File Photo- Reuters

A bilateral amnesty program between Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia in respect of Ethiopians illegally resident in the oil-rich Gulf nation expires today after a months’ extension elapsed.

The process till this stage has involved the issuing of the initial 90-day amnesty – during which time authorities in Addis Ababa expressed worry over the slow rate of return. At a point there was a huge return then an extension of 30-days was granted.

This effectively means that Saudi can now resort to forcible deportation and imprisonment of persons who failed to take the program and to return home.

It is better if our citizens come back home before various problems arise seizing the opportunity they are given even in the remaining short period.

The Ethiopian government helped facilitate exit visas for thousand of its nationals who were illegally resident in Saudi, most of them had gone to work as labourers.

Figures indicate that there are about 400,000 such illegal residents but so far only about 60,000 of them have taken the amnesty program to return, the BBC’s reporter in Addis Ababa reports.

Below is a brief timeline of events since March 2017.

March 29, 2017

– Saudi Arabia issues a 90-day notice for all undocumented workers to quit the Kingdom.

May 21, 2017

– Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn expressed worry over the refusal of nationals illegally resident in Saudi Arabia to return home despite a 90-day amnesty program. Desalegn said he feared that the Saudi government will resort to forcibly deport Ethiopians.

He is quoted by the Ethiopia News Agency as saying, “the situation that made the Saudi Government forcibly deport our citizens is being created. Therefore, it is better if our citizens come back home before various problems arise seizing the opportunity they are given even in the remaining short period”.

May 27, 2017

– The Ethiopian government said it had secured exit visas for about 40,000 undocumented citizens living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Affairs chief traveled to Saudi and held talks with officials in Riyadh.

June 24, 2017

– Information Minister reported that 35,000 nationals had returned home on the program and that 85,000 of them had been granted exit visas at the time.

He also disclosed that some returning citizens had taken other routes besides flying in. Assuring that those who left Saudi via ship and rail. Most of them are in neighbouring Djibouti and Sudan.

June 28, 2017

– The Ethiopian government requested for an extension of the amnesty of the over 400,000 nationals expected back home, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said only 45,000 had returned home.

June 30, 2017

– The extension requested by Ethiopia was granted by Saudi authorities – a further 30-days.

Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK, Hailemichael Aberra confirmed the extension to the BBC on saying “Ethiopia is trying its best to welcome the people from Saudi Arabia”.

“A taskforce has been established at several levels … 110,000 have been registered and the others are being encouraged to register to get their visas and come back home,” Aberra said.

With the amnesty having expired today

(Tuesday 25 July, 2017),

Ethiopians who failed to return home will be forced back. They could also face detention and fines according to Saudi law.

Ethiopia has one of the largest undocumented migrants in Saudi Arabia working as construction and domestic workers.

Local media reports that a number of them have complained of inability to afford tickets to leave the country. The government sent envoys to help facilitate the repatriation via the national airline Ethiopian Airlines.

This follows a similar campaign launched in 2013 that saw more than 2.5 million undocumented migrants leave the country. The move is part of Saudi’s national campaign to rid the country of the huge number of illegal migrants.

Shaban Abdur Rahman Alfa
Digital journalist
Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo
alfa.shaban@africanews.com

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Addisstandard
Samuel Bogale   

Dagmawi Melnilik Hospital, which was later upgraded to a referral hospital, is the nation’s first hospital built in 1909

Addis Abeba, July 25/2017 – “You have to apologize to the health professionals as we believe that you disrespected the professionals and the improvements made in the health sector,” reads a letter written in Amharic on 3 July, 2017, and was sent to the national broadcaster, Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (EBS). The letter was written by the Ethiopian Medical Association (EMA) in response to a segment aired on EBS by a talk show host who took the liberty to “disparage the professional integrity of medical practitioners” in hospitals in Addis Abeba.

On his Sunday night show, aired on 21 May, 2017, talk show host Seifu Fantahun talked about recent trends by medical doctors in Ethiopia who “simply refer” their patients to go abroad for better treatments when they can provide one at home; he went on asserting that many patients don’t believe what a single doctor tells them, a remark which troubled the management at EMA.

A doctor for 17, 000 Ethiopians

In the letter it sent to the broadcaster, EMA admits that a small number of doctors do tend to resort to the practice of referring patients abroad, but it attempts to draw the public’s attention to the bigger picture that has besieged the medical sector in the country: the ever widening gap of doctor to patient ratio which is leaving, in many instances, “health centers with only one doctor as a result”, according to one pediatrician, and the poor state of medical infrastructure in mostly state-run hospitals, which is crippling the already scarce number of medical professionals.

The number of doctors in general and the doctor to patient ratio in Ethiopia has always been a topic of debate and differs from one source to the other. The government often prides itself for the significant improvement it registered mainly in rural health sector, but an annual report provided to Addis Standardby the Ministry of Health reveals that currently there are just 411 government health care centers with only 5,540 doctors who are thinly spread throughout the country. With a figure like that, the doctor to patient ratio stands at one to 17,000 people, a slight improvement from the 2014 ratio of one to 20,000.

A statistical analysis published on World Atlas on 25 Jan, 2016 also shows that Ethiopia ranks 4^th among the 25 countries with a very limited access to health care. According to this report, Ethiopia has only 22 doctors for a million people, a big difference even by the standards of other African countries, which are not synonymous with “fastest growing economics,” such as Somalia 35, Guinea-Bissau 45, Burkina Faso 47 and the war-torn Central African Republic 50. Of all the 25 countries with the least access to health care, 24 of them are found in Africa. Sadly, anywhere from 25% to up to 50% of African born doctors (including many from Ethiopia) are working overseas, starving these countries of badly needed medical professionals whose expensive training is often paid for by public finances. That said, many medical professionals remain in their home countries, including in Ethiopia, despite daunting everyday challenges that perhaps even their Hippocratic Oath didn’t prepare them for.

EMA, the only association of its kind in a country of about 100 million people, told Addis Standard that there were only around 2,000 Ethiopian and a few foreign doctors who are currently the members of the association; it estimates that currently there are just about 600 specialists throughout the country.

Highlighting on the issue of shortage of medical professionals in Ethiopia, a practicing pediatrician at the Tikur Anbesa (Black Lion) Hospital, the nation’s biggest referral hospital, and a member of EMA, told Addis Standard that currently there were only about 200 radiologists, 300 pediatricians and 60 psychiatrists in Ethiopia.  “It is easy to see how overwhelming this is.”

Addis Abeba’s severe burden

The situation in many state-run hospitals outside of the capital is no less grim, but the burden is severe when it comes to the nation’s capital Addis Abeba, where the majority of Ethiopians from all over the country get referred to for “difficult recovery” including cases of emergency and serious illness that cannot be treated at health centers in regional capitals, cities, towns and even Woredas (small administrative unit)  labels.

At Felege Hiwot Hospital, in Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara Regional State, patients crowd a corridor waiting for a doctor

In January 2014, Addis Standard published a story on the alarming state of government hospitals in Addis Abeba, where “simple medical equipment such as glucometer strip, disposable gloves, mask, and alcohol are always in short supply even in the emergency section.”

A few changes have been made between now and then. In the state-owned Tikur Anbessa Hospital, for example, “a new CT scan and MRI building [have been] built [since then] with machines of the latest technology. It has had a tremendous impact; [and] an eight floor emergency department building expansion is nearing completion. We are expecting cardiac transplantation together with catheterization labs,” said the pediatrician who wants to remain anonymous.

For all the improvements however, Tekur Anbessa Hospital is chocking with an estimated 3, 000 patients seeking treatment at any given day.  And in Zewuditu Memorial Hospital, another state-owned hospital, 128,998 patients were admitted in the last 12 months only, seeking medical care from just 59 doctors and 286 nurses who are working in the hospital currently.

A random visit to most of the 12 state-owned hospitals in Addis Abeba presents one with some of the worst experiences a patient in a dire situation could ever go through. Poorly maintained corridors often overflow with patients seeking treatment for illnesses including contagious ones is a common site. Most of these patients do wait for their turn queuing for hours just to get a single doctor to attend to their needs; some even contract additional diseases.

The new premises of the oldest state-run Hospital, Dagmawi Menilik Referral Hospital

An “educated guess”

Our pediatrician interviewee at Tekur Anbessa Hospital believes that Ethiopian physicians are competent in their “clinical knowledge and diagnostic abilities”, but adding fuel to the multi-faceted challenge they face is the inconsiderate misunderstanding of these challenges often reflected within the society at large and the media in particular.

“Although I admit few unethical professionals abuse patients for their benefits, 99% of physicians face the unfortunate criticism that one per cent of their colleagues deserve,” he said when commenting about the letter of complaint from EMA to the national broadcaster, EBS.

Mentioning the experience he had as a general practitioner in a rural hospital, he describes cases of over-simplified complaints as worse in urban areas. He has been a medical practitioner in rural Ethiopia but “once I returned to [Addis Abeba] city, as each year passes, I am becoming bitter at the lack of understanding the public I serve shows.”

It is true that a “patient requires a competent doctor, adequate medical tools and laboratory services as well as competent hospital and health administration,” he concurs, “and at the end of the day, after all is said and done, the patient needs medications in adequate supply;” but the question of ‘who is responsible for these needs to consider the different dynamics challenging the sector needs to be seen thoroughly. “Competency in his or her profession is obviously the physician’s and the education system’s responsibility. [But] providing medical tools and laboratory services [in state-run hospitals] is the government’s responsibility.”  The public is simply looking for someone to blame whenever the course of an illness goes awry, he says, but evaluating the success and failure of the practice cannot simply be based on an “educated guess.”

State vs private hospitals

Privately owned hospitals in the country are known to provide better services than state-run hospitals; they can afford to overcome financial and management hurdles to make sure that they are equipped with better facilities than those run by the government.  “All advanced medical treatments over the past two or three decades were first introduced by the private sector,” says our interviewee. Describing his own experience of practicing at private hospitals, he says he often comes across with “medications I only read about in books and never thought were at my disposal to treat my patients.”

But private hospitals are also known for their prohibitive costs, making their services unavailable to the good majority of Ethiopians. “There were times that doctors at government hospitals raise money to pay for the treatment of their patients in private hospitals.”  But questions linger. “Can the fact that better health services are seen in the public sector be really attributed to the government having less money than the private sector?”

Be that as it may, the culture of oversimplified blame means private health centers, too, are not spared as they are often targeted as simply “greedy or over-priced merchants”. The paradox that leaves medical practitioners such as our interviewee (who also works a double shift at a private hospital to have ends met) is that the same people who are willing to pay for the price hike of goods that are not [terribly] relevant with little objection – think of “a slab of fatty meat that clogs up your arteries” – are the same people who often complain heavily when it is for the consultation of physicians and treatments at private hospitals. “My patients at private hospitals pay 100 Birr to consult me [that is] a US$4.50.”

Hanna Atilaw, a young girl seeking for financial help for a treatment abroad, uses a tax in Addis Abeba to appeal for help

But what is lost in this is that the people who pay the real price for the country’s ailing state of health care in state-run hospitals are the ones who have neither the means to afford for their medical cares, nor the channel to air their grievances.

The streets of Addis Abeba are quite familiar with patients who are left with no means but to beg for money to cover their medical expenses either in private hospitals or abroad; the treatments they need are simply unavailable in the cheaper state-run hospitals where they can afford to pay. AS

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ESAT DC Special News Mon 24 Jul 2017

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If you’re an Ethiopian, live, work, and do business in another culture, cultural intelligence is one of the key soft skills that you need to develop. With the opportunity to meet, interact, and work with diverse people comes the challenge to get along and succeed in what you do. This challenge is understandable. You may have extraordinary social intelligence when it comes to interacting and working with people who are within your native Ethiopian culture. You know the customs, beliefs, and anathemas very well. Thus, getting along is relatively easy since you communicate, interact, behave, and act according to the cultural codes without offending and entering into any misunderstanding and conflict with

However, to get along and succeed in the Diaspora, it takes more than having superb IQ, EQ, and Social Intelligence. The author of ‘The Cultural Intelligence Difference’ David Livermore wrote, “The number one predictor of your success in today’s borderless world is not your IQ, not your resume, and not even your expertise.” He continued, “It’s your CQ (Cultural Intelligence), a powerful capability that is proven to enhance your effectiveness working in culturally diverse situations.”

Sadly, many organizations still depend on IQ, EI, and Social Intelligence alone when they select supervisors and managers. The author of ‘Cultural Intelligence: CQ: The competitive edge for leaders crossing borders’, Julia Middleton said, “Organizations often appoint leaders for their IQ. Then, years later, sack them for their lack of EQ (Emotional Intelligence).” She predicted, “Common Purpose argues that in the future they will promote for CQ – Cultural 

The question is how we can increase our cultural intelligence, get along with people from different culture, and succeed in what we do? As you already know, there are thousands of cultures around the world, and it is tough to survive, let alone to develop the cultural competence to thrive in every culture for which we’re strangers. However, we should start improving our cultural intelligence somewhere. The right place to begin this rewarding journey is by understanding the difference between the two major cultural divides in the

Some culture experts suggested dividing the world’s cultures into two broad categories: Individual-based cultures, and communal-based cultures. For instance, countries such as USA, Europe, Canada, and Australia are individual-based cultures. On the contrary, countries such as Africa, Asia, and South America are categorized under communal-based cultures. Of course, there are subcultures and individual exceptions within each national

Among many parameters used to show the similarity and difference between the two primary cultures, I like the three parameters suggested by Edward Hall:

1. Time,
2. Context, and

Let me quickly compare the two major cultures briefly using the mentioned above three indicators. Time is treated casually in communal cultures while it’s well organized in individual based cultures. Context is high in collective cultures where people express themselves implicitly while individuals in the individual based cultures communicate explicitly and use verbal communication predominantly. People from communal cultures are less territorial while people from individual based cultures have high tendency to mark their

As a person who lived in these two major cultures, I’ve witnessed first hand how people from the two principal cultures treat time, communicate, and handle space differently. I was born and raised in Ethiopia, a communal culture. Of course, don’t forget that there are subcultures and individual exceptions within each national culture. I then came to the US- an individual based culture, in

At the early stage of my stay in the US, I experienced culture shock. To succeed in my new home, I have made so many changes including the way I treat time, communicate, and relate. I’m still on the learning curve- stumbling here and there once in a while, which makes me humble and open to learning continually. Let me share with you some stories.

Time

Back home, coming late is tolerable. It doesn’t matter who comes first. Since the relationship is valued more than time, none of us make coming late a big deal. We smile and hug each other affectionately and continue our business.

Here in the US, coming late for work is considered as a sign of unprofessionalism and has severe consequences. Outside of work, coming late damages relationships since being late is perceived as disrespectful.

What is interesting is that many of my friends from Ethiopia and Africa compartmentalize their time here in the US. They arrive on time when it comes to their job and formal business affairs but treat time casually in social gatherings. You may get an invitation stating at what time the meeting starts. Unless you have lots of spare time to spend, you don’t come on time as stated on the letter or flyer. The event may start two hours late.

I had a Nigerian classmate when I was doing my doctoral degree (2009 – 2013). Whenever we wanted to meet, we used to ask one another, is this African time or American? If it’s African time, we don’t fix the time. One of us may be in the library or coffee shop working on school work, and the other person just stops by within the time range we agreed. If it’s American time, we fix the start and end time. We come and leave on time.

Context

In Ethiopia, we use nonverbal communications heavily. On the other hand, here in the US (and other individual based cultures), people dominantly use explicit verbal communication. In communal cultures, if you explicitly talk about yourself, your accomplishments, qualifications, experiences, and needs, you may be labeled as egotistical and selfish. On the contrary, if you don’t communicate verbally, explicitly, and express your needs, aspirations, and experiences in an individual based culture, you may be regarded as shy that lack confidence.

Space

I used to share bed, clothes, and shoes with my relatives and friends all the time. It was common to find yourself going to one of your friend’s home, and if it rains by the time you leave, you just pick the umbrella of your friend on your way out without asking permission. If you ask, it offends your host. He/she may feel that you distanced yourself. It doesn’t show intimacy and brotherhood/sisterhood. In the US, people are mindful of their spaces. You’re expected to respect other people’s boundaries. You cannot just grab and take someone’s stuff without risking being viewed as rude, or worst, thief.

Nonetheless, understanding the difference between the two primary cultural divides is the beginning of a long journey. We need to increase our cultural intelligence on a continual basis to succeed in the Diaspora. With increased cultural intelligence comes understanding from where other come, and refraining from judging them based on the way they treat time, communicate, and handle

To get along with people from diverse cultures, we should stop treating our native culture as the standard bearer. We shouldn’t expect everyone to behave and act the way we do. We should increase our cultural intelligence to live and work with people from different cultures successfully. We should also make some efforts to help others understand our

I wish I had known these insights when I first came to the US more than twelve years ago. I’d not have paid lots of dire prices. Fully understanding the vital role of cultural intelligence in the Diaspora is especially essential if you’re recently moved to a new culture or began working or doing business with people from different cultures. It equips you to cross the new culture (s) without committing lots of deadly cultural transgressions. Of course, those of us who have been long in a new culture, we may have the awareness. The question is: Are we working on our cultural intelligence on a consistent basis and improving our cultural competence to succeed in what we do? Hope, this article inspired you to invest your time and energy to work on your cultural competence and gave you a couple of useful

[i] Assegid Habtewold is a coach, consultant, and soft skills and leadership workshop facilitator at Success Pathways, LLC. He just published a book entitled ‘Soft Skills That Make or Break Your Success: 12 soft skills to master self, get along with, and lead others successfully.’ One of the soft skills to get along with others successfully is cultural intelligence. The content shared above and many other insights and tools are shared in the book. The book is available at Amazon. To download the first part and conclusion of the book for free, and also get more info about the book, check out this link: http://successpws.com/?page_id=2254

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Hiber Radio Exclusive Interview with Lencho Letta

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Migrant labourers from around the work in areas like construction

Ethiopia says that only a fraction of its citizens working illegally in Saudi Arabia have returned home before today’s amnesty deadline.

In March, the Gulf state said that those without papers would not be arrested if they left within 90 days.

The deadline was extended by another month, but so far only 60,000 out of an estimated 400,000 Ethiopians have left, the Ethiopian government says.

Ethiopians make up a large portion of the kingdom’s undocumented workers.

All those without papers now face imprisonment or forced deportation.

Africa Live: Updates on this and other stories

Ethiopia’s Communications Minister Negeri Lencho told the BBC he feared what could now happen to his compatriots who were still in Saudi Arabia, adding they must return “with a sense of urgency”.

“They will be imprisoned and we don’t want our citizens to face unnecessary imprisonment, or suffer any physical harm or humiliation,” Mr Lencho said.

One of those who returned is 28-year-old domestic worker Nura Ahmed. “Life was really tough,” she told the BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza just after she arrived in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

“Sometimes I was jobless because I did not have the proper documentation, so I had no freedom to move around.

“One can never be at peace there,” she added.

In 2013, a number of Ethiopians died in clashes with Saudi police as they were being rounded up for deportation.

Image copyrightAFP

Saudi Arabia attracts migrant workers from around the world, particularly Africa, and south and south-east Asia.

Saudi authorities estimate that up to one million people are working in the country illegally.

So far, tens of thousands of people of different nationalities have taken advantage of the grace period and have either left or acquired correct papers.

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Ethiopian State media have today announced the appointment of government ministers and Adddis Abeba University’s President as Ambassadors. The appointment was reportedly made by President Mulatu Teshome.

• Kasa Tekleberhan currently serving Federal Affairs Minister until today July 26, 2017.
• Shiferaw Teklemariam serving Education Minister.
  
• Amb. Berhane Gebre-Christos currently serving at a Ministerial portfolio special envoy of the the Prime Minister. 
  
• Aster Mamo, former OPDO Dep Chair and Minister with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister
  
• Merga Bekana, former Chair of National Election Board (Who was said to be an independent)
• Ali Sulieman, former Head of the Corruption Commission (Who was said to be an independent)
• Prof Admassu Tsegaye, currently serving President of the Addis Abeba University (AAU)
• Amb. Tebeje Berhe
• Metasebia Tadesse
• Mulugeta Zewde
• Lulit Zewde
• Ewnetu Bilata (ambassador)

Government media also reported that over 35 government officials and businesspeople have been detained suspected of corruption since yesterday. Appointment as ambassadors and reshuffles are often the methods  the current Ethiopian regime uses to disperse or hide its loyal officials that are involved in corrupt practices.

Under Admassu’s presidency, the AAU was accused of financial mismanagement and irregularities. Last year the Ethiopian Auditor General found 1.5 billion Br illegitimate transactions were made by the University.

It is yet unclear if the serving officials were informed about their new roles ahead or they learnt about it on the media.

The report did not mention the specific locations, the new appointees are being sent to.

Source – Ethiopian State Media

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Negeri-Lencho

July 26, 2017 – The government has arrested 34 senior government officials and business people for alleged corruption, according to Government Communication Affairs Office (GCAO), reports ENA.

During a media briefing he held today, GCAO Minister Dr. Negeri Lencho said the government has started crackdown on rent seeking and more than thirty persons have been arrested.

He added that the study carried out thus far indicates that this number will increase.

The suspects currently arrested include people from governmental institutions and the private sector.

The senior government officials are from Addis Ababa Roads Authority, Federal Roads Authority, Sugar Corporation, Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation and others, the Minister disclosed.

The measure will be extended to regional institutions, he stated.

Detailed information on the arrests will be given later, it was indicated.

The measures had to be taken because the government has the responsibility to promote good governance and ensure development with equity and benefit all sectors of the society, the Minister underlined.

Source: ENA

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Mahlet Fasil
Addis Standard

Addis Abeba, July 26/2017 – The body of Ayele Beyene, who died while in police custody at Qilinto prison, a maximum prison facility on the southern outskirt of Addis Abeba, was buried yesterday in his home town in Gidami, east Wallaga zone of western Ethiopia.

Before he was detained in September 2016, Ayele, 29, was the head of the management department at Nifas Silk Lafto Kifle Ketema Woreda 10 bureau here in the capital Addis Abeba. He was detained along with seven others but was only brought to court in May 2017 after spending nine months in Ma’ekelawi.

Their arrest is part of a widespread government crackdown in the wake of (and post) the yearlong anti-government protests in Oromia and Amhara regional states that saw thousands rounded up and sent to prison.

On May 10 the eight men were formally charged (charge sheet in pdf) with terror related and criminal offenses. Ayele Beyene was listed as the second defendant in the file name under the first defendant Melkamu Kinfu.  Ayele was facing similar charges of terrorism and criminal offenses along with six of the eight men: Bonsa Beyene (his bother), Yimam Mohammed, Lemesa Gizachew, Kumera Tilahun, Meyad Ayana, and Muluna Darge. All the seven were charged under Art. 7/1 of Ethiopia’s infamous Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP 652/2009) as well as Art. 32/1 A and B and Art. 38 of the 2004 Criminal code, while the first defendant Malkamu Kinfu was charged under Art. 4 of the ATP and Art. 32/1 A and B and Art. 38 of the 2004 Criminal code.

All the eight defendants have told the federal court 4^th  criminal bench during their first appearance in May that they have been subjected to severe torture that included beatings and solitary confinement in dark rooms during their nine months of detention in Ethiopia’s notorious prison Ma’ekelawi.

After charges were filed, they were transferred to the Qilinto prison, from where the body of Ayele was taken to St. Paul Hospital before he died.

During their court hearing yesterday, the fourth defendant Yimam Mohammed told the judges that Ayele hadn’t had food for ten days prior to his death during which the rest of his co-defendants have reported his situation to the prison authorities at least “three times a day” but they were “neglected”. “I find it hard to say that our friend [Ayele] has died; his life was cut short. Who is responsible for that? If it is the government let us know it before we too die,” said Yimam to a court full of weep.

The first defendant Melkamu on his part told the judges that all defendants were suffering from illnesses related to the abuses they were subjected to in prison. He also said that despite his repeated plea with the prison authorities he was denied access to his medications.  “Ayele was killed and we fear we too will meet his fate.”

The eight defendants were largely accused of having links with Dawud Ibssa, the leader of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and receiving money from and orchestrating a local cell to assist OLF’s attempts to violently overthrow the constitutional order. The particular accusations against Ayele said that he had become a member of a terror cell organized by the first defendant Melkamu in an “unidentified” date and month. He was also accused of passing on government information.

Ayele’s  body was sent to his family and was buried yesterday

Prosecutors have attached six pages of written material obtained from Ayele during interrogations when he was in Ma’ekelawi as well as what they said were e-mail communications from an e-mail address opened for this purpose as evidence against him.

The prison police have not presented information on the cause of death during yesterday’s hearing, but they have notified the court on July 24 of Ayele’s death. The judges have told prison officials to present Ayele’s cause of death and the autopsy result during the next hearing for the remaining seven defendants on August 02. AS

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Queen of Sheba: A Myth or Reality? – SBS Amharic

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H.Res.128 – Supporting respect for human rights and encouraging inclusive governance in Ethiopia.

Shown Here:
Introduced in House (02/15/2017)

Condemns: (1) the killing of peaceful protesters and excessive use of force by Ethiopian security forces; (2) the detention of journalists, students, activists and political leaders who exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and expression through peaceful protests; and (3) the abuse of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation to stifle political and civil dissent and journalistic freedoms.

Urges: (1) protesters in Ethiopia to refrain from violence and from encouragement or acceptance of violence in demonstrations, and (2) all armed factions to cease their conflict with the Ethiopian government and engage in peaceful negotiations.

Calls on the government of Ethiopia to:

• lift the state of emergency;
• end the use of excessive force by security forces;
• investigate the killings and excessive use of force that took place as a result of protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions;
• release dissidents, activists, and journalists who have been imprisoned for exercising constitutional rights;
• respect the right to peaceful assembly and guarantee freedom of the press;
• engage in open consultations with citizens regarding its development strategy;
• allow a United Nations rapporteur to conduct an independent examination of the state of human rights in Ethiopia;
• address the grievances brought forward by representatives of registered opposition parties;
• hold accountable those responsible for killing, torturing, and detaining innocent civilians who exercised their constitutional rights; and
• investigate and report on the circumstances surrounding the September 3, 2016, shootings and fire at Qilinto Prison, the deaths of persons in attendance at the annual Irreecha festivities at Lake Hora near Bishoftu on October 2, 2016, and the ongoing killings of civilians over several years in the Somali Regional State by police.

Calls on such government to repeal proclamations that:

• can be used to harass or prohibit funding for organizations that investigate human rights violations, engage in peaceful political dissent, or advocate for greater political freedoms;
• prohibit those displaced from their land from seeking judicial redress;
• permit the detention of peaceful protesters and political opponents who legally exercise their rights to freedom of expression and association; and
• limit peaceful nonprofit operations in Ethiopia.

Calls on: (1) the Department of State to review security assistance and improve oversight of U.S. assistance to Ethiopia; (2) the U.S. Agency for International Development to lead efforts to develop a strategy to support improved democracy and governance in Ethiopia; and (3) the State Department, in cooperation with the Department of the Treasury, to apply appropriate sanctions on foreign persons or entities responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against any nationals in Ethiopia;.

Supports the peaceful efforts of the Ethiopian people to exercise their constitutional rights.

[pdf-embedder url=”http://www.satenaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/HR-128-Resolution.pdf” title=”HR-128 Resolution”]

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Following the arrest of 36 senior government officials, businesspersons and brokers for alleged corruption amounting to more than 1.15 billion birr. Below is the list of the individuals who are currently under custody.

Addis Ababa City Roads Authority
1. Engineer Fekade Haile
2. Engineer Washihun
3. Engineer Ahmedin
4. Minash Levi, Tidhar Construction
Damages of more than 198.8 million birr
Ethiopian Roads Authority
5. Abdo Mohammed
6. Bekele Nigussie
7. Gelana Bori
8. Yeneneh Assefa
9. Bekele Balcha
10. Gebreanania Tsadik
Damages of more than 646.9 million birr
Metehara Sugar Factory
11. Endalkachew Girma
12. Senait Worku
13. Ayenew Asfaw
14. Belete Zelelew
Damages of more than 13 million birr
Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation
15. Musa Mohammed
16. Mesfin Workneh
17. Wassihun Abate
18. Seyoum Gobena
19. Tamrat Amare
20. Aklog Demissie
21. Getachew Negera
22. Worku Abinet (PhD)
23. Tamiru Debalke
24. Yonas Merawi
Damages of more than 51.2 million birr
Tendaho Sugar Factory
25. Abebe Tesfaye
26. Bililign Tassew
Damages of more than 31.3 million birr
27. Abebe Tesfaye
28. Yemane Girmay (GYB Construction)
29. Daniel Abebe
Damages of more than 20 million birr
30. Feleke Tadesse
31. Ephrem Tadesse
Damages of more than 10 million birr
Omo Kuraz V Sugar Factory 
32. Mesfin Melkamu
33. Solomon Kebede
34. Leo (China GG Ishi General Manager)
35. Tsegaye Gebreigziabher Berhane

36. Salem Kebede
Damages of more than 184.4 million birr

The post List of the 36 Senior Government Officials Arrested On Corruption Charges appeared first on Addis Insight.

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Prof. Mamo Muche

He has worked at and still continues to collaborate with institutions in the USA, England, China, Russia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ethiopia and locally in South Africa. Professor Muchie earned his Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Science, Technology, and Innovation for Development at the University of Sussex, in the United Kingdom. As a researcher he is held in high esteem by some high-ranking universities the world over. For instance he serves as a Senior Research Associate at the TMD Centre of Oxford University in England. In addition to that he taught and done research work at Cambridge and Middlesex Universities in the same country.

Pan-Africanism according to Professor Muchie requires that all Africans be free from all neo-colonialism or economic slavery under Europeans as is the case in South Africa. He advocates that this is necessary in order that Africa re-emerge with economic structures that belong to Africans and not Europeans or Asians. According to Muchie Pan-Africanism also requires that Africans regard themselves as Africans first before their clan, ethnicity or religious affiliations. For example this means that a person in Kenya or South Africa are Africans before they are Christians and Africans before they are of the Kikuyu or Zulu tribe and that they are Africans before they are men or women. This, he advocates will develop the necessary mind-set and courage in us to implement African freedom and unity in order that we contribute to the rest of human civilization.

According to Muchie, the children of Africa have to take centre stage in terms of Pan-African policy making. He advocates the whole revamping of our educational system in order that we replace it with a curriculum that addresses the economic challenges that this continent faces. It is his conviction that we stop making icons and heroes of our European oppressors in school curriculums. This highlights how crucial the content within education is. He says that African-centred books have to form a regular part of the everyday life of the African child. Children on this continent have to read about and see heroes and heroines that look like them.

These books must come from independent African publishing houses, which offer African children the success stories of those who look like them. African children have to be conditioned into the reality that Africa is the cradle of civilisation. They have to study and know the fact that the great pyramids of Giza belong to them and are a product of black Africans.

Many Africans themselves ridicule Africa but fail to acknowledge the extent to which 500 years of invasions from Europe and the Arab slave trade have sought only to hide Africa’s achievements. They fail to acknowledge generations of false histories that blatantly lie about Africa. This fabricated narrative about Africa not making a single contribution and being the abode of slaves only serves to justify her own destruction he says. This fabricated story continues into our present day where the media and literature constantly promotes the myth of a white saviour.

Professor Muchie tells us that these all serve as tools to dominate and oppress us. He acknowledges that the Internet should and can be utilised as a medium for Africans to network in disseminating knowledge amongst each other.He further advises us to apply the knowledge available in such sources so that we create, innovate and sell products that will make us a competitive group in the international arena.

This all requires that governments, primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions, the African owned private sector, state research laboratories and financial institutions cooperate and contribute to this necessary aim. Professor Muchie’s. He said ‘‘education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”

African states as a union have to have a joint ambitious plan for themselves with the same determination with which Europeans planned our slavery and colonisation. Muchie recommends that we all regularly read the writings Fanon and Nkrumah because Africa has not accomplished what these pioneers have. Nkrumah said that ‘‘Africa must unite or perish” which is a testament to his legacy. .”Harambee Africa” meaning, “Pull together” requires that we unite against poverty and neo-colonialism.

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President Abdi Mohamoud Omer

THERE can be no better visualization of life under the archetypal “Big Man” in post-colonial Africa than the portrayal of the fictional African tyrant in Achille Mbembe’s “The Aesthetics of Vulgarity”. In this moving theory of power, oppression, tyranny and a sickening social situation the Cameroonian theorist refers to as the “mutual Zombification of both the dominant and the dominated”, Mbembe draws the autocrat’s body: the stomach, like the satisfied rumen of a cow, collapses and stretches, the face is puffed up, the chest hairy and fleshy – all signifying massive eating. Besides the grotesque body shape, the tyrant’s exercise of power is expressed through libido, debauchery, buffoonery, fetish, death, and violence.

Mbembe writes “to exercise authority is, furthermore, for the male ruler, to demonstrate publicly a certain delight in eating and drinking well, and in Labou Tansi’s words, to pass most of his time in “pumping grease and rust into the backsides of young girls”. Labou Tansi, is a Congolese writer who, in ‘The Antipeople’, narrated the social upheaval in an African village ravaged by murderous government soldiers fighting rebels where “women sell their sexual favors to official “bigshots” in exchange for safety”.

Now, if you are from the Somali Region of Ethiopia, leave the world of imagination and return to the reality of life in our own Jigjiga and tell me if, contextual and spatial differences aside, you don’t find striking similarity between Mbembe’s postcolonial Africa and your home region – itself wrongly named the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia, when it is neither “regional” nor a “state”. The whole place is an underworld Mafia hangout where crime is the natural pastime.

Mbembe provides a glimpse into a situation where tyranny, pretense, pain, obscenity, filth, and vulgarity all become a normal condition of state power and social rule. Familiar? Does this not bring into mind the tyranny of our own “Big Man” who prefers to be called “Aabo” (The Father), the buffoonery of his largely uneducated surrogates, the Dhaanto dance fetish, the Diaspora farce, the development pretense, the death and violence against innocent civilians? Has vulgarity and violence not become the normal condition of life in the Somali Region? What does the following few selected occurrences tell you about the societal breakdown in the region?

A month or so ago, the “Big Man” of the region, not uncharacteristically, insulted a female member of his cabinet calling her a whore, a drunkard and an addict. The incensed girl, for whatever reasons, found enough courage to return the insults in-kind by reminding the President of his own sexual escapades with young girls. The communal shock was about how and why she gambled with her life, not why the President of 8 million people would choose to insult a woman in public.

Three months ago, a young woman from the Diaspora decried, on social media, the arrest of her father in Jigjiga and the dispossession of a family house. As expected, the “Big Man”, through his henchmen, responded by playing an X-rated drama on TV and Youtube where two foul-mouthed actors unloaded all manners of lewd gossip on the woman.  Again, the fixation was on the poor woman’s plight and history of “connivance” with her current tormentors. There were no condemnations from elders or religious leaders – moral custodians of yesterday’s society.

Some years back, a group of defected rebels narrated on the regional TV, the sexual orgies, including bestiality, they allegedly committed while in the bush. The reaction was mute. Dead silence.

Every day, week or month, young girls and mothers are raped in prisons by official “big shots”. Those who escape the misfortune of detention are sexually exploited and abused in “Qat” chewing saloons (Mafrishes). The few who excel in providing sexual favours to the officials – through their quick acclimatization to drugs and alcohol- are recruited into the bureaucracy at the expense of a ruined future. This phenomenon is said to explain why there are so many young, attractive and flirty girls in top positions of the government. Which, by the way, should have been good news, except that it is an enhanced gender inclusivity attained through abusing rather empowering women.

Last year, a young man met a horrific death in the hands of the agents of the “Big Man” because the brother of the deceased upset the “Big Man”. This death, by no means, is an isolated incident. Death, violence, corruption and nepotism are the tragic daily experiences of the helpless people in Jigjiga and across the region. Yet, the overwhelming opinion is that the brother of the killed young man was to blame for the killing since he dared to challenge the “Big Man”. Not the vicarious injustice of killing a man for the alleged crimes of another, reminiscent of 10^th century world!

These incidents and the appalling reactions of the victimized people illustrate the sudden reversals and upturnings of socially accepted norms. They are the products of the violence perpetrated against the individual and communal consciousness of the people. The real has become the unusual and the unreal is the accepted norm. We are undergoing a social and cultural transformation and are on the verge of embracing new mores where vulgarity and cruelty are aesthetically acceptable; even appealing.

Why are we here? How can we get out of it? Who can rescue us? Will we – both the rulers and the ruled – remain eternal Zombies? Why are we not fighting back? Where is the resistance? Where are the intellectuals and religious leaders?

The questions on the causes and remedies of our misery need broader examination and discussion. But, one thing is certain. Underneath the seeming paralysis, the oppressed people are engaged in disorganized but creative ways of resisting oppression at the level of everyday practice. The overcrowded prisons in the region are evidence of the inexplicit resistance ordinary citizens are engaged in to overcome despotic tyranny.

The absence of bourgeois intellectuals – who fled the region and the country and have become political and economic refugees elsewhere – from the struggle should neither be surprising nor lead to dejection. It is an African phenomenon, and probably a global one too. The void they left is somehow filled by artists, social media activists, grassroots intellectuals, religious leaders, entrepreneurs subverting the destructive TPLF-sponsored social re-engineering project in their unique and different ways.

In such a dangerous historical and political time as the one we are going through, every act of decency becomes defiance and resistance. Every parent raising kids with good manners, every student and civil servant embracing discipline, every business person engaged in honest livelihood, every man or woman of religion promoting a message of harmony and kindness among people, every elder solving local grievances thereby lessening the possibility of future conflicts, every young man and woman rejecting the temptations of depravity, and every artist decrying oppression through poetry, music, and humour is a hero of this inexplicit struggle. And of course every activist and freedom fighter.

Which at times makes me question the accuracy of my depiction of this incredibly resilient people as broken society. What is unquestionable, however, is that today people in the Ethiopian Somali Region are living in Mbembe’s proverbial baroque, violent, and vulgar village.

Muktar M. Omer is a social and political commentator from the Somali Region of Ethiopia. He can be reached at muktaromer2017@yahoo.com.

The post The “Big Man” And the Broken People of Jigjiga, Ethiopia – Muktar M. Omer appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News|Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)

Today, the full House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to advance a resolution, authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), highlighting the human rights violations of the Ethiopian government, and offering a blueprint to create a government better designed to serve the interests of the Ethiopian people.

The resolution, which passed without objection, also calls on the U.S. government to implement Magnitsky Act sanctions, targeting the individuals within the Ethiopian government who are the cause of the horrific abuses.

The State Department’s current human rights report on Ethiopia notes, “[t]he most significant human rights problems were security forces’ use of excessive force and arbitrary arrest in response to the protests, politically motivated prosecutions, and continued restrictions on activities of civil society and NGOs.”

“H. Res. 128, is like a mirror held up to the Government of Ethiopia on how others see them, and it is intended to encourage them to move on the reforms they agree they need to enact,” said Smith, Chair of the House panel on Africa. “For the past 12 years, my staff and I have visited Ethiopia, spoken with Ethiopian officials, talked to a wide variety of members of the Ethiopia Diaspora and discussed the situation in Ethiopia with advocates and victims of government human rights violations.  Our efforts are not a response merely to government critics, but rather a realistic assessment of the urgent need to end very damaging and in some cases inexcusable actions by the government or those who act as their agents.”

H. Res. 128, entitled “Supporting respect for human rights and encouraging inclusive governance in Ethiopia,” condemns the human rights abuses of Ethiopia and calls on the Ethiopian government to:

• lift the state of emergency;
• end the use of excessive force by security forces;
• investigate the killings and excessive use of force that took place as a result of protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions;
• release dissidents, activists, and journalists who have been imprisoned for exercising constitutional rights;
• respect the right to peaceful assembly and guarantee freedom of the press;
• engage in open consultations with citizens regarding its development strategy;
• allow a United Nations rapporteur to conduct an independent examination of the state of human rights in Ethiopia;
• address the grievances brought forward by representatives of registered opposition parties;
• hold accountable those responsible for killing, torturing and detaining innocent civilians who exercised their constitutional rights; and
• investigate and report on the circumstances surrounding the September 3, 2016, shootings and fire at Qilinto Prison, the deaths of persons in attendance at the annual Irreecha festivities at Lake Hora near Bishoftu on October 2, 2016, and the ongoing killings of civilians over several years in the Somali Regional State by police.

“It is important to note that this resolution does not call for sanctions on the Government of Ethiopia, but it does call for the use of existing mechanisms to sanction individuals who torture or otherwise deny their countrymen their human and civil rights,” said Smith.

Smith has chaired three hearings on Ethiopia, the most recent of which looked into the deterioration of the human rights situation in Ethiopia and was titled “Ethiopia After Meles: The Future of Democracy and Human Rights.”

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Ethiopian steeplechaser Chala Beyo was handed a two-year ban from competition after attacking his coach, as reported by the Associated Press.

The attack took place after Beyo learned that he didn’t make the Ethiopian national team headed to the IAAF World Championships in London next week.According to Ethiopian Athletics Federation spokesman Sileshi Bisrat, the runner punched coach Yohannes Mohammed when the team was announced. Mohammed suffered from an injured left eye and police are still searching for Beyo. Bisrat also said that Beyo was carrying a rock when he attacked his coach, but didn’t use it.

Beyo competed for Ethiopia at the 2016 Olympic Games, but didn’t make the final of the steeplechase. In May, he finished third to Tafese Soboka and Getnet Wale at the Ethiopian national championships. In June, Beyo improved on his lifetime best with an 8:13 performance at the IAAF World Challenge in Hengelo, but lost once again to his countrymen, according to the results on Tilastopaja.com.

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11:58 AM – Jul 27, 2017

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Empress Taytu Betul: A Warrior & Diplomat – SBS Amharic

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ADDIS ABABA, July 28 (Xinhua) — The Ethiopian Horticulture and Agricultural Investment Authority has announced that it has allocated 3,000 hectares of land for investors who want to engage in Ethiopia’s flower farming sector.

A huge international interest in Ethiopia’s horticulture development sector is said to be the major factor for the Ethiopian government to allocate the reported 3,000 hectares of land dedicated to the floriculture investment, according to the Ethiopian Horticulture and Agricultural Investment Authority.

Investors from various countries, via their respective embassies and also in person, have shown interest to invest in Ethiopia’s floriculture sector, Ethiopian state news agency ENA quoted Adugna Debele, Authority Deputy CEO, as saying on Friday.

According to Debele, the Ethiopian government would give priority for interested investors who have come with their own initial investment capital.

The east African country has also put in place various initiatives to lure large number of foreign investors in the horticulture development sector.

According to the Ethiopian Horticulture Producers and Exporters Association, Ethiopia, the fourth largest supplier of flower to the world market, is endowed with suitable weather condition for flower and other horticultural products.

Amongst these initiatives put in place by the Ethiopian government is a mechanism to provide 70 percent of the capital required for investment from the Development Bank of Ethiopia on loan, based on the initial 30 percent financial amount provided.

Ethiopia’s flower industry sector has registered a steady growth over the past decade, making the country one of the top flower producers and exporters in the African continent.

Source: Xinhua

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ESAT DC Daily News Fri 28 Jul 2017

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