Ethiopian News

Ethiopia rejects dam criticism, targets 10,000 MW

By Barry Malone - Sep 3, 2010

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia on Thursday rejected criticism of its massive hydropower dam projects and vowed to push ahead with plans to boost its power generating ability from 2,000 MW to 10,000 MW within five years.

The Horn of Africa nation's ambitious dam building programme has drawn fire from human rights groups as well as from Egypt and other Nile River countries.

ETHIOPIA: Pastoralism against the odds

September 3, 2010 | IRIN

A caravan of camels in the vast salt plains of the Danakil depression

JIJIGA, Pastoralists’ disproportionate contribution to Ethiopia’s economy is belied by their marginalized status and by policy assumptions that they would be better off farming. But those who raise livestock tend to make the most of marginal land, according to experts, and are often proficient at adapting to changing circumstances.

“People think that pastoralist production systems are just static and backward but this isn't true.

“Besides women changing roles, pastoralists are using cell phones and participating in trade and development in their areas. This is key to shift policymakers’ thinking of the pastoral system,” Charles Hopkins, CARE’s pastoral programme manager, told IRIN.

Suicide claims life of Ethiopian runner Dejene Berhanu

September 3, 2010 | Examiner.com

Ethiopian runner Dejene Berhanu committed suicide on Sunday Photo: Getty Images

Just weeks after competing in both the TD Beach to Beacon 10k and the Falmouth Road Race, Ethiopian runner Dejene Berhanu committed suicide on Sunday, August 29, 2010. Berhanu was only 29 years old when he took his own life last weekend. He was buried on Monday and left behind his wife, Ayelech Berhanu--also a professional runner--and a three year old daughter.

Dejene Berhanu was born in 1980 in Addis Alem, just outside of Addis Abba, and had been a rising star in the distance running world throughout the last decade. Berhanu burst onto the professional scene in 2000 when he took second in the 10,000 meters at the African Championships, eventually running for the Ethiopian Olympic team at the 2004 Athens Games where he placed fifth in the 5,000 meters.

Time to tame Ethiopia's ‘lion river’

Sep 3, 2010 | RNW

The Dechatu River in Ethiopia is a threat to people living on its banks. But it also offers opportunities. "If we use it properly, it's an important source in our lives," says a riverside resident. "If we don't, it will destroy us."

His flip-flops sink into the mud as farmer Abdullah Moussa from Gende Ada, a village on the outskirts of the Ethiopian city Dire Dawa, walks around his orange plantation. The fields are swampy.

It has been raining in the highlands recently, causing a small flash flood to find its way into the desert town. Abdullah relies heavily on these incidental spatters: it offers a valuable

Ethiopian birr devalued - central bank data

Sept 1, 2010 | Reuters

ADDIS ABABA, The Ethiopian birr was devalued by 16.7 percent on Wednesday, according to exchange rates published on the central bank's website.

The birr was quoted by the National Bank of Ethiopia at a weighted average of 16.3514 against the dollar compared with 13.6284 on Tuesday. A central bank official confirmed the new rate but was not authorised to make further comment.

Last month, the government unveiled an ambitious five-year economic plan which targets average annual economic growth of 14.9 percent over the period and aims to end the Horn of Africa nation's dependence on food aid.

Ethiopia is Africa's biggest coffee exporter and the world's fourth largest exporter of sesame. It is also one of Africa's biggest potentional markets -- with a population of 80 million -- and most of its people have no telephones or bank accounts.

Dossena to coach Ethiopian champs

AUGUST 31, 2010 | Daily Dispatch

ETHIOPIAN league champions Saint George have announced the appointment of Italian World Cup winner Giuseppe Dossena as coach on a two-year soccer contract.

Dossena, who has coached Ghana and served as assistant to Cesare Maldini during Paraguay's 2002 World Cup campaign, signed the agreement with club president Abennet Gebremeskel on Saturday, team manager Daniel Kassa told AFP.

Daniel did not disclose Dossena's annual salary.

UN says 270,000 at risk as floods loom in Ethiopia

By Barry Malone - AUGUST 31, 2010 | Reuters

ADDIS ABABA - More than a quarter of a million Ethiopians are risk from severe flooding next month when heavy rain is expected in the country, according to government estimates issued by the United Nations on Monday.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 19 people were killed in mudslides after flooding last week and nearly 12,000 people had been displaced since then.

"Some 270,000 people could be affected by flooding in the (Amhara region)," OCHA said in a statement, quoting a contingency plan issued by regional authorities.

Flooding often affects Ethiopia's lowlands during the rainy season between June and September. In 2006, more than 1,000 people were killed and more than 300,000 made homeless.

Five Ethiopians die in Saudi deportation centre: report

AUGUST 30, 2010 | AFP

Saudi soldiers ride at the back of an army truck in the southern province of Jizan in 2009 RIYADH — Five Ethiopians died in a crowded Saudi centre for deporting illegal immigrants, the Arab News reported Monday.

The five died in the deportation centre in the southern Red Sea port of Jizan of "asphyxiation due to overcrowding," according to a local police official, the newspaper said.

Ethiopia's consul in Jeddah Tekleab Kebede said he could not confirm the deaths, which occurred sometime this month, according to the report.

"We are following the case," he told AFP by telephone.

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Refugees embrace life "out of camps"

August 30, 2010| IRIN

A boy carries water at the Shimelba refugee camp in northern Ethiopia ADDIS ABABA, Kibrom Sebhatu, 45, is among hundreds of Eritreans expected to benefit from a recent Ethiopian government ruling allowing Eritrean refugees to live outside the camps.

“I am happy that UNHCR [the UN Refugee Agency] and the government of Ethiopia agreed to let us live outside the camps. I hope this will open a new era in Ethiopia-Eritrea relations,” Sebhatu said. He joined the Shimelba Refugee camp, along the border with Eritrea, in 2006, after serving in the Eritrean army.

The new policy will allow Eritrean refugees to live in urban areas, improving their access to services and helping to build stronger ties with Ethiopians, the legal and protection officer at the agency for the Administration of Refugees and Returnees’ Affairs, Estifanos Gebremedhin, told IRIN.

Ethiopia overtakes Kenya in horticulture frontier

August 30 2010 | The East African

Ethiopian Flower Farm

The high cost of doing business and lack of sector-specific incentives is costing Kenya foreign direct investment in the flower industry.

The scenario is in favour of Ethiopia where the government provides electricity and constructs roads for investors.

This, coupled with low interest government loans and favourable climate has seen the country’s flower industry grow to cover 9,000 hectares in five years, compared to Kenya’s 200,000 hectares built over the past 50 years.

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