Cabinet passes decisions on five bills

(ENA, May 4, 2007) - The Council of Ministers on its 34th regular session on Friday passed decisions on five agenda items.
Having deliberated first on a bill providing for third-party insurance on road accidents, the Council took note of increasing traffic accidents in the country, the cabinet affairs office told Ethiopian News Agency. It said the consequent loss of human life, disabilities and property destruction was sure to impact the society psychologically, economically and politically.

OLF financier jailed in USA

(WIC, May 04, 2007) - An Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen held on national security concerns and convicted of currency smuggling was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to forfeit about $60,000.
Sisaye Dinssa, 35, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court to making false statements and bulk cash smuggling.
The Dallas resident has been jailed since his arrest in November at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, where dogs caught the scent of narcotics on about $80,000 in cash he was carrying from a flight from Nairobi, Kenya, via Amsterdam.
Dinssa told authorities he had $18,000 to declare and later acknowledged lying, they say.

Miners Union earns close to 69 million birr profit

(WIC May 4)– Sulula Boset Miners Union in Oromia State said it has secured over 68.8 million birr gross profit during the last nine months.
Union General Manager, Lema Dadi, said the union earned the stated sum by supplying over 1.4 million cubic meters of sand,soil, stone and various mineral products to the market since last July.
Some 57 million of the gross profit was obtained from the sale of sand while the remaining was earned from stone, blocks and other minerals, Lema added.
Though the cooperative has been operating only for a year, the subordinate unions under it have witnessed enormous economic growth in group and individually through working jointly, it was indicated.
The union, which was established with 86,000 birr capital, has over 3.1 million birr fixed and running capital, the General Manager said, adding that its members have deposited over 8.3 million birr in a bank as their livelihood has improved.
The union has also installed four stone crushers and a block manufacturing plant alongside the mining activity so as to improve the income of its members, he said.

Germany provides an extra 1.5 million euros in aid to Somalia

(May 4, 2007 ENA) - Germany is to provide an additional 1.5 million euros (2 million USD) to humanitarian organizations working in Somalia, the German news agency, dpa reported from Berlin on Friday.
It quoted the German Foreign Ministry as having said the move was in response to recent developments in Mogadishu, described as 'cause for concern.'
The Red Cross would receive 1 million euros, and a German disaster aid agency the remainder.
'We want to make a contribution to alleviating at least to some extent the difficult situation faced by the people in Somalia,' the report quoted the German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier as saying.
"This will only be successful if the violence comes to an end," Steinmeier said, calling on the parties involved in the conflict to uphold international humanitarian law and to desist from obstructing humanitarian aid.

"Late is better than never": UEDF Chairman

( May 4, 2007 ENA) - The Chairman of the UEDF has said his party made a belated official statement on the Abule massacre of 65 Ethiopian and nine Chinese innocent civilians because "it did not go well with us to repeat as it is the information given us by the government".
This came here on Friday in a joint statement given by CUDP (Coalition for Unity and Democracy), OFDM (Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement) and UEDF (United Ethiopian Democratic Forces).
Asked why his party did not condemn the Abule massacre in its immediate aftermath, UEDF chairman Professor Beyene Petros said his party had to brood over the question as to "why the victims were massacred in that way".
Their belated condolences, he said, came only today because "late is better than never".
The three opposition political parties with seats in parliament have called on the government to "immediately provide complete information to the Parliament on all aspects of its involvement in the Somalia conflict."