Global News Post: Ethiopia

Ethiopian Court Demands Justification for Journalist's Conviction

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By Marthe Van Der Wolf<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ethiopia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s Federal Supreme Court has postponed
hearing an appeal of the conviction of prominent Ethiopian journalist Eskinder
Nega and opposition leader Andualem Arage. 
But the court gave its first indication Thursday that charges brought by
prosecutors under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation may not be that strong by
demanding that prosecutors justify the June convictions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Journalist Eskinder Nega received an 18-year sentence, while
opposition politician Andualem Arage is serving life in prison on
terrorism-related charges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Andualem’s lawyer, Abebe Guta, said the court has found many
irregularities in the prosecution's charges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“As they scrutinized our ground of appeal they found so many
legal and factual irregularities," said Abebe. "Therefore, before the
ruling passes, that means before our appeal is accepted or approved, they
wanted to summon the prosecution officers to come and justify.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Maran Turner, the executive director of Freedom Now, a
Washington D.C.- based organization that works on individual prisoners of
conscience cases, said the latest developments are positive. Freedom Now has
been supporting Eskinder and brought his case before the United Nations Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“It seems to me that the court also is confounded by the
charges against Eskinder and the other defendants," Turner said. "So
the fact that the court has postponed the case, it obviously acknowledges the
flaws that we see, which is that the charges themselves are flawed. In fact,
the case is flawed from the very beginning of arrest.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Eskinder, Anualem and more than 20 others were found guilty of
ties to a U.S.-based opposition group, Ginbot 7, classified as a terrorist
organization by the Ethiopian government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Amnesty International and other rights advocacy groups have
said the trial was a sham used to silence dissent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The prosecution will need to justify its convictions before the
court on December 19. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ethiopian Court Demands Justification for Journalist's Conviction

By Marthe Van Der Wolf Ethiopia 's Federal Supreme Court has postponed hearing an appeal of the conviction of prominent Eth...

ETHIOPIA: Food security and the Meles' legacy

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyseGhl7cHspDJBgs6hdheOymPFj5MlP96VS0fIfX-baJB5-1OYB_eDbTvlfM03gTokhhgMmcCrp2mSlme8tgG_OnxeM4y6cX0sXMw4oRP6wupEciNiQAuNjn4Oforp09o3r0x_CoE-Q/s1600/201208221358340295.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyseGhl7cHspDJBgs6hdheOymPFj5MlP96VS0fIfX-baJB5-1OYB_eDbTvlfM03gTokhhgMmcCrp2mSlme8tgG_OnxeM4y6cX0sXMw4oRP6wupEciNiQAuNjn4Oforp09o3r0x_CoE-Q/s320/201208221358340295.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Photo: World Economic Forum<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Meles Zenawi at the World Economic Forum on Africa<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>held in Addis Ababa earlier this year</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) - During his two decades in power, Meles Zenawi committed himself to ending Ethiopia’s dependence on food aid. With his death, IRIN looks at his legacy in promoting food self-sufficency and fighting rural poverty in a country historically associated with drought and environmental stress.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Food security<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Meles' regime is credited with having pioneered schemes designed to protect the poor such as the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP – see below), a Social Cash Transfer Pilot Programme and a commodity exchange.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Between 1998 and 2012 the average number of Ethiopians in need of food assistance fluctuated between 3 million and 14 million.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Under Meles, Ethiopia's economy, in which agriculture generates 45 percent of GDP and 90 percent of exports, became one of the fastest growing in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The country spends about 17 percent of its public money on agriculture, which employs 85 percent of the population.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ethiopia’s close partnership with key western nations helped ensure it received considerable external funding – it was the fourth largest recipient of official humanitarian aid in 2010 and in 2009 it received the equivalent of 14 percent of its gross national income (GNI) as aid (ODA).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The country has consistently featured among the top 10 recipients of humanitarian aid since 2000, according to data compiled by the UK-based NGO, Development Initiatives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"There are other African countries who have comprehensive and sound plans to make their people food secure in the long-term like Ghana and Saheilian countries like Niger but unfortunately they have not attracted the same amount of funding as Ethiopia has," said Frederic Mousseau, a food security expert and policy director at the US-based Oakland Institute, a think-tank.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another food security analyst, who sought anonymity, cautioned that data pointing to the success of schemes such as the PSNP need to take into account "the absolute control over assessments [food security-related], information about the number of people in need, nutritional status etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The narrative is that the corner [as far as food security is concerned] has been turned, but that is a narrative carefully controlled by the government. Time will tell."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The 2000 food crisis<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There were at least three major droughts during Meles' tenure: 1999/2000, 2002/2003 and 2009/2010. Many food experts regarded the 1999/2000 crisis as a full-fledged famine, but Meles allegedly chose to prioritise a border war with Eritrea. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The donors were angry about it so they didn't respond quickly either - and the result was a famine that could easily have been prevented," said one humanitarian expert, who did not want to be named.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The then UK Secretary for International Development Clare Short was reported by the Guardian as saying, "I do not believe anyone in the UK believes we should be providing long-term assistance to a country which is increasing its spending on arms, year on year" after she was criticized for reducing aid to Ethiopia.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An estimated 19,900 people died in Gode zone alone, in Ethiopia's Somali region, according to a paper by Stephen Devereux and Paul Howe, both researchers at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Productive Safety Net Programme<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Meles always stressed his commitment to making Ethiopians food self-sufficient, said Eleni Gabre-Madhin, a former World Bank economist and the outgoing CEO of the country's first commodity exchange. Out of this was born the idea the PSNP in 2004 - to make families secure enough to be able to produce or buy their own food.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The narrative is that the corner [as far as food security is concerned] has been turned, but that is a narrative carefully controlled by the government. Time will tellThe PSNP aimed to provide support to chronically food insecure families for several months either in the form of cash or food for up to five years, building their resilience and ability to withstand shocks. The families were then considered self-sufficient and would graduate from the programme.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"There is little doubt that the Productive Safety Net Programme was a pioneering effort to redress the food insecurity that long characterized many areas of Ethiopia," said Daniel Maxwell, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in the US. "It was one critical component of the effort to reduce chronic poverty in Ethiopia."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christopher Barrett, who teaches applied economics at Cornell University, said: "When<o:p></o:p></span></div><table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="background: #AABBDC; border: solid #336699 1.0pt; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 6.0pt; margin-right: 6.0pt; margin-top: -.75pt; mso-border-alt: solid #336699 .75pt; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-bspace: 6.0pt; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-lspace: 8.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 8.25pt; mso-table-top: middle; mso-table-tspace: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 220px;"><tbody>
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</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Horn of Africa experienced a horrendous drought last year, it wasn’t Ethiopia that experienced famine. The productive safety nets programme launched by his [Meles’] government has generally done a good job of improving standards of living for the least well off Ethiopians and is being studied and emulated by other countries in the region. While there remains much to be done, the progress in Ethiopia during his rule is very palpable and will hopefully continue through a peaceful transition to new leadership."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, in 2008 food prices soared beyond the point of affordability for those enrolled in the PSNP and the numbers on food aid ballooned.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"One of the flaws of the PSNP was that the cash being offered to the people was too small to help them graduate from the programme," said Mousseau. "The other was it was not supported by other investments needed to help uplift the people from poverty such as infrastructure and access to markets to make any significant impact on their livelihoods."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This opened in 2008 with the aim of helping small farmers gain access to market information and bring buyers and sellers under one roof.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Mr Meles believed that we had to be transparent and not cater to any narrow interest of big commercial farms," said Gabre-Madhin. The exchange, which trades in four commodities - maize, coffee, sesame and beans - provides real-time market information to farmers via a mobile phone text message service and a free phone-in facility.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to Gabre-Madhin, farmers’ share of the final export price of coffee rose from 35-38 percent to 65-70 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Land “grabs” and forced relocations<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The government dismissed critics of its large scale land-leasing policy – part of a five year Growth and Transformation Plan - insisting the millions of dollars of foreign investment involved would create jobs, improve domestic agricultural expertise and reduce both poverty and the country's chronic food insecurity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to a paper by the Oakland Institute, the policy led to the forcible relocation of indigenous communities to villages in the Gambella and Benishangul regions, where they were told they would be taught new techniques to produce food. Their land is being leased out by the government to multinationals in Saudi Arabia and India. The Institute's research showed that more than three million hectares of land had been leased out to investors.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"In recent years, the Meles regime has shifted its focus to big commercial enterprises at the cost of the local indigenous communities and even the pastoral population in the Afar region," said Mousseau.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This prompted an Ethiopian economist, Aklog Birara, living in the US to lodge a protest with the Indian government in May this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Today, Ethiopia is an 'empty womb'. Millions of hectares of its most fertile farmlands and the waters and rivers that give them sustenance are given away in a scheme that we can only characterize as ‘farmland colonization by invitation.’ Indian companies are taking over for 25 to 99 years duration at the invitation of Mr Meles’ government,” he wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dawit Alemu, an agricultural economist with the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research believes commercial farming has contributed to the country's booming growth. "Moreover, huge irrigation projects linked with hydropower are under implementation, which are expected to ensure food security in the very near future.” But such projects have also come under fire from activists who claim they threaten the livelihoods of thousands of people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Now, the question is whether we will have a person who will ensure the implementation and finalization of all these efforts that have started," added Dawit.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

ETHIOPIA: Food security and the Meles' legacy

Photo: World Economic Forum Meles Zenawi at the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Addis Ababa earlier this year JOHANNESBURG (IRI...

Ethiopia: 23b Birr Chinese, Turkish, Saudi Investment Projects Commence Operation

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">ADDIS ABABA</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (NNN-ENA) -- Some 357 investment projects owned by Chinese, Turkish and Saudi Arabian investors with a combined capital of over 23 billion Birr over the last five years have already started operation, the Ethiopian Investment Agency said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Agency Planning and Information director, Mohamed Seid told ENA that the projects have created more than 123,000 permanent and temporary jobs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">From the total 5,400 investment projects licensed during the reported period some 1,442 projects are belongs to Chinese, Turkish and Saudi investors, Mohamed said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The director said the projects are mainly in the areas of agriculture, construction, manufacturing, mining, real estate, education, health, hotels and fishery, among others.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Government has given due attention to attract additional investments to Ethiopia, he said and adding, Ethiopian embassies all over the world are striving to realize this goal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ethiopia</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> has set target to attract 500 billion Birr investment projects mainly from the stated countries and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> during the Growth and Transformation Period, he said. -- NNN-ENA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>

Ethiopia: 23b Birr Chinese, Turkish, Saudi Investment Projects Commence Operation

ADDIS ABABA (NNN-ENA) -- Some 357 investment projects owned by Chinese, Turkish and Saudi Arabian investors with a combined capital of ov...

Ethiopia Sentences Swedish Journalists to 11 Years in Prison

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">An Ethiopian court has sentenced two Swedish journalists to 11 years each in prison for supporting terrorism in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region> and entering the country illegally.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The court in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Addis Ababa</st1:place></st1:city> handed down the sentence Tuesday, nearly a week after convicting investigative reporter Martin Schibbye and photojournalist Johan Persson.  Each had faced up to 18 years in prison.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A judge said last week it was not likely the journalists were trying to gather news when they entered <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region> in July with the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which the African nation has designated as a terrorist group.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists rejected the idea that the journalists were supporting terrorism.  In an interview with VOA, spokesman Tom Rhodes said the journalists were simply doing their jobs and he expressed fear the court case signals eroding press freedom in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The journalists admitted to entering the country illegally, but the Swedish government and rights groups have criticized <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, saying the two men were conducting legitimate work.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed 'serious concern' saying that while recognizing the Ethiopian judicial process, they hope that the two journalists can be released as soon as possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ethiopia</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> sharply restricts journalists and humanitarian aid workers in accessing the Ogaden region, which borders <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The ONLF has been fighting for regional independence from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region> since 1984.  The rebels accuse <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region> of atrocities against the region's largely ethnic Somali population.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Human rights and aid groups have accused both the ONLF and pro-government forces of numerous rights violations during the conflict.  Both sides have denied the charges.<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"> ---VOA News</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Ethiopia Sentences Swedish Journalists to 11 Years in Prison

An Ethiopian court has sentenced two Swedish journalists to 11 years each in prison for supporting terrorism in Ethiopia and entering the...