Ethiopian PM's wife: I feel at home in Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara on Tuesday evening hosted dinner for Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and his wife Roman Tesfaye at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem.

At the dinner, Ester Rada sang the Amharic song "Nanu Ney," as well as Ehud Manor's "I Have No Other Country," which was set to music by Korin Elal.

In the guestbook, Prime Minister Desalegn wrote, "I am so privileged to get this reception and close friendship. I am committed to deepen our people-to-people friendship and government to government. But above all my personal friendship with Prime Minister Netanyahu."

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart. [The] Ethiopia Israel relationship is very historic. Long live our relations and fraternal life. God bless Israel, God bless Ethiopia."

Roman Tesfaye wrote, "I am so thrilled to be received by the Israeli PM and First Lady. Thank you for hosting us. It shows our close relationship that will last forever."

"God bless Israel and Ethiopia. I feel at home!" Read more here

Ethiopian to host ICAO forum

Ethiopian Airlines will host the second ICAO Global Air Cargo Development Forum at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa conference hall from June 27 to 29, 2017.

The theme of the event, ‘Action for the Sustainable Development of Air Cargo in Africa’, is aimed at achieving progress towards the implementation of the Lomé Declaration, as well as identifying challenges and opportunities and building on the decisions of the 39th ICAO Assembly, an Ethiopian Airlines statement said.

Cooperation between ICAO, the World Customs Organization and TIACA is also expected to get a boost from the event.

Ethiopian Airlines Group chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam said: “As the largest cargo operator in Africa, we are pleased to host this vital communication platform, which builds upon the Declaration on the development of Air Cargo in Africa and commit a roadmap for priority actions.

“With the aim of complementing the booming African economy, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services has availed the most efficient air cargo services within, to and from Africa: expanding cargo destinations across the globe; inaugurating the first phase of a state-of-the-art cargo Terminal II, which together with the second phase has annual uplift capacity of 1.2 m tons, and automating its entire cargo business process with one of the best cargo IT systems,” he added.

In April, the carrier hosted the ICAO Global Aviation Training and TRAINAIR PLUS Symposium with the theme ‘Together, Enhancing Training to Build Capacity’.

Ethiopian Airlines is the fastest-growing carrier in Africa. Its modern fleet (including 18 Boeing 787 aircraft, its 19th being scheduled for delivery by the end of June) serves 95 international destinations across five continents. Read more here

Ethiopian community leader jailed for importing common African herbal stimulant khat — deemed in SA as harmful as ice and heroin

A HERBAL stimulant — legal in many countries and for centuries used by African people for cultural and religious reasons — has led to prison terms for an Ethiopian community leader and his friend.

In a case The Advertiser understands to be an Australian first, Melbourne man Mulugeta Fekdu Abebe and Ethiopian visitor Abdelkerim Ahmed Mudeser were jailed for at least 18 and 15 months respectively for importing 60kg of khat in May 2016.

Khat is a shrub native to East Africa which can be chewed, smoked or consumed in tea, producing a stimulant effect through the ingredient cathinone, which is stronger than coffee but far less potent than amphetamines.

Abebe and Mudeser pleaded guilty in the District Court to trafficking a commercial amount of khat, which can cause psychological dependence, but is commonly used by African people from childhood.

District Court judge Paul Rice said the Controlled Substances Act left him no option but to treat khat as being “equally harmful” as ice, heroin and synthetic drugs linked to sudden deaths.

Judge Rice said Mudeser was unaware of the potential consequences when he agreed to import two packages of khat, which were seized at Adelaide Airport.

“You assumed that if you were not allowed to have the drug ... in South Australia it would simply be thrown out like any other plant or food material,” Judge Rice said.

Mudeser, a 58-year-old father-of-two with limited English skills, had been unable to contact his family including his 11-year-old daughter who needs to travel to Sweden for specialist treatment for a heart condition. Read more here

Ethiopian PM visits Jerusalem's old city ahead of Netanyahu meeting

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on his continued visit to Israel met with the host country’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and toured the old city on Monday (June 5).

This comes ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.at the start of a two-day visit to the region. Photos shared by the Israeli Foreign Ministry showed Desalegn at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s old city.

The PM who was spotting a Jewish cap – the yarmulke – had both hands on the historic wall where people usually write and insert their requests. He looked deep in meditation.

Prior to that, the PM who was accompanied by his wife, the foreign minister and other top government officials visited the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Holy Sepulchre Church as well as the tomb of Jesus Christ.

This trip is Desalegn’s first to Israel, he is scheduled to meet other Israeli leaders today (June 6) beside the one with his counterpart Netanyahu.

As part of his activities in the country so far, he has met with the Ethiopian community in the country and also held bilateral talks with President Reuvin Rivlin.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Sunday (June 4) attended the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) conference in Liberia. The Liberia trip was his second to Sub-Saharan Africa in less than a year.

Netanyahu traveled to East Africa – Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda – in July 2016 during the first visit by a sitting Israeli prime minister to Africa in 29 years. Read more here

Have We no Sense of Outrage?

By Addissu Admas

The mere fact that 94% of Ethiopia’s population is governed by the leaders of 6% of the population is something that should befuddle anyone with a modicum of intelligence. I know that our intellectuals have explained to us why such a situation has come to be, and why it continues to exist after 26 long years. But they can’t seem to be able to explain away why the peoples of Ethiopia who are said to be outraged appear to be so paralyzed from taking the next obvious step: open raging rebellion to overthrow this minority government. I do not deny of course that the current regime as well as the previous one has put in place certain mechanisms, historical and otherwise, to frustrate any open rebellion.

To begin, the Derg regime has eroded the very core of Ethiopia’s nationalist ethos and mutual trust of the people by pitting citizens against one another. It created a culture of distrust, suspicion and cruelty through the Red Terror and beyond. This has prepared for the current regime an ideal terrain to do whatever it wanted and fancied. In other words, the Derg has left a frustrated, disunited and emasculated people whose desire for peace and tranquility at any cost and under any circumstance has left it even more disposed and vulnerable to further abuse and contempt by the current regime.

The main culprit for our lack of a sense of outrage at any event is without a doubt the EPRDF or more appropriately the TPLF. This party has governed the country inspired by one ancient principle: Divide and Rule. From the moment they stepped in the Capital and took hold of the mass media to this very day their message has been un-abashed and un-ambiguous: You are not one nation and should not behave like one. And so they went on an aggressive and ugly campaign to revive and exploit the dormant historical animosities that existed among the various nationalities and ethnicities of Ethiopia. To be sure these historical animus among the peoples of Ethiopia were not extraordinary, nor much less of a sinister origin. In other words they are not the result of genocide as in Ruanda or Armenia. They were rather of the garden variety one encounters in most nations where ethnic diversity exists. True there have been unhealthy, prejudiced, mean-spirited and even discriminatory practices. But nothing to warrant an outright war. If there was indeed outrage it was against an entrenched feudal system. And the Revolution arose precisely against it, and changed the course of our history.

The imperial regimes that preceded the Derg, and even the Derg itself has always tried to or at least tried to appear to be more inclusive, even though it never quite succeeded. But this current regime has been if anything very clear with its intention: It manifestly wanted discord, suspicion and non-cooperation to persist to assure itself permanent survival. And to a large extent it has succeeded. Ethiopians, especially her two major ethnic branches, which together exceed 70% of the entire population of the country, have continued to glower at each other over their trenches. As long as this situation endures, the governing regime is assured to rule for another generation. The Derg had the various liberation fronts wars to justify its continuance in power. The TPLF has to continue feeding the dangerous fire of ethnic animus to hold on to power. But are we to continue to be played by these unscrupulous purveyors of narrow tribalism? Or are we to oppose them as a united front? The choice is ours.

I know that the current generation living both overseas and at home is rather lulled by theapparent economic prosperity that this regime claims as its chief achievement. The educated youth had been the primary agent of change during the Revolution. The current youth on the other hand appears to be rather absorbed by economic ambition and short term gain. Opportunism has replaced outrage. Short term gain has taken center stage. Struggle for country and kin is simply a non-factor in the youth’s vision of the future. Yet if the young believe in true equality among all nations and ethnicities of Ethiopia, if true prosperity founded on the natural wealth of the country and not based on borrowed money and foreign capital is to emerge, if true inclusive democracy is to be founded on the ashes of the present regime, the involvement of Ethiopia’s youth is simply indispensable. The young have to choose whether they want to scrap the bottom of the barrel, “eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table”, or seat as masters of the table partaking of the banquet, it is a choice they only can make, and live with. I know from observing recent world events that a sense of hot outrage would have filled any youth of any nation on this planet, if it were forced to live in circumstances similar to ours. And yet we proceed as if what is going on in Ethiopia seems to happen in a neighboring universe.

Don’t rush to label me a “provocateur” and an instigator of a war I can’t partake in. Yes war should always be held as a last resort when all options fail. It should be held as a stick over the head of our oppressors, so that they know we are serious in our demands. In truth I am calling for a collective and unified political action of the entire peoples, nations and nationalities of Ethiopia (as this regime likes to parcel us) to unseat this profoundly unjust, repressive and arrogant regime. And to replace it with one that will become a beacon for generations to come. Remember that as long as we remain divided along ethnic and ideological lines we are simply extending the life of this parasitic regime. We have to set aside, at least until this regime’s demise, our differences and disagreements, and join our political and organizational capital to overthrow and replace this regime of Apartheid. We must do it or we are condemned to permanent subservience. Read more here