Capital

Geological phenomena cost EEPCo 400 mln br

By Groum Abate

India – Africa act on Climate Change

By Tesfu Telahoun

CBE adopts hi-tech LC system

By Tedla Yeneakal

EPA deal weakening AU solidarity

By our staff reporter

Commodity price hike still unsolved

By Kirubel Tadesse

WTO director general discuss with Chamber members

By Our staff Reporter

ETC employees request land

By Tedla Yeneakal

Council to approve limited privatization of Standards Authority

By Tedla Yeneakal

ECX launches officially

By Muluken Yewondwossen

MP proposes procedure for foreign exchange shops

By Kirubel Tadesse

Water supply shortage strikes city, Authority drills wells

By Muluken Yewondwossen

U.S embassy set to issue record high student visas

By Kirubel Tadesse

ESL ups half-year profit nearly 20 percent

By Tedla Yeneakal

Addis faces 40% power shortage solution in 90 days

By Groum Abate

WFP Director visits grain market

By Addis Mulugeta

Court orders Land and Sea Dev’t to pay former DBE chief

By Tedla Yeneakal

Piyavate introduces representative Promises medical treatment for renowned Ethiopian singer

By Our Staff Reporter

Women disadvantaged in financial leadership

By Groum Abate

ERA, Satcon sign over 531 mln Birr project

By Muluken Yewondwossen

International prosecutor arrives Monday

By Muluken Yewondwossen

Conference to tackle poverty, hunger

By Groum Abate

Telethon anticipates to raise 400mln Birr

By Muluken Yewondwossen

US triples AIDS fund to $50 bln

By our staff reporter

Police stations need space for children in custody

By Addis Mulugeta

Model vital registration becomes active in 3 regions

By Addis Mulugeta

Geological phenomena cost EEPCo 400 mln br

By Groum Abate

The two billion birr Tekeze hydro electric power project, faced with a geological phenomena, has incurred the Ethiopia Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) another 400 million birr.
Mihiret Debebe, general manager of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), told Capital that the obstacle faced at the site would cost the corporation about 15% of the total project cost.
He said that, despite the huge problem that could be considered as building another dam, the project is expected to be completed before the rainy season that ends in September.
EEPCo signed the contract at the Hilton Hotel on June 7, 2002, with the Chinese National Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Corporation (CWHEC) for the construction of the dam that is expected to generate 300MW.
Tekezze was meant to start generating power in 2007 but a joint assessment by experts from both EEPCo and the Chinese construction firm forced to reschedule the deadline to the end of 2008.
The Tekeze hydroelectric power project has four major sections: construction of an arch dam, power house, transmission line and sub-station.
Mountains at site leveled down and caused the additional cost for constructing a restraining wall to avoid the shearing of the mountains around the dam.
Arch dams are concrete or masonry structures that curve upstream into a reservoir, stretching from one wall of a river canyon to the other. Such dams require a relatively narrow river canyon with solid rock walls capable of withstanding a significant amount of horizontal thrust.
The manager said that the problem was not shown on the feasibility study and would have an impact on the completion date of the dam. He further said that the construction work is done 24 hours a day to complete the project on time to commission the power plant before this Ethiopian year.
When completed, Tekeze is expected to add 300MW power to the national grid, putting generating capacity to a total of 1,170MW.
CWHEC is one of China’s most prestigious electrical engineering companies, having undertaken nearly 80 percent of the large and medium-sized hydropower projects in China. It ranked 136th among the world’s Top 225 construction contractors in 1999 and 2000.
CWHEC beat Strabag of Germany, Salini and Imperglio of Italy, Kajima and Enka of Japan, Satcon of Ethiopia, and Skanska and Group 5 of Austria in the bid for the THPP.
EEPCo plans to construct 10 hydro power plants worth over 13.1 billion dollars, in the next 10 years.
Fan, with a capacity of generating 100 MW, Hallele-Werabessa 422-MW, Tekeze II 450-MW, Gibe IV 1900-MW, Genale III 258-MW, Genale IV 256-MW, Geba I & II 366-MW, Karadobi 1600-MW, Boarder 1200-MW, and Mendaya 2000-MW, are planned to be built or launched under the corporation’s 25 year master plan.
Furthermore, the corporation has slated a capital of over 128 billion birr for construction of transmission lines.

India – Africa act on Climate Change

By Tesfu Telahoun

With climate change an increasingly urgent issue, the UN/ECA and the Energy and Resources Institute of India (TERI) on March 31, 2008 concluded a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the UNECA-TERI Africa Center for Climate Change Policy Studies, AC3PS.
The MoU was signed by Mr Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Dr. Ragendra K. Pachuari, co-winner with former U.S. vice President Al Gore of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, and the chairman of the International Panel on Climate Change, in his capacity as Director General of TERI.
Dr. Pachauri visted Ethiopia from March 29 to 31 during which he met Prime Minister Melese Zenawi and President Girma Woldegiorgis on issues of climate change and on strengthening capacity to ensure a more sustainable path to growth and prosperity. The Noble Laureate was also available for an exclusive interview with Capital, which appears on page 26.

CBE adopts hi-tech LC system

By Tedla Yeneakal

The state owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) is set to adopt a technologically advanced Letter of Credit (LC) mechanism, after the government allowed the Business Processing Reengineering (BPR) carried out on the institution be implemented.
According to sources from the Bank, pilot testing has already started on three of the 197 branches the bank operates throughout the country, namely the Arada, Addis Ketema and Temenja Yajz branches.
In recent years, the demand for letters of credit from asset-based borrowers has increased substantially, as international sourcing of completed products, raw materials and components has risen dramatically in the country.
“The adopted technologically advanced LC system that will be in place impacts a change in the provisions of credit and the transactions involved,” the source said. “A Central Processing Unit that will be installed allows importers and exporters to interact without any documents manually transacted.”
Ayele Cherenet, Public Relations Head of CBE, declined to comment on the details of the modernization of the LC system, but confirmed to Capital that the Business Processing Reengineering (BPR) has been approved and is in the process of implementation.
In November 2006, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) which has the authority to regulate all financial institutions in the country ordered that all bank processes concerning items being exported to China to be undertaken and overseen by CBE only.
The decision that saw strong criticism from private banks officials, saying it is a regulation that will considerably affect their business as they make more from the Letter of Credit (LC) commissions they open for exporters than they do from the general banking processes.
“Customers will now be able to complete LC financing in a transparent, efficient and secure environment with the integration of information available through a one-stop Web-based format,” an IT expert in banking said, “the installed system helps CBE in maximizing customers’ working capital by increasing the speed, accuracy and visibility of the LC process.”
CBE is the largest bank in the country, with 197 branches throughout Ethiopia. The bank secured over 1.2 billion Br in gross profits. At the end of the stated budget year CBE’s deposits reached about 35 billion birr.

EPA deal weakening AU solidarity

By our staff reporter

With all the disappointment over the dragging negotiations with the European Union for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), African countries met on Thursday April 3, 2008 to suggest a way forward for engagement with European leaders at the highest possible level.
Girma Birru, Minister of Trade and Industry, told the conference that discussions on the EPAs should continue beyond initialing the interim agreements in order to ensure that the final deal would be coherent with Africa’s integration agenda.
Afriquenligne reported that Girma further said that “I consider our meeting is crucial in providing the impetus that is essential for concretizing and concluding an EPA that would be an instrument to support our development and enhance regional integration.”
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries face a complete shift in their trade relations with the European Union (EU). Under the Lomé Conventions these countries enjoyed unilateral trade preferences into the EU market for almost three decades. The Fourth Lomé Convention was replaced by the Cotonou Agreement in 2000, which extends these unilateral trade preferences up to the end of 2007. Thereafter, negotiated World Trade Organisation (WTO) compatible reciprocal trade agreements, called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) will replace the current non-reciprocal preferential trade regime. These EPAs have been planned to be concluded by no later than the beginning of 2008. EPA negotiations started in September 2002.
Development dimensions and regional integration implications of EPAs would have to be fully addressed in the next stage of the negotiations, said the African Union (AU)’s Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Elisabeth Tankeu.
At least 18 African countries have already initialed interim deals with the European Commission (EC) which, according to Tankeu, “have resulted in the breaking of solidarity and unity of [AU] Member States and the weakening rather than the strengthening of Africa’s regional integration initiatives.”
“It is important to maintain our unity and solidarity in the negotiations,” the Commissioner told African trade and finance ministers at the opening of the one-day meeting.
During their Summit in February 2008, African heads of state and government expressed concern that the process leading to the conclusion of interim EPAs did not build on what was negotiated earlier.
In its declaration, the Summit observed that political and economic pressures were exerted by the EC on African countries to sign the deals.
“In engagement with a powerful partner such as the EU, our strength lies in unity. We must avoid the temptation of moving forward alone,” Tankeu cautioned delegates to the joint conference of trade and finance ministers that was also expected to reflect on the current state of play in the Doha Round of negotiations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
According to trade negotiations experts, African countries face the same formidable problems in both the EPA and the WTO negotiations because the key issue of development of these countries was not at the core of the talks on critical areas such as agriculture, non-agricultural market access and services.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy and the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Supachai Panitchpakdi, attended the meeting as resource persons.

Commodity price hike still unsolved

By Kirubel Tadesse

The First Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union (AU) Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, concluded on Wednesday, April 2, 2008, failing to issue any real solution for commodity price hike troubling the continent.
The draft AU/ECA Ministerial Statement admits that the recent hike increase in international food prices could result in a structural shift with long term implications, posing significant threats to African’s growth, peace and security. The Ministerial Statement explains that the rise in food prices can be taken as an opportunity to increase food production in some African countries.
“ To address the hike in food prices, we commit to take vigorous measures to implement all the pillars of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP), with a view to achieving the structural transformation of the agricultural sector as well as promoting intra-African trade and regional integration, “ reads the Statement.
Briefing journalists last week on Tuesday March 25, 2008, Abdoulie Janneh, UN Under Secretary- General and Executive Secretary of ECA, expressed his hope that the Ministerial meeting would address the commodity price hike affirming that it still isn’t too late to take on measures which should result in short and long term solutions. In his remarks last Monday at the opening of the Ministerial meeting, undertaken under the theme of Meeting Africa’s New Development Challenges in the 21st Century, Janneh had urged the gathering to examine if the continent’s economic growth is a short term occurrence or a longer term trend.
The conference, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the ECA, was preceded by the meetings of the Committee of Experts from 26 to 29 March, which called for the prevention of growth collapse and employment creation, stating that these are among the major challenges the continent faces in the 21st century. After stating Africa’s economic growth as a ‘respectable one’, the Issues Paper pointed out that the growth has failed to generate employment and to significantly reduce poverty. The Paper accounts two main reasons for the failure; the growth rate of 5.8% which falls short of 7.0% percent, which is the minimum rate the continent has to register to reduce poverty and the persistent concentration of growth in the capital-intensive extractive sector which results in low labour absorption as most African economies have not achieved high enough productivity in the manufacturing and services sector to absorb excess labour in agriculture.
The Ministerial Statement issued last Wednesday expresses the countries’ commitment to make employment creation an explicit and central objective of their economic and social policies at the national and continental levels.

WTO director general discuss with Chamber members

By Our staff Reporter

World Trade Organization director general, Pascal Lamy, discussed with members of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations on April 3, 2008.
Major WTO members such as the USA and Canada have asked Ethiopia to open its financial and telecom sectors to foreign investors.
Lamy said that Ethiopia is on process regarding quality and other required standards to join the organization. He stated that the negotiation process may take Ethiopia from eight to twenty years to complete.
The director general advised the members, “you should get your own act together and create your development strategy.” Ethiopia started the negotiations to join WTO in 2003 and a representative from Ethiopia is to hold this month further negotiation with the WTO.

ETC employees request land

By Tedla Yeneakal

The Labor Association of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has requested the Addis Ababa Caretaker Administration land for residential construction purposes around the town of Kaliti, on the outskirts of the capital.
Abdurahim Ahmed, Corporate Communications Manager of ETC told Capital that the association has requested for the plots similar to the leased plots of land employees of the Ethiopian Airlines were allocated.
“Even though I support their request, it is unlikely that they will receive the plots,” Abdurahim said, “We will await the decision of the board.”
Sources disclosed that the employees have requested for 200,000 square meters of land and the Caretaker Administration will notify them of its decision in the coming weeks.
The corporation recently announced that it has secured a 728.4 million birr net profit in the first half of the 2000 Ethiopian fiscal year. During this period, it has managed to serve 661,800 new customers. It obtained a total of 1.95 billion birr, which was a slightly short of its target of 2.25 billion birr.

Council to approve limited privatization of Standards Authority

By Tedla Yeneakal

The Council of Ministers is set to approve after a month, a proposal to re-structure and privatize some services delivered by the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE), following a study carried out jointly by the Authority, ecbp and the Ministry of Capacity Building, re-naming the existing authority to ‘National Quality Infrastructure’.
Mesay Girma, Director General of QSAE told Capital that the study is aimed at privatizing some services such as testing, certification and training, which requires restructuring that will enable the organization to be a competitive public enterprise.
“The study involved investigation of other countries practices and adopts their operations in different forms,” Mesay said. “For instance it involves a re-organization of Metrology as a separate institute.”
The Authority is a nonprofit government organ reporting to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Its policy-making and governing body is the Standards and Certification Council whose members are appointed by the Government selected from various industry and science and technology organizations.
The National Standards Body has undergone several restructurings, of which the latest was in 1998 to promote quality management practices as one of its central objectives in addition to Standards Development, Certification, Metrology and Testing.
Moreover, it has set up the Standards and Certification Council, whose members are appointed by the Government, deliberates on national quality and standardization policy and issue directives necessary for implementation.
“The study is mainly aimed at enhancing the operations of the organization and aimed at bringing about socio-economic development to the country.” Mesay added.
Established in 1970 and operational after two years, QSAE has about 330 professionals and support staff with nine branch offices in various parts of the country and one representative office in Djibouti. The budget of QSAE is mainly drawn from Government, services rendered and publication sales.

ECX launches officially

By Muluken Yewondwossen

The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) was launched officially on April 4, 2008 in the presence of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. A national forum on ECX was held from April 4-5, 2008 at the UNECA’s Africa Hall.
The forum discussed the environment in which the ECX will operate, including the role of the newly established regulatory body, the roles and vision of the exchange market actors and the national exchange actors association that is being formed.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on his opening remarks at the ceremony that a commodity exchange system enables and customers to be confident in quality, price and delivery and payment of commodity and he added that the system will bring about transparency, efficiency in market, quality in production, and enhance productivity.
“The purpose of this national forum over the next two days is to bring together all stakeholders producers, cooperatives, domestic traders, exporters, processors, industrial buyers, financial sector, transport sector, insurance sector, information and communication technology sector, policymakers, donors, NGOs, academics, and others- in order to present and discuss the design and operational systems of the Exchange,” Dr. Eleni Zewde Gebremedhine, CEO of ECX, said on her speech.
Eleni added that, the goal is that all may understand as well as possible how the ECX will work. “This involves understanding first of all the vision and objectives of the ECX and from there, the design of the ECX model, the operations of the various components of our system and also introduce the management team of our new company.
ECX currently uses the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Dashin Bank for its banking system and it has started the exchange with maize, wheat, haricot bean and sesame grains, but will include teff and coffee, and has prepared warehouses in Addis Ababa, Bure, Humera, Nazreth, Nekemte and Shashemene, referred to be the main centers of the market, but has plans to increase the centers to ten.
ECX has been established to revolutionize Ethiopia’s tradition bound agriculture through creating a new marketplace that serves all market actors – farmers, traders, processors, exporters and consumers.

MP proposes procedure for foreign exchange shops

By Kirubel Tadesse

Opposition Member of Parliament, Mesfin Nemera, proposes for a new procedure to legalize the accused business men’s service of providing foreign exchange, which cost them their trade licenses .
Commenting on the last eight month performance report of the Trade and Industry presented by Minister Girma Biru to the House of People’s Representatives on Tuesday April 1, 2008, Mesfin stated that legalizing the black marketers is the only lasting solution.
Mesfin explained to Capital that the practice of providing foreign exchanges is common in many countries in ‘forex shops’. “ Personally I think that it is a much better solution to give back the foreign currency seized from the suspects as per the current exchange rate, “ explains Mesfin, “ of course fines are due but after that as it is common in many countries, we should legalize the practice and let the shops provide foreign exchanges service. The practice in other countries is that these shops will sell their currency to the banks through negotiation, which is a much better and sustainable solution when compared to the hunting and closing response of current practice.”
In last week’s meeting of the House, Minister Girma had to entertain several questions which most came from his own party EPRDF. Opposition MPs asked why the sales of Gold wasn’t included in the report.
In his report, Minister Girma explained that the export revenue which obtained 854.5 million dollars has increased by 32% compared to last year’s same period. The achievement exceeded the 20-25% growth target. The report further explains that Ethiopian flower exports is reaching to over sixty countries, even in those Ethiopia doesn’t have diplomatic representation.
Also exceeding 9% of the country’s annual industry growth, the last eight months performance projects 12% percent growth for this years.

Water supply shortage strikes city, Authority drills wells

By Muluken Yewondwossen

A study conducted by the Addis Ababa City Water Sewerage Authority (AAWSA), indicates that there is a problem of water supply and distribution in Addis Ababa City.
The enormous amount of migration of people to the capital city, growing number of investments and construction works are some of the reasons stated for the shortage.
According to the study document that was prepared last month it is indicated that for the last six months the Authority has increased production of water from 235 thousand to 256,000 m3 per day but demand is increasing at faster rate.
AAWSA has laid out short, medium and long term plans to solve the problem.
40 water wells the Authority has drilled will be connected to the main water supply system soon. When these wells start to provide water the total amount supplied increase will by 22,950 m3. In addition to these wells the Government has allocated a budget for drilling 18 more wells of which 11 have been completed.
The World Bank has also secured a fund for ten deep wells and 25 medium wells. These projects are expected to begin supply in the coming fiscal year. The projects will cover the demand of more than 900,000 people in the city.
Currently the Authority is upgrading the Gefersa dam that was constructed in 1942, at a cost of 172 mln birr.
According to the World Bank the daily production of potable water is about 206,000m3. However, this is only about 65% of the current demand. To satisfy demand (domestic, industrial and administrative) the current amount should be raised to 431,000 m3 per day and consequently to 1,105,000 m3 in 2020.
The welfare monitoring survey of 1996 estimates that 36% of the households in the city use private and shared taps while 61% use public tap (locally called Bono water). With its present capacity, as mentioned earlier, AAWSA covers about 65% of the City’s, water demand. According to the City’s Five Year Plan (2001 – 2005), the water supply coverage is expected to increase from the current 65% to 85%. To accomplish this the Authority plans to identify areas of water and sanitation services that can be operated by private sectors and introducing community based integrated water and sanitation programs.

U.S embassy set to issue record high student visas

By Kirubel Tadesse

The Embassy of the United States of America in Addis Ababa has announced that it is to increase the number of visas issued for qualified students accepted by universities in the US for the coming academic year to a record high.
According to Paul Cantrell, Consular Chief at the Embassy, getting a student visa in Ethiopia is hardly difficult as anticipated once the student demonstrates academic and financial capacities and completes the necessary applications and procedures.
He explained that last year alone, over 650, 000 foreign students were admitted to U.S universities from several countries including Ethiopia.
Even if Ethiopia is among the top three African countries which receive highest number of Diversity Visa (DV) lottery visas, official records show that the number of students the embassy gives visas to was limited just1129 up to the year 2005. Some assert that in recent years a high percentage of Ethiopian students prefer to go to India mostly due to the tight procedures of obtaining visa to the U.S. Cantrell doesn’t agree with the assessment; he explained that last year alone the number of the students who obtained visas increased by 36% and this year it is expected to exceed that and witness a much higher percentage increase. “ Inarguably, we can state that there is high interest to go to the U.S, what we try to figure out during our interview with the applicant is that whether he/she will join university or not, “ explains Cantrell, “ most of the time the applicants are honest and we gladly issue them visas quickly. I think what colors this idea of obtaining visa to the U.S is difficult, comes out from those applicants who are applying over and over again even after being told that they don’t qualify.” He explains the trend to issue more visas in Ethiopia is rising as more than 50% of student visa applicants were accepted last year and over 500 students went to the U.S.
According to Yoseph Shiferaw, Education Advisor at the Embassy, the denial of visas always comes without following the necessarily steps and failing to meet the qualifications. He added that some applicants apply for undergraduate studies without completing high school or for post graduate studies before obtaining bachelor’s degrees. He also added that most of the time applicants don’t use free consultation service which any one can use by getting an appointment first. “ The fact that Ethiopians aren’t used to applying for universities by themselves and they are simply assigned by the government results in certain difficulties in applying to universities in the U.S.,” explains Yoseph,” what we recommend is to use of our free consultation service which we even give upon request by going to schools our selves. Most of the time when we explained to the applicants the procedures, 90% of the information they hear is for the first time.”
Scott Driskel, one of the Consular Officers who interview students explains that the embassy is ready to entrain all qualified applicants which present certified and consistent academic documents with that of submitted to the universities. Unlike other applications, student visas don’t require appointment. Though applicants aren’t required to make an appointment for the interview, they are expected to pay a required fee one week prior to the day they wish to seat for an interview.
The U.S leads the world with over 3800 higher institutions enrolling more than 17 million students every year.

ESL ups half-year profit nearly 20 percent

By Tedla Yeneakal

The national sea carrier, Ethiopian Shipping Lines has announced that it has registered a record high profit of 19 percent over from the same period last year during the first half of the Ethiopian fiscal year (2000), however it is down by 8 percent of its revenue target for its half year operations.
According to information obtained, the record profit comes as a result of even larger volume of goods (66 percent) more than the company transported in the last similar period. ESL moved 143 percent more goods than before with its own ships, attributed mainly to the extra two ships that it had ordered last year.
"The new ships, Gibe and Shebele, transported bulk goods in cross-trade borders, especially the transport of urea fertilizers from Adabia, Egypt to Visag, India as well as transporting of iron minerals from Kainada, India to Ziaging, China," states a document. "All ships have obtained Bulk Certificate except Omo Wenze, contributing to the mobility of ships."
An official from ESL attributes the increased revenue to the massive investment in publicly financed infrastructure and mega construction activities undertaken by companies such as the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation, as major contributors not only in steel shipments but also in electrical equipment.
ESL, established 43 years ago, has about 570 employees. The national flag carrier, one of the few surviving African shipping lines operates nine vessels. The company last year earned a 286 million birr profit.

Addis faces 40% power shortage solution in 90 days

By Groum Abate

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has announced that the recent power interruptions would continue to occur the next two or three months. The corporation faces a power shortage of over 40% in the capital city, Addis Ababa.
Mihiret Debebe, on a briefing about the power disruption, said that out of the total 200MW of electric power the city needs the corporation is short 80MW.
According to the manager the corporation is trying to cope with the problem by installing more than 45 diesel generators, that costs the corporation over 100 million birr a month for operation.
The manger said that the corporation is waiting for the rainy season and added that the disparity has occurred between demand and supply of electric power due to ever increasing demand.
He also called on the public to play a role in the efforts of curbing the problem occurring in the last weeks and urged the public to use various electric devices besides from the corporation’s grid.
Mihiret also said that the amount of electric power supplied during the past nine months is almost equal with the amount supplied during the previous year. The corporation said that the demand grows 10% every year. According to the corporation’s data, in 1999 Ethiopian fiscal year, EEPCo distributed 2160GWH and in the last nine months of the 2000 fiscal year the corporation distributed 2412GWH.
The ever increasing number of new industries as well as the expansion of investment activities in various parts of the country, accompanied by low levels of rain during the main rainy season have aggravated the problem, according to the General Manager.

WFP Director visits grain market

By Addis Mulugeta

Ms, Josette Sheeran; Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP) stated on her visit to Ethiopia on April 1, 2008, at the Ehil Berenda, a wheat distribution center, that those living on less than one dollar per day have tremendously increased and food price takes affect them hardest.
She was talking to the urban dwellers of kebele 6 in Gojjam Berenda, on how of high food prices affect them and to find new solutions and approaches in this time of need.
She said that this new phenomenon of rising food prices has affected the entire world Ethiopia is actually one of the leading countries in finding new solutions to deal with food security as the government of Ethiopia has a number of innovative programs to stabilize food security, she said.
The World Food Program (WFP) is very much concerned about rising food prices globally. She described that there is no food shortage in the globe but increased demands and rising food prices, which are affecting millions of people because of increasing demands on food in emerging economies, competition between biofuels and food production, high fuel prices and increasing climatic shocks such as droughts and floods. WFP at the moment has innovative programs to help most affected countries, which procure the food from the open market all over the world for about 80 different countries, she added.
The urban dwellers explained to Sheeran that the price of food has increased and people like them could not afford and to survive. Even though the country produces its own food prices are high.
Tigist Tesfay, from kebele 6 of Gojjam Berenda highly appreciated the government for the distribution of a half quintal of maize to lower income people of the community at 90 birr for about two months through the Ethiopian Green Enterprise. However, it is not enough for a large family like hers. She appealed that in addition to the distribution of maize, the government thinks about distributioning other necessary edible products at fair prices.
General Manager of Ethiopia Green Enterprise Berhane Hailu stated that among the long term strategies of the government of Ethiopia is increasing production; develop more revenue generating activities in urban areas where the price inflation is highest and structure the market. On the short term strategy however, the government intervenes on cerial prices like wheat and on edible goods by subsidizing and prohibiting exporting of greens.
He said that in Addis Ababa, the government has intervened to stabilize the market since February 2006 in 77 places to supply more wheat to flour mills to normalize the cost of bread. In this method the enterprise distributed 51, 000 metric tons of wheat.
Another program which lasted from April 2007 to July 2008 has been providing 163, 500 metric tone of wheat to the market for low income people. 4.5 million people benefited from this program. The government of Ethiopia has been subsidizing it to about 351 million birr
Seyum Tafferau, Marketing Manager of Gojjam Berenda district stated that the screening system of low income people is based on the information from the kebele and also nominated by the people themselves and the Ethiopian Green Enterprise have prepared coupons for about eight months to control cheating. The enterprise also has distributed teff at reasonable prices for people who have identity cards from kebeles.

Court orders Land and Sea Dev’t to pay former DBE chief

By Tedla Yeneakal

The Federal First Instance labor court has ordered Land and Sea Development Company to pay its former Chief Financial Officer, Moges Chemere, the required payment after the former fired him from his post.
Accordingly, the court quoted the labor law proclamations that state an immediate dismissal of any employee before prior notification as well as without giving adequate reasons for the actions taken by any management before discharging an employee from his post, is not allowed.
The court said that Moges has presented enough evidence for the unfair justification of removing him from the post of general manager, ordering the entire required payment to the prosecutor.
It is not the first time for Moges to find himself in a similar situation. In February 2007, he had been removed from his post of President of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE).
The federal government fired Moges after keeping him as head of the DBE for the past 12 years before he joined the private Land and Sea Development Company which aspires to undertake bamboo development in Benshangul-Gumz State.
Moges served Land and Sea Development for less than a year, before he was fired from his post.
In April 2006, the Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission accused Moges of approving loans totaling 86.7 million birr to Addis Industrial and Almi Corporation on March 31, 2005. Arrested along with Kidane Nikodimos, former president of Wegagen Bank, Moges was released from jail after five months, on September 2006, after putting up 5,000 birr bail.
Various attempts to solicit comments from either Moges or Land and Sea Development officials failed to materialize.
LSDE was first incorporated in Washington State in 1997 by its founder Michael Gebru. He was one of the three owners to come as one of the business delegations that first visited Ethiopia in early 2000 under the Ethio-American Business Council, chaired by Gezahegn Kebede. It was registered by the Ethiopian Investment Agency in 2004, with a capital of 560 million Br, and owned by Fischer, Michael and their partner Jay Nijjer.
The Regional State of Benshangul Gumuz has agreed to give Land and Sea Development 400,000 hectares of lease free concession to the vast resources of bamboo plant available in the State .The company is promising to bring employment opportunities for 9,000 citizens.
In related development, Moges Chemere has been appointed as CEO of B&D Food Corporation-Ethiopia.
Moges has several years of experience in the Ethiopian and international financial markets. Previously, he served as president and general manager of the Ethiopian Bank of Development and later as Chief Financial Officer at the Land and Sea Development.
B&D Food Corporation (BDFC) Ethiopia has stated that it is currently planting Babiya Coffee Farm and expects to begin construction of a large coffee processing factory. According to the press release issued by the corporation Moges will be instrumental in generating the financial and local expertise and experience necessary for these projects.

Piyavate introduces representative Promises medical treatment for renowned Ethiopian singer

By Our Staff Reporter

MMS International Enterprise representative office of Piyavate Hospital in Ethiopia, was officially inaugurated at the Hilton Hotel on April 4, 2008. The Enterprise will be the official and authorized representative of the Hospital here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On the day of its official inauguration, country representative Michael Meba Selassie told Capital that his company is going to make it possible for Tamirat Mola a renowned Ethiopian singer, to get medical treatment abroad covering all the necessary expenses.
Tamirat Mola has leukemia and requires more than 600,000 dollars for medical treatment.
Piyavate International Hospital is a publicly owned health care service facility found in Thailand. Since it began serving patients in 1993, the 27-storey hospital on Rama 9 road in Bangkok has continually developed the expertise of its health facility, soon to reach 300 beds and range of specialized services. It has been ISO 900:2000 certified by the international Standards Organization since 2001 and licensed by the Royal Thai Government's Ministry of Public Health.
Piyavate Hospital offers a full range of medical services provided by Thai Board Certified and American Board Certified physicians. The treatments at the center include the Acupuncture Centre, Bone and Joint Center, Dental Center, Hemodialysis Center, Perfect Heart Institute, Plastic Surgery Center and Perfect Woman Institute.
According to the Hospital it is now easily accessible through its representative here in Ethiopia
.MMS headed by Michael Meba Selassie is our only authorized and official representative in Ethiopia. Piyavate and MMSS have already established a strong partnership and smooth logistic operation through numerous cases of Ethiopian patients seeking medical treatment in Thailand. We will baby sit and pamper you from Ethiopia right through your appointed doctors at Piyavate Hospital Thailand, said the Hospital's representative.

Women disadvantaged in financial leadership

By Groum Abate

A research conducted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) revealed that over 63% of finance leaders felt that it was easier for men to become finance leaders than for women.
The study was conducted on over 3,381 ACCA members, plus in-depth interviews with 19 finance leaders from 116 countries, including Ethiopia.
There may be greater number of students in the finance field of study, but it is highly unlikely that women will reach on top in the professions ladder, a research said on Wednesday April 2, 2008.
Make no mistake though that this was not anything to do with there intellectual capacity but something related to their ‘work-life balance’, the study said noting that was a dominant reason (67%).
Institutional bias and cultural expectations, however, were cited by 46 of respondents as barriers in the survey “Clearly, this remains an issue for the profession and employers to focus on more as insufficient progress appears to have been made in the last few decades,” the study observes.
The research defines ‘finance leaders’ as ‘professionally qualified accountant who have reached senior management roles, for example CEO, CFO, FD, managing partner or a director. The results of the research were made public at half day session held under the theme: World Class Leadership Development in the Global Finance Profession: ACCA Insights and Perspectives, at the Sheraton Addis.
The study further stated other two financial barriers to develop financial leaders in general, involving men and women.
The study identified low investment in leadership development and poor HR capability in developing leaders as the two most significant barriers to developing financial leaders Speaking on the occasion, Head of Learning and Development, ACCA international Tony Osude said during the session financial profession and its leaders should come up into a consensus He said the low investment appears to be related to another finding that is the “. . . lack of buy-in from the top” “It is widely recognized that programmes without such sponsorship will rarely succeed, therefore finance profession and its leader have some work to do in order to catch up with current good practice,” he said indicating the indirect role of finance leaders through sponsorship.
The research points out five attributes, outside management and technical knowledge, which are seen as being very important for finance leaders to be able to demonstrate.

ERA, Satcon sign over 531 mln Birr project

By Muluken Yewondwossen

The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has signed an agreement with Satcon Construction Plc for upgrading the Kebridehar to Shilabo gravel stretch to asphalt. The asphalt road will be seven meters wide, 105 km long and to cost over 531 million birr.
Shilabo, found in the Somali state is one of the sites for oil exploration and the upgrade is expected to bloster prospecting.
Upgrading of the road that includes the construction of bridges, culverts and sewerage systems is expected to be completed within three years.
A local company, Beza, is contracted for consultation by the Ethiopian government at a cost of eleven million birr.
Ziad Woldegebriel general manager of ERA and Samuel Teklay directing manager of Satcon, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.
On the signing ceremony Ziad mentioned that the project is part of the five year plan for road construction in Somali, Afar, Benshangul and Gambela regions. The tender for the Ginier-Emi-Gode road construction is expected to be finalized soon and construction will commence as soon as it is awarded to a winner.
In the Somali state ERA is constructing the Jigjiga-Degehabur, Degehabur-Shecosh, Shecosh-Kebridehar, Kebridehar-Denen and Denen-Gode 542 km span asphalt costing more than 1.8 billion birr
Last month ERA awarded a 328 million birr project to Satcon. The agreement was for the Semera to Alamata (Afar Region) 193 km road.

International prosecutor arrives Monday

By Muluken Yewondwossen

Eva Joly, special advisor to the Norwegian Minister of International Development will visit Ethiopia for one week from April 7, 2008 in cooperation with the Norwegian Embassy. Eva Joly is an internationally known former prosecutor of corruption in France.
During her stay here, Joly will first and foremost meet with Commissioner Ali Suleiman at the Federal Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (FEACC) and other high officials of the Government. She will also meet with high officials at the African Union and the UN-Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), representatives of the press and business community. She will also participate in three seminars on different issues concerning Ethiopia and Africa.

Conference to tackle poverty, hunger

By Groum Abate

Policymakers, researchers, businesspeople, and farmers will gather to discuss new technologies, innovations, and knowledge to improve agriculture, incomes, and livelihoods and to exchange ideas and success stories and address constraints to development on Monday April 7, 2008 at the Hilton Hotel.
Participants at the international conference organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will discuss how agricultural knowledge and innovation can be strengthened to reduce poverty and hunger in developing countries and improve the livelihoods of smallholders.
The conference will also discuss about problems many countries face including major barriers to the use of knowledge and innovation to promote agricultural growth and development. Despite these obstacles, successful innovations are occurring and transforming agriculture and improving people’s lives.
Some examples of innovation that will be highlighted during the conference include; farmer-led, market-driven extension system in India that empowered farmers, built social capital, and helped them diversify into high-value crops; insect-resistant cotton adopted by smallholder farmers in India and China, and an innovative network for knowledge sharing on virus-resistant papaya; innovative agricultural partnerships that improved productivity and livelihoods in Kenya through dairy production; demand-driven extensions services that led to the adoption of new production technologies in Uganda & post-production technologies in Nigeria; innovative technology transfer approaches and strategies to enhance the impact of agricultural research on rural livelihoods in Ethiopia among other innovations.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI is one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an alliance of 64 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations.

Telethon anticipates to raise 400mln Birr

By Muluken Yewondwossen

The Transport Authority is drafting a law that restricts mendicants from the main streets of the city and is under preparation to run a telethon for the eradication of beggary. The law became necessary to reduce traffic jams and car accidents that occur because of the increasing number of mendicants in the main avenues.
The telethon, expected to be held on May 18, 2008, anticipates to raise 400 million birr.
Hassane Abdala, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, told Capital that government can not prohibit begging by law. About 15 thousand people are expected to attend the telethon each paying one thousand birr to enter. Coupons are being prepared for sale around the city and also available abroad, for five dollars.
According to Zenebu Tadesse, State Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, it is not only money that is expected to be raised but also donated in kind.
The money that will be collected from the telethon will be to return mendicants to their native areas and resettle them.
Half of the 200 thousand mendicants in the country are located in Addis Ababa, and on average they collect one hundred birr per day.
To execute the procedures a task force that is led by the President Girma Woldegiorgis has been established with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, m.p.s and regional presidents also members of this task force.

US triples AIDS fund to $50 bln

By our staff reporter

The House of Representatives on Wednesday April 2, 2008, passed a bill which will more than triple spending to combat AIDS abroad.
President George Bush had initially proposed doubling the program to fight AIDS in Africa and other parts of the world to 30 billion dollars. Then the House, led by Democrats, raised it to 50 billion dollars. The House passed a bill for 50 billion dollars in funding to combat AIDS, TB (tuberculosis) and malaria over the coming five years - a huge jump from the initial 15 billion dollars.
In 2003 President George Bush launched PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). It committed 15 billion dollars over a period of five years to fight global HIV/AIDS - the largest international health initiative in history to combat a single disease. Then in 2007 Bush asked Congress to double the original funding. The program provides support and drugs in 12 African countries (Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia) as well as Vietnam, Guyana and Haiti. This new bill adds another 14 countries in the Caribbean basin, plus three more African countries (Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland).
Of the 50 billion dollars, 9 billion dollars would be used to combat TB and malaria - two diseases which commonly infect HIV-positive people in the African continent. The 9 billion dollars would also underwrite food supplements for individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Women who became widowed as a result of AIDS, or became ostracized because they were HIV-positive, would be eligible for loans.
Of the remaining 41 billion dollars, which would be allocated specifically for HIV/AIDS, up to 2 billion dollars would be designated for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Funds would also be released to train approximately 140,000 new health care workers.

Police stations need space for children in custody

By Addis Mulugeta

A conference on children in prisons and detention centers in Ethiopia was held on March 29-30, 2008, at the Green View Restaurant with the heads of police in all sub-cities of the capital, organized by the African Child Policy Forum.
During the occasion police heads admitted that almost all sub-cities of the capital have no separate treatment places for children in prisons. The process of registration in prisons and detention centers is not systematic and children are mixed with adult prisoners. Many prison and police stations do not have sufficient water and sanitation facilities.
The African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) is a leading, independent pan-African policy and advocacy center on child rights. The ACPF was established with the conviction of putting children first on the public and political agenda and investing in their wellbeing as fundamental for bringing about lasting social and economic progress in Africa. The forum aims to provide a platform for dialogue; contribute to improved knowledge of the problems facing children in Africa; identify policy options; and strengthen the capacity of NGOs and governments to develop and implement effective pro-child policies and programs.
The three programs implemented by the ACPF to promote the rights of children are; child rights advocacy, child protection and children’s voice and participation.
Aster Girma, project officer of African Child Policy Forum stated that in 2007 only, the forum had given legal protection for about 1104 children on the issue of laws and protection of children rights in court. It has given training for all heads of police regarding children rights and put pressure on legislative, executive and judiciary bodies to practices effective policies regarding children

Model vital registration becomes active in 3 regions

By Addis Mulugeta

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched a pilot project of vital registration system after the Commission failed to deliver the vital registered events to journalists requesting registered death and birth certificates during the May 2005 election.
Since 1950 Ethiopia has had a vital registration system, but is the least among other African nations in practice it.
In consultation with the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples State (SNNPS) and the Amhara region, UNICEF initiated the model birth registration program.
Ambassador Kassa Gebre Hiwot (Dr), chief commissioner to EHRC, stated that vital registration is very important and valuable for the development of a given country. Human Rights Commission is among Ethiopia’s concerned bodies for this particular vital registration of birth, death, marriage and divorce data.
According to the Ambassador, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has been aware of the importance of vital registration and was attempting in its capacity to start the system since 2005. During the 2005 National Election in the country, journalists approached the Commission asking for the country’s profile but they couldn’t find any. He admitted that it will be very difficult to go further without vital information and this hampers government development programs.
“Traditional vital registrations done by churches do not cover the whole country. The draft legislation for the system is under going continuous amendments to reach its maturity,” he added.
Ubah Mohammed, State Minister, for Women’s Affairs said that, vital registration is essential to decide whether the country is developing or not relative to the population. It also serves as a guideline for economic, cultural and social activities including then human rights situation.
“It will help to register and know the exact number of births, deaths, marriage and divorce in the country and above all, assists in fostering the country’s educational, health and other development activities and provides information about gender,” said the Minister.
According to a paper presented during the workshop, the major objective of the model project is to demonstrate the operation and maintenance of civil registration and vital events statistics system in the country. In the three regions, a total of 61 kebeles, of which 15 kebeles in SNNPRS, 7 in Tigray and 33 in Amara were financed by UNICEF and 6 by Tigray regional administration were all included in the project.