Egypt says "amazed" by Ethiopia's Nile remarks

 (Reuters) - Egyptsaid it was "amazed" byEthiopia's suggestion on Tuesday that Cairo might turn to military action in a row over theNile waters… read more

• Ethiopia Ethiopiawill launch a one-year treasury bill and commence weekly auctions in December, the African nation's government said in a letter to the International Monetary Fund. The country…read more

Ethiopian PM eyes Chinese, Indian investment boost

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By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia is hoping to attract more investment from Chinese, Indian and Turkish companies as part of efforts to industrialise its largely agriculture-based economy, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.
Though still one of the world's poorest countries, Ethiopia says it has posted double-digit growth rates for six years in a row making it Africa's fastest growing non-oil producer.
"Our hope is that industry will grow faster than agriculture over the next five years," Meles told Reuters in an interview. "We will maintain an export-led industrialisation strategy. The main approach will be to try to attract investment."
Meles said his government would target Chinese, Indian and Turkish firms who wanted to invest in the country's fledgling textile and leather industries.
"We expect more investment from Turkey," Meles said. "We also expect more investment in the textile sector from Indian companies. In the leather industry, a lot of Chinese companies have shown an interest. Some Europeans, too."
Ethiopia's new five-year plan, unveiled in August, predicts a "base-case" scenario of 11 percent average annual growth and a "high-case scenario" of 14.9 percent growth for the period.
Meles said the economy would grow this year at between the 11 percent predicted by his finance ministry and a more ambitious 15 percent.
Ethiopia is Africa's biggest coffee exporter and the world's fourth largest exporter of sesame. It is also one of Africa's biggest potential markets -- with a population of 80 million -- and most of its people have no telephones or bank accounts.
But Meles stood firm on his long-held position that there would be no liberalisation of telecommunications or banking.
Despite that, the 55-year-old said he hoped talks for Ethiopia to enter the World Trade Organisation, would finish soon: "The negotiations are beginning to pick up momentum now."
The former rebel said foreign reserves, which fell to $850 million earlier in 2009, had recovered on booming exports.
POWER PLANS
He dismissed concerns that a 16.7 percent devaluation of the Ethiopian birr, the fourth since January 2009, could spur inflation. The year-on-year inflation rate hit 10.6 percent in October -- way over the government's target of single figures.
"The impact of the devaluation programme is going to be a one-off affair because the massive devaluation was a one-off affair. So we believe the average yearly inflation rate will be in the range of 6-7 percent this year," Meles said.
Inflation in Ethiopia hit a high of 64.2 percent in July 2008. After that peak, the government halted state borrowing and increased bank reserves to drive down the rate and it had been in single digits this year until after the devaluation.
Meles said that power shedding -- which the government says cost the Ethiopian economy 1.1 percent of gross domestic product last year -- should end when a hydroelectric dam that suffered a tunnel collapse is repaired in three months.
Ethiopia, with ambitions to generate 10,000MW, is building Africa's biggest hydropower dam and Meles said the country could become a power exporter within two years.
"I think by the end of the five-year plan we'll be very significant exporters but we should start exporting in a year or two," he said. "Djibouti will probably the first country to get power supply from Ethiopia."
Meles rejected claims from the opposition and some foreign analysts that his government inflates growth figures to attract investment.
"Our economic growth is evaluated very carefully by the IMF and they have never said that we have cooked the outturn figures," Meles said. "They have accepted them as facts. And cooking figures is a very dangerous thing to do."

Partners in the Horn of Africa - Seeing Is Believing

UN Green National Hero Raises Awareness of Climate Warming

 (prweb.com)…UN Green National Hero Raises Awareness of Climate Warming American to discuss reforesting Ethiopia at Cancun climate meeting San Francisco, CA (Vocus) November 18, 2010 An Ethiopian-born American… read more

• Police on African mercy mission to help Ethiopia street kids (menmedia.co.uk)Police officers and civilian staff have jetted out to Ethiopia on a charity mission to help street children. The 20-strong GMP team has raised £40,000 to refurbish a children's drop-in centre… read more
• India, Africa should deepen relationship: Kenya PM (topinews.com)New Delhi, India and Africa can deepen their partnership on the basis of their deep historical ties, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga said here Tuesday. Speaking at a session on India-Africa… read more
• Fourie's heart with England (mirror.co.uk)in South Africa's eastern cape, and a battleground of the second Boer War. The English are not historically popular. Asked whether he had any historical issues in donning the red rose, Fourie said: "No… read more
• You: CCA receives $2.2 Million USAID grant for Africa Business Center (menafn.com)and medium-sized enterprises and on U.S. investment in Africa's burgeoning agribusiness sector. "Over time, the USABC could well become the heart of CCA", said Stephen Hayes, president and CEO of CCA. "The… read more
• The Shocking Truth of Corrective Rape – Survivors Speak from South Africa…. (pinkbananaworld.com)Melanie Nathan - 11-14-10. WARNING - This is not for the faint of heart. The verbal descriptions in the Video contain explicit language. Corrective Rape in South Africa has been on the rise… read more

Keep walking

Epas anastas visits Ethiopia focus on cookstove opportunities

 (iapnews.wordpress.com)U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Official Visits Ethiopia: Focus on Cookstove Opportunities Addis Ababa, November 18 - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for Research… read more

The population challenge up close and personal

Image via Wikipedia (grist.org)by Lisa Hymas. You don't need to go to a place like Ethiopia to get a firsthand look at population growth - we can see its impacts all around us, from sprawling suburban subdivisions to crowded… read more

Gigi Sings Hope Songs for Ethiopia -- With Hopes for a Homecoming (spinner.com)

• From the article:…Of course, if it happens it will be in Addis Ababa. The singer known as Gigi is trying to make plans to return to her native Ethiopia (where she was born as Ejigayehu Shibabaw) for the first time… read more
• Why Are We Supporting Repression in Ethiopia? (nybooks.com)
  From the article:…Ethiopia, August 19, 2008 Foreign aid observers have often worried that Western aid to Africa is propping up autocratic regimes. Yet seldom has such a direct link from aid to political repression… read more
• Ethiopia has their first Foreign Language Oscar contender with "The Athlete" (hollywoodnews.com)
  From the article:…becoming the first black African to win any kind of Olympic gold. He did it again in Tokyo four years later, winning by a record margin. Now there's a film about Bikila, and it's another first, Ethiopia's first Oscar… read more
• Ethiopia tops list of African nations improving quality of life (gadling.com)From the article:…Ethiopia suffers from a bad image thanks to the war and famine of the 1980s. As my series on travel in Ethiopia showed, however, this is a land of friendly people, beautiful nature, and fascinating… read more
• EU report says Ethiopia's elections had many flaws (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
  From the article:…The ruling party won in a landslide, giving Meles his fourth five-year term. Human Rights Watch on Monday said Ethiopia has systematically clamped down on its citizens' right to cast ballots freely… read more

Ethiopian PM says EU election report is "trash"

Image via Wikipedia

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has dismissed as "trash that deserves to be thrown in the garbage" a European Union (EU) report that criticised his overwhelming May election victory.

Meles' ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and allied parties won 545 seats in the 547-member parliament in a vote that was also criticised by the United States.

"The report is not about our election. It is just the view of some Western neo-liberals who are unhappy about the strength of the ruling party," Meles told state television as he returned from the G20 summit late on Sunday. "Anybody who has paper and ink can scribble whatever they want."

Ethiopia is a key U.S. and European ally in the volatile Horn of Africa, where its secular government is seen as a bulwark against Islamic extremism.

The country's biggest opposition coalition, the eight-party Medrek, won just a single parliamentary seat. Medrek and the smaller All Ethiopia Unity Party (AEUP) demanded a rerun, alleging pre-poll intimidation and some vote rigging.

The calls were rejected by the country's electoral board and Supreme Court.

OPPOSITION DISADVANTAGE

The EU observer mission's report said the poll was marred by the EPRDF's use of state resources, putting the opposition at a disadvantage, and that freedom of expression and movement was not "consistently respected".  "The electoral process fell short of international commitments for elections, notably regarding the transparency of the process and the lack of a level playing field for all contesting parties," the 87-page report said.

Europe's chief observer for the election, Thijs Berman, says he was refused a visa to present the report in Ethiopia. The government denies that.

Ethiopia's last elections in 2005 damaged its reputation and hampered investment when the opposition disputed the result and street riots erupted in capital Addis Ababa, killing 193 protestors and seven policemen.

At the time, the government accused Europe's then chief observer of being biased in favour of the opposition and of helping to incite the trouble.

8,000 Falashmura to make aliyah - Israel News, Ynetnews

After years of waiting in transition camps, thousands of Jews from Falashmura denomination in Ethiopia will be brought to Israel. 'We have moral obligation to end humanitarian crisis,' prime minister says Yael Branovsky Published: 11.14.10, 16:27 / Israel News The government has agreed on Sunday to bring the approximately 8,000 Falashmura Jews who remain in transition camps in Gondar, Ethiopia to Israel over the next four years. "These are the seeds of Israel – men, women and children – that currently find themselves in the worst living conditions," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Knesset meeting. "This really is the case of a complex humanitarian crisis. We must prevent the emergence of additional refugee camps in Ethiopia." Jewish Rights Rally: Not authorizing Falashmura aliyah crime against Zionism / Yael Branovsky Hundreds of Ethiopian-Israelis gather in Jerusalem to protest delay in issuing of immigration permits to thousands of Falashmura waiting in Ethiopian transit camp. Minister Steinitz: This isn't about skin color Full Story Netanyahu told the ministers that 600 Falashmura members will come to Israel as soon as next year, and in the three years that follow 200 Falashmuras will make the move each month. "It is our moral obligation as the Israeli people to find a solution," Netanyahu said. As per the government decision, there will be no additional organized aliyah of Falashmura members once this project is completed. Moreover, no one claiming to be Falashmura member will be granted the right for aliyah. Entrance to Israel will be allowed on an individual basis, in accordance with the Law of Return and the Interior Minister's decision. 200 immigrants will make aliyah each month (Archive Photo: AFP) 'Cannot let it become a historic crime' Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver welcomed the measure, which was put together by the director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, Eyal Gabay, in collaboration with various organizations that have been petitioning for the step for years. "This is a historic decision, but we must make sure that it comes with budgetary support and with all the necessary solutions," he said. "It cannot become a historic crime." Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom, however, said that the proposal is unsatisfactory. "This is a scandal that must be stopped," he said. "We should bring 1,000 Falashmura members to Israel every month, and bring an end to the saga where thousands of people live in terrible conditions." There are 7,846 Falashmura members who are candidates for aliyah. As per the decision, the Interior Ministry will examine their eligibility and give them a final answer by August 2011. To be found eligible a candidate must have had a Jewish mother, must desire to return to Judaism in Israel and must have been registered in an official list from 2007 of Falashmura waiting in transition camps. Falashmura members who are already living Israel can request their relatives to be brought to Israel within three months. Falashmura rallying in Jerusalem in July. (Photo: Guy Asayag) 'We saw their suffering' "We have experience with government decisions," said Knesset Member Shlomo Molla (Kadima), who supported the measure. "This project will not only put the government's decision-making to the test, but also the execution of these decisions. After many years of evasion, the agency has taken responsibility." Molla described his experience as the head of a delegation to Ethiopia a year ago. "We saw the distress that people face, and their suffering and the suffering of their families," he said. "The fact that it will take three years to bring them here is ridiculous, and I hope that the government will shorten the unbearable waiting period." Members of the South Wing to Zion, an organization advocating for Ethiopean Jews, welcomed the decision and called it a "historic justice." A representative of the Public Committee for Ethiopian Jewry stated that "this is a moral, Jewish, human and Zionist decision of the highest order, which comes to complete the aliyah from Ethiopia and bring justice to the Jewish brothers who are pleading to return and connect with the Jewish people in their country."