Ministry implementing community basin development directive

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said it is utilizing community basin development directive aiming at undertaking water harvesting, soil conservation, forest development and maintaining soil fertility jointly with the public.
Water harvesting and development expansion department with the Ministry told Ethiopian News Agency that the directive encompasses all the activities to be carried out with the public's involvement.
The directive is prepared with a view to enabling the public to take part in basin development by considering the failure of the previous attempt to prepare a development plan that was designed with out giving much emphasis to public’s involvement.
The previous plans could not instill a sense of belonging among the public in activities implemented in areas of basin development, it said. (January 17, 2007, ENA)

Kenyan Police arrests 17 youth over terror link

The Kenyan Police said it is holding 17 youth in the capital Nairobi and Mombassa town over possible links to terrorism or Somalia’s Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), Nation magazine reported.
The 17 Kenyan youth join some 42 Somalis in custody who are being interrogated by a combined team of the National Security Intelligence Service, the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit and the Immigration Department.
The 59 suspects were arrested by the Kenyan soldiers patrolling the 1,500-km border with Somalia, the report said.
Of these, four are held in different police stations in Coast, while the rest have been flown Nairobi, it said.
According to a senior police officer in Kenya, the Kenyans were arrested on suspicion they had been recruited into UIC. (January 18, 2007, ENA)

Ministry obtains 20 vehicles for health personnel training project

The Ministry of Health on Thursday received 20 vehicles from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in support of health personnel training project being implemented at five universities and 20 hospitals working with the universities.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony, State Minister of Health Dr. Kebede Worku said the project envisages at training over 5,000 health professionals.
The training would enable health institutions and health posts in all woredas across the nation get trained health professionals, the State Minister said.
According to the Dr. Kebede, the training would also enable the ministry get experience in offering training to other senior health professionals and in offering special trainings. (January 18, 2007, 2007)

Agency licenses 1,890 investors, aggregate capital over 43.94 billion Birr

Some 1,890 investors received investment licenses to launch various projects with an aggregate capital of over 43.94 Billion birr during the first half of the current Ethiopian budget year, the Ethiopian Investment Agency said.
Promotion team leader with the agency, Tilahun Gemechu told Ethiopian News Agency on Thursday that 521 of the investors are foreigners seeking to invest in the country with an aggregate capital of 31.66 billion birr. He said investors licensed by regional investment commissions during the reported time exceeded the number of investors licensed same period the previous year by 984.
Particularly, he said, the number of foreign investors seeking to invest in the country during the reported time exceeded that of the number of foreign investors licensed last year by 172.
Most of the investors are to be engaged in industry and agriculture sectors, Tilahun said, adding there are also lots of investors willing to invest in the construction, education, health, catering and tourism sectors. (January 17, 2007, ENA)

Zone licenses 48 million birr worth investment projects

Nine investors with a combined capital of 48 million birr have been licensed in Awi Zone of the Amhara State during the first half of the Ethiopian budget year, the zonal trade and industry department said.
Department head, Kelemu Muluneh told Ethiopian News Agency on Wednesday that the investors seek to engage in construction, agriculture, industry and social service sectors.
Kelemu said the projects would be carried out in various towns in the zone. He said the investment projects would create more than 1,000 jobs when they are launched in the near future.
Some 83 investors with a combined capital of over 1.3 billion birr have been engaged in various development activities in the zone over the past 10 years.
The projects have already created more than 43,000 jobs, the department head said. (January 17, 2007, ENA)

3.2 billion birr expected from donor countries: Minister

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Sufian Ahmed said Ethiopia expects to secure 3.2 billion birr from donor countries in the current year.
Sufian made the statement at the 14th regular meeting of the House of Peoples' Representatives on Thursday.
The Minister said 25 million USD of the expected 3.2 billion birr has already been secured.
He said the balance is expected to be secured in the coming months.
Answering to questions raised by MPs, Sufian said 9.5 billion birr including government budget has been allocated to regions during the reported period.
Various activities were being carried out to aware the public how the budget allocated by the government for regions was being utilized, the Minister said. (January 17, 2007, ENA)

UN seeks to re-establish aid operation in Somalia

The international aid community avail itself of the window of opportunity that now exists in Somalia after the Ethiopian backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) drove fundamentalist group out of Mogadishu by setting up substantial operations in the city, a senior United Nations relief official warned.
“If we don’t act quickly, though, this opportunity may pass,” UN country resident and humanitarian coordinator Eric Laroche said following two UN missions to Mogadishu in the last week. (January 17, 2007, ENA)