House of Mohammadali on 100 most endangered sites list

By Tedla Desta

Mohammadali House has been selected for inclusion on the 2008 World Monuments Watch List of “100 Most Endangered Sites” by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) in New York, Mariam Senna Asfa-Wossen told Capital.
Addis Woubet, Ethiopia’s first NGO dedicated to cultural heritage preservation to promote this site locally and internationally and to work towards its protection, has chosen Mohammadali House as its pilot project.
Mohammadali House, designed around 1900, stands in the courtyard of the Arada Post Office Compound in Addis Ababa’s Piazza District. The location in the middle of the site makes the mansion an ideal case for a pilot conservation and rehabilitation project, a first step of a comprehensive approach.
Mohammadali House served as headquarters for the renowned Indian firm G.M. Mohammadali, one of the most powerful trading companies in Ethiopia during Emperor Menelik’s reign. The attraction of Mohammadali House stems from the combination of different architectural languages, styles and building materials, local and imported, that provide the building with an unmistakable character. Particularly noteworthy is the exquisite symmetry of the building’s facade, characterized by a beautiful double stairway.
Around the end of the 19th century, the area around St. George’s Church began to take on the role as the primary economic and cultural center of the city. Originally called Arada, this district eventually became known as Piazza. Early foreign visitors were impressed by its vitality and diversity. During Menelik’s reign, Piazza boomed and a number of important public buildings such as banks and a post office and entertainment centers like hotels, restaurants and shops were built. The magnificent edifices contain a cross-section of architectural influences, reflecting their Ethiopian, Greek, Armenian and Indian designers. Through the mid-1900’s, Piazza was the central meeting place for city dwellers of all social and economic levels. The development during this era left behind a rich concentration of culturally and historically significant buildings.
Unfortunately, during the political and economic upheavals in Ethiopia from the mid-1970 through the 80’s, the economy in Addis deteriorated, and Piazza’s vibrant past decayed to its present condition.
Announced every two years, the WMF Watch List acts as a call to action, drawing international public attention to threatened cultural heritage sites across the globe. The Watch List is assembled by an international panel of experts in archaeology, architecture, art history, and preservation. For many historic sites, inclusion on the List is the best, and sometimes the only, hope for survival.
The Watch List is selected from hundreds of nominations by an independent panel of international experts convened by WMF every other year and year’s list highlights three critical man-made threats: political conflict, unchecked urban and industrial development, and, for the first time, global climate change.
Previous lists included sites ranging from widely known landmarks such as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Pompeii, Teotihuacan, and the Valley of the Kings (now part of the West Bank 2006 Watch listing), to such lesser-known sites as the Larabanga Mosque, in Ghana, and the National Art Schools, in Cuba. Many endangered sites on previous lists have been rescued or are well on their way to being preserved, thanks to timely intervention.
Since 1996, WMF has made more than 500 grants totaling more than US $47 million to 214 Watch sites in 74 countries. These funds have leveraged more than US $124 million from other sources as a result of the momentum created by inclusion of sites on the Watch List. WMF raises funds from foundations, private donors, and corporations to support the Watch and the effort to save sites on the Watch List.

The Ark was pleased upon a new cart and taken from the hillside home of Abinadab …Divise and the other leaders of Israel…

begena

Ethiopia’s unique cultural heritage includes a wealth of musical instrument used for religious ceremonies as well as artistic expansion.
Along with its very own ancient alphabet, numerals, calendar and architectural wonders, the many indigenous instruments are a prominent component of Ethiopian art and culture.
The emperor of Ethiopian traditional instruments is the ‘Yedawit Begena’ which translates as Davids’ Harp. The Begena is still almost exactly as it was nearly 5000 years ago when the priest king played it in front of the Ark of the Covenant. The instrument is yet another example of the ties between ancient Israel and Ethiopia.
The Begena is also closely associated with the great yared…the 6th century genius to whom nearly 40 mln Orthodox Christians are indebted fro having created the hauntingly beautiful liturgy of the Ethiopian Church.
The Begena is exclusively a religious instrument and never played on widely themes. In fact, the proscribed time or years for the Begena to be played is during the 50 days at Lent preceding Ethiopian Easter.
As are all variations of the harp, the Begena is a large, triangular stringed instrument consisting of a soundboard connected to an upright by means of a curved crossbar from which the strings extend downwards. The Begena has ……strings which are tuned diatonically the meaning that notes are stretched out. This is what gives the Begena its melancholy sound-a sort of add mixture of lament with sudden spurts of deep primeval lows with vibrators that send shedders of content through the audience.
The Begena being a devotional instrument, one needs more than musical mastery to be considered to be a ‘Derdari – arranger” In Amaharic you play instruments but the Begena has its very own Derdari. This indicates that the artist must first acquire a sound understanding of the bible and be a devout person.

Africa 2000

Djibouti

Capital’s special page devoted to lending the third new Ethiopian millennium an African perspective. The Republic of Djibouti, which is celebrating on June 27th. Its independence day is profiled this week. Conguatulations to the government and people of the sisterly nation.

History
The area known as the Republic of Djibouti is contiguous with the Great Rift Valley and near a still active volcanic system. Stretching from southern Eritrea and across a vast swathe of northeast Ethiopia, the rugged, mountainous terrain then eases out into a plateau which descends further into the coastal plains of Djibouti proper.
The small nation occupies a strategically important location and can be regarded as either the Red Sea’s southern exit or its entrance point –depending on the direction of the thousands of ships that ply the strait of Bab-el Mandab, which marks the confluence of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Djibouti used to be known as French Somaliland after it became a colony of France in gradual phases from 1862 to 1900. The area was inhabited since the earliest times by itinerant nomadic peoples which were the descendants of the present day population composed of mainly Somali and Afar tribes. The Afar also spread across the southern coast and interior of Eritrea to Ethiopia, where they have their own autonomous federal state.
Djibouti became an overseas territory of France in 1945 and was known as French Somaliland until 1967, when it was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and Issas. The latter name was applied to the Somali majority.
Prior to independence in 1977, there was a brief period of conflict between the Afars –ethnically related with Ethiopians and the Somali affiliated Issas.
Ethiopia and Djibouti enjoy economic, socio-cultural and political relations that are notable for being steady and mutually beneficial. A railway linking the two was built between 1900 and 1903 and ever since, Djibouti has become an increasingly vital sea outlet for Ethiopia, especially after Ethiopia’s natural port of Assab was lost to Eritrea in 1991.
Ethiopia is Djibouti’s second largest trading partner after Sausdi Arabia. The nation imports about 10% of its total incoming goods from Ethiopia.
The bulk of this trade is in perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables, live animals and processed meat, the mild narcotic ‘qat’ –legal in all of East Africa and Yemen, beverages and other food items.
Since the bulk of Ethiopia’s export and import enters through the Port of Djibouti –there is a constant flow of road, rail and air traffic between the countries .
A large Ethiopian community resides in Djibouti –ville and some areas of the capital remind the visitor of, if not Addis Ababa, then Dire Dawa –the summer destination of many a vacationing Djiboutian.
Djibouti has one of the busiest and most modern ports on the east African coast. The port is operated by Dubai Port World under a 20 year management concession signed in 2000. DP-Wold is in the process of upgrading the port’s capacity and related services since it acquired control, investing hundreds of millions of dollars.
Arts and Culture
The Arts and Culture scene in Djibouti reflects its ethnic makeup and is similar to the customs of the Afars and Somali. There is also a strong foreign element in the music and dance. This manifests itself as mostly South Arabian, Yemeni and Omani in tone and arrangement.
Western culture is also present because Djibouti has a fairly substantial French community –mostly members and families of a Djibouti based French garrison numbering 2600 and it also hosts an American base with over 1800 troops .
The foreign community, which includes Ethiopians as well, organizes frequent if not regular cultural events such as music and dramatic performances by invited or visiting artists from Ethiopia, Europe and North America.

To Mecca by road…

No it’s not an ill-timed April Fool’s prank. The pictures on the left are architectural drawings of a very real, hugely ambitious project to build a bridge anchored on man made Iland to span the 28 kms separating Djibouti in Africa to Yemen in Asia.

This project is to be executed by the construction company owned by Sheik Tarek Mohamed Ben Laden – father of Osama and expected to be completed in two years with 100,000 workers engaged on a project was expected anywhere from 50-70 billion dollars. Construction is to begin after formal agreements have been signed.

Facts and Figures
Location-East coast of Africa, Eritrea on North, Ethiopia on West and South West, Somaliland on South and Red Sea on East
Area-23,000 sq.km
Geography-Low coastal plain, mountains behind, plateaus, generally arid landscape,
Population- 700,000
Distribution - 83.7 % urban
Ethnic Groups- Somali 60%, Afar 35%, Other 5%
Languages –French, Arabic (both official), Somali, Afar
Religions – Muslim 94%, Christian 6%
Capital City – Djibouti, pop 555,000
Government Type – Republic
Head of State-President Ismail Omar Guelleh, since 1999
Head of Government – Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita, since 2001
Economy–Construction, agriculture processing, shipping and related services.
Currency –Franc (DIF) 175,16 =$1USD
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – $619 mln
Per Capita GDP -$1,300 USD
Electricity Production – 200 mln kwh
Literacy – 67.9%
Life Expectancy – 41.9 male, 44.5 female
HIV Rate – 3.1%
Telephones –11,100 lines
Vehicles –17,000 units
Radios – 86 per 1000 pop
TV sets – 48 per 1,000 pop
Railroads – 100 kms
Internet – 9,000 users

Facts and figures are the latest avilable at time of publication and may not necessarily be the most accurate.