Ethiopian Reporter - Amharic Version

The Reporter | Saturday |April 30, 2011 

InsIde 

Photo By: Reporter /Mesfen Solomon 

The royal wedding caught 

the imagination of the 

world’s media with many 

wondering why there was 

such planetary excitement 

about the event... 

28 

The US Air Force Africa (AFAFRICA) 

commander told African military 

leaders Tuesday, that they have 

a plan to foster strategic relations 

with African partners that strengthen 

stability ... 

Vol. XV No. 764 | April 30, 2011 | ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA www.ethiopianreporter.com Price 5.00 Birr 

“About a year ago around 6p.m., I was having a 

“I will never let a man touch me again without my 

11 14 15 

burger with my boyfriend in a burger... 

consent,” Zemdina Abebe, 25, ... 

www.ethiopianreporter.com 

3 

Canada’s Allana Potash Corp said 

it discovered potash in Kainitite and 

Sylvinite zones which are previously 

unexplored area sin Ethiopia, which 

the potash explorer expects to add to 

existing resources... 

United caUse 

for a 

Ever since the official announcement of the mega Renaissance Dam, Ethiopians from all walks of life 

have shown keen support for the construction of the dam that is, as it stands, the 10th largest in the 

world. And on Thursday at the Ghion Hotel, government officials, academicians, members from civil 

society organizations and the private sector congregated to discuss on how to best utilize the Nile 

River. Issues concerning the Nile Basin Initiative’s (NBI) Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) 

was also one major topic of deliberation. Pictured above from left, Andreas Esheté (Prof.), advisor 

to the Prime Minister, Imiru Tamrat from Multi-talent Consultancy Plc, Eyesuswork Zafu, President 

of Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECCSA) and Yacob Arsano (PhD), 

AAU during a tea break. Pictured on the right, Sheik Ahmedin Sheik Abdulahi Chello, president of 

the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, Abune Pawlos, patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox 

Tewahdo Church, Abune Berhaneyesus Surafel, Archbishop of the Ethiopian Catholic Church and 

Rev. Alemu Sheta, Evangelical Church Fellowship of Ethiopia (ECFE). SEE THE FULL STORY ON 

PAGE 9. 

Ethiopian seeks USD 1.45 bln for 15 

Boeing jetliners purchase 

By Kaleyesus BeKele 

The Ethiopian Airlines, the national flag carrier, is 

looking for 1.45 billion USD loan for the financing 

of the purchase of ten B787-8 and five B737-800 

airplanes and spare engines. 

Kassim Geresu, chief financial officer of Ethiopian, 

told The Reporter that different types of loans are 

required (Finance lease - Ex-Im guaranteed 

Loan, PDP loan and Junior loan). The total amount 

is estimated to be around 1.45 billion dollars. 

Kassim said Ethiopian has already floated a request 

for proposals on March 15, 2011 to potential 

Ethiopian 

Airlines will 

also be the first 

airline in Africa 

to operate the 

much delayed 

Boeing 787 

Dreamliner 

financiers adding that it is waiting for their 

responses. 

The national flag carrier placed orders for 10 

Dreamliners in 2005. Originally, deliveries were 

scheduled for 2008-2010 which Boeing failed to 

meet. Now Ethiopian expects to receive the first 

two Dreamliners in January next year. Ethiopian 

has also ordered 10 B737-800, 12 Airbus A350 

XWB, and 5 B777-200LRs. The airline has received 

three of the B777s and expects two more in April 

and July this year. 

Ethiopian Airlines will also be the first airline 

in Africa to operate the much delayed Boeing 

4 

By Tamiru Tsige 

|1 

25 charged 

over loss of 

USD 6.5 mln 

Prosecutors of the Federal 

Ethics and Anti Corruption 

commission has charged 25 

suspects alleging that they 

have made and used a falsified 

Western Union’s payment 

receipt and two Commercial 

Nominee’s seals which prohibited the entrance 

of USD 6,546,699.57 to the country. 

The commission’s prosecutors filled the charge 

to the Federal High Court First Criminal Bench 

at Lideta on April 19, 2011. The charge alleges 

that the suspects committed fraud on the 

employees of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia 

(CBE) by presenting the forged documents and 

getting an export permit to export khat. 

The suspects prohibited the entrance of the USD 

6,546,699.57 to the country and used it to their 

own intent and this has damaged the county’s 

economy, the charge alleged. The charge also 

states that the suspects committed fraud and 

also made and used falsified documents. 

According to the Charge, Commercial 

Nominees plc PC operator/ verifier, Ali 

Mohammed, its general service and real estate 

head, Moges Getahun, its driver Mekonen 

Gebremedhin and CBE’s International Trade 

Services and Customer Relations officer, Yonas 

Wondwossen are some of the 25 defendants. 

ConT`d on page 5 

787 Dreamliner, which is more than three years 

behind schedule. Ethiopian Airlines currently 

operates an all Boeing aircraft for its middle and 

long range services. Currently, Ethiopian Airlines 

have 46 Aircrafts: 11 Boeing 767-300ER, 8 Boeing 

757-200ER, 5 Boeing 737-700, 4 Boeing 737-800, 

5 Fokker 50, 7 - Q400 DHC-8, 2 Boeing 757-260F 

(Cargo), 2 MD-11F (Cargo) and 2 Boeing 747- 

200F (Cargo) operating and another 36 in order 

which are 12 A350-900 from Airbus, 10 787- 

8 Dreamliner from Boeing, 5 777-200LR from 

Boeing 8 737-800 from Boeing, and 1 Q400 DHC-8 

from Bombardier.

2| 

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THE 

ReporterOP-ED 

EDITORIAL 

Heeding constructive criticism; 

Flattery kills quicker than poison 

It is generally agreed that criticism is more important than flattery for everyone, be it an individual, an 

organization or a government, to continually improve themselves by learning from their mistakes. 

For a government such as Ethiopia’s in particular, which finds itself in challenging times, it is unquestionably 

much better for it as well as for the nation to be concerned about criticisms against it than to bask in underserved 

and sycophantic praises. 

Of course, the Ethiopian government cannot be accused of having done or doing nothing laudable. The delivery 

of social services like health and education has expanded. The country’s infrastructure, especially roads, has 

vastly improved. Our towns are growing. And rural areas are changing. We are not saying that credit should not 

be given where it is due. However, if the government does not listen to criticisms, it will forego an opportunity 

that enables it to do a better job and even up losing the gains it had achieved. 

If the government is always ready to listen to criticism and take the necessary corrective measures, it can save 

the ever-waning good governance from disappearing altogether and put a stop to the pervasive miscarriage of 

justice blighting the public. 

These days the public has no expectation that it will get justice from government institutions. It just goes to them 

for the sake of expressing its grievances. 

Some institutions seem to be oblivious of the fact that it is the public which pays the salaries of their employees 

and they have an obligation to save it with the respect it deserves. It has become commonplace to see them 

mistreat and humiliate citizens who seek their services. Our age-old virtue of being courteous and respectful to 

other is slowly fading. 

The chief culprit which is responsible for this disgraceful and alarming state is the government bureaucracy. And 

it is not clear whether or not the bureaucracy is truly under the government’s control. Though it is established 

and staffed by the government/ the ruling party, it is not benefiting and in fact is harming both. It is busy setting 

the government on a collision course with the public and undermining the government’s avowed desire to make 

Ethiopia a model of good governance. 

The public is getting disaffected and feeling disenfranchised by the actions of the government bureaucracy. 

Ironically, the bureaucracy never misses a chance to claim unashamedly that the public is full of praises for it. 

The government needs to take stock of things and deal decisively with its bureaucracy. Listening to the public’s 

grievance against the bureaucracy is of critical importance for the government in this regard. 

A person who forwards criticisms should not be regarded as an enemy. But this is precisely what the government 

bureaucracy does. It labels any one who “dares” to expose its weakness as an enemy and treats it as such. It 

misleads the government into believing that the person is an enemy and taking uncalled for steps against him/ 

her. This is the bare truth. 

If the government and the ruling EPRDF care to see, they would realize that their own bureaucracy is actually 

inflicting a far mortal damage to them than opposition parties or insurgent groups who are based overseas do. 

In other words, the government’s and the EPRDF’s worst enemy is their own bureaucracy, which is run by 

individuals they trust, chose and appointed. These individuals are the ones who are bringing down the bridge 

connecting the public with the government and the EPRDF. 

Neither the EPRDF nor the government can profess ignorance in defense of their failure to get a grip on the 

problem. The public has always its discontent, its grievance, its criticism against their bureaucracy. Sadly, noone 

has lent a sympathetic ear to its tearful plea. 

The people of Ethiopian are an understanding people. They stand by their government when they see and 

hear about something positive despite the myriad of problems they face. That is why they are fully behind the 

government’s plan to build the massive Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile though no-one 

listens to their grievance. 

The government should express its appreciation for such show of public support. However, that is not the only 

thing it has to do. It must stand by the public, whom it wants to do the same thing for it, and do whatever is in 

its power to solve the latter’s problems. It can achieve this only when it is willing and committed to listen with 

an open mind to public criticisms directed against it. 

The government is at a crossroads: to stand by its “dirty bureaucracy” or the “honest public”. It’s no brainier 

which option it should go for. It had to forsake its dirty bureaucracy and side with the public whole heartedly. 

This means it must stop listening to the false praises of its bureaucracy and be ready to submit itself to the critical 

and honest criticisms of the public. 



R mail Letters to the editor 

Blaming the victim? 

Dear Editor, 

I am writing this letter in response to Dr. 

Yohannes Gebresellasie’s opinion piece, 

“Revolutions are not fashions to be imitated or 

documents to be copied, pasted,” published in 

The Reporter on April 23, First, the opinion piece 

really made me feel uncomfortable, wondering 

why “scholars” or the “educated ones”, who 

are supposed to be neutral, critical and, most 

importantly, agents of change, become silent 

at best and remain to be without self-initiation 

being mouthpieces of governments which lack 

people’s legitimacy at worst. Scholars like Dr. 

Yohannes, when they fail to understand what the 

real situation looks like, especially with regard to 

the political atmosphere, resort to the surest, but 

not always the most reliable, means of support 

to their government, insulting Ethiopians in the 

diaspora. Have a look for yourself (dear editor 

and readers) at the words Dr. Yohannes used in 

his piece to label the diaspora (some groups?) 

‘disillusioned,’ ‘disenchanted,’ ‘cynical,’ ‘biased,’ 

‘hallucinating,’ ‘historical enemies of Ethiopia’ 

etc. It is very clear that any person should be 

judged by his/her opinion. However, it is a 

mistake or fallacious to label a person this or 

that because this person had raised an idea or 

does something which is not comforting us. 

Focus has to be given not to the person but to 

the idea. Judged in this regard, Dr. Yohannes 

made a fallacious argument for he is more 

inclined to insult the diaspora than to focus on 

their ideas. 

Furthermore, he repeatedly mentioned that 

this group (the diaspora) has a hidden agenda 

but failed to tell us what their hidden agenda is 

in clear terms. I agree with him that the group 

have a lust for power and they do have a desire 

to grasp it any time if the circumstances allowed 

them to do so. But do you think this is bad? I do 

not think so. They may feel they are the ones who 

should govern this country. If so, the incumbent 

should do everything necessary, if it claims to be 

democratic, for them to have a chance to assume 

power. If the people of Ethiopia consider the 

diaspora as not fit enough to govern them, let 

the people say so. It is ridiculous to dare to 

speak on behalf of Ethiopians without getting 

the green light from the people. 

Do you think there is “a complete and durable 

peace and stability” in the country? Are you 

serious about it or are you just dreaming? If 

we are to define peace based on the absence of 

war, you may have a point there. But peace is 

not simply the absence of war. There is more 

to it than that. We need peace, real peace. So 

please refrain from trying to deceive us; be more 

critical about it. 

Dr. Yohannes writes, “The Ethiopian people 

were once fooled by these (the diaspora groups) 

groups a few years back but they would never 

be fooled again.” What a conviction! Do you 

think the people were fooled? Who told you 

the people were fooled, or have you done an 

assessment to make you think the people were 

fooled? If “the people would never be fooled 

again” conception is to be upheld, I believe it is 

not because the people wanted or liked the idea 

but the incumbent will never let the general 

citizenly to be fooled, since it has become very 

harsh this time around. We will never be fooled 

because our government is more authoritarian 

than it was before. 

In any way, try to be critical and neutral. There 

is a saying that goes, “If you can smile when 

things go wrong, you have someone in mind to 

blame.” It is my belief that for the incumbent’s 

wrong-doings the diaspora should not always 

be blamed as this is tantamount to blaming the 

victim. 

Kalkidan Ambaye 

Addis Ababa University 

Rmail 

Please send your views on 

mcc@ethionet.et


Us air force to shore up 

africa on security, stability 

By merga yonas 

The US Air Force Africa (AFAFRICA) commander 

told African military leaders Tuesday, that they 

have a plan to foster strategic relations with 

African partners that strengthen stability and foster 

interoperability between their respective militaries. 

Maj. Gen. Margaret H. Woodward said, “Like every 

region of the world, Africa faces security challenges” 

that are both unique to the continent and shared 

globally. 

“We believe that our only chance at truly confronting 

these challenges successfully is in partnership with 

you [Africa’s military leaders],” the commander 

said during a conference held at Sheraton Addis, 

organized by the Ethiopian government and 

AFAFRICA, headquartered at Ramstein Air Base in 

Germany. 

AFAFRICA will strengthen the security forces and 

professionalism of military forces in the region, and 

will increase the ability of the region to support and 

lead international peace, the Commander added. 

Held with the theme “Building Air Partnership 

Across Africa,” the conference aims to provide a 

forum for strategic dialogue on improving air safety 

across the continent, according to the organizers. 

The gathering brought together about 150 

participants including around 30 African Chiefs 

and their deputies. 

AFAFRICA is supported by the African Center for 

Strategic Studies, which is located at the National 

Defense University at Fort Lesely J. McNair, 

Washington, D.C. 

Partial view of 

the participants 

HEADLINES 

By merga yonas 


oromia to take further action 

against judges, legal officers 

The Oromia Supreme Court is to take further 

action against the judges and 

legal officers who were involved 

in misdemeanor concerning 

the regional justice system, the 

Supreme Court president said 

yesterday. 

During a consultation held among 

judges, presidents, legal officers 

and staff of Oromia Supreme Court 

in Adama, which also brought 

together over 600 participants 

for three days, the assembly is 

evaluating reports related to the 

Oromia justice system of the third 

quarter. 

“We are investigating and 

assessing the actions of those who 

are abusing their power,” Tadele 

Negisho of the Oromia Supreme Court President 

told The Reporter. 

By lemlem Tsegay 

The Ninth Civil Bench of the Federal High Court on 

April 18 ordered Sheba Still Mills PLC, a company 

owned by a Pakistani business group and currently 

going through a serious of legal battles, its General 

manager Gulham Abbas Hirani and its deputy 

General Manager Mohammed Razah Abbas Hirani, 

to pay 4,116,131.93 birr to Birzaf Gebremariam, 

supplier of used metals for the Plc. 

Birzaf Gebremariam, the plaintiff, presented the 

suit on March 11, 2011 claiming 4,116,131.93 birr 

from the defendants, who allegedly gave the plaintiff 

thirteen cheques for the payment of the used metals 

supplied for the Plc, that were signed by the second 

and third defendants. 

The plaintiff stated in her claim that she presented 

the cheques, signed between October 21, 2010 and 

December 02, 2010, with a value of 4,116,131.93 birr 

to Dashen Bank. However, the cheques were rejected 

by the Bank because the account was closed, the 

plaintiff claimed. 

The plaintiff also stated in her claim that even though 

she demanded payment in person, the defendants 

refused to pay. 

The case was tried in absentia because the defendants 

|3 

“We are no longer living in the times when kings can 

not be prosecuted and the sky cannot be tailored. 

Thus, we can take appropriate action against the 

judgers and legal officers who are 

accountable for their misdeeds,” 

the president said. 

Joint action will be taken by the 

Oromia Regional Council and the 

Judges’ Administration Council 

fulfilling the procedure needed 

before making them culpable for 

their offences, Tadele added. 

Early this month, the Oromia 

Supreme Court relieved eight 

judges and three legal officers of 

the duties as a result of alleged 

abuse of power as disciplinary 

measures. According to the 

president, they were alleged 

Tadele Negisho 

to have committed favoritism, 

misappropriation of official 

powers and citing inappropriate civil articles in 

their rulings. 

fourth lawsuit costs 

sheba 4.1 million birr 

failed to appear before the court and present their 

defense after they were served with summons by the 

plaintiff. The Ninth Civil Bench, which is presided 

over by Judge Bisrat Tehelku, has thus ordered the 

Plc, the General Manager and the deputy general 

manager to pay a total of 4,116,131.93 birr with 

nine percent legal interest. The legal interest is to be 

calculated starting from the day the cheques were 

presented for payment before the bank up to the day 

the amount is fully paid. 

The ninth civil bench of the Federal High Court 

had also passed an injunction against Sheba Plastics 

Factory, a sister company of Sheba Still Mills LLC, on 

March 24, 2011 after the plaintiff requested the court 

to do so claiming that the general manager and the 

deputy fled the country and the PLC is transferring 

the ownership of properties of the factory by sale in 

the name of paying debt, the plaintiff alleged. 

Prior to the lawsuit the PLC lost three civil suits 

within the last three months related to unpaid 

cheques amounting to a little over to 2.5 million birr 

to a man named Nura Mohammed, Yetenbi Trading 

and Nyala Insurance SC. 

Last week, the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs 

Authority (ERCA) froze the assets of Sheba Steel 

Mills Plc after the authority learned the steel factory 

was halting production. 

era requests 20 bln birr for 

next budget year 

By Wudineh ZeneBe 

The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA), the biggest recipient of federal government budget, is requesting 

20 billion birr financing for the next fiscal year according to the figures it submitted to the Ministry of 

Finance and Economic Development (MoFED). The ministry is soliciting federal institutions to present 

their finance requirements for the 2011/12 budget year. 

Staying true to its previous trends, the ERA requested the leading amount followed by the Ministry of 

Education (MoE) and the Ministry of Defense. 

The budget requested by ERA has increased by five billion birr from the previously requested amount. 

Federal government had rejected the request and finally, the authority had to settle for 12 billion. However, 

six months into the fiscal year, MoFED had given out the requested amount in light of the need for road 

interconnection – there by the reduction in poverty levels, and fulfillment of the growth standards the 

country had set for itself for the year 2015 – according to reports. Accordingly, the ERA had requested 

an additional 2.5 billion birr which the ministry had granted, bringing last year’s total budget for the 

authority to close to 15 billion birr.

4| 

Government 

starts 

agricultural 

agency to double 

crop production 

Ethiopia started an agricultural agency that plans 

to help double production in the economy’s 

biggest industry over the next five years, Wonderad 

Mandefro, state minister of agriculture said. 

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, 

or EATA, is modeled on economic development 

organizations in South Korea and Taiwan and 

will be overseen by a council chaired by Prime 

Minister Meles Zenawi, Wonderad said in an 

interview on Thursday. 

“In the past five years, the country has made 

significant progress in sustaining agricultural 

production,” Wonderad said. “Compared to the 

potential, it’s still the tip of the iceberg.” 

Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, is 

the continent’s biggest coffee grower. A five-year 

government plan to wean the Horn of Africa country 

off foreign aid aims to boost agricultural production 

by 14.9 percent annually. The industry accounts 

for 45 percent of economic output and employs 

about 80 percent of the population, according to 

Wonderad. 

The agency was created after the Bill and Melinda 

Gates Foundation was asked by Meles in 2008 

to assess an Ethiopian program that provides 

support and equipment for farmers using so-called 

extension workers, Wonderad said. 

In partnership with international donors and 

agricultural-research organizations, the foundation 

was subsequently asked to assess other aspects of 

the industry, including irrigation, soil fertility and 

marketing. These will now be key areas of focus for 

EATA. 

The Seattle-based non-profit organization is 

providing technical expertise to EATA and may 

support the agency financially, Roy Steiner, deputy 

director of its agricultural development program 

said. 

Press freedom 

day to be 

commemorated 

By a sTaff reporTer 


The Horn of Africa Press Institute (HAPI), 

Ethiopian National Journalists Union (ENJU), the 

Ethiopian Environmental Journalists Association 

(EEJA) in collaboration with UNESCO and the 

Office of Government’s Communication Affairs, 

has organized a full-day workshop to commemorate 

World Press Freedom Day, on Tuesday, May 3, at 

the Hilton Hotel. 

This year’s event which is organized under the 

theme: “21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New 

Barriers”, is expected to be attended by various 

local and international media organizations, invited 

guests and other stakeholders. 

Issues to be raised on this year’s World Press 

Freedom Day are expected to focus on the 

fundamental principles of press freedom which 

includes evaluating press freedom around the world, 

defending the media from attacks on independence 

and to pay tribute to journalists, who have lost their 

lives exercising their profession. 

Last year World Press Freedom Day was 

commemorated under the theme, Freedom of 

Information: The Right to Know. 

HEADLINES 



allana Potash discovers new deposits 

By a sTaff reporTer 

Canada’s Allana Potash Corp said it discovered 

potash in Kainitite and Sylvinite zones which are 

previously unexplored area sin Ethiopia, which the 

potash explorer expects to add to existing resources 

at the property. 

The company said it intersected two strong zones 

of potash mineralization at relatively shallow depths 

at its drill hole DK-11-16, and it plans to evaluate 

the possibility of open pit mining in its upcoming 

feasibility study. 

Allana’s CEO Farhad Abasov issued a statement on 

the company’s website, claiming identification of 

new potash mineralization, which would be added 

to the existing potash resources at the property. 

The company says that the thick potash horizon 

discovered in the southwestern part of the property 

By hayal alemayehu 

Aviation Economics Professor Nawal Tanaja said that 

Ethiopian Airlines could easily provide flights to three 

destinations in the United States [than a single destination it 

is currently serving] while advising the airline to secure more 

planes of different types to serve and take advantage of the 

growing aviation market in the Africa region. 

“The economic center of gravity is shifting from west to east 

and from north to south,” the professor said, indicating that 

the aviation market is increasing in Africa, Latin America 

and Asia. According him, the market in these regions is set 

to significantly increase in the coming 40 years where Africa’s 

share will significantly rise [bringing in opportunities to 

carries in the region]. 

The professor described Ethiopian’s current state of 

development as “organic growth” and mentioned that 

the airline is [currently] on the right track. He, however, 

mentioned that the airline had its own challenges. 

“It is one thing to formulate the 2025 vision,” the professor 

said, speaking about the 15-year strategy Ethiopian formulated 

for the coming 15 years which the airline is seven to eight 

months into it. “It is [completely] another thing to execute it 

flawlessly.” 

“Ethiopian may place order for more planes,” said the expert 

who has been more than 40 years in the aviation industry. 

“But it should also have the crews and the human resource 

and all that the growth demands.” Ethiopian has persistently 

been challenged by brain-drain, with its skilled cockpit crews 

migrating to the Gulf carriers which are slowly but surely 

crowding the skies and now coming up in different form as 

low cost carries (LCCs). To mitigate this challenge Ethiopian 

is set to launch a program whereby it will graduate much more 

pilots at a time than it currently does, with a plan to export 

some of graduates. 

Responding on the matter, public relations and publications 

manager at Ethiopian, Wogayehu Terefe, told The Reporter 

that the airlines has plans to expand its routes in the US and is 

working on identifying the destination points. 

According to the professor who has published eight books 

on the aviation industry, human resource including cockpit 

crews and the IT system, infrastructure comprising airport 

and immigration facilities and services, inconsistent African 

countries regulatory policies and competition from low cost 

carriers are posing challenges to Ethiopian. 

While low cost carriers are becoming a major challenge to the 

major carriers across the globe offering cheaper prices, Gulfbased 

low cost carriers are now serving 14 destinations in 

Africa in a short period of time, according to the professor. 

Air Asia X, the cheapest airline in the world, is offering about 

one-third of the price the major carriers provide, including for 

non-stop long-haul services. 

Fly Dubai, subsidiary of Emirates, launched its maiden flight 

has the potential to become a significant deposit 

and the company will aggressively work to trace the 

extent of potash mineralization. 

The company has operations in Ethiopia as well 

as Argentina. The company says it is contemplates 

evaluating the possibility of open pit mining in the 

future feasibility study. 

The highlight of the results is drill hole DK-11-16, 

which intersected two strong zones of significant 

potash mineralization, 29.80 percent KCl over 4.00 

metres. Hole 16 was dug about 1,000 meters from 

Hole 8. Drilled vertically, the hole in the southwest 

of Hole 8 intersected the Kainitite and Sylvinite 

Zones of the Afar Regional State which is part of 

the basin that had remained unexplored so far. At 

a depth of 125.20 meters, the Sylvinite Zone graded 

24.79 percent KCI over 6.50 meters. Further down 

168.20 meters, the robust Kainitite Zone intersected 

20.29 percent KCI over 5.00 meters. 

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MELODIE 200gr DORI CREM: Vanilla and Coca 

ATENE 500gr 

DORI CRACKERS 

DORIANO: Salted 150gr GUSTOSI: Olive 40gr 

DORIANO: No sugar 150gr GUSTOSI: Pomodoro 40gr 

DORIANO: 5 cereals 150gr JUMBONET: Prosicutto 40gr 

JUMBONETI: Salamino Piccante 

ION: From Greece 

NUCREMA: Hazelnut Spread 200gr & 400gr 

NASCO: Assorted filled Candies 

O’MAMY: Assorted Candies in bags 

ION: Cocoa Powder 125gr packets 

ION: Cooking Chocolate: Black and Milk 

The drill findings from Hole 16 are akin to the 

results of holes 6, 8, and 11, for which a 5-km-long 

and 5-km-wide area has been delineated for potash 

mineralization. Hole 16 intersected high-grade 

potash 125.20 meters deep, similar to Hole 8. 

Allana continues exploration drilling at Holes 

DK-11-20 and DK-11-21 in the eastern part of the 

property to discover potash mineralization in this 

unexplored region. Samples from Holes 11, 12, 14, 

15, 17, 18, and 19 are being tested in the company’s 

Saskatoon laboratory. Canada’s Allana Potash Corp 

said it discovered potash in a previously unexplored 

area in Ethiopia, which the potash explorer expects 

to add to existing resources at the property. 

The company said it intersected two strong zones 

of potash mineralization at relatively shallow depths 

at its drill hole DK-11-16, and it plans to evaluate 

the possibility of open pit mining in its upcoming 

feasibility study. 

Ethiopian advisEd to fly to morE 

dEstinations in Us 

to Addis only last Saturday, thereby tightening 

the competition for one of Africa’s leading 

carrier Ethiopian and becoming the first LCC 

to operate to and from Ethiopia. 

The professor, who had been advising over 

half a dozen of airlines, made the remarks 

while addressing stakeholders here on the 

outlook of the global aviation industry and 

its implication to Africa and Ethiopia upon 

the invitation of Ethiopian CEO Tewolde 

Gebremariam. 

The expert noted that there are now two major 

trends in the global aviation industry: the 

NOTICE: Bambis will be closed on 5 th May 2011 for Ethiopian Patriots Day 

Information: 011 - 5521105 or 5505584 

change in customers’ behavior and the rise of 

powerful competitors. 

Yet in the center of the global aviation 

industry, a major shift of the market is in the 

making. 

The economic center of gravity is shifting from 

west to the east and from north to the east. 

With the African share of the global aviation 

industry projected to rise significantly, 

opportunities are presenting themselves for 

one of Africa’s leading carriers along with 

posing challenges, according to the professor.


25 charged... 

It was stated in the charge that Ali Mohammed, after having made the 

forged/falsified seal, accepted Western Union’s payment receipt from 

Mekonen Gebremedhin who was ordered to distribute those receipts 

to the different branch offices. Ali also gave the falsified documents 

to Nasir Mohammed, one of the defendants, by filling the names of 

his eight accomplices, which are also among the suspects, falsified 

HEADLINES 

money transferring numbers and some amount of money, prosecutors 

alleged. The charge also states that Moges Getahun gave two forged 

seals to these eight accomplices. 

The prosecutors charged the suspects alleging that they committed 

corruption by getting an export permit without concluding any 


By Birhanu fiKade 

|5 

Cont`d from page 01 

contract to export khat with foreign buyers and without paying prepayment, 

committed fraud on the employees of CBE by producing a 

falsified document which shows that they fulfilled all the requirements 

to get export permit. The prosecution also presented, 57 witnesses, 

12 documents, among some as evidence the court. The case was 

adjourned for May 10. 

turkish embassy 

renews entry visa 

regulations 

The Embassy of the Republic of Turkey has renewed entry visa 

regulations for citizens of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia. 

According to an announcement made by the Embassy, 

nationalities of the three countries are required to fulfill some 

compulsory requirements to obtain entry visas for visiting and 

business reasons. 

The entry visa is to be issued to citizens at the border gate in 

Istanbal, Atatürk International Airport, if they bear a valid 

national passport with a validity of at least six months. 

They also are required to have a visa previously issued by the 

authorities of the US, UK or any of the schengen countries. In 

this regard, the passengers should have traveled at least once to 

these couturiers, according to the Embassy’s statement. 

Turkish Airlines’s roundtrip air ticket, hotel reservation 

and a 50 dollar a day to stay in Turkey are among the other 

requirements that the nationals of Djibouti, Ethiopia and 

Somalia must meet for the sake of getting an entry visa. 


We are looking for experienced Early Childhood 

Teachers 

for our Learning Center who: 

• love and relate well to children 

• understand childhood development 

• have excellent written and spoken English skills 

• work well in a team 

• are motivated to learn new methods of 

instruction 

• possess strong organizational skills 

Previous experience with Montessori or other Active 

Learning programs is a plus, but not required. Salary is 

negotiable and will be determined by experience and a 

trial period. 

If this sounds like you, please email a personal cover 

letter and cv to: headtotoe.addis@gmail.com

6| 

Invitation for Bid 

Global Team for Local Initiatives (GTLI), an international 

NGO, would like to employ Drilling Companies for drilling 

of water wells/boreholes/ and construction of related facilities 

at three sites in Hamar Woreda of South Omo Zone in 

SNNPR State. 

Drilling Companies having a valid trade license (renewed for 

2010/2011 G.C. or 2003 E.C.) and relevant experiences are 

invited to bid. 

Bid documents shall be obtained on written request from 

GTLI Head Office in Addis Ababa or GTLI Field Office in 

Wongabayno Kebele of Hamar Woreda from 2 nd of May 

2011 to 10 th of May 2011. 

Our address is: 

GTLI Head Office 

Haile G/Selassie Road (behind Aksum Hotel) 

P.O. Box 1276, Addis Ababa 

Tel. 016 6629937, 0911012148 

OR 

Wongabayno Field Office 

Hamar Woreda, Tel. 046 8840781 

GTLI’s right is reserved to reject any or all bids. 



EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) 

REFERENCE: PUB 171/32 – EOI/01/2011 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in 

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, plans to solicit suppliers with long term 

agreement (LTA) for car rental services of Buses and duty station 

wagons of latest version (2006 model and above). 

Qualified and interested companies working in Ethiopia in the 

field of Car Rental are sought to provide these services to the 

UNDP office Located in Addis Ababa, ECA compound. 

UNDP requests expressions of interest from potential company 

considered as having the legal status as an independent contractor. 

Deadline for response: 20 May 2011 before 4:00pm local time 

Description of Minimum Requirement: 

A potential supplier should fulfill the following minimum 

requirements and should be included on the EoI as supporting 

document:- 

The service provider shall avail the following evidences 

• a minimum two years of experience in the field 

• experience in providing service to International and UN 

agencies 

• renewed license and VAT registered 

• Company profile: indicating current corporate customers 

• List of own vehicles fleet: 2006 models and above 

It is anticipated that UNDP will shortly be issuing a comprehensive 

solicitation document to those firm that fulfill the minimum 

requirements. 

Please address the Expression of Interest for the attention of: 

UNDP Ethiopia 

EoI/01/2011 

Procurement Unit 

ECA Old Building, 6th Floor 

Africa Hall, Room Number 606 

P.O. Box 5580 

Fax: 251 11 5 514599 

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia


Reporter BUSINESS 

THE 

can nBe do it all? 

Regulatory Vs. policy priorities 

By asraT seyoum 

Though the earliest sign for the emergence of a financial market in Ethiopia was seen in 1906 

with the establishment of the first bank, bank of Abyssinia, it was not before 1964, well into the 

last decade of Emperor Hailessilase’s rule that the sector gained a formal regulatory organ-the 

National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE). In between that time, the bank carried out the dual function 

of both commercial and central banking. However, the newly flourishing developments of the 

financial sector were short lived as the Socialist oriented military regime, restricted private 

investment in the sector thereby damping its growth for seventeen years, thereafter. History 

of the bank, nonetheless, shows that the military regime gave additional power to the NBE in 

economic planning together with the ministry responsible for macroeconomic planning. 

However, new down in the sector came in 1994 when private investment was allowed and 

the first private bank Awash International Bank SC was established in the same year. The 

proclamation that led to the establishment of the NBE in 1994 which was further amended in 

2008 bestowed the institution with the power to control monetary management in addition to 

its responsibility to insure bank-based financial sector’s prudence. The sector aside from few, 

yet relatively big, state-owned banks, now it oversees some 12 private commercial banks, not 

to mention other six in the pipe line. On one hand, it formulates monetary policies while on 

the other issuing directives to govern banks. However, the regulatory mandate of NBE, as laid 

out in its official website, also extends to insurances, microfinances and the newly evolving 

security markets. However, professionals in the area agree that the supervisory role that it plays 

on banks, thus far, is the most important one as the bank-driven financial sector in the country 

greatly affect the agriculture, industry and others eventually. These professional also point to 

banks leverage in affecting the amount of money in the system there by inflation as one of 

main premises behind the above assertion. However, there are criticisms from pundits when it 

comes to the dual duty—monetary management and financial sector prudence—of the NBE. 

These criticisms are mainly focus on the nature of conflicting goals of the two responsibilities. 

According to a macroeconomist, who do not want to be named, the monetary goals set by 

central banks might sometimes come in conflict with the solvency of banks operating in the 

sector. That is why; he went on explaining, experience of some of other economies show 

eventual separation of the two roles into individual institution. Some of the European countries 

indeed took steps in separating regulation of the financial sector from the central banking. 

The monetary policy framework of the NBE outlined in website clearly shows some overlapping 

with banking sector’s wellbeing. The framework document states that the countries’ monetary 

policy targets, as is the case in most of the monetary policies of other countries, inflation and 

exchange rate. The ultimate goal of the monetary policy is to stabilize prices (inflation) in the 

economy apart from maintaining the foreign exchange regime, it said. In fact, some of the 

policies that the central bank has taken in recent times showed bank’s sensitivity to the issue of 

inflation in the economy. The credit ceiling released few weeks ago is one case in point where 

NBE’s priority to stability in prices show, according to the some views reflected at the time. 

The monetary framework further explains that the ultimate targets are not easy to achieve; at 

“ However, there are criticisms 

from pundits when it comes 

to the dual duty—monetary 

management and financial 

sector prudence—of the NBE. 

least not directly by some of policy instruments available to the bank. However, the document 

shows that the bank goes around this difficulty by choosing an intermediate target—Money 

supply. It said that the bank aims to reach ultimate target, inflation and exchange rate stability, 

through money supply, which is directly influenced by other set of targets—operational target. 

The operational targets which can be easily affected by the bank’s policy instruments are the link 

the money supply and the instruments, thereby finishing the transition mechanism to ultimate 

targets. However, what to look for in here, according to above the above economist, are the 

policy instruments at the NBE’s disposal. He says the instrument is not something abstract, in 

fact these instruments are the rather apparent polices in the sector. Reserve requirement set on 

commercial banks, deposit interest rate floor, credit control (the ceiling on credit is one recent 

application) and open market sale of bond and bills, the like seen in the newly flourishing 

security market. “The recent experience in the application of the credit cap on commercial 

banks is adequate to understand conflict of monetary management with bank’s wellbeing,” 

he explains. According to the central bank’s justification for the cap, limiting credit helps to 

check the then galloping inflationary pressure in the economy, while on the other hand, the 

loan advancing ability of the banks was severely hampered in process. At the same time the 



CALL FOR PROPOSAL 

HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office provides support to HIV/ 

AIDS related activities coordinating and implementing partners 

at federal levels and to regions, from the funds secured through 

Rolling Continuation Channel Phase One Accelerated plan of 2011 

(RCC Phase one) 

This is a Call to submit a proposal for those engaged on HIV/AIDS 

programs at the federal level. The fund is secured through the 

Global Fund RCC grant. The criteria for the proposal submissions 

are outlined below. 

1. Proposals and plans that can be submitted at federal level: 

• Federal government institutions who need funding for 

work place interventions to reach their staff and clients 

• Federal level coalitions for coordination, capacity 

building and supportive services. 

• Federal level Non Governmental Organizations for 

coordination, capacity building and monitoring and 

evaluation, support services at the federal levels. 

• National media agencies-for and overall advocacy, 

awareness creation and information dissemination. 

• Private sectors for coordination, capacity building 

activities, and monitoring and evaluation. 

1.1 Proposals and programs that are not acceptable at federal 

level 

• Organizations Functioning in regions will not apply at 

federal level to access RCC grant fund. Project holders 

working on program level other than coordination 

should submit their proposals at the respective regional 

HAPCOs where the implementation is taking place. 

• Federal level institutions should not request funding for 

programmatic interventions other than for coordination, 

capacity building, except for work place interventions of 

HIV/AIDS programs. 

2. Basic Contents of the projects that are expected to be 

fulfilled: 

• Institutions should be legally registered, should attach 

tax clearance, audited financial books, and should 

present other evidences for credibility 

• Project proposal shall encompass, background, rationale, 

Target Groups/Beneficiaries, objective, outcomes, 

Strategies, activities out puts, time frame, Management 

& Organization, Budget,, Opportunities and Risks, 

Monitoring & Evaluations and Sustainability should be 

articulated clearly. 

3. The maximum request for funding should be for one year. 

4. All eligible project holders are requested to submit their 

project proposals and plan of actions within 21 working 

days of this announcement and project proposals and plan 

of actions that are submitted after deadline will not be 

accepted. 

For Additional Information or Inquiry 

Telephone No. 0115 525095, 0115 503506 

P.O.Box 122323 Fax 0115 503358/95 

|7

8| 

Economic 

By marTin feldsTein 

can nBe... ConT`d 

banks, in spite of the overall economic interest (reducing inflation), 

had defended their position opposing the credit ceiling. Bankers who 

talked to The Reporter at the time, more or less, reflected that cap 

stifled their main line of business—deposit mobilization and lending. 

In fact some of the banks, especially as the end of credit cap drew close, 

were more reluctant even to accept deposit. 

Though, it is neither possible to assort that the lift of the credit cap 

is a signpost that the bank being caught up between the two worlds, 

nor it is know where the balance tilts between these objectives, the fact 

that there are tough choices facing the bank every now and then is 

apparent, he argues. “This is what necessitating separating two roles, 

among other range of reasons, in other economies.” 

That being the case, the recent move by the central bank towards a 

secondary market structure for the newly emerging security markets is 

also inducing the same kind of criticism. According to the plan, a study 

which will lay out the market structure for what could be the next capital 

market structure is underway. With the state-owned Development 

Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) and Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) 

offering the first saving bonds in Ethiopia with interest rates slightly 

Eye 



the G-20’s 

Cont`d from 

empty 

page 9 

gestures 

The world’s 20 most important finance ministers and 20 most important 

central bankers traveled to Washington this month from every part of 

the globe to accomplish, predictably, exactly nothing. 

The subject of the G-20’s recent meeting was “global imbalances.” 

According to the communiqué issued by the group, the meeting focused 

on developing a procedure for identifying which G-20 countries have 

“persistently large imbalances” and why they have them. This delicate 

analytical task was assigned to the International Monetary Fund, which 

is to complete its work before the ministers’ next meeting in October. 

It hardly takes a team of IMF economists to answer these questions. 

Anyone who has taken a first-year undergraduate course in economics 

would have no difficulty in identifying the countries with the largest 

trade surpluses and deficits. The United States wins first prize with a 

trade deficit of more than USD 650 billion in the most recent 12 months. 

No other country comes close enough to be awarded second prize. 

The broader current-account indicator (which includes trade in services 

and net investment income) confirms America’s leading role: its 

external deficit is nearly USD 500 billion. No other country has more 

than a USD 100 billion current-account deficit. 

Even if we look at current-account deficits relative to countries’ GDP, 

America’s 3.3 percent ratio exceeds that of almost every other economy. 

The three countries with larger deficit-to-GDP ratios have a combined 

deficit of less than USD 70 billion – not enough to warrant the G-20’s 

attention. 

The country with the largest current-account surplus is, no surprise, 

China, with a positive balance of more than USD 300 billion. Japan and 

Germany are the only other countries whose current-account surpluses 

exceed USD 100 billion. 

China’s current-account surplus is four percent of its GDP. Several oil 

producers have larger relative current-account surpluses that, combined, 

exceed China’s in absolute terms. And there are several other European 

and Asian countries with higher relative current-account surpluses that 

together exceed that of China. 

But the G-20’s decision to focus only on member countries that account 

for more than five percent of its combined GDP will exclude these 

smaller countries from the spotlight. Only China and the US, and 

perhaps Germany and Japan, will be at center stage. 

So much for the not-so-difficult task of identifying the countries with 

big imbalances. But what about the causes of those imbalances? 

Every student of economics knows that a country’s current-account 

deficit is the difference between its national investment (in business 

equipment, structures, and inventories) and its national saving (by 

households, businesses, and government). That is not a theory or 

an empirical regularity. It is an implication of the national incomeaccounting 

definitions. 

The US has an enormous current-account deficit because the federal 

government’s dissaving (i.e., the fiscal deficit) drags down America’s 

above the deposit interest rates and with maturity date of five years and 

above. On the other hand, the public enterprises, like Ethiopian Electric 

Power Corporation (EEPCo) also issued guaranteed corporate bonds 

to the public. Hence all these came to the forefront, secondary market 

structure is required is apparent according to the statement from 

the NBE. Alemayehu Kebede, corporate communication directorate 

director, at the NBE told The Reporter that the study would launch the 

secondary markets, where government bonds already issued are going 

to be traded. However, economists like Eyob Tesfaye, former director 

of government financial institution supervision agency, it is a study 

completed a long time ago. In fact, according to him the market should 

have went live then as the study was adequately done. 

Apart from the duplication of efforts in repeating the same study, what 

seems to be a bit worrying for Eyob is that of the question of regulatory 

body for the new security market structure. He told The Reporter that 

the central bank itself is an active participant of the bond market; 

hence, it is not appropriate for the bank to take up the supervisory role 

as well. Besides others also question that if it is even possible to do all 

these tasks at time. 

overall national saving. And the reverse is true for the Chinese, German, 

and Japanese current-account surpluses. In each of those countries, the 

level of national saving exceeds domestic investment, leaving output to 

be exported and funds to be loaned abroad. 

So the policy actions needed to reduce the trade and current-account 

imbalances are clear enough. The US must raise its national saving 

rate by shrinking its budget deficit, which currently stands at nearly 10 

percent of GDP. Fortunately, the desirability of doing so is now clear to 

every policymaker in Washington and to most of the American public. 

It will begin to happen as the massive “fiscal stimulus” enacted in 2009 

comes to an end, the political process begins to deliver spending cuts, 

and economic growth yields more tax revenue. 

When President Barack Obama attends the G-20’s summit of heads of 

state in Cannes in November, he will no doubt agree to further reductions 

in the US budget deficit. But that will be an empty promise: the US 

president has far less control over legislation than government heads in 

parliamentary democracies like Britain or in countries like China. And 

Obama’s power is even more limited now that his Democratic Party 

controls only one house of the US Congress. The history of previous 

summits suggests that the president will promise in Cannes only what 

he has already proposed at home. 

The G-20 ministers and central bankers are, of course, in no position 

to change the behavior of either the US or China, whose recently 

adopted five-year plan makes clear that it will reduce national saving 

by increasing consumer spending and raising government outlays for 

services like health care. In other words, China will, for its own domestic 

reasons, reduce its current-account surplus. 

The same kind of national self-interest that is driving the Chinese to 

stimulate domestic spending was at work when the G-20 leaders met 

in London in April 2009 and agreed to take steps to stimulate their 

economies. That agreement was easy to achieve, since it was in each 

country’s interest to expand demand. The G-20 only ratified what was 

going to happen anyway. But the G-20 leaders and finance ministers 

nonetheless now point with pride to what they “accomplished” in 

London. 

The same is likely to happen over the next few years as the US reduces its 

fiscal deficit and thereby shrinks its current-account deficit while China 

reduces its national saving and thereby shrinks its current-account 

surplus. The leaders of the G-20 will no doubt claim credit for this 

achievement. Perhaps that is why they like to meet. 

Ed’s Note: Martin Feldstein, Professor of Economics at Harvard, was 

Chairman of President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers 

and is former President of the National Bureau for Economic Research. 

The article was provided to The Reporter by Project Syndicate the world’s 

pre-eminent source of original op-ed commentaries. With a unique 

collaboration of distinguished opinion makers from every corner of the 

globe Project Syndicate provides incisive perspectives by those who are 

shaping politics, economics, science, and culture. 

from page 7 

With somewhat similar central bank dual natured responsibility with 

Ethiopia, the Chinese experience is drawn in bond market. People’s 

Bank of China (PBoC) is one playing the central bank role in economy. 

PBoC in fact like its counter-part in Ethiopia does hold both regulatory 

and monetary policy responsibilities together. The bank gets to decide 

both the policy aspect and supervise the financial sector players as a 

whole. Though, it also implies that the supervisory role of the bank 

entails control over the security market as well, the direct supervision 

of the bond and security markets falls under an independent 

commission; China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). 

Nevertheless, there are also other economists that champion the idea 

of tight regulatory system; at least at the early stages of developments. 

Michael Melaku is one such person. He told The Reporter that as 

bond and security markets is one of the monetary policy instruments 

it should not be left unregulated. He feels that until the security 

markets gets stronger, there should be a regulation and who is better 

positioned to do it but NBE, he argues. Nevertheless, NBE’s regulatory 

and monetary management duties seem to remains to be a center of 

contention for quite sometime.


Reporter POLITICS 

THE 

United for a cause 

Power chief to push ahead albeit diplomacy on Nile 

By yemaneh nagish 

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ethiopian 

Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), Miheret 

Debebe, is determined to push the hydropower 

projects on the water resources that the country 

has in spite of diplomatic bickering and bilateral 

negotiations on the issue of Nile River. 

On a National conference held at the Ghion Hotel 

on Thrusday, where experts, politicians, religious 

leaders and the prominent personalities attended 

and about eight research papers presented on the 

issue of the Nile and power potential of the country, 

CEO of the EEPCo asserted that Ethiopia should 

go ahead with its power projects no matter what 

happens at formal negotiation tables. According to 

Mihiret, a unilateral strategy is the way to go when it 

comes to power projects. “Our primary focus should 

be on completing our projects, while conducting the 

negotiation is secondary (luxury),” he said. 

In his view, the basic priority lies in catching up 

with the fast track energy demand growth of the 

economy. In striking contrast to the position of 

mutual cooperation and bilateral negotiations 

that the Ethiopian politicians and scholars have 

been pursuing, the power chief seemed to differ. 

aU must support ethiopia on 

eritrea to keep nato out of africa 

By sam aKaKi 

[Ethiopia’s 

support for 

freedom in 

Africa is not 

new. In 1962, 

Ethiopia gave 

Nelson Mandela 

the priceless 

passport and 

military training, 

which helped 

to slowly bleed 

the diabolical 

apartheid system 

to death in 

1994!] 

Miheret Debebe 

However, at the end of the conference, the attendees 

were drawn to this position and some views reflected 

in tea break group discussions participants seem to 

align with Mihiret’s view ‘diplomatic negotiations 

should be reduced to a secondary position’. 

The data shows that currently Ethiopia’s 

per capita energy consumption is only 100 

k/W/H as opposed to the minimum target 

set in the millennium development goal is 

five times larger; 500 K/W/H, he explained. 

In my opinion article, ‘AU must keep NATO out 

of Libya, Africa’, printed in The Reporter March 

19, last month, I deliberately failed to suggest any 

alternative to NATO intervention as a solution to 

some African rulers who have enslaved their people, 

and turned their countries into family estates. I 

wanted others to have their say. 

Thankfully, the Ethiopian Foreign Minister 

Hailemariam Desalegn has stepped forward and 

made an important announcement regarding 

Eritrea, a move that could become a template to be 

used elsewhere to keep NATO out of Africa. 

Addressing the press in Addis Ababa on 21st April, 

he said “We have embarked ourselves on regime 

change in Eritrea. This regime change is not by 

invading Eritrea, but by supporting the Eritrean 

people and groups which want to dismantle the 

regime. We are fully engaged in doing so.” (Reuters). 

A template for keeping NATO out of Africa 

The African Union, which has been ignored and 

humiliated by NATO over Libya, must welcome 

and support Ethiopia’s move, not least because it is 

a pre-emptive action that will prevent NATO from 

intervening in Eritrea before moving to other sub- 

Sahara African countries. 

Eritrea’s strategic position in the Red Sea, which 

connects the Suez Canal to the Gulf of Eden and the 

Indian Ocean, makes it a high priority candidate for 

NATO intervention purely for geo-political reasons. 

But the humanitarian case for Ethiopia intervention 

in Eritrea cannot be over-emphasised. 


“For one percent GDP growth some 2.5 percent 

energy growth is required, while we embarked on a 

Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) targeting 

a minimum of 11 to 15 percent annually,” he said. 

In the next five years in order to keep pass with the 

energy demand growth of the economy, a minimum 

of 25 percent and a maximum of 32 percent growth 

is expected, according to Mihiret. 

In past 50 years, he went on explaining, Ethiopia’s 

rate of developing its power potential, which 

according to some forecast at the moment is as high 

as 45,000 MW, was 10,000 MW a year. “If things 

kept on going at this rate then we need 50 to 100 

years to achieve our goals.” And he attributed this 

pass to the relentless campaigning of the Egyptians 

and lack of financial capacity to do it locally. 

On the other hand, the power chief also explained 

about other projects that are in the five year hydropower 

generation. He said that apart from the 

mammoth renaissance dam, other power plant 

projects like Genale III, Chemoga, plant which is 

expected to generate some 150 percent of the existing 

Tekeze dam generating capacity. The Chemoga 

power plant which will be built near Debremarkos, 

in the Amhara regional state is one of the hopeful 

projects to bridge the gap between the fast paced 

energy demand and the overall economy. However, 

On April 4, last month, the UN, no less, reported 

that over 400 African immigrants, mainly Eritreans, 

had drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, trying to go 

to Europe in search of a better life! 

Earlier, on July 8, last year, the BBC and other 

international media outlets had reported that more 

than 300 Eritrean young men and women had 

drowned in the Mediterranean Sea escape route to 

Europe! 

It is fair to say that many more Eritrean must have 

perished, and continue to perish in the Sahara desert. 

According ‘Desperate Dreams’, a BBC World Service 

documentary first aired in January 2008, “Every 

year, thousands of young people from sub-Saharan 

Africa set off across the desert dreaming of a better 

life in Europe. Sadly, dangers and exploitation greet 

and follow them to their unmarked graves. Many 

fall prey to ruthless smugglers or find themselves 

stranded in the Sahara desert or a foreign country 

without the means to continue or return home.” 

The AU’s moral and political responsibility 

How many more Eritreans and other African youths 

must be forced out by their oppressive leaders to 

go out in search of a better life in Europe only to 

end at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, leaving 

behind grieving families and friends before the AU 

says enough is enough? How many young African 

lives are worth one dictator? How many? 

History of African intervention in Africa 

Ethiopian intervention in Eritrea will not be without 

precedent in Africa. In 1979, Tanzania trained, 

|9 

until these projects and the two giant projects of 

Renaissance and Gibe III Dams come in to being, 

Mihiret said, EEPCO is undertaking fast track wind 

energy projects in Adama and Ashegoda. 

“Our energy projects are also optimal mix of wind- 

Geothermal energy projects,” the power chief 

said. Furthermore, he also indicated that hydropower 

projects in the pipeline are low cost energy 

sources. He said that on average three to four US 

cents/K/W/H is the generating cost, while six US 

cent/K/W/H in Ethiopia as opposed to the price of 

providing the same amount in Europe which is as 

high as 50 US cent/K/W/H. 

Out of eight research papers presented at the 

conference, Ambassador Ibrahim Idris’s, former 

Ethiopian ambassador to Egypt, is another 

participant who sparked a hot discussion. The 

ambassador among other things recommended 

the formation of two important national organs 

to reinforce negotiation power of Ethiopia and 

pursuing strong national policy on the river basin. 

National Water Council, headed by the Prime 

Minister himself and National Water Experts’ 

Committee, chaired by the Ministry of Water and 

Energy, seemed to gained wider acceptance by the 

conference attendees. (Asrat Seyoum has contributed 

to this story) 

armed and “escorted” Ugandan refugee back home 

to remove Idi Amin who had turned their country 

into a massive graveyard for some 500,000 Ugandans 

and sent many more to exile. 

In 1962, Ethiopia gave Nelson Mandela the priceless 

passport and military training, which helped to 

slowly bleed the diabolical apartheid system to death 

in 1994!] 

In his book, the “Long Walk to Freedom’, Nelson 

Mandela has stated that Ethiopia did not only 

give him a passport bearing the name of David 

Motsamayi, but also military training! 

Mandela also disclosed that it was that Ethiopian 

passport, which enabled him to travel to the then 

Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Egypt, Tunisia, 

Morocco, Ghana, Senegal, Russia, the USA and 

London, to mobilise diplomatic and material 

support for the newly founded ANC military wing, 

Umkhonto we Sizwe, which eventually bled the 

diabolical apartheid regime to death. 

Eritrea must not be the last port of call. 

Eritrea must not be the first and the last port of call 

for the AU. It must also take similar actions in other 

African countries where leaders are using violence 

as a state policy to brutalise their people in order 

clinging to power until death. 

Last week, in Uganda, the main opposition leader 

and three times presidential candidate Dr Kizza 

Besigye was shot and thrown into jail, along with 

the leader of the Democratic party, Mr Norbert Mao 

ConT`d on page 25

10| 


THE 

the achilles’ heel of anti-terrorism 

laws and campaigns: a viewpoint 

By Tesfaye haBisso 

The terrorist attacks on the United States on September 

11, 2001 were an unprecedented and blood-curdling 

event that intensified global anti-terrorist initiatives 

and policies, mobilized word-wide coalition, and 

globalized the discourse on terrorism. The attacks 

were barbarous and the perpetrators are despicable 

human beings that do not deserve mercy. Whatever 

the case, the anti-terrorist initiatives hurriedly taken 

by many nations have had major consequences for 

the rights and freedoms of individuals, societies, and 

nations all over the world. It is ironic that the United 

Nations and the international community, which 

have made relentless efforts since the founding of 

the UN in 1945 to realize a progressive and universal 

development of human rights law, starting with the 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and 

the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment 

of the Crime of Genocide (1948), and unfolding 

through the International Covenant on Civil and 

Political Rights (1966), the International Covenant 

on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966), 

and other multilateral conventions, have now made 

a U-turn decision to become active parties to the 

suppression of the same human rights and freedoms 

that they have been promoting for so long, in 

accordance with Article 1(3) of the UN Charter. This 

point must be emphatically asserted without fear 

or favour, and for setting the record straight, as the 

promised benefits of such anti-terrorism initiatives 

have been no more than an illusory sense of security 

under an atmosphere of sheer siege mentality. Surely, 

the collateral benefits are not worth the costs incurred 

in this regard. However, it is interesting to note at this 

juncture that, while political leaders and policymakers 

across the globe attempt to justify anti-terrorist laws 

and institutions in the name of internal and external 

security, critics argue that such measures may pose a 

considerable challenge to various domains of people’s 

rights, especially privacy, freedom of expression, 

political dissent, racial/[ethnic or religious] equality, 

and social entitlement [Dempsey 2001-02]. In 

addition, according to the views of the United 

Nations High Commission for Human Rights, new 

anti-terrorist provisions may undermine basic human 

rights [Robinson 2002]. In short, the growing debate 

questions the trade-offs between liberty and security 

in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 [Dempsey 

2001-02]. This article examines the critical impact of 

these worldwide initiatives on the fundamental rights, 

freedoms and responsibilities of individual citizens, 

groups and nations throughout the world, with 

special reference to human rights and basic freedoms, 

civil and political liberties. The core argument of 

this paper is that, while the fight against terrorism 

is legitimate and necessary, combating terrorism 

must not jeopardise the enjoyment of civil, cultural, 

economic, political and social rights. There is a great 

need for balancing civil liberties, national security and 

international responsibilities of promulgating and 

implementing anti-terrorism laws as well as other antiterror 

initiatives and cautionary measures. Otherwise, 

it would depressingly pronounce the beginning of the 

end of human rights and fundamental freedoms in a 

substantial and detrimental way for all nations, a global 

assault on human rights and liberty: Adieu, Liberty! 

Adieu, Dissent! Adieu, Human Rights Commissions 

and Ombudsman Bureaus! Before going any further 

in discussing the issue at length, we must be clear on 

what we mean by “human rights” and their utmost 

significance for peace, democracy, development, 

human dignity and individual/group worth in any 

country. In today’s world, it is strongly argued that no 

development, whether political, economic or social, 

can have any meaning and sustainability without 

the stringent application, observance and protection 

of human rights, as enshrined in the UDHR and 

the subsequent covenants, laws and treaties of the 

international community. 

The Significance of Human Rights and Human 

Rights Protection 

Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to 

which all humans are considered entitled: the right to 

life, liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and 

equal treatment before the law, among others. These 

rights, for long enunciated by the Enlightenment 

thinkers and philosophers of the 18th century and 

earlier period, represent entitlements of the individual 

or groups vis-a-vis the government, as well as 

responsibilities of the individual and the government 

authorities, and secured after several decades of 

bitter struggles by freedom movements across the 

world. These catalogue of rights and freedoms were 

eventually entrenched in the Universal Declaration 

of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, when the General 

Assembly of the United Nations adopted the UDHR 

on December 10, 1948 

Such rights are ascribed “naturally,” which means 

that they are not earned and cannot be denied on the 

basis of race, creed, ethnicity or gender [Little David, 

“University of Human Rights,” (available at: http:// 

www. usip.org/research/rehr/university.html)]. These 

rights are often advanced as legal rights and protected 

by the rule of law. However, they are distinct from 

and prior to law, and can be used as standards for 

formulating or criticizing both local and international 

law. It is typically thought that the conduct of 

...between 1981 

and 2000, the total 

number of terrorist 

attacks globally was 

9,179 (an average of 

459 attacks a year), 

with the highest 

number (630 attacks 

a year) in the mid- 

1980s [Center for 

Data Analysis 2001]. 

governments and military forces must comply with 

these standards. 

Various “basic” rights that cannot be violated under 

any circumstances are set forth in international human 

rights documents such as the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant 

on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 

and the International Covenant on Civil and 

Political Rights (ICCPR). The rights established by 

these documents include economic, social, cultural, 

political and civil rights. The widespread ratification 

of international human rights agreements such as 

those listed above is taken as evidence that these are 

widely shared values. Having human rights norms in 

place imposes certain requirements on governments 

and legitimises the complaints of individuals in 

those cases where fundamental rights and freedoms 

are not respected [Antonio Cassesse, Human Rights 

in a Challenging World, 1990, p.2]. Such norms 

constitute a standard for the conduct of government 

and the administration of force. They can be used 

as “universal, non-discriminatory standards” for 

formulating or criticizing law and act as guidelines 

for the proper conduct [Little, “The Nature and 

Basis of Human Rights,” United States Institute of 

Peace (available at: http://www.usip.org/research/ 

rehr/natbasis: html)]. Many conflicts are sparked by 

a failure to protect human rights, and the trauma 

that results from severe human rights violations 

often leads to new human rights violations. As 

conflict intensifies, hatred accumulates and makes 

restoration of peace more difficult. In order to stop 

this cycle of violence, states must institute policies 

aimed at human rights protection. Many believe that 

the protection of human rights is essential to the 

sustainable achievement of the three agreed global 

priorities of peace, development and democracy.” 

[“Human Rights Today: A United Nations Priority,” 

The United Nations, 2000 (available at: http: // www. 

un.org/rights/HR Today/]. Respect for human rights 

has therefore become an integral part of international 

law and foreign policy. The specific goal of expanding 

such rights is to “increase safeguards for the dignity of 

the person.” [Cassesse, ibid, p.3]. 

Despite what resembles a widespread consensus on 

the importance of human rights and the expansion 

of international treaties on such matters, the 

protection of human rights still often leaves much to 

be desired. As the great Enlightenment th philosopher 

Jean Jacques Rousseau of the 18 century once wrote, 

“Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.” 

Although international organizations have been 

created or utilized to embody these values, there is 

little to enforce the commitments states have made 

to human rights, except for some weak instruments 

such as sanctions or “naming and shaming” measures; 

military intervention th is a rare occurrence. Thus, not 

only during the 18 century and the decades ever 

since, human beings are still in chains in many 

countries of the world even today. The current global 

war on terrorism and the attendant anti-terrorist laws, 

institutions and similar other initiatives established 

by states across the world have, in fact, detrimentally 

weakened the human rights protection and liberties of 

individuals, groups, societies, and nations, especially 

in the non-democratic countries of Africa, Asia, Latin 

America, and elsewhere. Human rights that were 

established by the United Nations and duly adopted 

in the UDHR in 1948 were drastically curtailed by 

the same body in 2001 when the UN hastily passed 

Security Council Resolution 1373 (September 28, 

2001) because of the terrorist attacks on the USA, and 

the latter’s stern ultimatum to the world, “Either You 

Are With Us, Or You Are Against Us”, as threateningly 

and publicly announced to all friends and foes alike 

by then-President George Bush, Jr. This is reminiscent 

of the metaphor remarked a very long time ago by 

Klemens von Metternich th glorifying the political and 

cultural role of the 18 century France in the then 

Europe: “When France Sneezes, All Europe Catches 

a Cold.” Thus, all countries of the world had to listen 

to the ultimatum of ‘the supreme commander’ of the 

world and line up behind him instead of challenging 

this unilateral and futile ‘crusade’ or war on the 

illusive terrorists and on rooting out global terrorism 

once and for all. 

The Current Global War on Terrorism: Initiatives, 

Measures and Significance 

Neither terrorism, nor the war on terrorism, is a new 

phenomenon. Terrorist incidents and anti-terrorist 

measures have occurred for the past several decades 

across the world. For instance, between 1981 and 

2000, the total number of terrorist attacks globally 

was 9,179 (an average of 459 attacks a year), with the 

highest number (630 attacks a year) in the mid-1980s 

[Center for Data Analysis 2001]. Regionally, during 

1995-2000, the average number of terrorist attacks per 

year was 122 in Latin America, 101 in Western Europe, 

about 45 in Asia and only 15 in North America [ibid]. 

No data is made available on Africa yet. 

A series of international anti-terrorist conventions 

emerged prior to September 11, 2001, including 

the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful 

Acts against the Safety of Aircraft in 1971, the 

Convention Against the Taking of Hostages in 1979, 

the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist 

Bombings in 1997, and the Convention for the 

Suppression of Financing Terrorism in 1999 [CEC 

2001]. In the USA, terrorism was a major concern 


Viewpoint 


ConneCting 

the d ts 

The Bystander has been feeling recently the 

relish he is getting from the tidbit is becoming 

highly pleasurable. According to him, some 

of the information he is getting from his 

informants is, to a large extent, bewildering. 

In particular, The Bystander believes that the 

scoop he received this week from his prime 

informant, the waitress, is quite the morsel. 

According to the girl, the palpable shopping 

spree in the Sheikh’s camp, specifically the 

acquisitions and buyouts of properties in 

the capital, is continuing this time as well. 

Last year Mesfin Regassa, a young man 

whose hilarity had won the grace of the 

Sheikh, bought Jumbo Complex located 

on Cameroon Street, right in front of St. 

Medhanialem Church, for more than 50 

million birr from owner Debebe Seifu, the 

waitress recalls. If there are such doubts in 

acquiring these properties, there is none 

when it comes to another property down at 

Old Airport. 

Another property acquired by the Sheikh 

last year is the Dagem Millennium Hotel 

for more than 30 million birr, after the 

Bank of Abyssinia foreclosed the property, 

the waitress claims. The hotel was built and 

operated by a well-known businessman, 

Temesgen Chaka, and at the moment, the 

property houses the many expat workers the 

Sheikh brought to country who are working 

on various projects, the waitress avers. 

According to her, the recent property that 

is set to join the collection is Concord 

Hotel, located on Beyene Abasebsib Street 

and owned by a prominent businessman 

in the metropolis, Solomon Ketema. He 

also owns a chain of hotels, restaurants and 

nightclubs, including King’s Hotel formerly 

known as Central Venue Hotel, which is 

located on Roosevelt Street and named after 

his son. Solomon runs these establishments 

through his flagship company, El-Salvatore 

Plc, the girl notes. According to the girl, the 

renowned diva Hamelmal Abate approached 

Solomon for the acquisition of Concord 

Hotel with 17 million put at his disposal. 

Solomon declined the offer, the girl reveals. 

However, a few weeks back, the Sheikh’s guys 

approached Solomon, who agreed to sell the 

hotel for an undisclosed amount. The hotel is 

now going to be owned by one Wossen, the 

girl disclosed. 

for over two decades prior to 9/11, leading to various 

government initiatives reflected in documents such as 

Managing Terrorist Incidents (1982), National Program 

for Combating Terrorism (1986), U.S. Policy on Counter- 

Terrorism (1995), and Terrorism, the Future, and U.S. 

Foreign Policy (2001) [Richelson and Evans 2001]. 

Despite the existence of such a long list of anti-terrorist 

conventions and legal provisions, the massive terrorist 

attacks on 9/11 could not be predicted or prevented. Or, 

as some try to forcefully argue today, the attacks were 

predicted in time but no preventive measures were taken 

by the Pentagon officials. On September 11, 2001, through 

the global media, the whole world observed the horrifying 

actions that destroyed New York’s World Trade Centre, 

damaged the Pentagon building, and caused the deaths of 

thousands of people. Subsequently, the episode unfolded 

with its worldwide condemnation by political leaders and 

policy-makers, the announcement of a “war on terrorism” 

by President Bush, the formation of an anti-terrorist 

coalition among various nations, a global search for the 

ConT`d on page 27


“Will you marry me?” 

By meirafe Berhane 

Popping up the big question 

“About a year ago around 6p.m., I was having a 

burger with my boyfriend in a burger house. After I 

ate the half portion of my burger, I noticed that my 

boyfriend was trying to kneel down and I thought 

he was about to tie his shoes. It took him a little 

longer to get up and I asked him what happened, 

as he was pulling out a heart-shaped red case from 

his coat pocket. After he opened it he said, “This 

happened”, while showing me an engagement 

24 karat gold ring. I was really happy that he was 

proposing to me, but a part of me thought that he 

was just kidding,” says Hilina Taye, a 25 year-old 

accountant. 

Her boyfriend, who used to be an accounting 

lecturer, did propose to her, exactly the way she 

wanted him to. The Western way of proposing has 

a question “will you marry me?” but what Hilina’s 

boyfriend did was different. He did not ask her to 

marry him but said “Hilina we both love each other, 

so let’s get married”. Nevertheless, Hilina said yes. 

“Everyone in the burger house cheered for us and 

I was so excited. I never thought that I would be 

surprised and proposed to like that, in public. But 

honestly speaking, I love my boyfriend but I was a 

little bit abashed and I didn’t want to stay there for 

long”. 

She thinks that the way her boyfriend proposed to 

her was so much into Western’s culture but it was 

okay as she had seen plenty of movies that have a 

proposal scene and she somehow got used to it. 

The proposal of marriage is an event when one 

person in a relationship asks for the other’s hand in 

marriage. If accepted, it marks the commencement 

of engagement. It often has a formal procedure 

quality, sometimes involving the presentation of 

an engagement ring and a formalized asking of a 

question such as “Will you marry me?” In Western 

tradition, it is traditional for the man to propose to 

his girlfriend, as opposed to the other way around, 

while kneeling before her, and sometimes physically 

putting the ring on her finger, as opposed to merely 

giving it to her; often the proposal is a surprise. 

In many cultures, it is tradition for a groom to ask 

the bride’s father or family for permission before 

proposing. Exactly the way it used to be in Ethiopia 

for centuries. 

“It was my 28th birthday. And I was out clubbing 

with my boyfriend and my close friends. My 

boyfriend and I were in the middle of the dance 

floor dancing to my favorite slow jams and all of 

a sudden the music abruptly stopped and I saw a 

waiter coming towards us. I thought that he was 

going to ask us to take care of the bill and I was ready 

to tell him we were not done. But then he gave a 

microphone to my boyfriend and I was surprised. 

“My boyfriend is going to sing for me”, says Leilt 

Assefa, a lawyer. Her boyfriend started talking and 

then knelt down on his left knee and said, “Lielt I 

want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”. “It 

was wonderful but it felt strange because it is not 

part of our cultural to propose in that manner. I 

have seen many Western proposals in movies but 

never imagined mine would be in that way, to be 

asked to be married in public,” says Leilt. 

She thinks that the way her boyfriend proposed was 

something borrowed, not real. She believes that it 

should be a private event. Her biggest argument was 

she knew nothing about the meaning of kneeling 

down and the question. “Why would someone ask 

me to marry him? If the marriage is meant to be 

for both of our sake, I think I prefer the ‘let us get 

married question’ instead.” 

Most of the people The Reporter interviewed share 

the same opinion about proposals. They believe 

that it is not natural for them to do it in 

a Western way. Most of them lived 

or spent many years with their 

love partners and it was obvious 

that marriage was going to 

happen sooner or later. Most of 

them have talked about getting 

married but never thought of 

proposing in a Western classic. “Will 

you marry me” way. 

There are several different 

traditional ways in which 

marriages are contracted 

in Ethiopia: in an arranged 

marriage, well-respected elders 

are sent to the girl’s family 

on behalf of the man’s family, 

without the would-be bride’s 

knowledge. The man’s messengers 

approach the house very early in 

the morning and wait until the 

main gate is opened. Once the 

gate is opened and their presence 

is known, they are invited into 

the house and questioned as to 

why they are there. Once they 

explain the purpose of their visit 

an appointment is made for them 

to return within 15 to 20 days. When 

the messengers return, they will be 

served with a yes, no or let’s think over 

it answer. 


Another way that marriages are contracted is by 

a commitment between two families before the 

children are born. This is intended to maintain 

the families’ reputation and is motivated by a deep 

interest in joining the two bloodlines as well to 

satisfy the desire to be related to another family of 

the same class. 

In some parts 

of Ethiopia 

marriages 

are also 

formed when 

a widow is 

remarried by 

the deceased 

husband’s brother or 

closest relative in order 

to preserve the family’s 

wealth. 

|11 

“Everyone in the burger 

house cheered for us 

and I was so excited. 

I never thought that 

I would be surprised 

and proposed to 

like that, in public. 

But honestly 

speaking, I love 

my boyfriend 

but I was 

a little bit 

abashed and I 

didn’t want to stay 

there for long”. 

“

12| 


The Reporter | Saturday |April 30, 2011



|13

14| 

ReporterLIFESTYLE 

THE 

ethiopian women and 

night clubs in addis 

By TiBeBeselassie TigaBu 

“I will never let a man touch me again without my consent,” Zemdina 

Abebe, 25, a consultant in UNICEF, after a recent incident in one of 

the clubs in Addis Ababa, says. Still furious about the incident where 

one guy came and grabbed her bottom and 

shocked her. In addition to the harassment, 

she was gut-wrenched about his smug 

response and his inability to see that he had 

done something wrong. 

Zemdina’s story is one of the many tales 

of sexual harassments faced by her likes in 

Addis Ababa, despite her living the privileged 

woman’s dream and getting an opportunity 

to go to school, and work a dream job, might 

hide it. She still has to put up with different 

sexual harassments in different forms every 

day. 

She testifies that she started noticing the 

harassment early on in high school where her 

sport class teacher made her and her fellow 

girl students line up in the front row and bend 

in front of him as an exercise routine. 

The nasty ogle at the sport class was just the 

beginning of her agonizing high school life. 

She remembers that one of her other teachers 

who used to come and sit on the desk and hug 

her and touch her breasts. But she was too 

scared to say anything. Chatting up with her 

peers, she later found out that the teacher did 

the same thing to most of her classmates too. 

It took Zemdina and her friends a long time 

to open up and discuss what was happening to 

them. They found out the hard way how bad it 

is to be a woman in a society that did very little 

to respect woman rights. 

The late Addis Ababa Girls’ Forum which was established in 2004 

helped her to see other girls who are out there facing the same 

harassments, physical and emotional abuses. They used it as a 


tough journey 

By arTem efimov 

Two young, upper-class, university-educated 

Addis Ababa residents, Robel and Lydia, leave 

the city to get the firsthand experience of a 

farmer’s lifestyle in a countryside somewhere 

around Debre Berhan, 130 kilometers north 

of Addis. Accommodated by two families of 

villagers, the two live their lives, work their 

routine, walk their long ways to a market, eat 

their food, etc. As the two city-sleekers found 

out how difficult life is in the countryside the 

hard way, audiences at the Alliance Ethio- 

Française were enjoying the screening of their 

journey this week. 

The film “Guzo” (“Journey”) by Aida 

Ashenafi, chronicling Robel and Lydia’s living 

in the countryside for 20 days, received the 

Best Documentary Award at the 3rd Addis 

International Film Festival. Exploring myths 

and stereotypes about the villagers, as well as 

the reality behind them, “Guzo” offered an 

“The cafés, the 

streets, the clubs, 

workplaces remind 

you every minute 

that you are a 

woman who is 

subordinate to a 

man and in a way 

they tells you there 

is a hierarchy that 

should be respected 

everywhere.” 

Lett to right: Robel , Shewangizaw, Belge and Lydia are the four character of the film 

insight both into their lives and the psyche 

of the nation remaining largely rural. But it 

also, through eyes of Shewangizaw and Belge, 

platform to share their pains which are caused by the society with and 

without the acknowledgment. That is also the president of the forum 

explains that its aim is to create awareness among the community. 

It may be hard to trace when the harsh comments on the way they 

dress started yet the members of the forum testify that it has become 

part of their daily routine to listen to them as 

they are walking by. “They insult you and give 

you a lecture on how to live your life because 

you are a woman and you should be told,” says 

Zemidina. 

For Kidist Kebede, 29, a writer, the first 

impulse that comes to her when she hears 

someone giving a harsh remark, is a punch in 

the nose. 

“I am sometimes amazed to see how most 

of the guys think that they have the right to 

control the air we breathe and we should do so 

only at their permission. We have the right to 

live in this world as they do, but it seems like 

they are under the impression that, that only 

happens when they allow us,” Kidist expresses 

her frustration. 

Kidist usually goes to the different bars to 

meet friends and if she gets there 10 or 20 

minutes earlier, she is often ogled by men 

and that makes her feel uneasy, and she finds 

herself reading the unwritten yet commonly 

perceived phrase that ‘it is no place for 

women’. She was asked many times what she 

is doing there by herself and many guys tried 

to hit on her and she questions, “can’t a girl go 

to a bar by herself and have a drink?” 

Facing verbal abuse on different occasions, 

and worrying about that seems to be a luxury 

as she hears violence, rape, sexual slavery 

mutilation and murder happening to other 

women and put her in a perspective to see the world. 

“Yes there were and still are incidents where women are raped on war 

hosts of Robel and Lydia respectively, shows 

what urban folks seem like to the villagers. 




By leyou Tameru 

Bits & Pieces 

pUblic or 

privatE? 

It is early in the morning, and I was already running late for a 

meeting. I barely had any time to get breakfast, so I decided 

to simply run out of the house. Halfway into opening the 

front door I was suddenly stopped by my mother who, with 

an irritated tone, said, “Anchi lij, tene yitilishal” (Child, you’ll 

pass out from hunger) and gave me some toast bread with 

the strict instruction of eating it before I get to the meeting. 

So here I was with a few loafs of toasted bread, speed-walking 

down the street, frantically checking my watch and still 

managing to find time to take a bite off of my buttered toast. 

I was getting a few stares from people who were standing 

on the street, and I figured it was probably because I looked 

nervous. But I was wrong, that wasn’t the reason. I was kindly 

informed, by one very concerned gentleman on the street, 

that eating outdoors is “newer” (bad manners). I was in too 

much of a hurry to process what this man was saying, so I 

didn’t even bother to respond. 

A long meeting and a sturdy lunch later, my mind was finally 

prepared to analyze the lesson given to me this morning. 

I was hoping I could run into the man again and have an 

elaborate conversation with him, but instead I stumbled upon 

a very common sight in Addis. A man walked to the corner 

of a very busy street, unzipped his pants and proceeded to 

urinate as if he was in his own backyard. The most striking 

part was that no one seemed to notice this man’s act. No 

stares, no surprises, no attempts to make him stop and no 

concerned citizen eager to give him an unsolicited lesson on 

how urinating in public is “newer” (bad manners). 

And I thought to myself, I get a social etiquette class from 

a man I have never met before because I was eating on the 

street, but a man urinates in public and it doesn’t seem to 

bother anyone! I’m sure there is a logical explanation for this, 

at least I hope so, but so far I’m still searching for it. 

The underlying theme here is the fine line between what 

should be done in public and what should be taken care 

of privately. This is something that varies throughout the 

different cultures in the world. In some cultures it is normal 

for men and women to walk around topless, whereas talking 

about sex is a taboo. In other cultures, women can walk down 

the street wearing minimal clothing but will be sued in court 

if they were to breastfeed their child in a public place, because 

that is considered to be an indecent exposure. In certain parts 

of the world it is socially accepted for two male friends to hold 

hands, but the society frowns upon a couple who publicly 

displays affection. 

Perhaps there isn’t supposed to be a logical explanation for 

these interesting social values, but a cultural one. And who 

am I to question this cultural reasoning? I am by no means 

arguing that eating in public should be accepted by the 

society. I just find it interesting how culture and logic can 

refuse to see each other eye-to-eye on certain issues. And in 

such cases, culture trumps over logic each time. 

So I guess it may not be logical, but in Ethiopia we seem to 

have accepted that it is more shameful to eat in public than it 

is to urinate in public. 

Ed.’s Note: Leyou Tameru is a graduate of Georgetown and Addis 

Ababa University Law schools, specializing in International Legal 

Studies. Born and raised in Addis Ababa, she seeks to understand 

the impact of economic, political and social issues on everyday 

lives. She can be reached at bitsandpieces@ethiopianreporter.com


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1. Job Title: IT Head 

Duty Station: Addis Ababa 

Required Skills & Experience: 

- B.Sc degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, IT Technology or related field 

and Certification in CISCO, Window Server & MS Exchange. 

- At lease 8 years experience and knowledge in network development, application design 

and development, microcomputer hardware and LAN systems management & other related 

activities. 

- High command of English language skills. 

- Excellent business and interpersonal communication skills. 

- Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with subordinates 

associates, other department directors and managers and external bodies. 

- Ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. 

Overall objectives for the Job 

Manage the IT infrastructure and upgrade the new technological innovations to have a better 

capacity in maintaining up to date and efficient communication network as well as data based 

management. 

Major Duties and responsibilities: 

- Manage the installation, documentation and maintenance of operating systems, 

communications software, & database management software. 

- Perform network deployment and administration activities including active directory, 

domain controller, domain name server and dynamic host configuration protocol. 

- Manage broadband internet access and by implementing firewall and anti-virus systems. 

- Advise on current IT standards and technology. 

- Configure and manage file server, network resources (printer and scanner). 

- Provide IT support for the central and regional offices. 

- Provide basic computer application software training (like Windows & MS office), routine 

hardware troubleshooting and about on LAN usage for users. 

- Develop internal information sharing system. 

- Manage e-mail; file sharing, application, and/or other systems and services as necessary. 

- Ensure that the full disaster recovery standard backups in accordance with the established 

procedures. 

- Provide system analysis & study solutions. 

- Any other related duties. 

2. Job Title: Assistant Finance & Property Administration Manager 


n! Ã § ä t R S x¼¥ 

N Y A L A MOTORS SHARE COMPANY 

Qualification: Minimum, BA degree in Accounting from recognized University 

Immediate Vacancies 


Required Skills & Experience: 

- Minimum of 5 years of experience in Accounting and public Audit, out of which 2 years in 

supervisory or managerial level. 

- Applicant should be willing to work in team and in tight time schedule. 

- Familiar with accounting principle & practices and financial policies of the same industry. 

- Knowledge of accounting software package and computer literacy. 

- Preferably part qualified in CPA, CA. 

- Ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. 

Main Task 

- Undertake or supervises all accounting activities including financial transaction coding 

& posting and preparation of monthly bank reconciliation in accordance with the financial 

policies and procedures of the company. 

- Ensure proper custody of all financial documents and records. 

- Handel and follow up all financial activities of head office and branches. 

- Preparation of annual, interim and monthly financial statement and reports. etc. 

- Preparation of business plan and budget of a company. 

- Reports to the Director of Finance & Property Administration. 

Required number: one 

3. Job Title: After Sales Director 


Qualification: MSC or BSC Degree in Mechanical or Automotive 

Engineering 

From recognized university. 

Required Skill & Experience: 

- Experience in organizing, administering and staffing qualified technical personnel of various 

disciplines in Parts & Services division of reputable Organization preferably in organizations engaged 

in the import business of Heavy & light duty vehicles with proven track record in developing and 

administering After Sales Programs. 

- For MSC Degree a minimum of 8 years relevant experience related to after sales and a 

minimum of 4 years experiences in a managerial position. 

- For BSC Degree a minimum of 10 years relevant experience related to after sales and a 

minimum of 5 years experiences in a managerial position. 

Required No. One 

For All positions: 

Salary & Benefit: As per the salary scale of the company; also includes attractive provident fund, 

life & health insurance cover. 

Duration: Indefinite time/Permanent 

Interested candidate satisfying the required qualification and experience are invited to submit 

no returnable CV along with application letter to our Head Office located at Bole Kifle Ketema, 

Wereda 5 on the ring road between Megenagna and Bole or send the application to the following 

address on or before March 10, 2011. 

Nyala Motors Share Company 

Legal & Administrative S. Division 

P.O.Box 1194 

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 

NB: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted 

|15

16| 

Roto PLC, one of the earliest investors in Ethiopia, in 

the business of manufacturing water storage sanitation 

solutions, with its factory in Kality, requires: 

1) Accountant; Girls fluent in English and who are accounting graduates having 

minimum of 2 years of experience in computerized accounting, knowledge of the rules 

of proclamation, Salary tax, VAT, Withholding tax, preparing Payroll, making entries 

to the computer, liasing with the tax authorities and knowledge of general accounting 

procedures can apply. The candidates Should have completed their studies. Candidates 

still studying evening or day programme need not apply. 

2) Store Keeper; Candidates should be males below 28 years of age having a degree 

or a diploma in accounting and with minimum 3 to 4 yrs of experience in managing 

a store independently and in-depth knowledge of stores accounting procedures The 

candidates Should have completed their studies Candidates still studying evening or 

day programme need not apply. 

Both the positions are in Kality, at the factory office. 

Good remuneration will be offered for the right candidate 

For an interview. Walk-in with your CV, Certificates and two 

Job Announcement 

Immediate call for Field Coordinator 

1. Job Title: Field Coordinator 

2. Duty Station: One of the following places: Adama, Waliso, 

Nakamute 

3. Work Condition: One (1) year contract (renewable based on the 

performance) 

4. Recruitment number: 2 persons 

5. Main duties and responsibilities: Under the regular communication 

and supervision of the project office, the field coordinator should take the 

following duties; 

Coordinating and arranging the project activities at school, woreda 

and zonal levels. 

Undertaking field visits to monitor the project activities and the 

outputs at school and woreda levels. 

Submitting field reports to the project office and providing the 

feedback 

Assisting the project team to manage the project activities and 

related tasks (ex. material development, facilitator training, 

workshops and other related activities). 

6. Qualification 

Diploma in education, educational management or related areas is the 

minimum requirement (Degree folder is preferable) 

7. Experiences, Knowledge and skills: 

A minimum of three (3) years’ work experiences in education 

field. 

Work experience with international development organizations is 

an asset. 

Good knowledge in community - based school management and 

teaching and learning process. 

Fluency in oral and written English and Afaan Oromo 

8. Submission of application: 

Interested applicant with the above qualification and experiences can 

collect more detailed information at the project office. The closing date of 

submission of application is may 9 th , 2011 

Address: Project on Improving Access to Quality Primary 

Education by Community Participation (Ho! ManaBU Project) 

Office, Ground floor, Oromia Education Bureau, Kera (near 

Adams Pavillion), Addis Ababa 

Enquiries:- 0911 10 80 92 (Meseret) 

(Mon-Sat 8:00 am-6:00 pm) 



Vacancy Announcement 

Photos on within week 

To Roto PLC, 

Near MIDROC terminal, 

Kality. 

Or 

Email; cmrotoplc@gmail.com 

Roto PLC. P.O.Box 922, Area Code 1110 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia . 

Registered Office: off. Debrazeit Road, Near Midroc Terminal, Kaliti, Addis 

Ababa, Ethiopia. Tell: 011 4 39 11 24, 4 39 23 22, 4 39 10 42/44/45, Fax 011 4 39 

06 63. 

City Sales Office:# 567,Bole Road, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, (Behind Awash Bank) 

Tel: 011 6 18 61 30/31/32, Fax 0116-18-61-51 

Email: rotoeth@ethionet.et/rotoaddis@ethionet.et 

Sales Hotline: 0912 21 16 21, 0912 21 16 31, 0912 21 16 41 

Immediate Vacancy Announcement 

The Ethiopia Commodity exchange is a modern and dynamic 

new organization which introduced in Ethiopia state of the 

art ways of trading, linking directly buyers both national and 

international with Ethiopian producers. Similar to the prevailing 

commodity exchanges around the world, key actors /players of 

the new model are the ECX members Who play a pivotal role in 

the unfolding of market driven fixation of negotiated prices and 

quantities of the commodities, now wish to organize themselves 

as a service rendering and useful Association /National Exchange 

Actors Association/ The Association recruits:- 

Job Title: secretary general 

Reporting to: The Board of directors 

Job Summary 

The secretary general will be responsible for all routine and 

strategic activities of the association. Support the association 

towards the fulfillment of the purpose why it is established. 

Qualification and work experience: MA/BA degree in the field 

of economics/ agricultural economics, Business management 

and with solid and related experience 5/10 years. Preferably the 

specialist should have substantial experience on how agricultural 

marketing operates in Ethiopia, private sector development 

and private sector led association management, familiarity with 

private sector related policy and regulations. 

Expected competency areas: the specialist should be acquainted 

with the following competency areas: excellent and well developed 

interpersonal communication skill, partnership development, 

proposal development and fund raising, business opportunity 

and market development, action research, networking, strategic 

thinking, Business orientation and lobbying and advocacy. 

Salary: Negotiable 

Terms of Employment: Permanent 

Number required: One 

Duty station: Addis Ababa 

NB: Interested applicants can submit their CVs, testimonials, 

supporting documents and letter of intent indicating why you 

are interested in the position to the association located around 

Bisrate Gerbiel Church, Adot Multiplex Bldg, and six floor room 

numbers 604 before May 10, 2011.


The Ethiopia office of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication 

Programs (JHU.CCP) located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is recruiting the following two positions: 

I. Position: Director of Finance and Administration 

The Director of Finance and Administration (DFA) will provide financial and administrative oversight of 

CCP’s Ethiopia Project. The DFA will report to CCP’s Country Director and will be assisted by finance and 

administrative officers. 

Duties and Responsibilities: 

Finance 

Responsible for overseeing, implementing and enforcing CCP Ethiopia’s finance policies and procedures, 

including but not limited to: 

• Review and evaluate financial and accounting documents, reports and statements to ensure 

accuracy, completeness and compliance with generally accepted and accounting principles and 

with the policies and guidelines of JHU/CCP. 

• Write contact and bid specifications and monitor services to ensure compliance with 

contractual obligations. 

• Develop budget and track expenditures. 

• Ensure proper financial procedures and systems operate smoothly and are maintained. 

• Ensure compliance with local regulations in respect of financial and other matters (e.g. 

Taxation and labor laws). 

• Prepare process and keep records of VAT exemption documentation, and submit to 

appropriate parties, including CDC. 

• Co-ordinate and maintain a cash forecasting system to ensure adequate funds are available to 

meet program requirements. 

• Monitor ongoing levels of expenditure on individual programmes as against budget and 

provide timely advice of likely over and under spends. 

• Ensure proper tracking of two donor awards and charges to each are filed accordingly. 

• Ensure that contractual commitments are expressed in forms appropriate for the 

circumstances of the programme. 

• Establish and maintain a payroll system, including calculation and payment of staff. 

• Assist staff to prepare budgets for annual work plans and proposals. 

• Keep petty cash box, and ensure it is secure. 

• Maintain records of financial transactions and receipts on a daily basis. 

• Maintain files of consulting agreements and local purchase orders, and track payments to 

consultants and vendors. 

• Verify accuracy of invoices and supporting document requirements before processing 

payments. 

• Prepare journal entries and oversee the preparation of monthly financial reports using 

Quickbooks. 

• Prepare quarterly projections of expenditures on a monthly basis for submission to CCP/ 

Baltimore with monthly financial reports. 

• Respond to queries on monthly financial reports from CCP/Baltimore. 

• Oversee procurement process ensuring compliance with procurement policies and procedures. 

• Verify an inventory of JHU CCP Ethiopia equipment per CDC requirements. A report will be 

submitted to the Country Director as necessary. 

• Oversee the preparation of local purchase orders and consulting agreements with appropriate 

documentation. 

• Liaise with CCP/Baltimore financial analyst to ensure proper field office compliance with 

financial management systems. 

• Ensure financial logistical support is provided to staff and partners during consultant visits and 

workshops. 

• Supervise preparation of travel advances for staff and staff travelling on Project business. 

• Review travel expense reports and approve reimbursements. 

• Supervise distribution and reconciliation of financial advances in support of program activities. 

• Maintain operational filing system of all financial related documents. 

• Oversee, advise, and assist program staff and partners in the preparation of project, annual and 

subcontract budgets. 

• Use critical thinking skills to review budgets, ensuring various line items have been included and 

expensed appropriately. 

• Obtain cost estimates, backup documentation, and cost verification where necessary, and 

maintain file of documentation and calculations. 

• Perform other related duties as requested by the Country Director. 

Human Resources 

Responsible for overseeing, implementing and enforcing general CCP Ethiopia administrative HR policies 

and procedures, including but not limited to: 

• Develop performance job tasks, evaluate job performance and recommend appropriate 

actions to correct performance deficiencies. 

• Coordinates all human resource activities for JHU CCP Ethiopia to include, employment, 

employee relations, and benefits. 

• Review all personnel actions, hiring, promotions, transfers, terminations and disciplinary 

actions. 

• Approves/disapproves leave, schedules work assignments and conducts performance 

evaluations. 

General Administration and Logistics 

Responsible for overseeing, implementing and enforcing general CCP Ethiopia administrative and logistics 

policies and procedures, including but not limited to: 

• Oversee due diligence of the registration and licenses required for CCP Ethiopia to legally 

function and operate in country 

• Oversee the maintenance of CCP Ethiopia materials and products inventory and distribution 

system 

• Oversee procurement and purchase mechanisms including management of grants and 

sub-contracts. Will verify that processes adhere and comply with CDC, JHU and Ethiopian 

government regulations and policies. 

• Oversee installations, equipment and vehicles maintenance in CCP Ethiopia Addis Ababa Head 

Office. 

• Oversee administrative system development, including filing systems. 

• Oversee CCP Ethiopia vehicle and transportation policies and procedures. 

• Adapt existing CCP policies and procedures manuals for Ethiopia-specific needs, as needed. 

• Assist the staff in providing logistic support during field visits; workshops, and trainings. 

Supervisory Responsibilities 

Responsible for supervising Finance/ Administrative staff, in the CCP Ethiopia Addis Ababa Head Office 

and the Regional Offices. Supervision includes but is not limited to the following staff: 

• Finance Support Staff 

• Human Resource Staff 

• Administrative Support Staff 



Additional responsibilities of a similar nature may be assigned from time to time in consultation with the 

job holder. 

Qualifications: 

• Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and/or Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or 

equivalent or related degree. 

• A minimum of 10 years working experience as administrative and/or financial manager for 

donor-funded projects in Africa. 

• In-depth knowledge of US Government policies and procedures is preferred. 

• Familiarity with CDC programming a plus. 

• Strong organizational skills and the ability to multi-task. 

• Strong computer skills including Windows and Microsoft Office applications and Quick Books. 

• Ability to work in a team-oriented environment- working well with others and independently 

with minimal supervision. 

• Experience supervising a multi-cultural team. 

• Very detail oriented. 

• Fluent in English, both written and spoken. 

• Excellent communication skills including written and oral. 

• Familiarity with at least one additional (after Amharic) Ethiopian language a plus. 

II. Position: Content Developer: 

Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Responsible for determining and providing appropriate content for all ARC websites and 

hotline intranet. 

• Works closely with internal departments to gather and compile information to be published on 

ARC websites. 

• Write, organize, compile and produce content from various sources such as partners, 

newspapers, publications, journals, newsletters, books, websites, etc. 

• Manage all approvals for new or updated content postings. 

• Responsible for maintaining content and updating all information regularly. 

• Produce content for specific target audience such as youth, journalists, policy makers, PLWHA, 

etc. 

• Conduct usability studies and surveys to address content needs. 

• Ensure newly developed website functionalities and features are integrated and working 

properly. 

• Stay abreast of new technologies and trends critical to writing techniques. 

• Manage deadlines and ensuring that needed information is identified and posted on time. 

• Works closely with development team to produce web pages 

• Works with partner organization to gather and produce web content 

• Provide ongoing content production for hotline intranet by reviewing callers data and 

counselors request 

• Perform other related duties as requested 

• Write news articles by attending various events, conferences 

• Copyedit and proofread all ARC websites’ content 

• Post and interact with users on various ARC social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, 

and YouTube. 

Required Skills 

• Exceptional written and oral communication skill. 

• Proven English article writing skill (preferably on English newspapers, websites, blogs, etc). 

• Work cooperatively with members, other departments and partners. 

• Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. 

• Good knowledge of social media such as (Face book, Twitter, and YouTube). 

• Good knowledge of using word processing, presentation, project management, and 

spreadsheet applications. 

• Basic knowledge of web page design and experience in using web content management 

systems is a plus. 

• Ability to concentrate and work under pressure is essential 

• Must be able to express ideas clearly and logically 

Qualification 

• Bachelor’s degree in Communication, English, Journalism, Social Science or related fields. 

• Minimum of two years of work experience in similar positions. 

Employment Terms 

Location of position: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 


Terms of Employment: Contract 

Duration of Employment: One year with possible extension 

Interested applicants should send a CV, contacts for 3 references, and detailed cover to E-mail: HR@etharc. 

org not later than 16 th May, 2011. Please indicate how your education and experience qualifies you for 

the positions. A competitive remuneration and benefits package will be offered according to qualifications 

and experience. 

Only those selected for interview will be contacted. CCP is an equal opportunity employer. 

JHU.CCP Ethiopia 

AIDS Resource Center (ARC) 

Dembel Building 10 th Floor Rm 1007B (Elevator 5/6) 

P.O.Box 26171 Code 1000 

Tel: 251 550 35 84; Fax: 251 550 37 49 

E-mail: HR@etharc.org; Website: www.etharc.org 

|17

18| 

MATADOR-ADDIS TYRE, Share Company 


1. Job Title Chemical Analyst 

Education BSC Degree in Chemistry. 

Experience 2 years of relevant work experience 

No. of required 1 (One) 

2. Job Title Secretary 

Education College Diploma in Secretarial Science & Office 

Management from recognized University or College. 

Experience Minimum of 2 years of relevant experience 

No. of required 

For Both Positions 

1 (One) 

Salary Negotiable 

Benefits There are different benefits including Provident Fund. 

Terms of Employment Contract with the possibility of extension. 

Place of work Addis Ababa. 

Interested applicants who fulfill the above requirements can submit their 

applications, with CVs, original documents and non-returnable copies of relevant 

documents to Personnel Affairs Office within 10 (ten) consecutive days from the 

date of the first announcement. 

MATADOR-ADDIS TYRE, Share Company 

Telephone 251-011-442-15-55 

P.O.Box 2394 

Email: personnel@matador-atc.com 

Addis Ababa 

NIB INTERNATIONAL BANK S.C. 

EXTERNAL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT 

Nib International Bank S.C. wishes to invite applicants with the following qualification 

and work experience. 

No Position Educational Qualification 

1 Personnel 

&HRIS 

Officer II 

2 Personnel 

&HRIS 

Officer III 

B.A/College Diploma (10+3 

or 10+2) in Management/ 

Administration/related field 

of study 

B.A in Management/ 

Administration/ related field 

of study 

Work 

Experience & 

Required Skills 

2/6 years 

of relevant 

experience 

3 years of 

relevant 

experience 

Place of 

Work 

Salary Per salary scale of the Bank and attractive fringe benefits 

Deadline for 

Submission of Application: Ten working days from the date of this 

vacancy announcement 

NB: Interested applicants should submit their CVs and non-returnable supporting documents in 

person to the HRD & Administration Department (Dembel City Center 5 th floor) or mail to:- 

HRD & Administration Department 

Nib International Bank S.C. 

Tel. 011-5503288 

P.O.Box 2439 

Addis Ababa 

A.A. 

“ 



TECHNOSTYLE PVT.LTD.CO. 

External Vacancy Announcement 

Technostyle Plc invites interested competent applicants to the vacant 

position stated below. 

Position ACCOUNTANT 

Qualification B.A Degree/ Diploma in accounting fields from 

recognized University or College. 

Experience Relevant work experience four years/Two years 

in Degree & Diploma respectively Good ability 

using computer, knowledge of Peachtree is 

mandatory 

No. required 1 (One) 

Salary Negotiable 

Duty station Addis Ababa, Head Office 

Applicants who are fulfilling the above requirements should submit their 

applications, CV and non-returnable copies of testimonials to Human Resources 

and property Administration Department or through P.O.Box 159 with in 10 

working days after the date of the announcement. 

Address:- 

Technostyle PLC TEL. +251-11-466-2299/29 

P.O.Box 159 FAX +251-11-466-7124 

Ethio-China Road Wollo Sefer, Dire Dawa Building 

(Around Wollo Sefer) 

Addis Ababa 

Immediate Vacancy 

Summit Partners (Ethiopia) Plc, would like to invite qualified applicants for 

the following vacant position. 

Position: Plumber 

Qualification: 10+3 or 10+2 in Plumbering with 1 or 3 

years(s) experience in the field, respectively. 

Required No.: One 

Sex: Male/Female 

Place of work: Summit Partners (Ethiopia) Plc, Addis Ababa 

Terms of employment: Permanent 


Interested applicants can submit their non-returnable application, CV and 

copies of testimonials in person or through mail within 10 days from the 

announcement date to the following address. 

Summit Partners (Ethiopia) Plc 

Human Resource Department 

P.O.Box 17758 

Tel. 0116 60 48 65-74 

Addis Ababa


Immediate Vacancy Notice 

Yirgalem Addis Textile Factory Plc (Former Adei Abeba Yarn Factory No.1) invites 

qualified applicants for immediate placement for the following vacant posts. 

1. Vacant post: Senior Cost Accountant 

Qualification: B.A. Degree in Accounting 

Experience: 4 years 

No Requred: 01 (One) 

2. Vacant post: Cost Accountant 

Qualification: B.A degree in Accounting 



3. Vacant post: Trainee Textile Engineers 

Qualification: BSC in Textile Engineering 

Experience: Not require 

No Requred: 06 (Six) 

4. Vacant post Accountant 

Qualification: B.A degree in Accounting 

Experience: 2 years related Experience 

in Manufacturing Industry 


5. Vacant post Dyeing Shift Leader 

Qualification: BSC or Advance Diploma in Textile 

Engineering or Chemistry 

Experience: 2 & 4 years respectively 

No Requred: 02 (Two) 

6. Vacant post Blanket Quality checker 

Qualification: Diploma in Textile Engineering 

& Training in Quality management 


No Requred: 02 (Two) 

7. Vacant post Finished Fabric Inspector 

Qualification: Diploma in Textile Engineering & 

Training in Quality Management 

Experience: 2 Years 

No Requred: 03 (three) 

8. Vacant post Casher 

Qualification: Diploma in Accounting or TVTE/10+2/ 

in Accounting 



9. Vacant post Boiler operator & Water Attendant 

Qualification: 10 th Grade Completed and on the 

Job Training 

Experience: 1 year 

No Requred: 03 (three) 

10. Vacant post Programming, Planning & Evaluation 

Officer 

Qualification: BSC in Textile Technology or BA 

in Statistics, Economics 



Note to the applicants: 

• Salary: Negotiable 

• For all Place of Work: Addis Ababa, Saris 

• Applicants are expected to bring their CV with original and nonreturnable 

supportive documents for registration. 

• Only short listed applicants will be contacted. 

• Place of registration: Former Adei Ababa Yarn Factory No.1 

Personnel Office. 

• Registration will be within 10 consecutive working days from the 

date of this announcement. 

Yirgalem Addis Textile Factory PLC 

(Former Adei Ababa Yarn S.C.No.1) 


Cell. +251-91-/1247007/1183563; Tel. +251-11-6630564/6630602; Fax:- +251- 

11-6630602; 

Africa Avenue Road, Friendship Bld 5 th Floor 

email: info@symboltech.net, URL: www.symboltech.net 

Our Company Symbol Technologies, an IT firm have the following vacant positions: 

1. Position: IT Professional 

Qualification: 

• BSC in Computer Science/IT/Electrical Engineering/computer studies or related 

field with working experience of three years or above. 

• Cisco Certified Professional and Microsoft Certified professional is preferable 

Experience: 

Skills: 

• Proven ability and experience in the ICT environment 

• Able to prioritize work effectively for execution within limited resources 

• Problem solving and decision making 

• Training and communication skills 

• Proficiency in Microsoft business applications; 

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 


2. Position: Business Development and Marketing Manager / Officer 

Qualification: 

• BSc. in IT/ MIS/ Business Administration / Marketing /computer studies or related 

field with two years working experience. 

• Diploma in IT/ MIS/ Business Administration / Marketing /Computer studies with four 

years working experience in related field. 

Experience: 

• Proven ability and experience in marketing the ICT industry. 

• Individuals who are interested in applying for the above positions may submit their supporting 

documents to Symbol Technologies PLC through the following email address info@symboltech. 

net until May 15, 2011. 


Our company, Kitchen World PLC, would like to recruit employee for the 

following position on permanent basis. 

• Position: Senior Accountant 

• Qualification: BA or Diploma in Accounting 

• Experience: Minimum of 3 years with BA Degree 

Minimum of 6 years with Diploma 

• Salary: Negotiable 

• Special Skill: Good command of MS-Office application 

and Peachtree Accounting 

• Duty Station: Addis Ababa 

Interested applicants who fulfill the above specified requirements can 

submit an application along with CV and supporting documents to Kitchen 

World PLC Administration Section in person with in 7 consecutive days 

starting from the first day of publication of this announcement during 

working hours including Saturday from 2:30 -6:30 A.M. 

Address 

Kitchen World PLC, Megenagna Legesse Feleke Building, besides Total 

Fuel Station or Opposite to Admas College, Tel. 011-618-85-95/011-618- 

82-15, Addis Ababa. 

|19

20| 

“How to Read the Air” explores the idea of 

universal truths in fiction. Do you think they exist? 

I think fiction has its own truth. There is a lot of 

mistrust in fiction, and the imagination in general, 

so with this novel I definitely wanted to make 

an argument that there is great beauty in lies, 

imagination and creating stories that might not 

actually be real, but are as emotionally powerful and 

compelling as any story is. 

Did you use stories that your own father told you 

as a child, about his path of immigration to the 

United States, as the basis for some of the stories 

in the novel? 

Part of the father’s journey in the book is based on 

the journey my parents took to America—my father 

left Ethiopia before the rest of the family did. He 

got asylum when he was in Italy, and I remember 

him telling me about living in a strange country— 

not being able to speak the language, and the 

loneliness and isolation of being in a refugee camp. 

Fortunately the story of my father is not as tragic 

as the story of Jonas’s father. But I guess it was at 

the back of my mind when writing this novel. There 

are tons of stories coming out now about migrants 

being trapped on small ships, coming out of places 

like Yemen or Northern Africa, who end up washed 

up in Europe—half dead and starved. These stories 

were in my head when I was writing the novel, I 

guess. 

In your novel you juxtapose the past and the present 



dinaw Mengestu, novelist 

With “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears” (or “Children of the Revolution”, depending on which side of the Atlantic you’re on), Dinaw Mengestu earned his reputation as an impressive young 

novelist on the rise. 

His 2007 debut illustrated a facility with grand subjects, such as displacement and identity. It was a textured story about the immigrants’ struggle in America, rendered in beautiful prose and from 

the perspective of an African shop-owner in Washington, DC. His latest novel, “How to Read the Air”, not only confirms his nascent place in the world of letters, but delivers an even more profound 

story, this time about two generations of Ethiopian immigrants in America—the parents who fled their homeland in search of a life in Nashville, Tennessee, and their son who retraces their steps 

years later. The story is the son’s, Jonas, now an English teacher in a fraught marriage in New York, who eagerly mines these stories about the past for truths about himself. 

Mr Mengestu has earned quite a bit of attention for both books. In 2010 he was also named one of the New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” fiction writers to watch. Here he speaks to More Intelligent 

Life about trying to define the American novel, the loneliness of immigrants and the beauty of myth-making. 

...it unleashes how different preconceived 

perceptions by the characters were proven 

wrong as Lydia and Belge develop a strong 

friendship and Shewangizaw learns to overcome 

his prejudices of the urban people as lazy and 

crooked 

tough... ConT`d 

from page 14 

The film starts with a kind of an ethnological excursion into the heart of rustic life. Robel and Lydia are taken to a 

market; they learn to do some routine tasks like gathering firewood, baking injera, ploughing, etc. In the film they 

are seen regularly complaining that they are extremely tired and explaining that what looks easy to see, appears to 

be gravely hard when you do it yourself. Each of the tasks, which the two found daunting, are nothing but daily 

routines for the farmers. “Guzo” shows the contrasting life swap of a glamorous urban girl into a quite countryside 

housewife, and a privileged lad from the city into a hard-working farmer. 

But as the film progresses, it unleashes how different preconceived perceptions by the characters were proven 

wrong as Lydia and Belge develop a strong friendship and Shewangizaw learns to overcome his prejudices of 

the urban people as lazy and crooked. Meanwhile, Robel discovers in himself a strength and ability to overcome 

difficulties. What began as an infotainment film highlighting some aspects of rural life in Ethiopia ends like an 

emotional drama. 

One cannot do full justice to the film without mentioning the excellent job done by the cameramen. The countryside, 

its trees and hills, its houses and markets, its beautiful sky look so picturesque on screen that one can hardly believe 

they are not decoration sets. “Guzo” is indeed indulged in with an astonishing scenery and exceptional true story. 

The next morning was one of the most 

exciting mornings in my life. As soon as the 

boat departed, I’ve forgotten everything in 

the world. There were pelicans - dozens of 

pelicans lazily floating, and flying around, 

and having a good time. Then there were 

flamingos, and cranes, and lots of birds that 

I don’t even know by name. 

Then there were tankwas (papyrus boats 

looking exactly like the ones I saw on pictures 

of books about ancient Egypt when I was a 

little boy). Then there were coffee trees, and 

mango trees, and fig trees, and fields of chat. 

It may sound trivial to someone who lives in 

Africa. But not long ago I could only dream 

of seeing all this, just like someone in Africa 

might dream of seeing a snow. 

And, of course, there were the monasteries 

- Kebran Gabriel, and the Zege Peninsula, 

and Debre Maryam. Their porticos and 

paintings, as well as crowns, crosses and 

books kept there left me speechless. 

At some point, the boat driver showed 

me something across the water and said: 

‘The source of the Blue Nile.’ Again, I was 

astonished. Here was the source of one of 

as a tool for exploring the characters in this novel. 

Why did you choose this method of storytelling? 

Because history does influence our lives—every 

moment. We never sort of live our lives in a linear 

fashion. We always have these memories and these 

images from our past that sometimes we’re not 

even aware of, and they sort of shape who we are. 

I’m obviously not the first novelist that has hit 

upon the idea that family history, cultural history, 

is inevitable in shaping who we are. As much as 

possible I wanted the novel to reflect that feeling that 

the past and present are constantly in conversation 

with each other. 

Your debut novel had two different titles. What 

was the reason for this? 

The first title was “Children of the Revolution” [the 

name of the book in Britain], and the publishers 

decided to change the title to “The Beautiful Things 

that Heaven Bears”. I think in America they thought 

the first title would sound too political. Americans 

might not have caught the irony or the music 

reference. I think the publishers thought that people 

would come to the readings thinking this was a 

political novel about communism. 

Does it annoy you that your work gets tagged as the 

‘immigrant novel?’ 

I understand that there are different ways about 

talking about literature. That the book is about 

immigration is not a bad thing to me. But to say 

On the... 

ConT`d from page 21 


the greatest rivers, the one I’ve read about 

so much, the one that were looked for by so 

many ferenji travelers. I had to soak it up 

and think about it for a while. 

But suddenly I discovered that the boat was 

approaching Bahr Dar. I looked at my watch 

and realized that my trip on Lake Tana lasted 

for over four hours. And I was hungry. 

It wasn’t before I stepped on the shore 

and said goodbye to the boat driver that I 

stopped and cried out: ‘Hey, and what about 

the hippos?’ 

‘Haven’t you seen them?’ a guy on the shore 

asked. 

‘No! I kinda came here to see a hippo!’ I 

replied desperately. 

‘But have you seen the monasteries?’ 

‘Oh yes. And it was all so wonderful: the 

monasteries, and the birds, and the trees, 

and the tankwas… But the hippos!’ 

‘You can’t always get what you want,’ the 

guy said. ‘Think of it as a reason to come 

back.’


|21 

On the 

trails of a 

phantom hippo 

By arTem efimov 

Above: Tankwas (papyrus boats 

looking exactly like the ones I saw on 

pictures of books about ancient Egypt 

when I was a little boy) 

Lake Tana shore line the source 

of the Blue Nile 

I have never seen a hippo. Well, I have seen them on TV, of 

course, but never in the flesh. Not even in a zoo. 

So I came to Africa. I did realize that it’s actually quite a 

big continent, but I thought there was no big difference on 

where exactly to go when it comes to seeing a hippo, with 

a possible exception of the Sahara. 

In Ethiopia, it turned out that you cannot just meet a 

hippo while jogging in the morning. OK, I did realize it 

beforehand, too. But I was kind of hoping that as soon as 

I’m in Africa the hippos would be within reach without 

many difficulties. ‘Go to Lake Tana,’ they told me. ‘If 

you’re lucky, you’ll see some there.’ So I went to Bahr Dar. 

Russia is the biggest country in the world, so if somebody 

calls any journey within any country ‘painfully long’, we, 

the Russians, usually just laugh. I booked a bus ticket 

to Bahir Dar, laughing. I appeared on a departure point 

early in the morning, grinning. I kept smiling for some 

half an hour. ‘Long journey, hah,’ I thought. ‘I’ve done 

the Transsiberian trip; it’s over 9000 km, a whole week in 

a train! No journey is long enough to me after that! And 

there’re hippos in the end!’ 

But then the bus left Addis, and the honking began. I 

wonder why drivers in Ethiopia honk so much. They honk 

at each other. They honk at pedestrians. They honk at 

animals. They honk at towns, villages, forests, road curves. 


They honk uphill and downhill. They honk with or without 

any worldly reason. Maybe they just like the sound? As for 

me, I’ve been driven mad with it after half an hour. 

Thankfully, the road wasn’t too bad, so we’ve honked all 

the way to Bahr Dar in just seven hours. I stepped out of 

the bus wondering which part of me was aching more - 

my head or my back. But there were hippos somewhere 

around! 

I rushed to Lake Tana. There was no shortage of people on 

the shore who were ready, for a decent payment, to take 

me to the source of the Blue Nile where I could hopefully 

see the beast I’ve been yearning to see for the past years. 

But they also spoke about the monasteries of Lake Tana 

with such an excitement that I couldn’t resist including 

some of them in a tour. 

I’ve managed to find a hotel that wasn’t too expensive and 

didn’t have too many mosquitoes. I spent rest of the day 

riding around on a rental bicycle. There were children who 

chased me screaming: ‘Ferenji! Ferenji!’ I stopped to have a 

break, and immediately they were right beside me. ‘Where 

are you from?’ they asked. ‘From Addis,’ I replied. They 

didn’t seem to believe me. ‘Really, I live there!’ I said. They 

smiled skeptically. 

ConT`d on page 20

22| 


The Reporter | Saturday |April 30, 2011


dinaw Mengestu... 

that it’s an immigrant novel is ridiculous; 

America has a history of immigration. I think 

it’s because the novel sort of happens from an 

African ethnic experience. 

Do you think this borders on racism? 

I wouldn’t call it racist, but perhaps 

unfamiliarity with these histories and these 

stories, because they are not really part of 

a national American conversation of what 

American identity is. The novel is an African 

experience inside of America. I couldn’t 

be more American if I tried. I was born in 

Ethiopia, but I was raised and educated as 

an American. I write out of the American 

literary tradition; the writers I have grown up 

with and the writers I’m aware of when I’m 

thinking about my own writing are European 

or American. The characters I’m writing 

about are Americans, even though they may 

be immigrants. So for critics to bring in part 

of my own identity, to say this is part of the 

novel as well, I find very problematic. 

The scenes of poverty in Africa are 

particularly striking in the novel; did you 

draw them from your own experiences of 

working as a journalist in Africa? 

Definitely, the scenes charting the father’s 

journey from Sudan in these burnt-out 

villages, that bit was taken from things I had 

seen out in Darfur, Sudan and Chad, working 

as a journalist for Rolling Stone. I never 

expected to find these extra images and these 

extra memories that wanted to find their way 

into the novel. The fact that they are so true 

ethiopian women... ConT`d 

frontiers as a revenge and still many children are 

raped every day. There are also household abuses 

which makes you feel sad. Problems are relative 

and we the city women have to face treats, live 

under men’s perception that we are all prostitutes 

for being independent and acting as we want. I can 

say there is no freedom at all,” explains Kidist. 

Born and raised in Addis Ababa she still feels like 

she is a stranger to the city and sometimes she feels 

insecure walking on the street and is scared to walk 

by herself especially since mentally challenged 

people also pick on women. 

“This is a feeling where you don’t want to feel, 

you know the saying when I grew up I can protect 

myself doesn’t work for women,” she says. She 

adds “The cafés, the streets, the clubs, workplaces 

remind you every minute that you are a woman 

who is subordinate to a man and in a way they tells 

you there is a hierarchy that should be respected 

everywhere.” 

The street incident, taxi comments have become 

usual ordeals for Helina Teshome 26, an NGO 

employee but she could not get used to the treatment 

at the clubs in Addis Ababa, which she describes is 

full of male ‘chauvinism’. Showing her bruises, she 

tells what happened to her a couple of days back 

when a guy who seems drunk asked her to dance 

with him and she refused. Despite her refusing to 

dance with him, the guy pushed himself over and 

kissed her anyway. To which her friend (the guy 

she came with) got offended and got into a fight 

which led to her wrist bruising. The young woman 

explains that what made her mad was his comment: 

“set ayidelesh” (Aren’t you a woman?) “Oh! Where 

should I start, you might just ignore the comments 

of strangers by the road side, but the unwelcome 

physical contacts and extreme sexual abuses of both 

people you know and don’t know. It’s so sad,” she 

was always kind of troubling, because I was 

taking images from 2006 and placing them 

in 1977. But whatever the year, it still sort of 

takes place in the same way. 

What is the obsession that American writers 

have about nationhood? 

America doesn’t have a fixed concept of itself. 

There is no collective meaning of what it is to 

be American. Anybody can sort of become 

American, and that’s the joy of the country. 

If you compare it with, say, the French or the 

British, there is an identity of history and 

culture that has been going on for centuries. 

America doesn’t have that; it’s much younger 

and it’s constantly shifting and will continue 

to shift. That’s part of its greatness, but it’s 

also part of its great frustration. I think there 

is an emptiness in that, which writers want 

to explore. 

Do you think that immigrants struggle with 

identity their whole lives, particularly in 

America? 

I find people to be terribly lonely all the time. 

I think we have great relationships—we 

have our loves—but we don’t have people 

that we are close to and we don’t have a 

sense of our history, of our culture, of the 

particular country we live in. The thing about 

immigrants is that they can be in a country 30 

years, they can have their family, and yet they 

still feel that there is a part missing from them 

because they’ve left their own country. (More 

Intelligent Life -The Economist) 

says in frustration. 


America doesn’t have a fixed concept of itself. There is no 

collective meaning of what it is to be American. Anybody can sort 

of become American, and that’s the joy of the country. If you 

compare it with, say, the French or the British, there is an identity 

of history and culture that has been going on for centuries. 

With the coming of many tourists to Addis Ababa 

the different hotels also have incidents which seems 

unfavorable to Ethiopian women. The Reporter 

also witnessed in one of the high-class hotels of 

Addis Ababa located around Meskel Flower, where 

the doorman asks for some identification cards 

when Ethiopian young girls come. The manager of 

the hotel explains that they ask for ID, to protect 

their guest from prostitutes. Tigist Kebede, 26, a 

social worker, also expressed her frustration from 

similar discrimination in another hotel around 

Kazanchis, which also asks ID for Ethiopian young 

girls when they go in. The managers of the hotels 

did not explain how showing the ID could prevent 

prostitutes from going in. 

Apart from the hotels, there are also other clubs 

which has a rule which are a bit discriminating 

for young women. Sara Alemayehu tells one of 

the incidents in another night clubs near Meskel 

Square. Contrary to the Hotel on Meskel Flower 

road and Kazanchis, the doormen here did not allow 

Ethiopian girls because they were neither with guests 

and nor had the right attire that could disguise them 

as prostitutes. The girls wearing jeans trousers and 

T-Shirts were considered in appropriate as it would 

make them look different from the working girls. 

The club supervisor explains. They did that to make 

all girls look like a working girl. According to him, 

the club has previously been targeted for running 

prostitution and wants to hide that by making every 

girl look the same. 

culture and ict 

The emergence of e-culture in Ethiopia 

By BiruK geBremedhin 

The Cambridge dictionary’s meaning of culture might be 

that it depicts a certain community’s way of life. However, 

that meaning differs from people to people as few agree 

that it is static while others say its dynamism makes more 

sense. 

Digital technology has paved a new way to promote 

people’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 

in the 21st century. The fast rise of the information 

technology age is demanding that the term culture needs 

to be redefined. 

In this age, Ethiopia, being composed of diverse nations 

and nationalities, is showing a high sign of a socio-cultural 

evolution. Yet, it seems that the culture of Information 

Technology (IT) is in its infancy. With blossoming number 

of mobile and computer users in the cities, however, it 

looks like the culture of using IT is emerging. 

“The development of culture from the simple to the 

complex had existed for years, branching new arms for 

various norms and values,” said Daniel Wondossen, a 

social anthropologist based in Germany. 

The Digital Media Alliance (1999) Recommendations 

for Growth: UK Digital Media states that E-Culture is all 

about a new digital dimension; an unthinkable medium 

which exists in all corners of the world. The true relevance 

of cultural digitalization lies in the way new media and 

information technology are practically incorporated and 

utilized in society and culture. 

“The digitalization of society and culture is an ongoing 

process with which all artists and cultural organizations 

will be confronted, whether they want to or not,” states the 

Digital Media Alliance. 

to open the door, an Asian person came by and 

asked, ‘How much?’ For this young girl the words 

were excruciating to a stage which made her decide 

not to go to clubs any more. 

She explains that these were her reasons to set 

up a platform, a dialogue and V-monologue (a 

monologue about women, their body and sexuality). 

To her dismay however, the program was also 

banned for the issue was too sensitive to talk about 

in public. 

A university graduate, who requested anonymity, 

also explains how it is commonly believed that 

sexual harassment is considered as an incident of 

the rural part of the country. As she explains, it is a 

common occurrence at the institutional level as well. 

“Where I work, there is an ombudsman who was 

supposed to ‘take care’ of this kind of cases and also 

there is a very high level of punishment for those 

accused of sexual harassment. But the reality is that 

most, not all, from the male management to drivers 

feel like it is their right to say inappropriate things 

and assume that every girl is a prostitute and should 

be sleeping or going out with any guy who talks to 

her and actually say all these in front of a female 

colleagues.” She also goes on explaining how the 

remaining male colleagues in the office are reluctant 

to do anything and most of the times females do 

not cooperate despite them agreeing conventionally 

how bad it is for a guy to say inappropriate words, 

insult or assault which is taken as flirting. 

“In addition to the sexual discrimination, that 

female educated and qualified employees face 

Another incident which seems common for the city everyday harassment, which makes a work day 

girls who like to go out and relax at night, is being much more stressful. All in all, a life of a working 

confused for a prostitute. As few take it as a joke woman in the city, might not, after all, be, better 

many find the confusion offending. Tigist shares than that of a village girl,” she concludes. 

her encounter walking out from one of the clubs 

and heading to the car. When her friend was trying 


|23 

Being a PhD candidate on culture and development 

studies, Daniel explains that, “In the first decade of the 21st 

century, digital domains have given rise to new forms of 

expression and reflection of cultures.” 

Despite the Information and Communication Technology 

(ICT) improving vast areas in everyday life, like enabling 

institutions to simplify and improve their primary 

activities, some Ethiopians have not welcomed it with 

open arms. Mekonnen Demmessa, a retired colonel and 

a father of two is one of them. “Cultural change is not my 

cup of tea.” 

Mr. Mekonnen asks how culture can be shared with people 

who are not a part of it. To which his daughter Faven, a 

student of Information Science answers, “Culture might 

not be practiced by all, but its disseminations onto others 

are possible,” 

“Information is knowledge, and knowledge is power,” says 

Faven. She adds, “The digitization of culture (museums, 

archives libraries, etc) and the presentation of it in a 

new format has enabled institutions of knowledge and 

technology to transform towards cultural development 

which is crucial for overall development of the country.” 

In the heritage sector, the digitization of collections 

of trance generational information can make it more 

accessible to the public at large. “Information and 

communication technology can also be used to link local 

library catalogues to a central web portal,” said Daniel. 

“The presentation of cultural music, poetry, and other 

forms of creative expression in cyber space has been 

instrumental in making cultural tourism and cultural 

education more appealing to the younger generation,” 

concluded Daniel. 

from page 14 

“I am sometimes 

amazed to see 

how most of the 

guys think that 

they have the right 

to control the air 

we breathe and we 

should do so only 

at their permission. 

We have the right 

to live in this 

world as they do, 

but it seems like 

they are under the 

impression that, 

that only happens 

when they allow 

us,”

24| 

INTERvIEw 

THE 

Reporter 

“effective telecom liberalization 

As the role of CODIST is to review challenges and issues pertaining to 

the ICT, Science and Technology and Geo-information of the member 

states of ECA, what are the challenges you are facing and how far 

have you gone to bring a solution to these problems? 

The broader concept of utilizing an effective science and technology, 

including ICT, geo-information in the content is a challenge by itself. 

The challenge emanates from the very usefulness of science and 

technology, which is industrialization through effective governance 

systems ultimately creating a better opportunities in Africa. However, 

Africa being the poorest continent in the world is yet to harness its 

population in terms of skills required to make use of the science and 

technology. 

In some cases, African countries are in serious shortage of that. In 

my view, governments need to make considerable investments in 

their human capital, since effective implementation of science and 

technology starts in human brain and that brain is an asset that will 

stay with people. Hence, these trained human beings have to be in 

abundance in these countries so that there is a critical mass to utilize. 

As this stand is not an easy challenge, however, we do offer some 

solution. 

The solution that CODIST would like to propose is to simply observe 

other regions and their development saga. For instance, we can take 

a look at Asian countries. They have managed fast and sustainable 

economic build up as they have invested heavily in science and 

Technology. If science and technology are to bear fruit today, the 

investment should have been made may be 20 years ago. The benefit 

from technology is big, however, the investment is also quite sizable 

and the gestation is also quite long. 

In a nutshell, this is the issues that we want to address and discuss 

with policy-makers who are coming to CODIST. We want to get 

our message across to policy-makers, saying that we as a continent 

can no longer afford to say we don’t have the resources; we have to 

make strategic choices. This being said, we also understand that the 

policymakers do not have the desire to invest heavily on technology. It 

is just that there is a lot to do, given the content’s level of development. 

So we have been working and helping the member countries, and as I 

have told you earlier, it is not because Africa doesn’t want to do this, 

but there are other priorities and doing all at once is always a challenge. 

So we are saying to them ‘put policies in place that can be implemented 

and be strategic’ viewing the issues from national perspective. 

Asian countries have heavily invested in science and technology and 

improved their economy. However, many countries in Africa have 

not adjusted their policies towards a policy that invites investors in 

such sectors; telecom sector in Ethiopia being a case in point. What is 

your reaction to this? 

We have to evaluate countries from their own national context. 

There is no one size fits all in our work. Countries have different 

circumstances, different socio-economic context. But by and large 

what we say to countries is that when you liberalize effectively what 

happens is that you will be able to create another value adding service 

sector. Telecommunications is no exception to this. When opening 

up for investment, variety of services will be available to the market, 

hence creating new industries as spin-off. Because once you liberalize 

your telecommunication sector, among some of the advantages is that 

of gaining new networks hence adding value in the service provision. 

So you have new networks created as a result of that liberalization. We 

also would like to say that once you open up your telecom sector you 

are also able to introduce competition in the industry. When there is 

completion in the market, prices of services would eventually fall down 

there by services being affordable. Cheaper telecom services entail 

easier access for citizens as large scale service provision cuts costs as 

oppose to monopoly where prices are not determined by competition; 

hence higher. 

So we make sure that we share these views with our member countries. 

On the other hand, liberalization encourages investment (foreign 

direct investment) to come into the industry. This would create 

suitable condition for new services to evolve and innovative ideas to be 

implemented. Safari.Com in Kenya was the result of such competitive 

mobile market. 

Recently you have changed the name of your program from CODIST 

I to CODIST II. What is the reason to do that? 

Before CODIST we had CODI, which is the Committee on 

Development Information. CODI or CODIST I was when the UNECA 

division was only working on ICT, Geo-information and Library. 

Now CODIST or CODIST II is looking at Geo-information, ICT and 

Science and Technology. The change came about when the current 

Executive Secretary of UNECA, Abduolihe Janneh, joined ECA in a 

2005, he restructured ECA. Then he put Science and Technology with 

ICT, so this division was created as a result of that. 

The basic premise behind the restructure is the fact that every division 

has its own technical governing body, which is composed of people 

from the member states of ECA. We have seven divisions in ECA, so 

CODI or CODIST is one of the seven technical subsidiary bodies of 

ECA’s governing structure. ECA reports to the finance ministers of 



adds value to the industry as a whole” 

Aida Opoku-Mensah is a director for Information and Communication 

Technology’s (ICTs) and Science and Technology Division at the United 

Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Prior to her 

current position, she was program officer for media, arts and culture in 

the Ford’s Foundation West Africa office in Lagos, Nigeria, and before 

then regional director of Panos Southern Africa based in Lusaka, Zambia. 

Ms Opoku-Mensah, a Ghanaian national, produced an extensive body 

of research work on media/communication, information society and 

development issues in Africa. Her publications, to mention only a few 

include “Signpost on the Superhighway: African environment”, “Up 

in the Air: the state of broadcasting in Southern Africa”, as well as 

“Democratizing access to the Information Society” - theme paper for 

African Development Forum ‘99 on Globalization and the challenges to 

Africa of the Information Age. Merga Yonas of The Reporter talked to 

her regarding the current activities in the Committee on Development 

Information, Science and Technology (CODIST) that she is a member 

of focusing on challenges they are facing and solutions tabled for ECA 

member states. 

- Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah, director of ICT and Science and Tehchnolog at UNECA 

Africa, but he divisions of ECA report to their sector. 

So, after the restructure, what have you achieved in your work in ICT, 

Science and Technology. 

Every two years we meet to review the work of ECA in ICT, Science 

and Technology. The member states evaluate our achievements. They 

say, well yes we think this is good. Sometimes you will get the member 

states say, what you are doing in Rwanda, Chad Togo, and other 

country in the area of Science and Technology is very good, we would 

like for ECA to come and do it in our country as well. So they review 

our work as to how it helped their countries individually. 

As you have stated there are some success stories in Rwanda, Togo and 

Chad, would you tell me what you are doing in Ethiopia currently? 

We have been working very closely with the Ethiopian Ministry of 

Communication and Technology, under the leadership of the Minister 

Debretsion Gebremichael. We have been looking at how we can help 

to implement national ICT policy. We are also working very closely 

with them on how to put the policy in the right place for Ethiopia 

on e-Commerce. We are also looking into issues of e-Security and 

strengthening e-Government activities through stronger security 

process. 

We have been working also with Addis Ababa University, the 

department of Mathematics and Computers. We have a project, 

which is working on mobile health, where patients can access medical 

services, medical practitioners and health information through mobile 

communications. At the moment, what is happening is that the 

department is piloting a project at a clinic located in Butajira, which is 

108 kilometers to the South of Addis Ababa. So the outcome will also be 

presented at CODIST and be reviewed. 

We are also working very closely and supporting the Ethiopian Leather 

industry Association, to build a website for them in which they develop 

an e-Commerce platform. So small-scale leather producers in Ethiopia 

don’t have to travel to sell their leather, they can make the deal of selling 

it through e-commerce. 

In the area of Geo-information, we are currently putting in place a data 

base of all medical facilities in health centers in the entire Ethiopia. How 

health centers does Ethiopia has, where are they situated and how many 

doctors to each, all this are the area we have been working on as we 

speak right now and it is a very effective tool to promote the health sector 

of Ethiopia.



THE 

Commentary 

africa’s winds of change return 

By sanou mBaye 

How did Ivory Coast come to this? After gaining 

independence from France in 1960 with Felix 

Houphouet-Boigny as President, the country 

became the world’s largest exporter of cocoa 

beans and a significant exporter of coffee and 

palm oil. Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, 

sizeable export earnings, combined with easy 

access to credit, fueled an economic surge dubbed 

the “Ivorian miracle.” But then, escalating debts 

and plummeting commodity prices started taking 

their toll. Africa’s El Dorado was lost. 

In 1990, Houphouet-Boigny appointed Alassane 

Ouattara, the governor of the Central Bank of 

the West African States, as Prime Minister to 

fix Ivory Coast’s growing economic problems. 

After Houphouet-Boigny’s death in 1993, Henri 

Konan Bédié assumed the presidency and revised 

the electoral code to bar Ouattara from entering 

the 1995 presidential contest on the grounds 

that he was not an Ivorian national. Bédié, not 

surprisingly, was re-elected unopposed. And, not 

surprisingly, he was soon accused of widespread 

corruption and toppled in a military coup in 1999. 

It was in the midst of this militarization of Ivorian 

politics that Laurent Gbagbo emerged as the 

main opposition leader. When Robert Guéi, the 

military leader, organized a flawed presidential 

election in 2000, of which he declared himself to 

be the winner, a popular uprising ousted him and 

elevated Gbagbo to the post. 

In 2002, Ivory Coast was rocked by a rebel 

uprising that partitioned the country, with the 

government led by Gbagbo controlling the south, 

pro-Ouattara rebels controlling the north, and a 

French army camped between the two. 

After a peace conference in 2005, a government 

of national unity was established, followed by 

a presidential election in November 2010. The 

independent electoral commission endorsed by 

the international community declared Ouattara 

the winner. Gbagbo refused to acknowledge the 

result, claiming vote-rigging, and was declared reelected 

by the Constitutional Court, which nullified 

600,000 ballots in several northern constituencies. 

As a result, Ivory Coast was plunged in a deadly 

battle among four stakeholders. 

The first stakeholder is Gbagbo, who sought to 

break away from French neo-colonial dominance. 

He had the support of Ivorians who aspired to 

install genuine Ivorian patriots in place of the 

French-backed elite. Gbagbo was suspicious of 

Ouattara, whom he believed to be actively plotting 

with French support to topple his government. 

But Gbagbo refused to denounce the tribal/ 

religious chauvinism that excluded Ouattara 

and millions of Ivoirian northerners from 

full citizenship rights. He also tried to avoid 

confrontation with France, awarding the 

management of the port of Abidjan, the capital, to 

a French company. But French President Nicolas 

Sarkozy maintained his visceral opposition to 

Gbagbo. 

The second stakeholder is Ouattara. In his quest 

for authority, he drew on the Western ties that he 

had forged as a deputy-managing director of the 

International Monetary Fund. His claim to fame 

was his professional reputation as an economic 

manager, which arose from his implementation 

of structural adjustment programs that always 

included the same set of measures: currency 

devaluation, decontrol of exchange rates, tighter 

monetary policy, financial deregulation, trade 

liberalization, wage cuts, fiscal consolidation, and 

labor-market deregulation. 

Ivory Coast’s third key stakeholder is France, which 

under President Charles de Gaulle had granted 

independence to its former African colonies on 

the condition that French troops remain stationed 

on their territories, and that their economies 

remain tightly linked to France. Indeed, after a 

half-century of independence, France maintains a 

stranglehold on Ivorian commerce and holds its 

foreign-currency reserves. 

French business, moreover, dominates most of the 

country’s infrastructure: Bolloré controls the port 

of Abidjan and the railway; Bouygues oversees 

Ivorian construction projects; Total holds onequarter 

of the shares of the country’s oil refinery; 

France Telecom is the main shareholder of the 

landline and mobile telephone network; Société 

Générale and BNP-Paribas control the banking 

industry; and Air France controls the sky. 

The convertibility of the country’s currency, the 

CFA franc, allows these companies to transfer 

freely all their earnings back to France. The 

CFA’s fixed exchange rate peg to the euro shields 

them from any risk of capital loss at a time 

when countries around the world are battling 

aU must support... ConT`d 

and several opposition leaders. 

In addition, several protesters, including a toddler in her mother’s 

arms, were shot and killed by security forces armed with automatic 

weapons. Their only crime was to lead a ‘Walk to Work’ demonstration 

against the escalating costs of food and transport, which has made life 

impossible for the vast majority of Ugandans. 

Uganda, which has never had a peaceful change from one government 

to another, is steadily moving towards yet another phase political 

violence. 

They went to the polls in 1996, 2001 and 2011 hoping to vote out 

general Museveni, or win enough seats in parliament in order to 

curb Museveni’s excesses. Sadly, each time the European Union and 

Commonwealth election as well as local election observers declared 

that the elections had been rigged because Museveni’s ruling party and 

state was one and the same thing. 

They also went to the Supreme Court but the judges, most of whom 

are card-carrying members of Museveni’s ruling party, made the 

to maintain competitive exchange rates in order 

to export their way out of economic trouble. 

With such a currency regime in place, there is no 

prospect for proper industrialization in western 

Africa’s francophone countries, whose economic 

woes stand in sharp contrast to other reviving 

African economies. 

The fourth stakeholder is the Ivorian population, 

which is under siege, divided along ethnic and 

religious lines, and incited by venomous politics. 

Ivorians massacred each other in the 2002 civil 

war. In 2011, the post-election deadlock led to 

thousands of civilian deaths. A stream of refugees 

fled to neighboring countries, especially Liberia. 

The mayhem began to abate only when Gbagbo 

was removed from power and taken prisoner after 

French and UN ground troops, armored vehicles, 

and helicopters bombarded the presidential palace 

where he was guarded by forces that remained 

loyal to him. 

Elite corruption and incompetence, a population 

vulnerable to demagogic manipulation, and the 

ruthlessness of French neo-colonialism have 

combined to plunge francophone Africa into 

a deadly cycle of violence, humiliation, and 

hopelessness. But the entry into Africa of fastgrowing 

economies such as China, India, South 

Korea, Turkey, Brazil, and Malaysia reflects a 

shifting balance of power and the inception of a 

model of cooperation based on trade, investment, 

and technology transfer – in sharp contrast to 

French neo-colonial politics. 

At the start of the era of decolonization, British 

Prime Minister Harold MacMillan famously said 

that “the winds of change” were blowing across 

Africa. Another such wind is blowing today. 

Will Francophone Africa at last escape its French 

enthrallment? 

Ed’s Note: Sanou Mbaye, a former senior official 

with the African Development Bank, is the author 

of L’Afrique au secours de l’Afrique (Africa to the 

rescue of Africa). The article was provided to The 

Reporter by Project Syndicate the world’s preeminent 

source of original op-ed commentaries. 

With a unique collaboration of distinguished 

opinion makers from every corner of the globe 

Project Syndicate provides incisive perspectives by 

those who are shaping politics, economics, science, 

and culture. 

extraordinary ruling that the elections had been rigged, but not rigged 

enough to alter the final outcome! 

The opposition petitioned the government to introduce specific 

constitutional, legal and administrative reforms necessary for free and 

fair elections; but these and their demands for the reconstitution of a 

non-partisan electoral commission were ignored. 

And they have taken to the streets to exercise their constitutional 

rights to peaceful demonstration, but Museveni has been responding 

by sending armed soldiers with orders to shoot and kill. 

Denied all avenues to peacefully exercise their basic human rights to 

free association and expression, Ugandans seem determined to die on 

their feet rather than on their knees. This is an invitation for NATO to 

intervene in Uganda, thanks to its discovery of the “oil curse” which 

will start flowing in two years’ time! 

As Foreign Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has rightly said, Ethiopia’s 

role in causing regime change in Eritrea will not be by invading the 

country, but by supporting the Eritrean people and groups which want 


Government starts ... 

|25 


“Ethiopia has tremendous agricultural potential and it’s 

doing a lot of the right things,” he said in an interview 

yesterday. “It’s investing in agriculture in a way that 

other African countries are not.” 

A “critical issue” that needs to be addressed in Ethiopia 

is better training and support for the 60,000 extension 

workers, according to Steiner. Yields may also be boosted 

by increasing the number and efficiency of small-scale 

irrigation works using groundwater or pumps, he said. 

“It’s a small thing, but boy it can make a difference if your 

pump lasts 10 years rather than one year,” Steiner said. 

Ethiopia has the potential to be self-sufficient in grain 

production and for export development in livestock, 

flowers, oilseeds, sugar, vegetables and fruit, according 

to the US State Department’s website. 

Crops being targeted by the EATA include the mostwidely 

grown teff, which is currently grown on about 

2.5 million hectares of land. The government wants to 

increase yields to as much as 60 quintals per hectare 

from 10 quintals currently, Wonderad said. 

A small improvement in the productivity of teff would 

“automatically transform” the agriculture industry, he 

said. 

About three million of Ethiopia’s 80 million people are 

in need of emergency food assistance, the government 

said on April 12. Another 7.8 million people receive food 

or cash under an aid program, World Food Program 

(WFP) spokesman Susannah Nicol said. (Bloomberg) 

A “critical issue” that needs 

to be addressed in Ethiopia 

is better training and support 

for the 60,000 extension 

workers, according to 

Steiner. 

turkish embassy... 


According to information from the Turkish Airways, 

passengers need to fulfill all the requirements when they 

apply for visa. 

The Embassy also regulates that those applicants must not 

be deported or banned to enter Turkey, the US, UK or 

other Schengen countries. 

A failure to meet one of these requirements as the Embassy 

says is losing a legible vantage for visa application. But 

the formal visa application process is not affected on such 

requirements. 

from page 9 

to dismantle the regime.” Ugandans and other oppressed African 

people are asking for nothing less and nothing more. 

The African Union, which claims that its mission is “an integrated, 

prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens” is facing 

a simple choice. It must clean its own house by actively supporting 

Eritrean and other African people want to dismantle their oppressive 

regimes, or wait for NATO to come and clean it for them. 

They will not have to wait very long after Libya. Within ten years, all 

AU countries could be led by NATO-installed presidents and prime 

ministers. That is why they must support Ethiopia intervention in 

Eritrea and recognise a Transitional National Council for Eritrea, 

based in Addis Ababa. 

Ed.s Note: The writer is a former independent parliamentary candidate 

in the UK, May 2010, and is the director of Democratic Institutions for 

Poverty reduction in Africa (DIPRA) London. He can be reached at 

sam.akaki@hotmail.com.

26| 

My SAY 

In a study released in early April, the Organization 

for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s 

Representative on Freedom of the Media, 

Dunja Mijatović, reported that 57 journalists 

are currently in prison in Turkey, mostly on the 

basis of the country’s anti-terrorism laws. With 

11 more Turkish journalists also facing charges, 

the total number could soon double the records of 

Iran and China, each of which reportedly held 34 

journalists in prison in December 2010. Indeed, 

Mijatović estimated that another 700-1,000 

proceedings against journalists remain ongoing. 

Such a situation is intolerable anywhere, but 

particularly in a democracy that seeks European 

Union membership, and that recognizes freedom 

of expression as a fundamental right. Turkey’s 

behavior thus calls into question not only its 

desire but also its ability to commit to the values 

underlying the EU. 

Journalists linked to Kurdish or Marxist 

organizations have regularly been targeted under 

Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws, and the OSCE 

study found that they have faced some of the 

harshest punishments. One Kurdish journalist 

was sentenced to 166 years in prison. Others 

currently face – wait for it – 3,000-year sentences 

if convicted. 

The relative lack of scrutiny of Turkey’s treatment 

of journalists by many in the West has changed, 

however, owing to the recent waves of arrests 

in the so-called “Ergenekon” case. Numerous 

military officers and academics have been 

implicated in that case, which involves an alleged 

plot by secular ultra-nationalists to overthrow the 

Turkish government. The probe has now turned 

increasingly towards journalists. 

One of those accused of participating in the plot 

is the daily newspaper Milliyet’s investigative 

reporter Nedim Şener, whose work includes a 

book about links between security forces and the 

2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist 

Hrant Dink. The International Press Institute 

(IPI) named Şener a World Press Freedom Hero 

in 2010. Incarcerated following his arrest last 

month, he reportedly stands accused of belonging 

to an armed terrorist organization seeking to 

overthrow the government. 

Another journalist under fire is Ahmet Şık, who 

already faced prosecution for co-writing a book 

criticizing the government’s crackdown on the 

Ergenekon plot. Şık was said to be working on 

a book about the alleged influence of an Islamic 

group within Turkey’s police force, which 

authorities last month ordered confiscated before 

it could be printed. 

A common thread in all of the cases targeting 

journalists is that the alleged facts are shrouded 

in secrecy, and the authorities have declined 

to release any evidence of crimes or criminal 

organizations. Worse still, they have declined 

even to inform those brought before courts – 

sometimes in secret – or their attorneys of the 

charges they face. 

Indeed, journalists caught in this Kafkaesque 

affair can expect to spend years behind bars before 

Journalists linked to Kurdish or Marxist organizations 

have regularly been targeted under Turkey’s antiterrorism 

laws, and the OSCE study found that they 

have faced some of the harshest punishments. One 

Kurdish journalist was sentenced to 166 years in 

prison. Others currently face – wait for it – 3,000-year 

sentences if convicted. 


being allowed to respond to the accusations 

against them. A climate of fear escalates with each 

raid and arrest. 

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities affirm the 

country’s commitment to press freedom, even as 

they impugn the motives of those who exercise it. 

Given that so many journalists have been jailed, 

and that all of them have been critical of the 

government, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion 

that journalists are being targeted because of their 

work. 

Such concern has been voiced not only by pressfreedom 

groups such as IPI, and journalists, 

like the Freedom for Journalists Platform (an 

umbrella group representing local and national 

media organizations in Turkey), but also by 

respected international institutions. The United 

States’ Mission to the OSCE and the European 

Commission have joined Mijatović in calling on 

Turkey’s authorities to stop their intimidation 

of the media immediately, and to uphold basic 

OSCE media freedom commitments. The United 

Nations Office of the High Commissioner for 

Human Rights has called on Turkey to guarantee 

freedom of opinion and expression. 

Even Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gül, recently 

called for “prosecutors and courts to be more 

diligent in pursuing their responsibilities, and to 

act in a way that does not harm the honor and 

rights of the people.” 

Turkey plays a pivotal, bridge-building role 

between East and West, and the country has been 

praised for demonstrating that democracy can 


turkish journalism behind bars 

By alison BeThel mCKenZie 

and sTeven m. ellis 

coexist with Islam. But the arrests of so many 

journalists are eroding this image. 

The right of journalists to cover sensitive topics, 

including national security, is fundamental. Those 

who do not engage in criminal activity should not 

face arrest, imprisonment, or any other form of 

harassment or intimidation for doing their job. 

Those accused of criminal activity must be given 

due process and a fair trial. Evidence must be 

provided, and the accused must be presented 

with the charges they face and the opportunity to 

defend themselves. 

Far from being defamatory subversives, journalists 

who investigate and criticize their government’s 

actions demonstrate true patriotism, because no 

democracy can survive without the open and 

independent assessment of public policies that 

journalists provide. If Turkey, a major regional 

power with an ancient cultural heritage, truly 

wishes to be welcomed into Europe, to take its 

rightful place on the world stage, and, indeed, to 

remain a democracy, its leaders must not hold 

freedom of the press in contempt. 

Ed’s Note: Alison Bethel McKenzie is Director of 

the International Press Institute (IPI). Steven M. 

Ellis is IPI Press Freedom Adviser. The article was 

provided to The Reporter by Project Syndicate 

the world’s pre-eminent source of original op-ed 

commentaries. With a unique collaboration of 

distinguished opinion makers from every corner 

of the globe Project Syndicate provides incisive 

perspectives by those who are shaping politics, 

economics, science, and culture. 

Invitation to Bid 

Environmentalists Development Association - Ethiopia (EDAE) 

invites eligible and competent contractors for laying pipes that will 

be supplied by our association and for supplying the necessary 

material, equipment and labour the construction of manholes, 

collecting chamber, pressure reduction tanker, reservoir and 

river crossing points in East Wollega Zone, Gudeyya Bila District. 

Interested Bidders may obtain bid documents from the office of 

EDAE in Bole Sub City Kebele 12/13 House No. 316/3, Office No. 

402 during office hours upon presentation of contractor category BC/ 

GC 7 or above certificate, valid licence and TIN and VAT registration 

certificates. 

Bidders should submit their financial and technical proposals 

separately in a sealed envelope on or before May 6, 2011 until 5 pm 

local time. Bids received after the closing date will not be considered. 

EDAE reserves the right to accept or reject in part or full any or all 

the offers without assigning any reason whatsoever. 

The bid will be opened on May 7, 2011 at 10 am local time in the 

presence of bidders or their legal representatives. . 

Further information can be obtained through the telephone numbers 

0911 615171, 0910 62829, 0911411255


the achilles’ heel... 

terrorists responsible for the attacks, massive military 

operations in Afghanistan to eliminate the al-Qaeda 

terrorist networks led by Osama bin Laden, and the 

adoption of multifaceted legal provisions against 

terrorists and their sympathizers worldwide [Gordon 

2002]. 

In the history of terrorism, the September 11 attacks 

were the most significant event, because it altered 

the structures of inter-state relations, transformed 

perceptions of security, redefined the identities of 

friends and enemies in world politics, restructured 

the criteria of state-citizen-resident relations, and reprioritised 

the mission of public governance. At the 

international level, the United Nations immediately 

passed Security Council Resolution 1373, calling 

on all states to prevent and suppress the financing 

of all terrorist attacks, criminalize the provision or 

collection of funds for terrorists, freeze funds and 

assets of individuals involved in terrorism, and so 

on [UNSC 2001]. This resolution also requires all 

states to exchange information regarding terrorist 

networks, false travel documents, traffic in sensitive 

materials, and communications technologies used 

by terrorist groups. In the United States, the national 

government has adopted a series of anti-terrorism 

measures since September 11, including the Financial 

Anti-Terrorism Act, Airport Security Federalization 

Act, Bio-Terrorism Response Act, Preparedness 

Against Domestic Terrorism Act, Aviation Security 

Enhancement Act, Airline Security Act, Bio-Terrorism 

Preparedness Act, and United States Security Act. One 

of the most important legal provisions is the so-called 

USA PATRIOT ACT (Uniting and Strengthening 

America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to 

Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act, signed by the 

President on October 26, 2001. Another significant 

anti-terrorist measure adopted in the United States 

after September 11 was the creation of the Office of 

Homeland Security, which aimed to “develop and 

coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive 

national strategy to secure the United States from 

terrorist threats or attacks” [Wermuth 2002, 31]. 

Other related organizations and initiatives have also 

emerged, including the Anti-Terrorism Task Forces, 

Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, 

Citizen Corps, and so on [White House 2002 a]. In 

the case of developing countries, the United Nations’ 

Security Council Resolution 1373, adopted after 

September 11, required these nations to comply with 

its provisions and strategies to eradicate terrorist 

groups and networks, refrain from any form of support 

to such groups and networks, and share and exchange 

information in this regard [UNSC 2001]. Some 

developing countries have also adopted their own 

anti-terrorist measures. In particular, following the 

September 11 event, India introduced the Prevention 

of Terrorism Ordinance (2001), which broadens the 

definition of terrorism and empowers law enforcement 

agencies to investigate and punish terrorist activities. 

Ethiopia, being a frequent victim of terrorist attacks 

beginning with the failed assassination attempt on 

Egyptian President Mubarak in Addis Ababa in 1995 

and the devastating ones in Jijiga, Dire Dawa, Addis 

Ababa (Ghion Hotel, Tigrai Hotel, Wabi Shebelle 

Hotel, etc.) in 2001/2002, introduced, an antiterrorism 

legislation in 2009. This belated bill has been criticized 

as draconian by many critics at home and abroad, on 

the one hand, and too little, too late, by the families 

and friends of the victims of those terrorist atrocities, 

on the other. The Indonesian government adopted a 

controversial anti-terrorism bill that would provide 

expansive power to its security forces to manage radical 

religious groups [Asmarani 2002]. The Malaysian 

government has promised to cooperate with the United 

States in information sharing, military operations, 

intelligence, and law enforcement. In terms of global 

support to the American anti-terrorist campaign, 23 

countries have agreed to host U.S. forces to conduct 

military operations, 89 countries have granted overflight 

authority, 76 countries have approved landing 

rights, and 142 have issued orders to freeze the assets 

of suspected terrorist organizations [White House 

2002b]. 

Anti-Terrorism Laws and Other Similar Initiatives 

and Their Critical Impacts on People’s Rights and 

Responsibilities 

First, with regard to people’s civil rights--especially 

the right to privacy and other freedoms from state 

interference--it is observed that the anti-terrorism 

legislation adopted after September 11, especially 

the American PATRIOT Act, has significant 

consequences. That act grants unprecedented powers to 

the executive branch to conduct surveillance, including 

gathering sensitive personal records, tracking e-mail 

and internet usage, monitoring financial transactions, 

practicing sneak-and-peek searches, and using roving 

wiretaps [Chang 2001]. Under Section 213 of the act, 

the sneak-and-peek searches of physical property 

can be conducted as normal criminal investigations 

without prior knowledge of the property owner [Levy 

2001]. Similarly, under Section 215, sensitive personal 

records can be obtained by certifying their relevance 

to the investigation of international terrorism. The 

scope of such investigation may cover American 

citizens and permanent residents, and provisions can 

apply to non-terrorist activities such as drug cases, 

tax fraud, and other federal crimes [Dempsey 2001- 

2]. Similarly, in Europe, the European Union’s justice 

and home affairs ministers decided in a meeting on 

September 20, 2001, to combat terrorism by assigning 

new surveillance powers to law enforcement agencies, 

especially by retaining data from e-mails, phone calls, 

faxes, and Internet usage [State Watch 2001]. In 

particular, the British government now requires all 

telecommunications providers to retain such data for 

12 months. This is basically an initiative to put various 

modes of electronic communications under close 

surveillance or scrutiny by the government. The French 

National Assembly has also approved anti-terrorism 

provisions that allow more intensive investigation 

and monitoring of private communications. In 

the developing world, the Prevention of Terrorism 

Ordinance (2001) in India has expanded the power of 

the police to detain people without trial and to search 

premises and intercept vehicles without warrant. 

The adoption of a national ID card system has been 

discussed in the United States to enhance airport 

security, which could involve various biometric 

surveillance mechanisms such as digital fingerprinting, 

voice authentication techniques, handprint 

scans, computer registries, software data collection, 

and electronic retinal scans [Thierer 2001]. Although 

some experts consider such expanded surveillance 

power to be essential to counter-terrorism, others think 

that it violates people’s privacy and fails to provide for 

governmental accountability [Cave and Miezzkowski 

2001]. In Britain, the home secretary recently 

reinforced the possibility of introducing such ID cards, 

which is opposed by human rights advocates on the 

grounds that such a provision would compromise 

people’s civil liberties [Johnston and Jones 2002]. In 

response to measures of intercepting communications 

and gathering information adopted after September 

11, 2001, strong opposition has emerged from various 

privacy and civil liberties organizations, including 

those in Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany, and the 

Netherlands, which have urged the European Council 

to maintain people’s freedoms, privacy and civil 

liberties [Evers 2001]. 

Second, in terms of people’s political rights, critics 

argue that recent anti-terrorist provisions represent 

a threat to any form of political protest, movement, 

and activism. For example, according to Levy (2001), 

although the PATRIOT Act has not replaced the 

principle of separation of powers in America, it has 

The adoption of a 

national ID card system 

has been discussed 

in the United States 

to enhance airport 

security, which 

could involve various 

biometric surveillance 

mechanisms such as 

digital finger-printing, 

voice authentication 

techniques, handprint 

scans, computer 

registries, software data 

collection, and electronic 

retinal scans [Thierer 

2001]. 


adversely affected the protection of due process under 

the Fifth Amendment and the safeguards against 

“unreasonable searches and seizures” guaranteed by 

the Fourth Amendment. Similarly, Chang (2001) is 

concerned that Section 802 of the act compromises 

political freedoms (especially the freedom of speech and 

political association) because of its broad definition of 

domestic terrorism, which may cover political dissent, 

civil disobedience, and environmental activism and 

allow investigation and surveillance of such political 

activities and groups. 

In Australia, under the Security Legislation 

Amendment (Terrorism) Act, the government can 

detain and question people for two days without legal 

representation. In Britain, although the government 

takes pride in the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security 

Act adopted after September 11, critics are concerned 

that under this law, people can be jailed if the home 

secretary suspects them of having terrorist connections 

and one may consider political protesters or 

demonstrators to be terrorists [Nag 2001]. Similarly, it 

is argued that under the new European Commission’s 

Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism (2001), 

the definition of terrorism- that is, any act of altering 

the political, economic or social structure and causing 

unlawful damages to state facilities--may cover various 

forms of political dissent and protests (such as antiwar 

or animal rights protests), thus undermining 

democratic freedoms [CEC 2001]. In the developing 

world, according to critics, some states have used 

the events of September 11 as a pretext to justify 

internal political repression in the name of controlling 

terrorism. For example, the proposed anti-terrorist bill 

in Indonesia has been criticized on the ground that it 

may undermine human rights and can be used by the 

elites to purge opposition voices [Asmarani 2002]. In 

India, there are serious reservations that its Prevention 

of Terrorism Ordinance may criminalize legitimate 

political protests of vulnerable social groups, serve the 

ruling party against the press and political opponents, 

and weaken the protection of civil liberties and human 

rights [POTO 2001]. In South Africa, Kenya, Uganda 

and Tanzania, the anti-terrorism laws established by 

these countries are said to be similar with other antiterrorism 

laws around the world such as the United 

States and United Kingdom on certain aspects like 

erosion of fundamental civil liberties. According to 

Klingner (2001), current anti-terrorism efforts in 

many developing countries are likely to adversely 

affect people’s participation in democratic governance 

and their peaceful resistance against varied forms of 

injustice. 

In addition, it is observed that, in the process of 

building an anti-terrorist coalition after September 11, 

the United States has extended military or financial 

assistance to some countries, including Pakistan, 

India, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan, which allegedly 

practice political repression, ethnic inequality, and/or 

caste discrimination [HRW 2002]. Specifically, there 

are restrictions on political parties under the military 

rule in Pakistan, continued caste discrimination in 

India, abuses of military and police powers in the 

Philippines, and a repressive political system in 

Uzbekistan [ibid]. 

Third, in relation to political rights, minority rights are 

also affected in different countries in the context of the 

war on terrorism. In the United States, for instance, 

the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the 

images and expressions that followed, influenced some 

Americans to become intolerant and aggressive toward 

Muslim Americans, Arab Americans, Sikh Americans, 

and South Asian Americans [U.S. Department of 

Justice 2002]. These minority groups experienced some 

violent assaults, physical attacks, death threats, and 

vandalism [HRW 2002]. 

With regard to immigrants, according to Chang (2001), 

the PATRIOT Act tends to deprive some of due process 

and First Amendment Rights by expanding categories 

of immigrants that are subject to removal on terrorism 

grounds and by increasing the attorney general’s 

authority to detain immigrants suspected of terrorist 

activities. In Russia, although the government’s human 

rights abuses in Chechnya were condemned by most 

Western countries before September 11, after the event, 

these countries began to downplay them because of 

alleged Chechnyan links to terrorist networks [HRW 

2002]. Similarly, in China, the government now tries to 

defend crackdown on the ethnic separatist movement 

of the Muslim population in the Xinjiang Uighur 

Autonomous Region by portraying them as terrorists 

[Amnesty International 2002, 5]. Similar tendencies 

to deny minority rights in the name of anti terrorism 

may be found in India under the newly introduced 

Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance. These are only a 

few of many critical observations of how current antiterrorism 

campaigns may be affecting minority rights 

|27 


in various countries and how some governments may 

use them to deny such rights. Finally, with regard to 

people’s social rights, the war on terrorism may have 

certain indirect impacts on people’s entitlement to 

basic services as a result of the restructuring of budgets 

in favor of defense and law enforcement at the expense 

of social programs. 

Global War on Terrorism: US Objectives vs. 

Achievements 

When the USA declared a global war on terrorism 

in 2001, it had five main objectives, among others, to 

(1) defeat terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, Abu 

Musab al-Zarqawi and destroy their organizations; 

(2) identify, locate and destroy terrorists along with 

their organizations; (3) deny sponsorship, support and 

sanctuary to terrorists; (4) diminish the underlying 

conditions that terrorists seek to exploit; and, 

(5) defend U.S. citizens and interests at home and 

abroad [WIKIPEDIA, The Free Encyclopaedia]. In the 

wake of 9/11, the US Administration has pointed to the 

killing or capture of more than 2/3 of all al-Qaeda’s top 

leadership and seizure of over $200 million in terrorist 

financing as examples of progress against terrorism. 

More recently, progress milestones cited by President 

Bush Jr. in his September 28, 2005 statement included 

(1) removal of brutal regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq 

that harboured terrorists; (2) moving forward in the 

“march” of democracy worldwide, noting Lebanon; (3) 

shutting down a major weapons of mass destruction 

(WMD) black market network originating in Pakistan, 

and Libya’s rejoining a community of nations; and 

(4) capturing a number of key terrorists in Pakistan 

and Iraq, as well as capturing and killing hundreds of 

insurgents in Iraq [ibid]. 

In view of the massive terrorist attacks in India, 

Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Uganda, Russia 

and the former USSR member republics and elsewhere 

that the world has witnessed since the declaration of 

global war on terrorism in 2001, it is easy to assert that 

the battle is yet to be won by world nations. Wiping out 

terrorists and terrorism in general from the face of the 

earth is easier said than done; it is absolutely impossible 

to destroy terrorism as such. As terrorism creates 

numerous victims, counter-terrorism is creating 

more and more new victims. Above all, the human 

and financial costs are staggering, to say the least. The 

opportunity costs of diverting away funds from social 

programs and projects to the war on terrorism are 

incalculable. The challenge for all humanity remains 

to critically examine and find out the root causes of 

terrorism and expend all resources possible to solve 

these man-made problems; war alone cannot resolve 

the global menace of terrorism. 

Concluding Remarks 

As reiterated earlier, the global war against terrorism 

is legitimate and necessary. However, combating terror 

must not be at the expense of the enjoyment of civil 

and political liberties of citizens, groups and nations. 

Anti-terrorism measures need to be implemented 

within a human rights framework in order for them 

to achieve their legitimate objective of preventing 

terrorism. It cannot be denied or doubted that, the 

anti-terrorism legislations are retrogressive as they take 

away even the minimum gains of democratisation that 

have been made by the newly emerging democratic 

countries. Therefore, all countries, while complying 

with their international duties and obligations of 

combating terrorism, should also listen to the concerns 

of those at home. Surely, the fundamental freedoms 

of citizens should remain intact as all nations seek 

to end the devastating and deadly consequences of 

terrorist violence. Due note should be taken of the 

need for balancing civil liberties, national security 

and international responsibilities. There should not 

also be preference of national security at the expense 

of the protection of human rights of those suspected 

of or accused of terrorist activities. Rule of law and 

due process should guide all our actions in combating 

terrorism. Therefore, there arises a need to re-examine 

the anti-terrorist laws and initiatives already in place 

or those being worked out and confirm whether or not 

these are reconcilable with the freedoms and liberties 

of all citizens and groups in their own countries. Above 

all however, all nations should exert their maximum 

efforts at attacking the root causes of terrorism, instead 

of being bogged down in the fight against the apparent 

symptoms. That is the only way forward toward rooting 

out terror. 

Ed’s Note: Tesfaye Habisso was former ambassador 

of Ethiopia to Uganda and South Africa. He was also 

member and secretary of the Council of Representatives 

in the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (1991-1994), 

and a veteran of the Ethiopian Student Movement. He 

can be reached at habisso@yahoo.co.uk.

28| 

wORLD 

THE 

Reporter 

UK and Malawi in 

tit-for-tat diplomatic 

expulsions 

The UK has ordered Malawi’s high commissioner to leave the country 

over the “unacceptable” expulsion of Britain’s envoy to Lilongwe. Fergus 

Cochrane-Dyet was told to leave Malawi after he was quoted in a leaked 

cable as saying the president does not tolerate criticism. 

A British diplomat warned of “serious consequences”, according to an 

internal memo seen by the BBC. Some 40% of Malawi’s budget comes 

from abroad. The UK is the largest donor. An invitation to the Malawian 

government to a party at the high commission to celebrate the royal 

wedding on Friday has been withdrawn. 

According to the diplomatic cable published by the local Weekend Nation 

newspaper last week, Mr Cochrane-Dyet described Malawi’s President 

Bingu wa Mutharika as “becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of 

criticism”. He said local civil society activists were afraid after a campaign 

of threatening phone calls and said the government was restricting the 

freedom of the media and minorities. Under pressure from donors, Mr 

Mutharika last year pardoned two gay men who had been jailed because 

of their relationship, which is illegal in Malawi. 

Poor to suffer? 

Following Mr Cochrane-Dyet’s expulsion, British Foreign Secretary 

William Hague said: “It is a worrying sign that the Malawian government 

is expending its energies in this way, rather than focusing on the real 

and substantial challenges facing it, including the need for improved 

governance.” 

He said acting High Commissioner of Malawi Flossie Gomile-Chidyaonga 

and her dependants must leave the UK at “the earliest opportunity” and 

hinted that the UK’s aid to its former colony could be cut. 

“I have also asked my officials, working closely with their colleagues 

elsewhere in government, to review rapidly the full range of our wider 

relationship with Malawi.” The EU office in Malawi has also condemned 

the decision to expel Mr Cochrane-Dyet. 

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated 

75% of the population living on less than $1 (60p) a day. In the leaked 

cable, Mr Cochrane-Dyet was quoted as saying that these would be the 

people who would suffer most if aid was cut as relations with donors 

worsen. Mr Mutharika was elected to office in 2004 and widely praised 

for his campaign against corruption. 

But the BBC’s Raphael Tenthani in Malawi’s biggest city, Blantyre, says 

that since his landslide re-election in 2009, his government has been 

accused of intimidating critics. 

The UK recently expressed its disappointment with Malawi and reduced 

aid after the government purchased an extravagant presidential jet. 

It is also among the countries which condemned a new law which gives 

ministers power to ban publications deemed not to be in the public 

interest. (BBC) 

AfRICAn bRIefS 

Yemen’s Saleh should not 

get immunity: Amnesty 

Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh should 

not be granted immunity from prosecution under a Gulf 

plan that seeks to end months of bloodshed, Amnesty 

International said Thursday. 

The London-based human rights watchdog said the 

transition plan proposed by the Gulf Cooperation 

Council (GCC) appeared to provide a blanket immunity 

to Saleh as well as those who served under him. 

“President Ali Abdullah Saleh must not be allowed to 

evade accountability for the long catalogue of human 

rights crimes committed under his rule,” said Malcolm 

Smart, Amnesty’s director for the Middle East and 

North Africa. 

Smart said in a statement that Saleh and those around 

him should be held accountable for the arbitrary arrests, 

torture and unlawful killings that have been committed, 

in line with Yemen’s laws. 

Royal wedding international 

reaction: praise for the 

‘restyled Windsor brand’ 

The royal wedding caught the imagination of the world’s media with many 

wondering why there was such planetary excitement about the event. 

In France, commentators tried to understand why a country that guillotined its 

king was so obsessed by its neighbor’s monarchy. 

The answer, claimed Hervé Gattegno, editor of Le Point was that the French 

envied “kings without power”. 

“We don’t like our common leaders back home taking themselves for monarchs 

but we give them infinitely more power,” he said. In France, the president 

played both a symbolic and executive role, often failing in both, he claimed. 

Italy’s Repubblica gave its readers an A to Z guide on royal wedding, from 

Amore (love) to Zara Phillips, noting that the daughter of Princess Anne has a 

pierced tongue. 

Commentators declared it a good thing the rival claimants to the defunct 

Italian throne have not received invites to the ceremony because the last time 

they attended a royal wedding, in Spain in 2004, they got into a punch up with 

each other. Kate Middleton’s non-aristocratic background was highlighted 

by Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper with the headline “A Royal 

Wedding for the Middle Classes”. 

The royal wedding was heartily celebrated in Australia, with blanket coverage 

from four television channels and thousands of royal wedding parties cropping 

up all over the country. The republican issue was well and truly retired for the 

day. 

The wedding brought with it a clear signal, according to the Sydney Morning 

Herald, which headlined: “United in hope for their kingdom.” 

“The marriage will not only open a new chapter in the history of the British 

monarchy but provide a vivid first glimpse of a restyled Windsor brand,” wrote 

the newspaper. Australians also were desperate to see what Julia Gillard, the 

prime minister, wore to the wedding, mainly because they were terrified she 

would make a fashion faux pas. (The telegraph) 

“He must not be awarded a ‘get-out-of-jail’ card to walk 

free from any question of investigation or justice for 

what has been done under his authority,” the statement 

said. 

It said Gulf efforts to break the impasse and end the 

current cycle of violence was welcome, but Saleh “should 

not be be allowed to set his own price for agreeing to 

stand down.” 

If he was granted legal immunity, it would be a “gross 

betrayal” of the many victims of rights, and send the 

wrong signal to others who violate the rights of their 

people. 

“Are the Western governments that have spoken up so 

strongly for accountability in Libya and elsewhere now 

willing to endorse this shabby attempt to evade justice 

by one of the Middle East?s longest-serving rulers,” the 

statement said. (AFP) 



Military court 

sentences 

protesters to 

death 

In a sharp escalation of the repression of a smoldering 

opposition movement, a military court in Bahrain 

sentenced four Shiite Muslim activists to death for 

the alleged murder of two police officers during prodemocracy 

demonstrations in March, Bahrain’s official 

news agency reported. 

This is a kind of precedent-setting case in Bahrain. The 

suspects are the first civilians to ever be tried in a Bahraini 

military court, which is called the Lower Security Court. 

Three other men were sentenced to life in jail by a Sunnidominated 

monarchy that has received support from 

Saudi Arabia and other Arabian Peninsula states to quell 

a Shiite-led mass anti-government uprising. 

The trial itself bore the trademarks of the kind of 

shadowy security courts common in drab dictatorships 

such as Iran, Myanmar or Syria rather than a country 

that is chummy with Washington and hosts the U.S. 

Navy’s Fifth Fleet. 

During the court proceedings, the seven Shiite protestors 

were refused legal council and contact with relatives, 

activists and human rights advocates said. 

The chain of momentous popular uprisings that have 

ravaged Arab autocracies, combined with an already 

dissatisfied public, culminated in a bold act of defiance 

against the Bahraini king at Pearl Square on Feb. 14. 

The pro-democracy opposition movement, comprised 

of both secular activists as well as Shiites, demanding 

greater freedoms from the Sunni monarchy for decades, 

took the square over for days before Bahrain and Saudi 

troops crushed the uprising. 

At least 30 people have died, four of them members of 

the security forces. Hundreds of other Shiite and secular 

opposition figures and professionals have been detained 

since martial law was declared March 15. 

According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, the 

monarchy has a history of unlawful practices against 

activists. 

“The government has taken it too far,” said Nabeel Rajab, 

the center’s president, on the issue of the trial of civilians 

in a military court. 

The crackdown prompted Amnesty International to issue 

a briefing paper April 21 describing the developments as 

a “worrying trend.” 

Voting Underway in Nigerian States 

Where Violence Delayed Poll 

Voting is underway in two states in northern Nigeria where polling was delayed by violence that 

followed last week’s presidential election. Nigeria’s ruling party retained the presidency, but 

appears to have lost control of several state governments. 

Security forces accompanied electoral workers to polling stations in Kaduna and Bauchi where 

state-wide elections were postponed after supporters of opposition presidential candidate 

Muhammadu Buhari last week battled riot police following the election of President Goodluck 

Jonathan. The human rights group the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria says at least 500 people 

were killed in violence across the north. Vice President Namadi Sambo’s home in Kaduna was set 

on fire. 

Observers say early voter turnout in Kaduna and Bauchi Thursday was smaller than during the 

presidential poll. Some Buhari supporters destroyed their voter cards after their candidate said 

the presidential ballot was rigged. But Buhari says that is a mistake and is calling on his supporters 

to come out for the poll, which he says is an opportunity to “disgrace your oppressors who have 

stolen your votes””. President Jonathan’s ruling People’s Democratic Party currently controls the 

governorships of Kaduna and Bauchi but is facing strong opposition candidates from Buhari’s 

Congress for Progressive Change party. Buhari’s party is challenging results from Tuesday’s 

gubernatorial elections in Niger and Katsina states. The opposition Action Congress of Nigeria 

party is contesting the outcome of the gubernatorial election in Akwa Ibom. That party held on to 

control of the commercial capital, Lagos, and appears to have defeated the ruling party in the states 

of Ogun and Oyo, putting opposition parties in control of all six states in the southwest region. The 

ruling party also lost control of Zamfara and Nasarawa states, but retained control in the oil-rich 

Niger Delta and picked-up the governorship of Kano, which is the north’s most populous state. 

(VOA)

The Reporter | Saturday |April 30, 2011 LEISURE 

crossword 

ACROSS 

1. Have already done 

4. Universal Standard Time 

7. Indics 

12. A city in the European part 

of Soviet Russia 

13. One and only 

14. About bee 

15. Denounces 

17. Many wombs 

18. Express pleasure 

19. The bill in a restaurant 

21. Disappear beyond the 

horizon 

22. Intercontinental ballistic 

missile 

24. Prefix denoting “in a” 

25. James __, American steam 

engineer 

26. Dekalitre 

27. A salt or ester of hydriodic 

acid 

29. Improves 

Kuncho Komments 

SPOT THe dIffeRenCeS 

You know this is the 

first time my dad did 

not buy a goat for 

Easter. 

ARIES 

(Mar. 21- April 20) 

Now it is the time when you should be careful not to 

get caught up in too much detail so that you neglect to 

be mindful of any general overall plans that you project 

towards the future. That detail may lead you down a path 

that you had not anticipated and that could end up taking 

you quite far from your original intentions. Listen to your 

instincts and act on them. This week lucky numbers are: 

11, 13, 19, 23, 

TAURUS 

(Apr. 21- may 21) 

Responsibilities will be pressing at this time and will likely 

not allow you as much freedom as you would like to have 

during this week. This may not be the best time for social 

engagements - it’s more likely that your investments of time 

would bear better fruit if they were put into physical and 

business work - and circumstances will likely support that. 

This week lucky numbers are: 6, 22, 28, 30, 52, 

GEMINI 

(May 22-June 21) 

At this time you may find yourself struggling in spirit and 

attitude to measure up to the challenges that lie before you. 

The virtues, especially fortitude, endurance and courage 

may be immediate allies in your present development. At 

this time, it may feel a little like climbing up a mountain 

but try to see the harvest gained later in respect to the 

constructive seeds that you sow now. This week lucky 

numbers are: 5, 17, 27, 29, 39, 

31. Secretion 

35. Vertexes 

37. Radioactivity unit 

38. Trailing grass native to 

Europe 

41. The longest division of 

geological time 

42. __ Carvey, “Church Lady” 

comedian 

43. S American wood sorrel 

44. Soviet Socialist Republic 

(abbrev.) 

45. All of the inhabitants of the 

earth 

46. National capital 

48. Endurance 

52. Glyceryl ester 

53. Auricle 

54. Assistance 

55. _____ Claus 

56. Extensively cultivated in e.g. 

China and Japan and India 

57. Peacock network 

Why not, he 

thinks you’re 

getting too fat? 

Your Zodiacs (astrology-online.com) 

DOWN 

1. Invest with knighthood 

2. Nigerian City 

3. OK to assign a date to 

4. American state 

5. Timid 

6. Screened for 

7. Coat with plaster 

8. Mentally quick and 

resourceful 

9. Eastern German city 

10. Defied 

11. Annoyances 

16. The most common 

computer memory 20. Rebelled 

22. Potato state, abbr. 

23. Shaped rotating disk to 

convert circular into linear 

motion 

24. Corsages 

25. Fatty-fleshed fish that 

migrates between salt and fresh 

No! No! He 

said it was too 

expensive. 

My dad was also 

complaining the 

whole week about 

the high price of 

goats. 

CANCER 

(June 22-July 22) 

In the romantic context of your life you may find 

yourself attracting rather forward or even aggressive 

individuals who’s agenda is more likely to be selfserving 

than not. It is not advisable to try to engage in 

“amorous” behavior with anyone new to your life now as 

you are likely to experience a lack of grace and harmony 

which would otherwise be necessary for things to go well 

in that area of your life. This week lucky numbers are: 

10, 34, 40, 46, 56, 

LEO 

(July 23-Aug 22) 

At this time you should be very careful about what 

you decide to spend your money on as the indications 

are that you could, if you are not careful about the 

value or worth of a significant purchase, experience 

real disappointment and loss - this does not have to be 

the case but in order to minimize the possibilities of 

financial loss or disappointment in respect to values, be 

careful. This week lucky numbers are: 3, 15, 19, 27, 33, 

VIRGO 

(Aug. 23 -Sept. 23) 

The planetary tendency shows that you will be feeling 

rather compulsive at this time and may tend to “jump 

the gun” regarding reactions and decisions. You are 

likely to really “feel” the courage of your convictions 

now and to be unusually straightforward or even blunt 

in respect to asserting those convictions and/or feelings. 

This week lucky numbers are: 8, 24, 32, 38, 72, 


water 

27. Integrated data processing 

28. Hyrax 

30. Catch 

32. A citizen of Iran 

33. Passenger truck 

34. Government computer 

language 36. Undergarment 

38. Extinct birds 

39. Central Florida city 

40. Made of wood 

42. Obstruct 

44. Soluble ribonucleic acid 

45. Harelike rodent of the 

pampas of Argentina 

47. Small island (British) 

49. Arctic explorers, abbr. 

50. Horny projecting jaws of 

a bird 

51. Aide de Camp 

You know what? 

it is only a matter 

of time before 

they charge 

entrance fees to 

even see them at 

the market. 

LIBRA 

(Sept. 24 -Oct. 23) 

Your thoughts are likely to be more on home 

and family now. Keep in mind that changing 

circumstances and situations may call for personal 

adjustments. Communication may increase now 

with family members and there may be discussions 

concerning needed changes and the logistics 

associated with that as well as discussions around 

security needs. This week lucky numbers are: 23, 25, 

31, 53, 67, 

SCORPIO 

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) 

There is likely to be some degree of confusion in 

your life now and you may be strongly influenced 

by unconscious desires. You may even feel a bit 

drained due to being pulled down by unconscious 

drives or quests that are taxing your conscious mind 

against it’s own will Try to relax and accept a little 

necessary change. This week lucky numbers are: 12, 

40, 46, 60, 64, 

SAGITTARIUS 

(Nov. 23 -Dec. 21) 

It looks like you are about to experience some 

instability in your life at this time as your mind will 

be significantly more prone to changes of will and 

intention - you many find yourself intending one 

thing at one moment and another thing at the next 

moment. You may find yourself, at times, in a state 

of hyper-stimulation and it is possible that you may 

experience some insomnia now. This week lucky 

numbers are: 11, 23, 39, 41, 45, 

Can you spot the 12 differences between the two pictures? 

Ya right! They 

could earn a lot 

if they charge 10 

birr each time 

someone squeezes 

their back to check 

them out too. 

Solution 

Us 

box 

office 

1 Rio 

2 Madea's Big Happy Family 

3 Water for Elephants 

4 Hop 

5 Scream 4 

6 African Cats 

7 Soul Surfer 

8 Hanna 

9 Insidious 

10 Source Code 

|29 

CAPRICORN 

(Dec 22.- Jan. 20) 

Your inner life may now become more important to you 

than your outer life. You will likely become more introverted 

and less extroverted than usual and likely more inclined to 

experience your life now in a spiritual mode as opposed to 

a secular mode. At this time you may find your sensitivity 

towards the arts such as music and poetry and drama 

increasing. This week lucky numbers are: 2, 22, 32, 34, 38, 

AQUARIUS 

(Jan. 21 -Feb. 19) 

You are quite likely to experience interpersonal “politics” 

in the context of your home and family life at this time. 

What will likely be very important now is honesty but of 

equal importance will be the manner in which you convey 

concerns to family members. This week lucky numbers are: 

21, 33, 39, 49, 61, 

PISCES 

(Feb. 20-Mar. 20) 

The accent this week must be on your resources and your 

values. Whether your Sun is in Leo, or Leo is rising in your 

chart, circumstances will force you to take care of practical 

matters. Money matters simply have to be seen to, and they 

may at first cause concern. Some way you may find that you 

are better off than you thought. This week lucky numbers 

are: 26, 30, 48, 50, 56,

30| 

THE TIMES 

What: exhibition 

WHEN: APRIL 16 -MAy 1st 

WHERE: LELA GALLERy 

A painting exhibition by Tesfu Assefa 

Open: Till May 1st 

Tesfu’s exhibition of acrylic paintings on paper and canvas 

reflectively remind us of these unpredictable times we live 

in. Many major shifts are coinciding with an ecological crisis 

leaving us feeling in turmoil, exhausted and afraid. Most of 

these dysfunctional and fear driven dynamics have become 

the norm transmitted daily through the media…..due to 

this unknowingly and most probably unwillingly we are 

burdened with all this information, carrying it along with us 

making us feel anxious and powerless. 

“ the reality is that even with all the depressing news, we 

continue to live in interesting times…” 

Wednesday to Sunday - 11:00am- 6:00pm 

Otherwise by appointment 

Please feel free to pass on this invitation to friends 

that might be interested. 

BERHANU MEKONNEN’S EXHIBITION 

WHEN: OPEN FROM APRIL 15 

TIME: 6:00PM 

WHERE: ASNI GALLERy 

MUSIC WITHOUT BOUNDARIES 

WHAT: INTERNATIONAL MuSIC FESTIVAL 

When: May 4, 6, 10,12 

Music Without Boundaries, a music festival and celebration 

of Ethiopian tangible and intangible heritage, start on 

May 4th, 2011, at the Italian Cultural Institute. The festival 

lasts eight days and hosts several famous national and 

TV Guide 

MBC 

SATuRDAy 30 APR 

5:30 My FIRST WEDDING 

7:00 THE EVENING STAR 

9:00 EMMA 

11:00 ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOL’S 

12:30 OVER THE HEDGE 

13:30 RuNAWAy VACATION 

15:00 CHASING DESTINy 

17:00 SCHOOL FOR SCOuNDRELS 

19:00 IN GOOD COMPANy 

21:00 LOST IN TRANSLATION 

23:00 WITHOuT A PADDLE 

0:30 THE OuT-OF-TOWNERS- 1999 

2:00 ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOL’S 

SuNDAy 1 MAy 

3:30 RuNAWAy VACATION 

5:00 EMMA 

7:00 BOxBOARDERS 

9:00 CHASING DESTINy 




15:00 MERLIN AND THE WAR OF 

THE DRAGONS 

17:00 FLASHDANCE 

19:00 THE WENDELL BAkER STORy 

21:00 RAISING HELEN 

23:00 INTOLERABLE CRuELTy 



MONDAy 2 MAy 


5:30 SCHOOL FOR SCOuNDRELS 

7:30 BOGuS 

9:00 MERLIN AND THE WAR OF THE 

DRAGONS 




15:00 GREMLINS 

17:00 THE FIRST WIVES CLuB 

19:00 I COuLD NEVER BE yOuR 

WOMAN 

21:00 STRANGER THAN FICTION 

23:00 THE BROTHERS GRIMM 


2:00 FLASHDANCE 

TuESDAy 3 MAy 



7:30 BEETLE JuICE 

9:00 GREMLINS 



WOMAN 


15:00 FALLING IN LOVE 

17:00 uNDISCOVERED 

19:00 RELATIVE STRANGERS 

21:00 THE LAST kISS 

23:00 NEW IN TOWN 


WOMAN 

2:00 THE FIRST WIVES CLuB 

WEDNESDAy 4 MAy 



7:00 INTO THE WEST- MOVIE- 1992 

8:30 FALLING IN LOVE 

10:30 NEW IN TOWN 


13:30 THE LAST kISS 

15:00 PETE’S METEOR 

17:00 HAPPy GILMORE 

19:00 DEDICATION 

23:00 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: 

THE CuRSE OF THE BLACk PEARL 


2:30 uNDISCOVERED 

international artists who will be touring the country and 

playing in three of the most beautiful Ethiopian cities, 

namely Addis Ababa, Harar and Gondar in May 2011. 

SATURDAY NITE LIVE! 

WHAT: REGGAE MuSIC!!! 

WHERE: HOLLAND HOuSE,LEGEHAR AREA, ADDIS 

ABABA 

TIME: 8:30PM - SuNDAy AT 2:00AM 

Enjoy a Live Reggae Muzik with Sydney Salmon & Imperial 

Majestic Band feat. Ebony Joseph, Black Haze & kilo’D’, 

Poet/Emcee I-Timothy, plus more special guests! Come & 

full-joy the vibes & atmosphere! Timothy Green 

MBC 

SATuRDAy 30 APR 

6:00 TOOLBOx MuRDERS 

7:30 THE RAGE WITHIN 

9:00 THE LAST SAMuRAI 

11:00 MERCENARy FOR JuSTICE 

13:00 MILLION DOLLAR BABy 

15:00 ANGEL EyES 

17:00 THE BOOk OF ELI 

19:00 THE CROW: SALVATION 

21:00 THE LOVE GuRu 

23:00 MATCHSTICk MEN 

1:00 THE CLIENT 

SuNDAy 1 MAy 

3:00 SECRET WINDOW 

4:30 DEATH RACE 

6:00 HAVANA 


11:00 EMILy BRONET’S WuTHERING 

HEIGHTS 

13:00 THE CLIENT 

15:00 THE CROW: SALVATION 


19:00 THE RIVER kING 

21:00 HOSTAGE 

1:00 AMERICAN CRuDE 

MONDAy 2 MAy 

3:00 FRIDAy THE 13TH PART III 

4:00 THE LOVE GuRu 

6:00 EMILy BRONET’S WuTHERING 

HEIGHTS 

7:30 THE AVENGING EAGLE 

11:00 THE CHASE 

13:00 HOSTAGE 

15:00 THE RIVER kING 

19:00 PISTOL WHIPPED 

21:00 THE DARJEELING LIMITED 

23:00 MR. BROOkS 

1:00 21 GRAMS 

TuESDAy 3 MAy 

3:00 DRACuLA II : ASCENSION 

THE 

ADDIS ABABA 

TOP 

ON AFRO 105.3 FM 

yOuR INFOTAINMENT STATION – FROM 

10 -11 AM SuNDAy MORNINGS WITH ELLA 

4:30 AMERICAN CRuDE 

6:00 THE CHASE 

7:30 THE DAy THE EARTH STOPPED 


11:00 THE EDuCATION OF CHARLIE 

BANkS 

13:00 THE DARJEELING LIMITED 

15:00 PISTOL WHIPPED 


19:00 HIGH CRIMES 

21:00 STEALTH 

23:00 THE BANk JOB 

1:00 HEAVEN 

WEDNESDAy 4 MAy 

3:00 BuBBLE 

4:30 21 GRAMS 

6:00 THE EDuCATION OF CHARLIE 

BANkS 

7:30 A LOuSy 10 GRANDS 


13:00 STEALTH 

15:00 HIGH CRIMES 


19:00 SILENT PARTNER 

23:00 LORD OF WAR 

FOX 

Movies 


Act Em – Mortality 

Streets of Addis – 

Lucyboyz, Ebony and 

kapo Israel 

Stuntin On Em – 

Navstar and JaCob 

Spit Game– kapo Israel 

Ebony – Africa unite 

Eyoab Emanuel – I 

Need To know 

MC Siyamregn – Biggy 

Jiggy 

In the East – Natty Simz 

Catch the Tiger – 

Jukebox and Woah! 

king of Love – Ledj Leo 

ft. Luciano 

Vote your favourite artist during the week: 

on the Facebook page- Sunrise on 105.3 

or at – afrosunrise@gmail.com 


CINEMA 

in 

Addis Ababa 

@ MATI CINEMA 

Cinema 1 

SATURdAy, APRIl 30, 2011 

Cinema 2 Cinema 3 

Time Show Title Time Show Title Time Show Title 

04:15 pm - Amalayu 04:30 pm - Red Riding Hood 04:15 pm - Thor (3d) 

06:30 pm (Amharic) 06:30 pm 

06:30 pm 

06:45 pm - 

08:45 pm 

09:00 pm - 

11:00 pm 

yalteneka 

(Amharic) 

06:45 pm - 

08:45 pm 

Arthur 09:00 pm - 

11:00 pm 

SATuRDAy, 23 APR 

SATuRDAy, 30 APR 

07:00 AM ALVIN & THE CHIPMuNkS 

09:00 AM ROGuE TRADER 

11:00 AM TOMBSTONE 

01:00 PM TRuE HOLLyWOOD 

STORIES: kOBE BRyANT 

02:00 PM ALVIN & THE CHIPMuNkS 

04:00 PM SEABISCuIT 


STORIES: WILL SMITH 

07:00 PM THE TRANSPORTER 

09:00 PM TRANSPORTER 2 

11:00 PM HITMAN 

SuNDAy, 1 MAy 

01:00 AM COLLATERAL DAMAGE 

03:00 AM k-PAx 

07:00 AM THE TRANSPORTER 

09:00 AM HITMAN 

11:00 AM FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIx 


STORIES: WILL SMITH 

02:00 PM THE TRANSPORTER 

04:00 PM TRANSPORTER 2 

06:00 PM 25 CELEBRITy NEAR 

DEATH ExPERIENCES 

07:00 PM HITMAN 

09:00 PM A MIGHTy HEART 

11:00 PM THERE WILL BE BLOOD 

MONDAy, 2 MAy 

01:00 AM FROM DuSk TILL DAWN 


05:00 AM TRuE LIES 


09:00 AM TRuE LIES 

11:00 AM TWO WEEkS NOTICE 



02:00 PM A MIGHTy HEART 

04:00 PM THERE WILL BE BLOOD 



07:00 PM FROM DuSk TILL DAWN 

09:00 PM RED EyE 

11:00 PM PIRATES OF THE 

CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST 

TuESDAy, 3 MAy 

01:00 AM 28 WEEkS LATER 

03:00 AM JOy RIDE 2: DEAD AHEAD 

05:00 AM 28 WEEkS LATER 

07:00 AM MELINDA AND MELINDA 

09:00 AM IRIS 

11:00 AM ALFIE 



02:00 PM COLLATERAL DAMAGE 

04:00 PM PIRATES OF THE 

CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST 

06:00 PM BEST OF THE WORST RED 

CARPET MOMENTS 

07:00 PM 28 WEEkS LATER 

09:00 PM A GOOD yEAR 

11:00 PM HARRy POTTER AND THE 

CHAMBER OF SECRET 

WEDNESDAy, 4 MAy 

01:00 AM REIGN OF FIRE 

03:00 AM GREAT ExPECTATIONS 

05:00 AM IRIS 

07:00 AM JuMPIN’ JACk FLASH 

09:00 AM GREAT ExPECTATIONS 

11:00 AM A GOOD yEAR 

Red Riding Hood 06:45 pm - 

08:45 pm 


11:00 pm 

Thor (3d) 

Thor (3d) 

Cinema 1 

SUndAy, MAy 01, 2011 





06:30 pm 

06:45 pm - 

08:45 pm 

09:00 pm - 

11:00 pm 

Amalayu 

(Amharic) 

06:45 pm - 

08:45 pm 


11:00 pm 


09:00 pm 


11:00 pm 

Thor (3d) 

Thor (3d) 

Cinema 1 

MOndAy, MAy 02, 2011 





08:45 pm 

09:00 pm - Arthur 09:00 pm - Red Riding Hood 09:00 pm - Thor (3d) 

11:00 pm 

11:00 pm 

11:00 pm 

Cinema 1 

TUeSdAy, MAy 03, 2011 





09:00 pm 

09:00 pm - 

11:00 pm 


11:00 pm 


11:00 pm 

Thor (3d) 

01:00 PM BEST OF THE WORST RED 

CARPET MOMENTS 

02:00 PM TWO WEEkS NOTICE 

04:00 PM A GOOD yEAR 

06:00 PM DOOMED TO DIE? 13 

MOST SHCkING HOLLyWOOD 

CuRSES 

07:00 PM REIGN OF FIRE 

11:00 PM THE HORSE WHISPERER 

THuRSDAy, 5 MAy 

01:00 AM THE CROW 2: CITy OF 

ANGELS 

03:00 AM SWIMFAN 

05:00 AM DANCES WITH WOLVES 

07:00 AM SWIMFAN 

09:00 AM SLEEPING WITH THE 

ENEMy 

11:00 AM COLLATERAL DAMAGE 

01:00 PM DOOMED TO DIE? 13 

MOST SHCkING HOLLyWOOD 

CuRSES 

02:00 PM SWIMFAN 

02:00 PM SWIMFAN 

04:00 PM THE HORSE WHISPERER 

06:00 PM FORBES 10 MOST 

ExPENSIVE CELEBRITy DIVORCES 

07:00 PM THE CROW 2: CITy OF 

ANGELS 

09:00 PM VANITy FAIR 

11:00 PM WILD WILD WEST 

FRIDAy, 6 MAy 

01:00 AM MARS ATTACkS! 


ENEMy 

05:00 AM THE REF 


ENEMy 

09:00 AM THE REF 

11:00 AM VANITy FAIR 


ExPENSIVE CELEBRITy DIVORCES 

02:00 PM IN GOOD COMPANy 

04:00 PM HARRy POTTER AND THE 

CHAMBER OF SECRET 


ExPENSIVE CELEBRITy WEDDINGS 

07:00 PM HOME ON THE RANGE 

09:00 PM DR. SEuSS’ HORTON 

HEARS A WHO 

11:00 PM STARDuST


Reporter SPORTS 

THE 

Past winners 

Keflezighi, 

Gebremariam, 

and Kiplagat to 

return to new york 

Marathon 

Past winners Meb Keflezighi, Gebre 

Gebremariam, and Edna Kiplagat 

will return to add to their laurels 

at the 2011 ING New York City 

Marathon on 6 November. 

In 2009, Keflezighi became the first American 

to win this IAAF Gold Label Road Race since 

Alberto Salazar in 1982. Gebremariam of 

Ethiopia and Kiplagat of Kenya will start as 

the reigning champions. 

Keflezighi, 35, of Mammoth Lakes, CA, is a 

New York favorite who will be running the 

race for the seventh time and has showed 

remarkable consistency, with five top-10 

finishes including his historic triumph in 

2009 and last year’s sixth-place finish as the 

top American. He’ll get extra attention this 

year, as he’s looking to run both New York 

and the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials race in 

Houston in January 2012. 

“Marathons are always challenging, but I’m 

challenging myself further with my goal to 

run both the ING New York City Marathon 

2011 and the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon 

Trials,” said Keflezighi. “This timing and 

challenge is very similar to 2004, when I won 

the silver medal at the Olympic Games and 

was the runner-up in the ING New York 

City Marathon 70 days later. This experience 

gives me, Coach Bob Larsen, and the rest of 

my team the confidence to pursue the goal of 

winning the ING New York City Marathon 

again, and making a third U.S. Olympic 

team.” 

Keflezighi will match up against the 

defending champion, Gebremariam, 26, of 

Ethiopia. Since winning the ING New York 

City Marathon in 2:08:14, Gebremariam has 

finished second at the NYC Half in March 

in a time of 1:00:25 and third at the Boston 

Marathon last week in a time of 2:04:53. 

Kiplagat, 31, of Kenya, continued her success 

after her victory, taking second place at the 

NYC Half in March in a time of 1:09:00. She 

finished third at the Virgin London Marathon 

last week, running 2:20:46. 

Also announced was American Jen Rhines, 

36, who is coming off a five-year Marathon 

hiatus after finishing fourth in the Rome 

Marathon in March 2006. She competed in 

the 2004 Olympic Marathon, but has recently 

focused on shorter distances, including 

the 5000 meters, which she ran in the 2008 

Olympic Games in Beijing. Rhines has 

already won two national championships this 

year, claiming the half-marathon crown in 

January and the 15K title last month. ( IAAF) 


|31 

MOHAMMed 

TARGeTS COURSe 

ReCORd In 

dUSSeldORf 

Ethiopian teenager Merima Mohammed will 

be targeting a course record at the METRO 

Group Marathon Duesseldorf on 8 May. 

The 18 year-old Ethiopian boasts a personal 

best of 2:23:06 from her third place finish at 

the 2010 Toronto Marathon, which makes 

her the fastest woman ever entered into this 

IAAF Bronze Label Road Race. This year she 

has already shown fine Marathon form, when 

she took second place at January’s Mumbai 

Marathon clocking 2:26:57. It was only in the 

final strides of the race that she was beaten 

in Mumbai by her compatriot Koren Yal 

who snatched victory by just one second! 

With Mohammed in the race, who has a 

Half Marathon personal best of 1:08:36, 

a new course record is a real possibility. 

It is the first time in many years that the 

mark of 2:26:44 set by Germany’s Luminita 

Zaituc in 2005, could be under severe threat. 

The men’s race promises a competitive 

contest, with a sub-2:10 the target. Günther 

Weidlinger of Austria, Kenyan Stephen 

Merga defends title 

in dongio 10Km 

Reigning World Cross Country champion Imane Merga won the 27th 

edition of the Media Blenio Grand Prix 10Km road race in Dongio in 

the Italian-speaking region of Canton Ticino in Switzerland on Monday 

(25). 

Despite warm conditions Merga crossed the finish line in 28:17 missing 

the course record held by his illustrious compatriot Haile Gebrselassie 

(28:10) by seven seconds. 

The Swiss race was organised for the first time in 1985 to celebrate the 

Olympic silver medal won by Swiss runner Markus Ryffel at the 1984 

Olympic Games in Los Angeles and was won three times by Paul Tergat 

(1993, 1996, 1997), Gebrselassie (1995), Edwin Soi (2006, 2007 and 2008) 

and Moses Mosop (2009) to name just a few names who contributed to 

the history of the Media Blenio. 

Merga, who won the Diamond Race in the 5000m at last year’s inaugural 

Samsung Diamond League, repeated his win from last year thanks to 

his trademark devastating kick in the final metres to defeat 59:30 Half 

Marathon runner Philemon Limo from Kenya who finished four seconds 

behind. Hunegnaw Mesfin from Ethiopia finished third in 28:33. 

After a first lap run in 4:06 in which none of the leading pack seemed to 

take the initiative, five men - Limo, Merga, Mesfin, Alex Korio and Silas 

Kipruto - broke away from the rest of the field by increasing the pace in 

the second lap run in 7:29. 

Only Kipruto lost ground on the leading group which was whittled 

down to Limo, Merga, Korio and Mesfin during the third lap. During 

the fourth lap Korio was dropped, while Mesfin tried to keep the pace 

with Limo and Merga. 

Limo kept the lead for most of the race but Merga stayed closely behind 

in his wake at the ready to unleash his kick in the final lap. This was what 

exactly happened after they clocked 24:55 at the bell. 

The race was decided in the final sprint when Merga launched his kick 

which was reminiscent of the sprint produced at the World Cross 

Country Championships in Punta Umbria. 

Merga, who won the 5000m at Samsung Diamond League stops in Oslo 

and Rome last year, will focus on the longer distance heading into this 

summer’s World Championships in Daegu. 

“The 10,000 metres will be my goal for this season,” said Merga, who 

finished fourth in the 10,000m at the 2009 World Championships in 

Berlin. “I feel I have more chances over the longer distance in Daegu.” 

(IAAF) 

Kiogora, and Chala Lemi of Ethiopia 

are among the leading contenders. 

A year ago Moldavia’s Iaroslav Musinschi 

produced a huge surprise when he ran 

away right from the start. While his 

pacemaker dropped out at half way 

Musinschi kept going and clocked a course 

record of 2:08:32. This year European 

athletes could again play a strong role. 

“The course is fast and I am sure that I will 

be supported very well from the organisers 

regarding pacemakers,” said Weidlinger. 

The 33-year-old intends to qualify early 

for the 2012 Olympic Games Marathon. If 

conditions are agreeable Weidlinger will go 

for his personal best which stands at 2:10:47 

which he clocked in Frankfurt in 2009. 

“We are proud that an international athlete 

of the calibre of Günther Weidlinger 

has decided to run in Duesseldorf. This 

is proof of the great development of the 

METRO Group Duesseldorf Marathon in 

recent years. The race becomes more and 

more attractive for elite and fun runners,” 

said Race Director Jan Winschermann. 

One of the favourites in Duesseldorf will be 

Kiogora. The 36-year-old Kenyan is an athlete 

with plenty of experience over the distance, 

with several notable results over the past seven 

years. In 2004 Kiogora was fourth in Boston 

and seventh in Chicago, in 2006 he was second 

in New York and a year later he took third in 

Boston. Additionally he won the Las Vegas 

Marathon in 2005 and has a personal best of 

2:09:21. The fastest runner in the field thus far 

is Lemi who clocked 2:08:49 when he finished 

second in the Toronto Marathon in 2009. 

(IAAF)

32| 



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