Capital

DBE takes over export guarantee bond
NBE sets loan record

By Eskinder Michael

NIB UP 100 mln birr

By Andualem Sisay

Fagat receives land for cement factory

By Groum Abate

Residents celebrate thirsty water day

By Andualem Sisay

420 mln in export earnings
Unrest in Somalia reason for slump in Khat export

By Eskinder Michael

Wonji Sugar Factory flooded

By Groum Abate

Building confidence of ownership
Issues related to rural land

By Andualem Sisay

BGI, Rotary Entoto supporting education

By our staff reporter

EIC earns 17 mln birr profit

By Eskinder Michael

Mayor appointed as Head of Oromia Housing Project

By Groum Abate

Telling it like it is

Teddy Afro to rock town

By Groum Abate

Millennium council
targets heritage

Plans underway, but where’s the money?

By Eskinder Michael

Shortage Vs Violation
EPRDF Vs Opposition on inquiry commission report

By Eskinder Michael

Science comes to the rescue
of Ethiopian farmers

By Andualem Sisay

Apple orchard arrives

By Andualem Sisay

DBE takes over export guarantee bond
NBE sets loan record

By Eskinder Michael

The Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) has taken over the export loan guarantee scheme from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).
According to the report presented to parliament, the bank’s six month performance led the government to transfer the scheme from the NBE to DBE. Since the decision was taken in February, the NBE has been making necessary preparations for the shift.
The NBE has already given guarantees to 30 companies that took loans amounting to 334.5 million birr.
NBE has also provided a record 49.8 billion birr in loans for both the private and public sectors in the first six months of the fiscal year.
According to Teklewold Atnafu, Governor of NBE who presented the performance report, the bank tries to provide as much money as possible in ways that do not create inflation. This year’s first half loan provision exceeds that of last year’s by 18.3%.
About 46.6% (25.1 billion birr) of the total money put forth for loans was taken by the government, with the remaining 53.4% (28.7 billion birr) taken by the private sector and development work of the government.
The fist six months of this fiscal year indicate that the total loans obtained by the government from the NBE showed a 3.7% decrease while the loans taken by the private sector as a whole showed a 19.5% increase. These statistics, according to Teklewold, show that the financial policies were formulated in order to encourage the private sector.
Another aspect of success by the NBE was the fortnightly sale of government treasury bills. During the first six months of this fiscal year, NBE provided 33.6 billion birr worth of treasury bills for sale and sold bills worth 33.4 billion birr. Over the same period last year, the bank sold just 19.5 billion birr worth of treasury bills. This year’s amount exceeds last year’s by 71.4%.
It was stated that private banks are the main clients for the fortnightly treasury bills and that this was the reason for the bank’s inability to meet the demands for treasury bills from the private sector. Since banks hold excess liquidity, they buy most of the bills and – out of the 12 billion birr worth of bills in store – have acquired 10.3 billion birr (86%).
Excess liquidity stored by commercial banks at the NBE could, in many ways, have negative impacts on the successful implementation of financial policies. Because of that, the NBE has decided to use this money for the government’s telecommunication and electrification projects, and expansion of the export sector.
With this in mind, banks had stored 11.3 billion birr with the NBE at the end of last fiscal year but the deposit of commercial banks with the NBE at the end of the first half of this fiscal year has decreased dramatically to 6.5 billion birr.
Though the bank had tried to control rising inflation rates by devising and trying to balance cash flows, inflation has reached an alarming 13.7%. Among the reasons put forth by the bank for the spike in inflation are the rising prices of construction materials and the global increase in the price of fuel, although the oil price has dropped to 50 USD per barrel at present.
The report also said that the steady economic growth in the past four years has endowed farmers with purchasing power, resulting in farming communities using better agricultural inputs, leading to the price increase in food items.
At the end of the first half of this fiscal year, the inflation rate of non-food items reached 11.5%, as compared to 7.2% for the same period last year. The fact that inflation has exceeded 10% has become a matter of great concern for the bank.
Though the inflation rate in all the regions was more or less the same, some differences have been spotted. Regions like Addis Ababa, Amhara, Harari, SNNPR and Gambella have recorded the highest inflation rates of 14 to 16.3%, while the rest of the country recorded inflation at between 9.9 and 12%. Compared to the inflation rate over the same period last year, all regions have shown higher rates except Somali and Tigray regions.

NIB UP 100 mln birr

By Andualem Sisay

Shareholders of Nib International Bank (NIB) decided to raise the paid-up capital of the bank by 100 mln birr, at an extraordinary session held yesterday, March 24, 2007 at the Sheraton Addis.
“The great demand by the general public to buy NIB shares, coupled with the ready willingness of the bank to develop and expand its activities necessitated an increase in paid-up capital from 260 million to 360 mln birr,” said Lema Haile-Giorgis, Board Chairman of NIB. “This is the right time to offer NIB shares for sale.”
It is indicated that the bank will start selling shares to the public as of Monday March 26, 2007.
When NIB opened in October 28, 1999 its paid up capital was 27.6mln birr. Increasing limits of single borrowers, foreign exchange holdings, building confidence in the bank’s adequacy ratio, and both borrower and lender confidence are among the benefits that NIB bank obtains as a result of the paid-up capital growth, according to the chairman. In addition, fulfilling international bank standards such as asset size and quality is also cause for the increment.
In February 28, 2007, the total assets of the bank reached 2.74 bln birr, or 27% above last year’s. The bank has made 245.6 mln birr profits out of which it paid 78.3 mln birr tax to the government and paid out 122.6 mln birr among shareholders. It has also deposited the remaining 44.7 for various legal backup purposes.
NIB bank also announced the connection of ten of its branches in Addis Ababa with StarBank state-of-the art software for inter-branch transactions as of Monday, March 26, 2007.
NIB was established with 771 shareholders and now has 2147. The number of employees has also increased from 27 in 1999 to 843 today. The bank has a total of 24 branches across the country including two agency offices. 18 of these are in Addis Ababa.

Fagat receives land for cement factory

By Groum Abate

Fagat Promotion and Internet animate Enterprise has signed an agreement and received land to establish a cement factory valued at more than 500 million birr in Degam district of North Shewa Zone, Oromia State.
According to the official website of the Oromia Regional Government, Fagat Promotion and Internet animate enterprise received 32.5 hectares of land in Degam district of North Shewa Zone, and have commenced activities to establish a cement factory.
This enterprise is establishing the cement factory to curtail the current scarcity of cement in the country.
The cement factory to be set up by Chinese investors would create more than 2000 job opportunities according to information on the website.
1,997,963 birr is also deposited in Fitche Commercial Bank to be paid as a compensation for 59 farmers to be evicted from their farmland.
The company would be the second after Derba Midroc to launch construction of a cement factory.

Residents celebrate thirsty water day

By Andualem Sisay

The ‘water tower’ of the horn of Africa, Ethiopia, celebrated the World Water Day (WWD) on March 22, 2007 with the theme “Coping with water scarcity”, which perfectly point to the water shortage the country is in.
While addressing the gathering on Thursday at the Ministry to celebrate the day, “Ethiopia has started the celebration since 1994 manifesting its high consideration of this finite but important natural resource,” said Asfaw Dingamo, Minister of Water Resources.
Today, some 1.2 bln people live in areas of water scarcity. Studies indicate that instead of showing improvement, the scarcity will worsen in 2025, affecting 1.8 bln people.
“Ethiopia, which is not exceptional to this global fact, is frequently challenged with severe droughts; as a result of which food security and provision of reliable water supply and sanitation service is becoming challenging, though we had favorable harvests during the past three years,” Asfaw said.
While the Authority was celebrating World Water Day in its compound, the inhabitants of most of Addis Ababa were seen here and there with plastic buckets seeking water. “It is a shame for Addis Ababa, which is the capital of Africa, to be unable to provide us a drop of water for over 80 days,” says Abdourahman E. Ismael, a Diplomat from the Embassy of Djibouti who lives in the Mekanisa area.
The annual renewable surface water resource potential of Ethiopia is estimated as 123 bln cubic meters of water. The water resources problems in the country are uneven, spatial and temporal and inadequate distribution of these resources, according to Minister Asfaw.
“About 85 percent of the country’s water resource is found in the west and southwest part of the country where the population is less than 40 per cent. On the other hand, over 60 per cent of the population lives in arid and semiarid regions where less than 15 per cent of the country’s water potential exists,” he explained.
Another person who commented to Capital on the water problem of Addis Ababa is Col. Linz Reinhard, Military Liaison Officer for EU-AU, who lives near the Golf Club. He has not had water for up to ten days at his residence. He recommends water discipline education as a solution from his experiences in Mauritania and Morocco, “if indeed there is a water shortage.”
He also describes miscalculation and mismanagement as another problem related to the scarcity. “While the days that we not get water increase, we are also required to pay four times more than the days we get water properly. Even after we changed the counter, the problem remains.”
According to UN-Water, people experience water scarcity below a threshold of 1,700 cubic meters per person per year. “The current Ethiopian per capita water availability of 1720 cubic meter per person per year will go down to 1015 on the average. This will even go from bad to worse by reaching 200-300 cubic meters per person per year in the Eastern and North-Eastern part of the country calling for water security measures in an integrated manner,” says Asfaw.
As experts agree, the most significant intervention to cope with the problem is the introduction of Integrated Water Resource Management. The government of Ethiopia has issued Water Resource Management Policy in the year 1999. “Since then,” the Minister says, “based on the country’s Integrated Water Resources Management, Ethiopia has entered into a scaled up implementation of water supply, sanitation, irrigation and hydropower development activities.”
The United Nations General Assembly, following the Rio de Janeiro Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, designated March 22 of each year as World Water Day.

420 mln in export earnings
Unrest in Somalia reason for slump in Khat export

By Eskinder Michael

Ethiopia has earned over 400 million USD in the first six months of this fiscal year from export.
The 421 million USD secured from exports in the first six months exceeds last year’s 396.6 million USD by 6.1%.
The export earnings were obtained from the sale of coffee, cereals, leather and leather products, fruits and vegetables, and of course the growing export of cut flowers.
According to reports by the National Bank of Ethiopia, the amount of coffee exported this year has shown a significant increase though the price had shown a slight decrease. Coffee exports reached 72.4 thousand tons in the first half of this fiscal year, showing a 72.4% increase over the same period last year.
Coffee brought in about 67.1% of the foreign exchange in the first half of this year. Ethiopia’s coffee exports had earned the country 334 million birr in the past fiscal year.
The money was earned from the export of 160,000 tones of coffee to more than 40 countries worldwide with Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, and the USA being the largest importers. These countries comprised 85% of the total coffee exported.
The export volume of cereals, leather and leather products and fruits and vegetables has also risen considerably. Pakistan has become the latest importer of cereals from Ethiopia.
Flowers of course, have shown significant increase in export garnering 19.8 million USD, showing over twice the amount that was obtained in the first six months of the last fiscal year.
Though general export volume has increased, exports of khat and pulses has plummeted, with both recording 7.3% and 47% decrease respectively. It is widely believed that the unrest in Somalia has caused the decrease in the amount of export of khat. When stability regains, the khat export is expected to pick up.
China used to be the main importer of pulses from Ethiopia, but the currently low interest from China in the commodity has seen the exports decrease by 48%.
Last year, Ethiopia had hit the threshold of 1 billion USD from the export sector and the government expects to beat that figure this year, though the first half results were below the targeted figure.
In total, the export earnings in the first half make up for a mere 32.4% of the 1297 million USD planned to earn for the whole fiscal year, meaning that the export sector has its work cut out for the second half of the fiscal year.
As compared to export sector, the import sector has increased significantly, with about 2364.5 USD worth of items being imported in the first half of the year.
The fact that the government plans to celebrate the millennium in style has forced it to import more capital goods, while the price of other goods has increased due to the rise in fuel prices. Investment in the private sector has also increased in the first half of the fiscal year, meaning that the import in that sector has increased. As compared to the same period last year, the import of raw materials and capital goods this season have shown a 24% and 11.4% increase respectively.
The government also saw its fuel consumption grow by 55.6% as it spent 469.2 million USD in the first half of this season, a cost that puts heavy pressure on the government’s pockets.

Wonji Sugar Factory flooded

By Groum Abate

Wonji Sugar Factory’s expansion drive was set-back after the factory was flooded during last week’s heavy rains.
The factory recently launched a 240 million euro, five-year expansion project in a bid to increase its productivity by fourfold.
As part of the project the factory received 150 hectares of land around the Awash Melkassa locality to establish a new factory to process 125,000 quintals of sugarcane daily from the existing 35,000 quintals at present.
It plans to increase its current sugar production capacity by fourfold from the current 750,000 quintals per annum.
Wonji Sugar factory also received 3,200 hectares of land in the six kebeles of the Adama, Dodota, and Sire woredas of the East Shoa and Arsi Zones to develop haricot beans in a bid to expand its income sources.
The costs for the project are to be covered by the Ethiopian Sugar Development Fund as well as loans from local and foreign banks.
The factory secures 51.5 million birr net profit annually from its two sugar, one candy, and one limestone factories and has more than 7,000 permanent and contract workers at present.
Last year, flash floods caused by heavy rains killed over 1,000 people and left more than 260,000 homeless in southern and eastern Ethiopia. In Oromia alone, over 7,000 people were left homeless after the flooding.

Building confidence of ownership
Issues related to rural land

By Andualem Sisay

The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), are undertaking pilot studies in four regions of the country to enable the public, especially rural farmers to understand their rights and responsibilities toward the land they are using.
This was indicated on Tuesday, 20, 2007 at a workshop organized to create awareness on the issue among media practitioners at the Global Hotel.
The government of Ethiopia is in the process of moving public ownership and management of rural land to the individual level. It began this pilot program by giving certificates of ownership to individual farmers in 24 woredas in four regions.
“The government of Ethiopia wants you to change public attitude towards land rights and responsibilities,” Mr. Peter Hetz, Senior Program/Public Information and Awareness Specialist Associates in Rural Development told representatives of the media. “One can most likely conserve best the soil, trees and other natural resources on the land, when he/she feels the sense of ‘mine’.”
Even if the purpose of the certification is to save valuable time for the farmers that would have been spent on fights over land disputes, many farmers and the urban public don’t seem excited by the certification.
Some claim that unless farmers are able to sell or get loans from banks by using their land as collateral, holding a certificate won’t help them since they have already developed a sense of ownership even before the certification. These critics cite the often observed dispute between farmers on land before certification as the fact that farmers have a strong sense of property.
Contrary to the critics, others feel that certification has great impact in saving the country’s environment. They believe that the lack of certified ownership has contributed to the reduction of the total forested area of Ethiopia to below 2.5 per cent from the 40 per cent some 50 years ago.

BGI, Rotary Entoto supporting education

By our staff reporter

Members of Rotary club of Addis Ababa Entoto combined business and pleasure on Sunday March 18, when, together with their families and friends, they traveled to Tiya, 85km south of Addis Ababa, to visit a primary school in need of support.
Rotarian Jean Paul Blavier, General Manager of BGI Ethiopia, presented a 21” TV to the elementary school of Tiya. The donation was received on behalf of the school by Ato Bedewi Negash, in the presence of representatives of the Sodo Woreda Administration Bureau and Chairman of the school construction committee Ato Sebsibe Tekle. They jointly expressed their heartfelt appreciation for the regular and varied support of the Entoto Rotary club.
“The TV will upgrade the elementary school’s capacity to enable the students to acquaint themselves with video technology before they are exposed to Plasma TV lessons, a teaching method that is now standard throughout the country in high school,” said Ato Yisma Jirru, Head of the Sodo woreda Education Bureau.
As part of its ongoing support to Tiya School and community, the Rotary Club donated 600 schoolbooks obtained from McMillan McGraw Hill, USA to the school in December 2006.
Tiya School was established in 1969 with two teachers assigned by the government and 42 students from grades 1 to 4. The four classrooms were constructed by Ato Sisay Molla, a businessman from the area.
Today there are 1,624 students at Tiya Elementary School who can study up to 8th grade. Their teachers say it breaks their hearts to see kids go back to farming and cattle breeding after the 8th grade. Continuing their children’s education is often too expensive for parents with pupils having to travel for up to 50km to attend classes, factors which limit children’s future prospects.
The Rotary Club and Tiya School is actively mobilizing donors to contribute to the construction of classrooms for Tiya School and assist in the expansion to include secondary school students, which will benefit the 2,000 inhabitants in Tiya and the combined population of 28,000 in the 13 surrounding Kebeles.
Tiya is a town in southern Ethiopia located in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region. It is known for its nearby archeological wonder, which is distinguished by numerous steles which mark a large, prehistoric burial complex.
The Rotarians and their families enjoyed a visit to the 12th century A.D Steles in Tiya, an archeological site designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980. The group also visited the Meillard Rose Farm and the Melka Kunture 2 million year old Paleolithic site which was used to make stone tools.
Rotary is a worldwide, prominent and highly successful philanthropic organization of business and professional leaders. It came to be on 23 February 1905 by Paul Harris and three businessmen with its founding principle of ‘Service Above Self’. Today, some 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries.

EIC earns 17 mln birr profit

By Eskinder Michael

The Ethiopian Insurance Agency (EIC) secured a 16.9 million birr profit, showing a 3.4% increase from the same period last year’s.
The state owned insurance company operated with a 395.1 million birr capital and 1,005.6 million birr in total assets at the end the first half of this season, showing a 110.2% and 16.3% increase as compared to the same period last season.
It was also learnt that the EIC has collected 212.3 million birr from premium sales, also recording a 21.1% increase as compared to the first half of last season.
Last year the EIC collected a total revenue of 66 million birr before tax exceeding the previous year’s budget by 6.9 million birr as well as surpassing its target by 9.3 million birr.
EIC’s return on capital (equity) last year stood at 29.1% recording a marked increase of 19.3% and similarly during the previous Ethiopian budget year comparatively on average boosted by 230.7%.
The company incurred claims of 207.2 million birr in the last fiscal year, an increase of close to 93% during the similar period the previous year. Last year also saw the EIC failing to meet the NBE’s directive in collecting premium earnings as stipulated by the bank in the required period.
NBE’s directive forces insurance companies to collect premiums of 59.7% of the total amount in the first three months of the agreement, 3.8% of it in 3-6 months, from 6 months to a year, 3.8% and 26.8% for more than a 2 year period. According to the insurance company’s report, this has not been met, resulting in the aforementioned hiccups.
EIC was established in 1976 and came into existence by taking over all the assets and liabilities of thirteen nationalized private insurance companies with an 11 million birr paid up capital. It was re-established as a public enterprise under proclamation number 201/94 with 61 million birr (USD 7.13 million) in paid up capital.
All private insurance companies have, according to the National Bank of Ethiopia, done well in the first half of this fiscal year as they recorded a collective profit of 36.7 million birr. A study also showed that the insurance companies operated with a combined capital of 316.9 million birr and collective assets valuation of 854 million birr. The capital and asset records of this fiscal year exceed last year’s by 12.2 and 17.4 respectively.
The companies also collected a total premium sales of 307.4 million birr, a collection that exceeds last year’s by 34.9%.
Insurance services were given to customers across Ethiopia via 143 branches, of which 35 (24.5%) belong to the EIC, and the rest distributed among the eight private insurance companies. Addis Ababa has about 48.3% insurance coverage, Oromia 14.7%, Amhara 11.9%, SNNPR has 11.2%, Dire Dawa 6.3% coverage, Tigray 4.2%, Harari 2.1%, and Benishangul Gumuz and Somali have 0.7% coverage each.
With a total of 9 insurance companies providing services in Ethiopia, six give total and long term insurance services while three offer total insurance services.
Eyesus-work Zafu, current CEO of the United Insurance Company (UNIC) and President of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Associations (AACCSA), is president of the Association of Ethiopian Insurers, after replacing Tsegaye Kemsi, CEO of the Awash Insurance Company.
The association was deregistered some time between 2000 and 2001 owing to allegations that it is fixing bond rates by itself, amounting to a monopoly. It was later reregistered in 2002.

Mayor appointed as Head of Oromia Housing Project

By Groum Abate

Jemal Abasso, who was removed from his position as Mayor of Adama town on March 14, has been installed as the Head of the Oromia Housing Project.
The 2.9 billion birr project hopes to curb the region’s housing problem.
The Oromia Works and Urban Development Bureau announced that construction of more than 151,000 houses will be undertaken in the coming four years.
Construction of the houses will be carried out by the regional government and investors in order to alleviate the shortage of residential and commercial houses.
The regional government will undertake construction of 66,847 of the houses, while investors will construct 85,000. Ninety percent of the houses will be residential while the rest will be rented to businesses.
It was reported last week that most of Adama town’s administration was replaced by new staff at the Adama self-assessment meeting chaired by Abadula Gemeda, Chief Administrator of the Oromia Regional State.
Sisay Negash, former Illubabor Administration Head, has replaced Jemal Abasso as Mayor of Adama town.

Telling it like it is

There is an ongoing crises in gender relations and this situation stems largely from cultural pressures. This was the informal consensus reached after the opening of “Family Conversations. Lets tell the secrets!”, a conference on domestic violence held on March 22-23,2007 at the Ghion Hotel.
The well attended gathering was organized by the Institute of Gender Studies of Addis Ababa University IGS, in collaboration with the United States Embassy and the Heinrich Boll Foundation.
This was the IGS’s first conference and revolved on the timely issues of domestic violence
in celebration of the 2007 International Women’s Day.
Moderated by an engaging Dr. Eleni Rocha, Asst. Professor of IGS/AAU, the absorbing conference was officially opened by Ms Janet Wilgus, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy who welcomed the assembly which included women and men lawyers, activities and academics along with members of the press, students and others.
In her keynote address Honorable Wzo. Gifti Abasiya, Chairperson of the Women’s Affairs Standing Committee of the House of Peoples Representatives expressed her pleasure at the opportunities that such a forum promises and stressed that the challenges facing women in general are indeed daunting but not insurmountable.
Dr. Mangai Nataragan, professor of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, was the first among many scholars that presented papers on topics that are rarely if ever, raised in public debate.
Dr. Mangai is paper dealt with first defining what constitutes Domestic Violence and the cultural and legal aspects of a problem that shows no sign of abating
“Women in traditional societies such as my country India and here in Ethiopia countries by the way which share many cultural affinities, are cultured into a submissive role from which they cant ever break out for fear of communal alienation. They are condemned to endure corporal abuse and sexual attacks”, stated Dr. Mangai.
In a presentation which was complemented by vivid instances of domestic violence involving a member of her own immediate family, Dr. Mangai added, “women no matter how awfully they suffer at the hands of their spouses- cannot bear reporting him to the police. The stigma on the family would just be too overwhelming; the woman fears losing a livelihood because her parents will not receive her back into their home. Husbands often force their abused wives into submission by threatening to take her children away.
The conference aims to create a joint platform for activities against domestic violence by bringing together gender professionals, activist and students. it was also a chance to gather the latest research finding on issues such as child abuse, spousal abuse and other gender sensitive issues.
The attendants of the conference were given ample opportunity to present pertinent questions which were accommodated by the distinguished roster of speakers.

Teddy Afro to rock town

By Groum Abate

The young talented vocalist, songwriter and producer Tewodros Kassahun alias Teddy Afro, is going to rock the town after the Easter holidays in his first show in two years.
Teddy has conducted two concerts in Ethiopia so far his last one being held for the 60th birthday of Bob Marley celebrated at Meskal Square in 2005.
His latest concert is planned to be staged at the Tropical Garden in the coming few weeks and would also include his latest album ‘Yasteserial’. which hit music stores and took over the music charts for over a year.
It had been reported that he himself was to organize a concert at Meskal Square after just releasing his last album but was later denied a permit by the authorities for security reasons.
The concert at Tropical Garden was planned to be staged on April 13, but was later postponed for two weeks.
The young mega hit star is well known for singing about issues that deeply affect Ethiopian society and has caught the attention audiences with songs like “Haile Gebreselassie”, “Kenenisa”, “Chemin”de Fer”, and “Ja Yasteseriyal”.
Three of Teddy’s latest songs – “Chemin”de Fer”, “Au Au Taye” and “Ja Yestesiriayal” – were banned from being aired on Ethiopian television, national radio and FM 97.1 after being deemed dangerously political.
The word ‘Yasteseriyal’ means ‘Jehovah pleads for the sins of mankind.’
It is to be recalled that the young artist was recently accused of a hit- run allegation and later set free after the prosecutor dropped the charges in a court hearing at the Federal First Instance Court.
Teddy recently came back to Ethiopia after a 10 month long international tour, hosting concerts in the USA, Europe and the Middle East and promoting his latest album. He left the country, after he rebuffed a 130,000 birr deal with the Sheraton Addis for a New Year’s Eve performance, allegedly unhappy over the ban on his signature songs.

Millennium council
targets heritage

Plans underway, but where’s the money?

By Eskinder Michael

With five months left for the Ethiopian Millennium, the Ethiopian Millennium Council has decided to hold four national workshops on preserving cultural heritage, among other issues.
The workshops are set to discuss Ethiopian heritage, what they mean and what kind of impact they had on the country’s national psyche, about how neglected, ignored they have been and how to proceed with the preservation of heritage.
International organizations involved in heritage studies, such as the UNESCO, will be invited for the discussions, which aim, according to the council, to build a better international image for Ethiopia.
The follow-up for these workshops would be preparing guidelines on how to promote Ethiopia’s heritage to tourists. By liaising with regional and federal offices and museums, the council plans to compile two brochures and one official document that has detailed information of items in museums across Ethiopia and sites that are potential tourist destinations. This project should cost the council over a quarter of a million birr.
The council has also pushed for a special AU Summit to be held here in Ethiopia next year.
According to the council, the proposed summit will coincide with African Cultural Week in May 2008 and be part of the year-long millennium celebrations.
The plan is to dedicate a week for all African nations, with country stands to display their cultural heritage in the form of exhibitions, dances, shows and films.
The council plans to hold talks with groups from each country on how to best proceed on promoting African heritage during the celebrations. Embassies of African countries based in Addis Ababa will be responsible for liaising between their respective countries and the millennium council.
According to the council, these two projects will cost one million birr, and though the council hasn’t secured the funds yet, it hopes that discussions with the respective embassies will bear fruit.

Shortage Vs Violation
EPRDF Vs Opposition on inquiry commission report

By Eskinder Michael

A report on the violence that followed the controversial May 2005 elections has reignited the anger of parliamentary opposition parties.
The report was presented to Parliament for the second time this week, but the House provided one of the biggest opposition margins since the opening of the third parliamentary season as 280 MPs voted to accept the document, with 118 MPs voting against.
While the document in its entirety was not accepted by opposition parties, one statement in particular caught their attention. The report said that though the government had repeatedly told its security forces about human rights violations, there were shortages of adherence to the respect for human rights.
“When we say there were shortages in respecting human rights, then it means that human rights have been violated, so the word shortage is not right. I also don’t see anything in the report that asks the government to apologize for taking action against those who were involved in the ‘shortage of human rights’. It doesn’t say anywhere that the government should compensate the families of those killed during the riots,” Professor Beyene Petros, Deputy Chairman of the UEDF said. The parliamentarian also stated that he felt relieved that the report had cleared his party of any involvement in the riots.
A statement in the report stated that riots caused in Ambo and Jeldu were not investigated and it asked the government to do so. Prof. Beyene replied by saying that, with the government standing accused of applying excessive force, it could not be entrusted with the task of investigating the riots.
In response, the EPRDF said that the word ‘violation’ could in no way substitute ‘shortage’. “As for the suggestion that the government should apologize for human rights violations, the government can’t apologize for a mistake it has not made. The report clearly stated that the government didn’t use excessive force as it was trying to protect the constitution,” the speaker said.
Mohammed Ali, a member of the CUDP said that the report in itself was not devoid of political suspicion as two of its members had fled the country and asked for asylum. There they released their own report which concluded that the government had indeed used excessive force. “This is a matter that can raise questions,” Mohammed said. His sentiment was shared by opposition party members who believe that many innocent people were killed during the riots.
EPRDF members tried to show that the report cleared the government of any wrongdoing, quoted the report saying that rioters had used burned tyres and blocked roads, used guns, bombs, flammable materials and put heavy pressure on security forces.
Lidetu Ayalew, Chairman of the EDUP-Medhin was far from impressed with the report. “There are gaps in the report. We need to have evidence whether all 193 victims came face to face with security forces with guns, bombs and other weapons to make it necessary for the security forces to shoot them. We also need to know how many were killed at home. When the report says there was shortage of respect for human rights, we need to know what the shortages resulted in and who were responsible. I don’t believe that the government should be told to correct the absence of human rights, I believe that those responsible for it have to be accountable because there is no guarantee that it will not happen again. This is the way it works in the developed world and that should be the way it works here,” he said.
“The independence of the inquiry commission was questionable from the beginning and we had asked to monitor the progress of the investigation, but we were not allowed to do so. The two members of the commission who escaped and released another report were wrong, they should have given that report to the parliament, but the fact that another report exists is grounds enough for suspicion,” Lidetu said.
Mohammed Dirir, Minister of Tourism, was quoted as saying that there was no question about the independence of the report and that it should be thanked for differentiating between protest and havoc.
The disturbances in June and November 2005 resulted in the deaths of 193 people. An inquiry commission was formed during the last Ethiopian fiscal year upon the decision of Parliament and was ordered to prepare a report on whether the government had used excessive force to control the riots.
The report came out months later than intended, and when it did, the commission stated clearly that the government had not used excessive force. “Taking under consideration what would have happened if the government had not taken those actions, the government did not use excessive force,” was the final decision of the report.

Science comes to the rescue
of Ethiopian farmers

By Andualem Sisay

After four years of research, scientists from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and International Livestock Research Institute (IRLI), have identified a cattle-type resistant to a fatal form of bovine disease.
“We were comparing four indigenous breeds on their tripano-tolerant ability. We are concluding the research and the result is telling us that one of the breeds – Sheko – is by far better than others in tolerating disease,” says Dr. Tadelle Dessie, an animal scientist with the Biotechnology team at IRLI.
“ILRI is looking at the role that livestock can play to alleviate poverty,” says Bruce Scott, Director of Partnerships and Communications, who met with Capital at the annual ILRI staff reviewing and planning gathering in Addis.
According to Dr. Tadelle, tripano-tolerance is transmittable from generation to generation. The four breeds have been in the same environment for thousands of years and have developed the trait of tripano-tolerance.
The Sheko cattle breed is mainly found in Magi zone, Oromia, in western Ethiopia. Horo, Abrigar and Guragae highland are the three breeds which have the least tripano-tolerance ability compared with Sheko.
“Currently, we are preparing a project proposal with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop a multiplication center, so that this technology reaches the widest range of farmers in the country,” Dr. Tadelle said.
Dr. Tadelle declined to say how much the multiplication centre would cost, but did say it would be a lot of money.
In addition to identifying indigenous cattle species, ILRI and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are also conducting research to improve productivity and improve market access for farmers. This project, called Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS), is funded by Canadian-SIDA and is running in ten pilot cites in Ethiopia. It has been under implementation for the past two years.
The intention of the project is to shift the focus from just looking at food security and subsistence to finding ways to earn income through access to local, regional and international markets. Knowledge management, capacity building, commodity development and research are the core areas of IPMS’s intervention.
“Even in such a short time, we have been able to get lessons on how the agriculture extension program has to be implemented,” says Dr. Azage Tegegne, animal scientist at ILRI who is leading the IPMS project. “We are following-up the performances of the information centres we have at Wereda levels and we are planning to diversify to the regional level.”
Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and SNNP are the four regions chosen for the project’s pilot cites. Miaso in Oromia, Metema in Amhara and Alamata in Tigray are the Weredas where IPMS has achieved good results in fattening and providing cattle to the market. Adaa, Dale, Fogera and Alamata have improved the quality of their milk after receiving training and support Dr. Azage said.
“We are distilling some of our best experiences and recommending our results to policy makes so that all farmers will benefit from such experiences and findings,” he says.
Before changing its name in 1995 and began functioning globally, ILRI was previously known as International Livestock Center for Africa (ILCA). Now the research institute has some 120 classified scientists and 150 staff. ILRI has been working in Ethiopia since 1974.

Apple orchard arrives

By Andualem Sisay

As part of its SUN - Sustainable Utilization of Natural Resources for Improved Food Security - a program that promotes apples in the highlands of Ethiopia, in particular in Oromia region, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) imported 83,500 seedlings (58,500 grafted Apple trees and 25,000 rootstocks) from Spain on Thursday evening, March 22, 2007.
The apple seedlings are presently in the cold store of Ethiopian Airlines cargo center.
“We will start clearing the cargo on Monday and hopefully by Wednesday, we will start distributing to the 36 woredas and from there, to nurseries and more than 7,000 farmer households,” says Ilona Gruenewald of SUN.
The apple project aims to make use of the potential for fruit production in the highlands of Ethiopia. GTZ has taken the initiative of supporting and facilitating the promotion of apples since 1998.
The import of the seedlings is part of the overall support to promote integrated natural resource management.
So far under the program 103 extension staff and 7,550 farmers from 3775 households have been trained in apple production. Training topics include orchard establishment, orchard, disease and pest, and production management.
Smallholder farm-households are the target groups supported with the main objective of contributing to improvement in the income of the farmers and overall living conditions. Highland fruits are also contributing to the improvement in diet and health of the benefiting households, as well as to better management of land resources through integration of the practice with soil and water conservation activities.
Supply of apple planting materials was undertaken by importing adaptive varieties from Spain. From 1998 to 2006, a total of 54,010 seedlings (46,050 grafted apples and 7,960 rootstocks) were imported from Spain and supplied to farmers and some planted in nurseries. The demand keeps increasing from year to year.
“Generally, plantation adaptation and growth performance is encouraging, with more than a 95% survival rate. Farmers were able to successfully establish and manage plantations. Yields as high as 40 kg per tree were obtained from some trees. The size of the fruits, taste, and color are very good,” according to the statement sent to Capital.
Most of the farmers sell apples at a farm-gate price of 15 Birr/kg (1.5 EURO/kg). Merchants (middle traders, supermarket delegates) are going to farmers’ and buying at negotiated prices. Some farmers supply to the supermarkets in the capital of the country. Model farmers were able to generate annual cash income of up to 12,000 Birr (1,200 EURO) from apple garden plots. The incremental net-benefit is more than five times as compared to the net-benefit that could be gained from the existing intensive system of production in smallholders’ backyard.
The Ethiopian partner institution at federal level is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with its regional structures and their corresponding units responsible for Natural resources, Food Security and Rural Energy. Financial cooperation is provided through KfW and technical cooperation through GTZ and DED.
The apple activity is undertaken under one part of the overall partnership program that implements or creates income sources, which includes fuel saving stoves, forest coffee quality improvement or ecotourism and tricale production.
The objective of the program is improvement of the livelihood and income situation of rural households in Amhara, Oromia and Tigray via the improved utilization of natural resources. The total budget for 4 years starting from January 1, 2005 is 28.05 million Euros.

DBE takes over export guarantee bond NBE sets loan record

NIB UP 100 mln birr

Fagat receives land for cement factory

Residents celebrate thirsty water day

420 mln in export earnings Unrest in Somalia reason for slump in Khat export

Wonji Sugar Factory flooded

Building confidence of ownership Issues related to rural land

BGI, Rotary Entoto supporting education

EIC earns 17 mln birr profit

Mayor appointed as Head of Oromia Housing Project

Telling it like it is

Teddy Afro to rock town

Millennium council targets heritage

Plans underway, but where’s the money?

Shortage Vs Violation EPRDF Vs Opposition on inquiry commission report

Science comes to the rescue of Ethiopian farmers

Apple orchard arrives

DBE takes over export guarantee bond NBE sets loan record

NIB UP 100 mln birr

Fagat receives land for cement factory

Residents celebrate thirsty water day

420 mln in export earnings Unrest in Somalia reason for slump in Khat export

Wonji Sugar Factory flooded

Building confidence of ownership Issues related to rural land

BGI, Rotary Entoto supporting education

EIC earns 17 mln birr profit

Mayor appointed as Head of Oromia Housing Project

Telling it like it is

Teddy Afro to rock town

Millennium council targets heritage

Plans underway, but where’s the money?

Shortage Vs Violation EPRDF Vs Opposition on inquiry commission report

Science comes to the rescue of Ethiopian farmers

Apple orchard arrives

DBE takes over export guarantee bond
NBE sets loan record

420 mln in export earnings
Unrest in Somalia reason for slump in Khat export

Building confidence of ownership
Issues related to rural land

Millennium council
targets heritage

Shortage Vs Violation
EPRDF Vs Opposition on inquiry commission report

Science comes to the rescue
of Ethiopian farmers

DBE takes over export guarantee bond
NBE sets loan record

420 mln in export earnings
Unrest in Somalia reason for slump in Khat export

Building confidence of ownership
Issues related to rural land

Millennium council
targets heritage

Shortage Vs Violation
EPRDF Vs Opposition on inquiry commission report

Science comes to the rescue
of Ethiopian farmers