Ethiopia Addis Ababa City police fires over 300 staff

By Yohannes Anberbir, Capital

The Addis Ababa Police Commission has fired over 300 of its staff.

This was the ruthless decision made following the self-assessment meeting the commission held in Tolay military camp in Welega Zone of Oromia region, 327 kilometres west of the capital.
Some high ranking officers are also included in the mass dismissal, a source at the commission told Capital.

Police commanders and chiefs of the city met at the meeting hall of the Ethiopian Mapping Agency two months ago to discuss weakening security issues in the capital. This led them to organise the self-assessment session in Tolay, which gave every employee invited an opportunity to openly point out the weaknesses of their colleagues in the presence of their bosses.

The meeting helped the chiefs of security to figure out what action needed to be taken to remedy the problems, the source said. According to him, over 300 officers are to be fired by the commission and many more are to be demoted. One of those to be demoted is the secretary of the commission, showing the seriousness of the measure, he added.

The commission recently deployed nearly 1,000 new police in the capital. The commission is accountable to Federal Police, but the city administration is currently drafting a bill that aims to return the former city police commission to its jurisdiction.

A need to oversee city security is the reason given by Mayor Kuma Demekssa’s administration to bring back the police commission under city control, which coincided with the restructuring of the police commission for similar reasons.

The commission was transferred to the control of the Federal Police by the ruling coalition, the EPRDF, in the aftermath of the disputed 2005 General Election.

This move came about after the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, who strongly contested the ruling party’s overall election victory, refused to take charge of the Addis Ababa City Administration, despite winning the majority of the capital’s seats.

This political scuffle resulted in a power vacuum in Addis Ababa, leading Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to propose the politically neutral caretaker administration and the transfer of responsibility for the police commission to the Federal Police.

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Ethiopia’s UDJ in turmoil

By Kirubel Tadesse, Capital

The jailed Birtukan Midekssa’s party, Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), is in a huge turmoil as two factions vie to control the party’s direction.

The party’s executive committee, and a group of 21 party members spearheaded by the veteran opposition figure Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, have been fiercely criticising each other.

Called by the executive committee, the party’s top leadership, the sixty member national council, was expected to meet yesterday and discuss the statement the twenty members distributed back on July 9.

“The meeting is expected to reach some sort of decision against this unlawful accusation the statement contains,” party spokesperson Hailu Araaya (PhD) told Capital. More than 40 members of the council were expected to attend the meeting.

The group that disseminated the statement says the party’s executive committee is firing people without any credible justification and is even eliminating members heard criticising decisions.

“We will no longer keep silent, the executive committee is not only abusing its powers, but could once again deny the nation an opportunity it should not miss,” the group’s ten page statement reads.

UDJ’s acting chair following Birtukan’s re-arrest, Gizachew Siferaw, and Secretary Asrat Tasie, were among members of the executive that were strongly criticised for attempting to organise the party based on political favouritism.

In response, the executive explained that all the group wants is to throw accusations in order to try to disturb the party and halt UDJ’s effort to form a strong alliance with members of the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD), a group striving to emulate the former CUDP’s 2005 campaign success.

“The reasons we are hearing are really embarrassing. The group says FDD members are ethnically-based in their formation and other reasons,” Dr. Hailu explained, adding on July 9, the day the group disseminated the statement, was the day UDJ should have discussed progress made in talks with other forum members.

It was the national council that decided how the party can best work with the FDD. The forum was first initiated by the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), the Somali Democratic Alliance forces (SDAF), Arena Tigray for Democracy and Sovereignty (Arena) groups and two former ruling party senior officials: ex-president MP Dr. Negaso Gidada and former defence minister Seye Aberha.

The forum is still adding more members to its list, with the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement and UDJ becoming the latest strong additions.

The forum members, including the UDJ, are currently discussing a draft sixty page strategy that each member party’s representatives have agreed upon.

“I don’t think the council would go as far as to fire Professor Mesfin and others, but I expect other strong measures.

“Birtukan was holding the balance between the two groups and managed not to go against the idea of joining the forum, though she was not thrilled about it.

“Following her re-arrest the executive committee got momentum and is working to join the forum, and the group is trying to stop that,” an independent party insider commented to Capital.

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Dubai firm to build two luxury hotels in Ethiopia

By Yohannes Anberbir, Capital

Limitless LLc, a subsidiary company of Dubai World, has finally reached an agreement with Addis Ababa City Administration to lease two huge plots to construct two five star luxury hotels.

A delegation led by Sheikh Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, had visited Ethiopia in July 2008, and conferred with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who warmly appreciated the Dubai giant’s interest in Ethiopia.

Limitless, which is based in Egypt, submitted a proposal to the city administration a month after DP World’s visit Ethiopia. The proposal highlights Limitless’ interest to engage in the hotel business in Ethiopia’s capital.

Officials of the city immediately invited the company to visit two key plots. Their prompt response showed their excitement at the potential investment of nearly 100 million dollars.

A garage used by the Defense Ministry located near the African Union (AU) Headquarters in front of the National Tobacco Enterprise off Roosevelt Avenue, and a plot located between the Addis Ababa Market Development and Exhibition Centre and the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions buildings are the plots offered to Limitless, who were equally excited about the potential of the locations.

A few months later Saeed Ahmed Saeed, CEO of Limitless, sent project proposals, although, they did not meet the city’s requirements. This prompted Mayor Kuma Demekssa to write a letter requesting a clear proposal that explicitly indicated the company’s lease plan and construction schedule.

Reports suggested officials of Limitless were surprised with the Mayor’s request, because they thought the plots would be offered for free. In fact, Limitless was not dismayed with the request, but did send one of their management in May to discuss the issue and clarify the city’s stance. The mayor told the delegate that no plots will be offered free of lease, which pushed Limitless to accept the lease arrangement.

Now the company has signed with the lease bureau of the city to pay the amount in three installments, the source told Capital.

According to the business proposal, Limitless intends to erect a 250 room business hotel, 150 serviced apartments, as well as additional office spaces and food and beverage stores, on the 30,525 square metre plot near the AU site.

The second proposal envisages a 200 room business hotel, 50 serviced apartments, cultural and entertainment centres, as well as offices, retail and food and beverage market spaces.

This is a ‘doorway investment’ for the Gulf giant because the delegation also announced its interests in receiving a management concessions to operate the 761 kilometre Ethio-Djibouti railway lines and to install a pipeline for oil that runs from Djibouti to the Awash area, a few hundred km east of Addis Ababa.

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Free Ethiopia’s Birtukan Mideksa

Far Eastern Economic Review
By Abebe Gellaw

World leaders, including President Barack Obama, have called for the immediate release of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But how many of them have even heard of Ethiopia’s pro-democracy leader Birtukan Mideksa, the 36-year-old politician and mother who is being held in solitary confinement, condemned to life in prison without due process?

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been brutally efficient in eliminating his political rivals by killing, jailing or forcing them into exile. But because Ethiopia is seen as a “strategic ally” by the U.S., Mr. Obama failed to publicly speak out against human-rights violation by the Zenawi regime on his recent trip to Africa or even mention Ms. Mideksa’s name.

Unlike the Burmese military junta, the Zenawi regime is an ally of the U.S. and its European partners. The Bush administration used to refer to the Zenawi regime as a “linchpin” in the war on terror in the Horn of Africa. While the U.S. imposed economic sanctions against Burma in 1997, Mr. Zenawi has been enjoying a stream of financial and military aid from the U.S. and Europe since he came to power in May 1991 after a bloody power struggle with the dictator Mengistu Hailemariam. Since 2005, Mr. Zenawi has even attended all the G-8 summits and this year’s G-20 meeting in London, despite protests by Ethiopians in the diaspora and human-rights activists.

There’s a good reason why her countrymen call Ms. Mideksa the Aung San Suu Kyi of Ethiopa. In the run up to the 2005 national elections, the first contested election in the history of Ethiopia, Ms. Mideksa joined the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ). Within a few months she was elected the party’s first vice president. Her party won a landslide victory in most of the places where there were foreign election observers. In the capital, Addis Ababa, the UDJ had a clean sweep. Zenawi’s party could only win one single municipal seat. All the 23 contested parliamentary seats went to Ms. Mideksa’s party.

Before the count was completed throughout the country, Mr. Zenawi ordered a state of emergency and froze the count in the remaining districts. Local election observers in remote villages were chased away despite protests by foreign observers, most notably Ana Gomes, chief of the European Election Observation Mission to Ethiopia.

Supporters of the UDJ who felt that the election was stolen started protesting. In June and November 2005, the ruling party killed 193 civilians including minors and wounded over 780 others. In a space of one week in November 2005, over 40,000 civilians were rounded up and were detained in harsh military camps.

Over 100 opposition leaders, including Ms. Mideksa, were arrested that same month and charged with “genocide” and treason. They were released after 20 months in jail in July 2007 after a mediation effort by local elders.

While touring Sweden in November last year, Ms. Mideksa refuted government propaganda that its high-profile prisoners were pardoned despite their guilt. She said legally speaking the so-called pardon was null and void as none of the prisoners committed the alleged crimes and the correct procedures were not followed.

As soon as she arrived home, the government launched a vicious propaganda campaign using state-controlled media against her. She was re-arrested in December 2008. Prime Minister Zenawi declared that the pardon granted to Ms. Mideksa was revoked and accused her of banking on support from “powerful friends in powerful positions” in the West. He then announced her life sentence.

President Obama, being of African descent, is in a unique position to influence the Zenawi regime and push for the release of Ms. Mideksa. Until leaders of the Free World take a firm stand against tyranny, regardless of strategic alliances, those who demand freedom will continue to suffer. Most Ethiopians believe Mr. Obama will one day speak out and support their struggle for freedom and dignity. In the meantime, Ms. Mideksa will continue to languish behind bars.

Mr. Gellaw is a Knight / Yahoo! international journalism fellow at Stanford University.

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Top Ethiopia Gov’t official flees country

Ermias Legesse

Ethiopia’s state minister for communication affairs has refused to return home from the United Sates after an official visit, a top government official told AFP Wednesday.

Ermias Legesse was issued with an 11-day visa and left for the US in the second week of June, but has not returned.

“He didn’t report back, ” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“He has chosen to stay there. It seems he has dreamt about going to the US,”

‘The Reporter’ newspaper however is quoting sources who are close to Ermias saying that he chose to stay in the US because he was unable to do his job freely and was uncomfortable with the infighting amongst government officials.

Ermias, who is in his thirties, was appointed to his position earlier this year.

The US embassy in Addis Ababa declined to comment on the matter, but a diplomatic source said Ermias “has not been reachable for several days.”

AFP/EP

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china’s direct investment to Ethiopia reachs $900mln

Chinese direct investment to Ethiopia has reached $900 million, making Ethiopia one of China’s biggest investment destinations in Africa.

According to local media reports, Chinese investments in Ethiopia are on the rise since the past three years where a number of Chinese investors started engaging in various investment opportunities in the country.

It was reported that road construction, telecommunication, medicine and other small scale enterprises are the sectors which the Chinese investors are mostly involved in.

The on going investment by the Chinese investors are being carried out by the Chinese-Africa-Development Forum, which is a Chinese government initiative which aims at promoting investment in Africa.

The Chinese government is also supporting various development projects being carried out in Ethiopia, like the on-going Tekeze Hydro-electric project and telecommunication infrastructure.

It is also reported that the trade volume of the two countries has reached $1.3 billion. For last year alone, according to the report, Chinese exports to Ethiopia increased by 51%.

It was reported that in order to balance the trade volume between the two countries, the Chinese government has given to Ethiopia quota free export opportunities for over 450 products, which Ethiopia is trying to utilize.

APA

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Ethiopia’s Mugher and Mesobo restart production

Government to take measures against illegal cement distributors

By Addis Mulugeta, Capital

The Ministry of Work and Urban Development (MoWUD) on Friday confirmed that both Muger and Mesebo cement factories have partially restarted production to ease the current cement shortage.

According to Mekonnen Zergawu, Chief Executive Officer for Mugher Cement, the factory had not been producing and had instead been conducting maintenance work for the last two months. Subsequently, it could not resume production due to the power shortage.

The factory started production partially on Tuesday, July 9, after the Government decided to supply electric power. Mekonnen explained that by next week the factory will be distributing two kind of cement, namely Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC, High quality cement) and Portland Pozolana Cement (PPC) for its customers. The factory is selling OPC for 192 birr whereas PPC is 155 birr. Currently, in the black market a quintal of cement is selling for 400-450 birr.

Arkebe Equbay, State Minister at MoWUD explained that this is the right decision of the Government to attempt to reduce the current high price and ease the shortage of the building material in the country.

He confirmed that both Mugher and Mesebo are expected to produce one million quintals of cement by the end of this month. In addition, five ships have already unloaded one million quintals of cement at the Port of Djibouti and the remaining one million will come in the next two or three months.

The Government assigned the Ethiopian Merchandise Enterprise Wholesale imported Trade (MEWIT) to import and distribute the cement at 250 birr per quintal. Licensed government development agencies, contractors and the private sectors can get cement from MEWIT.

The Government believes that illegal distributors are exacerbating the shortage and increasing of the price of cement. Although the Government did not take any measure yet against those illegal distributors, in the forthcoming weeks it will start acting, Arkebe confirmed, adding that the measure will be very serious, even licence withdrawal, confiscation of the cement and firing those acting illegally in selected distribution centres.

So far, the Government has distributed five million quintals of imported cement for a total of 50 million dollars.

Arkebe announced that in the Ethiopian budget year 2009/10, the demand for cement will increase to 50 million quintals. To meet the demand, the Government plans to import 25 million quintals of cement and the other 25 million quintals of cement is expected to be produced by local cement factories.

Mugher Cement Enterprise is the largest factory in the country with a 900,000 quintals production capacity per annum.

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New Ethiopia national university entrance exam approved

By Kirubel Tadesse, Capital

The Government has approved a new national exam students will have to take to join university.

According to sources, the Ministry of Education (MoE) will shortly announce the changes made in the exam that preparatory program grade 12 students take at the end of the year.

Replacing the old curriculum’s Ethiopian School Leaving Certificate Examination (E.S.L.C.E), it was back in 2001 that the first batch of the new education policy students took the new Ethiopian General Secondary Education Certificate exam at grade ten.

The Education Ministry uses the students score to divide them in to two groups: one gets sent to various vocational programs, while the second group goes on a two years preparatory program in order to go to university.

Students who successfully complete the two year preparatory program will take the final national exam – the Ethiopian Higher Education Entrance Certificate Examination. Their score in this test determines what studies they will take, if any. It is this exam, first launched in 2003, the Education Ministry has decided to change next academic year.

Grade 12 students, including this year’s, took a national exam that contains five subjects, while the newly approved exam has seven.

The new exam to be announced will keep English, math, civics and aptitude subjects, but eliminate general science and social science for natural and social science students, respectively.

Each subject, a total of five, is marked out of 100, but now the eliminated two subjects from each side will each be divided into three, taking the overall grade point to 700.

All students will sit seven exams, with physics, biology and chemistry added for natural science students, while geography, history and economics are added for social science students.

“Basically for social science students, the social science subject, which now comprises three subjects, will be divided in to three separate exams, and the same for natural science students who used to take general science exam, they will sit physics, biology and chemistry exams starting from next academic year,” a source explained to Capital.

“Most students go for a degree program that would focus on one of the subjects now compressed in just one exam, therefore encouraging them to devote a little time to general and social science exams since the two only count for 100 out of 500 total grading, while other subjects like English and civics have 100 points each,” the source added, explaining why the change was necessary.

“The first entrance exam excluded civics’ exam and it was graded out of 400. In the following year, civics was included and the exam numbered five subjects so it is always necessary to keep improving exams to better assess students,” the source also said.

The new entrance exam to be announced looks more like a Grade 10 exam where students sit for nine exams and graded by seven best, but making math and English compulsory.

The entrance exam change is part of a broader reform agenda the Education Ministry is planning.

It wants most of the preparatory students to focus on natural studies so that at completion at least 70 per cent of them join natural science programs.

Official data shows that this year’s freshmen in natural science fields studying in 22 state-run universities are only 51 per cent from the total enrolment.

“Next academic year enrolment will take the share to 60 per cent and 2011 should be the desired 70 percentage share,” one expert outlined the targets.

The break down of the seventy percentage share is forty per cent for computing and engineering fields, while 20 per cent enrollment goes to other basic natural sciences fields, such as applied physics and biology; health studies and agriculture will each take five per cent.

The 30 per cent for social science is split in to two: 20 per cent for business and economics students and 10 per cent for social studies.

The whole point behind the 70/30 divide is to produce professionals in industry and technology fields that will have both the quantity and quality to realise a transformation of the emerging economy. This is an approach the Government says has proved successful in the best performing European and Asian economies.

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Amnesty International: New Anti-Terrorism Proclamation Jeopardizes Freedom of Expression

press release

Reacting to the news that the Ethiopian Parliament has today passed an Anti-Terror Proclamation in Ethiopia, Amnesty International warns that the law could restrict freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and the right to fair trial, with serious implications in the run up to Ethiopia’s 2010 parliamentary election.

Although the Ethiopian government faces legitimate security concerns, any anti-terror legislation must be in accordance with international human rights standards.

“The Government of Ethiopia has a history of stifling dissent and it is worrying that this law now risks further violating Ethiopia’s obligations under international human rights law,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Africa programme director. “The Anti-Terror Proclamation is expected to provide Ethiopian authorities with unnecessarily far reaching powers which could lead to further arbitrary arrests”.

Erwin van der Borght

Based on earlier drafts of the law previously made available to Amnesty International, “acts of terrorism” are vaguely defined and could encompass the legitimate expression of political dissent. The law defines “acts of terrorism” as including damage to property and disruption to any public service, for which an individual could be sentenced to 15 years in prison or even the death penalty.

Thousands of protesters, political party leaders, journalists and human rights defenders were arrested and detained following the disputed November 2005 elections in which the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) retained political power.

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Ethiopia adopts strict anti-terrorism bill

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- “The law itself terrorises citizens. We are strictly against it,” opposition MP, Negaso Gidada

- “Law could turn political speech and peaceful protest into terrorist acts.” - HRW

- “Whosoever writes, edits, prints, publishes, publicises, disseminates, shows, makes to be heard any promotional statements encouraging… ‘terrorist acts’ is punishable with rigorous imprisonment from 10 to 20 years,” it says.

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ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopia’s parliament on Tuesday adopted a new anti-terrorism bill despite criticism by rights groups that the legislation violates civil liberties.

The law, proposed last year after a string of bomb attacks in the capital, comprises 38 sections and paves the way for arrests and searches without court warrants.

The legislation championed by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was voted for by 286 lawmakers in Ethiopia’s 547-seat parliament, 91 against and one abstention, an AFP correspondent reported.

Meles Zenawi

“Whosoever writes, edits, prints, publishes, publicises, disseminates, shows, makes to be heard any promotional statements encouraging… terrorist acts is punishable with rigorous imprisonment from 10 to 20 years,” it says.

Several opposition members, while insisting they were committed to the fight against terrorism, also criticised the law for being prone to abuse by security forces.

“The law itself terrorises citizens. We are strictly against it,” former president and now opposition MP, Negaso Gidada, told AFP.

Last week, the US-based Human Rights Watch said the law broadly defined terrorism, risked muzzling political speach and encouraging unfair trials.

“the law could provide a new and potent tool for suppressing political opposition and independent criticism of government policy,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

“It could turn political speech and peaceful protest into terrorist acts.”

Negaso Gidada

The law is also meant to counter the activities of some separatist groups, who have been blamed by Addis Ababa for carrying out “terror attacks” throughout the Horn of Africa nation.

In recent months, Ethiopia’s parliament has passed a series of laws tightening up on the activities of non-governmental organisations, associations and the local media, while most political opponents are in prison or living in exile.

Elections are due in June 2010, five years after disputed polls led to the death of nearly 200 people.

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