Al-Shabab takes town after Ethiopian troops leave

MOGADISHU: Somalia’s Al-Shabab group has taken control of El-Bur, a town in the Horn of Africa’s semi-autonomous region of Galmudug, after Ethiopian forces left, a government official has said.
Al-Shabab is seeking to drive the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force out of Somalia and topple the country’s central government.
Ethiopian forces, who are part of the peacekeeping force alongside troops from Uganda, Kenya and other countries, had captured the town from Al-Shabab in 2014, officials from the area said.
Most residents fled into nearby bushland with the arrival of Ethiopian forces in El-Bur, and Warsame said the town was deserted when Al-Shabab fighters entered.
Al-Shabab has been driven out of its strongholds in Somalia army offensives, although the group still controls some rural areas and often launches frequent bomb attacks in Mogadishu.
Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, Al-Shabab’s governor for Galmudug’s Galgadud region, where El-Bur is located, confirmed the group had retaken the town.
“We captured it. There were no residents for over the three years Ethiopian troops controlled the town,” he said.
“We are sure residents will come back to the town.”
Meanwhile, pirates who seized an Indian cargo dhow with 11 crew members in waters off the Somali coast have taken the vessel to El-Hur, near the port of Hobyo in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Galmudug state, said Aw Kombe, a pirate leader.

Origin of hijackers
He said the pirates were in touch with businessmen in Kismayu over releasing the vessel, Al-Kausar.
“The traders want the dhow be released without ransom but my friends say they may not release without at least some cash,” he added. “They are still discussing.”
The identity and origin of the hijackers was disputed, however. A Galmudug state official said the pirates came from northern Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland while Kombe, a Puntland pirate leader, put the blame on “our friends from Galmudug state.”
The Al-Kausar was commandeered in the vicinity of Socotra Island while en route from Dubai to Puntland’s port of Bosasso, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which coordinates shipping in the Gulf of Aden area.
Ship owners have become less wary of piracy after a long period of calm off the Horn of Africa, experts say, and some have started using a riskier route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island, to save time and costs.
“The pirates who hijacked the dhow are from Puntland,” said a government official in Galmudug state.
“No doubt, the Puntland pirates who recently hijacked the oil tanker are now holding the dhow,” he said, referring to the hijacking last month of an oil tanker.
That was the first such seizure of a vessel since 2012 and the pirates released it within a few days after a clash with Puntland’s marine force.
Burhan Warsame, Galmudug’s minister for ports and sea transport, also said that the same pirates who seized the oil tanker last month “must have hijacked this dhow.”
But Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, the former general director of Puntland’s anti-piracy agency, said the dhow’s location made it more likely that the pirates were from Galmudug.
Kombe, who headed the pirate gang that commandeered the oil tanker, said there were four groups of pirates from Puntland “who are still in ocean hunting for ships to hijack.”
“But the dhow is in El-Hur near Hobyo and the pirates holding it must be our friends from Galmudug state.” Read more here

Italy and UNIDO sign agreement to help increase incomes of Ethiopian coffee producers

ADDIS ABABA, 3 April 2017 - Italy and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) today signed a financing agreement for a project entitled “Improving the Sustainability and Inclusiveness of the Ethiopian Coffee Value Chain through Private and Public Partnership”.

The project, which is supported by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation with a budget of €2.5m,will be implemented by UNIDO in partnership with Illycaffè and the Ernesto Illy Foundation, and in close synergy with Ethiopian institutions, including the recently established Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development and Marketing Authority.

The project will be implemented in Addis Ababa, and in two regional states, Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' (SNNP) Region, over three years. Its aim is to increase the quality, traceability and international recognition of Ethiopian coffee in order to raise coffee export revenues and the incomes of smallholder farmers.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Giuseppe Mistretta, Ambassador of Italy to Ethiopia, said that "Italy is investing important resources in the economic development of Ethiopia through the support for agricultural value chains (durum wheat, tomato and coffee) and agro-industry. We see agricultural and industrial development as strongly related. I appreciate the collaboration with Illycaffè and their effort to promote Ethiopian coffee."

Gustavo Aishemberg, UNIDO Representative and Director of the Regional Office in Ethiopia, said that the project will improve the Ethiopian coffee supply chain value and enhance the inclusiveness and the integration of all the Ethiopian coffee sector stakeholders.

Sani Redi, Director General of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development and Marketing Authority, who was also present at the signing ceremony, voiced his appreciation for the Government of Italy‟s support for the Ethiopian coffee sector. He stated that the Authority is working closely with UNIDO to ensure the project‟s sustainability and effectiveness.

Ginevra Letizia, head of the Addis Ababa Office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, underlined the Office's continuing support for the development of the coffee value chain in Ethiopia. "The coffee value chain is very important for this country. Coffee is a treasure of the culture of Ethiopia and it is a duty to improve the coffee production. The genetic variety is the most important in the world and the government strategy rightly stresses the importance of improving the traceability and the quality of Ethiopian coffee", she added.

This initiative, which is in line with Ethiopia‟s Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTPII), will implement strategic activities to support smallholder farmers and cooperatives through the introduction of "Best Agronomical Practices" to increase yields, through technical skills transfer and the provision of practical tool boxes for an optimized post-harvest process, washing station infrastructures, and cupping laboratories, and through the dissemination of modern marketing techniques.

In addition, the technical capacities of the Coffee and Tea Development and Marketing Authority will receive support and the first coffee roasting training centre will be established in Addis Ababa with a view to improving local expertise and upgrading the country‟s roasted coffee production capacity.

The partnership-based approach defines concrete working models of cooperation between governments, stakeholders, donors, private sector actors and UNIDO. Notably, Illycaffè and the Ernesto Illy Foundation will support the initiative and will work jointly with the project‟s partners to upscale local capacities and knowledge of the coffee value chain, as well as serving as trading facilitators and advisors.

It is expected that the project will improve coordination among all the actors involved in the coffee value chain, and raise the quantity and quality of exported coffee, leading to an increased presence of Ethiopian coffee on the international market. Read more here

For further information, contact:

Dario Poddighe, Communications and Public Relations Officer, Italian Agency For Development Cooperation Addis Ababa Office and Embassy of Italy in Ethiopia

Email

Jaba Alemayehu Merdassa, UNIDO Coffee National Project Coordinator

Email 

Ethiopia, Sudan agree on free trade zone

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - APRIL 04 : Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (L) and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (R) shake hand before a joint press conference at National Palace, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on April 04, 2017. ( Minasse Wondimu Hailu - Anadolu Agency )

Ethiopia and Sudan on Tuesday agreed to launch a free trade zone, a railway line and to promote equitable use of the water of the Nile.

The announcement came at joint press conference following a meeting between the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Al-Bashir, who is on a three-day visit to the eastern African country, said the two countries agreed to forge closer ties and bolster cooperation in the political, economic, social and cultural areas.

"The security of Sudan and Ethiopia are the existential foundation of both countries. Therefore, we will coordinate our security, police and army to maintain peace and stability in both countries," he said.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, for his part, said that the two countries "will launch very soon a free economic zone".

"A new railway line will also be built between the two countries," he added.

According to a joint press statement issued on the occasion, the two countries also "appreciated the existing understanding and cooperation and coordination between them on equitable use of the waters of the Nile and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)".

Sudan supports Ethiopia in the latter’s multibillion dollar dam project that will generate 6000MW electricity upon completion. Egypt has been apprehensive of the dam which it fears will minimize water flowing downstream.

Relations between Egypt and Sudan have also come under strain recently, as both claim ownership of the Halaib Triangle region, located in the borderland between the two neighbors.

According to Taffese Huluka, professor of political science and international relations at Addis Ababa University, in addition to helping cement the bilateral relations, the visit by President al-Bashir to Ethiopia may be used by the two countries to consolidate their common stand against Egyptian hegemony on the Nile.

"It may be a sort of ‘scratch my back, and I will scratch yours’ between the two countries," he said, adding Ethiopia in return may use its international standing to support the cause of Sudan.

As a member of the Arab League, Sudan would be willing, in return, to promote Ethiopia’s interests among the Arab world, Huluka said.

Sudan would also be instrumental in easing tensions that may arise due to military build-up of some Gulf countries along the Red Sea, he added.

Last week, the Sudanese and Saudi air forces conducted joint military exercises in northern Sudan near the border with Egypt. Read more here

Why Ethiopia is building a space programme - economist

THE ancient holy town of Lalibela, perched some 2,500 metres above sea-level in Ethiopia’s northern highlands, boasts some of the clearest night skies imaginable. Ethiopian stargazers dream that the mountains around Lalibela may one day host a world-class observatory to rival the big ones in Chile and Hawaii. And in time Ethiopia hopes to do more than just gaze at the stars. It would like to launch its own satellites, too.

In January the government said it would launch a Chinese-built civilian satellite from an overseas rocket pad within the next five years. It would be designed to Ethiopian specifications and used to monitor crops and the weather, and doubtless to spy on neighbours, too. The government also wants to reduce reliance on foreign telecoms by launching its own communications satellite.

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In putting its own satellites into orbit Ethiopia would join the select club of African nations that have already done so. Nigeria has paid for the launch of five since 2003, some of which it says have helped fight terrorism. South Africa has also put several home-built satellites into space. Egypt launched two earth-observation ones, both of which have since failed; a private company, Nilesat, successfully operates communications ones. Kenya, Angola and Ghana are eager to join them.

Being able to beam communications or take photos from space offers some economic benefits. Ethiopia’s government hopes that mapping the country to help resolve land disputes, for instance, could boost agricultural productivity. And it could help with planning cities better. Investment in space science might also help speed up industrialisation, the government hopes.

But do countries like Ethiopia need to own, build, or launch their own satellites to reap these benefits? Constellations of satellites constantly float above Africa today, providing the signals used for global positioning services and, for a fee, pictures that can be used to assess droughts and other natural disasters. Gabon aims to manage its vast forests with the help of a satellite receiving station, not by building a satellite. High-resolution, tailored imagery is still costly, but the sort that can be used for most development purposes, such as monitoring crop yields, is now cheap or even free. And many functions of satellites, such as resource mapping, are increasingly being replaced by drones.

The case for communication satellites, which are much more expensive, is weaker still. Keith Gottschalk of the University of the Western Cape notes that a single communications satellite can broadcast to the entire continent. Nigeria, meanwhile, spent $300m on a Chinese communication satellite which failed in little over a year. Its successor struggles to compete with commercial providers: its annual revenue in 2015 was a measly $3.3m.

Africa is entering the space race at a time when the cost of satellite technology is falling fast. Tiny “cubesats” can be made by private firms for just a few hundred thousand dollars each and launched just as cheaply. For Ethiopia, where few scientists have the expertise to make use of the flood of cheap data, perhaps the best argument for a modest space programme is that it might help the country develop its human capital. But at a time when 5.6m Ethiopians need emergency food aid because of a drought, it seems an odd priority.

Why is Western media ignoring ongoing atrocity in Ethiopia?- huffington post

She spoke to me with tears in her eyes describing the calculated execution of her own people. Even though Atsede Kazachew feels relatively safe as an Ethnic Amharic Ethiopian woman living inside the United States, she is grieving for all her fellow ethnic Ethiopians both Amharic and Omoro who have been mercilessly killed inside her own country.

“There is no one in the United States who understands,” outlined Atsede. “Why? Why?” she asked as her shaking hands were brought close to her face to hide her eyes.

The Irreecha Holy Festival is a hallowed annual celebration for North East Africa’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo people. Bringing together what has been counted as up to two million people, who live near and far away from the city of Bishoftu, the Irreecha Festival is a annual gathering of spiritual, social and religious significance. It is also a time to appreciate life itself as well as a celebration for the upcoming harvest in the rural regions.

Tragically on Sunday October 2, 2016 the event ended in what Ethiopia’s government said was 55 deaths but what locals described as up to 700 deaths and casualties.

“The Ethiopian government is engaged in its bloodiest crackdown in a decade, but the scale of this crisis has barely registered internationally...,” outlined UK Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) David Mepham in a June 16, 2016 media release published by the International Business Times.

“For the past seven months, security forces have fired live ammunition into crowds and carried out summary executions...,” added Mepham.

So what has the U.S. been doing about the present crisis situation in Ethiopia?

With a long relationship of diplomacy that spans over 100 years beginning in 1903, that uilds up the U.S. to consider Ethiopia as an ‘anchor nation’ on the African continent, corrupt politics and long range U.S. investors in the region are an integral part of the problem. All of it works a head in the sand policies that pander to the status of the ‘‘quid pro quo’.

Spurred on by what locals described as Ethiopia military members who disrupted the gathering by threatening those who came to attend the holiday event; the then makeshift military threw tear gas and gun shots into the crowd. The voices of many of those who were present described a “massive stampede” ending in numerous deaths.

“This has all been so hard for me to watch,” Atseda outlined as she described what she witnessed on a variety of videos that captured the ongoing government militarization and violence in the region. “And there’s been little to no coverage on this,” she added. “Western media has been ignoring the situation with way too little news stories.”

“Do you think this is also an attempt by the Ethiopian military to commit genocide against the ethnic Omoro people?” I asked.

“Yes,” she answered. The Amharic and the Omoro people have suffered so very much over many years, outlined Atsede. Much of it lately has been about government land grabs, on land that has belonged to the same families for generations, Atsede continued.

The details on the topic of apparent land grabs wasn’t something I knew very much about in the region, even though I’ve been covering international news and land grabs in Asia Pacific and China’s Tibetan Autonomous Region along with the plight of global women and human rights cases for over a decade.

JONATHAN ALPEYRIE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

One lone woman stands out surrounded by men during her march with Ethiopia’a Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a national self-determination organization that has worked to stop atrocity against rural ethnics inside Ethiopia beginning as far back as 1973. Today the Ethiopian government continues to classify the OLF as a terrorist organization. In this image the look on this unnamed woman’s face says “a-thousand-words.” Image: Jonathan Alpeyrie/Wikimedia Commons

Numerous ethnic women living inside Ethiopia today in 2017 are attempting to work toward peace in the northern and southern regions of Ethiopia as they continue to witness the destructive crackdown of the government against rural farming communities.

Under conditions of internal national and border conflict, ethnic Ethiopian women can often face increased stress under forced relocation, personal contact with unwanted violence including domestic abuse and rape, and discriminatory conditions for their family and children that can also affect conditions causing food insecurity and loss.

Increasing land grabs play an integral part of high levels of stress for women who normally want to live with their family in peace without struggle. But corruption on the leadership levels inside Ethiopia are encouraging land acquisitions that ignore the needs of families who have lived on the same land for centuries.

As Ethiopia’s high level business interests continue to be strongly affected by insider deals under both local and global politics the way back to peace is becoming more and more difficult.

Even foreign government advocacy agencies like the World Bank, DFID, as well as members of the European Union, have suffered from ongoing accusations of political pandering and corrupt practices with business interests inside Ethiopia.

With the release of the film ‘Dead Donkeys / Fear No Hyenas’ by Swedish film director Joakim Demmer the global public eye is beginning to open widely in understanding how land grab corruption works inside East Africa. With a story that took seven years to complete the film is now working to expand its audience through an April 2017 Kickstarter campaign.

“Dead Donkeys / Fear No Hyenas was triggered by a seemingly trivial scene at the airport in Addis Ababa, six years back. Waiting for my flight late at night, I happened to see some tired workers at the tarmac who were loading food products on an airplane destined for Europe. At the same time, another team was busy unloading sacks with food aid from a second plane. It took some time to realize the real meaning of it – that this famine struck country, where millions are dependent on food aid, is actually exporting food to the western world,” outlined film director Demmer.

It’s no wonder that anger has spread among Ethiopia’s ethnic farming region.

“The anger also came over the ignorance, cynicism and sometimes pure stupidity of international societies like the EU, DFID, World Bank etc., whose intentions might mostly be good, but in this case, ends up supporting a dictatorship and a disastrous development with our tax money, instead of helping the people...,” continued Demmer in his recent Kickstarter campaign.

“What I found was that lives were being destroyed,” added Demmer in another recent March 28, 2017 interview with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. ”I discovered that the World Bank and other development institutions, financed by tax money, were contributing to these developments in the region. I was ashamed, also ashamed that European and American companies were involved in this.”

“Yes. And yes again,” concurred Atsede in her discussion with me as we talked about big money, vested interests and U.S. investors inside Ethiopia, including other interests coming from the UK, China, Canada and more.

As regional farmers are pushed from generational land against their will, in what has been expressed as “long term and hard to understand foreign leasing agreements”, ongoing street protests have met numerous times with severe and lethal violence from government sanctioned security officers.

Ironically some U.S. foreign oil investments in the region vamped up purchasing as former U.S. State Department Deputy Secretary Antony Blinken showed approval of the Dijbouti-Ethiopia pipeline project during a press meeting in Ethiopia in February 2016.

In April 2017, as anger with the region’s ethnic population expands, Ethiopia has opted to run its government with a four month extension as President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu announced a continuation of the “State of Emergency.”

“How long can Ethiopia’s State of Emergency keep the lid on anger?” asks a recent headline in The Guardian News. Land rights, land grabs and the growing anger of the Oromo people is not predicted to stop anytime soon.

The ongoing situation could cost additional lives and heightened violence say numerous human rights and land rights experts.

“The government needs to rein in the security forces, free anyone being held wrongfully, and hold accountable soldiers and police who used excessive force,” said Human Rights Watch Deputy Regional Africa Director Leslie Lefko.

“How can you breathe if you aren’t able to say what you want to say,” echoed Atsede Kazachew. “Instead you get killed.”