ADDIS ABABA — The 10th east Africa police chiefs thugs cooperation organization (EAPCCO), annual meeting kicks off in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The meeting is discussing on ways of joint police cooperation to prevent from possible cross border crimes, terror acts, arms smuggling, drug and child trafficking and organized crimes along borders. [These thugs are the worst terrorists in east Africa.]
During the opening ceremony Ethiopian federal police director general, Workuneh Gebeyehu [who had carried out Meles Zenawi’s order to gun down pro-democracy protester in 2005], said at a time the globe is being shrunk into a small village it is being very easy for criminals and terrorists to act. [Stupid]
“We are all threatened by the deadly peril to which we must devote all our energy today” Workuneh said adding “success against criminality largely depends on the global response and mutual co-operation between nations.”
The east African police chief’s cooperation organization was established 9 years ago in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Current EAPCCO chairman and Burundi’s police commissioner, Sekaganda Bernard to his side said to curb criminality, member states must closely work together and must enhance information exchange among them
EAPCCO comprises member states of Ethiopia, Sudan,Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Eritrea, Uganda, Ruwanda, Burundi, Djbouti, and the seashells.
Ethiopia roped in 108.3 million U.S. dollars from the export of khat, a locally grown ’refreshment’ herb, during the past ten months, Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry officials announced on Monday.
Khat is mainly grown in eastern and southern Ethiopia and is widely believed to reactivate human memory.
However, a number of European countries and the USA government regarded this plant as a drug and banned from any use in their respective countries.
In Ethiopia and the neighboring countries, the plant is legal and is chewed anywhere.
According to the Ethiopian ministry of Trade and Industry, 22,390 tones of khat have been exported over the years mainly to neighboring countries.
“Though the amount of khat exported is less than that of the same period of last year, the foreign currency obtained from the export exceeds 5.5 million dollars,”the ministry added.
Khat ranks 7th among Ethiopia’s export commodities such as coffee, sesame, flower, and other agricultural products.
The Ethiopian Community in Dallas, in association with Abyssinia Entertainment and Ahnam Production presents an extravagant night of music with the legendary artist Mahmoud Ahmed.
Also featuring Dereje Dubale, Eleni, Moges (sax), Mathias (keyboard), Alemeseged (bass), Tefere (drum), and DJ Max.
Date/Time: Sunday, August 31, 2008, from 9:00 PM
Place: The Mansion, Event Center
Address: 2443 Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas TX 75229
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is dismayed to learn that Amare Aregawi, the editor of the big-circulation weekly Reporter, was arrested on 22 August in Addis Ababa and was then illegally transferred to a prison in Gondar, 750 km north of the capital, in connection with a libel case brought by the Gondar-based Dashen brewery.
“The Ethiopian government reminds the press about the law so often that it is hard to understand how it allows prosecutors to violate it so openly,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Amare’s unjustified arrest exposes the unfairness of legislation that allows journalists to be imprisoned for defamation. His newspaper dared to question a big company’s practices. Now he, like the reporter who wrote the offending article before him, are paying the price for having the courage to do their job properly and serve the public interest. He should be released at once.”
Police from the Amhara region arrested Amare on the afternoon of 22 August at his office in the Addis Ababa headquarters of Media and Communication Centre, a company that owns two well-known weeklies, the Amharic-language Reporter and the English-language The Reporter.
Journalists who were present at his arrest told Reporters Without Borders that the police were also looking for deputy editor Eshete Assefa and Teshome Neku, the young reporter who wrote the article last month quoting two former Dashen brewery employees as saying they were wrongfully dismissed. Neither Eshete nor Teshome were in the office at the time.
Amare, who ran Ethiopia’s public television after the fall of the Derg dictatorship in 1991, was initially taken to the headquarters of the Addis Ababa police. He was later transferred to Gondar where he appeared in court yesterday. A member of the newspaper’s staff told Reporters Without Borders that the prosecutor and judge offered to release Amare on bail in Gondar, but he refused on the grounds that it was illegal for him to have been taken there.
Under a new press law that was adopted last month, defamation cases are supposed to be tried in the place where the alleged offence took place. As Reporter’s registered headquarters is in Addis Ababa, the case should be heard in the capital and there were no grounds for taking Amare to such a remote location.
A few days after the article appeared, Teshome was arrested and taken to Gondar, where he was freed on bail after three days. The judge who ordered his release told the prosecutor that Teshome should be tried before a court in Addis Ababa because the newspaper was duly registered there.
A second story about the unfair dismissals at the brewery, published by Reporter on 20 July, quoted two representatives of the Confederation of Ethiopian Employee Associations (CEEA), who accused the brewery’s management of breaking up its union, firing its leader, setting up a new, company-controlled union and other illegal practices.
RENO, NEVADA — The Ministry of Mines and Energy (“MME”) and Titan Resources Corporation (“Titan”), a US-based oil and gas energy company chaired by Nelson “Bunker” Hunt, signed two separate Production Sharing Agreements covering acreage in the Ogaden and Abay Basins in Ethiopia for the purpose of petroleum exploration and development.
The acreage awarded in the Ogaden Basin covers Blocks 1, 5, 10 & 14 (54,400 square kilometers) and the acreage in the Abay Basin covers Blocks 2, 3, 5 & 6 (48,421 square kilometers), a total of 25,396,710 acres.
Minister of Mines and Energy Alemayehu Tegenu and Victor Nersesov, Secretary of Titan Resources Corporation, signed the agreements at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Prior to this ceremony, Titan and its operating partner, Capitan Energy Companies, LLC, formed a Dubai-based holding company, Petro Global International Holdings Limited, and incorporated a subsequent Dubai-based entity, Ethiopian Exploration and Production Limited (“EEP”), to hold the assets awarded by the MME to Titan as well as other oil and gas assets acquired by the company in the Middle East and Africa.
“Ethiopian Exploration and Production is fortunate to have won the tenders and have the sole and exclusive right to conduct operations in both of these Basins; the reserves are limitless,” said Kerry Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Exploration and Production and present at the ceremony. “The exploration activity in the Ogaden Basin compares to Permian Basin, Yemen and Saudi Arabia fifty years ago; the exploration activity is in its infancy compared with the more mature basins elsewhere in the world,” said Mr. Smith.
The initial term of the Exploration Period is the same in both basins, four years with two extensions of two years each. The Development and Production period noted in each PSA is 25 years with a possible extension of 10 years.
Ethiopian Exploration and Production Limited – A Dubai-based corporation formed by Titan Resources Corporation and Capitan Energy Companies, LLC for the exploration and development of oil and gas assets in the Middle East and Africa. EEP has offices in Dubai, Addis Ababa and the US.
CONTACT:
Kerry W. Smith
Ethiopian Exploration and Production Limited
00+1+575.937.8001
00+1+775.201.5528
ksmith@ethiopianexplorationandproduction
EthiopianReview.com holds a discussion with Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF), Ato Meazaw Getu, who is currently in Asmara on a working visit.
The discussion includes EPPF’s current activities, recent organizational restructuring, cooperation with other opposition parties, relation with the government of Eritrea, support from Ethiopians in the Diaspora, the mission of a high-level delegation that is currently in Europe, and other issues.
Click here to listen >> [podcast]http://www.ethiopianreview.info/audio/meazaw_getu3.mp3[/podcast]
