(Reuters) — When Haile Gebrselassie was taking distance running to new levels a decade ago few could have imagined that even before he had retired he would be eclipsed by another Ethiopian, Kenenisa Bekele.
If, as expected, the two men line up for the 10,000 metres final in Beijing it will be world record holder, Olympic and triple world champion Bekele who will be the hot favourite.
Bekele, 26, has a remarkable record of consistency, winning championship titles, setting world records and dominating cross country running over the past six years.
This year he regained the world cross title to make it 12 wins in 13 attempts over the two senior distances.
His 10,000 metres world record of 26 minutes 17.53 seconds, set in 2005, is more than five seconds faster than Gebrselassie’s world mark of 1998 – itself half a minute better than William Sigie’s 1994 mark that he first surpassed in 1995.
Bekele also has the 5,000 world record of 12:37.35, previously held by his compatriot, a double Olympic champion at 10,000.
His style is modelled on Gebrselassie too. Both men destroy their opponents with their finishing speed and it is not unusual for Bekele to post a 53-second final lap.
In Athens four years ago the Ethiopians tried to run as a team to help Gebrselassie challenge for a third gold but, injured, he dropped off the pace leaving Bekele to blast through the last lap to win.
Eight days later Bekele just missed out on the double when he was outkicked by Hicham El Guerrouj over the final 50 metres of the 5,000. Despite that setback 2004 remained an annus mirabilis for Bekele.
Within four days of the new year, his fiancee, 18-year-old Alem Techale, died while the two were running together.
Bekele recovered to win double gold again at the world cross country three months later and in that August won the second of his three consecutive 10,000 world titles.
In 2007, he married Ethiopian actress Danawit Gebregziabher. She watched him in championship action for the first time when he reclaimed the world cross title in Scotland this year.
He has carried that form on to the track with the fourth-fastest 10,000 metres – 26:25.97 – in an almost solo effort at the Prefontaine Classic in the United States in June.
With only six days between the 10,000 and 5,000 finals in Beijing, Bekele had said he planned to run only the longer distance but it now looks possible he could double up.
Four-times 10,000m world champion Gebrselassie is putting everything into that race after opting out of the marathon after concerns over the air quality.
New York (IANS) — Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is planning to build an AIDS clinic in Ethiopia for her daughter Zahara to manage when she grows up. Jolie will make a trip to her adopted daughter’s native country to discuss building the clinic as part of the work of the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, a charity she set up with her husband Brad Pitt in 2006 for humanitarian aid around the world, reports Contactmusic.com.
“We will be building a Tuberculosis/AIDS clinic in Ethiopia. The one we plan for Zahara to take over when she is older,” Jolie told Britain’s Hello magazine.
Jolie also hopes to take son Maddox to his native place Cambodia as part of a separate charity trip that the family is planning once newborn twins Knox and Vivienne Marcheline grow up a little.
“The next trip for our foundation will most likely be Asia to follow up on the situation in Burma and our work in Cambodia. The boys have been asking to go there, so we will take them when Knox and Vivienne are a bit older,” she added.
Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa) — The Japanese construction firm, Kajima, is near to closing the four-metres gap on the newly constructed bridge over Abay River, 208Km north of Addis Abeba. The bridge will be open to traffic in October 2008, according to Samson Wondimu, Public Relations head of the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA).
Financed by a 14 million dollar Japanese government grant, the new structure has been constructed alongside a 60-year old bridge built by an Italian construction firm; the government of Italy covered the cost of the older bridge as a compensation for war damages it had caused during its brief occupation of Ethiopia in the 1930s.
The new bridge, when completed, will be 55 metres high, standing 22 metres above the existing one. There are also nine cables stretched on either side of the bridge, tied to the columns on each side, and there is no supporting framework put in the middle of the river. This feature makes it the first cable-stayed bridge in East Africa. It also has a clear 145-metre span.
The design and construction of the bridge is state of the art, according to experts familiar with the project. It was designed by Oriental Consultants Company Ltd of Japan. Kajima, operational in 20 countries, was awarded the project in August 2005.
This bridge is part of a three-phase project financed by the Japanese government. At a total cost of 46 million dollars, Kajima has rehabilitated the Goha-Tsion trunk road, as well as the 186Km stretch from Addis Abeba to Dejen. The latter was inaugurated in April 2004.
The completion of this bridge marks the final phase of the project, and is believed to have immense significance in the traffic flow connecting the capital with the north western part of the country. Experts foresee that driving speed will double to 60Km per hour, and the volume is expected to increase from the current 360 vehicles a day to 729 in six years.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Half of that might be from child prostitution, and the profit goes to the pockets of Meles, Sebhat, Azeb and other leaders of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne).
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia Woyanne hopes to boost tourism earnings 15 percent to $200 million this year, the government the tribal regime said on Wednesday.
“Tourist flow into Ethiopia has shown a marked improvement over the last five years,” said Solomon Ali, head of public relations at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
“That is due to publicity campaigns aimed at changing the country’s image from the stereotypical picture of famine and war to a nation of ancient history and culture.” [Currently Ethiopia is free from starvation. People are eating 5 times a day.]
Solomon said Ethiopia hopes to attract 400,000 tourists this year, up from 340,000 in 2007 when it earned $170 million.
The country hopes to trade on its reputation as the cradle of humankind, and the government has invested heavily in hotels, airports and other infrastructure to lure visitors.
Much of the focus has been on historic sites in the north, which include the obelisks at Axum — reputed to be the home of the Biblical Queen of Sheba — the stunning rock-hewn churches of Lalibella and several ancient castles.
Many tourists also visit Afar in the far northeast of the country to see the site where “Lucy”, the fossilised bones of a 3.2 million-year-old hominid, was discovered.
Solomon said Lucy’s remains were currently on a six-year tour of museums in the United States, and officials hoped this would create more interest in Ethiopia. Some Ethiopians, however, worry that the fragile bones may not survive the tour.
(Report by Tsegaye Tadesse. Writing by Daniel Wallis, editing by Mary Gabriel — just copying statements that are given to them by propaganda chief Bereket Simon.)
Listen to the report: [podcast]http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/english/2008_08/Audio/mp3/08-06-08%20(DBA)%20Fente%20Ethiopia%20Justice.mp3[/podcast]
In Ethiopia, the trial of a controversial pop star is raising questions about the independence of the judiciary and of the press. The government has arrested a journalist covering the court hearings and a defense attorney. Both men are expected to appear in court today (Wednesday).
Ethiopia’s rising pop and reggae singer Teddy Afro has been in jail since April. He was charged with a hit and run road accident and remains in jail after being denied bail. Teddy has pleaded non-guilty, and his attorney argues that prosecutors have not presented enough evidence to detain his client.
But as of Monday, the defense attorney, as well as a journalist covering the trial joined the pop singer behind bars.
Mesfin Negash, the editor of a weekly newspaper in the Ethiopian capital could be sentenced to up to six months in prison, if found guilty of contempt of court. Facing the same charges and also in police custody is Teddy Afro’s defense attorney Million Assefa, who was quoted in an article published by the paper.
The judge overseeing the case said the interview constituted interference in the due process of law. He issued a subpoena for their arrest.
One of the editors of the newspaper Dagninet Mekonnen says his paper has done no wrong.
“We have absolute right to publish this material. The content of the interview with Teddy Afro’s lawyer Ato Million Assefa was that he (the attorney) wants to sue the judge for not complying with the right procedures. We have nothing to do with condemning the due process of law at hand.”
New York based Committee to Protect Journalists, the CPJ and Reporters Without Borders criticized the arrest of the journalist in separate statements. CPJ Africa Program research associate Mohamed Keita calls it a systematic way to detain journalists covering sensitive issues.
“It is rather unfortunate that a journalist be detained for essentially interviewing the lawyer of Teddy Afro and essentially doing his job.”
Journalists who were in court yesterday to report the incitement of the attorney and the journalist, said a US Embassy representative was present in the hearing.
Teddy Afro’s high-profile trial has grabbed the attention of many of his fans. Thousands of his followers rally in front of the courthouse whenever he appears in court. Within minutes, the police reportedly break up their demonstrations.
Government-controlled radio stations in Ethiopia have banned songs from Teddy Afro’s third album “yasteseryal”. “yasteseryal” makes an implicit mockery of what it sees as failure of political movements in the country since a socialist military junta overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.
This tune was particularly popular during Ethiopia’s parliamentary election in 2005. And many say the ban shows the singer is indeed controversial and that his trial is a political gimmick.
(Reuters) — When Haile Gebrselassie was taking distance running to new levels a decade ago few could have imagined that even before he had retired he would be eclipsed by another Ethiopian, Kenenisa Bekele.
In 2007, he married Ethiopian actress Danawit Gebregziabher. She watched him in championship action for the first time when he reclaimed the world cross title in Scotland this year.