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|1
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Vol. IXI No. 967 | March 21, 2015 | ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
www.thereporterethiopia.com
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Dangote to inaugurate East Africa’s
biggest cement factory in Ethiopia
Plans to invest on potash mine, cotton, sugarcane plantations
By Kaleyesus Bekele
Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote,
is going to inaugurate East Africa’s
biggest cement factory he built in
Ethiopia at a cost of 500 million dollars.
A subsidiary company of Dangote
Industries Group, Dangote Cement
Ethiopia PLC, built a state-of-the-art
Sisi to arrive
in Addis amid
uncertainties
over ‘political’
deal
cement factory in West Shoa Zone,
Adaberga wereda, near Muger town, 85
km west of Addis Ababa. The factory
lies on 134 hectares plot of land has
the capacity to produce 2.5 million
tons of cement. Teshome Lemma,
country general manager of Dangote
Cement, told The Reporter that the fully
automated factory is the biggest cement
factory in the East African region.
According to Teshome, the factory
produces OPC, PPC and special cement
for dam construction.
Construction commenced in March,
2012 and is completed in two years time
in unmatched pace by any company
in Ethiopia. This has prompted state
Dangote to inaugurate... page 38
Aliko Dangote
Maintaining the momentum
By Neamin Ashenafi
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
is set to arrive in Ethiopia on a threeday visit amid uncertainties over the
fate of a draft ‘political’ tripartite deal
which includes Ethiopia, Egypt and
Sudan.
The foreign ministers of the three
countries reached an agreement to sign
a tripartite political deal the details of
which remain undisclosed.
However, Egyptian media outlets
quoted the country’s Minister of
Irrigation, Hossam Moghazy as saying
that the deal will hold Ethiopia to
Sisi to arrive... page 39
Advertisment
Tewolde Gebremariam (L), CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group and Workneh Gebeyehu at the Sheraton Addis. SEE
FULL STORY ON PAGE 5.
2| EDITORIAL
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Published weekly by Media &
Communications Center
Address: Bole Sub City,
Kebele 03, H. No. 2347
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Asrat Seyoum
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Averting climate-change-induced disasters
In recent years Ethiopia has been bearing the brunt of man-made
climate change that threatens to destroy the harmony that should
exist between man and nature. This includes, but is not limited to, a
slew of forest fires and a rise in temperature. Chief among the factors
that contribute to climate change are deforestation, desertification,
population growth and increased urbanization. In view of the
magnitude and urgency of the problem we feel that it is high time
that we took the following mitigating measures.
Nurturing
g the culture of planting
p
g and looking
g after trees
The culture of planting trees in sporadic drives is still the norm in
Ethiopia.Trees have been usually planted since 1957 by students
and government employees at the onset of the rainy season or to
commemorate certain events like the anniversary of the death of
former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Though well-intentioned, this
practice has not brought about the desired outcome because the trees
are not cared for after they are planted. Consequently, they have
led to the unnecessary wastage of time, energy and money at the
disposal of the country and its citizens.
Ethiopia cannot afford unlike developed nations, to take such costly
steps as enforcing the universal use of solar-powered appliances to
arrest the rise in temperature. However, if the culture of making a
deliberate plan to plant and nurture indigenous trees on denuded
mountains as well as in homes, work places, and open spaces in
both rural and urban areas is nurturing, there is no reason why the
effects of climate change cannot be significantly lessened. It is up to
the government and all stakeholders to develop such a culture.
Giving due attention to the development of green areas and parks
Green areas are essential for any city or place where human
beings dwell. Verdant fields and parks which boast a dense growth
of trees are considered to be the breathing organs of a city. The
level attention given to parks and green areas in Addis Ababa,
the bustling capital of Ethiopia and the diplomatic seat of Africa,
is to say the least quite disappointing. The existing parks are not
providing the services they are capable of to the residents of the
metropolis while those which have been renovated at a cost that runs
into millions are practically inoperational. To make matters worse,
buildings have been erected on several pocket areas and football
fields denying children and pensioners a space to play or just relax.
Though the issue of expanding parks and green areas has been
addressed extensively whenever the city’s master plan is revised,
no concrete move has been taken towards this end. The increasingly
hotter temperature that is becoming unbearable warrants greater
attention for parks and green areas. There is no sense in allocating
all open spaces or pocket areas within the city for the construction
of buildings given that parks and green areas indispensible features
that a city cannot do without. As if Ethiopians are not suffering
enough, like the people of other developing nations, at the hands
of climate change brought on by the developed countries, our very
action imperils us further. This calls for a concerted effort aimed at
scaling up awareness about the dangers of acts which exacerbate the
disastrous consequences of climate change and the imperative need
to protect forests, parks and water resources from destruction no
www.thereporterethiopia.com
matter what the economic benefit one may be foregoing in the short
term.
Banning the construction of environmentally-unfriendly structures
Although a construction boom is inevitable when a city enlarges,
there needs to be a code which determines the standards the
construction of any building must meet. These relate to, inter
alia, the type of construction and finishing materials that can or
cannot be used as well as the design, site selection and manner
of construction of a building to ensure that they do not have a
detrimental impact on the environment. Erecting buildings in
close proximity to each other may be appealing to the eye. But it is
liable to restrict the circulation of air in the spaces between them,
thereby leading to a build-up of hot air that occasions discomfort for
residents. Therefore, the relevant regulatory agency has to see to it
that the construction of any building does not negatively affect the
well-being of citizens and the environment.
Encouraging efforts to build a green economy
Though the concept of green economy came to the fore in Ethiopia
relatively late, the fact that it has gained traction is in itself a
positive development. Ever since the Government of Ethiopia
initiated the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy
in 2011with the aim of following a green economy pathway that
fosters sustainable development, some priority areas that help to
achieve the national targets set by the strategy have been identified.
Notable among these are exploiting the country’s vast hydropower
potential; large-scale promotion of advanced rural cooking
technologies; efficiency improvements to the livestock value chain;
and reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation. While
the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Addis
Ababa Light rail and national rail projects and solar energy stations
are projects that already have got under way, plans are afoot, albeit
at an indeterminate time, to replace commuter and cargo vehicles
locomotive which emit carbon dioxide with electric-powered cars.
Despite the huge financing the CRGE requires, Ethiopians must
come as one in order to mobilize the necessary funds and ensure its
successful implementation.
Although each and every citizen must contribute their share to the
realization of this noble goal, the responsibility of securing mass
participation in the endeavor primarily lies with the government.
Aside from ramping up the campaign to persuade the states
culpable of climate change to pay compensation to the countries
which suffered as result of their bad ways, it is incumbent upon
the government to rally Ethiopians towards doing whatever is in
their power to adapt to the situation without waiting for outside
assistance
Global warming is one of if not the biggest challenge facing
humankind today. It is causing one natural disaster after another
that is exacting a heavy toll on both nature and mankind across the
world. If human beings do not change their destructive behavior
their very survival and that of earth will be at stake. All of us have a
moral obligation to avertthis cataclysmic specter!
HEADLINES |3
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Authority issues urgent notice for
transporters
Ethiopian officials, on their part, said
that the stockpile was created due to
“capacity limitations” on the part of
Ethiopian importers.
By Yonas Abiye
As part of reducing the amount
of stockpiled goods at the Port of
Djibouti, the Federal Transport
Authority has issued an “urgent”
notice for transporters’ associations
to report to the Galafi border town.
According to the notice, transporters
are required to transport goods
as quickly as possible to ease the
burden at the port.
Recently, in an exclusive interview
with The Reporter, Workineh Gebeyhu,
Minister of Transport, said that delays
with shipment trying to go out from
the port is directly linked with the
poor management system of transport
vehicle owners.
He further indicated that the
government is reviewing a mechanism
on how to establish adept transport
companies that could go hand in hand
with the upgraded infrastructure.
According to the Authority,
the urgency is instigated by the
increasing shortage of some basic
food items such as cooking oil and
wheat in the local market.
Director of the Authority’s
Communication Directorate,
Abelneh Agidew, told The Reporter
that the government had to issue
such order because of the limited
number of transport vehicles and
trucks at the port.
Sources at the Authority also told
The Reporterr that the stockpile would
cost the country huge amount of
foreign currency as demurrage fee
in addition to its contribution for
creating shortage of goods in the
local market.
He further told The Reporterr that
containers at the port are stocked
with fertilizer, wheat and oil.
A year ago, Djiboutian officials
informed their Ethiopian
counterparts that the accumulation
of Ethiopian containers was causing
congestion at the Port of Djibouti, the
country’s principal outlet for maritime
trade with neighboring Ethiopia.
The Port of Djibouti handle 800,000 units
of containers per year and eight million
tons of general cargo, according to
recent data from the Ports & Free Zones
Authority of Djibouti (PFZAD). Close
to 20 percent of these containers and 85
percent of the general cargo is inbound
to Ethiopia, where the transit cost
claims close to one percent of the total
cost of the goods, according to industry
experts.
Supreme Court says obstinate public institutions
impeding court decisions
Over 50 disciplinary complaints lodged against federal judges
By Yonas Abiye
administrations for the challenges
courts face.
The Federal Supreme Court, the highest
judiciary organ in the country, reported
that the judicial system is facing
challenges in judgment executions due
to lack of cooperation by some public
institutions.
Providing inadequate information
and causing delay are some of the
failures of the public institutions
cited in the Supreme Court’s report to
parliament resulting in hindrance to
judgment execution proceedings. The
report also blamed police and kebele
administrations for not cooperating and
providing adequate support to enforce
court decisions.
The report also listed concealment
of property with injunction orders
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20| IN
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2015
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No. 967
Vol. XIX
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their position two Federal High Court
judges found guilty of corruptions
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The deputy president also told MPs
that Judicial Administration Council
received 50 disciplinary complaints
lodged against federal judges over
the past seven months. These are
complaints currently being reviewed by
the council.
The Rep
By: Repo
6| IN-D
2015
rch 21,
ay, Ma
No. 967
Vol. XIX
Saturd
www.thereporterethiopia.com
Photo
INSIDE
Presenting its seven months report
to parliament on Tuesday, Deputy
President of Supreme Court, Medhin
Kiros, named the Federal Urban
Land Development and Management
Bureau as well as the police and kebele
by judgment debtors and court
disturbances, among others, as
challenges in judgment executions. The
report states consultations with “the
concerned bodies” was held to resolve
the challenges.
orter,
The Rep
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24| #R
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4| HEADLINES
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
“It is an exciting period for KEFI with a
great deal of progress occurring across the
board. As we rapidly move towards the
receipt of the Mining Licence and advance
our funding plans, we remain on track to
start development at the Tulu Kapi gold
project in 2015 for production in 2017.”
Ministry endorses Tulu
Kapi gold project
By Kaleyesus Bekele
The Ministry of Mines last week
approved the proposal submitted by
KEFI Minerals to develop the Tulu Kapi
Gold mine in Western Wollega Zone
Oromiya Regional State.
In a statement issued on Thursday,
KEFI Minerals (KEFI), the gold
exploration and development
company with projects in Saudi
Arabia and Ethiopia, said that
company’s application is now before
the Council of Ministers for approval
to execute a Mining Agreement and
the consequential issue of the Mining
License and full permitting to develop,
and then operate, the Tulu Kapi gold
project for 20 years.
KEFI said the planned development
expenditure for the gold project to
be funded by the company has been
reduced from 150 million to 120 million
dollars based on initial bids received
from mining contractors and on
terms on offer to the company for the
acquisition of the identified suitable
process plants.
According to KEFI, the development
funding plan is to draw a combination
of debt and equity finance. “This is
Ð
expected to comprise 100 million dollars
of project debt with the balance of 20
million being financed by one of a
number of possible sources currently
being assembled, including financing
from contractors and equity at the
project or parent company level,” the
company said.
Executive Chairman, Harry
Anagnostaras-Adams, said: “It is an
exciting period for KEFI with a great
deal of progress occurring across the
board. As we rapidly move towards
the receipt of the Mining Licence and
advance our funding plans, we remain
on track to start development at the
Tulu Kapi gold project in 2015 for
production in 2017.”
The Tulu Kapi gold mine was
discovered by Nyota Minerals, a
gold exploration and development
company dual listed in the London and
Australian stock exchange. The gold
deposit at Tulu Kapi is estimated at 24
.9 ton.
In 2013 Nyota farmed out its stake on
the gold mine after it failed to raise
the required financing to develop the
mine. The Tulu Kapi deposit was first
discovered and mined on a small scale
by an Italian consortium in the 1930s.
Korea to train high
UDQNLQJRIÀFLDOVRI
Ethiopia on e-governance
By Birhanu Fikade
High ranking officials of Ethiopia
will be heading to South Korea next
month to receive training on electronic
governance and public services, South
Korea’s Minister of Government
Administration and Home Affairs said.
In an exclusive interview with The
Reporter, the South Korean official
Chong Jong-sup, said Ethiopia’s high
ranking officials will be joined by their
counterparts from Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania and Uganda.
Jong-sup met ministers of the five east
African nations during the KoreaAfrica Ministerial Meeting on Public
Governance, hosted in Addis Ababa
on Wednesday at Hilton. After the
conclusion of the meeting, Jong-sup
noted that it is essential for the high
level officials to be acquainted with the
ever sought e-governance services by
citizens across the board.
According to the minister, the nations
are selected to receive the training
and support from South Korea on the
basis of the economic development they
registered. In addition, the nations are
on course to eradicate poverty from
their countries, he said.
One of the probabilities for the
countries to successfully achieve
e-governance would be via adopting the
“Korean new community movement
model”. The model, according to the
official, would serve as a means of
improving the daily lives of people in
the rural areas of Africa.
The minister urged African nations
to embark on e-governance, improve
public services and innovative
technologies. For that to be achieved,
the high level officials need to be
trained, Jong-sup said.
The daylong meeting with East African
ministers and state ministers of the five
nations was attended by Aster Mamo,
coordinator of civil service and good
governance cluster with the rank of
deputy prime minister and minister
of civil service. Aster welcomed South
Korea’s support and expertise on the
matter.
“Ethiopia, unlike the other east African
nations, has an infant, a decade old
information technology genesis.
However, the country is working to
establish electronic based national
payment system, e-bills, school nets and
woreda (district) net systems to address
e-governance gaps,” Aster said.
Countries like Rwanda have
established a system where President
Paul Kagame, virtually, follows and
learns the daily activities of various
authorities of his government form
his office. In Kenya public services
are stipulated as constitutional rights.
Qualities of the delivery of the public
services are also enshrined in Kenya’s
constitution. Hence, according to Fred
Okengo Matiang’I, cabinet minister
of information, communication and
technology, certificates and other
credentials are issued digitally in
Kenya.
Being one of the most digitalized
nations, South Korea spends some
USD 32 billion on ICT every year,
out of which some USD 1.8 billion
are budgeted for basic e-governance
operations, according to Jong-sup.
Korea has managed to reduce the cost of
customs clearances amounting to USD
two billion annually. On top of that, the
Korean government was able to process
procurements electronically which in
turn helped reduce costs of some USD 67
billion last year.
A memorandum of understanding was
signed between Ethiopia and Korea to
further extend cooperation in public
governance for the coming two years.
Similarly, Rwanda, Tanzania and
Uganda also signed an MoU with Korea.
No MoU was signed with Kenya as a
proper dignitary was not present for the
later.
Before his departure, the South Korean
official also met Prime Minister
Hailemariam Desalegn on Thursday.
NEWS IN BRIEF
US drone kills Al-Shabab leader in Somalia –
Pentagon
President Mulatu meets delegates from
eight companies
The United States Department of Defense has confirmed that it has killed,
Adan Garar, top Al-Shabab leader on Thursday.
President Mulatu Teshome (PhD) met and held talks with eight delegates
form Private Investors for Africa (PIA) today at the national palace and
called up on the investors to strengthen investment during the second GTP
period.
The Pentagon announced that Garar was hit by a drone equipped with
Hellfire missiles about 240 km west of Mogadishu near the town of Dinsoor.
Garar was a suspect in the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya that
left 67 people dead.
The US believes that Garar was overseeing operations that targeted
American citizens and other Western interests in the region.
“He was a member of the security and intelligence wing and a key operative
responsible for coordinating external operations”, Pentagon said.
Washington has supported an African Union (AU) force, which has driven
the fundamentalist group from strongholds across Somalia since 2011.
The Pentagon said in the statement that Garar’s death “has dealt another
significant blow to the Al-Shabab”.
Hours before the Pentagon confirmed the news, an Al-Shabab attack killed
four in north-east Kenya. (BBC)
Mulatu advised the delegates from mainly chemical and beverage
industries to engage in food manufacturing and processing in the alongside
their current engagements.
The PIA comprises of eight member companies: BASF, Coca Cola, Diageo,
EDF, Heineken, Lafarge, Standard Bank and Yara which are operational in
Africa.
The president assured the delegation that the government will support
them in every aspect and encouraged to tackle challenges.
Private Investors for Africa (PIA) Chairman, Dominic Bruynseels said
on his part that the current stability, rapid economic growth and clear
investment policies in Ethiopia have inspired the companies to invest in
the country.
Ethiopia is a very positive investment destination in Africa and should be
proud of its achievements during the last ten consecutive years, he noted.
(ENA)
www.thereporterethiopia.com
HEADLINES |5
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Gov’t to endorse new air transport policy
Ethiopian
p
on multi-billion birr investment
By Kaleyesus Bekele
The Government of Ethiopia is going to
endorse a new air transport policy that
governs the country’s aviation industry
development.
In the sideline of the 24th African
Aviation Maintenance Repair and
Overhaul conference held this week
at the Sheraton Addis the Minister of
Transport Workneh Gebeyehu told The
Reporter that his ministry has been
working on a draft air transport policy
for over a year. Workneh said the new
air transport policy will promote the
development of the airline industry in
Ethiopia. “The policy will address the
concerns of private airlines,” Workneh
said.
“It comprises how the local private
airlines could contribute to the growth
of the country’s aviation industry and
the list of things that are allowed and
prohibited,” he added.
According to Workneh, the ministry
will soon table the draft air transport
policy for discussion with stakeholders.
After taking inputs and comments
from stakeholders the air transport
policy will be endorsed by the Council
of Ministers before the end of this year.
“We already had one discussion with
stakeholders. We will soon have the
final deliberation with stakeholders
and then we will present it to the
government for endorsement.”
Executives of Ethiopian Airlines,
representatives of domestic private
airlines and other stakeholders will
participate at the discussion. Officials of
the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority
that drafted the air transport policy and
the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise will
convene on the draft policy.
In his key note address Workneh said
that the African air transport market
From left: CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group Tewolde Gebremariam, Minister of Transport Workneh Gbenyehu and the representative of the
African Union Infrastructure Commission David Kajange
is fragmented. He underscores the
need for African governments to work
together for the growth of Africa’s
aviation industry. African airline
industry contributes around 70 billion
dollars to the continent’s GDP and
employs seven million citizens.
The establishment of a single air
transport market was once again
high on the agenda. In 1988 African
states agreed to establish a single
African air transport market. In 1999
African Ministers responsible for
civil aviation gathered in the Ivorian
city of Yamoussoukro and adopted
the Yamousoukro Declaration (YD)
that calls for the liberalization of
African skies for African airlines. The
declaration aimed at establishing a
single African air transport market by
avoiding market restrictions imposed
by bilateral air service agreements. The
decision was adopted by African heads
of state in 2000 with two years grace
period. However, to date African states
have not been able to fully implement
the declaration. African skies are not
open to African airlines. The African
air transport market is still restricted
by protectionist bilateral air service
agreement.
A representative of the African Union
Infrastructure Commission, David
Kajange reiterated AU’s commitment
towards the establishment of a single
air transport market in Africa. Kajange,
who was speaking on behalf of the AU
Infrastructure Commissioner, Elham
Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim (PhD), said
that last January 11 African states
including Ethiopia declared the full
implementation of the YD by 2017.
Kajange said that the renewed impetus
to implement the YD was initiated
by the Ethiopian government upon a
request presented at the AU conference
in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea last year.
Gov’t to endorse... page 40
Project in Yeha to bolster influx of
tourists
Istanbul to host the 2nd Ethio-Turkey
business and investment summit
The temple restoration tasks, archaeological researches and museum
construction activities underway at Yeha, a historical site in Tigray
Regional State, will enable to boost tourist influx and prolong their stay in
the area, Culture and Tourism Agency of the region disclosed.
Wafa Marketing and Promotion PLC announced that Istanbul will host
the second Ethio-Turkey Business and Investment Summit.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald
d recently, Agency
Head Kebede Amare noted that scientific archaeological investigation in
Yeha has been conducted since 2009 by the tripartite body: the German
Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Berlin, the Authority of Research and
Conservation of Cultural Heritages (ARCCH), and the Tigray Culture and
Tourism Agency (TCTA).
When the project sees light of day, it can augment the foreign currency
reserve from tourist inflow more than ever before, he added.
The German Archaeological Institute Head, Iris Gerlach (PhD) said, “What
you can see here is a huge temple.
It was erected in the 7th century BC. It was dedicated to a Sabian god to
Almuka. It was a two storey building. (The Ethiopian Herald)
In a press release Wafa Marking and Promotion PLC sent to Walta
Information Center (WIC), it has organized the summit in collaboration
with Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations
(ECCSA), FDRE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ethiopian Embassy in
Turkey and Turkish Ministry of Economy.
Business delegation will be led by High Government officials
representing Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the press release
indicated.
According to Wafa, top business delegates are participating the
2015 summit, which will explore new business opportunities for
businesspersons through networking, B2B, B2G, and joint venture
forestalled to fuel business growth.
Knowing its immense benefit, a good number of companies from various
business sectors have already registered with Wafa and Ethiopia
Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Associations. Registration are still
open. Interested companies or individual business person can contact
Wafa for further information, WIC report added. (WIC)
www.thereporterethiopia.com
6| IN-DEPTH
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Girma Seifu, the lone parliamentarian
representing the party and of the whole
RSSRVLWLRQFDPSGXULQJWKHODVWÀYH\HDUVZDV
actually able to run under Medrek’s ticket after
his mother party, Unity for Democracy and
Justice (UDJ), took a controversial decision to
join the then coalition Medrek.
Ð
Exactly two months to
the upcoming general
elections, the political
environment in the
Ethiopia appears to be
gathering momentum.
This momentum could
easily be felt especially
after the dawn of the
campaign period as
announced by the
National Electoral
Board of Ethiopia
(NEBE). Since then,
parties have been in
the move to make their
party programs and
alternative policies
know to the voter
public, and the latest
party to do that is
Medrek, writes Asrat
Seyoum.
The party mainly argues that the
lopsided relationship between the
regional states and the central
government, in favor of the later,
Medrek’s proposal
The first of the nine round of TVdebates scheduled to take place before
the election was aired last week. And
one by one, parties are coming up with
their election manifestos to guide their
political campaign through to the polling
day. Latest in this group is Forum for
Democratic Dialogue (Medrek). Formed in
2008 by the coalition of four parties, United
Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), the
Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement
(OFDM), Somali Democratic Alliance
Forces (SDAF) and Union of Tigrians for
Democracy and Sovereignty a.k.a. Arena,
and two influential politicians, Siye
Abreha and Negasso Gidada, formerly
members of the ruling party, the Ethiopian
Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF), the party was quick to rise to the
level of being a major contender in the 2010
general elections in Ethiopia.
Reports at the time placed Medrek second
behind the EPRDF garnering an estimated
30 percent of the popular vote across
nation, although it did not help the party
to take more than one seat in parliament.
Girma Seifu, the lone parliamentarian
representing the party and of the whole
opposition camp during the last five years,
was actually able to run under Medrek’s
ticket after his mother party, Unity for
Democracy and Justice (UDJ), took a
controversial decision to join the then
coalition Medrek. The decision of UDJ
taken by the then chairman of the party
Gizachew Shiferaw (Eng.) and his allies led
to a dramatic turn of events in the party.
A split within UDJ where Gizachew and
another group led by veteran politician,
Mesfin Woldemariam (Prof.), was one that
is widely remembered by those following
political developments in the country. This
controversy, which has its roots from the
decision to join Medrek, was quite extreme
in sense that the two groups were engaged
in a raw fist fight in a bid to take control of
the party and its headquarters.
The decision to take UDJ under Medrek’s
wings proved to be problematic from
the very beginning. The issue was sheer
ideological asymmetry between the
newcomer and the parties who founded the
coalition. Widely perceived as a coalition
of political units which are formed along
ethnic lines, Medrek, indeed saw its efforts
to take UDJ on-board, a party that is forged
along nationalist (unity) perspectives,
go futile. Ultimately, the entire ordeal
climaxed with the two parties breaking up
finally, ironically following a statement
made by Gizachew, the chairman who
decided to join the coalition in the first
place, on the future of political struggle on
a coalition basis. The chairman, who later
defended saying that he was speaking on
a personal capacity not as a party leader,
commented that coalition politics will not
bear fruit in Ethiopia at the time. Leaders
of Medrek took offense in this statement
and demanded that the chairman and his
party offer a formal apology regarding the
statement. Eventually, the whole thing fell
apart and UDJ was forced to relinquish its
membership of Medrek, which by then was
advancing to become a front.
The manifesto
really fall short
of making any
prudent proposal
when it comes to
the economic part
of the country.
To start with, the
document looked
quite relaxed
to make what
seems to be an
outrageous claim
that Ethiopia
is currently
run under
a command
economy system.
www.thereporterethiopia.com
Unsurprisingly, this is one of the
outstanding matters in the recently
released election manifesto. To beginning
with, the document was careful not make
any reference to a particular ideology that
is espoused by all the parties in the front.
According to Tilahun Endeshaw, public
relations head of Medrek, the front has
not yet arrived at a unified ideology like
the ruling party. He told The Reporter that
neither social democracy, which is adopted
by Beyene Petros’ Ethiopian Social
Democrats-Southern Ethiopian People
Democratic Union, nor the developmental
state thinking of the ruling are ideological
stances of the front at this time. “When we
were able to agree on a particular ideology
we will be on the way to unification and
becoming one party,” Tilahun explained.
Consequently, Medrek does not have a
clearly defined social base to which it
declares allegiance to and relay for votes.
In essence, many classify Medrek to be
closer to what the ruling party held as an
ideology stance than any other opposition
parties in the country. Although the
party did not admit that, it claims in its
manifesto that the EPRDF has not yet
succeeded in addressing the question of
nations and nationalities in Ethiopia.
This, say Medrek, is clearly exhibited
in the failure of the federalism system
itself. Merera Gudina (PhD), a lecturer at
Addis Ababa University (AAU) and head
of external affairs for Medrek, goes even
further in claiming that the ruling party
has folded on its promise to insure the
right of nations and nationalities in the
country. The party mainly argues that the
lopsided relationship between the regional
states and the central government, in favor
of the later, is manifestation of the failure
of the incumbent (EPRDF) regarding the
question of nations and nationalities.
Nevertheless, for constitutional experts
like Abera Degeffa, the question of nations
and nationalities is not synonymous with
the federalism system. Hence, alluding to
the fact that evaluation of the federalism
system alone cannot provide an adequate
ground to say whether the question
of nations and nationalities has been
addressed in the certain country.
As far as the question of nations and
nationalities is concerned, the debate
goes a little bit further than the success
and failure of the ruling party during
the last 24 years. To begin with, one can
argue that whether the question of nations
and nationalities has been addressed in
certain country is a big question in itself.
According to Abera and few other pundits,
this question is perceived to be as good as
IN-DEPTH |7
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
The economic text just lacks numbers and
research outcomes. At times, it makes claims
like downplaying two-digit economic growth
without reference to a particular study or
institution to corroborate the claims.
Medrek rather feels that there is no
space anymore for political parties
and voices of decency to be heard in
Ethiopia.
Beyene Petros
answered the moment it is enshrined
in the constitution of the country. He,
however, says that he has concerns
even as to what has been written in
the constitution especially regarding
resource distribution. Merera as well
is of the view that EPRDF has the
normative framework on the ground
only to lack in the execution of the laws.
More widely, the issue of selfdetermination to nations and
nationalities is also covered in the
manifesto document in question. Of
course, the document says that Medrek
strictly believes in the rights of nations
and nationalities to self-determination
but with an interesting twist: less of
secession. Tilahun goes as far as stating
that the FDRE Constitution is one of
the few nations that has managed to
incorporate secession to rights of selfdetermination. He argues that this was
not necessary to incorporate in the first
place and proposes changes should it
ascend to power after this election. For
the constitutional expert, this is an
ongoing international debate: whether
the right to self-determination is full
without secession. And that both sides
puts forward a strong argument in this
regard.
In connection to that, the manifesto
also puts forward a unique proposal
that is alternative working language
in Ethiopia besides Amharic. The
party argues that the question of an
alternative working language is a
matter of necessity for the kind of
federalist state that Ethiopia is trying
to become. For Abera, Oromiffa
automatically can qualify to be another
working language in Ethiopia not
to mention the viability of Somali,
Tigrigna and Sidama languages.
Merera, on his part, insists that
should his party take power, one of
the changes that it seeks to implement
is introducing a handful of working
languages in country. “I know this
proposal carries a heavy financial
burden for a country like Ethiopia,”
Merera says, however, he is of the
view that nothing is more than the
political cost that befalls the nations if
this is not implemented. Abera as well
seems to share the concern of Medrek’s
leadership in the area of working
language.
Nevertheless, the party presented
a manifesto document which is
customarily divided in to political,
economy and social issues and Medrek’s
general take of the current conditions
in Ethiopia. In terms of the form, the
document was organized in a way
that is clear and readable. Right at
the beginning of the document, the
manifesto start-off with one of the
strongest claims that it could ever make
about Ethiopian politics: the claim that
the political space in Ethiopia has been
completely closed. Usually, many in
the opposition camp blamed the ruling
party for narrowing down the political
space. Medrek rather feels that there is
no space anymore for political parties
and voices of decency to be heard in
Ethiopia. Tilahun explains that over
the years, narrowing down political
space in Ethiopia has actually worsened
and to a point of complete closure. “We
are here participating in election not
because there is suitable condition for
election but that we don’t have any
other choice,’ Tilahun says. Medrek’s
only option for political struggle is a
Tilahun Endeshaw
peaceful one, he continued to explain.
This in part lends his argument to
criticism. According to pundits, the
very fact that parties like Medrek are
operating in Ethiopia is a counter
argument to complete closure of the
political space.
Another major issue that the party
covered in the manifesto was the need
for negotiations with the ruling party to
which the later did not agree. According
to Medrek, the ruling party needs to sit
down to negotiate on issues of election
governed, usage of the media and rule
of law. According Tilahun these are
indeed what the legal framework of
the nation protects and guarantees
as a right. However, the ruling party
practically curtails these rights, he
argued. “That is why we are demanding
negotiations on these matters,” he told
The Reporter.
The manifesto really fall short of
making any prudent proposal when
it comes to the economic part of the
country. To start with, the document
looked quite relaxed to make what
seems to be an outrageous claim that
Ethiopia is currently run under a
command economy system. From
an economic stand point, this claim
was not corroborated by any factual
argument or testimony. Still worse
is how the manifesto has managed to
concentrate on the distractive role
of party-affiliated companies on the
economy. Even the claim that the
so called party-affiliated (that of the
ruling party’s) companies are playing
distortionary role was not supported
with any research or fact finding of
any kind which makes it a claim at
best. Furthermore, the document’s
www.thereporterethiopia.com
insinuation of the impact that these
rogue companies seems to have on the
Ethiopian economy looks to be a crude
overestimation.
However, the manifesto do make an
appropriate mention of the problem
of inflation, poverty, mass migration
and unemployment. Here as well, the
document would divulge to proposing
any alternate policy instruments to
correct any of the above; better yet
the document would not show how
these problem have come to be in the
Ethiopian economy in the first place.
On other side, even when the document
do make prudent economic analysis and
proposes a solution, it fails to show the
voting public as how different the policy
proposed by Medrek is from the rest of
the opposition camp and of course from
the incumbent. Over in the entire text of
the manifesto, Medrek did not choose to
employee any quantitative analysis of
the existing issues or use quantitative
methods to propose policies. The
economic text just lacks numbers and
research outcomes. At times, it makes
claims like downplaying two-digit
economic growth without reference
to a particular study or institution
to corroborate the claims. Merera is
confident that even the international
organizations who have come up with
reports supporting double-digit growth
in Ethiopia have been tricked by
government institutions from whom
they are collecting the data hence
drawing flawed conclusions.
Ed.’s Note: Neamin Ashenafi and
Solomon Goshu of The Reporter have
contributed to this report.
8|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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www.thereporterethiopia.com
|9
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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www.thereporterethiopia.com
10| COMMENTARY
By
y Leen
Leeenco
nc
nco
c Lat
Lata
Laata
t
ta
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
The origin of ethnic politics
in Ethiopia
Controversy has been dogging the
policy of structuring Ethiopia as a
multinational federation ever since
it was publicly aired almost twentyfive years ago. There are those who
vociferously and persistently condemn
the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) leaders
for introducing the politicization of
ethnicity by embracing this policy. On
the other hand, there are those who
like wise consistently commend EPRDF
leaders for the same reason. However,
putting the adoption of this policy in an
historical perspective would prove that
both stands are wrong.
The erroneousness of the stand of
both those who commend and those
who condemn EPRDF leaders for
structuring Ethiopia as a multinational
federation becomes easily explicable
by recalling the famous statement
by Marx that “Men make their own
history, but they do not make it as
they please; they do not make it under
self-selected circumstances, but under
circumstances existing already, given
and transmitted from the past.” It is the
circumstance prevailing when EPRDF
leaders came to power that rendered
structuring Ethiopia as multinational
federation inescapable and not their
alleged noble or ignoble intensions.
What was that circumstance? At
the time, struggles for national selfdetermination by the Oromos, Tigreans,
Ogadenis, Sidamas, etc. were gathering
momentum while more and more
communities (Gambellas, Benishanguls,
etc,) were joining the fray with every
passing year. Accommodating these
quests for self-determination by
structuring Ethiopia as a multinational
federation was, hence, simply
inescapable.
The critics of the present multinational
federation blame the spokespersons of
these struggles for self-determination
for politicizing ethnicity/language for
the first time in the country’s history.
Nothing could be further from the
truth. On the contrary, these struggles
were simply a natural response to a
prior state-driven policy of politicizing
ethnicity/language. This state-driven
politicization of ethnicity/language
goes as far back as 1933 when the then
Minister of Education, Sahlu Tsedalu,
proposed the following policy:
Øô0Ύõ[pΎápΎ¼Ύáp ΎÕ·Ü¸ΎLL
áΎÚpΎ¸Ύ˷Ύ˷Ύ˷
[ΎpÛéØΎùÈpΎ(÷¹ΎĮô6¹Ύ(.
Ø-ΎÕùÃÊΎLLΎ`vΎ[ùΎğk¸ΎÞ,
¸Ύs¼ ΎÕ+¸ØΎLLΎΎÞÜ38Ύ
á+ùΎØ8Į÷ The rough translation of
which is: “Unity is the strength of a
country, and the sources of unity are
language, custom and religion . . . [It
is thus necessary] to legally preserve
in the whole of Ethiopia only Amharic
and Ge’ez [We can ignore Ge’ez for
it was merely a liturgical language
of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
largely incomprehensible to ordinary
believers.] for spiritual and earthly use
[while] the language of every pagan
must be erased.”
This policy to erase all languages except
Amharic amounts to an ethnocidal
intention of eradicating all communities
except the speakers of Amharic. The
targets of this discriminatory policy
had no choice but to launch struggles
for self-determination with a view to
averting the state-driven intention
to eradicate them. These struggles
were, hence, the effect of a prior act of
politicizing ethnicity/language and not
its cause as commonly presumed by
the critics of the present multinational
federation in Ethiopia.
This language-based policy was
ultimately codified in laws proscribing
the use of all languages except Amharic
at public events, including prayer
meetings as if the Almighty could
understand only one language. It is
7KHRULJLQSDJH
VIEWPOINT
Ethiopia’s cultural diplomacy:
connecting hearts and minds in Uganda
By Nur
Nurye
Nu
urye
ur
rye Yas
Yaasssin
i
Cultural diplomacy, which involves
“exchange of ideas, information, art
and other aspects of culture among
nations and their peoples in order
to foster mutual understanding”, is
one ingredient of public diplomacy
to project the foreign policy goals
and objectives as well as advance
national interest to win the hearts
and minds of foreign public. However,
today’s cultural diplomacy places
credibility highly in the making of
public diplomacy. Experts on public
diplomacy posit that the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics went to
its burial ground through the use of
cultural diplomacy employing “cultural
promotion” and “cultural offensive” as
instruments in addition to the political
and economic machinations. They
also assert that Cold War was not “a
traditional political-military conflict,
but an “ideological and cultural contest
on a global scale and without historical
precedent.” They also argue that
“cultural diplomacy reveals the soul of
a nation.”
Having comprehended this fact, other
lessons and the reality of the world,
Ethiopia has institutionalized cultural
diplomacy aimed at improving its image
to the country’s current conditions
and position. The country’s cultural
diplomacy is framed within the realm of
public diplomacy to influence the world
and specifically African publics for
the creation of a community of shared
African destiny free of hunger, poverty,
indignity and war and help let Africa
heard its voice in international affairs.
Ethiopia, as the seedbed of the ideals
of Pan Africanism and a source of
inspiration for freedom against
colonialists through the prism of,
among other victories, Adwa, extended
over the second half of the 20th century
a helping hand to peoples seized to the
liberation of the African continent
from European colonialism. Bringing a
socio-economic transformation across
Africa and wiping out poverty from the
face of the many parts of the continent
is a difficult but an achievable task
encountering the leadership of Africa.
Indeed, despite the gains made so far,
Africa, according to the World Bank,
constituted as many people living in
extreme poverty today (414 million)
than there were three decades ago. It
is also facing new emerging security
challenges.
Having understood the realities,
opportunities and challenges facing
Africa, African countries have
transformed the Organization of
www.thereporterethiopia.com
African Unity into African Union to
chart the way forward for African
Renaissance. From the very outset,
Ethiopia stood aloof in charting an
independent path to usher in African
solutions to African problems, even in
times of difficulties. Ethiopia envisions
that the realization of an Africa that we
want can only be achieved through the
institutionalization of a cooperative,
comprehensive, shared, and sustainable
security, developmental as well as
integrative agenda.
This, according to Ethiopia’s national
security and foreign policy, demands
the close interaction, mutual
understanding and mutual trust of
the people of Africa to march forward
towards a stable, prosperous and secure
Africa. Towards this end, cultural
outreach, as part of people to people
relations, is designed to build on the
similarities, strengths and gains of
Africans and ultimately coordinate and
cooperate for the emancipation of Africa
from political, socio-economic and
cultural subjugation in international
affairs dealings.
Recent visit (March 08) of an Ethiopian
Cultural Troupe from the Gamo
(WKLRSLD¶VFXOWXUDOSDJH
|11
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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www.thereporterethiopia.com
12| OPINION
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Financing education for all
By Jeffrey
Jeeffr
fre
rey
ey D. Sachs
Sac
Sa
achs
ac
chs
Of all of the investments needed to
achieve sustainable development,
none is more important than a
quality education for every child. In a
knowledge-based world economy, a good
education is vital for finding decent
work; achieving good health; building
functioning communities; developing
the skills to be a dependable parent;
and growing up to be an engaged and
responsible citizen.
of partners convening in Addis Ababa
– governments, philanthropists, and
top companies – should pool resources
to enable impoverished countries to
scale up education, especially at the
pre-K and secondary levels. The time
has come to create a Global Fund for
Education to ensure that even the
world’s poorest children have the
chance to receive a quality education at
least through secondary school.
Indeed, it is no surprise that the most
brutish and violent groups in the world,
such as Nigeria’s Boko Haram, attack
education. And it was right on the mark
to award the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize
to Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani
teenager shot by the Taliban for her
brave advocacy of girls’ education.
This is how malaria, AIDS, and
vaccine-preventable diseases have
been battled successfully in the past 15
years. The United States, the United
Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, and other
governments teamed up with the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
private companies like Novartis,
GlaxoSmithKline, Ericsson, Sumitomo
Chemical, and others to ensure that
life-saving vaccines, medicines, and
diagnostics could reach the poorest
of the poor. The results have been
remarkable: millions of lives have been
saved, and economic growth has been
boosted.
When the world’s governments launch
the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) this September, they will
rightly put education for all children
at the forefront, alongside ending
extreme poverty, hunger, and death
from preventable and treatable causes.
Yet, while many poor countries have
increased domestic financing for
education, the international community
has not yet done its part. Aid for
education remains too low and too
fragmented.
In advance of adopting the SDGs,
at the Conference on Financing for
Development in July, the world has the
chance to put real resources behind the
Education SDG. The three major types
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We must now do the same for education.
Though access to primary schooling
has expanded dramatically over the
past two decades, a transformative
breakthrough in quality learning and
secondary education has remained
out of reach – until now. The spread
of computers, mobile phones, and
broadband coverage to the poorest
regions of the world could – and should
– ensure that every child in low-income
countries has access to the same trove
of online information and quality
learning materials as children in highincome countries.
Scaling up the use of information
and communications technology
(ICT), together with improved access
to educational innovations, trained
teachers and village education workers,
and better measurement of learning
outcomes, would enable low- and
middle-income countries to create highquality education systems within the
next 15 years. In the meantime, students
in impoverished rural schools that
currently lack books, electricity, and
trained teachers would be connected
online – via solar panels and wireless
broadband – to quality educational
materials, free online courses, and other
schools, thereby closing a resource
gap that, until recently, seemed
insurmountable.
The world even has the organizational
leadership to make this possible. The
Global Partnership for Education is a
worldwide coalition of governments and
NGOs that has been working for more
than a decade with the world’s poorest
countries to help them scale up quality
education.
Yet, despite the GPE’s tremendous
success in encouraging poor countries
to mobilize their own budget resources
to expand the reach and quality of their
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www.thereporterethiopia.com
OPINION + |13
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
A safer path to asylum
By Peter
Peeteer Sutherland
Sut
Su
uttheerrla
laand
d
In 2014, more than 190,000 people risked
their lives crossing the Mediterranean
Sea from North Africa to Europe. Some
3,500 lost the gamble, dying as they tried
to traverse what has become the world’s
deadliest frontier. There can be no
doubting that some who undertook the
perilous journey did so simply to search
for better-paying jobs. But the origins
of those attempting the trip indicate
that many are political refugees, not
economic migrants.
The majority of those who crossed the
Mediterranean last year come from
Eritrea and Syria. Many have been
formally recognized as refugees by
the United Nations Refugee Agency
(UNHCR) in the countries to which
they initially fled. Some 90 percent of
those who apply for asylum in Europe
are granted some sort of protection – a
further testament to their status as bona
fide refugees.
and its member states are directly
responsible for the plight of those
who die attempting to cross the
Mediterranean. Efforts to discourage
refugees from arriving have not
diminished the number of people who
are granted asylum in Europe; they
have merely made the process of being
granted refugee status more random
and dangerous.
Every country in Europe is party to
international treaties that recognize the
rights of refugees to seek asylum and
not be forcibly returned to countries
where they will be unsafe. And yet,
despite calls by frontline Mediterranean
states to establish systems to improve
the handling of the crisis and share
the burden, little is being done to
make things safer for refugees or more
manageable for the countries in which
they arrive.
It is time for the European Union to
separate the discussion of the crisis in
the Mediterranean from its broader
immigration debate. The policies,
language, and response to the events
unfolding on the EU’s southern
border must be different from those
concerning the voluntary movement
of job seekers from one safe country to
another. Indeed, the proper context of
the discussion is European countries’
obligations under international refugee
law.
The countries neighboring Syria and
Iraq are facing the largest inflows of
refugees fleeing the violence there, and
the UNHCR has appealed for assistance
in resettling a limited number of the
neediest. So far, however, the response
from the countries that can most easily
afford to take in refugees has been
pathetic. Even worse, many people who,
as recently as a few years ago, would
have easily obtained permission to
study, work, or visit relatives in Europe
are being denied visas simply because
of their refugee status.
The policies put in place by the EU
There is no reason to require people
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seeking an asylum hearing to run a
gamut of desert crossings, abuse by
smugglers, beatings, extortion, rape,
and exploitation – or to have them
experience the trauma of watching their
friends and family die along the way.
Doing so is cruel and inhumane, and it
violates the spirit of all refugee, human
rights, and immigration laws.
In the past, resettlement programs
in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East
screened people to establish their status
as refugees; assessed their education,
skills, and family relations to determine
where they might be integrated most
easily; and worked with European,
North American, and Australian
governments to find them new homes.
In the 1980s, such programs helped
thousands of Ethiopians, Vietnamese,
and Argentines, and a look at the
communities in which the beneficiaries
were resettled reveals that the vast
majority have become self-reliant
taxpayers.
There is no reason that something
similar cannot be done for those fleeing
violence and persecution today. If
asylum seekers were provided with
opportunities to present their claims in
the countries where they currently find
themselves, they would not be forced to
risk their lives at sea to reach Italy or
Greece. Eritreans could file applications
in Khartoum for asylum in Sweden,
Germany, or the United Kingdom.
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14| COMMENTARY +
Byy Mohamed
Moh
Moha
Mo
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oh
ham
ameed A
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A. El
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The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
The messy politics of
economic divergence
The world is increasingly characterized
by divergence – in economic
performance, monetary policy, and thus
in financial markets. Global divergence
has already contributed to stock-market
volatility, unprecedented declines
in advanced economies’ government
bond yields, and outsize currency
movements. And the trend is not
abating, placing increasing pressure on
already-strained political systems.
The world’s systemically important
economies can be placed into four
categories. The first group includes
countries like India and the United
States, where economic recovery is
broadening, enabling them to overcome
financial imbalances. The second
group is exemplified by China, which is
achieving a soft landing onto a growth
path that, while lower than in recent
years, remains adequate to support
continued progress toward high-income
status and financial stability.
The third group includes economies
– such as Brazil, several eurozone
countries, and Japan – that are not
growing fast enough, and face downside
risks. And, finally, the fourth group
consists of economic and financial
wildcards like Greece and Russia
– countries that could succeed in
restoring growth and financial stability,
but could just as easily implode, sending
shock waves across Europe and beyond.
This divergence is as much a political
phenomenon as it is an economic and
financial one. Overcoming it – and
ensuring steady, financially stable
global growth – will require responsive
national policymaking and multilateral
coordination. Unfortunately, today’s
rather messy national and international
political environments have so far
precluded such an approach.
Nonetheless, experimental monetary
policies in advanced economies – such
as the large-scale asset purchases
initiated this month by the European
Central Bank – have slowed the vicious
circle of subpar economic performance
and muddled politics. But it is far from
clear that this will continue, especially
given the US Federal Reserve’s gradual
exit from such policies, which puts
America on a different path from most
of the other advanced economies.
Moreover, market forces have gained
an ever-larger role in reconciling
global economic divergence, leading
to dramatic shifts in exchange rates.
The list of such currency movements
– which so far has included the euro’s
25 percent fall against the dollar,
a record low for the Mexican peso,
and disorderly depreciations of the
Brazilian real and other emerging-
economy currencies – is getting longer
by the day. Even healthy economies
like South Korea are keen to weaken
their currencies, leaving the US alone
in its willingness to tolerate significant
currency appreciation.
On their own, currency markets will
not bring about the growth-enhancing
global economic rebalancing that is
needed. Better policies at the national,
regional, and global levels are also
essential – and that requires better
politics.
Too many political leaders around the
world remain unable – or unwilling –
to fulfill their economic-governance
responsibilities. This is particularly
regrettable, given that there is a broad
consensus regarding the technical
components of the required policy
response: structural reforms to revamp
growth engines, efforts to rebalance
aggregate demand, and the elimination
of debt overhangs. (The eurozone
must also work to complete the
essential underpinnings of its historic
integration project.) What is missing is
implementation.
But governments seem unlikely to
overcome their dysfunction anytime
soon. In the US, Congress and the
7KHPHVV\SDJH
VIEWPOINT +
How scary is the bond market?
By Robert
Roberrt
Ro
rt J. Shil
Shilller
Shiller
err
The prices of long-term government
bonds have been running very high in
recent years (that is, their yields have
been very low). In the United States, the
30-year Treasury bond yield reached a
record low (since the Federal Reserve
series began in 1972) of 2.25 percent on
January 30. The yield on the United
Kingdom’s 30-year government bond
fell to 2.04 percent on the same day.
The Japanese 20-year government bond
yielded just 0.87 percent on January 20.
All of these yields have since moved
slightly higher, but they remain
exceptionally low. It seems puzzling –
and unsustainable – that people would
tie up their money for 20 or 30 years to
earn little or nothing more than these
central banks’ 2 percent target rate
for annual inflation. So, with the bond
market appearing ripe for a dramatic
correction, many are wondering
whether a crash could drag down
markets for other long-term assets, such
as housing and equities.
It is a question that I am repeatedly
asked at seminars and conferences.
After all, participants in the housing
and equity markets set prices with a
view to prices in the bond market, so
contagion from one long-term market to
another seems like a real possibility.
I have been thinking about the bond
market for a long time. In fact, the
long-term bond market was the subject
of my 1972 PhD dissertation and my
first-ever academic publication the
following year, co-authored with my
academic adviser, Franco Modigliani.
Our work with data for the years 19521971 showed that the long-term bond
market back then was pretty easy to
describe. Long-term interest rates on
any given date could be explained quite
well as a certain weighted average of
the last 18 quarters of inflation and
the last 18 quarters of short-term real
interest rates. When either inflation or
short-term real interest rates went up,
long-term rates rose. When either fell,
so did long-term rates.
We now have more than 40 years of
additional data, so I took a look to
see if our theory still predicts well. It
turns out that our estimates then, if
applied to subsequent data, predicted
long-term rates extremely well for the
20 years after we published; but then,
in the mid-1990s, our theory started to
overpredict. According to our model,
long-term rates in the US should be even
lower than they are now, because both
inflation and short-term real interest
rates are practically zero or negative.
Even taking into account the impact of
quantitative easing since 2008, longterm rates are higher than expected.
But the explanation that we developed
www.thereporterethiopia.com
so long ago still fits well enough to
encourage the belief that we will not
see a crash in the bond market unless
central banks tighten monetary policy
very sharply (by hiking short-term
interest rates) or there is a major spike
in inflation.
Bond-market crashes have actually
been relatively rare and mild. In the
US, the biggest one-year drop in the
Global Financial Data extension of
Moody’s monthly total return index for
30-year corporate bonds (going back to
1857) was 12.5 percent in the 12 months
ending in February 1980. Compare
that to the stock market: According to
the GFD monthly S&P 500 total return
index, an annual loss of 67.8 percent
occurred in the year ending in May
1932, during the Great Depression,
and one-year losses have exceeded 12.5
percent in 23 separate episodes since
1900.
It is also worth noting what kind of
event is needed to produce a 12.5 percent
crash in the long-term bond market.
The one-year drop in February 1980
came immediately after Paul Volcker
took the helm of the Federal Reserve
in 1979. A 1979 Gallup Poll had shown
that 62 percent of Americans regarded
inflation as the “most important
+RZVFDU\SDJH
|15
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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www.thereporterethiopia.com
16| LIVING & THE ARTS
Ð
The music of Ethiopia is
extremely diverse and these
days one of the popular
genres is Ethio-Jazz.
However, an unfortunate
news was what jazz fans in
Addis Ababa woke up to on
a Sunday morning a couple
of months ago. Taitu Hotel
FDXJKWÀUHDQG-D]]DPED
was burned to the ground.
Heaps of twisted iron,
piles of ash and a charred
microphone are all that
remains of Jazzamba, the
iconic Addis Ababa nightclub
that revived Ethiopian jazz
after it all but disappeared
under communist rule. The
ÀUHWKDWGHVWUR\HGWKHYHQXH
in January has left Ethiopia’s
vibrant and growing jazz
scene in disarray. However,
it seems that jazz has now
found a new home–Mama’s
Kitchen, writes Henok
Reta.
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Jamming in the kitchen
For Meseret Abera, 26, who enjoys
live music of the old tunes, Jazzamba
used to be more than just a place. She
found it to be a place where she could
meet up with people from a time that
she has never lived in. Moreover, the
guests she joins at the jam session are
typically distinguished music lovers
who are attired in classic outfits and are
voguish.
“It was just a special place and I have
never been to a place like that before
Jazzamba,” she says. In a somewhat
modestly expressed way, Meseret
explains her passion towards a kind of
life that can be best expressed in the
kind of music she listens to. “Honestly
speaking, I want to live in the more
natural part of the past,” she says. And
that is why she now finds it difficult to
cope with the current trends and venues
of music.
Back in the 1960s, the jazz scene in
Addis was booming. So big was the
scene that Ethiopian jazz even had
its own style and name: Ethio-Jazz.
Then along came the Derg regime and
away went the fun. Today, the scene is
making a slow recovery, though ashes
still blow behind the closed doors of
Jazzamba, the phenomenal jazz bar
that is also the center of that recovery.
Jazzamba Lounge is located inside the
creaky Itegue Taitu Hotel, which is
located at the heart of the oldest part of
the city that is filled with old edifices,
villas of the former rulers, and busy
streets with taverns and bars by the
side. Every night, there was live music
presented by renowned Ethiopian
musicians, including those returning
from North America after many years.
Abegasu Kibrework Shiota, a towering
figure in musical arrangement, Henock
Temesgen, a bass player who attended
Berklee College of Music in Boston, and
guitarist Girum Mezmur are champions
of the successful operation of the
lounge.
According Henock Temesgen, who
is also co-founder of the Lounge, the
reopening can become quite a prolonged
process for both the musicians and the
audiences of Jazzamaba as the lounge
had caught fire just recently, a few
years into its inauguration, sustaining
an estimated 4.5 million birr loss. The
musicians then took refuge at Mama’s
Kitchen—a restaurant located in the
vicinity of Medhanialem Church in
Bole.
“Things have been going smoothly
since we relocated,” musician Aklilu
“Johnny” Wolde-Yohaness says.
www.thereporterethiopia.com
Indeed, there is no doubt that Mama’s
Kitchen has become a rather popular
spot for live music in addition to the
beverages and food it is known for.
There are musical performances
throughout the week to satisfy the
audience. Every Monday sees jam
session with the renowned composer
Abegasu and his friends. Tuesdays are
sessions for the legendary Alemayhu
Eshete with Lubac Acoustic Band
while Sundays are for the Bellema Jazz
Band. For those who love Ethiopian
pop, Kora Award winning musician
Tsedenia Gebremarkos plays every
Wednesday with Five Play Band while
the sensational Kuku Sebsebe plays
every Friday with Express Band.
“It has just given me relief since I’m
obsessed with live music,” Meseret
says. Although she resides a bit far
away from Bole, she knows that this is
the only place that [fits] her.
In spite of what seems like a narrow
space to others, Mama’s Kitchen
attracts hundreds of people every
night. Even if it is found on the fourth
floor of the building, it doesn’t seem to
be a problem for many of the regular
attendees of the live music.
“I go there four times a week. Since
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21,, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
LIVING & THE ARTS|17
Ð
there aren’t venues like this anymore,
I’m happy that I do it regularly,” Simon
Tegene, 29, one of the night goers says.
“We are delighted to have these eminent
performers,” Biniyam Tsegaye, general
manger of Mama’s Kitchen, says.
For Simon and his friends, the close
view of the stage is a significant reason
for frequenting the restaurant. They
also enjoy that the crowd, packed
because of the small space between the
benches and high tables, chats among
one another. “It’s just like a classroom,”
he says. The room that can only
enroll no more than 200 people looks
comfortable enough for more people
plus the musicians. This is indeed
an attractive point for some of the
musicians too.
Even if many view the three-anda-half-year service the restaurant
has rendered as impressive enough
to attract the country’s prominent
business people, musicians and
celebrities, Biniyam argues that they
have done only 10 percent of their
planned project. According to him, the
plan includes expanding the restaurant
and promoting live music in the city
in order to reach at least fifty percent
of the plan. It already consist of a VIP
silent lounge, sport bar, beer court and
a room for live music; the restaurant
accommodates some 650 people.
However, the live music room is only
capable of accommodating 250 people
at its maximum size. This is indeed
a surprise for some who see highly
recognized musicians there considering
the fact that they usually perform in
bigger spaces.
“I really want to play for an intimate
audience,” Tsedenia Gebremarkos
says. According to her, the enjoyment
she finds in such compacted space
is a particular one and deserves
appreciation.
Tsedenia, who started doing live
performance in small rooms that are
even smaller than Mama’s Kitchen,
feels happier here, flashing back to
those early days. “Performing
for an intimate audience is
what I love the most,” she
said, enthusiastically
expressing her joy
in playing with an
audience-centered
approach.
Remembering
Coffee House,
a place where
contemporary
Ethiopian musical
icons used to
play in, Tsedenia
argues Mama’s
Kitchen is no
more narrow or
inconvenient to
play at.
“Even Jazzamba was
not as big as other
venues. What matters
is not the floor space
but the service and code
of conduct the place has in
order to attract musicians and
audiences,” she explains.
Undoubtedly, the place has earned
enough popularity amongst live music
fans across the city that active users
of social media can easily follow up
on the daily schedule. Moreover, the
Mama’s Kitchen sites are updated with
surprises that the venue brings in
every month. The restaurant takes an
advantage of international musicians
traveling into the country. The venue
also extends invitations to veteran
artists to jam on surprise visits.
Last month, Mama’s Kitchen had an
opportunity to attract the renowned
Sweet-Honey in The Rock, a Black
American women group who came to
Ethiopia in connection with the Black
History Month celebration by the US
embassy. Mahmoud Ahmed, veteran
Ethiopian musician, also pays surprise
visits on rare occasions.
“No, we are not paying them
what they should be paid in
that regard, but we are able
to meet their demand
in setting up such a
place and in such a
manner that they
value it more than
money,” Biniyam
says. This idea
is extremely
hailed by
Tsedenia, who
thoroughly
believes
in proper
atmosphere
and manner
to play music
more than
anything else.
Given that
Mama’s Kitchen
has become a
spot for ultimate
live music in the
city, many believe
that it can become a
rather competitive venue
in the future. According to
the general manager, this is
kept in the development plan of
the restaurant that is already wellknown for its service. Biniyam told
The Reporterr that live music is not
something that happened due to the fire
at Jazzamba or any other cause, but
is simply an interest to render a fullfledged service.
“We have been hosting live music for
the past two-and-a-half years along with
Jazzamaba and a few others,” he says.
According to Biniyam, the connection
they have with the embassies and
international communities residing
in the city is helping the restaurant to
become an international venue as well.
This reputation is spreading throughout
+RZVFDU\SDJH
www.thereporterethiopia.com
Henock Temesgen
...the reopening
can become quite
a prolonged
process for both
the musicians and
the audiences of
Jazzamaba...
18| LIFESTYLE
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Meet Chane, Ethiopia’s sublime chef
me it’s because the food is so delicious.
And cheap. (Having gone there twice
myself, I can attest to this. The lentils
and the chicken were both fantastic.)
By Gregory Warner
I didn’t travel all the way to Ethiopia
just to meet a character out of the
sitcom Seinfeld.
But perhaps there’s something else
at work besides culinary skill. After
all, Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” character
was successful first, because his soup
was to die for, but second, because
his rudeness satisfied some secret
masochism in his New York customers.
Against the culture of Ethiopia, Chef
Chane might play an equally revealing
role. Ethiopian public space tends to feel
somewhat conformist and guarded. The
private mood is the opposite: animated
and irreverent. The gulf between the
man on the street and the man at home
can be quite wide.
But when I heard Ethiopians describe
a particular popular restaurant called
Chane’s, I couldn’t help recognize a
resemblance, in its owner and lead chef,
to the famously brusque soup man.
Just like his New York doppelganger,
the 71-year-old Chef Chane runs a
restaurant with its own unwritten rules.
Rule No. 1: Come on time. Lunch is
served only from 12 to 1 and he always
runs out of food. Rule No. 2: Don’t ask
for a menu. You’ll eat whatever dish the
chef decided to cook that day. Rule No.
3: When you step up to the counter and
face the imperious chef in his tall white
hat, don’t, whatever you do, hold up the
line.
When I arrived at his restaurant — in
the Kazanchis neighborhood of Addis
Ababa — well before the noon open, I
found the line already 40 long, snaking
inside a crumbling courtyard across
from a bunch of new high-rises. In the
line, Nebiat Mebea is prepping his
girlfriend, Kehalit Nigussie, for her
first visit, like Seinfeld preps Elaine.
He warns her that the 71-year-old
Chef Chane might suddenly berate his
assistant when the spongy sourdough,
called injera, isn’t placed perfectly
on the plate. Or he’ll tell talkative
customers to “praise God and eat!” (In
super-polite Ethiopian culture, this
apparently equates to “shut up and get
out of my kitchen.”)
Chane’s demeanor seems to bridge that
gap. Everyone I meet in this restaurant
tells me the same thing, that Chane’s
food reminds them of their mom’s
cooking. But the food that Chane
serves is actually a fusion cuisine. The
resemblance may lie more in Chane’s
serving style than his recipes.
The inside of Chef Chane’s tiny kitchen which is located in the Kazanchis
neighborhood
a chef in the royal palace. Now, two
revolutions and many governments
later, he runs his restaurant like a
fiefdom, dispensing food and insults
majestically from the kitchen, which
doubles as a serving station.
But Kehalit is unsurprised. She’d heard
about the angry chef and his delicious
cuisine. She’d asked to be taken here for
Valentine’s Day. “We’re celebrating,”
she says softly.
Every few months or years his landlord
— taking note of Chane’s popularity
— will raise the rent, or a conniving
official will demand a bribe. Then,
instead of bowing to the system, Chane
will disappear. He’ll set up in a new
location, where his devoted followers
will soon track him down through word
of mouth.
The story of Chef Chane goes back half
a century, when Ethiopia was still a
monarchy and Chane was (he claims)
When he’s not in his tiny kitchen, you
can usually find the famous Chane
(full name: Chanyalew Mekonnen) 12
“He’s mean in a good way!” says Nebiat,
with a grin.
feet away, in an even tinier cubby that
serves as a bedroom. It’s here, from his
perch on a floral print mattress, that
he explains one secret of his signature
cuisine: close observation of the many
international chefs who passed through
the palace.
He uses spice techniques from Greek,
Indian, Pakistani, Italian and Ethiopian
cuisine. As for his mean streak? “There
may be customers I dislike, but I try to
handle them with love,” he says. “I only
kneel down for my job. Not for people.
I don’t worship any man.” He adds that
he did enough bowing for a lifetime in
his years in the palace.
So how does the proud chef attract such
committed fans? His customers all tell
“Yeah, you feel that you are eating at
home,” says 40-year-old Assefa, who
comes here for lunch regularly from his
job in the financial sector. “He makes
fun of me, the food is good, he’s ... not a
businessman, you know?”
By lunch hour’s end, the pots are
scraped clean, the chef has retreated
to his radio, and customers loll
narcotically on armchairs to sweat out
the stewed chicken. I meet two young
accountants sleepily wondering about
the recipe. Definitely there’s ginger,
says Yohannes. But the other spices?
“It’s not clearly known. It’s a secret,”
says the other, called Jeta.
“There is nobody preparing food like
this,” Yohannes says.
To get a taste, they’re happy to follow
the orders of the ruling chef.
Ed’s Note: The article first appeared in
npr.org.
ENTERTAINMENT IN BRIEF
African Metropolis movie screening to
kick off @ Goethe-Institut
Canadian artist Marie-Pierre to perform
@ Alliance Ethio-Francaise today
African Metropolis, a compilation of six short fiction films set in six
African cities is scheduled to commence at the Goethe-Institut on
Thursday. Films from Abidjan, Cairo, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos
and Nairobi tell urban tales about life in African metropolises.
As part of the French Language Celebration week, the Alliance EthioFrancaise, the Embassy of Canada, and the International Organization
of La Francophonie have organized a concert on Saturday March 21,
2015, 8pm at the Alliance-Ethio-Francaise.
Over 50 percent of the continent’s total population now live in cities,
and vital urban cultures are forming and transforming fast with
growing complexity. This trend is also increasingly reflected in
African cinema. A new shift towards urban stories dominates the
screen with less focus on the traditional, rural Africa of the past.
Marie-Pierre Arthur is a Canadian bassist and jazz singer who had
accompanied many Quebec artists (Ariane Moffat, Stefie Shock, Mara
Tremblay) before releasing her first album in 2009.
Based on 40 scripts submitted, six filmmakers were chosen from six
African cities. A mentoring program and workshops ensued with the
aim to provide opportunities and recognition to African filmmakers.
African Metropolis premiered at the Durban International Film
Festival in 2013 and three of the films were shown at the Toronto
International Film Festival in 2013 and at the International Film
Festival Rotterdam in 2014.
She immediately stood out thanks to her captivating folk-rock music.
After the release of her second album, Aux alentours in 2012, critics sung
her praises and the public wanted more.
According to those who attended her performance, on stage, MariePierre’s energy is contagious. Everywhere, the public is seduced by the
rock performances that have led her to the most famous European music
festivals.
Marie-Pierre, who is now a key figure in the global contemporary music
scene, has just released her third opus, Si l’aurore, where she charms
with her catchy tunes and her intimate, melancholic lyrics.
www.thereporterethiopia.com
SOCIETY |19
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Curbing climate-related disasters in Ethiopia
By Henok Reta
Ethiopia often faces a great frequency
and intensity of disasters due to longterm natural and man-made causes
that are exacerbated by climate change.
Of the top ten disasters in Ethiopia
over the last 100 years, as measured by
number of people affected, five have
occurred in the last decade and all were
drought related. The 2011 Horn of Africa
drought affected large areas of the
country resulting in 60 percent losses
in cattle, 40 percent in sheep, and 25-30
percent in goats, states USAID.
According to Dennis Weller, mission
director of USAID Ethiopia, hundreds
of millions of dollars are spent annually
on food aid to compensate for such
losses, yet it only covers a fraction
of the depleted assets and in no way
substitutes for the loss of life or the
long-term productive value of what was
lost.
The new projects, Resilience through
Enhanced Adaptation, Actionlearning, and Partnerships (REAAP),
implemented by Catholic Relief
Services (CRS), and Restoring Vibrant
Villages and Environment (REVIVE),
implemented by Project Concern
International, will both work in
vulnerable weredas (districts) in the
Oromia Region to reverse the damage
and effects of poor natural resource
management and climate change
while working with farming and
pastoralist communities to diversify
and strengthen livelihoods that
include more adaptive and less climate
sensitive economic activities. These
two resilience activities, valued at more
than USD 11 million, are funded by the
US Global Climate Change Initiative,
Feed the Future Initiative, and USAID’s
office of the US Foreign Disaster
Assistance through USAID’s mission in
Ethiopia.
Speaking at the launch of the new
activities by the agencies on Wednesday
at Harmony Hotel, Berhanu WoldeMichael, director of Food Security
Coordination Directorate of the
Weller, Getu and Wallelign at the launching event
Ministry of Agriculture, said that the
two marginalized areas in the Oromia
regional states would boost their
productivity when before, they had
failed to do so due to climate related
problems.
“These areas were left uncovered in
previous funded projects because of
inadequacy, but now the three-year
program is believed to bring about a
huge change,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dennis Weller said
that, “While I hope, of course, that
Ethiopia will never face any significant
climatic shock or stress, we know from
experience that rural communities do
face climate change challenges and
we must make every effort to ensure
that we are more adaptable to possible
climate related disasters and shocks in
the future.”
According to Weller, natural disasters,
climate changes and market shock can
always trigger emergency needs, but
recruitment factors within Ethiopia
create and increase vulnerability to
these extreme events. Land degradation,
limited household assets, low level of
farm technology, lack of employment
opportunities and population pressure
all undermine efforts to maintain
sustainable livelihoods in the face
of crises. In an attempt to end the
drought that has long been common
in the Horn of Africa, governments
have undertaken a series of strategic
approaches to enhance resilience to
climate change.
“We have been focused in this regard
and would like to strengthen our
engagement with the partners,”
Berhanu says.
According to experts, a focus on
resilience—the ability of people,
households, communities, countries
and systems to mitigate, adapt to and
recover from shock and stress— will
strengthen development investments
and enable sustainable growth. These
two projects will play a vital role
because there are still potential causes
of vulnerability. Getnet Demisse, a
development agent at the site, said
&XUELQJFOLPDWHSDJH
ZAAF showroom grand opening today @
its store
Ruth Negga is cast in Preacher pilot
The grand opening of ZAAF Showroom at its location across Atlas Hotel
is set to take place March 21, 2015. ZAAF is a collection of handcrafted
luxury leather handbags and accessories produced by artisans from
different parts of Ethiopia.
Ruth Negga has been cast as the female lead in the pilot of Preacher,
the new series from Walking Dead maker AMC, which is based on the
acclaimed comic of the same name.
ZAAF works with the objective of revealing Ethiopia’s hidden resource
potential to the world by offering consumers the opportunity to see and
experience the nation’s natural, human, and cultural resources.
ZAAF has been on the runway at the New York Fashion Week, and has
been highlighted by top fashion magazines including Elle, Lucky, and
Vogue.
The grand opening includes a 40 percent off sale of ZAFF product.
ZAAF’s creative director, Abai Schulze, echoes deep influences that span
from the countryside to the capitals of the world where she has lived and
studied.
Her life journey has taken her from an orphanage in Addis Ababa to the
United States and the rest of the world, and back to Ethiopia.
Actor Seth Rogen and his production partner and This is the End and The
Interview director Evan Goldberg have developed the series, will direct the
pilot and also serve as executive producers.
Preacher tells the story of Jesse Custer, a Texan preacher who becomes
possessed by a supernatural creature.
Ruth, the first to be cast in the planned series, will play his ex-girlfriend,
criminal crackshot Tulip. The actress, who has a recurring role in
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, will also be seen in the upcoming film
adaptation of video game hit Warcraft.
Born in Addis Ababa in 1982 to an Irish mother and an Ethiopian father,
Ruth is known for her appearances in films such as Capital Letters (2004),
Isolation (2005) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005) and in the BBC mini-series
Criminal Justice.
www.thereporterethiopia.com
20| INTERVIEW
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Merera Gudina (PhD) is deputy chairman and head of foreign relations of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity
Forum (Medrek). He is also chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, one of the four member parties of Medrek
representing the Oromo people. Merera, who is also a political science lecturer at Addis Ababa University, has
EHHQDFRQVWDQWÀJXUHLQWKHRSSRVLWLRQSROLWLFVVLQFHWKHUXOLQJ(WKLRSLDQ3HRSOHV·5HYROXWLRQDU\'HPRFUDWLF
Front (EPRDF) came to power. But his active engagement in Ethiopian politics dates back to the 1960s student
movement against the imperial regime of Haile-Selassie. Merera’s biggest success in the opposition politics came
when he and members of his party won seats in parliament. He was a Member of Parliament between 2005
and 2010. Merera is set to run in the upcoming election in the constituency of Ambo for a seat in parliament.
Solomon Goshu of The Reporter sat down with Merera to talk about his long political career, his party’s election
manifesto and his expectations of the upcoming election.
Attempting for second
parliamentary seat
The Reporter: Medrek and its
member party OFC are participating
in the upcoming election. What are
your expectations of the outcome?
And, specifically, what do you
expect in the Oromia region?
Merera Gudina (PhD): Although
EPRDF keeps cutting down the
number of our candidates, overall, we
have fielded an adequate number of
candidates especially in Oromia. We
have some 140 candidates in Oromia. If
the election is free, fair and democratic,
as EPRDF keeps telling us day in and
day out, we will win Oromia without
a doubt. In truth, EPRDF, through the
pressure it exerts on OPDO (Oromo
Peoples Democratic Organization – a
member of EPRDF) and the misguided
Addis Ababa master plan – is helping
us win Oromia. The main goal of the
master plan is to sell land by evicting
Oromo farmers from their land. The
master plan not only eroded OPDO’s
already small public support in the
region but also created tension within
the party [OPDO]. Instead of smoothly
resolving the issue, the manner the
government dealt with the student and
youth protest in Ambo and other places
last year is still sensitive. And last time,
Abay Tsehaye, in a leaked audio, was
heard threatening to implement the
Addis Ababa master plan whether the
people liked it or not [Abay had denied
making the threat]. Things like these
are alienating OPDO from the people
even more so and that will play to our
advantage.
3KRWR%\5HSRUWHU7DPUDW*HWDFKHZ
Staying on the master plan issue,
the government insists the master
plan is deliberately misconstrued to
incite protest for political gains and
that the master plan is not aimed
at expanding the territory of the
capital. What is your response to
that?
I doubt it. I was in the US back then and
I heard the issue was first raised by
OPDO cadres themselves who know the
issue from inside. I believe the decision
about the master plan was made
without consulting the public or even
OPDO. It seems the OPDO simply took
the assignment to enforce the master
plan. It could be that some members of
OPDO in the leadership were aware of it
but the opposition began within OPDO
members in the lower rank before it
spread to the public. The protest came
from within to begin with, which
means even OPDO officials felt that the
interest of the people was not protected
by the party. So, the argument that the
www.thereporterethiopia.com
master plan is misconstrued and the
blame thrown on other political forces
do not hold water.
What alternatives does the
Oromo Federalist Congress,
whose chairman you are offer the
electorate in Oromia?
We offer true federalism. This has
two elements – shared rule within
the central government and selfrule at regional level. In our view,
currently there is no shared rule.
It is clear that Oromos do not have
adequate representation in the central
government’s leadership positions. We
aspire to create a democratic Ethiopia
jointly with other political forces in the
country. So, our focus is not just about
addressing the question of Oromos but
also ensuring Oromos participation in
the quest to realize a democratic and
stable Ethiopia.
Ethiopia’s political landscape is
characterized as highly polarized.
What do you say is the root cause for
this, and who takes the blame?
The ruling party takes the lion’s share
both as the source of the problem
and the solution and revolutionary
democracy has become the mother of all
evils in the country. The root cause of
the problem, however, emanates from
two points. One is the political culture
of the state. We need to distinguish
this from the political culture of the
society. For example, the Geda system
of Borena, where power changes
every eight years, is very democratic
compared to the ruling party’s,
although these days the government is
interfering in the system and turning
Aba Gedas into cadres. For many years,
power changes hands in Ethiopian
politics through the use of force. For
over 150 years, even during the imperial
regimes, no king transferred power to
his heir. Tewodros II, Yohannis IV and
Menelik II all assumed power through
force. Even when imperial bloodline
was the rule of the game, it was the gun
that brought power. Haile-Selassie came
to power through a coup d’état, probably
the first in Africa. The same is true with
Derg and EPRDF (Ethiopian Peoples’
Revolutionary Democratic Front). We
are still in that culture. The other is
that the generation that is aspiring to
bring about change have not changed.
Back then [during the military rule]
we were all socialists and now the
same people are democrats. Almost
all political forces when the Derg was
in power proclaimed to be socialists.
Yet there was no consensus between
INTERVIEW |21
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
the two political forces. And now the
political elite in power, day and night,
is concerned about prolonging their
stay in power, and not about bringing
change to the country. You cannot lead
a democratic process without being
democratic. That is the biggest problem
with EPRDF. For example, despite
our reservations in some aspects, the
Constitution guarantees all conceivable
human rights. But in implementation,
even the smallest rights are trampled
down.
Some blame the leftist attitude
espoused by political parties, the
ruling and opposition alike, for the
polarized political landscape. They
say it is that same generation which
is running the country’s politics.
What is your take on that?
In the manifesto, you stated that the
nation’s political economy is under
complete control by the EPRDF.
What are the major impacts of such
control by the ruling party?
Well, as I said the mother of all evils in
the country is revolutionary democracy.
EPRDF is neither revolutionary nor
democratic. There is a fusion of party
and state. Government institutions
are becoming enforcing agents of one
party. In political science parlance,
this is what is called the privatization
of the state. This is what revolutionary
its own media.
In any democratic system, there is
separation of power and a check and
balance. There is no such thing in
Ethiopia. The executive branch is the
legislator, the interpreter and enforcer
of the law. Democratic institutions like
the media and civic societies are under
the stranglehold of the EPRDF. Many
magazines and newspapers have gone
defunct and many journalists have fled
the country. Without free media or
civic societies, there will be no pillars
of democracy. EPRDF claims to have
Indeed, the politics of the generation
of the 60s was divisive and bent on
eliminating the other. That was
wrong. It is the same to this day.
But the problem is that even those
who criticize such political culture
are not doing anything better. They
repeatedly criticize that generation,
but I doubt that those who criticize
have the capacity or the knowledge to
create a better Ethiopia for themselves.
At least that generation has made
sacrifices to extricate the country
from backwardness and it was not for
personal gain. And currently the youth
is also participating in the struggle
to realize a democratic Ethiopia. The
youth has always been in the center.
Mengistu was in his 30s when he
assumed power, Haile-Selassie was
in his late 30s and Meles was in his
30s. Putting age aside, the question is
whether there change in the attitudes of
our political culture. Age should not be
considered as a factor for the political
chaos of the country. Every age group
has a role to play. For example, within
our organization, we have the Advisory
Council, headed by Bulcha Demeksa
and comprising individuals of the older
generation. Then there are individuals
like me in the leadership as well as the
youth league. So the door is open for
all and everyone is playing their role.
Over 80 percent of the candidates we
have fielded are under the age of 40. But
I fear the youth might use politics to
serve their personal interest. You know
what happened to Kinijitt (Coalition for
Unity and Democracy). You know what
Tolossa Tesfaye did to our organization
[the then Oromo National Congress]. So
the problem in our politics is not lack of
opportunity for the youth.
...the politics of
the generation
of the 60s was
divisive and bent
on eliminating
the other. That
was wrong. It
is the same to
this day. But the
problem is that
even those who
criticize such
political culture
are not doing
anything better.
Recently, Medrek has released its
election manifesto. The manifesto
tends to focus more on pointing out
failures of the ruling party instead
of offering clear alternatives. Why is
that so?
We have offered alternatives. For
example, if we assume power we would
create a national unity government
as opposed to EPRDF’s complete
control. We will work to protect human
rights, conduct free and fair elections,
establish an independent electoral
board, an dependent judiciary and free
civic societies and associations like
the youth, women and teachers – in
all areas the EPRDF is failing. We will
stop eviction of people from their land.
We will reduce tax for farmers. Under
EPRDF there are business people
marginalized in favor of those who side
with the government. We will ensure
fair treatment of all in the business
community. We have listed all this
down on the manifesto.
Ð
democracy has created. Wealth is
concentrated within one party and one
has to be a member of that party to have
a share. In revolutionary democracy,
the public could at least have some
share of the wealth. But that is not the
case either. EPRDF runs a business
empire but bars other political parties
from operating businesses. EPRDF
prevents other political parties from
owning media; but it owns and operates
established federalism, but in reality
what we have is a central government
which operates like a communist
party. This is like providing meat and
denying the knife. For example, how
many presidents have come and gone
in Somali or Gambella region because
of the central government? Neither did
the people of Tigray vote out Gebru
www.thereporterethiopia.com
$WWHPSWLQJIRUSDJH
22|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Advertisment
www.thereporterethiopia.com
PHOTO GALLERY |23
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Ethiopian Airlines hosted an international aviation conference – the 24th African Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO)
Conference and Exhibition – organized by African Aviation Services from March 16-18 at the Sheraton Addis. Leading global
aircraft and engine and parts manufacturers, major MRO service providers and airlines participated in the conference and exhibition
that attracted more than 200 delegates from all over the world. Ethiopian Airlines took the opportunity to show the delegates around
LWVIDFLOLWLHVDWWKHPDLQKXEDWWKH$GGLV$EDED%ROH,QWHUQDWLRQDO$LUSRUW3KRWRE\0HVÀQ6RORPRQ
www.thereporterethiopia.com
24| #REPORTERBOOK
R
Lebanese “Special offer” on
Ethiopian, Kenyan, maids for
Mother’s Day
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
#BeautyParlor
An advertisement by a maid provider in Lebanon sparked outrage
on Monday, after the business sent out a mass message offering
“special offers” on Kenyan and Ethiopian “nationalities”.
The SMS advertisement was sent
to thousands of phone users in
Lebanon through mobile providers
Alfa and MTC Touch, which allow
businesses to purchase advertising
that reach mobile users in the
country.
The advertisement was shared
by Lebanese NGO, “KAFA”,
which advocates against “genderbased” discrimination and
violence. Several Facebook users
commented in anger, calling the
message “racist” and comparing
the sale of maids to the sale of
“potatoes.”
Photo by: Pavel Wolberg/EPA
“Today, the fair citizens of
Lebanon are in shock,” wrote
Beirut-based blogger Claude El
Khal. “Tomorrow they’ll forget all
about it. Until the next SMS or the
next suicide.”
But Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi said the maid agency would be shut
down, if it turns out to be a registered company. The ad is traced
to Alice Chalhoub, who owns a Beirut-based agency in Ain El
Remmaneh that places domestic workers in Lebanese homes.
Lebanon hosts dozens of maid agencies that connect more than
250,000 migrant domestic workers with potential employers. Human
Rights Watch reports that, on average, more than one migrant
domestic worker dies in Lebanon per week.
R
Facebook Announces New Policies
Regarding Names, Nudity and
Controversial Content
Facebook has released a new version of Community Standards
clarifying its policies surrounding nudity, hate speech and the
identities in which its users may traffic.
Photo by: Pavel Wolberg/EPA
Facebook’s new terms clarify that users may now connect using
“their authentic identities” -- even if it isn’t a legal moniker. “We
want people communicating using the name they actually use in
real life,” Facebook’s head of global product policy, Monika Bickert,
said.
The new guidelines also bars
hate speech and specify how
Facebook will handle posts
containing nudity.
“We remove photographs of
people displaying genitals or
focusing in on fully exposed
buttocks,” the company writes.
“We also restrict some images
of female breasts if they include
the nipple, but we always allow
photos of women actively
engaged in breastfeeding or
showing breasts with postmastectomy scarring.”
Facebook also added a new
section entitled Dangerous Organizations, reports the BBC, which
states that, in addition to banning terrorist organizations from
Facebook, the site will now prohibit praise or support for such
groups -- a point that hadn’t been noted before.
But Facebook insisted that because of the “diversity of our global
community…something that may be disagreeable or disturbing to
you may not violate our Community Standards.” (Entrepreneur)
www.thereporter
Photo by: Stephen Morrison/EPA
|25
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
R
Indian parents climbed a school
wall to help their kids cheat on
an exam
Cheating literally scaled new heights this week in the eastern state
of Bihar when relatives of 10th-grade students climbed the wall
of a school building and perched precariously from windows of
classrooms as they handed cheat sheets to children writing the tests
inside.
Photographs and videos showing parents, friends and others scaling
the school wall — Spiderman-style — went viral in India on Thursday.
Police officers standing nearby watched helplessly.
Cheating is common in schools in remote rural areas in India, where
jobs and seats in college courses are few but competition is fierce.
But the sight of parents risking their life and limbs to climb the walls
shocked many Indians.
Under Bihar’s anti-cheating law, dozens of 12th-grade students were
expelled and their parents detained last month in cases of cheating in
tests. Many students in India drop out of school because they fail to
pass the tough standardized tests in their 10th and 12th grades.
Education experts say that cheating is just a symptom of the deeper
problems that plague India’s education system, such as teacher
absenteeism, emphasis on rote learning and inadequate school
infrastructure.
R
Authorities expelled nearly 500 students
from the tests, according to local media
reports. (Washington Post)
9-year-old cybersecurity expert hacks Android smartphone in
minutes
Wondering how secure your Android smartphone is? Well, a
9-year-old cybersecurity expert has demonstrated how hackers
could steal contacts, call logs and messages within just 15 minutes.
#GoWild
Speaking at a security conference in US, third-grader Reuben
Paul took to the stage to promote safer smartphone security.
His Keynote speech stressed the importance of being extra
careful when downloading apps, showing how even seemingly
safe software can be used by cybercriminals to access sensitive
data and snoop
on your location.
According
to Fox News,
the 9-year-old
Paul completed
the hack within
a quarter
of an hour,
claiming that
it can happen
anywhere, to
anyone and at
any time.
“If a child can do
it then a regular
hacker can do
it… so I just want
everybody to be
aware [and to] be more careful when you download games and stuff
like that,” he said.
Paul is a rising star of the computer security industry, speaking
at a number of other conferences as well as acting as CEO of
Prudent Games; a company which attempts to teach people about
threats through educational apps. The company’s games include
Cracker Proof, which teaches good password practice, and Crack
Me If you Can, which teaches all about brute force attacks.
www.thereporterethiopia.com
Photo by: Nick Nichols/EPA
26| SOCIETY +
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
A reverend on charity that transforms
children’s lives
By Emma Higginbotham
Here’s one to make you feel old: it
was 30 years ago that Michael Buerk,
cradling a tiny, emaciated baby in his
arms, reported on the “biblical famine”
that was sweeping Ethiopia. Harrowing
images of starvation and desperation
horrified the world, and celebrities
sprang into action to raise vital funds:
Live Aid hit our screens in July 1985,
and Comic Relief was launched later
that year.
At the same time, but rather more
quietly, another charity set itself up
in response to the disaster, and began
caring for hundreds of children who’d
been badly affected by the famine.
Now known as Partners for Change
Ethiopia, the small but powerful
organization is celebrating its 30th
anniversary this year too, with an
exhibition of stunning photographs
from the country it works so hard to
help.
The charity's chairman just so happens
to be the vicar of Great St Mary's, and
I've come to meet him at the glorious
central Cambridge church. But how
does one address the 'Reverend Canon
Dr John Binns' (and what on earth does
he put in the 'title' box on forms)?
It’s not a problem: dog collar-free and
smiling broadly, he introduces himself
simply as John. You see John falls into
that rather nice category of vicars:
he’s affable and avuncular, but very
much a ‘do-er’. In fact he’s currently
on a mission to raise GBP 100,000 in a
new appeal, called All About the Child,
which will give some of Ethiopia’s
poorest people the basics we all take for
granted: water, an education, a living.
Partners for Change, explains John,
was born at the height of the famine: “It
was pretty devastating, and there was
clearly a huge need, so the Anglican
church in Addis Ababa and a group of
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians decided
that they would look after a thousand
orphans.”
Five orphanages were established and,
now that the children have grown up,
the buildings have been turned into
resource centers, “and we use them as
a base to go out and work with local
communities,” says John. “We reckon
we reached about half a million people
last year.”
You may well have seen some of their
work without realizing it: “We get a lot
of funding from Comic Relief, and we
quite often have them on our projects
on Red Nose Day. The funny thing is,
in Ethiopia they’re not that wised up
to who people are, so we’ll say ‘Surely
you get some big personalities coming?’
and they’ll say: ‘’Ooh I don’t think so,
but there was somebody who came
with Comic Relief the other day - Brad
somebody?’!”
John first became involved during a
three-month sabbatical to Ethiopia in
1993, when visiting the orphanages was
to have a profound effect on him. “I got
to know the staff and the children, and
it meant a lot to me. So I left thinking
Dr John Binns
what do I do with this? Do I just say
‘Well that was a great holiday’, when
actually these are people who invited
me into their lives? So I made a mental
promise that however busy I was at
work, I was never going to be too busy
to respond to the needs of the people and
communities who I’d met there.”
True to his word, he became a trustee
and then chairman of the charity, “so I
do about a day a week with them, and I
go out once a year to see them all.”
On his most recent visit, John spent
time meeting families at the village
of Gende Tesfa, which means ‘Village
of Hope’. Established in 1969 as a
community for lepers, it has since
grown beyond measure, “so now we’ve
got about 16,000 people there, and
conditions are very poor - almost no
water, toilets, facilities - and some of the
stories we heard were just awful.”
Daily life for the orphaned and
vulnerable children of Gende Tesfa is
particularly tough. Some live on the
streets, others with very poor families,
and none have enough food to eat.
“There was one girl I was very struck
with - Fayo. She’s 20, and she said ‘This
is where I’m living’, and I thought ‘You
can’t live here!’ It was like a builder’s
hut, with nothing there; even poor
people have a few things, but there was
just nothing.”
Fayo lives with her mentally ill mother,
two young siblings and a child of her
own, “and she said that her mother
would get up and wander around in
the night; sometimes she’d burn the
children’s clothes, and sometimes, she
said, ‘We sleep fearfully’, so they just go
outside when they’re frightened of the
mother.
“This girl was married; the father of
www.thereporterethiopia.com
her child went away to get a job, but
she said she’d stay. So there she was,
somehow holding it together and coping
with these really awful circumstances.”
How can they help people like Fayo?
“We have a local group of people who
are planning our development project,
and they’re headed up by a really nice
guy, a young bloke with an enormous
smile, and a group of community
workers who are local mums. They’ll
give Fayo a small grant to help with
school uniforms and medicine, and
they’ll also give her a loan-come-grant
and work with her to help set up a small
income-generating business.”
This might be buying sacks of charcoal
or vegetables at a market three hours’
walk away to sell locally, “so it’s not
massive, but it just makes the difference
between eating and not eating.”
Becasue crucially, he says, Partners for
Change Ethiopia lets local people decide
for themselves where the funds should
go. “We don’t go in and say ‘Right, we’ve
got medicines, we’ve got food, we’re
going to build you a school.’ We take the
time to work with people for them to
come up with their own projects.
“It’s a rather different approach to other
aid agencies,” he adds. “I remember
I met somebody from one of the big
agencies, who said: ‘The thing that
we’re working towards is getting local
people to take responsibility,’ and I
wanted to say ‘That’s not what we’re
working towards, that’s where we start
from!’ We don’t do anything unless local
people say ‘This is what we want to do’.”
Nor do they spend money on lavish
offices with huge fundraising
departments: “We’ve just got one guy
$UHYHUHQGRQSDJH
SOCIETY +|27
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Scholarship initiative helps Ethiopian
students dream big
By Miette Thoma
In partnership with the Ministry of
Education and the Forum for African
Women Educationalists (FAWE),
MasterCard has begun giving out
scholarships to promising students who
come from economically disadvantaged
backgrounds in Oromia, Amhara, the
Southern Nations, Nationalities and
Peoples’ Regional State, and Addis
Ababa. The implementation of the
initiative, the MasterCard Foundation
Scholars Programme, will last ten years
and will eventually grant scholarships
to 800 deserving students, particularly
at the secondary-school level.
Unfortunately, children face many
problems that impede their abilities to
make the most of their educations: some
are missing one or both parents, some
must overcome poverty, some have to
balance school with working to help
their families, and some are refugees or
have no homes at all. These problems
are not children’s fault, and the
scholarship programme aims as much
as possible to offset these disadvantages
so that students can reach their full
potential.
Despite progress being made in the
area, there remains a large gap between
the participation of girls in education
in Ethiopia and that of boys; as part of
a continuing effort to ensure that girls
are also able to access the opportunities
offered by secondary and higher
education, most of the scholarships
will go to female students. However,
the program recognizes that girls are
not the only ones who need support,
so boys are also being awarded grants;
the first group of honored scholarship
recipients contained 72 girls and 28 boys
(in future, about 70 percent of recipients
are projected to be girls). The Scholars
are an enthusiastic lot who often have
big dreams for the future, seem very
excited at the new opportunities opened
up to them, and are confident about
their ability to make a difference in
the lives of the people they love. The
scholarships, students say, make it
easier to concentrate on their education
by lessening or removing other worries
for them and their families.
Students are selected for inclusion
in the initiative based on a variety
of factors, including their assessed
academic potential, level of economic
stability (with more threatened students
being given priority), and commitment
to returning to and aiding in the
development of their communities. The
scholarships help students in several
ways depending on individual needs,
such as aiding in the payment of tuition
fees and the purchase of school supplies
and uniforms. Another important part
of the scholarship package is health
insurance. Additionally, students have
access to leadership skills training,
mentoring and counseling, and other
personal development opportunities.
An important part of the program
is its community focus. Although
education is certainly desirable in and
of itself, these scholarships aim at an
even higher goal and stress students’
giving back to their communities.
The scholarships are given not only
to help talented children reach their
potential, but also to encourage them
to help others reach their own goals;
programme alumni are expected to
pass on their knowledge and skills on
to younger siblings, neighbors, and
other community members. The idea is
simple, but very important: educating
a young person is not valuable only
Advertisment
www.thereporterethiopia.com
to that individual, but also to the
communities that they enrich with
their ideas and efforts. This sharing
and transfer of wisdom, a part of every
culture, is one of the most basic parts of
the Scholars Programme.
An alumni network connects the
Scholars and should help them to keep
in contact with one another as they
progress in their careers and lives.
Additionally, scholarships are given
to help promising students make it
through university, hopefully ensuring
that students will be able to reach their
dreams and goals without being stymied
by lack of funds.
Demographically speaking, Ethiopia
is a very young country. It shares
this characteristic with many African
nations; in the continent as a whole,
about 60 percent of the population
is under the age of 25. In such an
environment, making sure that every
young person is able to reach the level
of education that he or she needs and
desires is more important than ever.
Ed.’s Note: The writer is on an internship
at The Reporter.
28|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Invitation for Bid
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www.thereporterethiopia.com
|29
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Jamming...
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CONT`D FROM PAGE 17
UNHCR
Representation in Ethiopia
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countries where African musicians
are living. Recently, Yohannes Tonna,
Ethiopian Jazz musician based in
the United States, performed at the
restaurant with some of his fellow
African Jazz musicians.
The popular spot for live music in town
right now is not only serving those
alienated from Jazzamba, but also the
newcomers who have never been to see
live music before. 30-year-old Tseganeh
Ermiyas, a private employee, is one of
those new fans of live music at Mama’s
Kitchen. He has never been to such a
place before and he would never have
been either had it not been for his
business and recreational zone that
restrict him to the Bole area.
“I remember it was not planned and I
sat down there with my colleague and
stayed a bit longer. Then Alemayehu
Eshete started playing with the acoustic
band,” he recalls the first day that made
him a regular guest of the restaurant.
According to him many people are
either not aware of what live music
means or are unable to identify the
places to watch it. “Now, it becomes
easy for people like me who are active
in social media because Mama’s
Kitchen is a somewhat popular page to
like and a convenient spot to step into
as well,” he says.
On the other hand, those interested
in live DJ mix can also access the
other bars or those who want sports
entertainment can hang out in the sport
bar. That it has a variety of choices is
probably the most exciting part of the
restaurant. Nevertheless, it is greatly
fitting for those who might have been
missing out on live music because of
the loss of Jazzamba or because of other
inconveniences. More importantly,
as some of the regular customers
believe, its location and service is also
influencing the young and “culturally
blended” individuals to accustom
themselves to the trend that they had
hardly any exposure to before.
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www.thereporterethiopia.com
30|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Curbing climate...
that through these projects, farmers
would be able to reduce risk, build
local resilience to climate change and
facilitate economic growth. Moreover,
the project will support the new disaster
risk management policy, which will
help bring some of the government’s
innovative thinking to the community
level.
“Community-level threats are assessed,
identified and prioritized using
Participatory Disaster Risk Assessment
(PDRA)” says Matt Davis, the Catholic
Relief Services (CRS) country director.
He further explained that REEP works
hand-in-hand with 100 farming, agro-
CONT`D FROM PAGE 19
pastoralist and pastoralist communities
in the vulnerable woredas. “The
ultimate goal is building upon the
community knowledge and skills,” he
says.
More importantly, the activities are
featured as mainstreaming gender
equality and having a robust learning
and sharing component. Both projects
are set to strengthen the ability of
communities to adapt, reduce risks and
withstand shock and stress.
These highly acclaimed projects
will also be implemented towards
comparable goals over the same period
of time while targeting 620,000 people
living in the nine most vulnerable
weredas of Bale Zone in addition to the
East and West Harerghe Zones of the
Oromia region. Most households in the
targeted region derive their livelihoods
from activities that are adversely
affected by the deterioration of land and
water resources; according to experts,
Project Concern Intervention will
reverse the depletion and its effects and
diversify livelihoods to include more
adaptive and less climate-sensitive
economic activities,. So, the country
will see a better future tomorrow in
addition to saving lives today.
Ethiopia’s cultural...
CONT`D FROM PAGE 10
Gofa Zone of the Southern Nations,
Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional
State and its musical and cultural
performance for the residents of
Kibale District in Uganda has brought
forth Ethiopia’s cultural diplomacy
to the forefront of the Eastern
Africa region to draw the soul of
Uganda near to Ethiopia through
musical performances. It is one of
the breathtaking exemplary models
of making diplomacy public to turn
the peoples of Uganda, neighboring
countries and indeed Africa agents
of Pan-African grand strategy for the
journey of peace, harmony, prosperity
and dignity of an Africa driven by its
people.
term project to redouble and energize
the IGAD institutional capability to
respond to the challenges facing the
region. As IGAD is one of the regional
blocks to help support the African
Union’s integration and development
agenda, giving a space for the two
peoples to exchange and share ideas and
views on matters that are affecting their
lives will speed up the efforts reversing
the negative trend bent on undermining
the developmental and integrationist
moves of the IGAD region and of Africa.
Ethiopia’s cultural diplomacy is aimed
to feature and embody the peoples’
aspirations and demands for the
dignity, peace and harmony of the IGAD
region and Africa.
The visit came after President Yoweri
Kaguta Museveni of Uganda extended
an invitation to the Troupe while
visiting Arbaminch town in December,
2014. The projection of Ethiopia’s
culture, music and dances in the
Eastern Africa, Africa and beyond
meant a lot to create a detailed picture
of the country’s vision; its development
agenda; and special contributions to the
African Renaissance.
The cultural and musical performance
of the Ethiopian Cultural Troupe in
Uganda is a first step to encourage
the peoples of the two countries to
reflect on the past and look to the
future. It is very clear that Ethiopia’s
public diplomacy becomes a bridge
to draw the peoples of the region and
indeed Africa closer together for the
realization of a harmonious, stable and
prosperous future. The cultural and
musical performance of the Ethiopian
Cultural Troupe in Uganda is testimony
of the rise and rise of Ethiopia’s public
diplomacy for mutual progress within
the framework of the ideals of PanAfricanism and of the vision of African
Renaissance. The cultural performances
compelled President Museveni and
the people of Kabale district to join
Ethiopian Cultural Troupe performing
on the stage. This is indicative of how
the similarities are pushing the peoples
to experience the feelings of inner heart.
There is no question about it that this
engagement through music and culture
will help the two peoples commit to
trace the path of a community of shared
African destiny.
Why Ethiopia places primacy in
cultural diplomacy particularly in the
sphere of people to people relations
beyond the traditional one, that is, the
government to government, entails
its grand developmental strategy and
vision to the IGAD region, to the wider
Nile Basin as well as to the continental
affairs of the African Union. As the
country’s vision is long term, it is
too difficult to measure the sway and
influence of the tour and performances
of the cultural troupe of Ethiopia it has
had on the hearts and minds of people of
Uganda.
But there is one important reality that
is quite telling to bolster the cooperative
government to government relations of
the two countries. This demonstration
is an eye-opener to help the peoples
of Ethiopia and Uganda embark on
a shared, equitable, sustainable and
shared utilization of the resources of
the Nile Valley, including the waters
of the Nile River. This developmental
concept places much emphasis on
multilateralism, dialogue, shared
progress and mutual benefit. This has
no place for the zero-sum political and
security mentality.
It is indeed also the beginning of a long-
It is important to broaden this
experience towards other African
countries. Hence, Ethiopia needs to
excavate the similarities linking its
peoples with that of the people of Africa.
Towards this end, Ethiopia’s cultural
diplomacy ought to integrate African
and Ethiopian anthropologists to
study and make researches on the rich
traditions, cultures, customs and values
existed across the various regions
of the country. This will help create
conditions for a closer engagement of
the peoples of Ethiopia with that of
Africa. The similarities, interactions
and mutual understanding as well as
trust will have a sway on the decisions
of African countries to complement
with Ethiopia’s efforts to transform
its economy and that of others in the
region and in Africa.
Ethiopia, endowed with a medley of
cultural riches, heritages, traditions,
customs and history, has a myriad
of instruments that can be used to
influence and win the hearts and
minds of foreign nationals to help
support Ethiopia’s policies, values and
demonstrations in regional, continental
and global affairs. It ought to turn those
elements into instruments of its cultural
diplomacy to build people to people
relations for the advancement of the
national interest on the basis of win-win
outcomes. As this cultural diplomacy
is part of Africa’s Reawakening,
Ethiopia needs to dedicate efforts to
take advantage of various events,
summits and conferences held in
Addis Ababa and other capital cities
of African countries to inculcate its
vision of Pan-Africanism and African
Renaissance. As culture is entwined to
identity, Ethiopia’s cultural diplomacy
is a work in progress to rejuvenate the
African identity and Renaissance with
a home-grown cooperative diplomacy
rooted from “Debbo” (an Amharic
word signifying cooperation-practiced
in rural parts of Ethiopia in times of
harvesting among the farmers.)
The way forward is very clear as
the two leaders of the two countries
committed in December 27-29, 2014 to
the need to make concerted efforts to
advance the cause of regional peace and
stability; to hasten regional economic
cooperation and integration through
regional hydro power, rail, road and
other infrastructure interconnectivity;
to rejuvenate and enhance the scale,
level and depth of the bilateral
cooperative partnership between the
two countries; to tap the all-round
cooperation potential and renew and
prioritize the historic people-to-people
ties; to promote cultural exchanges; and
to scale up high-level consultations on
bilateral, regional and global issues of
common interest.
Ed.’s Note: Nurye Yassin is a Researcher
on African and Middle Eastern Affairs.
The views expressed in this article
do not necessarily reflect the views of
The Reporter. He can be reached at
[email protected].
www.thereporterethiopia.com
How
scary...
CONT`D FROM PAGE 14
problem facing the nation.” Volcker
took radical steps to deal with it, hiking
short-term interest rates so high that
he created a major recession. He also
created enemies (and even faced death
threats). People wondered whether he
would get away with it politically, or be
impeached.
Regarding the stock market and the
housing market, there may well be a
major downward correction someday.
But it probably will have little to do
with a bond-market crash. That was the
case with the biggest US stock-market
corrections of the last century (after
1907, 1929, 1973, 2000, and 2007) and the
biggest US housing-market corrections
of all time (after 1979, 1989, and 2006).
It is true that extraordinarily low
long-term bond yields put us outside
the range of historical experience. But
so would a scenario in which a sudden
bond-market crash drags down prices of
stocks and housing. When an event has
never occurred, it cannot be predicted
with any semblance of confidence.
Ed.’s Note: Robert J. Shiller, a 2013
Nobel laureate in economics, is Professor
of Economics at Yale University and
the co-creator of the Case-Shiller Index
of US house prices. The article was
provided to The Reporter by Project
Syndicate: the world’s pre-eminent source
of original op-ed commentaries. Project
Syndicate provides incisive perspectives
on our changing world by those who are
shaping its politics, economics, science,
and culture. The views expressed in this
article do not necessarily reflect the views
of The Reporter.
A safer path...
CONT`D FROM PAGE 13
Syrians in Cairo or Beirut could do the
same. The claims could be prioritized
and processed in a regular manner, and
the refugees could arrive in Europe
healthy and ready to work or study.
The crisis in the Mediterranean cannot
be managed in a piecemeal manner. The
financial costs of patrolling its waters
and rescuing those adrift are exorbitant.
The loss of lives is inexcusable. But we
do not have to wait until the root causes
of displacement – state failure and civil
war – are addressed. We need only to
find the courage to create a system in
which desperate people do not have to
risk their lives to apply for asylum and
resettlement.
Ed.’s Note: Peter Sutherland is United
Nations Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for International
Migration and Development. The article
was provided to The Reporter by Project
Syndicate: the world’s pre-eminent source
of original op-ed commentaries. Project
Syndicate provides incisive perspectives
on our changing world by those who are
shaping its politics, economics, science,
and culture. The views expressed in this
article do not necessarily reflect the views
of The Reporter.
|31
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
The messy...
executive branch are locked in a
stalemate. Europe’s political systems
are being shaken by the rise of populist
parties, many of which are winning
support with an anti-European
platform.
In the emerging world, Brazil’s
government has faced multiple
corruption scandals. And Russia’s
leadership remains committed to
its disruptive regional adventures,
regardless of their devastating impact
on its economy.
In most, if not all, of these cases, we see
examples of a broader phenomenon:
CONT`D FROM PAGE 14
what might be called governing by
inertia – a “can’t, won’t, and shouldn’t”
mentality, to paraphrase the economist
Mark Blyth, that blocks effective
policymaking.
As policy inertia prolongs sluggish
growth and impairs job creation,
it becomes even more difficult to
abandon. Given how hard it is for
governments to initiate a shift to a new
policymaking mode (that is, to disrupt
themselves), pressure will build from
the outside. In a democracy, this tends
to occur through the fragmentation of
traditional parties and the emergence of
non-traditional parties – some offering
genuine alternatives, and others relying
on fear and prejudice.
The global economy is at a critical
juncture. Most economists agree on
what is needed to avoid another round
of lost growth opportunities, inadequate
employment, financial instability, and
worsening inequality.
Central banks and markets cannot
achieve an orderly global rebalancing
on their own. As difficult as it
may be, politicians need to pursue
comprehensive policy responses. The
longer they delay, the less effective their
efforts will be. As bad politics block
A reverend on...
CONT`D FROM PAGE 26
in a shared office! That’s partly because
we want to stay small, but also because
we really don’t want to be driven by the
west.”
real way that people can explore what
life means to them, what their values
are, what faith is,” he says. “Faith is
bigger than just church.”
John, who’s married with a grown-up
son, has been vicar of Great St Mary’s
for 20 years, “a vibrant, buzzy place to
be,” he beams. It’s certainly diverse:
the church also runs the Michaelhouse
café and art gallery in Trinity Street,
and regularly hosts concerts. “Often
churches get a bit stuck in saying
‘You’ve got to come to church on
Sundays’, but faith works in different
ways for different people. I think
concerts can be just as important as a
Sunday service, because that can be a
John himself had his “not very
dramatic” epiphany while reading
history at St John’s College in the
early 70s. Planning to become a
schoolteacher, he spotted a leaflet
about joining the Church of England,
“and it stuck in the back of my mind.”
Meanwhile, he took a holiday job in
Czechoslovakia, “and somebody told
me that there’s a great monastery in
Trier, in Germany, and that I ought to
go and stay there. I remember thinking
to myself ‘I wonder if I’ve got time… If
I can just go there for a few days just to
think things out…’ I was hitchhiking,
and just as I thought that, a car stopped
and he said ‘Where are you going? I’m
going to Trier - I can take you there if
you like’. It’s just a little village in the
middle of nowhere!
“So suddenly there I was, four hours
later, thinking ‘How?!’ And so I came
back, I changed my course to theology
to start thinking, and I suppose that’s
what I’m still doing, really.”
One thing that’s guaranteed to get
anyone thinking is the wonderful
images of Ethiopia that go on display at
the Michaelhouse Center on Monday.
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www.thereporterethiopia.com
economic opportunity, public trust in
governments will continue to erode –
with serious potential consequences for
political systems, and the economies
they administer, worldwide.
Ed.’s Note: Mohamed A. El-Erian, Chief
Economic Adviser at Allianz and a
member of its International Executive
Committee, is Chairman of President
Barack Obama’s Global Development
Council and the author, most recently,
of When Markets Collide. The article
was provided to The Reporter by Project
Syndicate: the world’s pre-eminent source
of original op-ed commentaries. Project
Syndicate provides incisive perspectives
on our changing world by those who are
shaping its politics, economics, science,
and culture. The views expressed in this
article do not necessarily reflect the views
of The Reporter.
Taken by Belgian photographer
Frederic Courbet, they are, says John,
“very emotional. They’re pictures
of joy, sadness, excitement – they’re
stories of human hope, courage and
determination in adverse situations.”
Intended as both a celebration of the
charity’s 30 years and also to launch
the All About the Child appeal, John is
willing everybody to be moved enough
to become involved too.
“Poverty is something which concerns
all of us, and the idea is that they’re not
just donors, they’re part of the team,” he
says. “It’s about building up tie-ups and
connections, and I’m hoping that people
get as hooked as I was 22 years ago!”
Ed.’s Note: The article first appeared on
the Cambridge News.
32|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
The origin...
common for all builders of empires to
simply impose their language as the
only official medium for administrative
purposes but the builders of
contemporary Ethiopia are perhaps
unique in legally proscribing the use of
other languages.
This discriminatory language-based
policy ultimately influenced how
Ethiopian identityΎ̚pÙĜØ¹p̛ was
portrayed. It gave rise to the version
of Ethiopian identityΎ̚pÙĜØ¹p̛Ύthat
was synonymous with being a speaker
of Amharic and totally opposed to
being an Oromo, Sidama, Tigrean,
etc. By implication, this version of
Ethiopianness (pÙĜØ¹p) was expected
to blossom on the graveyards of
Oromonnet, Sidamannet, Tigraynnet,
and the identities of all other peoples.
Equating being an Ethiopian with
being a speaker of Amharic in due
course drew the criticism of the
Ethiopian student radicals of the 1960s.
In particular, Walillign Mekonen’s
article of 1969 cogently stated: “To
be a ‘genuine Ethiopian’ one has to
speak Amharic, to listen to Amharic
music, to accept the Amhara-Tigre
religion, Orthodox Christianity and
to wear the Amhara-Tigre Shamma
in international conferences. In some
cases to be an ‘Ethiopian’, you will even
have to change your name. In short
to be an Ethiopian, you will have to
wear an Amhara mask (to use Fanon’s
expression).”
This state-driven policy of politicizing
identity ultimately fomented the
natural response of celebrating one’s
identity by those whose languages and
other contents of their identity kit were
targeted for erasure. Thereafter, the
course was set for members of these
societies to invoke and launch the
struggles for the self-determination of
their national communities.
Advocating the right to national
self-determination was not restricted
CONT`D FROM PAGE 10
to the members of these subjugated
nations or nationalities. It also
figured prominently in the political
programmes of the country-wide leftist
ML parties that came on the Ethiopian
political landscape in the early 1970s.
The debate that raged between the
Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party
(EPRP) and the All-Ethiopia Socialist
Movement (more widely known by its
Amharic acronym MEISON) concerned
not the legitimacy of invoking the right
to self-determination per se but it is a
possible end point. The EPRP endorsed
the right to national self-determination
up to and including secession and very
vocally faulted MEISON for failing to go
to the same extent.
Goaded by the EPRP and cajoled by
MEISON, even the military regime
(Derg) ended up embracing a watered
down version of self-determination in
the form of regional autonomy. After
prevaricating on the question for
some years, the Derg finally extended
regional autonomy to a selected group of
minorities in its so-called Constitution
of 1987. No other evidence is needed to
prove that Ethiopia was already on a
slippery slope leading to multinational
federation than this measure by the
highly centrist military regime.
the generosity nor nefarious aspirations
of any group. What should occupy all
concerned is how to refine and polish
this political order for the good of all
Ethiopian peoples. When posed in this
fashion, several cautions that need to be
underscored come to mind.
First, those aspiring to undo the extant
multinational federation need to
carefully re-examine their project for
its success does not look likely without
horrendous bloodshed. Despite its
undeniable practical short comings, no
national community would willingly
give up the right to self-government
enshrined in the present Constitution.
Second, the intimate relationship
between federalism and democracy
cannot be over-emphasized. While
it is certainly possible to exercise
democracy without federalism,
instituting federalism without
democracy is not only an oxymoron but
also a recipe for disaster as the recent
experiences of the former Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and
Yugoslavia so tragically demonstrated.
EPRDF leaders thus had no other
choice but to go one stage further in
satisfying the ongoing quests for selfdetermination by structuring Ethiopia
as a multinational federation when
they unseated and replaced the Derg
in 1991. Hence, it is the “circumstance
existing already” that made adopting
multinational federation necessary
instead of the alleged noble or ignoble
intentions of the incoming ruling group.
Political groups are merely wasting
their time and energy by arguing to the
contrary.
All concerned should realize that
federations are inherently fragile
and multinational ones are possibly
even more so. The success of any
federation hinges on the willingness
to strike a proper balance between
over-centralization and overdecentralization. Over-centralization
is potentially dangerous for it would
tend to negate the very rationale of
federation, recognizing and respecting
local communities’ right to selfgovernment. The frustration bred
by over-decentralization could lead
to unexpected outbursts of the anger
of concerned communities. Overdecentralization, on the other hand,
could breed institutional incoherence
potentially culminating in breakdown.
Multinational federalism is simply the
latest natural step in Ethiopia’s political
development that resulted from neither
Let us face it: The cohesion supposedly
underpinned by the linguistic and
cultural homogeneity of the nation-
state model has proven elusive even
in its birth place, Western Europe
and other parts of the globe settled
by Western Europeans. This is
evidenced by the invocation of substate identity in quintessential liberal
democratic countries such as Spain,
Belgium, United Kingdom, Canada, etc.
Developments in the same countries
also obviates the presumption by some
in Ethiopia that instituting a liberal
democratic order would automatically
satisfy demands for group rights.
We are living through an era when
the foundation of democratic political
order is contested in large parts of
the world. Religion, history, culture,
economy, etc. are competing to serve
as the foundation of an acceptable
political order. Studies show that the
territorial extension of the state is
pulled in different directions depending
on its role as the container of power,
wealth and culture. When the state
is deployed as a container of power,
preserving existing boundaries gets
greater attention. When it is tapped as a
wealth container, encompassing larger
territory becomes prioritized. When it
is conceived as a container of culture,
however, it would tend towards smaller
size. What can possibly simultaneously
satisfy all three tendencies is forging
fora for political participation at suprastate, state and sub-state levels.
Finally, what is the origin of “ethnic
politics” in Ethiopia? Who is to blame
for this supposedly divisive policy?
The rulers of Ethiopia are responsible
for uncorking the genii of “ethnic
politics” in early twentieth century.
In due course, reactive invocations of
identity continued to spread to other
communities. Instead of aspiring to
rebottle this genii, unlikely without
significant bloodletting, all should
consider how to deploy it for the good
of all.
Ed.’s Note: Leenco Lata is a prominent
Ethiopian politician and President of
Oromo Democratic Front (ODF). The
views expressed in this article do not
necessarily reflect the views of The
Reporter. He can be reached at leenco.
[email protected].
The world’s richest 80 people have an estimated net worth of
around USD 2 trillion dollars.
Financing...
educational programs, rich countries
have not adequately supported this
effort by closing the financing gap
these countries face. The GPE should
be supported to help build a true Global
Fund for Education to ensure that
every low-income country that puts
in place an effective national strategy
and domestic financing would have
international support to accomplish its
goals.
The additional financing required is
modest. UNESCO recently estimated
the annual education “financing gap” of
low- and lower-middle-income countries
– to cover education up through lower
secondary school – to be around USD
22 billion. Ensuring the scale-up of
upper-secondary school and ICT access
might raise the needed annual sum to
around USD 40 billion, with detailed
CONT`D FROM PAGE 12
cost estimates still to be made. Such aid
would be needed only until today’s poor
countries achieve enough economic
progress to cover the education bill on
their own.
That USD 40 billion might seem like
a lot of money, but consider this: The
world’s richest 80 people have an
estimated net worth of around USD 2
trillion dollars. If they would devote
just 1 percent of their net worth each
year, they would cover half the global
financial need.
Facebook, Google, Ericsson, Huawei,
Samsung, Microsoft, Cisco, and other
ICT giants could cover at least another
USD 10 billion per year, in cash
and in kind. A few forward-looking
governments could then close the
remaining USD 10 billion gap. As we
have seen with immunization, this is
the kind of partnership that is needed to
take the SDGs from rhetoric to reality.
The beauty of a new Global Fund for
Education is that, once it got underway,
it would quickly attract supporters from
around the world. Arab governments
would want to ensure that all Arabicspeaking children receive a decent
ICT-backed education; Brazil and
Portugal would surely contribute to
ensure that Africa’s many Portuguese
speakers benefit from scaled-up
education systems. Innovative high-tech
companies would scramble to put their
learning tools in front of the world’s
children. Local universities would
train teachers and villagers on how to
maximize the potential of these new
technologies.
www.thereporterethiopia.com
The stars – the SDGs, the ICT giants,
mobile broadband, online learning, and
philanthropists – are aligning for such a
scenario. A Global Fund for Education,
announced at the Conference on
Financing for Development, would
be the best news possible for today’s
children everywhere and a dazzling
inauguration for the SDGs.
Ed.’s Note: Jeffrey D. Sachs is Professor
of Sustainable Development, Professor
of Health Policy and Management,
and Director of the Earth Institute
at Columbia University. He is also
Special Adviser to the United Nations
Secretary-General on the Millennium
Development Goals. The article was
provided to The Reporter by Project
Syndicate: the world’s pre-eminent source
of original op-ed commentaries. Project
Syndicate provides incisive perspectives
on our changing world by those who are
shaping its politics, economics, science,
and culture. The views expressed in this
article do not necessarily reflect the views
of The Reporter.
|33
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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34|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Attempting for...
CONT`D FROM PAGE 21
diaspora; we can tap into that with
better engagement. So, money is not
a problem. With the resources at our
disposal we can do a lot more. What it
needs is getting our politics right.
Asrat and Co. So, what we have is an
undemocratic caretaker government
which is taking us nowhere.
In your manifesto, you claim that
the constitution and the system
in place protects the interest of
EPRDF members and leaders. You
say the question of nations and
nationalities is not addressed.
Are you backtracking from your
previous stance in which you
acknowledged EPRDF’s effort to
address the questions of nations
and nationalities? Is this an
implementation issue or a question
of normative framework of the
constitution?
We are saying there is a sliding back.
EPRDF is failing on their promises to
the people when they assumed power.
The last election result was announced
to be 99.6 percent [for the ruling party].
That is one indication of the slide back.
It is similar in many aspects, including
corruption. There is regression and
not progression. Many are of the same
opinion, including former members
like Tewolde [Gebremariam], Seyee
[Abraha], Gebru [Asrat] and Aregash
[Adane]. The political system is
narrowing down instead of being
inclusive especially since 2005.
The manifesto states that there
are opposition political parties
organized and supported by EPRDF.
Who are these parties and what is
your evidence for that?
They are known and I do not wish
to mention names. For example, in
2005 our party was infiltrated by an
individual. We know he was backed by
EPRDF and we know how much money
he was given. We have thousands who
can testify to that. There are many
similar situations like that. This is no
secret. We know. EPRDF knows.
You question the independence of
various government institutions,
including the judiciary and the
National Electoral Board of
Ethiopia. What would you do
differently to ensure the structural
independence of these organs
specifically?
There are lessons we can draw from
other countries. Take for example
the electoral board. There are
two ways. Appointing impartial
professionals versed in the knowledge
of administering elections who are
chosen by both the opposition and
the ruling party. We proposed this
in our negotiation with EPRDF. The
constitution says the prime minister
recommends members of electoral
board which are appointed by
parliament. It does not say the premier
elects the members. So, we could
jointly come up with a shortlist to be
recommended by the prime minister.
But EPRDF officials did not want that.
If this is not possible the other option
is establishing a board supervised by
representatives of political parties
from both the opposition and the ruling
party. The international practice is
either one of the two. But the reality
in Ethiopia is such that one party is
the player and the referee. There is no
way you can win in such a game. When
you come to the judiciary, judges had
relative independence even during
the imperial regime. There are a lot of
You have been in politics for long
and you are also running in the
upcoming election. How do you
evaluate your political path?
ways to ensure the independence of the
judiciary. Judges should be guaranteed
to abide by the law and the law only and
it should not about being a member of
this or that party. Currently, there is no
such thing.
In the manifesto, your party has
stated that the fast economic growth
is not translated into transforming
the living conditions of the public.
What led you to such conclusions?
The gap between the poor and the rich
is becoming extreme. Some are living
in luxury while others are feeding
themselves off garbage. Behind the rise
of buildings, there is a scary rise of cost
of living. There are a lot of people falling
off the poverty line. I always say that a
starved people will eat its leaders.
But even international financial
institutions credit the government
for its pro-poor development
approach. You do not agree with
their assessment?
Who provides the data for these
institutions? Who is cooking the data?
The data the government provides is
not credible. We have debated with
institutions like IMF (International
Monetary Fund) and the World Bank.
And what the international institutions
do is to conduct sample surveys of a few
weredas. They do not do a wider-scale
survey.
Your manifesto also promises
that there will be an alternative
official working language other
than Amharic on the basis of the
number of speakers. But it fails
short of mentioning a language.
Which languages stand a change of
becoming a working language?
Considering the reality on the ground,
for example, Oromiffa and then
Tigrigna and Somali languages could
become the working language. But
making Oromiffa the official language
also has added benefits, including
ensuring better stability and unity in
the country. It will also hasten the effort
to create a better, what EPRDF calls,
one political economy because about 70
percent of the population speak the two
languages (Amharic and Oromiffa).
Some studies conducted abroad
suggest that additional working
languages create economic burden
on the state. For example, South
Africa, although they declared 11
working languages, only one is
widely used as a working language
due to the economic burden. Have
you analyzed the economic aspect
of introducing more working
languages?
No doubt it will crease some economic
burden. But the current state of the
nation requires that. Otherwise the
nation is heading towards building a
country where the people do not even
speak with one another. So we might
pay an even higher price. In fact, we
urge groups who advocate the unity
of the country to seriously consider
addressing the issue of working
languages.
Much of the promises on the
manifesto appear to follow a
revisionist approach to what the
EPRDF is already doing. And the
solutions your party offers seem to
require huge financial resources.
How do you intend to raise the
necessary financial resource to
achieve your goals?
The problem with EPRDF is failure to
fairly and properly utilize the nation’s
wealth. They also get substantial
amount of aid. But they abuse it. There
is no trickle down benefit for the public.
The International Integrity Fund has
said USD 11.7 billion has gone out of
Ethiopia in illicit financial flow over
the last ten years. This could have
built three Grand Renaissance Dams
without the need to beg for money.
Where did the money go? How did it
go? It is the Ethiopian government that
can answer it. We are also squandering
money in the name of regional politics
and security. I recall we begged former
Prime Minister Meles [Zenawi] not to
send troops to Somalia. We can defend
our boarders without the need to send
troops to Somalia. Thousands of troops
have been stationed in our boarder
with Eritrea for over ten years. You
spend a lot of money for that. There
is also a huge potential within the
www.thereporterethiopia.com
The ups and downs, personal and as
people, over the years were not as such
easy. Especially our generation, over
the last 40 years, has been striving to
bring about a better Ethiopia without
much success. The attempt is foiled by
people of the same generation. Even
the course we are chartering on at
the moment does not seem to take us
anywhere either. The fundamental
problems of the nation need to be
addressed with the participation of
all. Everyone may be blamed for the
failure, but now the ball is in the hands
of the ruling party. But the ruling party,
even after 24 years, espouse jungle
mentality. We are participating in this
year’s election despite our difference
with the ruling party on the basic tenets
of a free and fair election including
the rule of law, the use of media and
independent electoral board. In all,
Ethiopian politics will always remain
in danger if the Tigray elite cling to
power at whatever cost, the Amhara
elite are bent on reviving their past
hegemony and the separatist urge of the
Oromo elite. Otherwise the politics will
remain chaotic and we are currently at
a dangerous crossroads.
What do you say is your biggest
contribution in the political
struggle?
In the political struggle against three
regimes, I never gave up for over
40 years. I feel that is my biggest
contribution. I have opposed the
imperial regime in the Ambo students’
movement, I was a representative
of Meison (All Ethiopian Socialist
Movement) at the Addis Ababa
University [during the Derg regime]. I
have lost my brother. I was imprisoned
for seven years. I am still in the political
struggle for a better Ethiopia because
I, and many Ethiopians, do not believe
the current regime is any better.
Putting aside the success or not, I have
also contributed in bringing together
Ethiopian political forces – right, left
or center - comprising different ethnic
groups to the middle ground for the
realization of a democratic Ethiopia.
Finally, what sort of scenarios
would force you to say ‘I have had
enough of politics’?
I will not be displeased if I retire
now. But there are a lot of people,
particularly young ones, who believe
in me and some of them are rotting in
jail. I cannot abandon them because I
felt too uncomfortable with politics. I
have a moral obligation. On the basis
of my performance, the party or myself
could come to a decision to retire. But
as long as one is willing to contribute
for the party, there is a place. Bringing
young people to the leadership has been
difficult. If it were not for EPRDF’s
continued undercutting activity that
prevented us from grooming young
people to the leadership, I could have
retired.
|35
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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36| SOCIETY
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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|37
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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38|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
By Maryamawit Engdawork
&
Green buildings
Bits
Pieces
Addis Ababa’s weather is getting warmer by the day
and we can also observe some seasonal changes like the
rainy season starting early. To understand this change
we have to ask ‘what has changed in Addis?’. Although
I can mention a lot of global factors for climate change
one factor that our state has control over is the massive
construction boom. It is known that buildings are the
biggest emitters of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which cause
global warming, so with massive construction there
needs to be environmental protection and environmental
friendly constructions.
The growing construction aim but also be about providing
housing, infrastructure and roads for better living
standards to attain middle income status by the year 2025.
Currently buildings are built and before we know it they
are demolished as the master plan needs the space for
roads, or partially demolished for pedestrian sidewalks.
Meanwhile, roads are being taken out for the railroad.
All this has a double impact, on the economy and the
environment, causing the unusual warm weather we have
been experiencing. In the long run, this can have an effect
on our health if not dealt with timely.
Ethiopia is on a path to reach middle income status in
10 years, a growth which is expected to be sustainable as
per the developmental policy that has been adopted. Thus
Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan states that
the development should be through a green economy.
Green economy in general means an economy that results
in reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities,
and aims for sustainable development
p
without degrading
the environment by using different sources of energy.
So how do we make sure that the construction undertaken
for development has lesser negative environmental
impact? First and foremost, in my opinion it is important
to ensure that Addis adopts an urban master plan that
is not short sighted. That way, any construction will
not have a double cost (i.e. on the economy and the
environment) due to demolition.
We should also consider how to make the construction
environmental friendly and sustainable as per the
green economy concept. Thus it has to try to preserve
green areas that can be affected by big construction. For
instance it is disappointing to see trees being cut down in
ALERT Hospital without consulting stakeholders. This
action highly degrades the environment as there is an area
for garbage disposal nearby which produces bad smell and
the dense trees were important in cleansing the pollution.
New buildings can also be made green. Green buildings do
not only focus on environmental responsibility but also
resource-efficiency
y throughout a building’s life-cycle: from
siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance,
renovation, and demolition. This is not an easy task, as
it requires coordination between different professionals
including architects, engineers and raw material
producers. These buildings use recycled materials for
construction and solar and other means of energy, both of
which require innovation and are therefore uncommon.
Hence government needs to encourage such designers
through incentives and trainings as it requires their
creativity.
Dangote to inaugurate...
minister of Industry Tadesse Haile to write a letter
of appreciation to Dangote Cement Ethiopia some
months back.
Dangote first came to Ethiopia in 2008 to venture
into cement production when the Ethiopian
economy was starving for cement due to a
construction boom in the country. Back then the
dearth of cement supply compelled the government
to import the bulk product with hard earned
foreign currency. This triggered the government to
invite foreign and local investors to build cement
factories.
Sinoma International Engineering, a giant Chinese
construction firm, built the cement factory.
Sinoma International is a leading cement factory
construction contractor. The cement magnet,
Dangote, who built cement factories in 17 African
countries has personally been closely following
up the progress of the construction flying his
personal jet to Addis Ababa every two weeks.
Surprisingly, he does not spend a night in Addis.
Colleagues reckon that he only once spend a night
at the Sheraton Addis after a tiring field visit to the
construction site. “Usually he flies back to Nigeria
the same day,” an employee of Dangote Cement
Ethiopia said.
Teshome said all the machineries were procured
from Germany, Sweden and Italy. “The factory
has a state-of-the-art latest cement technology
that is available in the world market today and it
produces a world class cement that can be sold any
where in the world,” Teshome told The Reporter.
Dangote Cement Ethiopia has imported mining
equipment that mines the limestone and other
raw materials from the quarry. It has installed
automatic truck loading machines. “It is a robot
that loads the cement on the trucks. We also use a
robot technology to test the quality of the cement,”
Teshome said.
The automated truck loading machine can load
nine trucks at a time. It takes a truck only 15-20
minutes to enter the premise of the factory, load
800 sacks of cement and leaves the compound.
“The factory is environment friendly. There is no
smoke coming out of the factory as latest pollution
controlling technology is applied,” Teshome said.
According to Teshome, Dangote did not take any
loan from local banks to build the giant cement
factory. “He brought all the money from his coffer
Moreover most buildings in Addis are glazed which are
cheaper to build even though they have a higher cost
on the environment, as the full glass on the buildings
multiply the heat of the sun requiring the use of energy to
cool it and emitting CO2. Plus, the buildings are so tightly
packed everywhere, leaving no urban breathing space
with trees since they are important in decreasing heat
generated by buildings. Thus the master plan has to take
consideration of making available parks between these
buildings as an urban breathing space.
Above all, the best way to achieve a green economy is to
ensure that there is an active participation of the public
and the private sector through Private Public Partnership
(PPP). There is a need to educate the private sector and
those in policy crafting about green economy and green
buildings and to conduct a genuine Environmental Impact
Assessment, as their role in sustaining development is
undeniable.
Ed.’s Note: Maryamawit Engdawork is a graduate of Addis Ababa
University Law School. Born and raised in Addis Ababa, she seeks
to understand the impact of economic, political and social issues
on everyday lives. She can be reached at emaryamawit@gmail.
com
www.thereporterethiopia.com
CONT`D FROM PAGE 1
and he gives due attention to his investment
project in Ethiopia.”
Ethiopian Electric allocated 40 MW of electric
power to the new cement factory. The company
constructed a 57 km power transmission line all
the way from Sululta town to the project site. A
Bosnian power company, Energo Invest, built the
transmission line while ABB of Germany erected
the power substation at the factory.
Dangote Cement Ethiopia will soon begin
importing 500 trucks from China that will
transport cement. Six of the trucks are bulk cement
carriers.
The factory will be inaugurated after three
weeks in the presence of Aliko Dangote and
senior Ethiopian government officials. The
test production is slated for March 29-April 2.
According to Teshome, the factory will start
channeling its products to the local market in end
of April or in early May, 2015.
“We will offer the best quality product with
competitive price. So we will not face any problem
in the market,” the manager said. The factory will
create more than 3000 direct and in direct jobs for
Ethiopian nationals.
In addition to the cement factory, Dangote Group
is looking into other investment opportunities in
Ethiopia. The group has shown a keen interest
to engage in potash mineral exploration and
development project. Currently, Dangote Group
is building Petro Chemical, Fertilizer and Oil
refinery in Nigeria at a total investment cost of
nine billion dollars.
The group needs potash mineral for the fertilizer
factory. Accordingly, the group asked the
Ethiopian Ministry of Mines for potash exploration
license in the Afar regional State, a region known
a vast potash deposit. According to company
officials, the investment group also has an interest
to develop cotton and sugarcane plantations in
Ethiopia. The cement mogul arrived in Addis
Ababa yesterday morning for routine visit.
The group owns Dangote Cement, Africa’s biggest
cement company and number one cement supplier
in Africa, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote
Industries and Dangote Oil Services. According
to Forbes magazine, Dangote is worth 15.8 billion
dollars.
|39
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Sisi to arrive...
amending the specifications of the
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
(GERD) if consultancy studies on the
hydroelectric project prove it harmful
to countries downstream.
A tripartite committee headed by
the water ministers of the three
countries is in the process of selecting
an international consultancy firm to
analyze the impact of the 6000 megawatt
hydroelectric dam.
Media reports also indicated that the
deal will protect Egypt’s “historical
right” to 55.5 billion cubic meters of
Nile water as well as amendments to
reduce the dam’s 74 billion cubic meters
storage capacity”.
Ibrahim Idris, director of transboundary resources directorate at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, declined to
comment on the details of the political
document, which is prepared by
Ethiopia.
However, Alemayehu Tegenu,
Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation
and Energy, rejected his Egyptian
counterpart’s remark to the country’s
media.
“There was no discussion over the
dam’s storage capacity and we cannot
agree to something we have not
discussed over,” Alemayehu told VOA
Amharic service on Thursday.
He said Ethiopia has repeatedly
rejected Egypt’s insistence to downsize
CONT`D FROM PAGE 1
the dam’s capacity and the political
document does not deal with such
technical issues.
Alemayehu said the core elements of the
political deal, which is prepared on the
sub-basin level, focuses on the general
principles of “fair use” and prevention
of “significant harm”.
Alemayehu said Ethiopia is ready to
sign the deal.
The deal is expected to be signed
between the three countries next week
following Egyptian president’s visit to
Sudan and Ethiopia.
Sisi is expected to arrive in Ethiopia
on Monday after his visit to Sudan.
The Egyptian president is scheduled to
hold discussions with Prime Minister
Hailemariam Desalegn and President
Mulatu Teshome (PhD).
According to Joseph Ramez Amin
(PhD), head of Egyptian information
consular at the Egyptian Embassy in
Addis Ababa, the discussions will also
include broader bilateral issues.
The president will also address
the joint sessions of the House of
Peoples’ Representatives and House of
Federations on Tuesday.
He is also scheduled to meet Abune
Mathias, Patriarch of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church, and members of the
Ethiopian public diplomacy that visited
Egypt on December 2014.
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40|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Gov’t to endorse...
Kajange who applauded the 11 states
for endorsing the YD called up on other
African states to follow suit.
CEO of African Aviation Services
Limited, organizer of the African MRO
conference, Nick Fadugba, said that all
African states should fully implement
the Yamousoukro Declaration with
out further due. “Today it is very
painful to hear an African airline CEO
complaining about market access
in Africa many years after African
governments agreed to open up their
market,” Fadugba told participants.
“Eleven states have shown commitment
to fully implement the YD in 2017. We
lauded their effort to the implement the
decision. But it is only eleven states out
of 54 African countries that have shown
firm commitment. The remaining
African countries should immediately
take the same step,” Fadugba said.
“We should not wait for many years to
witness similar measure.”
Host of the African MRO conference,
Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Tewolde
Gebremariam, said that some African
countries deny passenger traffic right
to African airlines and allow non
African airlines to freely operate. As a
result, Tewolde said, African carriers
market share on the intra Africa routes
dwindled from 60 percent in the 1980s to
20 percent.
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Speaking of Ethiopian Airlines,
Tewolde associated his airline growth
to the economic boom in Ethiopia and
the rest of Africa. Tewolde boasted that
Ethiopia will soon become an economic
power. “History repeats itself. Ethiopia
was a super power seven hundred years
ago during the Axumite Empire. Now
Ethiopia is roaring. History repeats
itself!”
According to Tewolde, his airline grew
five fold in ten years time. The revenue
of the airline which was only 0.49 billion
dollars in 2004 grew by 500 percent to 2.5
billion dollars last year. The revenue is
expected to reach 3 billion dollars this
year.
The airline crafted a 15 year
development strategy dubbed Vision
2025. Tewolde explained that under this
strategy the airline wants to boost its
revenue from USD 3 billion to 10 billion,
number of international destination
from 84 to 120, and number of aircraft
from 81 to 140.
The airline is undertaking massive
infrastructure development projects.
During the two-day conference that
drew more than 250 delegates from all
over the world, Ethiopian organized
a tour to these multi billion birr
investment projects.
Delegates visited the Ethiopian
Aviation Academy, Flight operation
CONT`D FROM PAGE 5
and MRO center. The brand new Boeing
787 flight simulator recently installed
was inaugurated. The airline is also
building a flight simulator building for
B777 and Airbus 350 aircraft. Ethiopian
will begin taking delivery of the 14
A350XWB jetliners it for the first time
ordered from the European consortium,
Airbus, next year.
A new light aircraft maintenance
hangar built at a cost of seven million
dollars was inaugurated during the
visit. Ethiopian is also building a huge
maintenance hangar, cargo terminal
and four star hotel with 330 rooms.
With a capacity to handle 1.2 million
tons of cargo per annum the cargo
terminal will be one of the biggest
cargo terminals in the world. The total
cost of the project is estimated at 107
million euro. At the moment Ethiopian
Cargo has the capacity to handle 200,000
tons of cargo per annum. With nine
dedicated freighter aircraft Ethiopian is
the biggest cargo operator in Africa.
Zemene Nega, managing director of
Ethiopian MRO Services, told The
Reporter that to support the fast
growth of the airline ET MRO center
is building its capability. The airline
is building a wide body aircraft
maintenance and paint hangars at a
cost of 94 million dollars. Currently, it
has four maintenance hangars. It is also
planning to build another wide-body
hangar and expand the existing ramp
that accommodates the growing fleet.
According to Zemene, the MRO center
will also build a new and modern engine
maintenance shop. “We have conducted
a feasibility study. We may proceed to
the tender process next year.”
Under the Vision 2025 growth strategy
as one of the seven business units of the
airline Ethiopian MRO Center plans to
generate 520 million dollars from third
party business. African MRO market
is valued at two billion dollars and
projected to grow to 4.2 billion dollars
by 2023. Ethiopian wants to have 25
percent of the pie.
In 2013-2014, Ethiopian MRO Center
generated 483 million birr from third
party business. “Due to the fast growth
of the airline and accelerated fleet
expansion program we are mostly
engaged with in house maintenance
service,” Zemene explains. “But as
we are now building our maintenance
capability we will substantially grow
our third party business. We will
aggressively work on expanding our
third party work.”
Ethiopian is also making a huge
investment on Aviation Academy
expansion project which includes the
construction of dormitories, class
rooms and workshops. Ethiopian is
investing 80 million dollars on the
aviation academy that trains pilots,
technicians, cabin crew and marketing
professionals. The cabin crew training
center comprises of the construction
of auditoriums, swimming pool and
installation of mock up plane.
Samuel Assefa, vice president, Aviation
Academy, told The Reporter that the
mock-up plane was purchased from
the UK and will soon be imported and
installed at the cabin crew training
center. According to Samuel, the
Aviation Academy annual intake
increased from 200 students to 1000. The
plan is to boost the number to 4000 by
2025.
Ethiopian is building a new catering
facility which can daily produce 80,000
meals at a cost of 11.5 million dollars.
The two storey building construction
was launched in February 2015 and
due for completion in February
2016. Ethiopian Catering, one of the
seven business units of the Ethiopian
Aviation Group, supplies passenger
meals for major international airlines
that fly to Addis Ababa.
A pilot training building and
maintenance hangar is under
construction in Dire Dawa. Ethiopian
is forced to branch out its pilot training
center to Dire Dawa International
Airport due to the air traffic congestion
at the Addis Ababa Bole International
Airport. Most of the construction works
are being carried out by an Italian
construction firm, Elmi Olindo.
Some of the delegates told The Reporter
that they were fascinated by the
massive infrastructure development
they visited at Ethiopian premise. Nick
Fadugba who has been organizing
the two popular African Aviation
Conferences – Air Finance and MRO
Africa – for the past 25 years said that
he was impressed with the ongoing
infrastructure development program
of the airlines. “I have been visiting
Ethiopian Airlines for more than 25
years and I always appreciate what the
management is doing. But the airline’s
growth in the past couple of years is
dramatic. Every time I come here I see
some thing new rising up,” Fadugba
said.
Big players of the global aerospace
industry including Boeing, Airbus,
General Electric, Pratt and Whitney,
SNECAMA\CFM, Turkish Technik and
Lufthansa Technik were in attendance.
Leading African MRO centers including
Ethiopian MRO, South African
Technical and Egypt Air Maintenance
and Engineering participated at the two
day MRO conference and exhibition.
The two storey building construction was
launched in February 2015 and due for
completion in February 2016. Ethiopian
Catering, one of the seven business units of the
Ethiopian Aviation Group, supplies passenger
PHDOVIRUPDMRULQWHUQDWLRQDODLUOLQHVWKDWÁ\
to Addis Ababa.
www.thereporterethiopia.com
LEISURE|41
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Crossword
ACROSS
58. US writer James ____ (1909-1955)
59. Region
61. Competitor
62. Not quite an adult
63. Drug enforcement officer
64. Laxative
65. Members of the moose family
66. Search
67. Nixon VP Spiro _____
1. Tall palms of southeast Asia
6. Permits
10. Denomination
14. Collision followed by rebound
15. By mouth
16. As a prefix, alongside
17. Provide some trait
18. Sexually attractive
19. Right away
20. Young actresses
22. A Christian creed
24. Hints
25. Cut at an angle
26. Dwarf plant
29. Texas city El ____
30. Every single thing
31. Crucial points
37. Reserved or sober behavior
39. Previous
40. A Mayan language
41. Most attractive shape
44. Actress/singer ____ Singer
45. Storage containers
46. More difficult
48. Soaks up
52. Capital of Yemen
53. Irish town and county
54. Small quantities
Kuncho Komments
Kuncho come
here.
Down
1. Cards with just one symbol
2. Exclaim vehemently
3. Norse goddess of the earth
4. Mating ritual
5. Aviatrix ______ Earhart
6. Galleries or balconies
7. Greek god of love
8. Collected by the IRS
9. Cleverness
10. “The Final Frontier”
11. Artist’s stand
12. Large wading bird
13. Recorded
21. Extended narrative poem
23. Made from tusks
25. “Safe” places in baseball
26. Actress Armstrong or Myerson
27. Promise
28. Intercollegiate athletic organization
29. Minute orifices
32. Kidneys and loins (archaic)
33. Offending to the extreme
34. Corrosive
35. Citizen of Denmark
36. Sun
38. Actress _____ Winger
42. Citizens of Tripoli or Banghazi
43. Asian language and people
47. “Annie” actress ______ McArdle
48. Chalcedony
49. Bread ring
50. Smooth and lustrous
51. 1936 Olympic star Jesse _____
52. Slap
54. Withered
55. Level or equal
56. Appellation
57. Shredded cabbage
60. Actress Charlotte ___
I just came back from the
doctor’s with your x-ray
results.
Yes dad.
US Box
office
You see where the
problem is?
Yes dad. But I can
easily fix that using
photoshop.
Give it to me let me
see it.
1
Cinderella
2
Run All Night
3
Kingsman: The Secret Service
4
Focus
5
Chappie
6
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
7
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of
Water
Your Zodiacs
ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20)
The energy of the week Venus in your sign and ready
to go retrograde is a perfect time to discover your inner
understanding of who your soul mate should be and how
you resonate to love. 6ou can łnd love in all the right
places when you put a perspective on what can you give
as well as what you can receive. Intuition is your guiding
force in love this week. This week lucky numbers are:
47, 13, 62, 86, 29
TAURUS (Apr. 21- may 21)
Your sensitivity is high at this time. You are a person of
extreme sensuality and the energies of this week may
have you exploring some of your deeper desires as Venus
goes retrograde. Opening up some wounds from the past
may actually allow you to release a past love which
has kept you from manifesting your wanted connection
with your soul mate. The coming full moon will bring you
powerful energies in łnding the answer that you seek.
This week lucky numbers are: 62, 95, 43, 77, 93
GEMINI (May 22-June 21)
The look of love could seem blind this week as you
and your beloved may be in a zone of complete denial
of any problems. The opening up of new avenues of
communication so that you can discover the soul mate in
your current relationship is featured this week. Be open
to sharing your deepest fears and your highest hopes.
This week lucky numbers are: 70, 67, 13, 80, 15
8
McFarland, USA
9
Fifty Shades of Grey
10
The DUFF
(astrology-online.com)
CANCER (June 22-July 22)
Learning to be independent while still having an intimate
relationship is the lesson of this week as you touch into your
soul mate energy. You may łnd that the heat of romance
seems a little cooler than you would like but you can warm
things up with some concentrated tender loving care and
special attention to the idea that food shared is a bonding
experience. This week lucky numbers are: 49, 53, 35, 44, 11
LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23)
CAPRICORN (Dec 22.- Jan. 20)
The power of love continues to grow and deepen for you at
this time. You may łnd that the energies of the coming full
moon will reveal some past life connections with you and
your beloved. Perhaps it is time that you realized that your
soul mate may be the person you see every morning. This
week lucky numbers are: 79, 5, 74, 55, 14
You are in the romance zone this week as Venus creates a
wonderful tension that could lead you to new discoveries of
what you value in love and relationships. The grounding energy
of the full moon will allow you to let go of false expectations for
your beloved and allow you to center and focus on what it really
means to have a soul mate. Give yourself the freedom to have fun
with your beloved. This week lucky numbers are: 56, 6, 69, 51, 13
SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22)
LEO (July 23-Aug 22)
Lessons in the magic of love will astound you this week
if you get in touch with your generous and sharing nature.
The backward movement of Venus may have you taking the
position of being the pursued in the dance of love. Open your
heart to the dynamics of sudden communications and short
trips with your beloved. You may łnd yourself connecting
in a very intuitive level with the energy of this coming full
moon. This week lucky numbers are: 69, 24, 93, 23, 63
VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23)
You should better watch your temper. Hotheadedness can
throw you off balance and aid your opponent. This week is
right time when compromise and diplomacy are virtues to
be cultivated, not weakness to be despised. The straps and
buckles of your emotional baggage can be caught in the
wheels of a smoothly moving machine. Unseen obstacles
are the worst kind. Talk to loved ones instead of reŃexively
pushing them away. This week lucky numbers are: 83, 9,
76, 34, 92
The Buddha wrote: Train yourself in doing good that lasts
and brings happiness. Cultivate generosity, the life of peace,
and a mind of boundless love. This pretty much expresses
your world of love and connection this week. It is a time to
cultivate kindness in your relationship and to praise the joy
that comes from love. The full moon will vibrate the friendship
energy between you and your beloved. This week lucky
numbers are: 57, 58, 35, 71, 98
AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19)
Magic is afoot in your relationships at this time and you may łnd
your mate may feel a certain jealousy because of your expanding
charisma. Heal these fears with an overwhelming return of love
and joy to your beloved. It is time to take the direction of your
relationship back under your control and direction. Teach your
beloved what you need to be happy and love will Ńow. Honesty
will win the most frightened heart. This week lucky numbers are:
42, 37, 20, 72, 83
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21)
Your sense of inner connection will thrive this week as Venus
goes retrograde in the sign of Aries. The power of Mars in your
sign along with Pluto gives you the transformational energy
that you need to express your love in deeper levels of spiritual
connection. These energies are wonderful for the beginning
practice of Tantra with your beloved. Shared energy ampliłes
your love connection this week. The full moon can be used
as transcending energies and getting back to more earthy
connections with your beloved. This week lucky numbers are:
47, 97, 40, 11, 92
63277+(',))(5(1&(6
Can you spot the 12 differences between the two pictures?
www.thereporterethiopia.com
Solution
PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20)
Magic is definitely on your side this week in the realm of romance. The
hidden energies of Venus going retrograde will put you in touch with
all the special feelings that you have been avoiding. Mars gives you the
energy to continue to pursue your beloved. However, remember a lover
can get tired of being on a pedestal which is but another way to distance
oneself from real intimacy. The full moon energy can reveal your soul
mate connection in wonderful new ways. This week lucky numbers are:
1, 2, 66, 9, 22
Solution
42|THE REPORTER SPORT
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
...the Walias, on Thursday signed a four year
56 million birr sponsorship deal with Heineken
Breweries S.C.
Walias inks 56 mln br sponsorship
deal with Heineken
By Dawit Tolesa
years.
The Ethiopian national team, the
Walias, on Thursday signed a four year
56 million birr sponsorship deal with
Heineken Breweries S.C.
The brewery giant signed the deal
under its flagship new brand Walia
beer building on the company’s another
brand Bedele Special’s two year
sponsorship program which expired in
2014.
The agreement was signed by
Teklewoyni Assefa, Vice-President
of the Ethiopian Football Federation
(EFF), and Johan Doyer, Heineken
Ethiopia managing director at the
Hilton Addis. The deal means EFF will
receive 1.16 million birr every month
and 14 million birr each year for four
“We are delighted to announce
our partnership with Walia beer, a
successful brand that football fans
can identify with. We look forward
to working closely with Walia beer
in offering fans some exciting new
promotions and joint initiatives and
welcome Waila Beer as our main
sponsor.” Teklewoini said.
“Walia beer is proud to be the main
sponsor of Ethiopian national football
team, a team that is strong in tradition,
rich in heritage but young and energetic
like our brand and company. Through
this partnership we will connect with
the supporters of the Ethiopian national
team and we will contribute to the
further development of the team,”
Johan Doyer, managing director of
Heineken Ethiopia, said.
“In line with its sponsorship of the
www.thereporterethiopia.com
Ethiopian national team and its sport
sector development sponsorship
objectives, Walia beer will launch a
number of events that aim at preparing
the Ethiopian national team football for
the upcoming football seasons,” notes a
press statement issued.
The sponsorship agreement will
extends only for male Ethiopian
national football team. Representatives
of EFF told media that the federation
will work with other organizations to
find sponsorship deals for the women
national side.
THE REPORTER SPORT|43
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
Lucy back on the spotlight
By Dawit Tolesa
The 2015 All African Games qualifier
of women’s football tournament will be
underway at the Addis Ababa Stadium
today with Ethiopia’s Lucy taking on
Cameroon.
This will be the first test for Lucy in
their bid to book a place for the 11th
round of All African Games which is
scheduled to take place in Brazzaville,
Congo from September 4 to 19.
The Ethiopian side will hope to be one
of the eight women national teams that
can compete in the tournament out of a
total of 17 African sides participating in
the qualification round.
The last international tournament
for the Lucys goes back to 2012
when they qualified for the African
Women’s Championship held in
Equatorial Guinea. They qualified to
the tournament after beating Tanzania
3-1 on aggregate ending an eight
years absence from the continental
competition. They were eliminated from
the tournament by Cameroon.
Behaylwa Zeleke, Lucy’s coach, has
selected 26 players for today’s qualifier
at home against Cameroon in the
second round of qualifications. Three
players will be dropped from the squad
for the away game. Behaylwa said she
had only 23 days to prepare the team for
the qualifier.
“Out of the 23 days, for 15 days we were
focused on recruiting and assembling
the current squad,” Behaylwa told
The Reporter. “We will play to win the
match and our players are ready and
fully fit.”
“Cameron has a strong women national
team compared to Ethiopia. They
recruit the national side from their
under 15,17 and 20 team set ups,” she
added.
On the contrary Ethiopia launched
the women’s premier league in 2013.
More than half of Behaylwa’s players
are selected from Commercial Bank
of Ethiopia FC. Familiar names like
Rehima Zergaw, Hiwot Dangesso,
Biruktayit Girma and Shitayee Sisay
are included in the squad.
“It was a bit difficult to combine with
the new players in the initial days of
our training but now we are in good
condition. With help from God we will
hopefully win in front of our fans,”
www.thereporterethiopia.com
Biruktayt told The Reporter.
But the game against Cameroon will be
a tough test for the Lucys. The Cameron
women national team is a side which
has qualified for the seventh FIFA
Women’s World Cup, a tournament
which will be held from June 6 to July 5
in Canada.
The match on Saturday will kick off
at 4 PM in Addis Ababa Stadium. The
return leg will take place between April
10 and 12 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
From the first round Botswana
advanced to the second round after
overcoming Madagascar 3-2 on
aggregate. Libya and Gabon withdrew
which saw Guinea-Bissau and Mali
advancing to the second round without
having to play a match.
44|
The Reporter, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vol. XIX No. 967
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