Hargeisa, SOMALILAND (Somalilandpress) — Ethiopian Airlines will bring back scheduled flights to Somaliland soon, Somaliland Aviation Minister Mr Ali Waran Adde told local media on Thursday.
The route to the capital of Somaliland was scheduled to re-open in January 2009, after it was suspended in November 2008 following the five suicide bomb attacks on buildings occupied by the government and international agencies.
However, Ethiopia’s national carrier will resume it’s flights from the Somaliland port city of Berbera rather than the capital, Hargeisa. This is due to the airport under going security upgrade and expansion to it’s runways to accommodate 747, 767 jets and the new A380.
Next week, Lieutenant Colonel Tzion Shenkor will become the first Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) battalion commander from Israel’s Ethiopian community. He will command a Shimshon battalion in the Kfir Brigade.
On Sunday, Major Shenkor was promoted to lieutenant colonel in a ceremony in the army’s Central Command in the presence of the commander of the Central District, Major-General Gadi Shamni. Next week, he will assume command of the battalion.
Shenkor began his military career as a paratrooper, assigned to Kfir after completing officers training. He has served as a platoon commander, company commander and deputy battalion commander. His last assignment was operations officer for the northern Gaza battalion, carrying heaving responsibilities during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza’s northern area.
In an essay published Monday, the head of China’s central bank proposed a plan to displace the American dollar as the world’s standard and replace it with a global reserve currency operated from the International Monetary Fund.
“Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, argued that what he called a super-sovereign reserve currency would not only eliminate the risks inherent in currencies such as the dollar, which are backed only by the credit of the issuing country and not by gold or silver, but would also make it possible to manage global liquidity,” reported the Times Online.
“But that’s unlikely to happen, says Robert Scott, senior international economist with the Economic Policy Institute,” reported Forbes. “‘It’s partly posturing, it’s partly buyer’s remorse,’ he said, noting China, at some point, is going to have to let its yuan currency rise in value relative to the dollar’s current price – likely by upwards of 30.0%. That means China’s investments in U.S. dollars, via Treasuries, would lose a third of their value in yuan terms.
“‘hey’re getting hammered,’ Scott said. Chinese leaders’ heavy investment in the U.S. economy has exposed them to domestic criticism.”
“Zhou made his call in an essay that appeared on the website of People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, on Monday,” reported the Washington Post. “It was clearly timed to make a splash in the run-up to the G20 meeting that starts in London on April 2.
“Calling the use of the dollar as the world’s benchmark currency ‘a rare special case in history,’ Zhou urged the ‘creative reform of the existing international monetary system towards an international reserve currency.’ Zhou said the reserve currency, managed by the IMF, should be ‘disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run.'”
The IMF would operate such a currency via its “Special Drawing Right,” created in 1969 with “the potential to act as a super-sovereign reserve currency,” reported Times Online.
“The role of the SDR has not been put into full play due to limitations on its allocation and the scope of its uses. However, it serves as the light in the tunnel for the reform of the international monetary system,” Zhou wrote in his essay.
He also emphasized his hope for the IMF currency’s supremacy over other dominant world benchmarks, such as the euro and the yen.
The technical and political hurdles to implementing the proposal are enormous, so even if backed by other nations, the proposal is unlikely to change the dollar’s role in the short term.
“‘The re-establishment of a new and widely accepted reserve currency with a stable valuation benchmark may take a long time,’ Mr. Zhou said” in a report by the Wall St. Journal. “In remarks earlier Monday, one of Mr. Zhou’s deputies, Hu Xiaolian, also said that the dollar’s dominant position in international trade and investment is unlikely to change in the near future. Ms. Hu is in charge of reserve management as the head of China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
“A spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury declined to comment on Mr. Zhou’s views.”
UPDATE: Moscow supports IMF currency
In a little-circulated March 16 statement, the Kremlin said it will propose the IMF-based currency at April’s G20 meeting in London.
“The International Monetary Fund should investigate the possible creation of a new reserve currency, widening the list of reserve currencies or using its already existing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, as a ‘superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community,’ the Kremlin said in a statement issued on its web site,” reported the Moscow Times.
“Russia also called for countries whose currencies currently have reserve status to adopt international rules on fiscal and macroeconomic discipline,” noted Reuters.
You may have heard about the raging controversy regarding a massive dam that is under construction on the Omo River in Ethiopia. It is called the Gilgel Gibe III dam and it has a wall that will soar 240 metres high – this is the tallest of its type anywhere in the world. It will hold back a reservoir 150 kilometres long.
The Ethiopians say that they need this dam as it will provide 1800 megawatts of electricity. That will more than double the country’s current generating capacity in one hit, and according to their Prime Minister Ethiopia’s dictator, Meles Zenawi, it will solve a national energy crisis.He says they can’t afford not to have Gilgel Gibe III. He also claims that it will enable the country to store water and regulate the flooding downstream in the Omo River.
This new dam will produce far more electricity than the country is capable of consuming, most will be exported to neighbours like Sudan and Kenya.
I think that this project is fatally flawed in terms of its logic, in terms of its thoroughness, in terms of its conclusions.
It looks to me like the Environmental Impact Assessment was an inside job that has come up with the results that they were looking for to get the initial funding for this dam.
I and the Environmental Resources Group believe that rather than being beneficial to the river valley as the Ethiopian government say, the dam will produce a broad range of negative effects, some of which would be catastrophic to both the environment and the indigenous communities living downstream.
Even if the science is in dispute – this is reason enough to invoke the precautionary principle and stop the project before it is too late because if the Ethiopian government is wrong, those communities living along the lower Omo River Valley all the way down into neighboring Kenya will pay a heavy price. I believe that one immediate consequence will be the aggravation of armed conflict in a war over the shrinking natural resources.
What do you think, should Ethiopia be allowed to go ahead despite the concerns of down stream environmental and social impacts affecting over 500,000 people and Lake Turkana in Kenya?
(Richard Leakey established WildlifeDirect to create a direct relationship between those at the front line of conservation and those who care anywhere in the world. He is the chairman of WildlifeDirect. All donations made on this blog will contribute towards the training and technical support to blogging members on wildlifedirect.org)
SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND (Gazette.net) — Opening night of the New African Films Festival brought more than 400 people to the lobby of the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre and Cultural Center March 19, but it wasn’t a typical night at the movies.
While awaiting the first movie, “13 Months of Sunshine,” attendees of the opening night cocktail hour could bypass the usual movie popcorn and candy, and opt for a buffet featuring ye’abesha gomen (collard greens) and tikil gomen (cabbage) as well as beets and Ethiopian bread, compliments of nearby Abol Ethiopian Restaurant.
The film festival, which celebrates African culture and aims to give a better feel for life in African countries, had seven successful days at AFI, its third year at the theater on Colesville Road in downtown Silver Spring. Now in its fifth season, this year’s festival featured about 30 films.
Susan Bluttman, AFI’s media and public relations manager, was thrilled with the opening night turnout, noting that while only 195 tickets had been sold in advance, the first movie was sold out, and the standby line was still growing with only a few minutes to go before the 7:30 p.m. showing.
The festival tries to present a greater understanding of life in Africa “instead of just having your understanding from a single shot on CNN,” said Mwiza Munthali, director of public outreach for TransAfrica, a foreign policy advocacy organization and one of the event’s sponsors. AFI and afrikafe, a networking group for Africans and friends of Africa, also were sponsors.
“Our goal each time is to offer the Washington community African films and to give Africa a chance to show off its films,” said Kishere Mbuya, CEO and founder of afrikafe, and a Silver Spring resident, adding that many of the films are award winners.
Todd Hitchcock, film programmer at AFI, said while there is no theme, the goal was to offer newer films as well as a few classic ones.
“We strive for representation across the Diaspora,” said Lori Donnelly, an associate film programmer.
Alfia Johnson of Washington, D.C., attended because, “I’m a lover of films, a lover of culture. I support all African culture.”
Candace Mickens of Takoma Park also was excited to attend. “Africa is part of our life, being an African-American,” she said.
Another moviegoer, Rike Ojediran of Washington, D.C., echoed her sentiments. “I’m fascinated by this concept. It’s something I want to support. I’m going to try and come most of the weekend.”
Bluttman said attendance over the weekend was good. “We had more people in the African films than we did in any of the first-run movies,” she said, referring to the currently running “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Class.”
Silver Spring resident Yvonne Captain, a film professor and self-proclaimed film buff, praised the festival for not just showing good films but also for “giving people a chance to be proud.”
Amman, Jordan – World Indoor 3000m champion Tariku Bekele has pulled out of the Ethiopian squad for the 37th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan, Saturday 28 March, after sustaining a training ground injury.
The 22-year-old, who had finished fourth in the trials last month and was a junior bronze medallist in 2006 dropped out of training last week with an ankle injury. He had hoped to recover in time to compete for the championships in Amman. But after presenting medical evidence to selectors this week, he was relieved of his duties with the national team to focus on rehabilitation.
Dino Sefer, who won the European XC Permit meeting in Hannut, Belgium earlier in the year and finished seventh in the trials, replaces T. Bekele in the squad which flew to Amman in Tuesday evening.
Tariku’s absence is the latest blow for Ethiopia’s hopes of challenging Kenya for both individual and team honours in Amman. The green-vested East Africans are already without Tariku’s elder brother and eleven-time world cross country champion Kenenisa, 2006 silver medallist Sileshi Sihine, and three-time women’s champion Tirunesh Dibaba, who are all nursing long-term injuries.
Without their established stars competing, Ethiopia will be looking to a young squad in a bid to repeat their domination of last year’s edition where they won all four individual and two of the four team titles in Edinburgh, Scotland.
There are big hopes for names like Feyissa Lelisa, 14th in the junior race last year, to make the step up to senior ranks after his dominating performances in the domestic cross country circuit this season. All- African Games 10000m silver medallist Tadesse Tola and the experienced Gebregziabher Gebremariam should also provide experience to the young squad.
Hargeisa, SOMALILAND (Somalilandpress) — Ethiopian Airlines will bring back scheduled flights to Somaliland soon, Somaliland Aviation Minister Mr Ali Waran Adde told local media on Thursday.
“Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, argued that what he called a super-sovereign reserve currency would not only eliminate the risks inherent in currencies such as the dollar, which are backed only by the credit of the issuing country and not by gold or silver, but would also make it possible to manage global liquidity,” 
The Ethiopians say that they need this dam as it will provide 1800 megawatts of electricity. That will more than double the country’s current generating capacity in one hit, and according to 
Amman, Jordan – World Indoor 3000m champion Tariku Bekele has pulled out of the Ethiopian squad for the 37th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan, Saturday 28 March, after sustaining a training ground injury.