Church, Family Offers $10,000 Reward For Ethiopian Market Owner's Killer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A $10,000 reward has been offered to find whoever assassinated a South Nashville businessman inside his restaurant.

On Thursday, members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Antioch held a prayer vigil for 41-year-old Gitem Demissee.

Demissee was assassinated on March 19 after a gunman walked into his restaurant, shot him several times and then ran away.

Priest Mesfin Tesemma said his church and Demissee's family have offered the reward to find Demissee's killer. 

"Through time, people are remembering him, remembering the incident. Even I am getting from most of the Ethiopian community members that they cannot sleep. They are so afraid of the whole situation," he said.

Tesemma said on Tuesday, he delivered a petition to Mayor Megan Barry's office to put more attention on this murder.

"This cannot go away easily unless justice is served," Tesemma said.

As the gunman's identity remains a mystery. So does the restaurant's future. Its doors are still closed. Demissee's car still parked out front.

"We're thinking of bringing his brother back from Ethiopia because we have to have legal representation anyways. We want it to continue somehow, but it's up to the family to decide," Tesemma said.

Police describe the gunman as 5-feet-7 and a thin build.

Anyone with information on this fatal shooting has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463. Read more here

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.