ESFNA It is with great sadness that we inform you that Shimeles Gessese, our dear brother, a long time player and leader of the Abyssinia Sport Club of Portland, ESFNA board member and ardent ESFNA supporter passed away on Tuesday July 24th, 2007 from a heart attack.
He died on the soccer field doing something he loves. We will have a formal release in the coming days, but we would like to take this opportunity and pray for comfort for his family and friends.
Those of us that have known Shime for years know what ESFNA meant to him – he has been there through thick and thin, and has always had big plans for the organization he loved so much.
Funeral and memorial arrangements have not been decided as of yet but we will provide updates as soon as we receive them. May God rest his soul and bless his family with the strength to deal with this tragedy.
In an effort to make Columbus a cab-friendly town, a committee of city, community and business officials recently recommended requiring that cabbies have a U.S. driver’s license for at least five years. The current rule is six months.
“I think this attitude is unfortunate and it smacks of racism,” said Shabaka Ture, a committee member and former manager of the Independent Taxicab Association, which represents mostly foreign-born drivers.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio agrees.
“This is somewhere between ill-advised and flat-out illegal,” said Jeff Gamso, the organization’s legal director. “It’s a way of saying to people that ‘we don’t want you here.’ ”
There are about 1,000 cabdrivers in Columbus, according to the city’s license office. Araya Gebremeskel, manager of the Independent Taxicab Association of Columbus, said his organization represents about 710 drivers.
Of those, about 530 would lose their jobs if the proposal were enacted. There is talk about grandfathering current drivers, but no decision has been made. Gebremeskel, however, said it still would be wrong to exclude anyone as new drivers.
The 18-member committee, led by Experience Columbus, the convention and visitors bureau, developed a series of recommendations, including the license requirement, to improve cab rides.
Two committee members — one from Acme Taxi and one from an independent company — said they voiced their opposition during the 18 months the committee has met.
Gabrielle Marshall Thomas of Acme Taxi said the five-year rule is “a barrier to entry” in Columbus and that the committee presented no clear reasons for including it.
Columbus Green Cabs Inc., which runs Yellow Cab and represents 128 taxis in the city, has two members on the committee. The company says it already uses the five-year rule.
“There is no hidden agenda here. It’s simply an attempt to upgrade the skills of those coming into this industry,” said James Stofer, president of Green Cabs.
“Just because they are from other countries doesn’t mean that they are familiar with our driving rules and regulations.”
But drivers argue that passing the state driving test and a city cab test should be evidence enough that they know the rules and the area.
“If they think we don’t dress well enough or think we aren’t measuring up, then tell us what we can do to improve,” said Fesshaye Beyene, 43, who left Ethiopia 11 years ago.
“You can’t just make up a rule that prohibits people from working because they haven’t been an American for long enough.”
Fred Yates Jr., chairman of the city’s Vehicle for Hire Board and a committee member, said he likes the proposal, which still must be approved by the City Council.
“We deliberated a lot on this, and it’s not a punitive type of thing,” he said. “We felt that the riding public would benefit from this and we want to benefit the public.
“We just want a cab license to be more of a privilege.”
Sharon Gadd, who manages the license office, said the city has received 15 complaints this year about cabs. Ten were claims of overcharging and five were complaints about cabs showing up late.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman is currently reviewing the recommendations.
“He is looking for a higher license standard so we can get the highest quality drivers,” said spokesman Michael Brown. “He will consider the five-year change, but may not support extending it for that long.”
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The writer can be reached at [email protected]
The 1960’s witnessed the advent of information technology in Ethiopia, when the mainframe computers were introduced for the first time in Africa. Despite being installed in the important sectors of military, defense, finance, telecom, electricity & power, and railways, the mainframes had no interactive boundaries within the sector.
Later, microcomputers spread widely in the country either by direct purchase or through donor development aid. Like its predecessor, the initial use of microcomputers was characterized by inadequate literacy and patchy understanding of the technology by potential users.
A centralized approach to building information and communication technologies in Ethiopia was first proposed by donor agencies such as UNESCO and IDRC as soon as microcomputers were introduced to the county. In 1986 national computing and information center was also established. However, the intended goals were not realized by the centre due to high control by the military government of the time, inadequate resources, high turnover, shortage of skilled manpower and insufficient knowledge of information technology by decision makers.
After the change of government in 1991 the efforts were resumed with regard to promoting the awareness and growth of computers. A survey carried out in response to a study on national informatics policy in Ethiopia in 1993 covering 81 major institutions reports 1550 microcomputers, 38 mini computers and 8 mainframe computers. 25% of these machines were owned by international organizations and aid agencies. By the end of 1998, extensive growth in computers in business, academic institutions and households were seen raising the figure to an estimated 15,000 microcomputers.
Awareness of the effect of information technology has been growing among users in the field of research, those working for international organizations and those in business. All of which has encouraged the IT sector in the country – proliferation of private companies that provide value added services in information technology, training centers and the establishment of a computer science unit at Addis Ababa University, efforts towards standardizing Ethiopic software, etc.
Public access links were introduced in 1990 and the first Internet connection was established by the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporations (ETC) in October 1996 with a T1 connection to the United States. Currently there are over 2500 Internet users but the quality of service leaves much to be desired.
Recent move of the government towards increasing the bandwidth to 1Mb line, privatization of energy and telecommunication sector could open further opportunities for growth in information and communication sector. However, surveys show as much as 83% of the capacity of a PC is often underutilized and the quality of services offered is often poor.
Challenges to the Growth of Information Technology in Ethiopia
Full adaptation of the technology has been difficult due to:
§ Lack of national guidelines and consistent information and communication policy
§ Lack of academic institutions that act as sources of well-grounded study in information technology
§ Non-existent computer literacy in primary and secondary education
§ A weak education infrastructure
§ Shortage of skilled human resources and computing infrastructure colleges and universities
§ The School of Information Studies for Africa (SISA) that was to become a center of excellence in new techniques of information systems development for Africa has limited intake of students – degrees for less than fifteen African students per- due to its heavy reliance on donor funding and lack of vision.
§ Shortage of programmers in custom and new systems development
§ Poor quality of internet services
§ A restrictive information seeking culture
§ Limited access to software and training materials
§ Diverse local languages, scripts and dialects in Ethiopia – user friendly interface in the local languages for on-line connectivity is needed in promoting information sharing and developing a successful national network in Ethiopia
The Role of International Organizations and Development Aid Agencies
The international organizations and aid agencies have played a significant role in information technology diffusion in the country. Their existence has helped create opportunities for demonstrations of key information technology, transfer of ideas, sponsoring structural development projects and a potential market segment for emerging small and medium enterprises in the field. The number of international organizations recognizing the importance of information technology for the development of local capacity has been increasing.
Potential Benefits of Information Technology in Ethiopia
• Efficient communications for manufacturing, service and tourism sector
• Fast response to natural disasters and effective rural health and family planning services
• Effective governance and administrative effectiveness
• Efficient education, research and communication of research results
• Access to global market and research information
• Employment opportunities for small and medium enterprises
• Effective and enhanced data and information gathering and distribution for better planning
• Enhanced national cohesion and integration of heterogeneous social composition or geographical dispersal
Core ICT Application Areas for Development in Ethiopia
To attain the benefits mentioned above, Ethiopia should define areas of outmost strategic importance that should be put in place for continued economic development. This would include those areas that:
• Promote food security (food chain information systems, agricultural information systems and networks, etc.)
• Help in overall poverty reduction enhancing quality and quantity of education and health (basic education and health care information systems, telemedicine and healthcare networks)
• Build the necessary human capital (school, university and research networks)
• Facilitate general economic activity (statistical information systems, geographic information systems, judicial and administration systems such as inland revenue, municipalities activities, land registry information systems and networks)
• Improve financial market and the development of private sector (property, land and business registry systems and networks, payment clearance and financial institutions oversight systems);
• Improve trade and global competitiveness (trade information systems, customs and clearance systems, business promotion information systems and networks)
• Improve the delivery of infrastructure and social services (transport, communication, utilities management information systems and networks)
• Support the management of macroeconomic planning and project implementation at national level (planning, budgeting, monitoring, tax administration, expenditure management system both at national and federal states level).
• Assist in the preservation of the environment (regional planning, environment monitoring, early warning information systems, etc.)
• Encourage the tourism sector (promotional and cultural information systems) and
• Provide conditions for popular participation (community centers, information systems between various regions).
Recommendations
Ethiopia should develop a National Information Infrastructure (NII) plan that covers the above mentioned areas of strategic information systems and networks backed by efficient telecommunication networks and people that implement it.
The NII plan should encompass connectivity (built on robust and low cost technology), content (mainly strategic information systems), infrastructure (human, energy, telecommunications, and social) and enabling policy for private sector investment and participation.
Ethiopia should not leave ICT as sector for commercial interest or free market and privatization as such but rather regard them as part of the general public interest, participation, use and debate.
With the growing population pressures, the policy on rural economic development requires considerable investment and attention to ICT to achieve sustainable growth in the long term.
The application of information and communication technology does not just encompass technology – hardware, radios, computers, telephones and software and the content or data, but also needs organization, incentives, procedures and people.
The ability to participate in information and communication technologies requires participation, partnership, understanding of social implication of new technologies and management of changes at national level.
Furthermore, democratization of access to ICT to the 90 percent of rural and sub-urban disadvantaged communities is also crucial. But it requires considerable resources.
Some of the key steps for democratization of access to ICT that remain as a principle to Acacia initiative and crucial for Ethiopia include:
• Promoting applications and services that respond to communities’ needs (e.g. enhancing the delivery of education, distribution of health and agricultural information, and other applications)
• Fostering it and telecom policies which are hospitable to ICT access in rural and small town communities (e.g. changes in pricing policies, regulatory frameworks, the delivery of public information, and promotion of universal service/universal access);
• Supporting human capacity and innovative infrastructure that extends communication networks to rural and small town communities (e.g. radio, satellite, cellular phone-computer linkages);
• Encouraging the development of tools and technologies that facilitate ICT use by the marginalized groups including the disabled and illiterate (e.g. graphic, touch-screen or language interfaces); and,
• Developing, organizing and dissemination of content in structured and non-structured format through a variety of media to be accessed and advanced by communities.
Besides meeting the general needs of the rural areas the National Information Infrastructure should take overall national strategy for development into consideration. The NII plan should also be built on existent tools and infrastructure that underpin the current economic activity and new tools and technologies that must be put in place to sustain emerging economic activity.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Dressed in a black Adidas track suit and seated amid a comfortable clutter of term papers and political science tomes in his modest office at Addis Ababa University, Prof. Merera Gudina hardly looks like a menace. But, ever since he was elected to parliament two years ago, people have been avoiding him.
There was, for example, the time that local mechanics were too terrified to repair his car when it broke down on the way back from his mother’s funeral east of Addis.
“The mechanic said somebody was giving him a signal and they ran away and we had to transport the car to Addis,” Prof. Gudina said. “What they do is that they don’t touch me as a person, but people in contact with me, after I leave an area, they harass them or detain them or whatever they want,” he said of government security agents.
Optimistic visitors from the United States, which will give $500-million (U.S.) in aid to Ethiopia in 2008, like to point out that the Ethiopian opposition pulled off a feat that would be unthinkable in America or Europe when they unseated more than 150 ruling lawmakers two years ago.
But civil-society groups and supporters of the opposition throughout Ethiopia describe the country’s parliament as little more than a Potemkin village. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling EPRDF party puts on a show of democracy for international donors, while enacting a brutal crackdown on supporters of the opposition outside of the capital.
Leaders such as Prof. Gudina say they’ve been denied offices, staff and access to their constituents and the media.
“At this point, Ethiopia has some of the trappings of democracy, but none of the substance,” said Bronwyn Bruton, a Program Officer for East and Southern Africa with the National Endowment for Democracy, which gets some funding from the U.S. government.
In the 2005 elections, the opposition made historic gains against the EPRDF, which is dominated by Mr. Zenawi’s own Tigray ethnic group.
Hundreds of demonstrators were killed and tens of thousands more jailed, including journalists, the elected mayor of Addis Ababa and the head of the country’s only independent human-rights organization.
The government only last week released 38 of the opposition activists who had been tried and found guilty of inciting violence, treason and trying to topple the government, but not before they signed statements admitting their guilt.
While a number of opposition members have boycotted parliament in protest against the election, scores of others followed the advice of Western countries including the United States and took office.
“I can’t run away from this place and expect some miracle,” said Beyene Petros, who has represented the opposition ever since Mr. Zenawi ousted dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.
Mr. Petros has seen so many colleagues jailed or killed that he seems somewhat bemused at his own survival.
“Not me. I’m sort of an alibi for a lot of bad things they do to others. They will say, ‘Look, Beyene Petros has been this, he’s a fierce opponent, he can say anything.’ Instead of coming to me, attacking me, they have gone and killed my immediate associates, they have abducted some. That’s not enjoyable position to be in.”
The government’s true face, people say, is shown in places like Dembi Dollo, a two-day journey from the capital along more than 480 kilometres of dusty, dilapidated roads. Few foreigners visit, and little news emerges from the area.
Dembi Dollo is the political heart of Oromia, Ethiopia’s most populous region. It’s the birthplace of the Oromo Liberation Front, a group once allied with Mr. Zenawi, but today the largest of half a dozen rebel fronts in the country.
It is here that men who once campaigned for an opposition party called the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement are still paying the price.
“You can say my home is the prison. I spend a lot of my life in the prison,” said one elder who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “Since 1991, every year I was in prison it’s only this time now, this year, I didn’t visit the prison.”
Though support for the rebels runs high here, the town’s elders campaigned for the OFDM, which eschews violence. Unfortunately for them, the local officials of the ruling party do not distinguish between political parties like the OFDM and the OLF, which was branded a terrorist organization by Mr. Zenawi’s administration late last year.
The elders had been jailed and followed. Telephone and power lines to Dembi Dollo were cut off. The OFDM’s office was vandalized and closed. After an elementary school teacher campaigned for the OFDM, riot police went after his 16-year-old daughter. They broke both her wrists, bludgeoned her in the abdomen and held her for a month.
“When she went to the court, the witnesses are the police who beat her – so how can this be?” said one teacher, who also insisted on anonymity.
Ethiopia’s ruling party attributes any heavy-handedness against the opposition to growing pains. “In most cases there are no problems,” said Bereket Simon, a senior adviser to Mr. Zenawi. “We feel there might be problems here and there because this is not a mature democracy like that of the West. It is an emerging democracy and we’re bound to make mistakes.”
Prof. Gudina has kept his full-time job at the university. After seeing 56 members of his party killed amid post-election violence, he says there’s very little he can do in parliament, where, unlike representatives for the ruling party, he has no offices, no budget and no influence. “In a year and a half, I’ve attended five, six sessions, that’s all,” Prof. Gudina said. “There’s nothing there to do. When Meles makes a report, you go so at least people see you are there.”
Two thousand Oromo people, part of the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, marched Thursday to the State Capitol to raise awareness of human rights violations in Ethiopia.
People came from around the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe to march from Dale Street and University Avenue to the Capitol in 94-degree temperatures. Last week and this week have been declared Oromo Week in Minnesota.
“We’re marching for the people who are arrested back home,” said Kamer Hurumo, holding a large U.S. flag and walking with marchers holding Oromo Liberation Front flags. Hundreds carried signs saying, “U.S., stop supporting the Ethiopian regime.”
Oromo people are the majority in Ethiopia but have no real representatives in the Ethiopian government, which is ruled by a minority ethnic group.
Thursday’s march was organized by the International Oromo Youth Association in cooperation with the Oromo Community of Minnesota and the Oromo American Citizens Council.
“Ethiopian regime [Woyanne] solders who are now in Somalia are committing atrocities against the Oromo refugees in Somalia,” said Gawar Mohamed, president of the youth association. “Since Ethiopia [Woyanne] invaded Somalia, more than 30.000 Oromo refugees were deported back to Ethiopia. Many of these are in prison now.”
Aduu Joba, 20, and her brother Olyad, 19, came from London for the march.
“We have so many relatives back home who cannot demonstrate peacefully like we can,” she said.
“Almost every person here today has lost either a father, a mother a sibling or close relatives,” said Rammy Mohamed, a student at the University of Minnesota and member of the International Oromo Youth. Her cousin was killed two months ago; he was an engineering student at the University of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Oromo people have been experiencing persecution under the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party (EPRDF) led by Meles Zenawi. Many fled to neighboring countries and settled in refugee camps.
“We hope this is a wake-up call for the international community,” Mohamed said.
It is with great sadness that we inform you that Shimeles Gessese, our dear brother, a long time player and leader of the Abyssinia Sport Club of Portland, ESFNA board member and ardent ESFNA supporter passed away on Tuesday July 24th, 2007 from a heart attack. 
