ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia will import 150,000 tonnes of wheat to stabilise grain prices amid rising world commodity costs, the prime minister said on Wednesday.
Higher prices for staple foods and fuel have hit developing nations hard as government of some food-growing countries impose export curbs because of worries about domestic shortages.
“The government has signed an agreement to import 1.5 million quintals (150,000 tonnes) of wheat within the next one and half months to stabilise food grain prices,” Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament.
“Food grain price stability was not achieved in some communities due to illegal practices by traders operating outside the law,” he said.
The leader of sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous country did not say where the grain would come from nor how much it would cost.
The Ministry of Finance says inflation stands at 19 percent, mostly due to high petrol prices.
Meles said the government will take action against black market operators. Last week, police arrested 45 traders.
Food shortages are worse in sub-Saharan Africa because per capita production has fallen in recent years. Drought-prone Ethiopia was one of the most-affected African countries.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday that Ethiopia should tap low-interest loans or grants to help it deal with rising food prices.
A U.S.-funded early warning system, FEWSNET, has said that up to nine million Ethiopians may need food assistance in 2008 due to drought.
(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse, editing by Jack Kimball and Peter Blackburn)
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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – An Ethiopian [kangaroo] court sentenced eight people to death for a grenade attack that killed five people last year in the Horn of Africa nation’s restive Somali region, local media reported on Thursday.
The assault at a packed ceremony in 2007 was blamed on the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a separatist movement in the remote eastern area. A stampede after police fired over the crowd killed another six people.
“The Somali state high court sentenced to death the eight people after evidence presented by the prosecution proved that the accused killed and wounded civilians,” the state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) quoted the court as saying.
The eight have a right to appeal to higher courts under Ethiopian law. Death sentences must also be approved by the state president.
The ONLF says it is fighting for autonomy of the ethnic-Somali region. Both the government and the rebels accuse each other of human rights abuses.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament that the rebel group has been largely “neutralised” by a military offensive going on for the past year.
The ONLF denies this, saying it still has operations in the countryside. Addis Ababa says its neighbour Eritrea is training and supplying the ONLF, but Asmara denies that.
Reviewed by Todd Kliman , Cynthia Hacinli , Ann Limpert , Dave McIntyre
Cuisine: Ethiopian cooking, homey and assured—prepared and sometimes ladled out tableside by Tiwaltengus Shenegelgn, the gentle-souled etete (“mama” in Amharic) of the restaurant’s name.
Mood: The dark, incense-filled Ethiopian restaurants of a generation ago have given way here to an almost slick space—polished wood floors, dangling lights—that could pass for a wine bar.
Best for: Diners who can appreciate the sensual experience of an Ethiopian repast—you eat with your hands—and who like to linger. Westerners may find the service slow, but a leisurely style is not the prerogative of the French alone.
Best dishes: Sambusas, crispy, three-cornered pockets stuffed with lentils; lega tibs (lamb) and doro wat (chicken and egg), swimming in a complex red sauce that derives its heat from the Ethiopian compound spice berbere; the cool, mustard-spiked green-lentil dish called azifa, a necessary cooling agent; dark-roasted coffee.
Insider tips: Ordering a fasting platter—an assortment of vegetarian dishes—is a smart way to counteract the heaviness of the meat-based stews and to experience the full range of the cooking. In your choice of seven, include the gomen, or buttery collards, and the creamy yekik alicha, or yellow lentils.
VIRGINIA — An Alexandria man is among 11 folk artists set to receive one of the nation’s most prestigious national heritage awards.
The National Endowment for the Arts announced yesterday that Moges Seyoum, an expert in Ethiopian Christian liturgical singing, chanting and sacred dance, would be a recipient of a 2008 National Heritage Fellowship, which includes a one-time award of $20,000.
Other honorees include a saddlemaker from Idaho and a maker of Peruvian altar boxes from Utah. Seyoum, who emigrated from Ethiopia in 1982, leads the performance of the musical liturgy on Sundays at Selam Kidist Mariam Church in the District.
Crossing remote areas, far away from civilization and from the comfort of the modern dwelling lies one of the most well-kept traditions we might expect to see on the African continent. In Southern Ethopia, in the depths of Rift Valley or in the Omo Region, there is a cultural fest – over 45 languages are spoken, several tribes combine their traditions in an amazing display of color and culture that reminds one of ancient times.
Forget the comfort of your car if you want to reach the sacred place. The roads can be terrible but the rewards one receives when reaching the other side is worth the trouble. People in this corner of Africa have remained virtually untouched by a world that moves ever faster, their lifestyles suffering no major changes for the last two hundred years. Even though it can get overwhelming considering the arid desert, most of the people that visited the place were impressed by the country’s beauty – the tall mountains, the vast fields with grains waiting to be harvested, the cooling waterfalls or the lush forest filled with vegetation.
The Ethiopian people somehow seem unaffected by the region’s economical issues – they laugh, sign in greet each day with optimisms, wishing every stranger curious about their lands a warm welcome. Women wear colorful jewels, handcrafted from various plants. A woman would put on daily, besides the clothes, beaded necklaces and metal bracelets, leather skirts or loincloths but also some complex hairstyles you wouldn’t normally expect.
Many fascinating objectives can be found around the Simien Mountains, including Gondar, Ethiopia’s medieval capital or the Royal Enclosure, a series of castles with a unique design in Africa built by the ruling family. Ethiopia’s ancient capital that could rival Egypt’s pyramids, Axum is not the center point for the country’s Christians, with several sacred buildings and one of the largest churches in the world.
On the other hand, the is less frequented but more inviting, due to the variety of flora and fauna. The parks are home to hundreds of species of birds, the country being referred to as one of the best countries for ornithology in the world. Lake Nakuru National Park also offers the chance to explore rhinos, buffalos and flamingos. All in all, Ethiopia can be a fascinating place, to find a lost culture, enjoy remote locations and escape the modernism of it all.
Comptroller’s report shows government failed in its handling of Ethiopian immigrants; community suffers from prevalent drug abuse, domestic violence
Over 100,000 Ethiopian immigrants are currently living in Israel, with 65% requiring some kind of welfare assistance. According to the state comptroller’s report, the Ministry of Social Affairs did not initiate a special program to teach social workers handling Ethiopian immigrants about the community’s culture and needs until 2006.
The harsh report pointed to a study conducted by the Israel Anti Drug Abuse Foundation that showed one quarter of Ethiopan-Israeli youths have used drugs, and two thirds reported consuming alcoholic beverages.
Despite the disturbing results, the comptroller’s report found that the Foundation did not develop a plan for dealing with the drug and alcohol problems of Ethiopian youths until 2007.
The comptroller charged that almost every government authority has failed in some way – on both the municipal and national level – in dealing with the social needs of Ethiopian immigrants.
“The upsetting results about this community’s distress have been recognized for years, but government authorities did not fully understand their special need for treatment. Also, no systematic organization for the treatment of this community was put forth, and as a result not enough was done socially in order to sufficiently incorporate them into society,” the report charged.
Treatment took over two years
In Netanya, 60% of the city’s Ethiopian residents, who account for 6.2% of the city’s population, seek the help of social welfare services. However, the state comptroller found that only two Ethiopian social workers were employed at the municipality’s center for domestic violence. Because of the manpower shortage, some cases took up to a year to be handled
One example included in the report was the story of a blind woman who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia and settled in Netanya,. The woman reported that her husband of 40 years was physically and verbally abusive towards her and her daughter. In April 2005, social workers recommended that the couple be dealt with at the center, but the case had to wait for more than two years to be handled.
The comptroller also slammed the Ministry of Social Affairs for neglecting to process the information received about disputes that were reported by community members. The comptroller emphasized the importance of treating the Ethiopian community’s social issues, as Israel Police records show a relatively high rate of domestic violence among Ethiopian immigrants.
The Prime Minister’s Office said in response that the government had allotted over NIS 800 million (more than $200 million) to the improvement of the Ethiopian immigrants’ absorption. The Netanya Municipality said it understood the need for “discussing the subject,” and that it had reinforced the human resources channels dealing with Ethiopian senior citizens.
