Washington DC Police looking for suspect in Friday hit and run death of Emebet Kebede

August 25, 2015, 3:33 am

≫ Next: She’s the 1500m world record holder AND your Beijing 2015 World Champion. Congratulations to Genzebe Dibaba!

≪ Previous: Despite Promises, No Budget for Plan to Advance Israel’s Ethiopian Community

WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the perpetrator in the hit and run fatality of a 56-year-old Lanham woman who was walking on the street Friday in Southeast Washington.

Police say the woman, identified as Emebet Kebede, an immigrant from Ethiopia, was struck by a newer model black Chevrolet Tahoe at approximately 6:10 p.m. Friday on the 1300 block of Southern Avenue, SE. She was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Emebet Kebede

According to The Washington Post, Kebede worked as a physician’s assistant at the United Medical Center, which is located in the block where she was killed.

The crash remains under investigation. The Metropolitan Police Department is asking anyone with information about this case to call the police at (202) 727-9099. Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411.

↧

She’s the 1500m world record holder AND your Beijing 2015 World Champion. Congratulations to Genzebe Dibaba!

August 25, 2015, 8:45 am

≫ Next: Ethiopian man named Kassahun Abebe Edo dies after assault in Washington, DC on Saturday

≪ Previous: Washington DC Police looking for suspect in Friday hit and run death of Emebet Kebede

SOPOT: Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba won women’s 3000m gold at the World Indoor Athletics Championships at Sopot on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Dibaba, who has broken three world indoor records this season, completely dominated the race, clocking 8min 55.04sec to add the 3000m crown to the indoor 1500m title she won two years ago in Istanbul.

Defending champion Hellen Onsando Obiri of Kenya claimed silver in 8:57.72, with Ethiopian-born Bahraini Maryam Yusuf Jamal taking bronze (8:59.16).

↧

Ethiopian man named Kassahun Abebe Edo dies after assault in Washington, DC on Saturday

August 25, 2015, 8:00 pm

≫ Next: 9 Secret Ways to Burn More Fat When You Run

≪ Previous: She’s the 1500m world record holder AND your Beijing 2015 World Champion. Congratulations to Genzebe Dibaba!

An accountant and financial analyst from Irving, Texas, who was assaulted Saturday in Washington DC later died of his injuries, and the death is being investigated as a homicide, DC police said.

According to police, Kassahun Abebe Edo, 35, an immigrant from Ethiopia, was assaulted about 3 a.m. Saturday in the 700 block of Fairmont Street NW. Police said that he had been involved in an altercation and that after being assaulted, he fell and struck his head in the area of the sidewalk and curb. He died at a hospital Sunday.

The altercation occurred about a block west of the Howard University campus — on a block lined with trees and rowhouses in the Pleasant Plains area — but there was no indication that it involved anyone from the university.

The subject of the altercation and the nature of the assault were not immediately known. Although it was not clear why Edo was in Washington, he had lived and worked in suburban Maryland for several years.

His current job was as a financial analyst with Envoy Air, a Texas-based subsidiary of American Airlines. Martha Thomas, a spokeswoman for American, said Edo joined Envoy on July 20, 2014. Thomas said American’s thoughts and prayers were with Edo’s family.

Source: Washington Post

↧

9 Secret Ways to Burn More Fat When You Run

August 25, 2015, 8:15 pm

≫ Next: The Cause of Ethiopia’s Recurrent Famine Is Not Drought, It Is Authoritarianism

≪ Previous: Ethiopian man named Kassahun Abebe Edo dies after assault in Washington, DC on Saturday

Eat This, Not That!

August 25, 2015

Runners seem to come in two forms. There are the sleek gazelles, whose lean, athletic bodies dart around the roadways effortlessly. And then there are the rest of us, plodding along, adding up the miles and wondering why we’re still not losing weight no matter how many pairs of sneakers we burn through.

But the key to losing weight when you run isn’t to run longer or harder. It’s to run smarter. So says Eric Orton—the rule-breaking running coach who starred in Christopher McDougall’s 2009 best-seller Born to Run. An ultramarathoner (he once ran for 36 hours straight), Orton knows a lot about extreme running. But going over the top with your training isn’t the best way to fire up those fat burners. In fact, running less often, and less hard, might be the secret key to losing more weight.

Orton has collected his best secrets in a book of his own, The Cool Impossible. But Eat This, Not That! got him to share his absolute best weight-loss tips with us. And after hitting the pavement, make sure you’re maximizing your fat burn with these 50 Best-Ever Snacks for Weight Loss!

FAT BURNER SECRET #1:

Be strategic when you hit a road block.

If you’re not losing as much weight as you want when running, it may be because you’re trying too hard: “The tendency can be to push too hard on all of your runs,” Orton says. “But rest and recovery is when the body rebuilds and gets stronger and during this time is often when great weight loss occurs. So if you’ve been hitting it hard, take a rest and recovery week where you do 50% [less running than usual],” he says.

Eat This, Not That Tip: Pregame your run with a cup of green tea. In a recent study, participants who combined a daily habit of 4 to 5 cups of green tea each day with 25 minutes of exercise lost 2 pounds more than those who didn’t drink the tea. We love green tea so much, we made it part of our brand new weight-loss plan, The 7-Day Flat-Belly Tea Diet and Cleanse! Test panelists lost up to 10 pounds in just one week!

FAT BURNER SECRET #2:

Lose weight fast, and then slow.

When the time comes to make your runs more rigorous, try very short, faster efforts interspersed with walking or easy running breaks in between – rather than running steady and hard for a long period of time. “And when bumping up run intensity, look to do hill repeats or inclined intervals on the treadmill,” Orton says. “The hills recruit more muscles than flat running and allows you to get in the important higher intensity with less impact.” Or change up your routine to intersperse long, slow runs with days of short, quick runs. “It could be as simple as adding in more intensity to one or two of your weekly runs,” he says.

Eat This, Not That! Tip: Your run isn’t the only thing that should be slow. Consider investing in slow carbs—meaning carbs that are digested slowly and keep you feeling fuller and energized longer. Sweet potatoes are the king of slow carbs, loaded with fiber and carotenoids, antioxidants which stabilize blood-sugar levels and lower insulin resistance, helping to prevent calories from being converted into fat. And their high vitamin profile (including A, C and B6) give you more energy to burn on the road. For reliable energy, turn to these 9 Best-Ever Carbs for Weight Loss.

FAT BURNER SECRET #3:

Focus on consistency, not intensity.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking every run has to be long, strong and perfect. “Aim to make the majority of your weekly miles as easy as you can, so running is enjoyable,” says Orton. “Consistency and frequency is key for weight loss. Focus on doing less, more often.” For example, he continues, “If you are used to running 3 times a week for 45 min, strive for 4-5 times per week at 20-30 minutes and build from there.”

Eat This, Not That! Tip: Don’t be afraid to eat carbs the night before your run. One study in the European Journal of Nutrition put two groups of men on identical weight loss diets. The only difference? Half of the group ate their carbs throughout the day, while the second group reserved carbohydrates for nighttime. The result? The nighttime carb group showed a significantly higher diet-induced thermogenesis (meaning they burned more calories digesting their food the next day).

↧

The Cause of Ethiopia’s Recurrent Famine Is Not Drought, It Is Authoritarianism

August 26, 2015, 5:13 am

≫ Next: በአንደኛ ዙር 14 ሚልዮን ርሃብተኛ አምራቹ የኢህአዴግ/ወያኔ የትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ በሁለተኛው ዙር ስንት ሊያመርት አቀደ? – (ጉዳያችን)

≪ Previous: 9 Secret Ways to Burn More Fat When You Run

By Dawit Ayele Haylemariam

The Huffington Post

Twenty years ago one Ethiopian Diaspora in Washington asked the late Prime minister Meles Zenawi what his vision for the country was. A rather polite and amiable Meles outlined his vision in a very human centered way. He said he hopes that in ten years every Ethiopian will have enough to eat three times a day and after 20 years Ethiopians will not only have enough food but they will also have the luxury of choosing what they eat.

Here we are now. Three years have passed since Meles died in office after 21 years in power. Once again Ethiopia’s food crisis is topping the headline. As seasonal rain fails in Eastern and Southern parts of the country, famine is threatening millions of Ethiopians. The UN estimates over 10 million are in need of emergency food aid.

Why is famine and hunger so common in Ethiopia?

Many experts relate Ethiopia’s cyclical famine with the country’s dependence on Rainfed smallholder agriculture, drought, rapid population growth or agricultural market dysfunctions. Although these factors do have significant role in the matter, they tend to hide the critical cause of hunger in the country – lack of rights and accountable government.

Nobel Prize winner and economist Amartya Sen has extensively analyzed the relationship between democracy and famine in his book Development as Freedom. Sen argues democracies don’t have famines, only authoritarian systems do. Famine tend to happen in places where the victims are oppressed by dictators.

A historical investigation of famine also identified 30 major famines during the 20th century. All happened in countries led by autocratic rule or that were under armed conflict, four being in Ethiopia.

Why does autocracy lead to famine? The most fundamental reason is that autocrats often don’t care enough about the population to prevent famine. Autocrats maintain power through force, not popular approval. This argument has been proven true in the case of Ethiopia.

During 1983-1985 the worst famine in the country’s history had led to more than 400,000 deaths. Extensive investigation by Alexander De Waal in his book Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia has found “more than half this mortality can be attributed to human rights abuses that caused the famine to come earlier, strike harder, and extend further than would otherwise have been the case.” The military government is not only spent between $100 and $200 million to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the revolution while millions are starving, Mengistu’s regime also attempted to impose customs duties on aid shipments.

Similarly during the 1973-1974 Wollo famine, attempts to hide the reality of the situation by the Imperial Feudal System caused 300,000 deaths. This particular famine was not a problem of food shortage in the country but lack of ability to access food. The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture Report of 1972 stated that output for 1972-1973 was only 7% lower than the previous year. Also, food price in Wollo were no higher-often substantially lower-than elsewhere in the country. The problem was the poor just couldn’t afford to buy. Meanwhile, Emperor Haile Selassie spend some $35 million to celebrate his eightieth birthday in 1973.

Ethiopian-famine-620x350

Unfortunately the trend of autocratic-led hunger has not changed under the current government either, if anything Meles’s regime took it to the next level.

In 2004 Humanitarian Exchange Magazine exposed that disregarding experts advise that the situation in the country was very severe and does qualifies as a famine, the government of Ethiopia and USAID conspired to downplay the 2002-2004 food crisis as “localized famine” in fear of global media attention and political dangers for the EPRDF. The report states “the lack of classic famine images….facilitates further disengagement by the media and Western publics, even as large numbers of vulnerable people face destitution, malnutrition, morbidity and mortality.”

Again 2010 in a report titled Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia, Human Right Watch extensively documented how the EPRDF is using development aid to suppress political dissent by conditioning access to essential safety net programs on support for the ruling party.

Today, once again the danger of another catastrophic famine is looming large on the horizon. Ongoing drought worsened by the El Niño global weather phenomenon has already caused deaths of many cattle and have put as many as 14 million people at risk.

After denying the problem for weeks; the government finally admitted to it but only to claim that it has enough food stock to tackle the problem. However, journalists on the ground has reported the government’s grain reserve has run out long ago. According to Barrie Came, WFP representative, the food supply by the UN is also not enough to curb the problem.

The government also argues the country has already realized food security at a national level, that is to say we have enough food in the country to feed everyone. The inherent flaw in this argument is that the presence of food in the country doesn’t necessarily mean those affected by drought will have access to it. As it was the case during the 1973 Wollo famine, when a crop fails it not only affects the food supply, it also destroys the employment and livelihood of farmers, denying them the ability to buy food from the market.

Reports have also shown that the government was informed of the risk of seasonal rain failure forecast as early as two months ago but it chose to keep it to itself. Had the government shared the information with the media and local governments to inform pastoralists to move their cattle near rivers or highlands, much of the animal loss would have been avoided and relief supports would have been delivered on time.

Democracy can effectively prevent famine

Why is the Ethiopia government acting so irresponsibly? The answer is simple – because there is no incentive for the government to work hard to avert famine. Amartya Sen argument related to absence of political incentives generated by election, multiparty politics and investigative journalism is also true in the case of Ethiopia.

The EPRDF led government has successfully wiped out all groups that might pose any form of threat to its power. Fresh from its 100% “election” victory, with very fragmented opposition parties, no civil society and no scope for uncensored public criticism, Hailemariam’s regime don’t have to suffer the political consequences of its failure to prevent famine.

If there were a democratic system to keep the government accountable, the state’s response would have been much different. For instance, Botswana, like Ethiopia, is prone to drought but a democracy since its independence in 1966, Botswana never had a famine. Botswana’s democratic government immediately deploys relief efforts during every drought, and even improves them from one drought to the next. Had the government in Botswana failed to undertake timely action, there would have been severe criticism and pressure from the opposition and maybe even bigger political cost in future elections. In contrast, the Ethiopian governments did not have to worry with those prospects.

Another Sen’s key argument is information flow and free press – democracy contributes greatly to bring out information that can have an enormous impact on policies for famine prevention. If it weren’t for the foreign media reporting and social media activists outcry, the government might have kept the current problem a secret for long and caused much greater damage than it already has. In Sen’s words “free press and an active political opposition constitute the best early warning system a country threatened by famine can have”

If aid organizations comprehensively and immediately deploy humanitarian assistance, the current crisis could be impelled with minimal damage. However, the argument that famine in Ethiopia is caused by drought doesn’t hold water anymore. Unless the problem is addressed from its roots, another famine is just a matter of time. For Ethiopia to truly achieve food security and avoid any dangers of famine in the future, nothing but building a democratic, transparent and accountable system is the solution.

Follow Dawit Ayele Haylemariam on Twitter: www.twitter.com/z_dawit

↧

በአንደኛ ዙር 14 ሚልዮን ርሃብተኛ አምራቹ የኢህአዴግ/ወያኔ የትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ በሁለተኛው ዙር ስንት ሊያመርት አቀደ? – (ጉዳያችን)

August 19, 2015, 5:11 pm

≫ Next: ፀጋዬ ገ/መድህንን ‘ሎሬት’ ያለው ማን ነው?

≪ Previous: The Cause of Ethiopia’s Recurrent Famine Is Not Drought, It Is Authoritarianism

እና አቶ ኃይለ ማርያም፣እውነት ለርሃብ መንስኤ የአየር ንብረት ለውጥ ብቻ ነው?

ሰሞኑን የአራት ኪሎ ቅምጥሎች በኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ላይ ለሌላ ዙር የጥፋት ተግባር ለመሰማራት ደፋ ቀና እያሉ ናቸው።ርሃቡን በአየር ንብረት ሰበብ የጥፋት ተግባራቸውን ማጠብያ ሰበብ አድርገው በማቅረብ እና 14 ሚልዮን ርሃብተኛ ያፈራውን የመጀመርያ ትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ ተብዬ በሌላ ማደናገርያ ሁለተኛ ትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ በሚል ማደናገርያ ለመተካት።

በአንደኛው የትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ ውጤት መሰረት 14 ሚልዮን ርሀብተኛ አመረታችሁ። በሁለተኛውስ ትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ ስንት ርሀብተኛ ልታፈሩ አቀዳችሁ?

የኢትዮጵያ ቴሌቭዥን ጧት ማታ ኢትዮጵያ አደገች እያለ እንደሚለቀው ተራ ፕሮፓጋንዳ ሳይሆን ኢትዮጵያ የተባበሩት መንግሥታት የ2015 ዓም እ አ አቆጣጠር የሰው ልማት ሪፖርት የሚያሳየው ከ186 የዓለም ሃገራት ውስጥ ኢትዮጵያ 173ኛ መሆኗን እና ከአብዛኛዎቹ የሳሃራ በታች ካሉ ሃገራት አንፃርም መጨረሻ ላይ መሆኗን ነው። ”Even though Ethiopia is one of the 10 countries globally that has attained the largest absolute gains in its HDI over the last several years, it still ranks 173rd out of 186 countries in the latest UNDP Human Development Report.” UNDP National Human Development Report 2015 Ethiopia.

ይህንን ውርደታችንን ለእሩብ ክ/ዘመን ማሻሻል ያልቻለው ወያኔ በምርጫው 100% አሸነፍኩ እያለ አይን ያወጣ ፕሮፓጋንዳውን በሚነዛባት ሀገር ለሌላ ድህነት ሕዝቡን ለመዳረግ ”ሁለተኛ የትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ” እያለ ማደናገር ይዟል።እውነታው ግን ከቅኝ ግዛት ከተላቀቁ ሃገራት አንፃር ሲታይም በካድሬ ምሁር ነን ባይ እቅድ የሚነደፍልን እኛ በብዙ ደረጃ ወደኃላ የቀረን መሆናችንን ነው።ለምሳሌ በ 2014 እአውሮፓውያን አቆጣጠርም በወጣው ዘገባ መሰረት አንዳችም ለውጥ አለማሳየታችን የዘንድሮው የተባበሩት መንግሥታት ዘገባም ያሳያል።በእዚህም መሰረት-
ሱዳን በሰባት ደረጃ ቀድማን 166ኛ፣
ጋና በሰላሳ ሰባት ደረጃ ቀድማን 138ኛ፣
ኬንያ በሃያ ስድስት ደረጃ ቀድማ 147ኛ፣
ዑጋንዳ በዘጠኝ ደረጃ ቀድማ 164ኛ፣
ናሚብያ በአርባ ስድስት ደረጃ ቀድማን 127ኛ፣ይቀጥላል። ዝርዝሩን ይህንን በመጫን ይመልከቱ።

እውነታው ይህ ሆኖ ነው እንግዲህ የመጀመርያው ትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ ተብዬ ጥቂት የስርዓቱን ሰዎች በሀብት ማዕበል ውስጥ መክተቱ እና ነውራቸው ለዓለም አደባባይ ተርፎ በለንደን አየር መንገድ ሳይቀር በእዚህ ሳምንት መጀመርያ በዓለም አቀፍ የዜና አውታሮች እንደተዘገበው ከ5 ሚልዮን የእንግሊዝ ፓውንድ በላይ በግለሰቦች ቦርሳ ተይዞ ሲወጣ እየታየ አቶ ሃይለማርያም ”አይናቸውን በጨው አጥበው” ስለ ”ሁለተኛው ትራንስፎርሜሽን” እያሉ መስበክ ጀምረዋል።ስለሀገር አስተዳደርም ሆነ ስለልማት አንዳች በማያውቁ የካድሬ ስብስብ የተዘጋጀው ሁለተኛው ትራንስፎርሜሽን ዕቅድ ኢትዮጵያን ለበለጠ መቀመቅ ለመክተት ካልሆነ በቀር ለኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ አንዳች የማይፈይድ ለመሆኑ ብዙ እማኝ ምክንያቶችን ማቅረብ ይቻላል።

ኢትዮጵያን የሚያህል በርካታ የተማረ የሰው ኃይል ያላትን ሀገር ምሁራኑን በእስር ቤት አጉራችሁ የቀረውን ከሀገር አሰድዳችሁ ከመሰል ካድሬዎቻችሁ ጋር የአምስት ዓመት እቅድ እያላችሁ ስትዘባበቱ መስማት በእራሱ የሀገሪቱን የውርደት ደረጃ አመላካች ነው።የኢትዮጵያ ምጣኔ ሀብት፣ፖለቲካ፣እና ማህበራዊ ሕይወት ዘረኛ ለሆነ ርኩስ መንገዳችሁ እንዲመች እያደረጋችሁ መቀየሳችሁን እናንተ ብቻ የምታውቁት ከመሰላችሁ መሳሳታችሁን እወቁት።በወረደ አስተሳሰብ ውስጥ ተዘፍቃችሁ በኢትዮጵያ ስም በአደባባይ ላይ ስትናገሩ ከመስማት በላይ ምን ውርደት አለ? ሰሞኑን አቶ ኃይለ ማርያም የከሸፈውን ያለፈውን እቅድ እያድበሰበሱ ስለመጪው ማውራት ሰሞኑን የተያዘ አዲሱ ፋሽናቸው ሆኗል።ለመሆኑ የሚቀጥለውን የአምስት ዓመት እቅድ የሚቀይሱት ምሁራን ሳይሆኑ ካድሬዎች መሆናቸውን ”ሪፖርተር ጋዜጣ” በአንድ ወቅት የዘገበውን መመልከት በእራሱ ነገሩ ሁሉ ”ውሃ ቅዳ ውሃ መልስ” መሆኑን ለመረዳት አያዳግትም።ለሌላ 5 አመታት የ90 ሚልዮን ህዝብን ዕጣ እንወስናለን ብለው ሁለተኛ ትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ እናቅድላችሁ ያሉንን ባለ ጊዜዎች ይህንን በመጫን ተመልከቱ።

በልማት ጥናት ዘርፍ እቅድ አዘገጃጀት ልምድ ያላቸው ምሁራን እና የሀገሪቱን ሕዝብ ማወያየት 100% አሸነፍኩ ላለን እፍረተ ቢስ ምኑ ነች? ከሁለት ሳምንት በኃላ ኢህአዴግ አዲስ እቅድ አወጣ ብለው እየተዘጋጁ እና መስከረም ላይ ምክርቤቱ አፀደቀው ሊሉን አፋቸውን እያሟሹ ባለበት ወቅት ሕዝብ አወያየን ለማለት አቶ ሃይለማርያም ዛሬ ነሐሴ 13/2007 ዓም ኢቲቪ ላይ ቀርበው ግራና ቀኛቸውን ያልለዩ ምልምል ካድሬዎች ሰብስበው በሁለተኛው ትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ ላይ ተወያዩ የሚል ፌዝ አይሉት ቀልድ ማስደመጣቸው ነው።”ኢትዮጵያን እግዚአብሔር ያፅናሽ” ማለት የእዚህ ጊዜ ነው።የሀገር ሀብት በጥቂት ካድሬዎች ያውም በዘር እና በጎሳ በተጠራሩ እጅ መውደቁ ይዘገንናል።

አቶ ኃይለ ማርያም እውነት ለርሃብ መንስኤ የአየር ንብረት ለውጥ ብቻ ነው?

የዓለም ምግብ ፕሮግራም (FAO) በድረ-ገፁ ላይ ”ለረሃብ ምክንያት የሚሆኑት ምክንያቶች ምንድናቸው? ” በሚል ርዕስ ስር ባሰፈረው ጥናታዊ ፅሁፍ ላይ የአየር ንብረት መዛባት አንዱ ምክንያት እንጂ ዋናው አለመሆኑን ያብራራል።በዓለም አቀፍ የልማት ጥናት ባለሙያዎች ገለፃ መሰረት ርሃብ ሰው ሰራሽ ክስተት እንደሆነ ያስረዳሉ።ይህ ማለት ግን የአየር ንብረት መዛባትን የሰው ልጅ ያስተካክለዋል ማለት ሳይሆን ከአየር ንብረቱ መዛባት በላይ የመንግስት ቸልተኝነት እና ከሁሉም በላይ የተዝረከረከ አሰራር ውጤት መሆኑን የዓለም ምግብ ድርጅት ይገልፃል።

በእዚህም መሰረት በዓለም ምግብ ድርጅት ማብራርያ መሰረት የርሃብ ምክንያቶች በርካታ መሆናቸውን እና በዋናነት ግን ስድስት መሆናቸውን ይገልፃል። በቅድምያ ፅሁፉ በመግቢያነት የሚይስቀምጠው ነጥብ ”ዓለም ለ7 ቢልዮን የዓለማችን ሕዝብ በቂ ምርት ያመርታል” በማለት ይጀምርና ስድስቱን በአንድ ሀገር ላይ ርሃብ የሚከሰትባቸውን ምክንያቶች ይዘረዝራል።

1/ ድህነት (Poverty trap)

2/ በእርሻ ላይ በቂ መዋለ ንዋይ አለመመደብ ( Lack of investment in agriculture)

3/ የአየር ንብረት ለውጥ ( Climate and Weather)

4/ ጦርነት እና የህዝብ ከስፍራው መፈናቀል (War and displacement)

5/ ያልተረጋጋ የምግብ ገበያ ( Unstable Market)

6/ የተረፈ ምግብ ብክነት ( Food Wastage)
ዝርዝሩን ለማየት ይህንን ይጫኑ።

ሀገራችን ኢትዮጵያ በአሁኑ ወቅት በሚልዮን የሚቆጠሩ ኢትዮጵያውያን የርሃብ አደጋ እንዳንዣበበባቸው በዓለም አቀፍ የዜና አውታሮች መዘገቡ ይታወሳል።አቶ ኃይለ ማርያምን ለናሙናነት ያስቀመጠው የወያኔ መንግስት ግን ለሕዝቡ ትክከለኛውን የአደጋውን ጥልቀት ከማስረዳት ይልቅ ”ድርቅ በአሜሪካም፣አውስትራልያም አለ” እያለ ከመግለፅ ያለፈ ተግባር ሲፈፅም አይታይም።የሰው ሕይወትን የማዳን ሥራ ከመስራት ይልቅ የማደናገርያ ቃላትን መደርደር ከተጠያቂነት አይድንም።አቶ ሃይለማርያም የድርቅ መንስኤ የአየር ንብረት መዛባት ብቻ እንደሆነ አድርገው የገለፁበት ንግግር ባለፈው ሳምንት ስሰማ አንድ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር የሚናገረው ንግግር አይመስልም።በሃያ አንደኛው ክ/ዘመን ላይ ተቀምጠው ህዝብን ለማታለል ለሚታትር ያውም በጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ደረጃ የተቀመጠ ሰው ከማየት የበለጠ ምን ያሳፍራል?

ከላይ የዓለም ምግብ ፕሮግራም ከዘረዘራቸው ምክንያቶች ውስጥ አምስቱ የማን ተግባራት ናቸው? ለአቶ ሃይለማርያም እና ለአራት ኪሎ ቅምጥል ባለስልጣናት የሚቀርብ ጥያቄ ነው።የተረጋጋ የምግብ ገበያ መፍጠር የማን ሥራ ነው? የህዝብ መፈናቀልን መከላከል የማን ሥራ ነው? (አፈናቃዩ በመንግሥትነት የተሰየመ መሆኑ ደግሞ ሌላው አስደንጋጭ ጉዳይ መሆኑን ሳንረሳ)፣ጦርነት እና የጦርነት ስጋት እንዳይኖር ማድረግ የማን ሥራ ነው? በእርሻው ዘርፍ ላይ በቂ መዋለ ንዋይ እንዲኖር ማድረግ የማን ሥራ ነው? ድህነትን መቀነስ የማን ሥራ ነው?

ባጠቃላይ ኢህአዴግ/ህወሓት የሩብ ክ/ዘመን ተግባሩ ከበቂ በላይ ማንነቱን እና ሀገር የመምራት ደካማ አቅሙን ብቻ ሳይሆን በመጪው ዓመታት ኢትዮጵያን ሊከታት ያሰበበት ትልቅ አዘቅት መጠን በትክክል እየታየ ነው።የመጀመርያ፣ሁለተኛ ትራንስፎርሜሽን እያሉ ማደናገር ጊዜ ያለፈበት የፈዘዘ እቅድ ነው።ለርሃቡ የአየር ንብረትን ብቻ ተጠያቂ ማድረግ ደግሞ የበለጠ ምን ያህል ከሳይንስ የራቁ ቅምጥሎች እየመሩን እንዳሉ አመላካች ነው።በእርግጥ ኢትዮጵያ ከመቼውም ጊዜ በላይ ይህንን ስርዓት የምትገላገልበት ጊዜ መፋጠን እንዳለበት አእምሮ ላለው ሰው ሁሉ ከላይ የተጠቀሱት ሁኔታዎች በእራሳቸው በቂ ናቸው።

ጉዳያችን GUDAYACHN BLOG
ነሐሴ 14/2007 ዓም (ኦገስት 20/2015)

↧

ፀጋዬ ገ/መድህንን ‘ሎሬት’ ያለው ማን ነው?

August 21, 2015, 9:33 am

≫ Next: Chinese yuan devaluation is not the real concern for Africa: A weakened Chinese economy is!

≪ Previous: በአንደኛ ዙር 14 ሚልዮን ርሃብተኛ አምራቹ የኢህአዴግ/ወያኔ የትራንስፎርሜሽን እቅድ በሁለተኛው ዙር ስንት ሊያመርት አቀደ? – (ጉዳያችን)

ፀጋዬ ገ/መድህን በአንደበቱ ስለ ሎሬትነቱ ከተናገረው…
…የብዕር ግንባር ቀደምትነትን ብልጭታ ፈር በመቅደድ፣ የራሴን የቅኔ አደራደር ስታይል በመቀየስ ማለትም ብዙዎች ‘የፀጋዬ ቤት’ የሚሉትን የስምትዮ ቤት የቅኔ አደራደር በማስላትና ተቀባይነትን አግኝቼ ሌሎችም በዚያው መጠቀም በመጀመራቸውና በየ ት/ቤቱ እንደ ‘ቡሔ በሉ ቤት’፣ እንደ ‘ወዳጅ ዘመዴ ቤት’፣ እንደ ‘ወል ቤት’ ወዘተ፣ የራሱን የቻለ ቤት ለመሆን በመብቃቱ…

እንዲሁም እንደነ ‘ኦቴሎ’፣ ‘ማክቤዝ’፣ ‘ሃምሌት’ ያሉ የሼክስፒርን ተውኔቶች በተመጣጣኝ ክላሲክ ቋንቋ በመተርጎም አማርኛም ከአለም ታላላቅ ቋንቋዎች የሚመጣጠን መሆኑን በማስመስከሬ፣ በከፍተኛ የቋንቋ አካዳሚ ደረጃ ብቻ የሚደረስበትን ግስን ከግስ አማጥቆ አዲስ ግስ የመፍጠርና የማስቀበልን ልምድ በመቀየሴ…

ለአንድ አህጉር ሕዝብ የሚሆን መዝሙር በመድረስ ረገድ የተሳካ ተግባር በማከናወኔ- ማለትም የአፍሪካ መሪዎች ሁሉ የሚዘምሩትን መዝሙር በኔ ቃል ቀራፂነት፣ በኬንያው የሙዚቃ ሰው በዶ/ር ኪሞሌ የዜማ አቀናባሪነት፣ በጋናዊው ፕሮፌሰር ኢንቲኪያ ዘፈን ቀራፂነት የአፍሪካን ሕዝብ መዝሙር በመድረስ ከአፍሪካ መሪዎች ምስጋና፣ አክብሮትና ሽልማት በመቀበሌ…

ገና የ29 ዓመት ወጣት እያለሁ ከብዙ አንጋፋ ምሁራና የብዕር ሰዎች መሀል ተመርጬ ለቀ.ኃ.ሥ. ዓለም አቀፍ ሽልማት በመብቃቴ፣ ከዚያን ጊዜ አንስቶ በየጊዜው የተለያዩ ሽልማቶችን አለም አቀፍ፣ አህጉር አቀፍና ብሔራዊ ሽልማቶችን በማግኘቴ (የጎልድ ሜርኩሪ አድ ፐርሰንም ሽልማት፣ የሴኔጋል ሪፓብሊክ የፈረሰኛ ኒሻን ወዘተ. . .)

እንዲሁምቋንቋና የታሪክ ጥናትና የምርምር ሥራዎችና ጥረቶች ሳቢያ ሊደረስበት የቻለ፣ በአፍሪካ አንጋፋዎች የተሰየመ ሎሬትነት ነው እንጂ እኔ ለራሴ የሰጠሁት ስያሜ ወይም ቅፅል አይደለም።
(ሰንደቅ፣ ጥቅምት 19፣ 2006.ዓ.ም.)

↧

Chinese yuan devaluation is not the real concern for Africa: A weakened Chinese economy is!

August 26, 2015, 7:57 am

≫ Next: Ethiopian Prisoner Urges U.S. To Put Pressure On His Country Over Human Rights

≪ Previous: ፀጋዬ ገ/መድህንን ‘ሎሬት’ ያለው ማን ነው?

Amadou Sy

From The Brookings Institution

The devaluation of the Chinese yuan by about 2 percent—its largest single-day drop since 1994—on Tuesday, August 11 took global markets by surprise. Market analysts are busy refining their assessmentsof what the devaluation and its timing mean for the likelihood and extent of a Chinese economic slowdown, the timing of a hike in U.S. long-term interest rates, thepace of global economic growth, turbulence in commodities markets, and the likelihood of competitive devaluation by other emerging markets. But what about the impact of the yuan devaluation on Africa?After all, China is Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner (see Figure 1). So far, press reportsandanalysts have stressed that African exports to China may fall as they become more expensive following the yuan’s devaluation. Currencies in African countries with strong exports to China, like South Africa (gold and wine), Angola (oil), and the Zambia (copper) have already fallen following Beijing’s move. In addition, the yuan devaluation may erode Africa’s competitiveness as domestic products will face stronger competition from cheaper Chinese imports, and local wages will cost more for Chinese firms seeking to open shop on the continent.

Figure 1.

However, reports also point out that some African countries—such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique—may benefit from the cheaper cost of Chinese goods that they import, such as Chinese-made heavy machinery, bulldozers, and electrical lines. African retailers and consumers will also have access to cheaper Chinese goods.

The yuan devaluation is not the real problem

Despite these worries, I would argue that the real concern should not be the yuan devaluation. Rather, African policymakers should focus on the impact of China’s possible economic slowdown on their economies and the policy measures needed to manage it.

First, a 2 percent drop in a currency is not that large, especially when compared to movements of floating currencies. For instance, the U.S. dollar has appreciated by about 20 percent relative to the euro and the yen, and the South African rand has dropped by about 12 percent against the U.S. dollar this year.

Second, African countries trade with China mostly in U.S. dollars since the yuan is not internationalized. Because the U.S. dollar has been appreciating against African currencies, the impact of the Chinese devaluation is less important for African countries than for the U.S. The table below shows that the yuan (CNY) was devalued by about 2 percent against the U.S. dollar (USD) on Tuesday, August 11 and further fell by about 3 percent by Thursday, August 13. However, the South Africa rand (ZAR) fell about 1.77 percent over the same period against the Chinese yuan (using cross-rates) because it also depreciated against the U.S. dollar by 1.24 percent.

Table 1. Chinese Yuan, South African Rand, and U.S. Dollar: Exchange Rate, August 10-19 2015

Sources: Bloomberg and author’s estimates.

Third, China’s possible economic slowdown is the real issue. The turbulence in global markets following the devaluation has been mostly driven by market participants’ concerns over a stronger-than-anticipated slowdown of the Chinese economy. China’s GDP official growth ratehas dropped to 7 percent from a double-digit average in 2010, and there are questions whether it is on a downward trend. The answer is not clear and some China specialists, like Brookings Senior Fellow David Dollar think that China still is growing in the 6-7 percent range and doing well.

The key issue is that a slowdown in China’s economic growth is a serious risk to Africa’s economic outlook. For instance, the latest World Bank Africa’s Pulse clearly flags that “the balance of risks to Africa’s outlook remains tilted to the downside” and that “on the external front, a sharper-than-expected slowdown in China, a further decline in oil prices, and a sudden deterioration in global liquidity conditions are the main risks.” Similarly, the latest IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) section on sub-Saharan Africa, echoing earlier analysis in the Regional Economic Outlook (REO), notes that “… further weakening of growth in Europe or in emerging markets, in particular in China, could reduce demand for exports, further depress commodity prices, and curtail foreign direct investment in mining and infrastructure.”

More than the movements of the yuan, every African ministry of finance and central bank should be carefully watching the movements in the determinants of Chinese growth. I would even argue that they should have specialized “China Watch” units monitoring the evolution of Chinese real estate and business investment, infrastructure investment and consumption, as well as urbanization and service industries trends.

For instance, a report by International Monetary Fund economists Paulo Drummond and Estelle Liu focusing on the impact of changes in China’s investment growth on sub-Saharan African exports finds that China affects the region’s economies directly through its exports and indirectly through commodity price effects, and through the international prices of manufacturing products. The authors find that a 1 percentage point decline in China’s investment growth is associated with an average 0.6 percentage point decline in sub-Saharan Africa’s export growth. The impact is larger for resource-rich countries, especially oil exporters because they account for a large share of the region’s exports to China.

What should African countries do to manage the effect of a Chinese economic slowdown?

The bad news is that, unlike in the post-global financial crisis period, African countries will not be able to rely on trade and investment with China as a buffer now that they are struggling to manage the effect of domestic and external risks, such as large fiscal deficits, declines in oil and other commodities (especially metal, see Figure 2), and domestic security-related risks. The possible good news is that a Chinese economic slowdown could delay the expected increase in long-term U.S. interest rates as mentioned by Brookings Senior Fellow Eswar Prasad.

Figure 2.

Source: IMF

The recent IMF and World Bank reports mentioned above indicate a menu of sensible policy options for sub-Saharan African countries, including:

Allowing their currencies to depreciate
Diversifying economies (both output and fiscal revenues) away from primary commodities
Strengthening fiscal positions and restore fiscal buffers (while protecting the poor from income losses arising from these shifts)
Reducing or eliminating fuel subsidies or make room for higher energy taxes
Implementing deep structural reforms to increase productivity growth across all sectors, especially agriculture

But these recommendations are a mix of short-term and long-term measures and, most importantly, involve tough policy tradeoffs. For instance, diversifying an economy is typically a difficult and long process, which involves many potential winners and a few but politically powerful reluctant losers, entrenched in rent-seeking activities. Allowing currencies to depreciate may help the economy adjust to shocks but, at least in the short-term, may lead to higher inflation, higher exchange rate volatility, and may discourage foreign investment. Some countries, like Nigeria, are struggling with these tradeoffs and are so far using administrative measures in the foreign exchange markets rather than letting their currencies depreciate. Reducing subsidies or increasing the value-added tax (VAT) rate takes political will. To complicate things, many African countries are scheduled to have elections this and next year.

A Chinese economic slowdown will definitely shrink the window of opportunity for policy action in Africa. But there is some light at the end of the tunnel. First, intra-regional trade and investment has the potential to grow in the continent. Second, India is strengthening its trade with Africa, and India’s growth is expected to be resilient (hovering around 5 percent). U.S.-Africa trade has the potential also to increase as initiatives such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act have not yet been fully utilized. Third, although European Union’s growth may also be hurt by a Chinese slowdown, the recent Greek bailout is removing some uncertainty in the short term.

So while we are not fully sure about the extent of a Chinese slowdown, African policymakers should accelerate the pace of reform, pray for a resilient Chinese economy and EU rebound, and start betting on…India.

Amadou Sy

Director, Africa Growth Initiative

↧

Ethiopian Prisoner Urges U.S. To Put Pressure On His Country Over Human Rights

August 26, 2015, 6:15 pm

≫ Next: Mogachoch 41

≪ Previous: Chinese yuan devaluation is not the real concern for Africa: A weakened Chinese economy is!

↧

Mogachoch 41

August 26, 2015, 7:30 am

≫ Next: “America Needs to be Respected Again” on the Red Carpet?

≪ Previous: Ethiopian Prisoner Urges U.S. To Put Pressure On His Country Over Human Rights

↧

“America Needs to be Respected Again” on the Red Carpet?

August 27, 2015, 9:01 am

≫ Next: AGOA 2015: Moving to Sustainable U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Partnership

≪ Previous: Mogachoch 41

Donald Trump’s shtick is: “America needs to be respected again because the rest of the world has lost respect for America.”

I don’t care much for The Donald.

But his shtick gnaws away at my mind as I think over the disgraceful “red carpet” treatment President Barack Obama received last month when he visited Ethiopia, the first ever for a sitting American President.

I know the whole red carpet drama is frivolity and vanity and not a big deal in the grand scheme of things; but to the extent that it represents a symbolic gesture of respect for a head of state and his/her nation, it is a big deal.

As I have said before, I am not much for pomp and circumstances and elaborate formal ceremonies. But I have been known to show up at my university’s commencement exercises clad in resplendent professorial regalia and occasionally carrying the university mace as faculty marshal. Graduation ceremonies mean a lot to my students and their families.

I appreciate the symbolic significance of formal ceremonies; but they must be done with class and pizzazz.

I believe the “red carpet” treatment given to President Barack Obama in late July by Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) in Ethiopia was a low down dirty shame and an insult to the office of the U.S. President and the people of the United States.

To the world, Barack Obama is the public face of the United States of America and the single most important representative of the people of the United States. As such, he deserves the highest respect during state visits.

Desalegn Red carpet

The T-TPLF gave President Obama a red carpet treatment that was not even fit for Bozo the Clown!

It is totally mind-boggling why the T-TPLF dissed Obama.

Obama has been the T-TPLF’s principal bankroller.

Obama doled out billions of dollars to the T-TPLF every year financing their corrupt and criminal enterprises.

Obama continues to turn a blind eye, deaf ears and muted lips the T-TPLF’s crimes against humanity.

Obama lied through his teeth to give credibility and legitimacy to the T-TPLF. Obama had the gall to say the 100 percent “election victory” claimed by the T-TPLF this past May is “democratic”. His National Security Adviser Susan Rice emphatically declared to the press that the “President believes it is absolutely 100 democratic.” Then Rice busted out laughing uncontrollably!

What did Obama get in return for all the favors he has done to T-TPLF? DISRESPECT!

What did America get in return? DISRESPECT!

High rollers in Las Vegas have received better red carpet treatment than President Obama in Addis Ababa.

The “red carpet treatment” means “something” as a symbolic gesture of respect. That is why important state visits and other official affairs are often opened in red carpet receptions and honor guard inspections. Glamorous celebrities the world over present themselves to their adoring public by sauntering on the red carpet.

The red carpet tradition goes back a long way, though much of its meaning is shrouded in the in the fog of history.

In Aeschylus’ play Agamemnon (458 BC), Agamemnon is greeted by his spiteful and unfaithful wife Clytemnestra upon his homecoming from the Trojan War.

Clytemnestra, after delivering the guileful monologue of the forlorn wife before the elders of Argolis, directs her handmaidens to spread a red carpet between the chariot and the door for her husband as a gesture of her utmost respect.

But Agamemnon hesitates to walk on the crimson carpet knowing that such treatment was reserved only for the gods.

Our modern gods — presidents, prime ministers, heads of state, celebrities of all types — have long made it a habit of walking on the red carpet just to remind us that they are gods and we are mere mortals; and that it is our duty to pay them homage, if not worship them outright.

I don’t’ know if the most powerful man on earth could be classified as a god, at least on the level of the mythological Greek gods, but I believe he is entitled to a real red carpet treatment.

I was so appalled by the T-TPLF red carpet spectacle that I thought for a moment the T-TPLF was having Obama do “Ring Around the Rosie”.

Ob 2Pix

They made Obama walk the four squares of tacked-on “runner rugs”, with an imitation Persian rug as the centerpiece, to inspect the honor guards.

Obama walked 8 steps to the left from where he was standing, then made a hard right and took another 12 steps, another hard right and 15 steps, another hard right 11 steps and another hard right 7 steps to his original standing position.

The whole red carpet honor guarad ceremony took 59 seconds! Watch video HERE.

The only thing missing was for the statuesque crowd to sing out loud: “Ring-a-ring-a-roses,/ A pocket full of posies;/Ashes! Ashes!/ We all fall down/.

(How true, they all fall down!)

I believe the T-TPLF showed utter disrespect to President Obama and the tax payers of the United States of America by giving him a Mickey Mouse red carpet treatment on his state visit. He deserved better.

I don’t know why the T-TPLF gave President Obama a crappy 59-second red carpet reception on his state visit.

Could it be that there is no honor and respect among thugs, thieves and thankless beggars?

Could it be that Hailemariam and his T-TPLF bosses are so clueless that they really believed their Mickey Mouse red carpet and honor guard ceremony is what the President of the United States deserved?

There is no doubt Hailemariam and his puppet masters have been given enough red carpet ceremonies over the years to know what a real red carpet treatment is like.

Is it possible that Hailemariam and his paymasters are such clod-hopping country bumpkins and yokels that they do not even learn from others by watching?

I don’t mean fancy learning. I mean simple learning as in “monkey see, monkey do”.

Isn’t there someone around to teach them:

Listen up! This is what a red carpet looks like. Notice! it is red. It is not variegated. That means multicolored. Pay attention! A red carpet is not an imitation Made in China olefin Persian carpet. Check this out! This is how you roll out a fifty-yard red carpet. Look here! The lesson is almost over. You do not patch or tack together 8-feet “runner rugs” [long strips of cheap Chinese olefin rugs] to receive the President of the United States. Pay attention!! You ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, do not buy a 99-cent welcome rug from the Dollar Store to receive the President of the United States!!!!!

For crying out loud, if these guys are so clueless rolling out a red carpet, how can they be expected to roll out an economic plan for 100 million people!?

Even worse, the way they overlapped the imitation Persian rug over the runner rugs was so dangerous that Obama could have tripped and fallen flat on his face. (Aren’t the Secret Service folks supposed to watch out for the President’s safety from falling on slipping and snagging carpets? Many lay people saw the danger.)

The only rational explanation is that the T-TPLF bosses wanted to dis Barack Obama. Straight up! I am convinced that they wanted to tell Barack Obama he aint _ _ _ _ !

That really pisses me off, even though I am no longer a cheerleader for Barack Obama and have lost respect for him for lying to protect the T-TPLF.

Despite my personal feelings, I still believe Obama deserved the highest respect as the President of the United States of America on his state visit to Ethiopia.

All I can say is that you can take the thug out of the bush but you can’t take the bush out of the thug!

It is true, “Money can’t buy you class!”

Shame on the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean’s People’s Liberation Front for giving President Obama a Mickey Mouse reception on his state visit!

Roll out the red carpet for Hailemariam Deslaegn (Rwanda visit, August 21, 2015)

Roll out the “runner rugs”, cheap imitation Chinese Persian rugs and welcome mat from Huangpu, China for Obama!

This can’t be true!?

A polypropylene welcome door mat for the President of the United States?!?

(Thank goodness the President did not fall on his face tripped by the welcome mat overlaid on the rug. Of course, the rear tire of “The Beast” (presidential limo) pressed firmly on the edge of the “welcome mat” holding it in place so it does not slip when the President stepped on it. Did the Secret Service arrange that?!)

But it is TRUE!

The exact “charming welcome mat” is available for direct bulk order from Huangpu, China at this link:

http://www.customized-door-mats.com/sale-329177-red-blue-outside-entrance-polypropylene-door-mats-with-charming-welcome-printing.html

Donald Trump said, “America needs to be respected again because the rest of the world has lost respect for America.”

What would a “President” Donald Trump have done if he had visited Ethiopia and been given the Mickey Mouse red carpet treatment?

I doubt Trump would have taken such in-your-face disrespect without giving his hosts a piece of his mind.

I think he would have told the T-TPLF, with a slight variation, what he told China : “Listen you m—–f——, we’re going to tax you 25 percent!”.

“Listen you T-TPLF! We are going to cut your welfare aid check by 25 percent.”

Now, get a load of that to get R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

↧

AGOA 2015: Moving to Sustainable U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Partnership

August 27, 2015, 9:12 am

≫ Next: Hillary Clinton strikes a new tone on email controversy. Do you think she’s handling this controversy better than before?

≪ Previous: “America Needs to be Respected Again” on the Red Carpet?

BY LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD

2015 AGOA Forum

The American consumer has long been accustomed to reading labels marked “Made in China.” However, across the United States, more shoppers are seeing “Made in Ghana,” “Made in Tanzania,” and other labels. African products ranging from luxury bags to specialty hot sauces are reaching largely American audiences thanks to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Created in 2000, AGOA permits duty-free entry for nearly 98 percent of all imports from eligible African countries and has become the cornerstone of U.S. trade relations with the region.

The United States and our African partners have convened for AGOA Forums annually since the program began nearly 15 years ago. This year’s Forum in Libreville, Gabon, taking place from August 24- 27, comes at a particularly good time. The AGOA program was due to expire on September 30, but President Obama signed a ten-year extension in June after the U.S. Congress passed new AGOA legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support. The extension – the longest in the program’s history – provides certainty for African producers and U.S. buyers regarding access to the U.S. market and sends a strong signal that Americans can and should invest with confidence in Africa.

Given this momentum, I am excited to be in Libreville to participate in the Forum. This year’s theme, “AGOA at 15: Charting a Course for a Sustainable U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Partnership,” provides an opportunity for the top trade officials from both Africa and the United States to discuss how to best take advantage of the opportunities presented by the extension of the program. Now that we are no longer constrained by concerns about AGOA expiring in the near future, we can start more strategic conversations about the future of our trade and investment relationship.

AGOA has become a key tool in our efforts to achieve one of this Administration’s developmental priorities: to grow the next generation of emerging markets by building an effective trading partnership between the United States and the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA encouraged African countries to diversify their exports into non-traditional and higher value products such as apparel, footwear, and processed agricultural products. The growth of these non-oil industries has created an estimated 300,000 direct jobs in beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries, but the benefits of AGOA reach both sides of the Atlantic. Total African exports under AGOA have quadrupled since the program’s inception. Meanwhile U.S. trade with Africa has doubled since the initiative was launched, creating an estimated 120,000 American jobs.

Of the jobs created, 200 on the continent can be attributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of Flotea Massawe. Ms. Massawe is an enterprising small business owner from Tanzania who has utilized AGOA to successfully export her stylish pillows, bags, runners and table mats to the United States. Before AGOA, she produced on average 200 pieces a month and had an annual income of $120. Currently, she produces 2,000 to 3,000 pieces a month and earns $100,000 annually. Today, her products line the shelves of Macy’s department stores. Ms. Massawe’s story, along with many others, underscores the significance of AGOA’s ten-year renewal in offering even more African entrepreneurs the opportunity to improve their competitiveness and participate in global supply chains.

Notwithstanding the tremendous success already achieved, AGOA stakeholders want to maximize and perfect AGOA’s implementation. That is why in addition to the ministerial sessions August 26 and 27, it was very important that civil society, business leaders, and women and youth entrepreneurs could participate in the Forum on August 24 and 25. Sustained, inclusive economic growth not only requires a partnership between governments, but also partnerships with the entrepreneurs and private sectors. The Gabon Chapter of the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) program, who will sponsor trade exhibitions during the civil society portion of the Forum, is a shining example of this type of partnership. And we want to help ensure more American businesses and African entrepreneurs like Ms. Massawe know about AGOA, know how it works, and know what opportunities exist for their products in U.S. markets.

If you are an entrepreneur or investor, the U.S. government has a number of programs, including those supported by the U.S. Department of State’s commercial diplomacy efforts as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development’s regional trade hubs in East, West, and Southern Africa, to help African entrepreneurs and Americans better take advantage of AGOA.

It is my hope that with the extension of AGOA for another ten years, the United States and our African partners will take full advantage of the opportunity to deepen the trade and investment ties in ways that mutually benefit our countries for decades to come.

About the Author: Linda Thomas-Greenfield is the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs.

↧

Hillary Clinton strikes a new tone on email controversy. Do you think she’s handling this controversy better than before?

August 27, 2015, 10:48 am

≫ Next: NASA: Sea Level Rise Likely To Get Much Worse

≪ Previous: AGOA 2015: Moving to Sustainable U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Partnership

↧

NASA: Sea Level Rise Likely To Get Much Worse

August 27, 2015, 9:12 pm

≫ Next: Bekenat Mekakel Part 17

≪ Previous: Hillary Clinton strikes a new tone on email controversy. Do you think she’s handling this controversy better than before?

Sea levels are rising faster than they did 50 years ago, and it’s only going to get worse

Posted: 08/27/2015 06:03 PM EDT | Edited: 4 hours ago

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sea levels worldwide rose an average of nearly 3 inches (8 cm) since 1992, the result of warming waters and melting ice, a panel of NASA scientists said on Wednesday.

In 2013, a United Nations panel predicted sea levels would rise from 1 to 3 feet (0.3 to 0.9 meters) by the end of the century. The new research shows that sea level rise most likely will be at the high end of that range, said University of Colorado geophysicist Steve Nerem.

Sea levels are rising faster than they did 50 years ago and “it’s very likely to get worse in the future,” Nerem said.

The changes are not uniform. Some areas showed sea levels rising more than 9 inches (25 cm) and other regions, such as along the U.S. West Coast, actually falling, according to an analysis of 23 years of satellite data.

Scientists believe ocean currents and natural cycles are temporarily offsetting a sea level rise in the Pacific and the U.S. West Coast could see a significant hike in sea levels in the next 20 years.

“People need to understand that the planet is not only changing, it’s changed,” NASA scientist Tom Wagner told reporters on a conference call.

“If you’re going to put in major infrastructure like a water treatment plant or a power plant in a coastal zone … we have data you can now use to estimate what the impacts are going to be in the next 100 years,” Wagner said.

Low-lying regions, such as Florida, are especially vulnerable, added Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division.

”Even today, normal spring high tides cause street flooding in sections of Miami, something that didn’t happen regularly just a few decades ago,” Feilich said.

<span class='image-component__caption' itemprop="caption">This Sept. 21, 2009 photo shows people on motorbikes wading through floodwaters caused by heavy rainfall in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Sea levels rising because of global warming, along with increased storminess as the climate changes, will expose tens of millions of people in the world's port cities to coastal flooding, says a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. </span>

ASSOCIATED PRESS This Sept. 21, 2009 photo shows people on motorbikes wading through floodwaters caused by heavy rainfall in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Sea levels rising because of global warming, along with increased storminess as the climate changes, will expose tens of millions of people in the world’s port cities to coastal flooding, says a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

More than 150 million people, mostly in Asia, live within 3 feet (1 meter) of the sea, he added.

The biggest uncertainty in forecasting sea level rise is determining how quickly the polar ice sheets will melt in response to warming temperatures.

“Significant changes are taking place today on ice sheets,” said Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at the University of California in Irvine. “It would take centuries to reverse the trend of ice retreat.”

Scientists said about one-third of the rise in sea levels is due to the expansion of warmer ocean water, one-third to ice loss from the polar ice sheets and the remaining third to melting mountain glaciers.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by David Adams and Cynthia Osterman)

↧

Bekenat Mekakel Part 17

August 21, 2015, 7:38 am

≫ Next: Meleket Drama – Episode 23

≪ Previous: NASA: Sea Level Rise Likely To Get Much Worse

↧

Meleket Drama – Episode 23

August 25, 2015, 7:33 am

≫ Next: The governor of Gedaref state, Merghani Salih, has called for redrawing borders between Sudan and Ethiopia

≪ Previous: Bekenat Mekakel Part 17

↧

The governor of Gedaref state, Merghani Salih, has called for redrawing borders between Sudan and Ethiopia

August 28, 2015, 3:31 pm

≫ Next: Ethiopia’s underground Jews see small gains in tolerance

≪ Previous: Meleket Drama – Episode 23

Sudanese official calls for ending border disputes with Ethiopia

August 28, 2015 (GEDAREF) – The governor of Gedaref state, Merghani Salih, has called for redrawing borders between Sudan and Ethiopia in order to bring the long running dispute between the two nations to an end.


A road leading to Ethiopia-Sudan border (Photo Jamminglobal.com)

Farmers from two sides of the border used to dispute the ownership of land in the Al-Fashaga area located in the south-eastern part of Sudan’s eastern state of Gedaref.

The two governments have agreed in the past to redraw the borders, and to promote joint projects between people from both sides for the benefit of local population. However, the Ethiopian opposition has used to accuse the ruling party of abandoning Ethiopian territory to Sudan.

In November 2014, Sudan’s president Omer al-Bashir and Ethiopia’s premier, Hailemariam Desalegn, instructed their foreign ministers to set a date for resuming borders demarcation after it had stopped following the death of Ethiopia’s former prime minister, Meles Zenawi.

Also, in December 2013 the Joint Sudanese- Ethiopian Higher Committee (JSEHC) announced that it reached an agreement to end disputes between farmers from two sides of the border over the ownership of agricultural land particularly in the Al-Fashaga.

Salih on Friday emphasized to a federal delegation from the societal and popular police currently visiting Gedaref the need to redraw the Sudanese-Ethiopian borders in order to end land disputes permanently.

He pointed to the importance of the joint military patrols to secure the borders between the two countries, praising the role of the societal and popular police in protecting the borders.

It should be mentioned that Al-Fashaga covers an area of about 250 square kilometers and it has about 600.000 acres of fertile lands. Also there are river systems flowing across the area including Atbara, Setait and Baslam rivers.

Sudan’s Gadarif and Blue Nile states border Ethiopia’s Amhara region. The borders between Sudan and Ethiopia were drawn by the British and Italian colonisers in 1908.

(ST)

↧

Ethiopia’s underground Jews see small gains in tolerance

August 30, 2015, 7:18 am

≫ Next: Dibaba takes Ethiopia’s first women’s world marathon title in Beijing

≪ Previous: The governor of Gedaref state, Merghani Salih, has called for redrawing borders between Sudan and Ethiopia

Tens of thousands practice in secret as a result of centuries of persecution; now they are divided over going public

August 29, 2015 / Aljazeera

by Johnny Magdaleno

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Tedros, his wife, his 7-year-old daughter and his parents cannot stop the accusations of witchcraft. Despite holding reconciliatory meetings with community members in their village in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, their names and the names of other Jews continue to surface during Christian exorcism ceremonies.

A Jewish Ethiopian woman at the Beta Israel School in Addis Ababa in 2003. Natalie Behring-Chisholm / Getty Images

During these ceremonies, an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian priest pours water over the huddled, naked bodies of those believed to be possessed by budas, or evil spirits. They turn maniacal and cry out the name of the buda they believe possesses them.

“They will shout, ‘I am Tedros! I saw this person walking, and I sucked their blood!’” he said. “‘Now I am in this person!’” Once a person is named as a buda and condemned, threats of violence from the Christian majority begin trickling in. Tedros and other Ethiopian Jews spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal.

Like many Jews in Ethiopia, Tedros spent most of his youth involved with causes he didn’t believe in. He joined the Orthodox Christian Church when he was 5 to deflect suspicions of his Jewishness. Now 57, he still publicly pretends to be a Christian.

As a young man, he was forced to enlist in Ethiopia’s army to defend the brutal Derg government in the 1980s. Led by Mengistu Hailemariam, the regime created an atmosphere of terror by executing students, teachers and political activists believed to support opposition parties and strewing their bodies in public areas. Instead of fighting, Tedros ran away to Kenya, where he remained for 15 years before returning to Ethiopia at the start of the millennium.

The Derg was replaced by the iron-fisted Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front in 1991, after years of fighting, and Ethiopia is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The national zeitgeist against Jews, however, has stayed much the same. Jews in North Wollo, the province where he and his family live, were persecuted when he left, he said, and they are still being persecuted there.

Jews have a quiet but central presence in Ethiopia’s history. Their origins are disputed, but it is believed they arrived less than 3,000 years ago, around the time King Menelik I, the son of the queen of Sheba and King Solomon, traveled from Israel to the Horn of Africa.

In Ethiopia, particularly in poorer rural areas outside the capital, Addis Ababa, their marginalization is a product of widespread belief that they are agents of evil. Common superstitions are that Jews shoot fire from their eyes, use Christian corpses to make their pottery and turn into hyenas at night.

Al Jazeera spoke to more than a dozen Jewish Ethiopians, researchers and historians who described these lingering beliefs as well as occasional violence in the Amhara and Tigray regions where they have been historically concentrated.

Some said incidents of houses razed with Jewish families still inside them and revenge killings when a death in the community is blamed on Jewish “sorcery” occurred as recently as May. A representative at the Ministry of Justice said it has not received complaints of discrimination or violence from the Jewish community, and the allegations could not be independently verified.

Still, many said the last decade has seen increasing religious tolerance in Ethiopia, particularly in the minor gains in government recognition of a mostly underground Jewish sect that calls itself the Beta Avraham.

Beta Avraham

In the neighborhood of Kechene in northern Addis Ababa, a group of young, college-educated Ethiopians sat on cowhide benches in the corner of one of the city’s two licensed synagogues, established in 2011. As the sun set, neighbors filed in to ready for Shabbat. About 30 people packed the humble room.

They were engineers, aid workers, biology teachers and jewelry shop owners. The youngest were fresh from class at Addis Ababa University, notebooks in hand, and as one of them swiped back and forth on his smartphone, app icons glided across a photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Like Tedros, they are members of the Beta Avraham, a sect of Jews that split from the Beta Israel Jewish majority sometime in the 18th or 19th century through feigned conversions to Christianity.

Historically this sect wore wooden crosses in public and attended church with their neighbors, but behind closed doors they donned kippahs and swore on the Torah. In hiding their religion, they avoided the violence that plagued their ancestors and have been able to take advantage of opportunities previously closed to them because of the stigmas attached to their faith.

“It was clearly an economic breakaway from the Beta Israel,” said Dr. Lucy Steinitz, an American aid worker who spent three years visiting the synagogue. “They were practicing Christianity on the outside but retained some Jewish customs behind closed doors or inside caves. Over the years, that dissipated, and [customs have] been really difficult to maintain, especially in a relatively low-literate society.”

Daniel, the leader in this community, is one of a new generation of Beta Avraham who wants to reverse that norm. He is leading, for the first time in their history, a push for his people to step out into the public and embrace their Jewish heritage.

Ethiopian Jews known as "Falashas" sit on board an Israeli Air Force Boeing 707, during their transfer from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv early in 1991. — Ethiopian Jews, known as Falashas, aboard an Israeli air force plane flying from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv in 1991.

With that, he believes, will come greater economic mobility and new tiers of recognition by the Ethiopian government. Then, he said, the community aims to relocate to Israel and join the more than 125,000 Ethiopian Jews already spread throughout the country. Some 20,000 of them were evacuated from the Horn of Africa in two massive airlift operations by Israel Defense Forces in 1984 and 1991 as part of aliyah, the Israeli-sanctioned return of members of the Jewish diaspora to Jerusalem.

In May 2015 they found themselves in the international spotlight when hundreds of Israel’s Ethiopian Jews took to the streets in Tel Aviv to protest years of systemic racism by the government. During the 1990s Ethiopian women alleged that Israeli authorities pressured them to take long-term birth control shots before and after their arrival in Israel, and the Israeli national blood bank has long denied Ethiopian-Israeli blood donations in an alleged attempt to curtail the spread of HIV. More than 40 percent of Ethiopian-Israelis conscripted for the Israel Defense Forces end up in military prison at some point during their service.

This year’s outcry was sparked by a video that went viral in April of two white Israeli police officers beating an Ethiopian Israel Defense Force soldier. Protests boiled up again in June when Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein dropped an investigation into whether the two officers should be fired.

Daniel and his cohort aim to help prepare the current generation by educating them about the developed world before they consider aliyah. “When we look at the [Ethiopians] in Israel, we see they have had a lot of challenges,” said Daniel. “They were illiterate [when they arrived]. They never had enough knowledge. How could they have prepared for things like technology? They did not even know how to use toilets.”

But many Beta Avraham aren’t supportive of Daniel’s mission. He receives threatening letters from communities secretly practicing in the north. There are 14 synagogues hidden in caves and forests in Ethiopia, he said. Each is led by a community leader who holds sway over the politics and beliefs of the congregation.

Ethiopian Jews demonstrate against police violence and racism, in the third day of such protests, on May 4, 2015 in Kiryat Gat, Israel. — Ethiopian Jews demonstrate for a third day against police violence and racism, in Kiryat Gat, Israel, in May 2015.

There are estimated to be tens of thousands of Beta Avraham in Ethiopia who still practice in secret, many of whom have a starkly different experience from Daniel’s. In Addis Ababa, where new generations of educated youths are less likely to hold prejudices, the threat against Jews is significantly lower.

“The others do not know of the [changing] times,” Daniel said. “In the last 10 years, the government has changed.”

“People are very afraid that even though there is constitutional freedom of religion, it’s not going to last for very long,” said Steinitz. “There’s huge religious tension.”

But Abayneh Tadesse, a senior researcher at Ethiopia’s National Museum of History, said persecution is more about the jobs associated with Jews in Ethiopia. “Overall, it is more about their economy and less about their religion,” he said. “Society has a long history of connecting them with hell because they use fire to make their pottery and tools.”

Jews enjoyed political respite in the 19th century because of these skills. King Menelik II moved thousands of Ethiopian Jews from his home region in North Shewa to help build Addis Ababa in the late 1800s. He admired their expertise in weaving, pottery and blacksmithing. These Jews settled in the Kechene neighborhood.

Kechene’s Beta Avraham are responsible for producing some of the most iconic items of Ethiopian culture sold around Addis Ababa. With their mostly middle class social and technical jobs, the Beta Avraham have benefited Ethiopia for decades, despite being relegated to the margins as ostensible crucifiers and sorcerers.

“As a Zionist, you should struggle,” Solomon said, his hands cupped around a glass of tea. At a cafe near his house, the room was bustling with men and women wearing wooden crosses around their necks. But he is at ease. “Wherever I go, I am in God’s country.”

↧

Dibaba takes Ethiopia’s first women’s world marathon title in Beijing

August 30, 2015, 7:25 am

≫ Next: Handing over the baton

≪ Previous: Ethiopia’s underground Jews see small gains in tolerance

AFP

Mare Dibaba has become the first Ethiopian woman to win the marathon at the world athletics championships in Beijing. Three Ethiopian and three Kenyan athletes finished in the top ten.

On the final day of the championships, a tactical marathon ended in a three-way sprint into the Bird’s Nest stadium. Mare Dibaba saw off the challenge of Kenya’s Helah Kiprop to take the gold medal with a time of 2hr 27min 35sec on Sunday. Kiprop was just one second behind.

In third place, Kenyan-born Eunice Kirwa claimed bronze for her adopted nation of Bahrain in 2:27:39. Defending champion Edna Kiplagat was fifth, coming in behind Kenyan teammate Jemima Sumgong.

The 25-year-old Dibaba is just 1.51 meters (4 feet 11 inches) tall and weighs 38 kilos (84 lb). She came into the race as favorite.

Sunday’s race was held under grey skies in Beijing with air quality described as “moderate” by the US Embassy Beijing Air Quality Monitor. A “moderate” level indicates “unusually sensitive individuals may experience respiratory symptoms.”

It is the final day of the championships with events including the men’s high jump, the women’s javelin, the women’s 5,000 meters, men’s 1,500 meters and the 4 x 400 meter relays.

↧

Handing over the baton

September 1, 2015, 3:02 am

≫ Next: ETHIOPIAN ATHLETES WIN 33RD MEXICO CITY MARATHON

≪ Previous: Dibaba takes Ethiopia’s first women’s world marathon title in Beijing

By Mikias Sebsibe

The Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front’s (EPRDF) thirty six Executive Committee members for the next two years were elected by their respective parties this week. The party’s succession plan is going in accordance with the design, some observers argue. On the other side of the aisle others deem that the plan, which the the party deliberated on introducing years ago has left many in disarray, write Mikias Sebsibe and Asrat Seyoum.

TPLF

The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) conducted one of its highly anticipated Congress in recent years this week. The 12th TPLF congress held at the Martyrs Hall in Mekele, seat of the regional state, lasted for six days. Good governance and leadership succession were the top agenda on the table for the over 1,650 Congress members and topic of intense debate among the public in social media.

The regional administration was barraged with criticisms on good governance and development issues in Tigray. Abay Woldu, president of Tigray regional state, made some concessions stating that despite the changes in the region there remains a “mountain to climb”.

The Congress threw a first surprise by giving voting rights to founding members of the party who retired two years ago as part of the succession plan (metekakat). A call for their return was made by one member who alluded that the founding members were “forced out”.

The return of the veterans including Arkebe Oqubay (PhD) (advisor to the Prime Minister), Sebhat Nega (director of Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development), Seyoum Mesfin (Ethiopia’s Ambassador to China) and Berhane Gebrekristos (Amb. – State Minister of Foreign Affairs) was greeted with huge applause from the congregation.

Election for the 45-member TPLF Central Committee was conducted on the fifth day. Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD), Azeb Mesfin and Fetlework Gebregziaber raked in the top three votes. Abay Woldu, wounded by criticism over his administration, came in 20th. His wife, Tirfu Kidanemariam, who was Executive Committee member, and Kindeya Gebrehiwot, who was member of the Central Committee and current president of Mekele University, did not get enough votes to be in the Central Committee.

One key figure who is also out of the Central Committee is Asmelash Woldeselassie, advisor of the Prime Minister and chair of legal affairs standing committee at the House of Peoples’ Representatives for more than a decade.

But there was no change in the chairmanship and deputy chairmanship posts of TPLF as both Abay and Debretsion retained their positions, respectively, after results of the nine-member Executive Committee membership election.

According to the party’s bylaw, members of the executive are chosen by the newly elected Central Committee members. The nine Executive Committee members will automatically become EPRDF’s Executive Committee members.

In the new Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) Executive Committee, there are three new entrants representing TPLF. Although new to the Executive Committee, all took part in the armed struggle and were members of the TPLF Central Committee. But among them Getachew Assefa, head of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), is perhaps the surprise inclusion.

Getachew, who rarely makes public appearances, set the tone of the 12th Congress by presenting a report that tainted the performance of the regional administration. And when the Congress elected the Central Committee members, Getachew garnered the fourth largest votes.

Getachew replaced Kinfe Gebremedhin as head of NISS after the assassination of the latter in 2001.

Fetlework Gebreegziaber, a veteran women TPLF fighter and current deputy director general of Ethiopian Financial Intelligence Center, is the other new entrant into the Executive Committee. She is a sister of Dawit Gebreegziaber, a businessman and former member of TPLF who made a scathing attack on the regional administration in an exclusive interview with the Amharic Reporter newspaper two weeks ago.

Addisalem Balema (PhD), director general of Ethiopian Commodity Exchange Authority, is also elected into the Executive Committee. Addisalem had served as Ethiopia’s Ambassador to China. He also launched a book titled “Democracy and Economic Development in Ethiopia” last year.

The rest of EPRDF Executive Committee members from TPLF include Tedros Adhanom, Beyen Mekru, Azeb Mesfin and Alem Gebrewahid along with the chair and deputy chair of TPLF.

Seven veteran members retired from party duties including TPLF Central Committee Abay Tsehaye, Abadi Zemu, Tedros Hagos and Tsegaye Berhe. The congress voted in favor of keeping Abay Tsehay in the Central Committee but the veteran leader refused insisting that the party should stick to the original succession plan.

ANDM

The Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), which will celebrate its 35th founding anniversary in November this year, held its Congress in Bahir Dar. The 11th Congress re-elected Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister, and Gedu Andargahcew, President of Amhara Regional State, as chair and deputy chair of the party.

The congress which concluded on Wednesday also replaced three of its 13-member Executive Committee, voting in three new entrants in their place.

Bereket Simon, policy advisor to the Prime Minister, will be one of the notable absentees from the Executive Committee. The veteran politician has been a constant figure within the EPRDF and ANDM Executive Committee. But he remains as member of ANDM’s Central Committee.

The same cannot be said about Ayalew Gobeze, who was appointed ambassador to Turkey in 2013. The former Amhara region president, who was an Executive Committee member, is not even elected into the Central Committee this time.

The third individual to be left out of the EPRDF Executive Committee is Tefera Deribew, Minister of Agriculture. Although the votes given to Tefera were not enough to keep him in the EPRDF Executive, he remains Executive Committee member within ANDM along with three others. His ministry was one of the sectors blasted for poor performance during the ninth EPRDF Congress held in Bahir Dar two years ago.

Their replacements include Kebede Chane, Minister of Trade and who was member of the ANDM Central Committee. His ministry has been criticized for poor performance during the GTP I period with export falling far behind the 2015 target of five to eight billion dollars. In the 2014/15 fiscal year export earning stood at USD 3.1 billion, nearly two billion less than the lower case scenario. Kebede was appointed Minister of Trade in 2012 after former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi sacked Abdurahman Sheik Mohammed.

Kassa Teklebirhan, speaker of House of Federation (HoF), is the other new entrant into the EPRDF Executive Committee. He became HoF speaker in 2010 and was member of the ANDM Central Committee.

Little known among the new entrants is Tesfaye Getachew. Tesfaye is head of Amhara region trade bureau and he has been in the Central Committee for years.

The rest of the Executive Committee members include Alemnew Mekonnen, Binalf Andualem, Ambachew Mekonnen (PhD) and Ahmed Abitew, Minister of Industry.

Minister of Justice Getachew Ambaye is among those who missed out on the Executive Committee membership. He remains member of the 65-member ANDM Central Committee along with Zenebu Tadesse, Minister of Children, Youth and Women Affairs.

The party also bid an honorary farewell to veterans including Addisu Legesse, director of EPRDF Cadre Training Center, and Yosef Reta, former president of Amhara region.

OPDO

There was also a continuation of the top leadership after the conclusion of the eighth Congress by the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) which was held in Adama.

President of Oromia region Muktar Kedir, who was elected chairman of OPDO after the demise of Alemayehu Atomsa in March last year, will lead his party until at least the next two years. Aster Mamo is also re-elected as deputy.

The announcement of the 15-member Executive Committee on Wednesday has brought with it some new names. There are three new entrants into the EPRDF Executive Committee including one elected to fill the void left by Alemayehu Atomsa.

Chief among the notable absentees from the Executive is Sufian Ahmed, who has been serving as Minister of Finance and Economic Development for close to two decades now. He was an ever-present figure within the EPRDF and OPDO Executive Committees. But he remains in the 81-member OPDO Central Committee along with Abadula Gemeda, speaker of the House of Peoples’ Representatives. On the other hand, Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, is out of the OPDO Central Committee and was not even among the nominees.

Abera Hailu, who was in the EPRDF Executive, did not manage to win enough votes to remain in the Committee. However, he has enough votes to stay as OPDO Executive Committee member along with five others. Abera is head of Tumsa Business and Investment, an Oromia endowment company.

Among the new entrants is Beker Shale, who became Director General of the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority in 2013 as Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn reshuffled his cabinet. Beker’s inclusion into the Executive Committee can be regarded as a swift climb to the top echelon. Just two years ago, Beker was a new member of the OPDO Central Committee.

The other two new faces in the EPRDF Executive representing OPDO come from the party’s secretariat. They include Daba Debele, head of OPDO secretariat and former vice president of Oromia region, and Bezu Wakbeka, head of OPDO’s urban politics and organization division.

The other EPRDF Executive Members from OPDO include Workineh Gebeyew, Abdulaziz Mohammed, Driba Kuma and Omer Hussien.

SEPDM

Much like the other member parties of EPRDF, the Southern Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic Movement (SEPDM) also retained the party’s chairman and deputy chairman in the form of Hailemariam Desalegn and Shiferaw Shigute, Minister of Education, respectively.

The party concluded its four day congress on Tuesday announcing the list of 15-member SEPDM Executive Committee before its chairman Hailemariam flew to South Sudan to witness the signing of a peace deal which he has been brokering for almost two years.

There are two new entrants among the SEPDM Executive Committee members who will also be part of the EPRDF Executive Committee. After years of being a member of SEPDM’s Central Committee, Teklewold Atnafu has finally come to the fore. Teklewold, who is the Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), contested in the May 2015 elections in Boloso Sore constituency – the birthplace of Prime Minister Hailemariam.

He is joined in the Executive Committee by Melese Alemu, vice president of the Southern region and head of trade bureau.

The pair replaced Shiferaw Tekelmariam (PhD), Minister of Federal Affairs, and Alemayehu Assefa, former head of SEPDM secretariat and currently doing his PhD in environmental governance at Addis Ababa University. Shiferaw, however, makes it into the SEPDM Executive Committee along with five others whereas Alemayehu is not even voted into the 65-member Central Committee of SEPDM.

The rest of EPRDF Executive Members from SEPDM include Siraj Fegesa, Redwan Hussien, Tesfaye Beljige and Dessie Dalke.

Among the SEPDM veterans, the congregation bid an honorary farewell to Kassu Ilala (PhD), who was policy advisor of the Prime Minister.

Succession inception

“In the name of leadership succession [our] party is pushing away able and capable leaders out of office and is replacing them with supposedly younger batch of political leaders; and this is counter-productive,” echoed a participant at the 12th Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) congress held this week at the regional capital Mekele. This statement by the participant of the congress, who happened to be a clergyman, is by and large a skidding indictment of the reign of confusion that has befallen the members of the party and the public at large regarding its leadership succession plan.

The comment inherently reflected the difference in opinion among the party members and supporters of the oldest party of the ruling coalition the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), TPLF, regarding the retirement of iconic party leaders like Seyoum Mesfin, Arkebe Oqubay, Sibhat Nega a.k.a. Aboy Sibhat and the like from the top echelons of the party leadership back in 2013. This is perhaps fit to be verbatim of the week if only it was not in stark contradiction to what has been inscribed in the party ideological publication Addis Raey (New Vision) back in 2010.

As a matter of fact, in its detail account of the party’s succession plan, the publication asserted precisely the opposite. Leader that needs to be succeeded are not necessarily unfit for their position. It also argued that it is not even because of their age; rather it said most of these top political leaders earmarked for retirement are at their ideal age for leadership. “In some nations, these people are just in the right age to climb to the leadership position,” it said.

Leadership change in the past

The party publication rather put things into perspective when it comes to leadership succession. Basically, the publication acknowledges that the party throughout its life has had two distinct mechanisms by which leaders can be changed, and that the new ‘succession plan’ is another (third) addition to this. Interestingly enough, the two mechanisms are crafted in a way that reflects the two seemingly irreconcilable ideological elements: revolutionary and democratic.

Consistent with its revolutionary nature, the publication says, members of party would hold periodical evaluation of their leaders where executing capacity, personal discipline and most importantly political belief and devotion to the party’s ideological direction is put to test. Pursuant to such evaluations, party leader would either be promoted, replaced or moved to a different position. This, according to the publication, constitutes one mechanism whereby leaders are changed periodically in the party.

Apart from that, the document also discuses, another mechanism, which features periodical and democratic voting system, where party leaders are elected via a secret ballot mechanism. Needless to say this is to reflect the democratic nature of the party by design. According to the 2010 publication, the third mechanism dubbed the “succession plan” is the latest addition to the two existing systems which have persisted since the struggle days. Hence, this plan is significantly different from the other two.

For one, the leaders that would be leaving top leadership position do not necessarily have capacity limitation or deficit in terms of discipline, the publication argued. In fact, these leaders also have greater chance to win if they stood for elections. Generally, they are able, vibrant, experienced and valuable leaders of the party but they should be succeeded, it argues. As a matter of fact, it is the position of the party that succession should take place while the experienced leaders are still in the prime of their abilities, which apparently looks to be one area of confusion for the party members and the public alike.

‘Why fix…if not broken?’

The simple answer, according to the party document, is that the overall succession plan needs to happen before the party started to lose its experienced leaders to aging or health complications. The new generation of party leadership is supposed to rise to the challenge with the help of the experienced leaders, who would do the work from their advisory positions.

The document further elucidated this point saying, “leadership succession is not a marathon; rather it is a relay race where team effort plays a greater role.” It further explains that in many countries leadership succession is indeed a marathon race where those who are unable to continue fall out of the race while those who are persistent win it. It further expounds on the analogy and claims that the basic difference between the two is that in marathon those runners who fall along the way have absolutely zero contribution to the winner; nevertheless the relay winner is in fact a concerted effort of those in the relay team.

On other hand, back then, when the central committee of the ruling coalition EPRDF endorsed the third strategy of leadership change it has one other external force pushing it towards that decision. That is the time factor. According to the same publication, the time has come to think about leadership succession mechanism because many seasoned leaders in the party are individually asking the party to be relieved from duty citing long years of services and health complications.

In this regard, the likes of Tefera Walwa, one time Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, is one of the first top EPRDF leaders to leave the party positions on his own personal will. This also looks to be the motivation behind drawing up an expedited succession plan (five years) in 2010. According to the original plan, the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, was supposed to be the last one leaving office after overseeing the succession process and installing new leadership entirely pooled from generation 2.0.

The basis

A point worthy of mention here is also why the party is dead set on having a well-oiled succession strategy and why time is of the essence. The party publication also offers a perspective as to why this needs to happen before 2015. Apparently, the whole thing is an outcome of the pessimism of the party over the opposition political parties in Ethiopia.

Basically, EPRDF believes that most of the viable opposition parties currently operating in Ethiopia are forces of destruction; forces who are working to reverse the gains made in development. “The main reason why countries like Taiwan and South Korea succeeded in achieving sustainable grow is because the agents of change (leadership) was able maintain its decisive role at the helm of the government for a longtime,” the publication argued. And by the time the leading party left office and was replaced by opposition parties, the overall national development agenda was firmly entrenched into the wider public; and hence the sustainability of the growth agenda was unshakable.

It is in this context that the publication argued in favor of taking matters into the party’s own hands. For one, the document said, we need to make sure that the Ethiopian growth and renaissance agenda have a higher level of consensus among the public. In fact, it says that this consensus should be at a level where the public itself would be the guard of the development agenda in the years to come. This goal can only be achieved if the party pursues strong public mobilization strategies.

“We need to make sure that the public understands the development agenda clearly and realize that it is one agenda which do not and cannot have any other alternative politically,” the publication argued. And this process, it says, should eventually lead to narrowing down the chance where the opposition groups could win public votes in national elections. This strategy appears to be paying off in the face of the recent election result which was a clean sweep for ruling party and its affiliates.

Nevertheless, the other side of this strategy is also to make sure that the party can transcend at least four and five generations if Ethiopia’s renaissance is really to take root. According to publication, this requires stable leadership succession process in the party. The year 2015 and the Mekele congress is perhaps the most critical in this regard since it is the year which is supposed to be the first milestone in the leadership succession process. It is a cut away year where EPRDF generation 2.0 is supposed to takeover completely.

Source:: Ethiopian Reporter

↧