ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – The Addis Abeba City Administration has started claiming back land and government properties illegally obtained by officials of the former provisional Administration of the city, some of whom have been retained by the current Kuma-led administration.
Those officials still within the city administration will face removal from their current positions as part of the measures to be taken against them.
After running the city for three years, the administration under the helm of the former Mayor Arkebe Oqubay, now State minister of Works and Urban Development(MoWUD) administration, was supposed to hand over power to the then Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), which had won 137 of the 138 seats in the City Council.
But CUD failed to take over administration of the city as it could not come to terms with EPRDF. As a result, the Federal Government assigned the reins to the Caretaker Administration of Berhane Deresa, which administered the city for two years.
A report by the Federal Ethics andAnti-Corruption Commission disclosed that land grabbing was rampant in the few months before Arkebe handed over the administration to the Caretaker Administration.
The administration that came to power in May 2008 seems determined not to let the illegal possession of government properties go unchallenged. The Kuma-led administration has been developing special mechanisms of getting the land back.
Revelations of the illegal possessions began last Ethiopian summer when EPRDF sent about 2,000 of its members, who are officials at different levels of the city, to Alagie Agricultural Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College near Zeway town, 163Km from Addis Abeba for training.
Top officials from both the Federal and City Government and senior party leaders like Bereket Simon, Arkebe Oqubay, Kuma Demeksa, Mekuria Haile took part in the training of the officials.
Several of the trainees were district and kebele executives during Arkebe’s time who have also been candidates for Kuma’s administration.
The officials, who took the training on the party’s strategic policies in two groups of 1,000 for a month each, had also undergone EPRDF’s infamous self evaluation in groups of their respective districts.
According to a source who attended the training, the trainees just began to voluntarily confess each of all the illegal acts they had committed, including the unlawful acquisition of public houses, land and condominium houses.
Those who were in charge of facilitating the confessions cautiously listened to the details and later submitted them to the party’s Addis Abeba office, the source told Fortune. The office discussed the case and decided to take measures against those who had confessed to the illegal acts.
Mekuria Haile, city general manager, confirmed to Fortune that action has been taken against the culprits.
“Further measures will follow for those who were involved in land grabbing,” he said.
The administration has already started taking measure in districts such as Lideta, Bole and Nefas-Silk-Lafto.
Biniam Haregu, speaker of the Lideta District Council and Tsegaw Yimer, head of Bole District Youth and Sports Office, have subsequently been removed from their posts.
According to the source, the administration has already confirmed that there are many others who got condominium houses while living in government houses and some who illegally took plots of land to construct houses on them.
Egypt’s outsourcing sector is getting a boost of international recognition. The country was recently awarded the prize for best outsourcing destination by the British National Outsourcing Association
(NOA).
This comes as much needed encouragement, with the government trying to attract more investment to the sector at a time of international economic gloom.
Hazem Abdel-Azim, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), who
received the prize in the name of the Egyptian government, stated that it was “a source of pride for the Egyptian communications and information technology sector”, local media reported.
Similarly, other rankings and reports have singled out Egypt among emerging IT services countries. A recent study by the Yankee Group, a US-based consultancy firm, compared several Middle Eastern countries’ base for outsourcing services, concluding that Egypt “has the strongest position in the outsourcing market.”
The report praised Egypt’s IT services against those of countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and put Egypt on equal footing with India and China, stating that Egypt had a huge advantage in terms of the versatility of its language skills.
“The country’s multilingual capabilities make Egypt attractive to Europe-based countries“, the report said.
“By contrast, China does not have the same level of comfort with Western culture and traditions as
Egypt. India’s bailiwick is its strong English-speaking workforce, which works well for US-based and UK-based companies… but the lack of other languages is a disadvantage in India when it comes to EU-based countries.”
IT Services Exports
These assessments reflect the government’s efforts in recent years to attract investment and develop human resources to work in the outsourcing and offshoring sector. Egypt’s IT exports sector has attracted local and foreign investments worth more than $8bn over the past three years according to ITIDA.
In a recent interview with OBG, Egyptian Minister of Communications and IT Tarek Kamel stated that the country’s IT services exports were currently worth $700m, and that he expected this figure to reach $1.1bn by 2010.
“Egypt is appearing more and more in the international arena of IT services,” he told OBG. “We help train the talent pool and provide low cost infrastructure and access to well equipped space. We will continue to do this.”
In a bid to expand the attractiveness of its IT sector and create more room for foreign companies, the country is planning to open bids to build a new outsourcing business park in the Southern Cairo suburb of Maadi.
The project will involve the construction of 30 to 40 technological facilities that will cater to Egyptian, Arab and international firms focusing on IT services, local media reported. Furthermore, the Yankee
Group report also noted a deal that UK-based company SpinVox has signed to establish a business center in Alexandria.
Changing Business Risk Perception
Egypt will nonetheless face some challenges if it is to increase revenue from this sector. The Yankee Group report reckons that Egypt needs to upgrade some infrastructure as well as reverse a negative opinion about its level of business risk. “Egypt faces some hurdles, including outdated communications and transportation infrastructure, and the perception-especially in the United States-that it is a risky place to do work”, the report stated.
The future of the sector also depends on how fast the government and the private sector can train its workers to join the country’s growing IT force. “It’s a question of the speed at which the country can educate the pool of talent,” Adel Danish, chairman of Xceed, Egypt’s biggest call centre, told OBG.
“Human resources are the main challenge in Egypt. But the good thing is the government is aware of it and taking the right actions.”
Egypt Credit Crunch Beneficiary
The country is also hoping that the global slowdown triggered by the credit crunch, which is affecting US and European economies, will not deter the growth of its outsourcing sector. As European and US-based companies represent the majority of Egypt’s customers, a slowing in consumption might curtail the demand for support services from Egypt.
“It will be interesting to see what happens”, Danish told OBG. “Some people believe the recession will make companies cut costs, and so outsource even more services to lower-cost countries like Egypt.”
Well-heeled shoppers in New York, Paris, Tokyo and other global fashion centers are beginning to see a new name, Taytu, beside familiar Guccis and Chanels among the ladies’ handbags in exclusive shops.
Ethiopia, home to the largest livestock population in Africa, produces and exports millions of hides annually, mainly in the form of semiprocessed leather. Eyeing higher profits, Ethiopia is moving to develop its own trademarked leather products. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is helping Ethiopia develop its leather processing and branding sector; the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and other development groups are also assisting.
“The Ethiopian government supports an export sector of high-value, finished leather products, not semiprocessed leather,” said Taytu Trade and Industry Managing Director Salpi Nalbandian.
Taytu markets the products of 12 Ethiopian manufacturers of leather goods. The consortium was formed in 2006, when the Ethiopian government identified the leather industry as a potentially lucrative sector.
For example, Cabretta leather, prized for golf gloves, because of its strength and elasticity, brings the Ethiopian herder $2 for the skin needed for one glove, $5 to the exporter of the leather, and $25 to the retailer of a glove manufactured outside of Ethiopia.
Another Ethiopian leather product, the Bati goat skin, is reputed to produce the softest, finest suede. Ethiopian herders make about $10 for the skin need to make one suede coat. The leather exporter collects about $40-$50 after tanning. The coat, which is manufactured outside Ethiopia, will bring at least $400 to the retailer, according to Light Years IP, a group that helps developing countries spur growth through the use of intellectual property rights.
Taytu handbags sold by the upscale Barneys New York fetch prices around $1,500; one particular Taytu handbag design is priced at $22,000, according to the company’s Web site. Taytu made contact with Barneys and other high-end foreign retailers by participating in trade shows in New York, Paris and Los Angeles. Theory, another high-end retailer of clothing and accessories, is considering marketing Taytu bags, according to Nalbandian.
Entering the international market is difficult, and Nalbandian credits USAID and UNIDO for helping to make that happen.
“It involves a long chain of work, getting the raw materials, meeting delivery deadlines, correspondence, understanding the work and business conditions abroad. We must win the confidence and trust of foreign buyers,” she said. She said UNIDO provided expertise in design and manufacturing and USAID, in marketing. “They have guided Ethiopia into the high-end market niche,” she said. “They have advised that Ethiopia should not compete with China and India in producing for the mass market.”
Taytu’s sales revenues have risen from $25,000 in 2006, when the consortium was formed, to $85,000 in the last fiscal year. Five months into the current fiscal year, which runs from July to June, Taytu has received about $70,000 in foreign orders. Sales from its shop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, also are rising sharply as a result of Taytu’s entry into foreign markets.
“When local newspapers wrote about Taytu’s success in New York and other cities, Ethiopian consumers became excited about the Taytu name,” said Teshome Kebede Redie, a USAID contractor working in the Ethiopian leather sector.
Nalbandian said as Taytu profits rise, it will wean itself from USAID financial support. USAID pays the Taytu shop rent in Addis Ababa and the salaries of the shop staff. The agency also bought the computers and furniture in the Taytu shop.
In another attempt to extract potential leather profits, one Ethiopian leather company, Jonzo PLC, plans to enter the shoe business, which absorbs 60 percent of the world’s leather output. Now, Jonzo specializes in leather garments and handbags, some of which are marketed by Taytu.
“Footwear is a big opportunity for Ethiopia,” said Jonzo General Manager Solomon Yesuf. He said he expects Jonzo to start shipping footwear to the St. Louis-based Brown Shoe Company in 2009.
USAID’s Redie said that many shoe companies in the United States, Germany and Italy are looking away from China to shoe suppliers in other regions because of rising prices that Chinese manufacturers are charging.
Jonzo is building a shoe factory on the outskirts of Addis Ababa and expects to have the capacity to make 55,000 pairs a day by the end of 2009. Its goal is to export half the production. The Ethiopian government facilitates the growth of the shoe industry by providing customs facilities, bonded warehouses and concessionary rates for land rental at the factory site.
Getting the financing for expansion from Ethiopian banks has presented a challenge for Jonzo. But USAID has played a helpful role by offering to guarantee 50 percent of the loans as an enticement for an Ethiopian bank to put up the other 50 percent.
A number of elephants have died after eating plastic from a garbage dump in Chobe National Park in Botswana. The Chobe District Council says it has no choice but to continue dumping trash at the site.
Elephants, hyenas, baboons and birds all gather at the dumping site in Chobe to feed. Just this year, three elephants have died after consuming plastic from the garbage heap.
Thunya Sedodoma, the principal wildlife warden in the park, said that last year, plastics were found in the stomach of a dead elephant. She said it is not uncommon to see plastic in the feces of elephants. Sedodoma said that this year alone, the park has recorded over 70 deaths of wildlife, all related to feeding from the garbage dump.
Isau Mbanga, the Chobe District Council secretary said they have no choice but to continue dumping garbage at the site while they construct a new landfill nearby: “We have a serious land problem in the Chobe, unlike other district councils. We are building the second landfill at the same site because we are trying to minimize land use,” he said. He said that the Chobe District Council does not have compactors to bury the rubbish, although it is hoped that they will be able to buy the equipment within a few months.
Mbanga did say that the new landfill will have an electric fence meant to keep wildlife, including elephants, away from the garbage.
Now I won’t pretend to have any grand ideas about how to solve the problem of elephants consuming plastic from a landfill in Botswana. Nor do I think it would be fair to complain, as I am not living a plastic-free life. However, it is a poignant and painful reminder to me of how no trash ever simply “goes away.”
In Sonoma County, California, where I live, we filled up our landfill in 2005, and now have reserved space at the new one being built on the Cortina Indian Rancheria in Colusa County, 150 miles away. On an Indian Reservation!
This story of the Botswana elephants is just another daily reminder to myself to be careful, to do everything I can to keep as much out of the waste stream as possible. Another reminder to be diligent about using cloth bags, reusable containers and lunchboxes, to keep composting, even in the city, to recycle my boxes, and wash out my plastic bags.
CAIRO, EGYPT – Apple’s iPhone 3G will soon be available in Egypt, and Vodafone Egypt is reportedly gearing up to be the first mobile operator to sell the high-tech gadget in the Arab world’s most populous country.
Customers nationwide can pre-register online and be notified when the phone arrives to Vodafone Egypt’s stores, according to a telecom source who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Vodafone — the world’s leading international mobile communications group – sealed a deal with Apple in May to bring iPhone 3G to 10 countries where the mobile operator is present. According to news reports, Vodafone now sells the phone in Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Portugal, and it is expected to bring it to Egypt, the Czech Republic, Greece, India, South Africa and Turkey later this year.
Up to now Apple has insisted on exclusive agreements with carriers, striking deals with AT&T in the US, O2 in Britain, Orange in France, and Deutsche Telekom in Germany. In exchange for exclusivity, Apple takes a cut of the revenue that wireless operators collect for voice and data services each month, something no other phone maker is believed to get.
iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK.
Scientists in the remote Bale mountains of southern Ethiopia are in a race against time to save the world’s rarest wolf.
Rabies passed from domestic dogs is threatening to kill up to two-thirds of all Ethiopian wolves.
Scientists from the UK and Ethiopia are currently vaccinating wolf packs to prevent the spread of the disease.
The population has dwindled to as few as 500, as a result of human encroachment into their habitat.
Vaccination campaign
Dr Claudio Sillero of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Unit (WildCRU) says vaccinations are the only hope of maintaining the Ethiopian wolf population.
The wolf makes a break for freedom after a successful vaccination
“If left unchecked, rabies is likely to kill over two-thirds of all wolves in Bale’s Web Valley, and spread further, with wolves dying horrible deaths and numbers dwindling to perilously low levels,” he added.
The plan is to vaccinate whole families or packs, typically a group with six adults. When these packs come into contact with unvaccinated wolves or dogs they will not catch the disease.
The WildCRU team and the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Authority say so far they have been very successful, catching and treating more than 40 wolves.
The wolves are not injured in the trapping process, some even return to the traps once vaccinated in search of food.
Mating season
Dr Sillero says the wolves’ behaviour at this time of year makes them particularly vulnerable to catching diseases from other animals.
The wolves reign there, I like to think of them as the guardians of the high mountains of Africa
Dr Claudio Sillero, WildCRU
“Right now we are in the middle of the mating season. Family groups erode; females and males mate outside the packs, some females are even courted by feral dogs. This leads to increased transmission of the disease.”
The Bale mountains in southern Ethiopia form the most extensive high mountain plateau in Africa.
As well as being home to Ethiopian wolves, the plateau now also has an estimated population of 40,000 dogs. Brought in by shepherds to round up sheep, these dogs have become a reservoir for rabies.
About 10,000 of these dogs are vaccinated against rabies every year but this has not prevented transmission.
Wolf ‘king’
Outbreaks of the disease seem to occur in cycles. The researchers say they noticed the disease as far back as 1989 and previously ran a vaccination campaign in 2003.
“It’s a powerful example of the importance of the science and practice of wildlife conservation combined in the effort to deliver practical solutions,” explains Professor David Macdonald, director of WildCRU.
Dr Claudio Sillero sees the wolf’s survival as key to the continuation of the whole highland ecosystem. As a top carnivore, it is responsible for controlling the population of smaller grazing herbivores, especially rodents.
“The wolves reign there; I like to think of them as the guardians of the high mountains of Africa,” he says.
The vaccination campaign is due to continue until at least mid November.
The wolves reign there, I like to think of them as the guardians of the high mountains of Africa 