The Grand Renaissance Dam on the upper reaches of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia has been six years in the making. Getty Images

The National’s Business

Gavin du Venage

April 24, 2017

By years’ end, one of the world’s largest dams will begin filling up, affecting the fate of millions of people as it does so.

Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam on the upper reaches of the Blue Nile has been six years in the making, and is a project of staggering proportions. It will create a lake 150 square kilometres in size, produce electricity equal to a third of the UAE’s energy output and has cost 10 billion Ethiopian birr (Dh1.59bn) so far.

It will also ensure a steady supply of water. Ethiopia’s fate has been to be remembered as a country of recurring drought, spawning a mini-industry of aid organisations dedicated to feeding its people in time of need.

“The Renaissance dam which we are constructing by joining hands together is among the list of mega projects in Africa and the world, becoming a source of our national pride,” the Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn said at a torch lighting ceremony in Addis Ababa last month, according to the local media agency Ezeda.

The torch will be carried around the country for the next 12 months to celebrate the dam’s progress, and to thank the public for their support. According the Ethiopian government, more than 1bn birr has been raised from the sales of lottery tickets, music concerts and bonds – all by ordinary citizens.

Reviving Ethiopia’s economy has been the prime goal of the government, following the disastrous rule of the Derg, a military junta during the 1980s. It was the Derg’s legacy that resulted in images of starving children coming to represent a once-proud country. This is something the current administration is working to change.

__________________________________

At a glance

What: A dam on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia will affect other nations that rely on its water.

Why: The speed at which its reservoir is filled could see Egypt and Sudan suffer economically.

__________________________________

“We’ve consistently been the fastest-growing economy in Africa, and this dam will help us keep up this level of growth,” Motuma Mekassa Zeru, the country’s mining and petroleum minister, said on a visit to Cape Town recently. “To do this we will need electricity, which is what this project is about.”

By 2020 Ethiopia aims to increase its export revenue to US$16 billion, up from the current $3bn. The country has already started attracting manufacturers from China and elsewhere. Political stability, economic certainty and its proximity to the Arabian Gulf make it a choice destination for exporters.

However, as with all large-scale projects, the Grand Renaissance Dam carries significant risk, especially for downstream users of the Nile. Sudan and Egypt are heavily dependent on the flow of water from Ethiopia’s highlands.

The project is of special concern to Egypt, which gets about 60 per cent of its water from the Nile. Much of its 95 million people live along the lush riverine banks, or around the delta it forms as it approaches the Mediterranean Sea. So worried is Cairo, that the former government of Hosni Mubarak was considering a military response, including an air raid, according to a WikiLeaks post five years ago.

More recently, however, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have signed a mutual “do-no-harm” agreement and pledged to work out a settlement. In January this year the current Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El Sisi, visited Mr Desalegn in Addis Ababa and the commitment to a peaceful resolution was re-affirmed.

Still, there is no getting away from the fact that the risk to Egypt’s water supply is substantial. This is especially vulnerable to the time frame of filling the reservoir, which may take anywhere from five to 15 years, according to a recent Yale study.

The shorter the time taken the quicker Ethiopia can begin producing electricity, but this will also mean an aggressive throttling of water flow downstream.

“In my opinion, the filling of the dam below five years will critically impact the downstream countries,” says Professor Asfaw Beyene at San Diego State University in the US. Seven years may be acceptable to all sides, he said. At the same time, the countries involved are going to have to plan for potential power losses as dams further downstream see water flow reduced.

Once the dam is filled the flow should stabilise downstream as it will reach a point where Ethiopia cannot contain it any longer.

Another uncertainty is how Ethiopia intends to manage the electricity output. Prof Beyene says the 6,000 megawatts planned may be difficult to achieve outside peak water level. This means reservoir management will need to try keep it at its highest levels year round. That will be very hard to achieve consistently out of rainy season and Ethiopia may have to scale back its electricity generation expectations from the dam.

Some experts are even open to the idea the dam could benefit downstream users – provided everyone works together. Kevin Wheeler at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom says, with coordinated management in place, Ethiopia’s project could benefit everyone.

“If there is an agreement in place that guarantees a minimum annual release, the Renaissance dam can truly be a benefit to Egypt by providing for additional upstream storage, a more reliable flow from the Blue Nile, and protection from extended drought conditions.” Without planning, however, countries further down could risk flooding if too much water is released and dams in Sudan and Egypt are unprepared for a sudden increase in their own levels. In other times it could cause drought if they are not prepared for a reduced water supply during a poor rainy season.

“The key to making the Renaissance dam beneficial to Sudan and Egypt is explicit cooperation and coordination,” Mr Wheeler says.

Mega dams such as this will always be controversial. They disrupt lives and bring environmental disruption on a large scale. Prof Beyene adds that while projects such as this will always create long-standing problems, they may also help to end the cycle of poverty so many Africans experience.

“In the end, especially in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, news of constructing a dam is better than news of perpetual poverty and starvation,” Prof Beyene says.

“So yes, in principle I support hydroelectric dams because the alternatives are worse.”

business@thenational.ae

The post Ethiopian dam creates waves appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Young Eritrean girls seen at a dance class arrange by Jesuit Refugee Service at Adi Harush refugee camp, Ethiopia.

Contrary to popular notions that hordes of Eritrean refugees are headed to Europe, thousands have been ‘warehoused’ in Ethiopia with few options to restart their lives, say researchers from Samuel Hall and the Overseas Development Institute.

RITTEN BY
Nassim Majidi, Georgina Sturge

ERITREANS HAVE ONE of the hightest rates of emigration in the world: An estimated 5,000 Eritreans flee their country’s military dictatorship, forced conscription and bonded labor every month.

But contrary to popular portrayals of Eritreans fleeing to Europe, most Eritrean asylum seekers remain in neighboring Ethiopia, which has become the second largest refugee-hosting country in Africa.

Eritreans form the third largest refugee group in Ethiopia, after South Sudanese and Somalis, with over 155,000 living mainly in refugee camps, In contrast, 33,405 Eritreans registered as first-time asylum seekers in Europe in 2016, forming 3 percent of the over 1.2 million applications received by the E.U.

Our latest report for the Overseas Development Institute, “Journeys on Hold,” found that many Eritreans do aspire to move to Europe but are unable to do so.

The Eritreans we met cited safety as their first priority. Many simply cannot move forward, due to the financial costs and physical dangers associated with irregular migration. Others get drawn into the resettlement obsession, which provides one of the few legal channels available for Eritreans to restart their lives in the West.

However, the odds of being resettled are incredibly slim for refugees in Ethiopia – about one in 100. Despite being on the move, many Eritreans become immobile. These “immobile movers” hold out for resettlement and consider short-term solutions to survive in the meantime.

Indefinitely Immobile

Lone women and single mothers with children are particularly affected by becoming indefinitely immobile.

We met 34-year-old Negesti, with two of her children, in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. She was hoping to be reunited with her husband, who left Eritrea before them. Unable to locate him, she is now hoping to live in the U.S., Canada or Europe, where her children can attend school, and has applied for resettlement. She cannot afford education for her children in Ethiopia as she is not allowed to legally work despite being registered as a refugee.

Women and children stranded without protection and support, especially in large cities like Addis Ababa, become susceptible to abuse and manipulation. Rita, an Eritrean woman living in Addis Ababa, described Eritrean girls ending up in the sex trade: “More and more women in Addis, Eritrean women, you see alone, young, they fall in prostitution circles. … they go from one house to another. They get around. They are 14, 15, 16 years old,” she told us.

A survey that Samuel Hall conducted in 2014 found that lack of schooling and livelihood opportunities increase Eritrean female refugees’ vulnerability. Formal employment often constitutes a small share of theirlivelihoods. About 76 percent of female refugees reported that they did not work at all in a year, compared to 30 percent of the men we interviewed.

Our findings go beyond gender and geography. Urban refugees and other Eritreans who do not live in camps feel unproductive and disillusioned while waiting for family reunification or resettlement. One 53-year old man told us, “I am enjoying the peace here, even if I don’t have enough food.”

But frustration at the limits of such an existence quickly turns it to a “negative peace.” A term coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, he describes a condition where refugees are now “free from persecution,” yet experiencing “underdevelopment, hunger, injustice, and human incapacity” in exile.

Incentives to Remain

International policies to support refugees in non-Western countries serve a dual purpose: Ensuring minimal standards of health, education, and opportunities, while also acting as deterrence measures to keep refugees from migrating onwards to a Western country.

Yet truly improving refugees’ lives and discouraging them from furtherjourneys will require wider changes. For instance, skills building and loans for refugees should reflect the needs and capacities of the local economies. Legal pathways for migration should be clearly signposted, and resettlement options expanded.

While developing skills is beneficial in its own right, training people to do a job without allowing them the right to legally work prompts them to move on to places where they can put them to use. A 2014 report by Samuel Hall and the Norwegian Refugee Council found that one particular intervention in an Ethiopian camp designed to train young people with vocational skills actually strengthened their intention of onward migration.

Our research shows that enriching the skills of refugees living in camps, however noble the intent, does little besides further frustrating those living in limbo when they are not provided with viable livelihood options. There are only so many shops that can stay afloat, let alone make a profit, in a refugee camp with a closed economy that serves a small population with meager purchasing power.

Enabling the Host State

Ethiopia is a vital country of asylum, as the exodus from Eritrea will continue unabated. The Ethiopian government needs support in the form of protection measures and support that is tailored to men, women, youth and children. All refugees inside and outside the camps desperately need recognized labor rights. Primary and secondary education for their children is also crucial to avoid future generations from falling into the illiteracy-unemployment-poverty cycle.

Two solutions remain. The first is to facilitate a legal, safe and regular onward journey for refugees living in Ethiopia to a third country or to provide them with the rightful means in Ethiopia to resume their lives. The other measure must involve the granting of labor rights to which refugees are entitled under the Geneva Convention, alongside recognition that high unemployment and insecure jobs are problems affecting all Ethiopians too.

Waiting in limbo and working irregularly compounds the problems of both the displaced populations that are already living on the fringes of society and the stability of the countries hosting them.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Refugees Deeply.

Never miss an update. Sign up here for our Refugees Deeply newsletter to receive weekly updates, special reports and featured insights on one of the most critical issues of our time.

The post Eritreans Find Refuge in Ethiopia But No Incentive to Remain appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

The heroes who endured torture and risked their lives to save Ethiopian Jews.

BY TEAM BE’CHOL LASHON | APRIL 24, 2017

JEWISH&

Jewish& is a blog by Be’chol Lashon, which gives voice to the racial, ethnic and cultural diversity of Jewish identity and experience. The original multicultural people, Jews have lived around the world for millennia. Today, with globalism and inclusion so key in making choices about engaging in Jewish life,Jewish& provides a forum for personal reflection, discussion, and debate.

When he was 10 years old, filmmaker Avishai Mekonen walked from Ethiopia to Sudan and was eventually taken to Israel. As an adult, he began to wonder how that journey came to be and his research led to his newest project.

BL: Your first film focused on your own journey to Israel, how does this project differ?

Mekonen: When I got to Israel as a child, I never really thought about how I got there, I focused all my energy on fitting in in Israel. In becoming an adult and a filmmaker, I have tried to open up the story of Ethiopian Jews to better understand what happened. My first film was about my life and focused only a little on the broader community. This film is not about me but about the big picture about the heroes and the activists who made the exodus happen.

BL: Isn’t the story of the Ethiopian exodus already well known?

Mekonen: The story people usually tell is that the Jews of Ethiopia were rescued by Israel. And that is true in part. But there is a whole part of the story that is not well known, the story of the Ethiopian activists who held onto the dream of going to Jerusalem and made everything happen. Sadly, the usual vision of the Ethiopians is of passive helpless people who needed to rely on Israelis and Americans to save them. The Israelis and Americans were very important to this story but there were many many Ethiopian activists without whom none of this would have happened. They were the opposite of passive, they were heroes.

BL: You seem focused on the heroism that is central to this story why?

Mekonen: It is important for our young people to know that in our own Ethiopian community there were people who were brave and fought for so many years. I see the power of having heroes. Take the story of Natan Sharansky, he was put in jail because he wanted to come to Israel. He became a hero because he was willing to suffer for the dream. He was called a Prisoner of Zion. And even though Jews around the world helped free the Soviet Jews, he is still considered a hero.

That is what I want for the Ethiopian Jewish heroes, I want people to know the names of Yona Bogale, Gedalia Uria, Ester Hollander, and others. 440 Ethiopian activists and kessim (Ethiopian rabbis) were jailed in Ethiopia. So many risked their lives. For example, Ferede Aklum, whose daughter Mali Aklum, a young activist today in Tel Aviv, describes her father in the film as a “teacher, activist, leader, and James Bond” who endangered himself to make escape routes for the community from Ethiopia through Sudan, to get to Israel, and worked with the Mossad.

These activists had no money, no guides, no equipment. They had a dream and they made it happen. Many of these people were put in jail for days or months because leaving Ethiopia was illegal. They were beaten and tortured. Some died in jail. Those who were released did not give up. These people were true heroes.

BL: How did other Jews and the Israeli and American governments get involved?

Mekonen: Yona Bogale was first Ethiopian to reach out to the west and explained the danger the Beta Israel experienced. In the 1950s, he sent young Ethiopians to Israel to learn Hebrew and English and math and science. Those students became leaders and could speak to other leaders. When things got difficult after Haile Selassie was assassinated, they did protests and reached out to the government and did not give up. They went to the United States and started telling the story of the Ethiopian Jews to the American Jewish community. In the 1970s and 80s, Rahamim Elazar went to the United States and spoke at up to six synagogues a day. First, he had to convince American Jews that we were really Jews then he had to convince them that we needed help. An Israeli Ethiopian journalist and writer Rahamim Elazar was fluent in English and even met with President George Bush. Many individual Ethiopians did not stop working until the problem was one that everyone knew about.`

BL: Why did you decide to make this project now?

Mekonen: The activists are getting older, and I did not want this story to go untold. It is important for our youth to know that we ourselves played an important role in bringing us from Ethiopia. I want them to see that they have the power to be a force for change and possibility in their own lives going forward. This is an inspiring story for everyone, Americans, Israelis, Jews, non-Jews, it is a story of real dreams and real heroes and making the world a better place.

BL: Where can people learn more?

Mekonen: People can see the trailer online and our Facebook page. And if you are in New York City, I will be doing a presentation and showing a preview excerpt of the film at B’nai Jeshurun on April 30th. It is open to the public and everyone is welcome to come and you can register here.

The post Modern-Day Moses: The Heroes Who Saved Ethiopian Jews appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

St George FC of Ethiopia (photo: Romano Laurence

Ahead of the draw of the group phase of the Total CAF Champions League 2017 and Total CAF Confederation Cup on Wednesday, 26 April 2017 in Cairo, Egypt, the qualified clubs are drawn from 19 countries.

Tunisia leads the pack with the maximum representation in the two competitions, two each and four in all. Since 1997, Tunisian clubs have won seven continental club championships (2 CAF Champions League and 5 CAF Confederation Cup), and have been a constant feature at this stage. Their representatives are Esperance and Etoile du Sahel for the CAF Champions League, and the pair of Club Africain and CS Sfaxien in the CAF Confederation Cup.

Despite security concerns compelling clubs to play behind closed doors since 2011, Egyptian clubs continue to be a force to reckon with. Egypt has three clubs, after El Masry failed in their bid to become the fourth. Since the launch of the group phase in 1997, Egypt has seven CAF Champions League title, six for Al Ahly and one for rivals, Zamalek. Ahly also won the CAF Confederation Cup in 2014. Alexandria-based Smouha complete the Egyptian trio.

Also with three clubs each is South Africa, with African champions, Mamelodi Sundowns looking set to defend their title in the CAF Champions League. Platinum Stars and Supersport United are the others and will play in the second-tier continental club championship.

Sudan equally has three clubs with debutants and rising force Hilal Obeid, the surprise packets in the CAF Confederation Cup. Traditional giants, El Merreikh and El Hilal are in the CAF Champions League.

Algeria, DR Congo, Morocco and Zambia have a club each in the two competitions.

One-club countries include Swaziland, who for the time has representation at the mini-league stage of a major continental championship in Mbabane Swallows in the CAF Confederation Cup.

Other countries represented are Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Libya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 

CAF Champions League

The post Total CAF Champions League: 19 countries represented at group stage appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Africa News

Dr Merera Gudina, a leading opposition figure in Ethiopia and Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), has presented preliminary objections to the federal court where he is standing trial on terrorism and other criminal charges.

Gudina was charged along with two others, Jawar Mohammed, a popular Oromo activist and Executive Director of the Oromia Media Network and Berhanu Nega. The charges were made known on February 23, 2017.

The Addis Standard news portal reports that with the current objections raised by Gudina, the case was adjourned until May 4 in order for prosecutors to respond to the objections.

Dr. Merera according to court papers insisted that his trip to Belgium and the European Parliament address should not be reasons for his continued detention. He added that his trip had nothing to do with trespassing the state of emergency, which is one of the charges prosecutors have pressed.

He also denied claimes that he granted interviews to anti-government media outlets, the basis of which was a spike in protests in the restive regions.

The academic who was arrested upon his return from a European tour in December last year was charged with terrorism even though he was previously held for flouting state of emergency rules.

He is said to have met with anti-peace elements during his tour even though his most publicized engagement was the delivery of an address at the European Union Parliament in Brussels. He has been denied bail a number of times as prosecutors continue to gather evidence.

The country imposed a curfew in October last year to quell anti-government protests in the Amhara and Oromia regions.

The Command Post administering the curfew says relative peace has returned to the country. The parliament recently extended the state of emergency after relaxing most of the restrictions that came with the October 2016 decision.

There are issues also surrounding communication access with slow internet in most parts of the country. Some European countries have lifted their travel advice for Ethiopia with the ‘return to peace.’

The post Dr Merera Gudina objects to terrorism charge, case adjourned appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

BY FASIKA TADESSE
FORTUNE STAFF WRITER

The Board of Directors of Tiret Corporate, an endowment company affiliated to the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), has made a change of guard at its top for the first time since its founding over two decades ago.

Bereket Simon, a veteran leader and founder of ANDM, has been replaced by Ahmed Abitew, minister of Industry, as board chairman of Tiret, a holding company established in 1995 with a registered capital of 26.1 million Br.

Ahmed, who is also a political bureau member of the ANDM, has confirmed his appointment to Fortune.

What transpired the change remains unclear, but Bereket has submitted his resignation last week, which the board of directors accepted, according to sources. However, a formal handover of responsibilities between the two has yet to take place, as there are formalities and processes which need completion before a handover, according to these sources.

Headquartered in Bahir Dar, Tiret was established with contributions in seed money from the ANDM and its 25 founding members, many of whom were prominent during the armed struggle against the Marxist military government.

Following its downfall, assets in ANDM’s hands were transferred to Tiret, which now runs no less than six subsidiary companies involved in the brewery, transport, agriculture, communications, trading, and logistics. Tadesse Kassa, another founding member of the ANDM, serves as Chief Executive Officer (CE0) of Tiret.

Its iconic asset, Dashen Brewery, operates two plants in Gonder and Debre Brehan towns and owned jointly with foreign partners, the British Duet Group, who controls 41pc of the shares. Succeeded to become one of the major brewers in the country, it bottles 769,000 hectolitre beer a year. Although Bereket was the founding chairperson of the Corporation, Tiret directors have decided a couple of years ago that the service of a board chairperson would be limited to a five-year term of only two terms. However, Bereket resigned from his position before his term ended, according to sources.

However, during his tenure, Tiret has expanded drastically both in capital and operations. Recently the company acquired Bahir Dar and Kombolcha textile companies, for 315 million Br and 450 million Br, respectively. The Ministry of Public Enterprises transferred these assets to Tiret, after an executive order from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Bereket, an advisor to the Prime Minister and in charge of Policy Studies & Research Centre, remains to serve as the board chairman of the state-owned giant the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).

His successor, Ahmed, currently chairs the board of directors of the state policy bank, the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), having succeeded Mekonnen Manyazewal, chief economist in the Prime Minister`s Office. He was the deputy administrator of the Amhara Regional State and head of the region’s Industry & Urban Development Bureau. Since 1992, he has led several bureaus within the Amhara regional state, including the Finance & Economic Development Bureau.

Source: AF

The post Bereket Resigns From the Billionaire Wing of ANDM; Tiret & is replaced by Ahmed Abitew appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Memorial Service for Ato Assefa Chabo

The post Memorial Service for Ato Assefa Chabo appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Afghan Journalists Safety Committee honoured as Free Media Pioneer

Ethiopian journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega, who has been imprisoned since 2011 after criticising his country’s abuse of anti-terror laws to silence the press, has been named the International Press Institute (IPI)’s 69th World Press Freedom Hero.

IPI also announced today the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee as the recipient of the 2017 Free Media Pioneer Award in recognition of the group’s courageous and trailblazing work to prevent, combat and monitor attacks on journalists in one of the world’s most dangerous media environments.

Both awards, which for the past three years have been given in partnership with Copenhagen-based International Media Support (IMS), will be presented during a special ceremony on May 18 in Hamburg, Germany during IPI’s annual World Congress and General Assembly.

Press Freedom Hero

IPI’s World Press Freedom Hero Award honours journalists who have made significant contributions to the promotion of press freedom, particularly in the face of great personal risk.

Nega has spent over 2,000 days behind bars since his arrest on Sept. 14, 2011, when Ethiopian authorities accused him of “leading a plan to throw the country into serious political chaos through a series of terrorist acts” and linked him to a banned opposition group. His jailing came shortly after Nega, a persistent critic of Ethiopia’s former long-time ruler and then-Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, published a column questioning the government’s abuse of anti-terror laws to punish journalistic scrutiny.

Nega’s comments were preceded by a wave of detentions under Ethiopia’s broad 2009 anti-terror law, including those of journalists Woubshet Taye and Reeyot Alemu – the 2013 recipient of the UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize – as well as Swedish correspondents Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson.

An Ethiopian court convicted Nega in June 2012 of “participation in a terrorist organization” and “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of (a) terrorist act”. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison the following month, a decision the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention later said violated international law.

IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi said the award was a recognition of Nega’s “unflinching dedication to the free exchange of ideas and information and his determination – at the expense of his freedom and separation from his family – not to remain silent in the face of the Ethiopian government’s cynical attempt to use the fight against terrorism to crush legitimate dissent”.

She continued: “This award sends the message that Eskinder Nega’s bravery in relentlessly scrutinising power despite years of intense retaliation has not been forgotten. We renew our call on Ethiopia to free Eskinder and all journalists jailed for doing their jobs or expressing their opinions, and we urge the international community not to ignore Ethiopia’s continued flouting of its international human rights obligations”.

Nega faced frequent official pressure and harassment due to his writing beginning in the early 1990s. In 2005, he and his wife, journalist Serkalem Fasil, were jailed on treason charges for their coverage of a mass government crackdown on popular protests following disputed parliamentary elections won by Zenawi’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Fasil would later give birth to a son behind bars. Authorities released the couple in April 2007 but shuttered their publishing company and banned Nega from practicing journalism.

Fasil, who now lives in exile in the United States with their son, said of IPI and IMS’ recognition of her husband that it was “absolutely heart-warming to know that all his sacrifices and valuable contribution to press freedom are not wasted in vain, but continue to shine a spotlight [on his plight] on the global stage”.

She added: ”Although, it remains a bittersweet moment for me (knowing where he is now), it is important to uphold such recognition for the tremendous impact it’s having to those who aspire to follow in his footsteps. … I truly hope it also expedites his release from imprisonment and brings an end to his suffering.”

IPI and its members have previously called for Nega’s release, including during a November 2013 joint mission to Ethiopia with the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). The Ethiopian government on that occasion denied IPI and WAN-IFRA’s requests to visit Nega and other jailed journalists.

he following year, WAN-IFRA honoured Nega with its Golden Pen of Freedom Award. In 2012, he also received the PEN American Center/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.

In early September 2011, commenting on the arrests of Taye and Alemu, and just days before his own detention, Nega wrote to IPI: “Their arrest has more to do with calculated cultivation of fear. Fear is what dictatorships ultimately rely on to survive.”

Free Media Pioneer

The annual Free Media Pioneer Award was established by IPI in 1996 to recognise news or media organisations that have made innovations that have promoted news access or quality, or benefitted journalists and the media community, thereby ensuring freer and more independent media in their country or region.

This year’s recipient, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), is a countrywide safety mechanism covering all 34 Afghan provinces that monitors incidents and provides media professionals with advice and practical safety measures. AJSC has local safety trainers that work collaboratively with media houses, press clubs, unions, civil society organisations, local authorities and law enforcement.

Founded in 2009, AJSC made significant achievements in fostering support and solidarity to journalists and Afghanistan’s media community in the face of extreme repression, violence and tragedy.

The stakes around its work are high: when the Taliban took over Kunduz province in 2015 and again in 2016, AJSC helped more than 160 journalists with emergency evacuation, shelter, health and psychological counselling. Over the past eight years, AJSC has assisted in more than 400 cases of violence and intimidation targeting journalists, and it has provided training to more than 600 journalists across Afghanistan.

AJSC maintains a 24/7 hotline as well as safe houses across Afghanistan. It provides training on both journalistic skills and safety – including risk assessment and management, first aid and conflict sensitive reporting, social media and digital security – and offers traumatised journalists support from a team of trauma counsellors. In keeping with its collaborative nature, AJSC also works to train police and security forces to encourage cooperation on safety.

For journalists who must flee the country or who require medical treatment not available in Afghanistan, AJSC maintains a relocation option in India, which offers long-term exiles job training or study at a local university or media house.

“Amid the severe threat to journalists in Afghanistan, the incredibly courageous work of the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee embodies the belief that journalism can and must thrive even in the most hostile corners of the world,” Trionfi said. “Their defiance and determination are helping to ensure that the people of Afghanistan can realise their right to inform and be informed, and their activities offer hope and a model to other societies wracked by conflict.”

Jesper Højberg, director of International Media Support (IMS), added; “ASJC has come a very long way and I am confident that their achievements are based not only on hard work but also rooted in the fact that it is a truly Afghan-based safety mechanism – not a donor-driven safety project. ASJC works hard to bring together media, local government, law enforcement as well as civil society to protect journalists and enhance media safety. Their inclusive and collaborative work makes ASJC a model for media safety work globally.”

Notably, AJSC also fulfils a research and advocacy function, recording attacks on journalists and promoting the role of female journalists and increased safety. According to AJSC’s statistics, 2016 was the deadliest year for journalists in the history of Afghanistan, with 101 recorded cases of killings, assault, intimidation and other forms of harm.

Najib Sharifi, director of AJSC, told IPI in response to news of AJSC’s recognition as the 2017 Free Media Pioneer: “My colleagues and I are delighted to hear about this. Such a prestigious award increases our passion, commitment and pride to our work towards protection of journalists, which is critical to preserving freedom of media and freedom of expression in Afghanistan.”

Find out more about past IPI World Press Freedom Heroes and Free Media Pioneers.

IPI’s 2017 World Congress will be held from May 18 to 20 in Hamburg, Germany. To register and view the full programme, please visit the World Congress site.

The post Ethiopia’s Eskinder Nega named IPI Press Freedom Hero appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

World Health Organization Director-General post contender Dr. Tedros Adhanom doesn’t have the backing of the Ethiopian people

Ethiopian Advocacy Network

“If the Ethiopian people have the opportunity to vote (in a free and fair election) for Tedros Adhanom for any position he wouldn’t get more than one percent of the vote.”

Tedros Adhanom

In a country struggling with a devastating drought, potentially evolving into a full-blown famine, the regime in Addis Ababa is spending  millions of taxpayers’ money and resources for a campaign to install Tigraye People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) Politburo member for the post of Director-General at the World Health Organization (WHO). According to several international aid agencies, 18 million people are facing food shortage in Ethiopia while Tedros Adhanom is crisscrossing the globe and wining and dining in luxury, spending money that should otherwise be used to feed children. As a result of this developing drought situation, 500 schools across Ethiopia have closed because families are unable to feed their children.[1] Instead of providing the urgently needed food aid to desperate and needy  children and mothers, the regime is filling gift bags sometimes with lavish presents to potential voters within the United Nations system.

Furthermore, most Ethiopians under the regime of which Tedros Adhanom is a member of the top leadership have experienced state inflicted terror conducted in the form of torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and disappearances. These heinous actions of the regime are well documented by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). In the last 12 months alone more than 1000 innocent civilians were murdered and more than 20,000 peaceful citizens summarily arrested by security forces loyal to the regime. Political activists, human rights defenders, journalists and pro-democracy organizers are routinely intimidated, arrested and tortured under the orders of Tedros Adhanom and his cohorts.

The United Nations High Commissoner for Human Rights, Zeid Al Hussein, repeatdly called on the regime to allow international observers to investigate these killing and gross violations of human rights in the country. Unfortunately, his call has been rejected by the regime. This refusal to allow international bodies to investigate the situation in the country is further evidence that the regime doesn’t adhere to international norms and instruments of which any responsible and civilized governemnt should respect and observe. Given this, and other belligerent behaviour of the regime, how can one of the senior members of the ruling clique even be considered to run for this prominent UN agency? Wouldn’t this be an affront to the values WHO represents, and an insult to WHO staff, the Ethiopian people and to the world?

Ethiopia currently is under a suffocating  state of emergency, although some argue that the unoffcial state of emergency has been going on for twenty-six years, under the rule of Tedros Adhanom and his clique. The response  of the regime to every political, economic and social demands of citizens is to rule by force (state of emergency) instead of providing a rational response to legitimate grievance due to steady erosion of basic constitutional rights.

Tedros Adhanom’s TPLF party and North Korea’s Worker’s Party are the only two political organizations in the world to declare 100%  “victory” in  national elections 2014 and 2015 respectively. It is the hope of the majority of the Ethiopian people that individuals with undemocratic credentials and behaviors are not rewarded at the international stage. Thus, Tedros Adhanom should not be allowed near an inclusive, fair and responsible international institution. Moreover, the world is going through an unprecedented degree of national isolationism and violence. Hence, it is important to equip international institutions, such as WHO, with capable, inclusive and wise leaders instead of ethnic kleptocrats.

The Ethiopian people are watching Tedros Adhanom’s campaign with utter disgust and bewilderment. The fact that he is allowed to go this far is travesty of justice to those who are murdered,  tortured, and arrested,  under the orders of Adhanom and his group. “Rewarding agents of authoritarianism and those who participate in extrajudicial killings is nothing less than insult to injury,” said one mother, whose 18-year old son was brutally murdered by the TPLF paramilitary group called Agazi, a group in which Tedros Adhanom is one of the political chiefs.

Some of the United Nations agencies, such as the Human Rights Commission, already have troubling reputations as they roll out the welcome mat for representatives from authoritarian regimes, such as Saudi Arabia, even Libya. The World Health Organization must shield itself from such atrocious collusion with those who have no regard for the dignity and the sanctity of human life.

Most importantly, this position should not be a forum for horsetrading or “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” Quid Pro Quo games. The WHO is an international organization with a serious health, safety and security responsibility globally. Small mindedness, tribalism and ethnic extremism should not have a place at the international arena. Those who promote ethnic hegemony and domination today at the national level should not be allowed to get hold of power at the international level. As the world faces an unprecedented level of  extreme polarization and violence, it is important to search for leaders with wisdom and for inclusion  to guide humanity out of this turbulent period. Tedros Adhanom doesn’t have the wisdom, intelligence, compassion or the understanding of what is needed in this critical juncture of human history. Countries who are contemplating to use the WHO Director-General post as a horse trading opportunity should reconsider their positions because the responsibility comes with the position is too big for a small politics.

Tedros Adhanom and his group is outright rejected by the Ethiopian people because of their incompetence, small mindedness and also their addiction to violence and state terror. As one health care worker in Addis Ababa put it, “If the Ethiopian people have the opportunity to vote (in a free and fair election) for Tedros Adhanom for any position he couldn’t get more than one percent of the vote.”  So we urge member nations not to allow Tedros Adhanom, a corrupt politician at the center of a regime with no regard for human life and basic human rights, to lead the ultimate humanitarian organisation on the globe.

Ethiopian Advocacy Network

P.O.Box 643
Washington D.C. 20044
Telephone: (240) 473 3235
E-mail: office@advocacyethiopia.org
www.advocacyethiopia.org

[1] http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56539#.WO_hZ4jyvIU

The post WHO contender Tedros Adhanom doesn’t have the backing of the Ethiopian people appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

This portrait of Michelle Obama as an Egyptian queen was painted by Gelila Mesfin, an Ethiopian art student in New York. (@thick_east_african_girl/Instagram)

CBC Radio

When Gelila Mesfin first saw that her portrait of Michelle Obama had been made into a mural on Chicago’s south side, she was flattered.

“I thought it was pretty cool. I didn’t know anyone had taken credit for it. I figured someone was just inspired and put it up there,” Mesfin, a New York art student from Ethiopia, told As It Happens host Carol Off. “It was kinda cool to see your art work displayed in such a huge manner.”

The mural of Obama decked out as an Egyptian queen was unveiled Friday two blocks from the former first lady’s childhood home.

It bears a striking resemblance to a digital portrait that Mesfin made and shared on her own Instagram account in October 2016, based on a photograph by the New York Times’ Collier Schorr, whom Mesfin credits in her post.

“I just wanted to portray her as a queen,” Mesfin said. “She was just such a class act and she inspired a lot of black women, black girls, and women in general to be strong, be educated and to stand their ground, and you know, to fight for what they love.”

But her feelings of flattery quickly wore off when she read an article about the mural on the website DNA Info, in which the man who painted it appears to take credit for the concept.

“I wanted to present her as what I think she is, so she’s clothed as an Egyptian queen. I thought that was appropriate,” Chris Devins, a city planner known for his Chicago portrait-style murals, told DNA Info on Friday.

What’s more, she learned Devins had crowdfunded more than $11,700 US to make the mural, and offered up signed prints to donors.

“I realized that, ‘Wait a minute, this person is not giving me credit,’” Mesfin said. “I was very disheartened and I just felt like it was disrespectful.”

So Mesfin went back on Instagram to call Devins out. “How can you just steal someone’s artwork,” she wrote in a post that has since been liked more than 5,000 times.

The post Chicago Man Raises $11.7K for Michelle Obama Mural He Copied from Ethiopian Art Student Gelila Mesfin appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Esat Radio Wed 26 Apr 2017

The post Esat Radio Wed 26 Apr 2017 appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Protesters chant slogans against the government during a march in Bishoftu, in the region of Oromia, Ethiopia, Oct. 2, 2016 (AP photo).

Ostensibly intended to quell unrest perpetrated by “anti-peace” forces, Ethiopia’s extension of a state of emergency in March signals a continued crackdown on the country’s restive and aggrieved population. This repression disproportionately affects 65 million Ethiopian youth, who make up more than two-thirds of the country’s total population. Such brutality has increasingly left these young people—Ethiopia’s greatest asset or, conversely, a massive liability—a choice between two dangerous options: escape or rebel.

As is the case elsewhere in Africa, Ethiopia’s youth bulge is a double-edged sword. It strains scant natural resources and limited infrastructure, but, if harnessed, could be a boon to the country’s economy and the foreign companies looking to outsource operations there. But the government’s stubborn refusal to reform undermines prospects for its increasingly educated and connected youth to stay and prosper in Ethiopia. Moreover, the violent nature of the government’s clampdown has extinguished nearly all avenues for youth to legally and peacefully express their grievances, creating the conditions for violent rebellion.

Young Ethiopians are increasingly able to afford and access the internet, where they flock to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, or connect with friends and relatives on messaging applications like WhatsApp. Access to mobile data has given even Ethiopia’s rural youth a window into the political transformations taking place across the Middle East and Africa, as well as across their own country since sporadic protests began last year. The internet also serves as a conduit to broadcast malfeasance by the country’s security forces—social media was a key tool for disseminating photos and videos of the bloody crackdown on protesters to the diaspora and international activist organizations. That explains why the government has so frequently blocked the internet.

Since April 2014, Ethiopians have been taking to the streets intermittently to demand political reforms and express their discontent over issues like ethnic marginalization, insufficient land rights, corruption, and the government’s ruthless suppression of independent media and opposition groups. What started as a movement led by the country’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, quickly metastasized to include a coalition that crossed regional, ethnic and religious lines.

Momentum peaked last fall, when demonstrations occurred in at least 200 towns across Oromia region and dozens more in Amhara. Ethiopians of all ages turned out, though students were especially well-represented in organizing and participating in the protests. Moreover, most of those killed in the bloody aftermath were youth.

Such brutality has increasingly left young people—Ethiopia’s greatest asset or, conversely, a massive liability—a choice between two dangerous options: escape or rebel.

In response to the unrest, security forces fired live ammunition into crowds of demonstrators, provoking a deadly stampede in at least one case. Rumors of security forces raiding houses in the dead of night or bursting into classrooms to look for the protest ringleaders swirled; gruesome images of bloodied protesters, some allegedly found murdered, circulated on social media.

In October, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced a six-month state of emergency, granting sweeping powers to the police and military to quell the unrest. In an apparent win for demonstrators, the government simultaneously announced that it would enter dialogue with Ethiopia’s opposition groups to identify key political reforms. However, little progress has emerged from those talks, and the opposition’s participation appears shakier every day.

The past year’s unrest coupled with internet blackouts has damaged Ethiopia’s reputation as a haven for foreign investment, which previously contributed to some of the highest annual growth rates in Africa. But providing alternative opportunities for Ethiopia’s urban-dwelling college graduates—who find agriculture, the mainstay of Ethiopia’s economy, unappealing—remains a pressing challenge in a country where urban unemployment is already 18 percent.

Ethiopians, like other African migrants, already undertake the dangerous journey to Europe or the Gulf to join friends and relatives and to seek employment. While government repression has caused thousands to seek asylum outside the country, economic conditions have had the same result—so much so that the United Kingdom, European Union and World Bank announced a $500 million project to create jobs and stem migration from Ethiopia in 2016. Young people, and especially high-skilled workers, make up a worryingly large portion of this migration.

With limited prospects for employment, and even fewer options for free expression, Ethiopia’s youth have few places to turn. For historically marginalized groups, including the Oromo and Somali ethnic groups and Ethiopia’s large Muslim population, this political isolation and sense of grievance is magnified. The majority of the recent protests bore the fingerprints of opposition figures like Bekele Gerba—a staunch advocate of nonviolence and peaceful resistance. But in select cases, demonstrators torched foreign-owned farms, targeted perceived members of the ruling elite, and violently clashed with police and regional security forces.

To date, Ethiopia has successfully fended off the kind of open conflict seen in neighboring South Sudan and Somalia. It has also successfully immunized itself against the Islamist terrorism that bedevils Somalia and Kenya, and there is little evidence to suggest that Ethiopia’s Muslim community is open to the radical ideology of either al-Qaida or al-Shabab. The brutal murder of more than a dozen Ethiopian migrants by the so-called Islamic State in Libya last year, for example, prompted overwhelming national anger and mourning.

Ethiopia has also resisted attempts by secessionist movements seeking to impose their political agendas through violence. Long-running but low-level insurgent campaigns continue in the country’s hinterlands, though the military in concert with regional militias have for the most part neutralized those threats. The military remains on high alert for sporadic flare-ups along the Eritrean border, which broke away from Ethiopia after a deadly three-decades-long war and remains an uneasy neighbor.

A large and capable military, strong border controls, advanced surveillance capabilities and an extensive human intelligence network have been integral to Ethiopia’s success in preventing both terrorism and homegrown rebellions. But too often, the Ethiopian government conflates legal political opposition or activism with membership in banned groups, allowing security forces and Ethiopia’s courts to treat all demonstrators as terrorists. Doing so exacerbates decades of ethnic, religious and political marginalization. In the end, these tactics may create the very rebellion they seek to quash.

A recent series of grenade attacks that targeted a university and two hotels follow an unsolved 2015 grenade attack on an Addis Ababa mosque that killed more than a dozen people. Should the Ethiopian government continue to dismiss nationwide discontent, these now-isolated violent incidents could become the new normal. Time is running out for the government to prove its interest in listening to its aggrieved youth—and the consequences of not doing so are dire.

Kelsey Lilley is associate director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.

The post Ethiopia’s Crackdown on Dissent Leaves Youth With Dangerous Options appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Voice of Amhara Daily News April 26, 2017

The post Voice of Amhara Daily News April 26, 2017 appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Fulbright Honor to Take Alumna to Ethiopia

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

LORI WESTERMANN ALUMNA, ETHIOPIA, FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR, LIBRARY, LIS, OPEN ACCESS 0

Library Information Science Program Alumna (MLS ’78), Janet Lee has been named a Fulbright Scholar and will use the opportunity to take her expertise in open access publishing to the University of Aksum in Ethiopia.

“I plan to explore avenues of scholarly publishing in Ethiopia that ensure that faculty are provided an opportunity to share their knowledge, perspectives and values and that students and colleagues have unfettered access to their collective scholarship,” Lee said.

In a country where there are only 35 open access journals, the cost of academic publishing and databases make robust research challenging for many university faculty. Lee’s work seeks to change that, and in doing, enhance the economic development opportunities that accompany such scholarly publishing.

Lee is no stranger to the country of Ethiopia, nor to developing innovative solutions.

Her original introduction to the country was as a Peace Corp volunteer from 1974-76, during which time she helped create a small school library. Follow up trips solidified her commitment to the region and led to her establishing a library in northern Ethiopia during her sabbatical there in 2010.

Lee currently serves as Dean of the Regis University Dayton Memorial Library and works closely with DU librarians on a variety of initiatives. She serves as editor of Colorado Libraries, is on the founding board of Collaborative Librarianship Journal at the Anderson Academic Commons, and is co-edits the Jesuit Education Journal at Regis University.

Lee credits her University of Denver education with providing the foundation for a successful career and offers words of advice to current MCE students, “Take advantage of opportunities and stretch beyond your conventional limits. Explore, take chances, what is the worst that could happen?”  

The post FULBRIGHT HONOR TO TAKE ALUMNA TO ETHIOPIA appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Sign Here-  Poll: Who should be the next WHO Director-General?

Sign Here-  Poll: Who should be the next WHO Director-General?

The post Poll: Who should be the next WHO Director-General? appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

By AFP | Published: 27th April 2017

ADDIS ABABA: The United States issued a warning Thursday to its citizens about travelling to a popular tourist region in Ethiopia after a string of grenade attacks targeting hotels and homes.

The US embassy in Addis Ababa said there had been four grenade blasts this month in Gondar, a city in the north known for its ancient castles.

A popular stop on Ethiopia’s tourist circuit, Gondar was also the scene of anti-government protests last year that led to the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency.

“The embassy recommends US citizens carefully consider whether travel to Gondar is necessary at this time,” the embassy said in a statement.

A spokesman for Ethiopia’s government had no immediate comment.

While Ethiopia has enjoyed rapid economic growth in recent years and falling poverty rates, protests erupted in 2015 by communities disenchanted with the government of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

Human rights groups say hundreds of people were killed and thousands arrested when security forces cracked down on the demonstrations.

The unrest erupted in the central Oromo region near the capital and then spread to Amhara in the north, including Gondar.

State-run Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported this month that Ethiopia’s human rights commission had submitted a report to parliament saying 669 people were killed in last year’s protests, along with 63 security officers.

The unrest led parliament to declare a six-month state of emergency in October 2016, which was extended for another four months in March.

The post US issues warning after Ethiopia grenade attacks appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Daniel Teferra (PhD) Emeritus Professor of Economics.

Ethiopia’s rulers, under pressure from the public, recently ordered the slaughterhouse for donkeys in Bishoftu be closed. The meat was to be exported to Vietnam and the skin to China.

Trade can be mutually beneficial, but not when a country slaughters its farm assets; or exports its natural resources. All these are needed to create goods and services for domestic consumption and exports.

The current rulers do not seem to know or care much about that. Their only goal is to earn foreign exchange. For instance, they sell electric power to neighboring countries while the domestic demand goes unmet. The idea of exporting water to Djibouti is also being floated.

In the first place, the whole idea of slaughtering donkeys is culturally insensitive. In accordance with the teachings of the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia, Christians are not allowed to slaughter animals that do not have split hoofs. This should not have been lost by the Church leadership.

Furthermore for Christians in Ethiopia, the donkey is a peaceful animal. Based on Christian teachings, Jesus entered the capital city of Jerusalem to celebrate Passover on a donkey, an animal that demonstrated his peaceful intentions.

Traditionally, In Ethiopia, the donkey (ahya) is a tireless servant of the poor. “You don’t harm a friend that good,” we were told, growing up in Ethiopia. The donkey accompanied the soldier to the battle field carrying his ration. Mothers mention the service of the donkey in lullaby songs. As they sing, carrying their babies on their backs, they say, for a baby girl:

“እሽሩሩ ማሜ፣ እሽሩሩ ማሜ
የማሚቱ እናት ቶሎ ነይላት
ዳቦውን ባህያ፣ ወተቱን በጉያ፣ ቶሎ ነይላት!

 And for a baby boy, they say:

“እሽሩሩ ማሞ፣ እሽሩሩ ማሞ
የማሙዬ እናት፣ ቶሎ ነይለት
ዳቦውን ባህያ፣ ወተቱን በጉያ፣ ቶሎ ነይለት!

The cultural ramifications aside, it does not make economic sense for Ethiopia to slaughter or export its donkeys. Ethiopia’s peasants, most of them dirt poor, rely mainly on the donkey for packing and riding.

Slaughtering donkeys not only reduces their supply drastically, but it will also decimate the mule population. Mules are off-springs of male donkeys and mares (female horses). Donkeys and mules are both hardy and versatile animals. Furthermore, mules have a reputation for their disproportionate strength and excellent hoofs. They also live longer than horses.

In Ethiopia, farming is still done by hand with the help of machete, hoe and burning. Oxen-drawn plow is not widely known. There is also a critical shortage of oxen. Therefore, the significance of donkeys, mules and horses for Ethiopia’s agriculture cannot be understated.

For example, if the traditional plow could be improved, farming with mules and horses could work efficiently well on Ethiopia’s small scale farms.  In addition, farming with draft animals is sound ecologically.

Ethiopia’s trade relation with the outside world will be beneficial if Ethiopia can transform its peasant farming first. That will enable Ethiopia to produce a diverse group of agricultural products for exports. Ethiopia is still stuck with its traditional exports of coffee, hides and skins and oilseeds.

For instance, Ethiopia could export pork to China. According to USDA, domestic consumption of pork in China has increased five-fold since 1980.  Unable to keep up with the ever-rising demand, China has been importing pork in large quantities.

Thus, in order to take advantage of the massive Chinese market, Ethiopia could introduce pig farms instead of establishing slaughterhouses for donkeys. If that is possible, Ethiopia’s peasant farmers will be able to improve their incomes, and the government will be able to reap tax revenues and foreign exchange. Then Ethiopia will not have to engage in a destructive trade relationship and impoverish itself further.

*Daniel Teferra (PhD) Emeritus Professor of Economics.

The post Ethiopia should export pork not donkeys – Daniel Teferra appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

ESFNA first meet in Seattle set for April 29, 2017

The post ESFNA first meet in Seattle set for April 29, 2017 appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Relations may be tense between the neighbouring countries but some Eritreans are crossing the disputed border.

James Jeffrey/Al Jazeera

Badme, on the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia – The disputed border town of Badme is where war broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998. It lasted for two years and devastated both countries. In 2002, a Hague boundary commission ruled that Badme was part of Eritrea. It was a ruling that both countries initially accepted. But Ethiopian troops continue to occupy the town.

Nowadays an uneasy standoff exists between the two country’s armies along the still-contested border a few kilometres north of Badme, at the tip of Ethiopia’s Yirga Triangle, which juts into Eritrea.

But now there are others moving along the border: Eritreans who travel through the region’s hills, trying to keep out of sight of their own military, to escape into Ethiopia.

“After crossing at night we tried to sleep but could hear the hyenas around us,” said 22-year-old mother-of-two Yordanos. “We started shouting and then Ethiopian soldiers came for us.”

Once picked up by the Ethiopian army, Eritrean refugees are deposited at Badme’s so-called “entry point”, a compound of simple buildings that marks the start of their journey to gain asylum in Ethiopia.

With Yordanos is another mother-of-two, as well as 15 boys and young men aged between 16 and 20 who crossed to avoid enforced and indefinite military service.

“After receiving a letter to join up I hid for five months in the rural areas,” said one 18-year-old. “But then I heard the government was looking for me, so I crossed.”

There are 12 entry points along Ethiopia’s 910km border with Eritrea from where refugees are moved to a screening and registration centre in the town of Endabaguna. Afterwards they are assigned to one of four refugee camps in the Tigray region bordering Eritrea.

“We are brothers and sisters,” said Luel Abera, a reception coordinator at the entry point in the town of Adinbried, about 50km southeast of Badme. Most highland Eritreans from around the capital, Asmara, share the same language, the same Christian Orthodox religion and the same culture as Tigray’s Ethiopian inhabitants.

In February 2017, 3,367 Eritrean refugees arrived in Ethiopia, according to the Ethiopian Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs.

Ethiopia currently houses around 165,000 Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers, according to the UN refugee agency. Thousands more Eritreans are thought to live in the country outside the asylum system.

“They even come through the Afar and the world’s lowest depression,” said Estifanos Gebremedhin from Ethiopia’s Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs.

In the Afar’s Danakil Depression, a desert straddling the Eritrean border to the east of the Tigray highlands, daytime temperatures frequently soar above 50 degrees Celsius, accompanied by a fierce gale known as the Gara (Fire Wind).

“They are using every chance they can,” Estifanos said.

The post The Eritreans fleeing to Ethiopia [James Jeffrey] appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Interview with Dr Bezabih Demissie and Yeshiwas Assefa – SBS Amharic

The post Interview with Dr Bezabih Demissie and Yeshiwas Assefa – SBS Amharic appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News | Breaking News: Your right to know!.