ETC, ZTE sign 1st phase project from $1.5 bln loan
By Groum Abate
The Ethiopian Telecommunic- ations Corporation (ETC) as part of the 1.5 billion dollar loan deal signed with the Chinese ZTE for the upgrading of its telephone network, signed a fiber transmission backbone project, mobile network expansion and wireless phone projects.
The two parties on Friday signed a 1.39 billion birr agreement providing for the execution of the three telecom service expansion projects.
Installation of the fiber optic cable would enable the country to have international connections via Kenya in addition to the existing ones through the Sudan and Djibouti.
According to the agreement, 1.2 million mobile telephone lines would be provided to subscribers in Addis Ababa and other eight towns in connection with the upcoming Ethiopian millennium celebration.
Moreover, the first phase of the wireless telephone expansion project with a capacity of 652,000 telephone lines would also be executed.
The projects would increase the number of fixed and mobile telephone service subscribers to over 14 million.
ETC struck the loan deal for a staggering 1.5 billion dollars from ZTE in November at the Sino-Africa Forum held in China.
The corporation has devised a scheme whereby telecom equipment suppliers will make use of this opportunity and arrange vendor financing schemes so that they can supply goods and services as may be required by projects.
When the project is completed, the present 4,000 kms long optical fibre deployment will reach 10, 000kms, the prevailing mobile net work expansion capacity of 1.5mln will reach 7 mln with 3- G high mobile Technology (‘Third generation mobile’ which is equipped with image, internet and other accessories with soft switches).
The Chinese investment forms part of a 2.4 bln dollar plan by the Ethiopian government to improve the country’s telecoms infrastructure.
Mulu Ketsela has say in Wolfowitz’s fate
By Groum Abate
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz'sfate will be decided on Monday April 30, after appearing before a panel of seven bank directors that also include Mulu Ketsela, former state minister of Finance and Economic Development. The panel is to make recommendations on his future to the full 24-member board. The board hasn't provided a timeframe for a decision.
Mulu Ketsela is the current Executive Director for 22 African countries.
Acording to the Washington Post, Jorge Familiar, the director representing Mexico and a member of the panel, said its deliberations were ``moving forward,'' and he hoped ``the process would advance soon.'' The other panel members represent France, Ethiopia, China, Norway, the Netherlands and Russia.
According to the Washington Post, members of the panel have already decided to recommend Wolfowitz's departure, citing a senior bank official who wasn't named.
Mulu is Executive Director for Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Mulu, along with the other members of the office, represents these countries in meetings at the World Bank and engages in direct consultations and negotiations with other Executive Officers in efforts to gain support for the World Bank's efforts in reducing poverty.
Mulu last served as the Alternate Executive Director with the World Bank Group until 2006 when she was appointed to the position of Executive Director for 22 African countries. Before joining the World Bank, Mulu facilitated cooperation with bilateral and multilateral partner as the State Minister of Finance and Economic Development for Ethiopia. From 1992-1995 Mulu served as an Economic Consultant for the United Nations Development Programme.
A group of World Bank employees who oversee the agency's campaign to fight corruption in poor nations urged ``clear and decisive actions'' in the probe of President Paul Wolfowitz's decision to arrange a promotion and pay raise for his companion.
``We are deeply concerned by the impact of the current leadership crisis on the bank's credibility and authority,'' 46 employees said yesterday in a letter to Wolfowitz and the bank's board. ``Our own governance standards must be upheld and enforced impartially and without exception,'' the letter said, ``even when they touch the highest levels of this institution.''
The former U.S. deputy defense secretary has made fighting graft a hallmark of his tenure, suspending loans to countries including Chad and India because of concerns that the money might disappear into the pockets of corrupt politicians.
In their letter, the members of the Washington-based agency's Governance and Anticorruption Strategy group said the ``credibility of our front-line staff'' had been undermined. They asked the board ``to resolve this crisis quickly in a way that demonstrates to all our stakeholders the bank's commitment to the highest standards of integrity.''
Three months after Wolfowitz became head of the bank in June 2005, his companion, Shaha Riza, was transferred to the State Department under rules that forbid one partner from supervising another. At the same time, she received a promotion and a 36 percent pay raise while remaining on the World Bank payroll.
According to Bloomberg news agency ``It is a problem when your own resident experts on corruption are stating that the bank is not practicing what it preaches,'' Manish Bapna, director of the Bank Information Center, a Washington-based organization that monitors the agency, said in an interview.
Wolfowitz initially offered to rescue himself from dealings with Riza, a request that was rejected by the board's ethics committee, according to his attorney, Robert Bennett. His subsequent decision to promote Riza and reassign her was made with the approval of the committee, Bennett said.
Paul Wolfowitz was unanimously approved as 10th President of the World Bank Group by the institution’s Board of Executive Directors on March 31, 2005.
52 day hostage drama concludes
By Andualem Sisay
March 6, 2007 at about 3:00 AM, five European tourists and eight Ethiopians were asleep in the guest house of Hussein in Ahmedela, Afar region, when all of a sudden some 30 gun men broke in to the house shouting, Gutae!, meaning get up!, in Afar.
This was related by Ashenafi Mekonen, a translator who was set free along with seven other Ethiopian abductees after 52 days. The eight Ethiopians were kept for an additional 40 days, while the Europeans were released after just 12 days.
The abductees along with three Afar clan leaders who played a significant role in finding a peaceful end to the tragedy talked to Capital about the situation on Thursday April 26, 2007, when they arrived at Addis Ababa.
“Their first intention was to kidnap my guests,” says Hussein Mohamed Ismael, who is engaged in providing guest house services at Ahmedela for tourists who visit the Afar region. “But I told them they had to take me along with my guests. So they took us five days and nights on foot towards the Eritrean border. We went from Ahmedela, to Senday, Halifila, Gewi, Wandendelle and reached Merkaali (Batitiro) on the sixth day.”
“There were times when they changed our location three times in one night,” said Mahmuda Ibrahim, another abductee from Afar Finance Bureau. “From what we observed such as from their military uniform, the food packages and medicines they brought us, the kidnapers are Eritreans. Besides, we also heard vehicles in the surroundings, which we believe were from an organized institution most likely of the Eritrean government.”
“The kidnapers speak Afar and Tigrigna. What they were expressing all the time was their dislike of the Ethiopian government. Every evening they called me and asked me things such as their wish to see the fall of the current Ethiopian government and their coming to power,” he says.
Among three Afar clan leaders who contributed toward the peaceful release of the abductees after negotiating with the kidnapers for a month while they were also treated as abductees is Hadgi Musa Ahmed Ali. ‘We won’t release any of them’, was their first response to our request. But later on, they said we can take our Afar brothers only. We told them that we would never save half of them and leave the rest with kidnapers,” he says.
“What set them free is the power of Allah not me,” says Hadji Ali Nur, “my role was only to beg them for one month, even if they treated me like a prisoner.” “I talked to up to five leaders of the kidnapers in Afar. ‘We won’t release them because the current Ethiopian government is our enemy’, was their repeated response to our request of letting the prisoners free.”
Responding to Capital’s question on the precautions that should be taken to avoid such incidents, “As long as Shaabiya, the current ruling regime of Eritrea is in power, I don’t think there will be peace in our region,” says Mahmuda Ibrahim.
Yonas Mesfin a mechanic, Ashenafi Mekonen a translator from Quadrant Ethiopia Tour, Debash Baye a cook, Hussein Mohamed-guest house owner at Ahmedela, Edris Ibrahim, Ousman Mohamed, Abdela Ali Nur, Mahmuda Ibrahim and one police officer from Afar region are the Ethiopian abductees released after 52 days.
In addition, three Afar clan leaders Hadgi Musa Ahmed, Hadji Ali Nur and Haider Ahmed Mohamed have also been released along with the above.
Remains of Chinese oil workers flown home
By our staff reporter
The bodies of the 9 deceased Chinese oil explorers flew back to their country on Saturday April 28.
According to news agencies, a plane has been chartered to fly the bodies of the Chinese workers to their country along with other Chinese workers who are alive and who were at the site.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) promised on Friday to work with the Red Cross to return the seven captured Chinese oil workers as soon as possible but said government military operations placed the workers in danger.
ONLF attacked a Chinese-owned oil exploration field in eastern Ethiopia on Tuesday, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese. The group said in a statement sent to media organizations that six other Chinese workers "were removed from the battlefield for their own safety."
"The ONLF would like to assure the people and the government of China that your citizens will be reunited with their families as soon and as safely as possible," the statement added. "However, the Ethiopian government is currently engaged in military operations which endanger (the Chinese) citizens."
The group said it would resume fighting after the Chinese workers were transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The rebels said again that no foreign company should try to work in the Ogaden region, a large state along the Somali border. The group says it is fighting for the region's right to self determination.
The Chinese government rejected the warning on Thursday.
"China supports its enterprises in conducting economic cooperation based on equality and mutual benefits in other countries, including those in Africa. This is our set policy and it will not change," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao in Beijing.
China has condemned the attack, which underscored the risks big oil companies face when drilling in Africa.
The Horn of Africa has been marked by struggle for decades. Behind some of the violence, including a recent major attack on a Chinese oil rig in Ethiopia, is the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The ONLF, a group of ethnic Somali nationalists based in eastern Ethiopia, takes up the banner of past groups seeking self-governance for ethnic Somalis throughout the region. Their attacks threaten the delicate stability of the region and could set off a new chill on much-needed foreign investment.
The ONLF describes itself on its website as a “grassroots social and political movement” that serves as an “advocate for and defender of” Somalis in Ogaden, a region of eastern Ethiopia with a large ethnic Somali population, against Ethiopian regimes. Founded in 1984 by members of a variety of ethnic Somali liberation groups, it can also be described as a separatist, insurgent rebel group fighting to make Ogaden an independent state. Its main tactics in the conflict include countering government influence in the region and using violent force, including kidnappings and bombings. The ONLF is believed to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of government forces. The U.S. State Department does not include the OLNF on its Foreign Terrorist Organization list, and the group is not on similar lists maintained by the European Union and Britain.
In related development the Somali Regional States' Police Commission, on Wednesday and Thursday, detained four suspects in the attack on oil exploration companies in the Ogaden basin, south east Ethiopia.
According to reports, the police arrested the first two suspects on Wednesday in the regional capital, Jijjiga town, 630km east of Addis Ababa. Police arrested another two suspects on Thursday in the same town. The individuals were suspected of some kind of involvement in the crime. The individuals were not residents of Jijiga.
Members of the federal and the regional police forces as well as the national defense forces are searching for the culprits. The attack took place on Tuesday morning at about 5:00 AM in Degahabur zone in Abole locality, 12km from Jijiga. Nine Chinese oil workers and 65 locals were killed when more than 200 armed men opened fire at a residential camp in Abole. The attackers fought 100 Ethiopian soldiers guarding the camp in a 50-minute gun battle. Seven Chinese workers were taken hostages.
All the Chinese are employees of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB), a Chinese petroleum company contracted by a company called South West Energy. In December 2005, South West Energy signed a petroleum exploration and development agreement with the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) to prospect for oil in the Ogaden basin. The company took an exploration area in Degahbur zone which covers 21,187 sq. km of land.
In related news, the Heads of Mission of the Ethiopia Partners Group expressed their dismay at the massacre perpetrated in Ogaden against Ethiopian and Chinese nationals on Tuesday 24, April. They condemn the killings as well as the subsequent abductions.
In a statement they sent to Capital, they forward their sympathy to the families and relatives of the victims and called for the immediate and safe release of the abducted individuals. They reiterated their belief that the resolution of disagreements should be sought through peaceful means.
Nyala launches worldwide travel insurance
By Andualem Sisay
Nyala Insurance S.C. (NISCO), introduced global travel insurance, which includes insurance for travelers in Africa, Schengen countries and the rest of the world. It is the first service of its kind in Ethiopia.
Launching Year 2000 travel insurance (Y2000 TI), Nahu-Senaye Araya, Managing Director of NISCO indicated that it is a good opportunity especially for Ethiopian diaspora when they return home.
“This product unlike travel emergency health insurance covers existing in the market; provides a broader protection both in terms of covered perils and geographical coverage. In short, it gives protection to any traveling person who travels outside of his/her country of permanent residence including when they come to Ethiopia,” he said.
The service includes emergency medical expense and hospitalization, emergency repatriation, repatriation of mortal remains, emergency return home following death of a close family member, emergency dental care, baggage loss or delay, travel delay and emergency reunion and repatriation of family member traveling with the insured.
Nyala will implement this travel insurance in collaboration with MAPFRE ASISTENCIA (Travel Assistance), a multinational insurance, reinsurance and services company that operates in 58 countries across the world.
“Though there was travel insurance in our country for the 15 Schengen countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, what makes this different is that we also cover the rest of the world,” he said.
The name "Schengen" originates from a small town in Luxembourg. In June 1985, seven European Union countries signed a treaty to end internal border checkpoints and controls. More countries have joined the treaty over the past years. At present, there are 15 Schengen countries, all in Europe.
MAPFRE ASISTENCIA was founded in Spain on October 1989. It evolved from a single-product company to a multi-service, multi-product company (assistance services and travel insurance, special risks, travel and tourism) operating in four continents: Europe, America, Africa and Asia.
In the year 2006 the company had over one thousand corporate customers, over 67 million insured and over 120 million beneficiaries. It belongs to GRUPO MAPFRE, an independent Spanish corporate group that undertakes insurance activities mainly in Europe and Latin America.
Nyala Insurance S.C. was founded 12 years ago, in July 1995. Its capital has reached 30 mln birr in July 2005. It has 17 branches in all over the country out of which eight branches are found in the main cities of various regions of the country.
Amhara Chamber takes leadership of ECCSA
By Andualem Sisay
The Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECCSA) presidency has been taken for the first time from Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (AACCSA) and gone to Amhara Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association.
At the reestablishment of Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations, which took place at the Hilton Hotel, on Tuesday, April 24, 2007, Getachew Ayenew from Amhara Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations has taken the presidency position in ECCSA. Muluwork Kidane-Mariam from Tigray Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations was elected as vice President of ECCSA.
Achamyelesh Ashenafi from Addis Ababa and Almaz Burg from SNNPR are the two women elected as members of the Directors Board. Freyihun Tesfaye from Addis Ababa, Awad Abdulwahid, Ali Abdi from Somali region, Hasen Abdela and Feyisa Ararso from Oromia, Hailu Alemu and Yirgalem Admasu from Amhara were also elected as members of the Directors Board.
The weak performance of almost all chambers except the AACCSA led to the reestablishment of the ECCSA. The weak structure of the chambers and the limited awareness of the public about the importance of the chambers have also contributed to the fragile existence of the chamber.
The severe financial constraints faced by most chambers such as the BahirDar, the Awassa and the Nekemt City Chambers is also the main cause for their inefficiency, which led them finally to be closed.
The Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce, also having financial constraints courageously struggled for the reopening of the aforementioned city chambers and helped the others to sustain their existence.
In 2003, the government proclaimed the establishment of chambers at different levels. As a result enhancing trade and investment, acting as a forum for the business community in order to discus on the country’s economy and trade activities and submitting their proposal for the government are some of the expected roles of the newly reestablished Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations.
Meles on the horn
By Groum Abate
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says that Somalia has transferred the foreigners who were captured in battle to be tried in Ethiopia because the Somali government is ill equipped to handle such cases.
Many foreigners have been captured after the fight between the Ethiopian backed Somali government and UIC in border towns around Kenya.
U.S.-born Amir Mohamed Meshal, 24, is one of dozens held by Ethiopia, in what human rights activists and lawyers say is an illegal detention program that violates international laws on deportation and the treatment of prisoners. Ethiopia denies the charges, saying that the detentions are part of the fight against terrorism and that it has the right to defend itself.
Amir Meshal was in Somalia at a time when much of the country was controlled by hard-line Islamists.
Hundreds of people, including Islamist fighters, fled Somalia for Kenya in late December and January after Ethiopian troops invaded the country in support of a weak but internationally backed government.
After his arrest in Kenya, the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi asked Kenyan authorities to deport Meshal to the United States, then filed a formal protest when it learned he had been returned to Somalia and then sent to Ethiopia.
The Meshals vehemently deny their son was a fighter, said he had been a tour guide in Dubai and didn't realize he was in Somalia until U.S. officials showed up at their door in early February.
Somaliland
Meles said that Somaliland officials oppose the Ethiopian Army involvement in Somalia for fear that if Somalia is peaceful their recognition attempt would lag.
According to reports, Somaliland is said to be preparing for war and has deployed thousands of its army along the disputed border between Puntland. In return, Puntland is training hundreds of clan militia members in a hurry to defend itself from Somaliland, should a war break out.
Self-declared republic of Somaliland and semi-autonomous Puntland had unresolved border disputes as long ago as the two administrations were established in the early 1990s, although they never had a prolonged war except for a few skirmishes. Now, the balance of power had shifted to Somaliland’s favor after the bulk of Puntland’s army was sent to southern Somalia to fight for the interim national government headed by President Abdulahi Yusuf who ruled Puntland before his current post.
Prime Minister Ali Gedi addressed this dispute and blamed Eritrea, Somaliland and what he called Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists for fuelling the tension.
The two had fought earlier this month and then the defense minister of Somaliland lost his post for mishandling the war.
Somaliland claims Puntland annexed a large chunk of land from its territories – a claim most Somalilanders believe is worth to fight for. On the other side of the conflict, Puntland says the inhabitants of the disputed land do not recognize a WWII era border that was erected by Europeans who came to Somalia and divided the country into five enclaves: British Somaliland; Italian Somalia; French Somalia (Djibouti); and two territories given to Kenya and Ethiopia. The land falls into British Somaliland but its people have clan affiliations with Puntland.
Eritrea
Meles said that the kidnapping of Ethiopians is an Eritrean sponsored act, which is a clear indication of the direct involvement of the Eritrean government.
Meles said it is not surprising that the Eritrean government suspended its membership of IGAD as its decision might have emanated from a feeling of being out of its way.
He said the Eritrean government proves itself a direct actor of terrorism with its strategy of wrecking havoc in the Eastern Africa region.
Meles said the kidnapping drama was part of Eritrea’s strategy to stir the sub-region, and tipped that Eritrea had held the Ethiopian hostages at areas 30 to 40 KM into Eritrea from the border.
He added the Ethiopian government had made use of a number of alternatives to ensure the safe release of the hostages, which put pressure on the government in Asmara, which, at long last released them.
In kidnapping the Ethiopians, Meles said, the Eritrean government committed a crime and its involvement in the kidnapping shows its direct involvement in terrorism as it is a downright disgrace.
Although the UN has not taken a tangible measure, as it should have, so far concerning the kidnapping, the Ethiopian government would carry on with bringing the issue home to the world body through legal means.
The Ethiopian Government feels happy that its citizens held hostage for 52 days have been released.
He said Eritrea's measure to suspend its membership with IGAD shows that the Government in Asmara is against peaceful co-existence with neighboring countries, but rather follows a policy aimed at creating mayhem in the region. "So, it's no surprise that it called off its membership with IGAD."
Aideed
He commented that Minister of Housing in the Transitional Federal Government, Hussein Mohamed Aideed fled to Asmara after he was fired from his position.
Hussein Aideed is in Eritrea to form a coalition with the disposed speaker of the parliament Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden.
“Hussein Aideed has decamped to our struggle against the leadership style of the president Abdulahi Yusuf” said one member of the Somalia parliament, Omar Hashi Aden. “We are in consultative meetings with like minded Somalis to emancipate the country against the Ethiopian occupation,”
All this confusions is as a result of the cabinet reshuffle where Aideed lost his prestigious post.
The minister in question was president Yusuf's right hand man prior to the reshuffle.
Ethiopian troops in the Somali capital Mogadishu have been accused by Aideed of committing genocide since arriving in December last year.
However, Ethiopia dismissed Mr. Aideed's comments as an absolute fabrication.
Mr. Aideed is a former warlord and an influential member of the Hawiye clan - the dominant clan in Mogadishu. Aideed’s comments are calling on the Ethiopians to leave signal his effective defection from the government to join the swelling ranks of the opposition.
Ethiopia sent its troops into Somalia last year to help the interim government drive out the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) - the Islamist movement that had taken control of the capital and much of the south of Somalia.
WB approves $100 mln for Addis Ababa water
By our staff reporter
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors On April 24, approved an International Development Association (IDA) financing of 100 million dollars in support of the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation project in Ethiopia. This IDA financing includes a credit1of 65 million dollars and a grant of 35 million dollars.
The Urban Water Supply and Sanitation project (UWSS), aims to increase access to sustainable water supply and sanitation services in Addis Ababa and four secondary cities. It will help produce more water for all customers and extend the distribution network to areas that currently lack water service.
According to Yitbarek Tessema, the World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, “up to 4 million urban residents in Addis and four other cities will have increased access to potable water, and households in low-income areas will have improved sanitation facilities.”
In Addis Ababa, water production is 50 liters per capita per day (lpcd), of which only 35 lpcd reach consumers due to water losses. In secondary cities, only 20 of the 30 lpcd produced reach consumers. The UWSS will increase water availability by developing new sources of safe water, expanding treatment facilities, and extending network and service connections. It will improve efficiency as well as financial and customer management, support catchments protection measures, and instill awareness of water conservation among customers.
The Millennium Development Goal (MDG), targets for Ethiopia call for providing 63% of the population access to safe water supply and 58% access to improved sanitation by 2015. According to the 2005 MDG Needs Assessment Report (NAR), of the Government of Ethiopia, access to safe water was 31% as of 2000 and access to improved sanitation was 11.5 % in 2002/03.2 The project will increase access to improved sanitation facilities, mainly for low- income, urban residents. In doing so, it will improve drainage to avoid un-controlled sewage water discharges to streets and paths resulting from cooking, cleaning and bathing.
Extreme poverty in Africa to rise 20 per cent in 2015
By Andualem Sisay
The number of people working under extreme poverty in Africa will increase by 20 per cent by 2015, says the ILO.
Addressing the 11th ILO African Regional Meeting held in Addis Ababa from April 24-27, 2007, Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General, indicated that each and every day another 10,000 African women and men are being added to those workers already living with their families on less than a dollar a day.
2015 is the year that has been set to meet MDGs (extreme poverty is planned to be halved from the world). Highlighting the political and not sustainability of growth with few good jobs, “something is wrong with policy advice of these last 25 years,” says Somavia.
The ILO estimates that between 2006 and 2015, the percentage of persons working but still living on less than US$2 per person in the household, per day will decrease from 78.6 percent to 76.4 percent, but the number will increase from 260.3 million to 316.7 million. Meanwhile, the percentage of working people living on less than US$1 a day per family member will decrease from 46.2 to 44.1, but the number will increase from 152.8 million to 182.9 million.
In his statement he criticized the international development cooperation which often comes accompanied by conditionalties that are hard to swallow for Africans. Reminding about the African leaders message in Ouagadougou, which says “if your commitment to Africa is real, then help us generate descent and productive jobs for our families and communities, not just through aid, but through fair trade and financial rules that can permit us to compete on an equal playing field”, he recommended national ownership of policies and African solutions for African challenges.
Ownership, partnership, and dialogue are critical as Africans set their own agenda for the coming years to take the continent out of extreme poverty, according to the ILO Director General.
Each country has to have the space to define its own priorities, make its own choices and set its own development framework. In addition to underscoring the critical need for effective partnerships, he highlighted that Africans require a well-oiled, functioning tripartism that delivers for governments, workers and employers.
The 11th ILO African Regional Meeting held in Addis Ababa is also addressed by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania, Dr. Gertrude I. Mongella, president of the Pan African parliament and Abdoulie Janneh, UN Under-Secretary-General and the Executive Secretary of Economic Commission for Africa among others.
Ethiopia celebrates African Malaria Day
By Andualem Sisay
Ethiopia for the seventh time celebrated Africa Malaria Day, April 25, 2007 at Meki stadium, East Shoa renewing its commitment to fight malaria, which is an economic and social burden to the country and also being the leading cause of death.
As part of its commitment, the country launched last week the Millennium National anti-Malaria Campaign (MNMC), which is planned to be implemented during the one and half Ethiopian Millennium festival starting from this June. Around 25 mln birr has been is provided by donors such as the Global Fund for implementing the campaign.
In Ethiopia’s recent past, six major epidemics have occurred in 1958, 1965, 1973, 1981-82, 1987-1988 and 1997-1998. Since 1958, major epidemics of malaria occurred at intervals of approximately 5-8 years, but recently there is a trend of more frequent small- or large-scale epidemics occurring in the same or different parts of the country.
During the 2003 epidemic, out of the total deaths in Ethiopia some 30 per cent were accrued to malaria. But, currently malaria accounts for 10 per cent of the total deaths.
Climatic, altitudinal and topographic diversities in Ethiopia create micro-and macroclimatic conditions that result in a discontinuous and widespread malaria distribution. Based on the occurrence of malaria the country can be divided into malarious and non-malarious areas.
The non-malarious afro-alpine zone with an altitude above 2250m is the area where no indigenous transmission occurs. This area comprises 15-20% of the total landmass and is inhabited by about 25% of the total population. The malarious zone, which refers to the land below 2200m makes up 80-85% of the total landmass; roughly a minimum of 25 million people live in this region and are at risk of malaria infection.
Warming in temperature conditions can lead to the spread of malaria. In such a situation, the mortality and morbidity rates could reach epidemic proportion, according to the assessment, Initial National Communication of Ethiopia to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is submitted to the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC in June 2001 on behalf of the Ethiopian government.
Considering the ever growing threat of global warming, the basic coping mechanism that needs to be strengthened and updated in the Ethiopian context is the establishment of an effective surveillance system, advises the assessment that took malaria as a case to study the impacts and vulnerability of health sector as a result of temperature increase and change in rainfall.
Promote integrated vector control approach, improve ecosystem management, which are sensitive to malaria invasion and planning developmental activities that encompass malaria control were also the recommendations of the assessment.
It also highlighted the need for strengthening research in the health sector, educating the public about malaria and encouraging utilization of climate and meteorological information in the planning of malaria control, in addition to encouraging the use of malaria bed nets and developing effective malaria drags.
Every 30 seconds, an African child dies from malaria despite it being a curable and preventable disease. Of the more than one million deaths due to malaria each year, more than 80 per cent are in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease accounts for 18 per cent of the continent’s under age five deaths.
There was a ten-fold increase in the distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) between 1999 and 2003 in sub-Saharan Africa. Surveys conducted in 2005 and 2006 are expected to show more major increases in the region.
Ethiopia, with around 9 million malaria infections each year, increased the number of insecticide-treated nets distributed from 1.8 million in 2004 to 8 million by the end of 2006. The Government, UNICEF and other partners are now aiming for a total of 20 million nets by the end of this year.
A number of African countries are leading the way. Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo and Zambia have made progress towards the target of 60 per cent insecticide-treated net coverage set at the 2000 African Summit on Roll Back Malaria in Abuja, Nigeria.
In a related development, on her message regarding African Malaria Day, UNICEF’s Director General, Ann M. Veneman, called for greater efforts to combat one of the biggest killers of children in Africa. “Malaria control is important to help African countries meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),”she said.
Since the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the US President’s Malaria Initiative, the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others have begun providing money to Fight malaria, insecticide-treated nets, and for malaria testing and treatment have significantly increased over the past decade.
UNICEF seeks entries for Children’s Broadcasting Award
By Andualem Sisay
UNICEF and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences called on Wednesday April 25, 2007, for entries from broadcasters for the 2007 International Children’s Day of Broadcasting Award.
The ICDB Award will go to the broadcaster whose programming best reflects the 2006 International Children’s Day of Broadcasting theme, Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS, and which demonstrates an overall dedication to youth participation in media.
The main aim of the award is to encourage both radio and television broadcasters around the world that airs opinions of children and youth on their media, among others. To encourage more youth participation in media throughout the year, the award judges will not only consider the quality of the work, but also will consider the commitment broadcasters make to engaging with youth on an ongoing basis.
To be eligible for the ICDB Award, broadcasts must have taken place on or around Sunday, 10 December 2006 in conjunction with the 2006 International Children’s Day of Broadcasting. The deadline for entries is 18 May 2007.
UNICEF also announced the theme for the upcoming 2007 International Children’s Day of Broadcasting: The World We Want. Five years ago, youth around the world met in New York to attend the Special Session for Children. The outcome of that meeting was the agenda ‘Building a World Fit for Children,’ which laid out four main priorities: promoting healthy lives; providing quality education; protecting children against abuse, exploitation and violence; and combating HIV/AIDS.
UNICEF is calling on broadcasters, both television and radio, to participate in the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting on December 9, 2007 to highlight youth voices concerning the state of the world and their place in it. Participating broadcasters will be eligible to submit entries for the 2008 ICDB Award.
The ICDB Award judging will take place in 8 regions with broadcasters eligible for prizes. Entries are due to UNICEF’s regional offices by May 18, 2007. The top-scoring television entry in each region will compete for the ICDB Award, to be presented at the International Emmy Awards Gala, November 19, 2007 in New York. The top-scoring radio entry will become a finalist for the ICDB Award for Radio Excellence, to be presented at the ICDB Awards Breakfast in New York.
Established in 1991, the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting encourages broadcasters to produce programming by, with and for children.
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is the largest organization of broadcasters in the world, with members from nearly 70 countries and over 400 companies. The Academy was chartered with a mission to recognize excellence in television programming produced outside of the United States, and it presents the International Emmy Award to programs in fourteen categories: Arts Programming; Best Performance by an Actress; Best Performance by an Actor; Breaking News; Children & Young People; Comedy; Continuing News Coverage; Documentary; Drama Series; Interactive Channel; Interactive Program; Interactive TV Service; Non-Scripted Entertainment; TV Movie/Mini-Series.
For 60 years UNICEF has been working on the ground in 155 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
Somali PM claims Mogadishu victory; Fighting continues
By our staff reporter
Four months after Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared his own "war on terror" against an Islamic movement in Somalia, Ethiopia remains entangled in a situation that analysts and critics are comparing to the U.S. experience in Iraq.
Though Meles proclaimed his military mission accomplished in January, thousands of Ethiopian troops remain in the Somali capital, where they have used attack helicopters, tanks and other heavy weapons in a bloody campaign against insurgents that in recent weeks has killed more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, and forced half of the city's population to flee.
On Thursday, the Ethiopian-backed Somali prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, declared that three weeks of heavy fighting was over, a statement tempered by the mortar blasts that continued to boom in the distance, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, a political crisis seems to be worsening, as the Somali transitional government, steadfastly supported by the United States, faces a swell of criticism for ignoring concerns of the city's dominant Hawiye clan, whose militias form the core of the insurgency and who are motivated not by the ideology of jihad, but power.
"It's just exactly like the Americans in Iraq," said Beyene Petros, a member of the Ethiopian Parliament and an early critic of the invasion. "I don't see how this was a victory. It really was a futile exercise."
The United States, which had accused Somalia's Islamic Courts movement of being hijacked by extremist ideologues, followed Ethiopia's invasion with airstrikes aimed at three suspects in the 1998 American embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, along with certain Islamic Courts leaders accused of having terrorist ties.
Four months later, however, none of those targets has been killed or captured, and the U.S. airstrikes are confirmed to have killed only civilians, livestock and a smattering of Islamic fighters on the run who were never accused of any crime.
More than 200 FBI and CIA agents have set up camp in the Sheraton Hotel here in Ethiopia's capital and have been interrogating dozens of detainees -- including a U.S. citizen -- picked up in Somalia and held without charge and without attorneys in a secret prison somewhere in this city, according to Ethiopian and U.S. officials who say the interrogations are lawful.
U.S. and Ethiopian officials say they have netted valuable information from some of the 41 detainees, who are being brought before a court whose proceedings are closed to the public.
Others have been quietly released, however, and human rights groups are criticizing the joint operation as a kind of "decentralized Guantanamo" in the Horn of Africa .
Ethiopian officials declined to be interviewed on the subject of Somalia, and a general blackout of information about the war prevails in the capital. Opposition members of Parliament complain that they have not been informed how many Ethiopian soldiers have been killed, how much the war is costing per day or how the government is paying for it.
There is also a sense here that while the invasion served Meles's own domestic interests, Ethiopia was also doing a job on behalf of the United States and is being left with a financial and military mess.
Supporters of Meles are mostly playing down the trouble, even as they are scrambling behind the scenes to find a solution. kinfe Abraham, a close adviser to the prime minister, described the situation in Mogadishu where the bodies of Ethiopian soldiers have allegedly been dragged through the streets as "a hiccup."
"The victory was swift and decisive," Abraham said. "Now Ethiopia wants to stabilize the situation and get out."
But it remains unclear how Ethiopia will manage to do that while preserving Somalia's fragile transitional government and preventing more violence.
"The military victory was not complemented by a political victory," said Medhane Tadesse, an occasional adviser to the Ethiopian government who initially supported the invasion. "Long-term stability in Somalia requires a long-term social strategy, but Ethiopia and the U.S. only had a military strategy."
Privately, diplomats in the region say the main problem for Meles comes down to one man: the president of the Somali transitional government, Abdullahi Yusuf, who has always had close ties to Ethiopia. Although Yusuf promised an inclusive government, he has failed to satisfy key leaders of the Hawiye clan, the historic rivals of Yusuf's Darod clan and the main base of support for the ousted Islamic Courts movement.
While Yusuf and Meles have continued to wage what they call a war against "terrorists," experts and even officials close to Yusuf say the insurgency has been heavily motivated by Hawiye clan business interests rather than ideology.
Yusuf's chief of staff, Adam Hassan, accused Hawiye leaders of trying to "hoodwink" Somalis and foreign diplomats into believing that the Hawiye have been treated unfairly, so they can retain property and land they took over after the 1991 fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, who was from Yusuf's Darod clan.
Hawiye leaders said Yusuf wants to assume control of a city they have in many ways administered, and profited from, for years. They said their skepticism of the government has been strengthened by the president, "who labels as 'terrorist' every person or clan who criticizes his policy and clan-style leadership," according to a document outlining their concerns to Ethiopian officials.
One diplomat closely involved in the reconciliation process said Yusuf has refused to meet with Hawiye elders.
In an attempt to breach that gap, Ethiopia has lately been negotiating directly with Hawiye leaders, while the Hawiye seem to be trying to untangle themselves from certain Islamic Courts figures in an attempt to polish their image. This month, the clan asked two of the more extreme Islamic leaders to leave Mogadishu, saying they were a liability.
While the extremist element was always a factor in the Islamic movement, the notion of waging a "war on terror" in Somalia was always an oversimplification of a more complex situation, said Tadesse, the adviser to the Ethiopian government .
The Islamic movement was diverse, made up of extremist military commanders vowing holy war against Ethiopia and moderate leaders, including one, Ibrahim Addow, who taught at American University and holds a U.S. passport.
It was also always fundamentally a Hawiye movement, and Somalis tend to be loyal to clan above all.
Ethiopia and the United States made a mistake, Tadesse and other critics say, by throwing their support entirely behind the transitional government in the name of fighting a terrorist threat that involved just a few individuals, and at the expense of alienating the Hawiye.
This month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer flew to Somalia in a show of U.S. support for Yusuf's government, a move that further infuriated Hawiye leaders.
Frazer has expressed "concern" for civilians but has offered no public criticism of the transitional government or of Ethiopia for using attack helicopters and other heavy weapons against civilian neighborhoods that have been reduced to ruins.
In his news conference Thursday, the Somali prime minister, Gedi, invited more than 300,000 residents who have fled the city in recent weeks to return to the broken seaside capital, where certain neighborhoods have lately acquired new nicknames.
In an allusion to sectarian violence engulfing Baghdad, residents now call the north part of the city Shiite and the south Sunni.
Gedi said that most of the fighting had ended and that Ethiopian and Somali government troops were merely clearing out the remaining "pockets" of resistance.
But Mohamud Uluso, a prominent leader of a Hawiye sub-clan called the Ayr, said that despite Gedi's declaration, fighting will most likely continue.
"What is worrying for Somalis and the international community now is the possibility of what happened in Iraq," he said. "The fighting was under the control of the Hawiye leadership committee, but once that control disintegrates, then there will be underground leadership. You don't know who or where they are."
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