exhibition launched on Friday May 4, 2007 at the National Museum. Fifty-five photographs, which show the pioneer Rotarian and the young Rotract members’ activity through out the five decades, are on displaying at the museum until this afternoon. Out of the selected pictures, three show the activities of the international Rotarians in Seattle, Philippines, and Uganda.
The three-day exhibition’s objective is to encourage the idea of serving the community and putting energy for positive advancement of society. Miriam, representative of the organizing club said, “The exhibition is to show the activity of Rotary through the years and to snap on volunteerism in the minds of most, especially youngsters.”
Of course, there is no free lunch. According to Miriam, two of the pictures at the show are dedicated for an auction, “The income from the auction will go to the projects we have sketched for the people with no incomes. We want to establish some thing to support them.”
Rotract Club of Keraggie is only months old. The word Keraggie means ‘let there be peace’ in Guragingai.

Celebrating the
Ambassadors

By Tsion Aklilu

Over 400,000 books are sold in Barcelona, Catalonia in exchange for 4 million roses. It is a tradition for men to give a rose to their beloved and for women to give a book in exchange on April 23.
The relation between April 23 and the exchange of books for roses was first made in order to honor the author Miguel de Cervantes, who passed away on this particular day. Initially, it was a tradition for the men to give a rose for their lovers as a Saint George’s Day present. Two years later after the death of the author in 1925, exchanging roses for books has become a culture for Catalonia and a great way of honoring Cervantes.
UNESCO also selected the day 70 years later since the Catalonians started celebrating it. Honoring the day aims at inspiring and encouraging children to explore the pleasure and opportunity of reading.
April 23 is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare and other noble authors. Ten decades have passed since 15 countries began celebrating the day universally; for Ethiopia it is the first time the day was observed.
The organizer of this year’s World Book Day in Ethiopia, Corporate Media and Communications, is also lobbying to make the country the ‘world book day country of 2001’. On this year’s first launch celebrating the day Corporate Media has registered book sellers to organize a book fair around the National Theater, which lasts for nine days.
Books are ambassadors of a country; they are a way of preserving and introducing one’s language and culture for locals and foreigners. Related to this, this Ethiopian Authors Association is also preparing a book fair at the Addis Ababa University which will last for four days. The association is expecting to feature old books as much as possible that will show clearly the progress of Ethiopian literature over the decades.