ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — A prominent Ethiopian attorney and a Voice of America journalist face stiff prison terms in a case linked to an exiled opposition leader accused of plotting to overthrow Prime Minister Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi’s government. The accused are free on bail, pending trial.
The Chairman of Ethiopia’s independent Human Rights Council and former Supreme Court justice Abebe Worke is scheduled to appear for pre-trial hearings on Wednesday in an Addis Ababa court along with VOA Amharic service reporter Meleskachew Ameha. The two men are charged with trying to sell illegal radio broadcasting equipment that was imported without paying taxes.
Defense attorney Atnafu Bogale says the pair face long prison terms, if convicted.
“One charge carries a sentence of seven to 15 years and the other charge carries a sentence of three to five years,” said Atnafu Bogale. “Both charges are serious, rigorous imprisonment.”
The suspected contraband was seized by customs agents at the Addis Broadcasting Company, ABC – a firm founded by a shareholders group that includes Meleskachew, Abebe and opposition leader Berhanu Nega.
The company obtained studio equipment in 2002 through a grant from the Norwegian government intended to foster independent media in Ethiopia. But subsequently, the firm was unable to obtain a broadcasting license.
Attorneys says ABC’s link to Berhanu Nega is a complicating factor in the case. He was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005, but was later jailed in connection with post election violence. After being freed in 2007, he went to the United States, where he heads Ginbot Seven, an opposition group committed to ousting the Ethiopian government.
Police recently arrested 32 suspected Ginbot Seven members and accused them of hatching a plot to assassinate public officials.
Fourteen others were charged in absentia, including Berhanu Nega. Berhanu denies the charges.
Law professor and co-founder of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council Mesfin Woldemariam says Berhanu’s involvement in ABC makes it a target.
“They are definitely going at Berhanu Nega with ABC,” said Mesfin Woldemariam. “[If] they wanted Berhanu Nega, they don’t have to arrest so many individuals who have shares. So it is irrational, perhaps motivated by fear.”
The arrest of Meleskachew Ameha comes at a time of tense relations between the government and the Voice of America, which broadcasts in four of Ethiopia’s main languages. The government temporarily suspended Meleskachew’s reporting license earlier this year to underscore its displeasure with VOA’s news coverage.
Ethiopia’s Communications Minister, Bereket Simon, told journalists it is no secret that the government has qualms about VOA’s reporting. But he denied that the ABC case is aimed at silencing reporter Meleskachew.
“Absolutely not,” said Bereket Simon. “The arrest of Meleskachew is related only to tax evasion and doing illicit activities in terms of bringing in radio equipment without prior knowledge of the government. So it has nothing to do with content.”
In a related development, the government last week ordered a local FM radio station in Addis Ababa to immediately stop all rebroadcasts of VOA programs. The popular Sheger FM station had been broadcasting several hours daily of mostly music programming in English, including brief international news bulletins.
The bar, located on West 11th Street, faced heavy scrutiny from the city council Monday night. “I have zero tolerance for underage alcohol sales. and I am extremely disappointed, irritated, annoyed and flabbergasted,” says councilwoman De Knudson.
She’s upset over what transpired at Lalibela bar and restaurant. Just five days after the council tried to help them out, police discovered underage drinkers in the facility. The bar’s owner, Mulugeta Endayehu, an immigrant from Ethiopia, says the bouncer had one plan, while he had another. “The security guard told us 18 and over.”
Endayehu says he never authorized an 18 plus night, that the bouncer was acting on his own. The council had a tough time believing that.
“I just have a problem with the doorman being the fall guy for this. If you had a bad cook, you’d have gotten rid of him. You’d have known that right away. I just can’t see the doorman holding the bag on this,” says councilman Bob Litz.
Councilman Gerald Beninga echoed those comments. “You’re the person who is responsible for the facility. How are you going to prevent that from happening again?”
Endayehu response; it starts with better communication between he and his staff.
When the meeting was all said and done, the council had approved the renewal of a liquor license. However, it comes with conditions. Endayehu must attend an alcohol training course, and he’s not to allow anyone under 21 into the bar after 11:00 p.m..
After the meeting, he expressed his gratitude toward the council. “They gave us a chance. We’ll try to do what the law says.”
The shortage of foreign currency reserve has helped drop tax revenues following [a slower] foreign trade performance, Belachew Beyene, Director of Duties and Tax Audit with the Ethiopia Customs and Revenue Authority (ECRA), said Thursday.
“The import/export trade [during the current Ethiopian fiscal year] has not performed as expected partly due to shortage of foreign currency,” Belachew said. “And this has led the tax revenue to decline.”
The director made the remark while presenting a paper at a half-day seminar on “tax compliance” organized by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Foreign trade accounts for 48 percent of the total tax revenue, with direct and domestic tax constituting 21 and 31 percent, respectively, according to the director.
Revenues secured from the export sector during the first nine months of the current fiscal year has fallen USD 800 million short of the target while the import trade showed a slight slowdown.
Aside from the shortage of foreign currency reserves, non-tax compliance was to account for the slowdown in tax revenues, according to Belachew.
“The average tax revenue /GDP ratio in sub-Saharan Africa, middle income countries and high income economies is 16 percent, 25 percent and 40 percent, respectively,” Belachew said. “The average tax revenue/GDP ratio for Ethiopia is 11 percent [which shows a weaker tax compliance rate compared to countries around the world].”
A group charged with conspiracy to overthrow Ethiopia’s government has asked a court for special protection, alleging their human rights have been violated during detention. Our correspondent reports relatives say some defendants have been tortured.
At a pre-trial hearing, attorneys and defendants in the so-called “Ginbot Seven” case indicated the accused had suffered physical and psychological abuse while being held in pre-trial detention.
Former army general Asamenew Tsige, one of five leaders of an alleged coup plot being held in solitary confinement, pleaded for special human-rights protection. An attorney for another defendant, businessman Getu Worku, asked that her client be allowed to see a private doctor for injuries suffered in detention.
Both requests were denied.
Getu Worku’s wife, Rakeb Messele, who is also an attorney and human rights activist, said her husband was told he could only be examined by prison doctors.
“He was told he can try to address those issues through the health personnel of the prison administration,” said Rakeb Messele. ” [They said] you cannot ask for a private doctor to examine the client because now he is at the custody of the prison administration. What she said that the report of the medical examination might serve as evidence for her client.”
Rights groups have expressed concern about the political implications of the arrest of the 32 Ginbot Seven activists. The organization is led by Berhanu Nega, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005.
Berhanu was later jailed along with other opposition leaders in connection with violent post-election protests and sentenced to life in prison. He was pardoned in 2007 and went to the United States, where he founded Ginbot Seven, named for May 15th, the date of the disputed election. He has repeatedly stated the group’s goal is to oust Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government, which it considers illegitimate, but he denies the existence of any assassination plot.
Thirty-two accused conspirators appeared in court for pre-trial hearings. Berhanu Nega is among 14 others charged in absentia.
Most of those in custody are current or former military officers, including two generals. But the government has rejected suggestions that the group was planning a military coup.
Relatives of some of the defendants told reporters their loved ones had been subjected to harsh physical abuse during interrogation.
Government spokesman Shimelis Kemal rejected the charge, and pointed out that in three court appearances, the defendants had not filed any specific charges of abuse or torture. He said investigating officers never resort to what he called ‘third-degree measures’ to procure information from prisoners.
The case was adjourned for further study until June 30, when a bail request will be heard. The court also turned down a special bail request by the 83-year-old father of a top Ginbot Seven official. The official is living in Britain, and is among those charged in absentia.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — I am not good at joking. I don’t even remember most of the jokes I hear, nor do I have the habit of memorizing them to tell others. But I cannot forget the jokes I have heard about “Cherkos” – the slum known for its poor and overpopulation. May be because the stories are touching, or they have great relevance to life for most of our population. In that sense, I don’t believe the jokes are only about “Cherkos” but, rather, about the majority of us.
Whenever the name “Cherkos” is mentioned on any casual talk, I expect scary jokes. One day, I was thinking about these jokes and started wondering what part of our city (Addis Ababa) does not have such places? I could not find any. Semien, Debube, Misrak and Meirab – all have something in common. You will find all kinds of people: millionaires, rich, upper middle class, middle class, average, below average, poor, very poor, and the homeless.
I don’t hate seeing the rich live near the poor, or the co-existence of the palace with the slum. In fact it’s good thing that at least we share the same place and air, although we use it differently.
I assume sometimes we become blinded by names regardless of what is behind them. When we hear about Bole and Cherkos, we see the stereotypical images we have of them. We just feel Bole is a place only for those who can afford the expensive supermarkets, pricey cars, and those who live in the “palaces”. Of course, the opposite is true for Cherkos and the other slums in our town.
But, in reality, I find that it is just a matter of degree but all have various types of people in different proportions. Recently, I visited the big slum in the Bole area (the so-called high class “sefer”) around 2Km from Bole International Airport. Bole, as we all know, is the place that everyone wishes to reside. Although there are pockets of Bole where we find slums, I focused mainly on the one slum that is commonly called “Wollo Sefer” – the one that is hidden from Bole Road (Africa Avenue) by the colorful wall.
They proudly call it Bole!, with a stress on ‘e’. Many people think of Bole as a “Sefer” with full of abundance, stability, tranquility, and a place reserved for only those who can afford to be Bole residents. I wondered what makes the slum in “Wollo Sefer” different from the slum in “Cherkos” that people joke about so often? Is there any difference with being homeless and needy regardless of where you live? Do the residents of these two slums live differently? I wondered if the people at the Cherkos slum look at people at the Bole slum with envy. It is difficult to see any difference in being poor and homeless in any part of the city.
Anyway, I went to check out for myself into the smaller slum at the beginning of Wollo Sefer, just behind the colorful and greenish wall, which I believe divides the slum residents from the stereotypical Bole.
I headed into the village right away and unplanned (of course, you cannot plan to visit a slum – you just go) to see the messy and very destitute “houses” there.
I was looking at households with 3-10 occupants. I started looking for someone who was willing to take part in my interview. I met girls who were eager to show me their compound and to get me someone for my interview. When I reached their compound, I noticed three houses irregularly placed – houses that cannot really be called houses. I was expecting the girl to take me to one of the houses but, instead, she invited me to follow her to the back of the houses. I didn’t hesitate. She took me over a drainage covered by 60 cm wide fragile “bridge” made with sticks, in between the two walls. I should have been careful not to break my legs if I missed the sticks. I tried to see the running flood; it was a mix of toilet and other waste substances.
The girl happily took me to the lady that she thought may accept strangers for an interview. At the back side of the compound (which has no particular fence but has territory marks), I noticed single room “houses” that were placed arbitrarily, which I doubt most people can get in standing straight. The houses seem to be shrinking and sinking to the ground, since almost all of them are less than 2 meter high. In the very small open area, there were red pepper and grains left to dry by the sun. One must be careful not to walk over these items along the passage between houses.
My guide introduced me to W/o Etalem Worku, a mother of four. I asked her permission to talk to her for few minutes. She nicely welcomed me to share her life experience. She has been living here for 30 years, 18 years of which in the single room that she is living now. Etalem, her husband, the four children and her mother live in this single room. Etalem washes clothes at various places for a living, and her husband is a laborer at different construction sites. She told me that they are trying to fulfill the need of their family, although it has been very difficult to attain any of their goals.
I have asked Etalem what is their most important need. She did not even complain about living in a single room with a family of seven. She just told me how hard it is to live in a place where there is no sanitation facility. “Sometimes the lavatory overflow comes right into our door. Usually our children are playing and we are cooking outside; you can imagine how difficult it is” Etalem said.
I asked here if she feels their life will improve if they resettle somewhere else. Etalem said exhaustedly, “I believe so.” She continued, “The government told us many times that they will give us a place to settle, something like a condominium. That would have been much better for us, but we got nothing so far. We don’t have anything to live a decent life here.”
I asked her for her picture at the side of her door. She was positive and agreed to be photographed. Fortunately her mother was also nearby and was included in the picture. As I was taking her picture, I noticed that she stood just right on her door near the open drainage that I walked over so carefully.
I thanked Etalem and left their “compound”. As I walked out of the slum, I noticed a “Kuralee’w” (a person who buys old commodities – metals, plastics, glass, etc., going door to door). He was counting items excitedly and forecasting his profits. I assumed he brought it from the so-called high class Bole Sefer.
So, this is life at the Wollo Sefer slum in short. There is little difference from what I saw in Cherkos, Abenet, Sebatega, or even at “egna sefer”, the place I live in right now. In the end, it is all the same – a slum is a slum.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Forty years ago, the Ethiopian Telecommunications Board (precursor to today’s ETC) was viewed as a progressive government utility agency providing critical services. It even had a robust marketing department putting out ads such as the one below that were humorous and not at all like the image that today’s ETC usually fosters. In fact, today ETC has probably only been recently surpassed by EEPCO as the state utility company that Ethiopians most love to hate. Isn’t it time to open up the field to new players?
If the economy is a motor propelling the country forward, communications is a lubricant to make the journey efficient. When it comes to Ethiopia, the lack of ICT development causes severe friction inside the engine.
Ever since the EPRDF led government took over, the country has experienced a surge of public investment in various infrastructure projects such as energy, transportation, telecommunications etc. Though the overall case for liberalized markets are clear, experiences such as China’s have shown us that wise public infrastructure investment in different infrastructural developments often result in trickle down to the poor.
But perhaps the most shortcomings are present in the telecom sector. Lacking a policy framework to promote both physical and human capacity, the state telecom monopoly has left the country years behind most of the world in both telephony and internet penetration.
As technology is dominant in the sector, private initiative is crucial in identifying the less costly and more efficient products to supply through competition. This calls for an integration of the private sector in the telecommunications development policy and framework. It should also focus on delivering efficient services through removing bureaucracy from the system and provision of services to the grassroots level. It is crystal clear that the quality and accessibility of information technology has a huge impact on the whole economy starting from pulling investment to facilitating growth inside, creating jobs, raising public income and more.
The government has recently reaffirmed its intention to keep the status quo in telecoms for a long time to come. In instances where the state practices a monopoly over a certain sector, procuring the necessary financing tends to be difficult, often requiring questionable loan provisions such as exclusive supplier agreements, and can come at the expense of other sectors.
The rationale given by the Ethiopian government to keep ETC isn’t holding water. Mismanagement, corruption, inefficiency and ineffectiveness cannot be excused for plans of rural expansion and stability that have not come. Privatization with regulation and taxation appear a much better route to achieving targets and garnering revenue.
The Internet, introduced in Ethiopia in 1997, is a case in point. The number of subscribers still stands as one of the lowest in simple and per-capita magnitude anywhere in the world while, according to research by Samuel Kidane (PhD), the potential Internet user base (basic e-mail and some web-browsing) is as high as high as 250,000 in the city of Addis Ababa alone.
This is a potentially big market capable of sustaining a continued growth and also capable of generating significant revenue that could guarantee a strong foothold for Internet in Ethiopia.
However, the state of Internet penetration in the country hasn’t shown much improvement for the past 5 years. Even the long awaited upgrading of the national Internet infrastructure, when completed, will increase the subscriber base to only 12,500, a fraction of the potential market size.
Telecom monopolies used to be commonplace on the continent. But now almost all African countries seem to have learnt their lesson and allow competition in the communications space. Ghana for example has licensed as many as 40 ISPs, Malawi 24, with Egypt boasting 40 and Kenya, a long believer in telecom monopoly finally agreeing to license a staggering additional 50 players in the ISP industry.
But the real kicker when evaluating Ethiopia’s experience is that the last African country to get connected to the net and world’s worst failed state, Somalia, boasts multiple service provider and better infrastructure than much of the continent. Samuel asks, if ISP industry could thrive in an environment as difficult and challenging as in Somalia – in the absence of a government – then why is it that Ethiopia, a country with one of the oldest telecom monopolies and most experienced telecom technical and management labor force, is wasting such an opportunity and valuable time in its endeavor to develop?
Some may say that its about the over 3 billion ETB in revenue that the government is loath to relinquish such direct control over. Others may believe it’s mostly about ideology. In any case, it does not appear likely that the embrace of open communications technology which in part propelled Obama’s recent victory, is likely to be seen here for quite some time.
