Darfur vs. Ogaden, Mugabe vs. Meles
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Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Promises Huge Benefits
Addis Ababa (AllAfrica) — The last nine months of its existence has been challenging for Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX). It saw decline in coffee production and felt impact of global financial depression, among others, ECX disclosed.
Transformation from traditional to modern transaction system, shortage of laboratories, low storage capacity of warehouses, the existence of 256 to 781 coffee variety grades were also among the challenges faced by the ECX, said Dr. Eleni Zawde, CEO, at the annual ECX members’ forum held at Addis Ababa Hilton on Monday.
Even then, ECX has been striving to overcome the challenges and achieve its targets since its establishments nine months back, it was indicated. Before ECX was established, the agricultural markets in Ethiopia had been characterized by high costs and high risks of transaction; only one third of the output reached the market; and commodity buyers and sellers tended to trade only with those they knew so as to avoid the risk of being cheated or default, she said.
In addition to that, trade was carried out on the basis of visual inspection because there was no assurance of product quality and quantity. This drove costs up, leading to high consumer prices.
Small-scale farmers on their part, who produce 95 percent of the country’s output, came to the market with little information and were consequently at the mercy of merchants nearby, the only market they knew. Hence, they were unable to negotiate better prices or reduce their market risk, Dr. Eleni underlined.
ECX is working for reconciliation between warehouses and the central depository, to install an automated system and for regular close monitoring of security issues and manipulation at warehouses.
In the just ending year, coffee worth 2.8 billion birr was made available for transaction in the domestic and export market by ECX.
The suitable altitude, ample rainfall, favorable temperatures and fertile soil makes Ethiopia a favourable region with a huge potential for coffee production. A genetic pool of the country’s coffee shows it contains more than 6000 varieties, giving the country a big specialty coffee capacity.
Coffee plants cover a total area of 700,000 hectares in Ethiopia, producing roughly 250,000 tons per annum. Around 20 million people make a living out of the commodity. Forest coffee accounts for about 10 percent of the total.
The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange is a recent initiative in Ethiopia. ECX has a vision to revolutionize Ethiopia’s tradition bound agriculture through creating a new market system that serves all market actors, ranging from farmers to traders, from processors to exporters and consumers.
Ethiopia - Forty Preconditions for Elections 2010
I am of the view that Ethiopia's political forces in the opposition must ensure that the government will fulfil these preconditions before contemplating participation in the forthcoming elections in 2010. These forty preconditions should be met before any of the opposition parties could decide to participate. The political landscape in Ethiopia today has narrowed by wide margins compared to the democratic space which was a little ajar in the run up to May 15, 2005. These preconditions, if fulfilled, will certainly narrow the room for TPLF/EPRDF while they open up greater breathing space for the opposition.
Media and Information
1. Equal access for all opposition parties to state owned media
2. Equal time allocation (in the state owned media) for all political parties to announce their programmes to the public
3. Government financial support to political organizations in the opposition camp to finance advertising costs of airing or publishing information in the private print and broadcast media
4. Unhindered access for all Ethiopians to web cast media based both at home and abroad
5. Stopping government efforts to jam radios like VOA and DW Amharic programmes particularly when Ethiopians are highly sensitive about the political developments in their country in the run up to national elections 2010
6. Complete freedom for all Ethiopians back home to freely publish or air their concerns in the state owned media without any fear of repression or punishment from local cadres and apparatchiks
7. Free circulation of fliers and leaflets published by opposition parties in their effort to reach out the public and introduce their programmes
8. Freedom for all journalists to travel and penetrate into any part of the country to investigate and report on cases of civil and political rights abuses in connection with opposition members and supporters and their activities
9. Restore all the private news papers that were squeezed out of the market following the contested elections 2005 and allow them to continue their work of informing citizens
10. Reduce the skyrocketing publication cost imposed on private news papers and periodicals in attempt to undermine their financial capacity and limit the scope of their activities
11. Guarantee that the government will not disrupt the Short Messaging Services (short mobile text messages) as it did during and immediately after elections 2005
12. Allow opposition forces to make use of local/regional radio services including education transmission radios (particularly on weekends) to impart election related information to local residents since it is at woreda and kebele levels where most of the activities will be done
13. Issue directives to make it possible for opposition parties to relay important messages at social gatherings and religious congregations particularly in rural areas of the country since the rural community has limited access to the luxury of print, broadcast and web cast media
14. Allow oppositions to stage their programmes and policies at rural market towns, where, given the constraints mentioned in No.13, opposition parties will have the chance to address a diverse audience from various rural kebeles who in turn could carry the messages to their respective kebeles
15. Freedom for all rural teachers, medical practitioners, development agents and micro credit officers to choose and get involved in political activities which will enable the opposition to have easier and more effective means of outreaching rural Ethiopia
Political Prisoners
16. Release Chairman of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, Judge Birtukan Midekssa, without any preconditions
17. Discharge the tens of thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience held in various concentration camps including Dedesa, Shewa Robit, Zeway and Sheraro (I heard about Sheraro for the first time more than a decade ago when my childhood friends' fathers who had served in the Derg military rule were said to be held there. Till today nothing in known about them)
18. Free all journalists who have been arrested and detained for publishing critical editorials against the government
19. Stop the arrest and incarceration of opposition members and activists without warrant and without due process of law
20. Release all the 37 or so Ethiopians who were rounded up and detained based on trumped up charges of having "links with Ginbot 7 and attempting to assassinate high profile government officials."
NGOs
21. Rethink the so called CSO/NGO law passed by the rubber-stamp parliament in January 2009 whose primary objective is limiting the activities of NGO/CSO in promoting democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights
22. Lift the financial cap which discourages home grown NGOs from raising more than 10% of their revenue from abroad. Without enough fund, local NGOs could hardly play significant roles in combating corruption or advancing democratic culture
23. Remove all technical and political barriers against local and international NGOs which seek to contribute to building democratic institutions and good governance in the country
24. Allow humanitarian and charity organizations to resume their philanthropic operations in war-ravaged Ogaden region. The government must stop using famine as political weapon to put our Ogadeni brothers and sisters into submission. The opposition must ensure that the government revamps its position on local and foreign NGOs for one cannot go into elections with a ruling party that starves its own citizens through its bad policies and legislative smoke screen against NGOs
25. Lift all geographical barriers as to where local and foreign NGOs will have to concentrate their operations unless and otherwise such restriction is deemed dangerous for the wellbeing of NGO operatives (such potential conflict areas)
Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders
26. Stop the political pressure on Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) which requires it to abandon its obsession with democracy and the rule of law and focus only on human rights--which is absurd since no one can talk about democracy or respect for human rights where the rule of law is non-existent
27. Give appropriate weight to reports on human rights situations in Ethiopia issued by the State Department, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Genocide Watch and other human rights organizations rather than engaging in a war of words which will only worsen the human rights situation in Ethiopia
28. Clear and unambiguous position regarding the much publicized government land deal with Khartoum and its implications on the basic human rights of Ethiopians inhabiting on our Western frontier bordering the Sudan, including their rights to till the land they possess and to get protection against attacks by the Sudanese armed forces. A ruling party which turns a blind eye on the plights of Ethiopians has no legitimate right to stay in power, let alone engage in periodic elections
29. Clear and unambiguous position on the horrendous human rights violations against our sisters being committed by petrodollar rich Arab countries, which is dramatically on the rise in the past few years. We all remember that in April 2008 the TPLF/EPRDF regime broke off diplomatic relations with the Gulf state of Qatar for Qatar's alleged indolent in arming and training terrorists in the Horn. The opposition must demand that the government recognize that the atrocities against our sisters are no different than terrorist acts
30. The government must officially promise that any unwarranted harassment, intimidation, arrest or detention of opposition members, supporters and sympathizers is a signal that 'the game is over!'
Electoral Board
31. A new electoral board must be established whose members constitute fair opposition presence, where at least one third of the members are opposition nominees
32. According to Article 104 sub article 2 of the current constitution, the electoral board is appointed by the House of Peoples' Representatives upon recommendation by the prime Minister. The opposition, having little or no confidence in the Prime Minister and his opaque regime, must demand that his recommendation include members of opposition forces to reflect and reinforce mutual confidence in the electoral process
33. Members of the electoral board shall be made up of professionals including lawyers, statisticians, geographers and political scientists who, in the course of discharging their duties and responsibilities, could make profound technical analysis and informed decisions and could also live up to some degree of professional ethics than lowly cadres and apparatchiks
34. Building the capacity of the electoral board such as the provision of training and logistic support to the board shall be made by independent local and international organizations and agencies which are concerned with the democratic political process in Ethiopia. This prevents the government from using its financial clout to influence the behaviour and actions of board members.
35. 'Without new and independent electoral board, no participation' should be the slogan of the opposition. Our opposition leaders need to recognize that partisan electoral board is the 'final straw' in their desperate bid to beat the TPLF/EPRDF regime.
Police, Security and the Army
36. Disband the special and ethnically oriented AGAZI death squad and re-form it in a manner that reflects the true and proportional composition of all ethnic groups. Such re-structuring will significantly weaken the strong link between the executive branch of the government and the AGAZI special force which are infested with people from the same ethnic group
37. Re-shuffle the high ranking military positions in the National Defence Forces more than 95% of which, as reported by Ginboat7 a few months ago, are occupied by Tigreans. The country’s two largest ethnic groups, Amhara and Oromo, deserve more places proportional to their ethnic make-up in the nation
38. The commander-in-chief of the Army must be the head of state of the country, namely, the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, who, at least superficially, is independent. This requires amending the constitution which lavishly puts such power on the Prime Minister
39. Specific directives, rules and procedures must be designed and deployed to guide the activities and operations of the police and security forces in the country. The government must guarantee the opposition that its police and security forces will not haphazardly arrest and detain members and supporters of the opposition without warrant or concrete evidence that they were involved in destructive acts
40. Yeshi Filt Maseriyaw Lit—All the above preconditions are the bones and flesh of an expanded political landscape for the opposition to operate effectively. But Independent Court System is the soul! TPLF/EPRDF has four legs: a Kangaroo Court system, a special AGAZI Death Squad, a Puppet Electoral Board and a Voluble Charlatan (the party’s chairman). Forget the last leg; but without any change in the first three legs (Electoral board, Kangaroo Court and Agazi Death Squad) it is waste of time, energy and even human lives to engage TPLF/EPRDF in elections.
Get the forty preconditions fulfilled or No Elections!
Wondemhunegn Ezezew
bishangary@yahoo.com
Joke of the day: Strangers on a Train
A scientist gets on a train to go to New York. His cabin also has a poor farmer in it. To pass the time the scientist decides to play a game with the guy.
"I will ask you a question and if you get it wrong, you have to pay me one dollar. Then you ask me a question, and if I get it wrong, you get ten dollars. You ask me a question first." The farmer thinks for a while.
"I know. What has three legs, takes ten hours to climb up a palm tree, and ten seconds to get back down?" The scientist is confused and thinks long and hard about the question. Finally, the train ride is coming to an end. As it pulls into the station, the scientist takes out ten dollars and gives it to the farmer. "I don''t know. What has three legs, takes ten hours to get up a palm tree and ten seconds to get back down?"
The farmer takes the ten dollars and puts it into his pocket. He then takes out one dollar and hands it to the scientist.
"I don''t know."
August 24, 1:11 AMSan Jose Running ExaminerLynn WalkerPrevious
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Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia can add the 5000m World Championship title to his collection after winning in Berlin
(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia has now possibly placed his name at the top of the list of the world's greatest distance runners of all-time. By winning the 5,000 meter at the World Championships in Berlin, to add with his 10,000 meter victory earlier in the week at the same Championships, Bekele has now won 3 World Track Championships, 3 Olympic Gold medals, 12 World Cross Country Championships and is the current world record holder in the 5,000 meter, 5,000 meter indoor, 10,000 meter, 2,000 meter indoor, and 2-mile indoor. Bekele has topped the accomplishments of countryman, Haile Gebrselassie, who was until now, perhaps the greatest distance runner of all-time.
Bekele set the pace for much of the 5,000 meter race, unlike the 10,000 meter where he was satisfied to allow others to lead. His strongest rival was defending 5,000 meter World Champion, Bernard Lagat of the US. Lagat positioned himself on the inside lane, just behind Bekele for the entire race, ready to follow if Bekele should ever surge to break away from the pack. Instead, Bekele kept the pack intact by leading at only a moderate pace. Coming into the final lap there were still 13 competitors in contention.
Bekele's final lap is generally deadly against his distance race opponents. He has miscalculated at least one famous time in the past, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, when he faced Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in the finals of the 5,000 meter. Bekele had won the 10,000 meter and El Guerrouj had won the 1500 meter. With the meeting of the two in the 5,000 meter the popular thought was that Bekele would win easily if he set a fast pace and took the fast finishing sprint out of El Guerrouj. Instead, Bekele and the other Ethiopian front runners seemed to play perfectly into the scenario that favored El Guerrouj, and in the end the speed of the 1500 meter specialist was too much for even the fast last lap of Bekele.
The match up with Lagat looked to be something similar to the Athens 5,000 meter against El Guerrouj. Lagat had won both the 1500 and 5,000 meter races at the last World Championships, and had already taken third in the 1500 meter at this World Championships. With Lagat sticking to the back of Bekele during the 5,000 meter final, and Bekele declining to use his ability to set a blistering pace to take the sprint out of Lagat, observers wondered if Lagat would outkick Bekele down the final stretch. Coming around the final turn Lagat pulled alongside the sprinting Bekele. With 50 meters to go, Lagat briefly inched ahead of Bekele, but in the final 30-40 meters, Bekele pulled back ahead and Lagat broke his stride, coasting across the finish line beaten. Bekele had completed the double, the first time anyone had won both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races at the same World Championships.
As the only person other than Usain Bolt to take two individual gold medals from this World Championships, Bekele was asked if he feels relegated to secondary importance in comparison. Bekele responded by saying his performance is in no way comparable to that of Bolt's, who in addition to two individual golds, also set two world records. Bekele said that is is only right that Bolt should receive so much more attention, and that what Bolt has done is good for the development of the sport. However, he has earlier said that he would be ready for an 800 meter contest between the 100-200 world champion and the 5,000-10,000 meter world champion, and that he (Bekele) would definitely beat him (Bolt) at that distance.
I agree with you! The West just doesn't get it. Today, there are more civilized as well as wealthy people outside of the Western hemisphere and the trend growing faster than one can imagine. It doesn't really matter anymore if America or Europe glorifies African, South American or Asian elite, very calm and most importantly dup (drug) free sports men or women!
August 24, 12:46 PM
Herman says:
David,
I am NOT SURE if kenenisa is the "# 1 sportman in world history" but he has definately achieved more than BOLT. The government of Germany should have awarded Kenenisa, not Bolt, in my opinion.
there are two reasons why people saw bolt as better than kenenisa
first of all western media is bias against african achievement and sometimes ignorant. (the west also fears it can never win in the distance races, a reason why some europeans are considering to drop cross country races all together. READ THIS www.nation.co.ke/sports/athletics/-/1100/644432/-/shawtjz/-/ ) So the west wants to glorify only what it can win.
secondly, there is something catchy about the title.. "FASTEST MAN ALIVE" or "Fastest man__" fill the blank
August 24, 12:23 PM
daniel says:
the other big difference between kenenisa and Usain is humblness. Kenenisa is a very humble person who doesn't believe in showing off too much either before or after any race. Great Man!
August 24, 9:54 AM
David says:
kenenisa is better than Bolt. kenenisa has more world championship golds over the years than bolt. by the way, kenenisa has more olympic individual gold than bolt too. kenenisa also has more records than bolt.
this is not even a fair competition.
also, after one or two years, expect bolt to lose his gold medal because of drug abuse like marion jones.
kenenisa is # 1 sportman in world history
August 24, 8:13 AM
wow, wow, says:
sensational! Amazing!
check it on You tube - Barlin Bekele 5000m
August 24, 7:04 AM
GR reviewer! says:
Since 1966 Ethiopia dominated the middle and long distance in superb ways. Hail G. Selassie of Ethiopia set 26 World Record since 1993 and he holds Marathon world record. His plan is to run Marathon under 2 house which I found is Impossible! But who knows about these Ethiopians! How about Ethiopian great women runners - they have pretty much great record winning and holding record after record. What is going on?
August 24, 5:38 AM
Zobul says:
Hey, I really want to see both Bolt and Bekele in a race, that is, 800 meter.
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