SHANGHAI (Reuters) – ZTE Corp, China’s second-largest telecoms gear maker, said on Wednesday it has agreed to build a national network in Ethiopia.
The network, which will allow Ethiopia Telecommunications Corp to provide next-generation network services, will cover 14 major cities in the east African country including the capital, Addis Ababa, ZTE said in a statement.
ZTE had already won a deal last year to help ETC build an Internet protocol backbone network, the Chinese firm said.
Chinese telecoms gear makers such as ZTE and local rival Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] have made strides in recent years into more mature markets, and have long been established in emerging areas such as India and Africa.
(Reporting by Sophie Taylor; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
By Michael Chebud, Addis Fortune
Almaz Moges ADDIS ABABA — The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has sacked Almaz Moges from her post as General Manager of the turbulent Nile Insurance.
Getahun Nana, Banking and Insurance Supervision Department head, wrote a letter to Nile on June 19, 2008, informing them that her deputy, Dawit G. Amanuel, would take over the post. It is alleged, however, that she refused to hand over the office to her successor. The central bank subsequently shut down the office on Thursday, June 26, 2008.
The letter came a week after the central bank declined to approve two of the seven newly elected members of the Board of Directors. Almaz had been advised by officials at the NBE that the insurance company needed better management. Currently, the company is in debt for more than 50 million Br following various business deals.
The newly appointed Dawit is a familiar face in the insurance industry, with 24 years of experience under his belt, 15 years of which have been in a managerial position. He has a first degree in Accounting from Addis Abeba University (AAU), and is a chartered insurer with the ACII, a British insurance institute. In addition, he has a Diploma in Law, and is currently attending classes at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) to become a chartered accountant.
Before his appointment as the General Manager two weeks ago, he was Administration and Finance Head and Deputy General Manager of Nile. He joined the company in April this year. Dawit spent almost his entire professional life at the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation (EIC). In the years spent at the state-owned insurance company, he served as Deputy Managing Director for six years, and Reinsurance Department Manager for five years. Before his departure from the EIC in April, he had been one of the top-level managers since 2001.
His predecessor at Nile, Almaz, has served the company for over two years. The major reason for her dismissal is her alleged failure to end the seven-year old business dispute between Nile and Tana Transport Plc, Star Business Group and others, sources disclosed.
Nile had given a financial guarantee bond for a sum of 15 million Br when Tana Transport bought 100 IVECO trucks (380 E 37M model) from the Automotive Manufacturing Company of Ethiopia (AMCE). In addition, Nile Insurance issued other bonds for the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and Abyssinia Bank. Combined, these bonds allegedly placed the insurance corporation into debt of up to a total of 52 million Br. Of this amount, 35 million Br and 17 million Br is owed to Star Business Group and Temesgen Mehari, a returnee businessman from the United States, respectively. Star Business and Temesgen also have four million Br and six million Br shares, respectively at Nile Insurance.
Established 13 years ago, Nile has a capital of 40 million Br.
Attempts by Fortune to get Almaz Moges to comment on the dismissal were unsuccessful.
EDITOR’S NOTE: African gangsters and mass murderers who are raping the continent are currently meeting in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss how to continue sucking the blood of Africans.
No public criticism for Mugabe at African summit
By ANNA JOHNSON and PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe entered an African summit accompanied by the meeting’s host Monday, a sign that African leaders won’t shun him despite Western demands they take a tough stance over his re-election in a tainted ballot.
But behind the scenes, some leaders were pushing for Mugabe to share power with his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, who dropped out of Friday’s runoff election after allegedly state-sponsored killings and beatings of his supporters.
While many African countries — including regional powerhouse South Africa — were unwilling to condemn Mugabe, criticism by the U.S. and Europe only mounted.
France said Monday it considered Mugabe’s government “illegitimate,” and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the African Union to reject the result of the runoff.
The summit should “make it absolutely clear that there has got to be change” in Zimbabwe, Brown said in London. “I think the message that is coming from the whole world is that the so-called elections will not be recognized.”
Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler basked in the opportunity at the AU to show regional recognition of his victory, a day after he was sworn in as president for a sixth term.
He entered the conference hall alongside his host, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in a symbolic gesture of his status.
Still, there was little overt warmth for Mugabe in public sessions. But while mingling with leaders before the opening meeting, he hugged several heads of states and diplomats, said an African delegate who was present.
“He was hugging everyone, pretty much everyone he could get close to,” said the delegate, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t supposed discuss the private gathering.
During public speeches in this Red Sea resort, most AU leaders spoke of the “challenges” in Zimbabwe and none said anything harsh about Mugabe.
But Jendayi Frazer, the assistant U.S. secretary of state for African affairs, said she believed that in private leaders would “have very, very strong words for him.”
“I would suggest that one not take from the soft words in an open plenary as a reflection of the deep concern of leaders here of the situation in Zimbabwe,” she told reporters.
At the White House, press secretary Dana Perino also suggested behind-the-scenes pressure, saying Mugabe’s actions have “cast a negative light on some really good, democratic leaders in Africa.”
“There are a lot of them who are working very hard to institute democratic reforms in their own way,” she said.
Key African leaders have long had close ties to Mugabe, renowned as a campaigner against white rule and colonialism. They are also reluctant to be seen as backing the West — former colonial rulers — against a fellow African, and many can’t claim democratic governments in their own countries.
Not all were silent. In Nairobi, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Zimbabwe should be suspended from the African Union. “They should suspend him and send peace forces to Zimbabwe to ensure free and fair elections,” Odinga said.
Senegal’s foreign minister, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, complained of the hesitancy to openly pressure Mugabe.
He noted some Africans argue the West should “leave us alone and we be left to decide our own destiny.” But when the crisis occurs, he said, “we don’t want to talk about it. That doesn’t make any sense.”
The AU’s own election observers said Monday that the Zimbabwe runoff fell short of the group’s standards, citing violence and the denial of equal media access for the opposition. Tsvangirai has been holed up at the Dutch Embassy in Harare since announcing his withdrawal from the race June 22.
African diplomats have pointed to Kenya’s power-sharing agreement, which ended bloodshed there after flawed elections this year, as a possible model for Zimbabwe.
But unlike Kenya, which brought together two rivals who had been allies and are of the same generation, there is little common ground between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. The 84-year-old president is a veteran of Africa’s anti-colonial struggles and Tsvangirai, 56, is a former trade union leader.
Tsvangirai has said he is open to sharing power with moderate members of the ruling party, but says Mugabe should have no role in the government.
Zimbabwe’s U.N. ambassador suggested Monday that a power-sharing deal or other measures could head off efforts by the U.S., Britain and France to persuade the U.N. Security Council to approve sanctions.
“I don’t think that other members of the Security Council are convinced that our situation is a threat to international peace and security,” Zimbabwean U.N. Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We see the whole approach to sanctions as a weapon to try and effect a regime change in Zimbabwe.”
Chidyausiku indicated that Mugabe might try to give some kind of role in government to Tsvangirai.
“I’m sure the president will be in a position to come up with a solution where he can accomodate,” Chidyausiku said.
Associated Press Writer John Heilprin contributed to this report from the United Nations.
Muluneh Eyuel
Secretary General of Ethiopia’s major opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Kinijit), Ato Muluneh Eyuel, has joined the Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Democracy and Freedom.
Ato Muluneh had resigned from Kinijit (which later was forced to rename itself UDJ), after he found it impossible to do any thing of value as an opposition politician in Ethiopia.
The political repression by the Meles dictatorship has reached to a point that even the most timid opposition parties are unable operate in the country.
Ato Muluneh will join Dr Berhanu and Ato Andargachew at a public meeting in Washington DC, Saturday, July 5.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bravo, Somali freedom fighters. The people of Ethiopia are with you in your struggle to liberate your country from the Woyanne brutal occupation. We also want to let you know that each Woyanne you kill is a big favor for Ethiopia.
At least 26 killed in central Somalia fighting
MOGADISHU (AFP) — At least 26 people, mainly combatants, were killed on Tuesday in fighting between Ethiopian forces and Somali insurgents in central Somalia, residents said.
The incident was one of the most serious in months and came a week before a deadline for the implementation of a truce agreement signed by rival factions last month in Djibouti was due to expire.
The insurgents ambushed an Ethiopian a Woyanne army convoy travelling from Guguriel near the Ethiopian border to Mataban town, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, they said.
“I counted 18 bodies in and around Mataban town,” said Hussein Moaliam Aden, an elder in Mataban, adding that he had seen the bodies of at least seven Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers lying near the ambush site.
Mataban residents said a child was killed as the clashes spread into the town in Galgudud region, confirming that 26 people had been killed.
“One child was killed in the crossfire in Mataban,” said one resident, Mohamed Hadi Ali.
Residents reported that the fighting, in which both sides used armoured vehicles, was the heaviest in the region since Ethiopian Woyanne forces entered Somalia in late 2006 to bolster the country’s weak government.
“Most of the dead are from the rival sides. We have never seen such a heavy fighting since the Ethiopian Woyanne forces entered our country,” local resident Feisal Mohamed said.
Sheikh Abdirahim Isse, a spokesman for the insurgents, confirmed the clashes and claimed the Ethiopians Woyannes had suffered heavy losses.
“There was heavy fighting today and the Ethiopian Woyanne forces suffered huge losses. Many of them were killed and their armed vehicles destroyed,” Isse told AFP by phone from an unknown location.
The Ethiopian Woyanne army, which rarely comments about such incidents, has pledged to pull out once the United Nations deploys a peacekeeping force to bolster an embattled African Union peacekeeping force confined to Mogadishu.
On June 9, the Somali government and its political opposition signed agreements, including a ceasefire scheduled to enter into force within 30 days, but a radical wing of the Islamist fighters called Shebab has refused to recognise it.
Instead, it has vowed to keeping fighting until Ethiopian Woyanne forces pull out of Somalia, a nation that has been plagued by an uninterrupted civil war since the 1991 overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre.
At least 2.6 million Somalis are facing hunger due to acute food shortages spurred by a prolonged drought, insecurity and high inflation. UN famine monitors have warned that the figure could hit 3.5 million by year’s end.
