The image of state

By Tesfu Telahoun

The Gulf emirate of Qatar emerged as a state only as late as 1971 when, frustrated with repeated attempts to form a federation with its neighbors, it declared itself independent.
Qatar was a Bahraini possession before it became a British colony of sorts until the Ottoman Turks took control from 1872 to 1915. Subsequent to the demise of the Ottoman Empire, in 1916, the Qatari ruling family concluded an agreement giving Britain a second quasi- colonial lease by allowing it to assume responsibility for the peninsula’s defense and foreign policy setting a tradition of hosting foreign forces. It is recalled that such cooperation agreements existed between Britain and several other Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea emirates, including Oman. These compacts had largely ended by 1971 when Britain announced it would halt the deployment of troops in the area.
Qatar has been ruled by a family dynasty even since before ‘independence’ and to this day. The current ruler, Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani is the son of Emir Khalifa bin Hamad ath-Thani. The elder Khalifa was deposed by his heir on June 27, 1995.
Qatar, before it got super rich on now depleted crude oil and still very abundant natural gas, was a perennial back water, relying on pearl diving and fishing to eke out a hard scrabble existence from the otherwise barren land.
Currently, the emirate enjoys one of the world’s highest per capita incomes. It has a population of slightly over 900,000- only 40% of whom are Arabs. Pakistanis (18%) Indian (18%) and Iranians (10%) make up the balance of the inhabitants. It is mainly Muslim (79%) with a little over 95, 000 Christians or 9% of the population.
Qatar has almost no arable land (less than 2%) and relies exclusively on food imports to feed its population.
Oil and natural gas proceeds account for the lion’s share of Qatar’s $33.3 billion worth of annual exports (2007). This high national income allows Qatar to enjoy a sizable trade surplus as it imports just $ 12.4 billion from mainly; France, Japan, U.S.A, Italy, Germany, U.K, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
Qatar has not escaped the irresistible urges felt by nearby states such as the U.A.E, to carve out a special niche for itself - part visions of grandeur fueled by oil income and partly, a very real reaction to the possibility nay, likelihood that the black gold is not going to last forever.
So just as Dubai created its own distinct identity as a giant shopping mall and tourist draw, Qatar had to be more creative.
It chose a two-pronged strategy of sports and a global media presence in the form of
Al-Jazeera- one of the most agenda based media outlets in the world.
Qatar has skillfully utilized the power of sports to promote abroad a national and global identity. Prowess of any kind and in any sport, is not something that can be obtained at a whim. A global reputation in athleticism – such as the legendary status of Ethiopia and Kenya in long distance running, Brazilian football magic and South Africa’s dominance in rugby are due to either one or a combination of genetics, geography and decades if not centuries of developmental progress.
Qatar was not to be denied a place among the sporting nations of the world over mere biological facts and without the normal sustained evolutionary development of talent. Instead, as the peninsula is wont, it simply naturalized by purchasing athletes from you guessed it, Africa.
The rapid and in fact, unprecedented development of Al-Jazeera, to become in three short years, a nettlesome rival to long established global media houses can also be attributed to the “we can buy whatever we want’ mentality. This long shopping list includes of course, the most powerful tool for self-promotion- satellite television with bottomless coffers with which to prey on the best talent available. With mostly westerners as anchors and presenters, Al-Jazeera’s English channel in particular, benefits to Qatar’s strategic advantage by acting as the unofficial organ of an arguably peaceful form of political Islam, heavily skewed against states which are regarded as the others-Ethiopia included.

Local oil seeds, pulses market flux cuts Int'l importers

By Tedla Yeneakal

Important agricultural commodities for Ethiopia such as oil seeds and pulses are facing a major price distortion locally due to price fluctuation, decreasing the confidence of many importers from the Middle East and Europe, where the demand for these commodities has increased considerably.
Anwar Ahmed, a local exporter and general manager of Islamic Trade and Partner Plc and commercial manager of sister company, Kas Plc says, the price fluctuation is created by speculators, commonly known as the middlemen, holding back reserves during peak season.
"Neither the exporters nor the farmers have not been able to benefit from the international price hike and the increase in demand of these commodities in the Middle East," Anwar says, "The market operates very informally, the middlemen are benefiting a lot whereas prominent importers from Dubai and Pakistan have faced default recently due to the price fluctuations, forcing many of our clients to resort to other countries to buy these agricultural commodities."
Pakistani based Patel and Dubai based importing company, Ahmed International, have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars due to fluctuations created within a matter of days, locally, as local exporters do not ship the cargo if the price increases and an advance pay from exporters is how the market works.
General Manger of Patel, Aquil Bawani, who recently came to Ethiopia to confer with local exporters, could be cited as an example of the serious market distortion that has affected international importers.
"Due to the default, despite initial payments made, some local importers I talked to have promised shipment when the market stabilizes, whereas others have disappeared," Bawani complained, "The sector needs to be formalized, in order for all stake holders involved to benefit from the export of these commodities."
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) about 0.5 million hectares are presently cultivated with oil crops. The bulk of the harvest (more than 50%), especially Niger seed and sesame are exported. According to ITC statistics, exports of oilseeds from Ethiopia is expanding and total exports are performing better in the growing world market. Next to hides and skins oil seeds are the best-performing commodity among Ethiopian exports. The share in world market (excluding peanuts) is in the range of 5 %.

"We can only formalise the market of crucially important oil seeds and sesame by the recently started the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, where buyers and sellers come together to trade, guaranteed quality." Anwar said.
The recently launched Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, according to its official statement provides market integrity, by guaranteeing the product grade and quantity and operating a system of daily clearing and settling of contracts. It enhances market efficiency by operating a trading system where buyers and sellers can coordinate in a seamless way on the basis of standardized contracts and creates market transparency by disseminating market information in real time to all market players.
In the past four years the export earnings from oil crops ranges between 32 and 90 million USD. The average annual price per ton was between 436 and 829 USD.
The domestic market for oil crops is partly developed and backed- up by an oil extracting industry, which additionally used maize and cotton lint as an additional source of oil. According to a very recent study, there are approximate 130 registered oil extraction companies of which are registered micro-companies. The number of big oil extraction companies operating in a large scale is not significant.
Commercial farms and small-scale farms are involved in the production of oil crops. Harvesting requires a fairly high demand of labour force, if not harvested with combines. Although prices are fluctuating there is a growing interest by farmers in planting and selling oil crops. Often oil crops represent the only marketable cash crop.
The Ethiopian Oil Seed, Pulses and Spices Exporters Association describes the current crisis majorily affected by Price dictation by the brokers in some oil seeds such as sesame, for instance this year there has been very good sesame price on international market about 930 USD/tone, however, due to holding back of produce by regional enterprises during peak season, they fail to export sesame.

The other obama

She was not seen an asset at first, often discouraged from campaign due to her non politician approaches and speeches that may damage the family picture. Nobody anticipated how much she could help in times of crisis. She had to take on Bill Clinton, former president of the United States, to show that she is the better spouse among the democrat party election contenders. Even if Michelle, the other Obama, once boss of husband Barrack Obama, who is lately sounding like a democratic nominee for the general election, played a decisive role in the campaign, she made it clear that it is their two children that she will focus on if even they end up winning the White House.
Who is Michelle?
‘The New Yorker’ Magazine writer, Lauren Collins, joined Michelle in her campaign tours to show the ever exciting personality of the possible First Lady of the U.S. On its March 10 edition, ‘The New Yorker’ featured Michelle in its profile section.
Michelle graduate from Princeton and earned a law degree from Harvard and become a corporate lawyer at the start of her career. More recently, she became a vice-president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals. “Having traversed vast landscapes of race and class, often as a solo traveler, she evinces the discipline and, occasionally, the detachment of an Army brat. She can seem aloof from politics,” wrote The New Yorker contributor with passion, “Her mother and her older brother both say that she has never phoned them in tears.”
Michelle Obama has this confidence and ‘cool temperament’, even in some embarrassing situations. The current president, Bush, was out of words when a college student has asked him whether he saw then hit movie which circles around gay couples during election campaigns. In February, Michelle stood on the top of similar embarrassing situation. When Stevie Wonder, her all time favorite singer, tripped on a riser, sending her tumbling down next to him in front of thousands of people, she exhibited no embarrassment or alarm, turning what could have been a blooper-reel nightmare into a non-event.
Despite her scholastic background that literally could make her expert, if not at least pertinent speaker in various issues, Michelle, more than anything, seem to enjoy talking about her husband and her daughters (Malia and Sasha.)
The New Yorker writer sees Michelle’s lack of pretense and ability to present her self as a simple woman, which she is, as a major reason for her popularity. In Wisconsin, when the writer asked her if she was offended by Bill Clinton’s use of “fairy tale” to describe her husband’s characterization of his position on the Iraq war: “ I want to rip his eyes out !”, she replied in a funny voice to her advisers shock, “ kidding” she settled them down.
“Occasionally, it gives campaign people heartburn, “David Axelrod, the Obama campaign’s chief strategist, admits.” She’s fundamentally honest- goes out there, speaks her mind, jokes. She doesn’t parse her words or select them with an antenna for political correctness.”
“Michelle’s always been very vocal about anything,” her mother, Marian Robinson said, “if it isn’t right, she’s going to say so. When she was at Princeton, her brother- Craig called me and said, ‘mom, Michelle’s here telling people they are not teaching French right!’ she thought the style was not conversational enough. I told him ‘just pretend you don’t know her’.”
According to close family friends, her self awarded freedom seems to work for the husband, who had to use her support in some intense times he had to go through.
Born on January 17, 1964, Michelle Obama, wouldn’t become the only the first lack First Lady but the youngest one too, since Jackie Kennedy.
How did they meet?
Michelle and Barack met at Sidley and Austin, when she was assigned to advise him during a summer job. Michelle’s coworkers warned her that the summer associate was cute. “I figured that they were just impressed with any black man with a suit and a job,” she later told Barack. Over her protestations-she felt that dating someone she worked with would “tacky,” her brother recall- Barack writer “tactfully overlooking my limited wardrobe, and she even tried to set me up with a couple of her friends.” Before the end of the summer, he’d got her to agree to go out for a movie-Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”- and an ice-cream cone.
“We would have this running debate throughout our relationship about whether marriage was necessary,” Michelle remembers, “it was sort of a bone of contention, because I was, like, ‘Look buddy, I’m not one of those who’ll just hand out forever. You know that’s just not who I am. He was like- marriage, it doesn’t mean anything, it’s really how you feel and I was like yeah right!”
Eventually he proposed to her over dinner at Gordon restaurant in Chicago. “He got me into one of these discussions again, where, you know, he sort of just led me down there and got fired up and it’s like you’ve got blah blah blah….and then dessert comes out, the tray comes out, and there’s a ring.” The couple married in 1992.
Confident to the White House!
It is seems that what ever happens in the remaining primaries, the Obamas are to be favored over the Clintons in the democratic camp. But many still aren’t in board with the notion that they can take on John McCain. Of course Obama is leading the national poll, especially after last Tuesday’s win, but is American ready for the black commander-in-chief?
When asked Michelle Obama is sure, that they could take McCain, “Oh, yeah. We got him.”
“There was ‘a glimmer that danced across her round, dark eyes whenever I looked at her. The slightest hint of uncertainly, as if, deep inside, she knew how fragile things really were, and if she ever let go, even for a moment, all her plans might quickly unravel,” in his book, the audacity of hope, Obama wrote about his wife. That may explain why she really wants and holds their campaign to be true and real to themselves.

Compiled by Kirubel Tadesse

Barack Obama wins in North Carolina Clinton takes Indiana

Barack Obama has scored a vital win in the North Carolina Democratic primary, regaining his footing after weeks of setbacks and moving closer to becoming the first black presidential. Hillary Clinton’s hopes of running for president were fading fast on last Tuesday despite her Indiana win by two percent (51% to 49%) due to Obama’s southern state win by 15 points. According press reports his result in North Carolina had essentially erased the gains Clinton made in delegates and the popular vote in the Pennsylvania primary two weeks ago.
In last Tuesday May 6 primaries, the Illinois senator won by a comfortable margin, aided considerably by his core constituencies of African American voters, who made up a third of the electorate and voted by a margin of nine to one in his favor, and the young. He won, again, in a state with a lot of black voters – he has now won every state where African Americans make up more than 18 percent of the population. College voters – another key Obama group – were also crucial. There are three big universities – North Carolina State, Duke and the University of North Carolina, whose student populations, despite sitting final exams, appear to have turned out powerfully for the Illinois senator.
Reports after North Carolina’s win suggest that Clinton is facing new pressure from Democratic Party bosses to quit the race, while her campaign risks running out of cash yet again. It was reported that her advisers tersely refused to say whether Clinton had given another loan to keep her campaign afloat. She already spent 6.4 million USD of her own money to her campaign since April, her campaign told reporters this week. That brings her total cash outlay to more than $11 million since January. And she’s not ruling out spending more as she plans to compete in the six remaining contests. If she plans to knock out heavyweight fundraising champ, Sen. Barack Obama, she may have no other choice. Altogether, Obama’s campaign has taken in an unprecedented $226 million, most of it contributed online. His donor base is larger than the one the Democratic National Committee had for the 2000 election. These are hardly political fat cats. Ninety percent of his donors give $100 or less, and 41 percent have given $25 or less, according to the Obama campaign. Overall, he has raised 45 percent of his money in small contributions. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s figure is 30 percent; Republican John McCain’s is 23 percent.
Even if he has given Clinton a lot to think through, the Associated Press reported that Barack Obama is hardly comfortable with his lead and unlikely to seat back. He was trying to win over more superdelegates. “He created a stir on Thursday May 8 in an unannounced visit during House votes that lasted more than half an hour. He was surrounded by well-wishers calling him, “Mr. President” and reaching out to pat him on the back, “AP reported. Obama said that he’s not taking the nomination for granted as Clinton proved to be yet upbeat, campaigning in West Virginia, which votes next Tuesday, on May 13.
In his recent appearance in ‘The View Talk Show’, Obama has highlighted three areas that he focuses on in the first months of office. He explained that honorably and responsibly withdraw from Iraq is among his top priorities. According to his explanations, as long as U.S takes control of the situation in Iraq, peace is unlikely. He stated that U.S withdrawal assisting Iraqi government is not only at the best interest of Americans but Iraqis too.
The second area for Obama is to have legislation, allowing all Americans to have health care and lower premiums to those who have one. Solving energy dependency also made his top three priorities. He said that relying on fuel, U.S. is only making ‘Iran richer’ and ‘Russia wealthier’ which will earn them strong voce in the international polices and politics. He pledges to put these three concerns his administration’s priorities to the cheering fans.

Israel is 60!

India and Israel both became independent within about a year of each other in somewhat similar circumstances. I think both of us were searching for our destinies but perhaps were not in control of the processes at that time. So I would say, 60 years down the line, India certainly looks back at things and we are now in control of the processes of our destiny and we certainly hope that Israel would have a similar view of its own history.

H.E. Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia, May 7, 2008.

By Tesfu Telahoun

Stretching back over 4000 years, the multi-epic history of the Jewish people remains as one of civilization’s seminal journeys, reflecting the everlasting desire of all humankind to rise above the turbulence, in the struggle for self-determination and its sustenance.
The first king of Israel, Saul, 1020 BCE, presided over an era when the tribal based system holding the people together was later fully transforming into a well structured monarchy under King David, who reigned between 1004 and 965 BCE. The kingdom prospered and waxed strong under David and also his son and heir, King Solomon.
After Solomon, the kingdom was riven with internal revolt and in 930 BCE, 10 tribes seceded to create a northern kingdom called Israel, with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin establishing Judah, a southern kingdom. This division greatly weakened the tribes and both Israel and Judah fell to the Assyrians in 722 BCE. Ultimately, when Judah was over-run by Babylonia, Jerusalem and the First Temple were destroyed (586 BCE) leading to the first Exile (586 to 538 BCE). Thus began the Jewish Diaspora.
The state was re-born between 538 to 63 BCE, only to be dispersed once again this time for almost 2000 years from 70AD to 1948, when the modern Israel came to be.
The Jewish homeland became a reality and yet Israel too soon realized that it must fight to ensure the survival of not only the state but more importantly of what it represents.
The State of Israel was accepted into the world family of sovereign nations on May 11, 1949, as the 59th member of the United Nations.
Today, 60 years later Israel is not a only fact of life but also a successful society with an economy that is driven by technology and research and development.
Marking Success

The opulent grand ballroom of Lalibela motified Hilton Addis, on May 7, 2008 was the setting of a reception attended by H.E. President Girma Wolde Giorgis, President of Ethiopia, other government officials, Ambassadors including H.E. Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India which also just turned 60 recently, the Israeli community in Addis Ababa and invited guests, to mark the 60th anniversary of the re-establishment of the State of Israel. After welcoming the assembled dignitaries and invited guests, the host, Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Yaccov Amitai, stated that during the last 60 years, the people of Israel have managed to transform, “the landscape of our country, the composition of our society” and that the ‘ nature of Israel’s interaction with its neighbors has undergone profound changes.’
Ambassador Amitai furthered that Israel has evolved to become a most diverse nation, “ Indeed, Israel is a Jewish democratic state expressing the Jewish people’s right for self-determination in its historic homeland, along with respecting the rights of the 24% non-Jewish minority. A daily effort is being made to construct a common Israeli identity along with enabling cultural and communal freedom for all.”
Ambassador Amitai in his remarks, reiterated that Israel desires and looks forward to the establishment of a permanent peace with all of its neighbors and with all nations throughout the world, “in line with the olive branches portrayed on either side of our official emblem, the menorah (seven holder candelabrum)”
The Ambassador, referring to the antiquity of Ethiopia - Israel ties, mentioned that this unique relationship is founded on shared faith, traditions and languages, and said of the 120,000 Israelis of Ethiopian descent, now well assimilated in Israeli society, ‘this community enriches our society and has evolved into a living bridge between the peoples and cultures of Israel and Ethiopia.”
Ambassador Amitai expressed his delight at the convergence of Israel’s 60th with the first year of the new Ethiopian millennium and toasted H.E Girma Wolde Giorgis President of the FDRE and H.E. Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel, wishing them both health and well being and to the two peoples’, continued progress and prosperity.