By Bloomberg

Jason McLure -February 04, 2010,

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia needs emergency aid to feed 5.2 million people this year, the government said, appealing for 642,983 metric tons of food from foreign donors.

The Horn of Africa nation has already received confirmed pledges for 396,212 tons of food and is still seeking 246,771 tons of aid valued at $188 million, the government and aid agencies said in a report e-mailed to reporters late yesterday in the capital, Addis Ababa.

More than a quarter of those in need are in Ethiopia’s southeastern Somali region, which borders Somalia. Much of the area is under the control of the Ethiopian military, which is battling rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.

The number of people in need of assistance is higher than the 4.9 million estimated to need emergency aid in January 2009. That figure was revised to 6.2 million in August following poor rains.

Ethiopia received more than 550,000 tons of emergency food aid last year, of which about 313,000 tons was donated by the U.S., the report said.

Editors: Paul Richardson, Karl Maier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg on +27-11-286-1999 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at +27-11-286-1934, or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Food assistance needs in Ethiopia rising for 2010

February 4th, 2010

3 February 2010 – The number of people in Ethiopia who will need food assistance this year has risen to 5.2 million, an increase of several hundred thousand from estimates released just two months ago by United Nations relief agencies and the Horn of Africa nation’s Government.

The worsening food security situation is attributed to poor rainfall last year, particularly during the February-May and June-October seasons, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

According to the humanitarian requirements document for Ethiopia, launched yesterday in Addis Ababa, the total net emergency food requirement from January to December 2010 and non-food needs for the first six months of this year amounts to $286.4 million.

The document – prepared by the Government and UN agencies working in the country – also stated that the net food requirement stands at 290,271 metric tons, estimated to cost around $231.3 million.

In addition, $55.1 million is required to respond to non-food needs in the areas of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, agriculture and education.

The food security situation in Ethiopia had already been weakened last year by poor rains in 2008 and the impact of the high food prices globally.

Source: UN News

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Ethiopia makes international food aid appeal

afrol News, 4 February - Ethiopia has declared an emergency making an international plea for aid to feed 5.2 million people this year.

The government has appealed for at least 642,983 metric tons of food from foreign donors to address the current food shortage as a result of persistent drought as well as other factors.

According to reports, Ethiopia, which doesn’t normally succumb to pressure to make appeals for its hungry, has already received pledges for more than half of its appeal and now needs at least 246,771 tons of food aid to meet the emergency needs.

Most of the aid is said to be earmarked for the southeastern region of the country which borders Somalia, which is battling rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.

The number of people in need of assistance has fluctuated since January last year and it is now estimated to be well over six million.

By staff writer
© afrol News

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Ethiopia to Indian firms: end dispute or lose contract

Addis Ababa, Feb 4

The Ethiopian government has asked two Indian companies to resolve their dispute and start work on the construction of a $700-million sugar factory, warning any further delay could lead to termination of the contract.

Ethiopia's Minister of Finance and Economic Development Sufian Ahmed met representatives of Overseas Infrastructure Alliance and Uttam Sucrotech to deliver the stern message Jan 25.

At the meeting, which also had the presence of Ethiopian Sugar Development Agency (ESDA) general manager Belay Dechasa, the two companies were told they had to start work, which has already been delayed by three years due to a legal dispute in the Mumbai High Court, or lose the contract, an ESDA official said.

The construction of the factory is to be supervised by ESDA, which is under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI). Girma Birru, MoTI's minister, had repeatedly warned OIA and Uttam verbally and in writing to no avail. That led the case to be referred to MoFED, which signed the financial contract with Exim Bank for a soft loan.

According to reports, the project was enabled by a loan of $640 million from Exim Bank of India, granted on 1.75 percent interest. Out of this, $400 million was for the construction of the factory while the remaining was to be used for the expansion of the Fincha and Wonji sugar factories.

The construction project had different parts, including a juice extraction plant, steam generation plant, power generation plant, processing house plant, and related modernisation packages. It was stated in the bid document that whoever made the winning offer for two or more of the parts would win the engineering procurement contract (EPC).

Tenders were invited only from Indian contractors because the loan was provided by India. The Overseas Infrastructure Alliance (OIA) and Uttam Sucrotech International offered their tenders and the EPC was awarded to OIA in a contract signed Jan 10, 2007, with Tendaho Sugar Factory.

Under that deal, construction was expected to begin within 35 days. That did not happen, however, as the two companies were embroiled in a court dispute initiated by Uttam, which was not satisfied with the contract.

The sugar factory had 64,000 hectares of land which is expected to cost a total of almost $700 million. The factory is to have its own sugarcane plantation on 54,000 hectares, while another 10,000 hectares is to be developed by local farmers for the same purpose. There will also be construction of residential quarters for 40,000 workers and a dam with a capacity of 1.19 billion cubic metres of water.

All of these projects are to be undertaken by local firms, in the Afar Regional State. Only the dam is located at Tendaho, which lent its name to the factory, while all the rest are located in Dubti, another place some kilometres away.

"We are going good with the construction of the houses, the preparation of the land and the planting of the sugarcane," Belete Alemayehu, general manager of the factory, told IANS.

The Tendaho Houses Development Agency, established under the Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MuWUD), is responsible for the construction of the houses, while the Water Works Construction Enterprise, under the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), is undertaking the preparation of the land and the construction of the dam. The factory is planting the cane.

(Groum Abate can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a112469.html

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African agriculture entices funds

2010/02/04  -Nellie Brand-Jonker

Cape Town - At least three or four private equity funds are currently raising capital with a mandate to invest in agricultural enterprises in Africa.

Avril Stassen is an investment adviser at the private equity company Agri-Vie. On Wednesday he said that his company is still the only private equity fund focused solely on agricultural enterprises in Africa.

But, he says, the company is aware of others wanting to come to the market with the same mandate, and who are busy raising capital.

"Private equity" refers to an investment fund that buys significant direct stakes in businesses.

Agri-Vie's first investment fund will soon close at almost R800m - more than the R700m originally expected.

About 60% of its investors are from overseas.

Agri-Vie, which was established by Sanlam Private Equity and Strategy Partners, recently made its fifth investment, acquiring more than 49% of Dew Crisp. Dew Crisp, which has existed for 30 years, sells some 28% of the ready-prepared salad in the large supermarkets.

Stassen said the interest in agricultural enterprises was stimulated by the food crisis that caused global food prices to soar at the beginning of 2008.

What is more, Africa's agricultural potential is being increasingly recognised because so little of the arable soil is being applied to agriculture.

- Sake24.com

For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.

http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_print_article.aspx?ArticleId=1518-25_2570400&Type=News

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US 'exploits' African seed

2010/01/12

Cape Town - An international treaty designed to protect seeds from commercial exploitation is allegedly being violated by the US and Brazilian governments and a Texas university.

According to the Johannesburg-based African Centre for Biosafety a Tanzanian sorghum seed, held in trust under the treaty by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India, is being patented by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and the Texas A&M University.

The treaty - the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) also known as "the Seed Treaty" - prohibits patent claims on varieties and genes of plants that are held in trust.

Mariam Mayet, director of ACB, said on Monday: "On the face of it, it appears as if the Seed Treaty has been violated. [It] is a new chapter in a long history of appropriation of African sorghum diversity by foreign interests."

A briefing paper by Edward Hammond by published by the centre says that the gene which enables tolerance to aluminium toxicity in acid soils, which is a problem affecting parts of north America and Europe and as much as 30% of arable land in Latin America, East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa has strong commercial potential.
"Although it was only recently identified, the giant multinational Dow Chemical is already negotiating with the US government to licence it. Japan's second largest paper products company has also expressed interest in buying access to it," Hammond said.

The gene (SbMATE) is not only useful in sorghum, but also may be used in other crops including genetically engineered (GE) maize, wheat, and rice as well a GE eucalyptus tree plantations.

"The SbMATE gene does not rightfully belong to the USDA, Embrapa, or Texas A&M, and those institutions must abandon their unjust claims to the Tanzanian gene," Hammond said. "The institutions that are charged with protecting this resource - must act to protect - trust plants and genes from such claims.

"The genius of African farmers that is locked up in [international research] vaults and other seed banks cannot be allowed to be used to undermine diverse farming systems and earn profit for multinational corporations.

"These seed collections should rather serve the interests of African farmers, sustainable food production systems and the preservation and development of in situ genetic diversity. This does expressly not include the packaging of in trust genes and plants into patents and selling them to the highest bidder.
"Sorghum came from Africa and it remains vital for food security on the continent today. African sorghums have also historically, and to the present, been the foundation upon which the sorghum industries of the United States and other countries have depended."
- I-Net Bridge

http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_print_article.aspx?ArticleId=2567246&Type=News

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Huge Congo deal for SA farmers

2009/10/20

Johannesburg - South Africa has signed a deal with the Republic of Congo that will give South African farmers access to up to 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) of farmland, the country's biggest farmers' union said on Tuesday.

The deal, potentially one of the largest land agreements on the continent and part of Congo's plan to improve food security, will allow South African farmers to lease land for maize, soy beans, poultry and dairy cattle among other produce.

"It's 10 million hectares of under-utilised land that have been made avaliable to us," Theo de Jager, deputy president of union Agri SA, told Reuters. "We have signed the agreement and it's initially for a 30-year renewable lease."

South Africa has one of the most developed agriculture sectors on the continent and its farmers are looking to expand into other countries.

They are joined in the scramble for land abroad by countries including China, South Korea and European and Middle East nations after steep food price inflation last year highlighted the need to achieve greater food security.

De Jager said the South African deal included tax exemptions on importing agricultural inputs and equipment and full expatriation of profits.

Some 200 000 hectares of state farms would be immediately available for South African farmers, De Jager said, but added: "It's not limited to those farms...There's no limit on the land you can get (up to 10 million ha)...it's whatever you need in terms of your business plan."

De Jager said about 1 700 South African farmers had enquired about farming in the Congo. "I don't think all of them will eventually go out there, but there has been huge interest in this," he said.

Active use of land

Renewing the 30-year lease would be decided by a committee, and conditions would include farmers actively using the land, he said.

"If you're not producing then this evaluation committee can decide to terminate the lease agreement," he said.

The land deal was announced in April, but was delayed by general elections in the Congo in July, and then by revisions to the lease period to 30 years from 99 years.

Analysts point to potentially huge rewards in investing in farmland as the world population grows, while many see climate change and biofuels choking off the supply of arable land.

While some development organisations have expressed concerns about an erosion of local farmers' rights by such deals, the public reaction to the long-flagged deal in Congo has seemed to be broadly positive so far.

"We have at our disposal a lot of uncultivated land because we lack the material and financial means," said 65-year-old Paul Nkounkou, a retired agricultural engineer.

"These South African investors are welcome, they will spark off a new dynamic in the the sector, as long as they respect the laws of our country," Nkounkou added.
- Reuters
http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_print_article.aspx?ArticleId=2557878&Type=News

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'Govt bungling land reform'

2009/09/20

Hennie Duvenhage

Cape Town - The clumsy manner in which the government is currently attempting to push through land reform will cost it dearly, said Theo de Jager, deputy president of Agri SA and its spokesperson on land affairs.

Government was now guilty of the very injustice towards white landowners that was perpetrated against black people when they were dispossessed of their land without proper compensation, he said.

Landowners whose properties were embroiled in restitution claims should preserve all the documents related to the process, said De Jager. He was convinced that in 10 years, they will be able to present valid arguments that they were treated unfairly and did not receive proper compensation for their property.

De Jager said the restitution process began to go awry from the start because activists incited people to institute claims that involved almost all the agricultural land in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West.

"The activists insinuated themselves into the public service and became senior officials, but never hung up their activist jackets to became administrators," said De Jager.

"This has led to corruption, nepotism and self-enrichment while the officials hiked the prices of land for personal gain while placing the blame squarely on the landowners."

The problem was exacerbated as the original deadline for land claims, March 2005, approached and little had been done to finalise the process.

This led to thousands of farms hurriedly being listed in the Government Gazette without the validity of the claims being investigated.

The department began paying out billions of rands and quickly ran out of money, while the local economies of towns like Utrecht, Levubu, Barberton, Malelane and Tzaneen, where large-scale land claims had been awarded, collapsed.

De Jager said government was now acknowledging that half of the farms that changed ownership owing to land reform were already no longer productive while the rest were following close on their heels.

The problem had been worsened because the Land Reform department has been unable to explain to the auditor-general where R1.15bn of its funds has gone.

Consequently there is no money left to proceed with land reform.

De Jager said when the Zuma government took over the reins in April this year it sounded the death knell for the principle of willing buyer/willing seller, without investigating the real reasons for the hike in property prices.

It is against this background that one should understand the recent remark by Lungu Johnson, chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee, that he saw no reason for the government to pay white landowners market-related prices as they had in any case stolen the land, said De Jager

"This has clearly nothing to do with the availability or affordability of land," De Jager argues. "It's an ideological thing."

He pointed out that government is in any event no longer paying market-related prices for land, and in the past 18 months landowners have been intimidated to accept up to 50% less than market value for their properties.

De Jager also expressed concern about the subversive role that he believed commercial banks play in forcing farmers whose farms have been listed, and who are in financial difficulties, to sell them at the reduced prices offered.
- Sake24

http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_print_article.aspx?ArticleId=2553886&Type=News

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'Crisis not over'

2009/09/04 09

London - Major emerging countries warned Friday that middle and low income countries will likely lag behind any economic recovery, and called for urgent reform to give them a greater voice in global financial governance through institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Brazil, Russia, India and China - the so-called BRIC quartet - said that despite recent positive signs, it is too early to declare the end of the financial crisis.

"In particular, more needs to be done to address the threat that many small middle-income countries and low-income countries will lag further behind in the development process due to their lesser capacity to respond to the severity of the crisis and to adapt to the new world economic landscape," the four countries said in a joint communique after holding a mini-summit ahead of a London gathering of finance officials from the Group of 20 rich and developing countries.

The quartet added that the reform of international financial institutions is crucial to ensuring a stable and balanced global economy.

The G-20 countries have agreed to review the leadership of institutions like the World Bank and IMF, which has received pledges of more money to help struggling countries. The IMF is customarily headed by a European and the World Bank by an American.

"The IMF cannot emerge from this crisis unchanged," said Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The BRIC grouping said that "unfair" distribution of power in the IMF and World Bank "severely undermines their legitimacy".

They propsed a quota shift of 7% in the IMF and 6% in the World Bank Group to reach an equitable distribution of voting power between advanced and developing countries.

"We believe the major first step should be taken now, so we can have changes next year," said Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega.

The London G-20 meeting is laying the ground for a summit of G-20 national leaders in Pittsburgh on September 24-25.
-AP
http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_print_article.aspx?ArticleId=2551923&Type=News

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Kenya, Ethiopia to inter-connect their power grids

February 3rd, 2010

By: Emebet Mengistu ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) | External Link

Ethiopia is the only Eastern African country with sufficient power supply backed by a reserve margin of more than 30 per cent. Kenya's quest to tap additional electricity from Ethiopia to fix an energy supply shortfall has inched closer following a bilateral pact between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi reached on Tuesday.

The heads of state, both attending the 14th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, instructed their Energy ministers to speed up inter-connection of the national power grids.

The inter-connection will enable Kenya to access additional electricity to bolster its wavering supply which keeps fluctuating with weather patterns.

Kenya also need addition energy to power its high speed economic growth.

Apart from energy supply, the two leaders also reviewed plans on other infrastructural projects including the envisioned construction of a transport corridor which comprises of a road link, railway line and oil pipeline stretching from the proposed Port of Lamu along the Kenyan coast to Ethiopia and Sudan.

At the turn of the year, President Kibaki announced that Kenya was now ready to begin works on the corridor.

"The corridor is the long term solution to the transport problems between Kenya and Ethiopia. The corridor will facilitate the development of the Northern Kenya as well as the Southern part of Ethiopia," said a statement by the Presidential Press Service.

Also under way are plans to link the two countries via fibre optic cable.

The Horn of Africa country is expected to realise a generation capacity of 2,000 megawatts by the end of this year once the three new hydropower projects it is building are completed and intends to export the surplus to neighbouring states.

Tuesday's talks were a milestone for Kenya as they could pave the way for construction work to begin mid next year and see Ethiopia to exporting electricity to Kenya in the next two years.

It appears that past differences over the electricity import deal that stalled two years ago amid opposition by environmental groups to the construction of a new hydro power dam in the neighbouring state had been resolved.

A 400 Kilovolts international power transmission line over 1200 kilometre power grid is to be built.

Energy experts see the project as critical to Kenya's long term energy security needs with the potential to add more than 500MW to the national grid "within the shortest time possible."

It takes at least seven years to develop new hydropower sources even with ready financing.
Geothermal power, which has proved to be Kenya's viable alternative energy source, costs more and takes longer (10 years) to develop.

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Ethiopia to pass laws to boost mining by mid 2010

Tue Feb 2, 2010

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Ethiopia's parliament will pass new mining laws aimed at boosting investment in the sector by mid-2010, State Minister Sinknesh Ejigu said on Tuesday.

"Parliament will be approving this (legislation)... by mid 2010," she told a mining conference in Cape Town.

Mining contributes 5.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product, with gold, tantalite and gemstones the main exports.

Ejigu said the new mining laws would look at custom duty exemptions and remittance of profits among other incentives.

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Ethiopia's ruling party says opposition may incite violence

February 4th, 2010 - By Jason McLure

ADDIS ABABA (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia’s ruling party said the country’s largest opposition grouping, the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (Medrek), would try to foment violence after elections scheduled for May in an effort to spur foreign governments to intervene.

“They are ready to create violence after the elections,” Hailemariam Desalegn, the parliamentary whip for the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front [a cover for Tigrean People's Liberation Front (Woyanne)], said in a phone interview this week. “Their ultimate objection is not free and fair elections but to get power-sharing like in Zimbabwe and Kenya. I think this is very dangerous and they should be properly told this.”

He said opposition allegations that elections scheduled for May 23 would not be free and fair were designed to fuel popular discontent that would lead to street clashes as happened following the country’s disputed 2005 poll.

The warning came as the opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), the largest political party in the Forum, accused the U.S., Britain and other Western aid donors of silence over the jailing of UDJ leader Birtukan Mideksa and other human rights abuses.

The U.S. and U.K. “are following the old way of doing business,” said Andualem Aragie, UDJ’s secretary general. “They are partners in development with the Ethiopian government but I don’t think they are partners in freedom and democracy.”

Following disputed presidential elections in Zimbabwe in 2008 and Kenya in 2007, international mediators brokered agreements that allowed opposition parties to share power with Presidents Robert Mugabe and Mwai Kibaki.

The opposition has sought to raise pressure on the U.S., U.K., and other donors who supply more than $2 billion in aid annually to Ethiopia, saying their silence is tantamount to political support for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

The U.K. government has a “frank and full dialogue with the government of Ethiopia on human rights and democracy including Birtukan,” said Gavin Cook, a spokesman for the British embassy in Addis Ababa. “Our development assistance, regardless to who is in power, has helped benefit millions of Ethiopians.”
Michael Gonzales, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa, declined comment.

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Ethiopia Expects Economy to Expand by 10.1% This Year

By Jason McLure

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia’s economy is expected to grow 10.1 percent in the year to July 7, from 9.9 percent the previous year, a finance ministry official said.

“Our economy has been the fastest non-oil and non-mineral economy in sub-Saharan Africa in the last six years,” Getachew Adem, head of development planning and research at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, told reporters today. “The financial crisis has not affected us much, but there was impact indirectly on our manufacturing sector.”

The financial crisis and power outages did keep growth last year below the government’s 11.2 percent forecast. The economy should expand by at least 10 percent through 2015, Getachew said in Addis Ababa, the capital.

The International Monetary Fund projected economic growth of 7 percent this year, according to a September report from the Washington-based lender.

A 14 percent expansion of the service industry led growth last year, Getachew said. Agriculture increased 6.4 percent while industrial output grew 9.9 percent.

The government may lift lending caps on banks that have slowed credit to the private industry by December if the annual inflation rate can be held at about 6 percent, he said. The inflation rate climbed to 7.1 percent in December from 0.6 percent the month before, according to the Central Statistical Agency.

“Banks cannot extend credit as they wish, and that is biting, but there is always a compromise,” Getachew said. Controlling inflation “is the government’s overriding objective in the medium and short term.”
Foreign currency shortages continue to hurt manufacturers and importers, he said. The government has rebuilt reserves from about $800 million November 2008 to $1.9 billion today, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg on

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Last Updated: February 4, 2010

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Ethiopia: Humanitarian Bulletin - 25 Jan 2010

Continued Water Shortages

Water shortages continue to be reported in some areas due to the poor performance of seasonal rains and the lowering of ground water level, reports WFP. Water shortages are particularly acute in southern Geladi, Bokh and eastern Danot woredas in Warder zone, Somali Region. In Tigray, water shortages are reported in drought affected lowland areas of Ahferom, Atsbi Womberta, Enderta, Ganta Afeshum and Sease Tseada Emba. According to UNICEF, the Regional Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau (R-DPPB) in Amhara also reports acute water shortages in east Belesa and Tselemt woredas in North Gonder. A technical team from R-DPPB and the regional Water Bureau, after assessing the situation, recommended the immediate start of water trucking in three kebeles of East Belessa and is finalizing a proposal for sustainable solution in two of the three kebeles. The availability of water, pasture and forage in the drought affected woredas is expected to further deteriorate with the progression of the dry season in the coming months. Currently, WFP reports that the movement of livestock from areas where water is in scarce supply to areas where some pasture and grazing land is still available has led to a mass concentration of livestock in Farhareri, northern Warder. Similarly, in Afar Region, the movement of animals from Elidaar and Kori woredas of zone 1, most woredas of zone 2, Yalo woreda of zone 4 and some woredas of zone 5 to water and pasture sources have been reported. For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it & This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Market Update

In many parts of the country the prices of cereals are normal and showing a slight decrease in markets when compared to previous weeks. This is largely due to the impact of increased supply of cereals to market following the meher harvest as well as ongoing food assistance distribution, notes WFP. In Oromia, the supply of livestock to markets has reportedly increased in the food insecure areas of east and west Harerghe zones in anticipation of further depletion of pasture and as communities' coping mechanism, while prices of shoats and calves have increased due to ongoing cross border trade with neighboring Somalia. Some decline in prices of livestock has been observed in Wag Hemra and North Wollo zones in Amhara while the price of shoats has increased. For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Food Assistance Update

The last round of relief food dispatch and distribution for 2009, seventh in all the regions and eighth in Somali, targeting approximately 6.2 million beneficiaries, including 2.2 million covered under the Joint Emergency Operations (JEOP), is expected to end by late January. In view of the current available resources of DRMFSS, WFP and JEOP, relief food allocations for the first quarter of 2010 will be at full rations to the estimated 4.7 million beneficiaries identified in the Contingency Plan.

Meanwhile, WFP expects an estimated 370,100mt of mixed food commodities between January and June 2010 of which an approximate 52,560mt will be used for repayment of loans to Ethiopian Food Security Reserve Administration (EFSRA). At present, available food stocks at EFSRA amount to 176,540mt. Committed and non-committed DRMFSS relief stocks, as of 12 January, total 40,250mt and safety net stocks stand at 3,540mt. As of 6 January, WFP in-country stocks of mixed commodities amount to 50,819mt. For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASH Response Update

The Rift Valley Water Technology Company, with support from UNICEF, provided training from 21-23 January to staff members of the Ministry of Water Resources and NGOs on the operation and maintenance of Emergency Water Treatment (EmWat) kit to support the treatment and supply of potable water at community level. The training will enable trainees to install, operate and maintain the emergency water filter including special handling and care for the units, chemicals, tools and the environment. For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

AWD Update

The Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI) reported 44 new cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD), with no deaths, in Oromia and SNNP regions between 4 and 17 January 2010. Response activities, including strengthening surveillance, early warning system, assessment of AWD response and on the job training of health workers to improve the quality of AWD management, at the regional and federal levels are ongoing with technical support from WHO. For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LSGZ-823EGY?OpenDocument

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Afan Oromo as an official language in Ethiopia?

Thursday, February 04, 2010

An article written on Oromsis, an Oromo online blog, discusses intentions of making Afan Oromo an official language in Ethiopia along with Amharic. The article, Medrek Announces Afan Oromo As Second Official Language Of Ethiopia, states that the Forum for Democracy and Dialogue intends on making Afan Oromo an official language. Afan Oromo is the native language of Ethiopia's Oromo people, who constitute one-third of the country's population and landmass. The Forum for Democracy and Dialogue, or Medrek, is a coalition of eight political parties vying for the most seats in parliament, ensuring their take-over of the Ethiopian Government. Admittedly, I am not sure how credible the article is, however I am suspicious of the intentions and timing of making Afan Oromo a second official language.

In a recent televised debate, Medrek, a coalition of eight opposition parties, announced its intention to make Oromo, along with Amharic, the official working language if it wins the election. Dr. Merera Gudina, the chairman of the coalition, made the announcement citing the experience of countries like Canada (French and English) and South Africa (at least eleven official languages).

According to Ethnologue.com, Ethiopia is a country with roughly 85 languages (Source). Governmental recognition and protection of languages and ethnic groups in Ethiopia is very important to save extinct languages like Gafat, Mesmes and Ongota. Amharic emerged as a widely spoken language in Ethiopia during the unification of the country after the Zemene Mesafint (Era of the Princes), when Emperors Tewodros II and Yohannes IV reigned. Medrek's intentions on making Afan Oromo an official language of Ethiopia might be good but its practicality must be worked out first.

Afan Oromo is not widely spoken in Ethiopia like Amharic is. Amharic is spoken by virtually everyone in Ethiopia since it is the working language of the Government of Ethiopia. Afan Oromo's usage is restricted to ethnic Oromos and those living in the Oromia State. Afan Oromo's alphabet is nothing like the Ethiopic Alphabet that Ge'ez, Tigrinya and Amharic use. Instead, Afan Oromo uses the Latin Alphabet because it was only recently that the language began to be written in its own alphabet after being exclusively an oral language.

Prior to the 1974 Marxist Revolution in Ethiopia, Oromo works were published using the Ethiopic Alphabet, including the first Oromo Protestant translations of the Bible. The Ethiopian Government under Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam undertook literacy campaigns, educating Ethiopians in several languages, including Afan Oromo. However, even during this time, the text of the Afan Oromo language was not its own, but was written in the traditional Ethiopic.

It is with the rise of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Government that plans to introduce Afan Oromo in schools and government were materialized. The 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia created 9 ethnically based states and 2 charter cities, including the State of Oromia. With the creation of Oromia, it has been possible to introduce Afan Oromo as the official state language, making instruction in schools and official dealings within the regional administration possible in their native tongue. The current Ethiopian Government has expanded the usage of Afan Oromo, including advancing the language to be written with a modified Latin Alphabet called Qubee, formally adopted in 1991, when rebels from Meles Zenawi's EPRDF took power. Today Qubee is utilized officially by the Government of Ethiopia in state radios, television channels and newspapers as well as in Oromia's laws. Some Members of Parliament from the Oromia Delegation are known to speak in Afan Oromo during deliberations and debates in Parliament.

The declaration of official bilingualism is aimed at easing the fear of Oromo public and a working compromise with the Oromo opposition – mainly the Oromo Federalist Congress. Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) is formed by the merger of two prominent Oromo opposition parties, the Oromo People Congress ( OPC) led by Professor Merera Gudina, and the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) , founded by the renowned Oromo intellectual and statesman, Bulcha Demeksa.

The idea that the introduction of Afan Oromo as an official federal language in Ethiopia will ease the fears of Oromo public from the Ethiopian Government is baseless. Oromos have flourished politically, economically and socially like other ethnic groups. In fact, a lot of Ethiopia's booming agricultural industry is based in Oromia, including the horticulture sector. There are also more Federal Ministers from Oromia than Tigray in the Cabinet of Ministers and public universities in Oromia have produced high caliber graduates. Of course, no one can rule out the human rights abuses made in Oromia; traditionally, human rights has been the weakness of the Meles Zenawi Administration. However, it would be scatterbrained to say that the Oromo people have not benefited from the Ethiopian Constitution, particularly Articles 39.2 and 39.3, which state, respectively:

39.2) Every nation, nationality and people shall have the right to speak, write and develop its language and to promote its culture, help it grow and flourish, and preserve its historical heritage; and

39.3) Every nation, nationality or people in Ethiopia shall have the unrestricted right to administer itself; and this shall include the right to establish government institutions within the territory it inhabits and the right to fair representation in the federal and state governments.

Medrek's effort to discredit the EPRDF with regards to the Afan Oromo language shows the ill-mindedness and untimeliness of their campaign strategy. Amharic can suffice as the official language of Ethiopia because it is already spoken by virtually everyone in the homeland. To introduce a new official language would be a costly endeavor for Ethiopia's Government because it would involve a campaign to educate all Ethiopians in the 11 states the Afan Oromo language, and this simply shouldn't be a priority of any political party at the moment. Food first. Politics later.

http://www.smgebru.blogspot.com/2010/02/afan-oromo-as-official-language-in.html

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Ethiopia prepares case for megahydropower project funding By: John Njiraini

Published: 05 Feb 10

The Ethiopian government is preparing its case to attempt to convince the World Bank to fund a mega- hydropower project in the Horn of Africa country.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick was due to arrive in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, last week, amid some tension following revelations that the bank was considering withholding funding for the Gibe III hydropower project, on the Omo river.

Should it go ahead, the project will be Ethiopia’s single largest investment, with a $1,7-billion price tag and capacity to generate 1 800 MW of electricity, some of which will be exported to countries like Kenya, Sudan and Djibouti.

Already Kenya is banking on the project to solve recurring energy crises and negotiations are ongoing for the importation of 500 MW.

During her visit to Kenya, in November last year, World Bank vice-president for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili revealed the bank had raised concerns about the manner in which the Ethiopian government was managing the project.

In particular, the bank queried the environmental- and social-impact assessment (ESIA) on the grounds that it was not conclusive enough and also disputed the award of the contract to an Italian company without competitive bidding.

“There are some outstanding issues that need to be resolved before we can commit funding for the project,” Ezekwesili told Kenyan officials.

Other prospective key financers of the project include the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank.

A statement from the World Bank said that Zoellick’s four-day visit to Ethiopia, starting on January 30, would provide an opportunity for the Bretton Woods institution to see how the bank could help improve prospects for economic growth.

“Africa has the potential to be another pole of growth for the world economy,” said the bank.

The visit came only days after Ethiopia had commissioned the 420-MW Gibe II hydropower project.

]According to an official at Kenya’s Ministry of Energy, the Ethiopian government has prepared a strong case to convince the World Bank boss about the Gibe III project’s importance to the economies of Ethiopia and other countries in the region.

But a group of nongovern- mental organisations opposed to the project due to its potential environment impact is preparing to petition against the World Bank financing the project.

“The project is going to affect more that 500 000 people living downstream, and we feel it should be abandoned,” says Samir Omar, of Friends of Lake Turkana, from which the Omo river drains.

Various reports show the World Bank, and the EIB, are consider- ing withholding funding for the project because the ESIA prepared by CESI & Mid Day International Consulting was not conclusive and failed to deal with the effects on downstream communities.

According to one report seen by Engineering News, in January 2009, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation released a final version of the ESIA documents despite stiff criticism of their poor preparation and belated release – two years after construction had began – which was a violation of Ethiopia’s environmental laws, which require an impact assessment to be approved prior to the start of construction.

“The ESIA is largely based on insufficient scientific analysis. Risks to the health and livelihoods of affected communities are particularly poorly addressed. Mitigation measures are inadequate and unrealistic and do not acknowledge the failure of similar mitigation measures at other dams in Ethiopia,” states the report.

The financers are also querying the manner in which the Ethiopian government awarded the construction contract to Salini Costruttori, of Italy.

The report states the company was awarded a no-bid engineering, procurement and construction contract largely owing to its past engagement with the Ethiopian government.

“The contract, worth $1,7-billion, violates Ethiopia’s federal public procurement directives,” it states.

The possibilities of financers withholding funding has resulted in unprecedented concern in Ethiopia, considering 35% of the work has been done.

This includes diverting the water in order to build what is billed to be the tallest dam in Africa, at 787 ft. The dam will have a storage capacity of 11,75-billion cubic metres.

Power exports from the planned project could rake in $407-million annually, much more than what Ethiopia earns from exports of coffe, the country’s major foreign currency earner.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/print-version/ethiopia-prepares-case-for-mega-hydropower-project-funding-2010-02-05

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Scientists, Donors Blast Ethiopia's Bio Safety Law

Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa 04 February 2010-(VOA)

Scientists and farmers are urging Ethiopia to reconsider a new biodiversity law they say restricts agricultural research and could hamper delivery of urgently needed food aid. The law has prompted foreign donors to cut off funding to Ethiopian scientific research institutions.

Ethiopia's government held a two day forum this week to hear objections to a Biodiversity Proclamation approved by parliament last July, on the final day before summer recess. The law's stated objective is to protect biodiversity, as well as human health and animals, from 'the adverse effects of modified organisms'.

But critics say the proclamation chokes off research into improving crop production in a country suffering chronic food shortages. Tilaye Feyisa, assistant professor of plant biotechnology at Addis Ababa University says anyone involved in studying genetic engineering is subject to strict government regulation.

"It is really excellent proclamation to prevent the research in the areas of plant genetic engineering," said Tilaye Feyisa. "It stops, because if you break this proclamation, even unintentionally, you can be put in prison for one to three years."

Tilaye says funding for research on genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, has dried up since the law went into effect.

"The money we get is from outside sources," said Tilaye. "We write proposals, when the country is against GMOs, having this proclamation, we don't get any money for research from foreign donors. It is killing the scientific research."

Tilahun Zewelde is a former plant scientist at the Ethiopian Research Organization. He now work at Uganda's Agriculture Biotechnology Support Program. Speaking at this week's meeting, he charged Ethiopia's law was written by environmental extremists and adopted without review by a parliament that had no idea of its consequences.

"We can't even teach students life science and biotechnology," said Tilahun Zewelde. "And the main reason it was drafted by very biased people. Biased in the sense biotechnology is bad, genetic engineering is bad and multinationals are going to take over everything, control the seed business. And the actual technology users were not involved in drafting process. So it's one sided, not good for country."

Biotechnology experts from other African nations came to the forum to express concerns about the Biosafety Proclamation. Togolese scientist Jacob Mignouna is Technical Director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation. He says the law rejects conclusive evidence about the safety of genetically modified organisms in common use.

"There's no need to reinvent the wheel," said Jacob Mignouna. "The world has moved on. This technology has been proven. This is the message our colleagues from Ethiopia should understand and look carefully and see how we can move forward to embrace new technology at the same time protecting biodiversity in this great country."

But Minister of State for Agricultural Development Abera Deresa says Ethiopia is not convinced by available evidence that GMOs are safe. The Agriculture Ministry was a main sponsor of the forum, but Abera says the government has a duty to protect the public until the scientific community does more to prove GMOs pose no threat to health or to Ethiopia's biodiversity.

"Among scientists there is a division," said Abera Deresa. "A certain number of scientists who are not for GMO, a certain number of scientists who are for GMO. So we have to assess why this is happening."

Abera says the government is reviewing the Biosafety Proclamation, and may ask parliament to make changes.

Meanwhile, aid donors say the law could restrict shipments of food intended for more than five million Ethiopians facing malnutrition.

The United States provides nearly 80 per cent of Ethiopia's food assistance.

Among the U.S. supplies currently on the way is roughly 30,000 metric tons of corn-soy blend and vegetable oil, which are typically produced from bioengineered corn and soy.

The Ethiopian government has issued a waiver to allow the products to come in to the country, but the waiver is due to expire at the end of February.

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Ethiopia: Putting Lipstick on a Pig, Ethiopian Style

Alemayehu G. Mariam
Opinion - 4 February 2010

Last week, there was a great deal of teeth-gnashing, knuckle-cracking and gut-wrenching by Ethiopia's dictators over Human Rights Watch's (HRW) 2010 report. The dictators belched out much sound and fury that signified nothing. Their fury had to do with HRW's conclusion that 'Ethiopia is on a deteriorating human rights trajectory as parliamentary elections approach in 2010.' In blunt and unequivocal language, HRW whipsawed the dictators with the facts:

'Broad patterns of government repression have prevented the emergence of organized opposition in most of the country. In December 2008 the government reimprisoned opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa for life after she made remarks that allegedly violated the terms of an earlier pardon. In 2009 the government passed two pieces of legislation that codify some of the worst aspects of the slide towards deeper repression and political intolerance. A civil society law passed in January is one of the most restrictive of its kind, and its provisions will make most independent human rights work impossible.

A new counterterrorism law passed in July permits the government and security forces to prosecute political protesters and non-violent expressions of dissent as acts of terrorism. Ordinary citizens who criticize government policies or officials frequently face arrest on trumped-up accusations of belonging to illegal 'anti-peace' groups, including armed opposition movements. Officials sometimes bring criminal cases in a manner that appears to selectively target government critics...'

The dictators bellyached about HRW's 'unfairness' and bitterly complained about its malicious and wilful blindness to the great strides and democratic achievements they have made over the past several years. 'How could HRW overlook our prized Code of Conduct for Political Parties negotiated by 65 political parties?', they lamented. How could they disregard a 'Code' that is so 'impressive, transparent, free, fair, peaceful, democratic, legitimate and acceptable to the voters?' To add insult to injury, they even overlooked the appointment 'by parliamentary acclamation' of a new human rights commissioner. No matter. All HRW cares about is carping about the 'civil society and anti-terrorist laws' and fabricating stories about human rights abuses in the Somali Regional State. Those cynical and contemptible rascals have 'no interest in, and no time for, any promising developments'. After all, they are just stooges and mouthpieces of the evil Ethiopian 'dissident' diaspora, whose sole aim is to discredit the 'democratic achievements' of the dictatorship.

When Democratic candidate Barack Obama ran for the US presidency, he used a folksy idiom to describe Republican candidate John McCain's pretensions as a new force of change in Washington: 'That's not change. That's just calling the same thing something different. But you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper and call it change; it's still going to stink.'

Well, you can jazz up a bogus election in a one-man, one-party dictatorship with a 'Code of Conduct', but to all the world it is still a bogus election under a one-man, one-party dictatorship. You can appoint lackeys to issue a whitewash human rights report on 'allegations' of abuse in the Ogaden and call it an objective inquiry commission report, but it is still a whitewash. You can appoint a fox to guard the chicken coop and call it safeguarding human rights, but the sly fox will not spare the chickens. You can put lipstick on dictatorship to make it look like a pretty democracy, but at the end of the day, it is still an ugly dictatorship!

Ethiopia's dictators think we are all damned fools. They want us to believe that a pig with lipstick is actually a swan floating on a placid lake, or a butterfly fluttering in the rose garden or even a lamb frolicking in the meadows. They think lipstick will make everything look pretty. Put some lipstick on hyperinflation and you have one of the 'fastest developing economies in the world'. Put lipstick on power outages, and the grids come alive with mega-wattage. Slap a little lipstick on famine, and voilà, Ethiopians are suffering from a slight case of 'severe malnutrition'. Adorn your atrocious human rights record by appointing a 'human rights' chief, and lo and behold, grievous government wrongs are transformed magically into robust human rights protections. Slam your opposition in jail, smother the independent press and criminalise civil society while applying dainty lipstick to a mannequin of democracy. The point is, 'You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper and call it "democracy" but after 20 years it stinks to high heaven!'

Of course, all the sound and fury is a calculated effort at misdirection. Instead of talking about the factual allegations in the HRW report, the dictators want to make Human Rights Watch the issue. But HRW is one human rights organisation that needs no lipstick to do its work, or to cover it up. HRW's investigators do not work on a commission. They don't get paid a penny for digging up mass graves in distant lands and conduct complex forensic studies. They make no money walking the scorching deserts for days and thumping the under brush in the tropical forests to interview remotely located civilian victims of war crimes and human rights abuse. HRW does not work for profit. They do their exceedingly difficult and dangerous work to prevent human rights abuse and to hold states, armed groups and others accountable for human rights violations. They receive their financial support largely from individual donations and gifts. HRW never takes sides in any conflict. To do their work, they do not make their own rules but use established international human rights conventions, treaties, domestic laws and resolutions of world bodies.

Vile accusations against HRW are not new. All governments and groups stung by HRW's factual reports squeal like a stuck pig. They try to discredit HRW's reports as methodologically flawed, unsubstantiated, speculative, slanted, unfair, biased and so on. They try to distract and misdirect public attention from the evidence of their criminality in the reports by attacking HRW as an antagonistic and politically vindictive organisation. In the past few years, HRW has been vilified by those on opposite ends of the same conflict. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have called HRW a 'Zionist' organisation. The Israeli government has accused HRW of being 'obsessed with Israel' and dubbed them 'supporters of terrorism'. But HRW is an organisation with the highest level of integrity. They will not back down from holding any government accountable, including the US. In its latest report, HRW praised President Obama for abolishing secret CIA prisons and banning all use of torture, but they clobbered him ferociously for 'adopting many of the Bush administration's most misguided policies' including the policy of 'indefinite detention without charge' of 'enemy combatants'.

There is no secret to HRW's investigative work. They conduct extensive interviews of alleged victims of human rights abuse. They work with confidential informants in victims' communities and gather evidence from other sources within a given country. They talk to officials and top political leaders and analyse government reports and any other relevant documentation and data. They conduct field investigations and their experts conduct forensic studies, perform ballistics tests and examine medical and autopsy reports. They always seek official permission to conduct their investigations, but most governments generally refuse or ignore the requests to enter their countries for such purposes. HRW has a rigorous system of checking and cross-checking facts. Before publication, HRW always presents its findings to the relevant governments for comment and feedback, and to incorporate changes and make corrections where appropriate. Often, regimes and governments remain silent and provide no feedback on the reports before publication. Once the reports are made public, governments sensitive to criticism unleash their spin-doctors to moan and groan about HRW in an attempt to capture media attention and deflect public scrutiny from the evidence in the reports that incriminate them.

'No one loves the messenger who brings bad news.' But attacking the messenger does not make a lie out of the message, just as putting lipstick on a pig does not make the pig a swan (perhaps a vulture).

Support Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other human rights organisations!

Alemayehu G. Mariam is professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles. This article was originally published by The Huffington Post.
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201002041016.html