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The Rezidor Hotel Group arrives in Ethiopia and announces a brand new Radisson hotel in the capital city Addis Ababa. The property will feature 209 rooms and open in Q4 2009. “With this signing we are adding a new country to our portfolio and are now present in 52 countries across EMEA”, comments Kurt Ritter, President & CEO of Rezidor. “In the Middle East and Africa we are now having 47 hotels with almost 11,500 rooms in operation and under development.”
The new hotel owned by The Emerald Addis Hotels plc is perfectly located in the business and diplomatic centre of Addis Ababa in close proximity to the African Union Conference Centre. Modelled on the successful Radisson SAS EU Hotel, Brussels, which is located near the European Union, the Radisson Hotel Addis Ababa will include an all day restaurant, a bar lounge, meeting facilities, and a fitness&wellness centre.
Addis Ababa is a diverse and riotous capital city with almost 3 million people, roughly 80 different nationalities, and a multitude of religious and language groups. Nestled at the foot of Mount Entoto, the city was founded in the late 1800s by Ethiopian emperor Menelik II and was later occupied by the Italians during the second Italo-Abyssinian War. When Ethiopians regained control, Emperor Haile Selassie immediately set about rebuilding the capital and formed the Organization of African Unity, replaced by today’s African Union, which has its headquarters in the city.
Addis Ababa is also home to the world-renown early hominid Lucy – her fossilised skeleton, as well as a replica, are housed in the Ethiopian National Museum. The city also boasts the largest open market in Africa (in the Merkato district), several interesting mosques and cathedrals, as well as the world’s largest prefabricated building, Shengo Hall, and Menelik’s Old Imperial Palace, which is the official seat of the Ethiopian government.
Facts&Figures:
Property: Radisson Hotel, Addis Ababa (to open)
Rooms: 209
Between 2007 and 2009, Rezidor will add 20.000 rooms to its portfolio.
About the Rezidor Hotel Group: The Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the fastest growing hotel companies in the world. The group features a portfolio of 333 hotels in operation and under development with more than 68,000 rooms in 52 countries.
Rezidor operates the brands Radisson SAS Hotels&Resorts, Regent Hotels&Resorts, Park Inn and Country Inns&Suites in Europe, Middle East and Africa, along with the goldpoints plusSM loyalty programme for frequent hotel guests. Rezidor has signed a worldwide license agreement with the Italian fashion house Missoni, in order to develop and operate a lifestyle hotel brand of the same name: Hotel Missoni.
In November 2006, Rezidor was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. With 42%, Carlson Companies is the main shareholder.
The Corporate Office of the Rezidor Hotel Group is based in Brussels, Belgium.
For more information on Rezidor, visit www.rezidor.com.
This information was brought to you by Cision http://newsroom.cision.com
UNICEF
GENEVA /ADDIS ABABA – An estimated 126,000 children are in need of urgent therapeutic care for severe malnutrition. UNICEF Ethiopia today cautioned that up to six million children under-5 years of age are living in impoverished, drought-prone districts and require urgent preventive health and nutrition interventions.
The situation is the worst since the major humanitarian crisis of 2003, and is rapidly deteriorating. $50 million is urgently required for health, nutrition and water/sanitation.
“It is extremely unfortunate that the combined effects of drought, food price hikes, and insufficient resources for preventive measures, resulted in an emergency that jeopardizes significant child survival gains in Ethiopia. The mechanisms and capacity to prevent and respond to the increase of severe acute malnutrition are in place but are under resourced,” said Bjorn Ljungqvist, UNICEF representative in Ethiopia.
Widespread drought, poor rainy seasons, heavy loss of livestock, limited food supply and soaring prices of food, fuel and fertilizer linked to the global food crisis are contributing to the troubled outlook for children in Ethiopia. For example, since September 2007, the costs of some cereals have increased between 50 per cent and 90 per cent, stretching the ability of some households to buy and meet all their food needs.
Pastoral areas and farming communities dependent on the failed short rains in the South and Southeastern parts of Ethiopia have been the most critically affected: Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR), Oromiya, and Somali. Other hotspots are developing in Amhara, Afar and Tigray regions. In addition to the eight million Ethiopians who are chronically food insecure and are supported by a national safety net programme, at least 3.4 million Ethiopians are in need of emergency food relief – a figure that is likely to rise.
The number of children admitted to therapeutic feeding centers is increasing, putting a strain on the local communities to respond and on the availability of specialized food for treatment of severely malnourished children.
UNICEF is providing therapeutic feeding to children severely malnourished through ready-to-use therapeutic foods such as Plumpy Nut. Over the weekend, UNICEF received 90 metric tonnes. However, as much as 1,800 tonnes are needed over the next three months.
There is a dire need for additional funding for increased therapeutic supplies. UNICEF has asked for $20 million for emergency nutrition alone. It has received only five per cent – $1 million. The additional $30 million are required for measles vaccination, control of diarrheal diseases, outreach health/nutrition activities, emergency water trucking and sanitation.
UNICEF is also concerned about the wider-impact of this crisis on families and the risk of an increase in child labour and school dropouts.
Attention Broadcasters: Broadcast quality VNS on the Ethiopian food crisis is available at thenewsmarket.com/unicef
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
For more information, please contact:
Indrias Getachew, UNICEF Addis Ababa tel: +251 115 18 4026, [email protected]
Patrick McCormick, UNICEF New York tel: +1 212 326 7426, [email protected]
Miriam Azar, UNICEF New York, tel: +1 212 824 6949, [email protected]
Kate Donovan, UNICEF New York, tel: + 1 212 326 7452 [email protected]
This looks like the work of Woyanne. Opposition groups do not target civilians.
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(Reuters) — An explosion on a minibus shook central Addis Ababa today, killing three people and wounding nine, Ethiopian police said.
All the dead and wounded were on the bus, police said.
“Three people were killed and nine seriously injured by an explosion from a device planted by suspected terrorists inside a minibus taxi,” said Addis Ababa police spokesman Densash Hailu.
The blast on a road between the Hilton hotel and the foreign ministry was the latest in a string of explosions in Addis Ababa that Ethiopia has blamed on extremists backed by its neighbour and rival Eritrea.
Scores of policemen and soldiers rushed to the scene, cordoning off the area as fire engines arrived.
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Three people were killed when a bomb exploded late Tuesday near the Ethiopian foreign ministry in central Addis Ababa, according to state-run radio.
The radio provided no further details but witnesses near the site of the explosion told AFP at the scene that the explosive device may have been placed on a minibus.
“I was in the area when the blast went off and this minibus was blown to pieces,” one eyewitness said, asking not to be named.
The explosion took place at around 7:30 pm (1630 GMT) and all streets leading to the foreign ministry area in the centre of the Ethiopian capital were sealed off by federal police.
When contacted by AFP, the Ethiopian authorities did not provide a casualty toll.
Three people were killed and 18 wounded in bomb blasts at petrol stations in Addis Ababa on April 14.
The authorities had accused the separatist Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which alongside the Ogaden National Liberation Front and Ethiopia’s arch-foe Eritrea, are routinely blamed for such attacks.
“Ethiopia has recorded impressive growth during the past few years” – IMF
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF)
Press Release No. 08/115
May 19, 2008
Statement at the Conclusion of the 2008 Article IV Consultation Mission to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission team, led by Mr. Robert Corker, visited the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia during May 7-19, 2008, to conduct discussions for the 2008 Article IV consultation. At the conclusion of the visit, the mission issued the following statement:
“Ethiopia has recorded impressive growth during the past few years—the fastest for a non-oil exporting country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Growth has been supported by structural reforms and infrastructure development, as well as favorable agricultural conditions. Rapid growth has contributed to poverty reduction and progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, it has also been accompanied by rising pressures on prices and international reserves, exacerbated by sharply higher world oil prices. In March, the 12-month increase of overall inflation was 30 percent, with food price rises of 40 percent (year on year) having a particularly strong negative impact on the urban poor. Reserves were below 2 months of imports.
“The consultation discussions focused on policies to reduce inflation while preserving the growth momentum. In this regard, the mission supports the authorities’ objectives to return to single-digit inflation and rebuild reserves to three months of imports. It recognizes the measures taken so far to achieve these objectives, including through actions to slow broad money growth to below 20 percent.
“To place inflation on a firmly declining path the mission advised the authorities to support efforts to reduce monetary growth through a tightening of fiscal policy in FY2008/09 (July-June). It also recommended the authorities seek additional external financing on a grant or concessional borrowing basis to buffer the severe effects of high world oil prices on the balance of payments and soften the impact of domestic policy tightening on economic activity. Such financing, for example, could facilitate needed investments in the power sector without crowding out private domestic borrowing.
“Over the medium term, the mission expressed support for the government’s overall strategy to strengthen the foundations for growth—with an increasing role for the private sector—while preserving macroeconomic stability. Key aspects include scaling up public sector investment in infrastructure, health and education, while maintaining a sustainable debt position, and boosting overall economic activity through commercialization of agriculture and fostering the non-farm private sector.
“The mission emphasized that it will be critical to strike a judicious balance between demand-dampening and growth-enhancing measures in the next few years to achieve macroeconomic stability and permit a return of international reserves to a comfortable level. This will allow the Ethiopian economy to become more resilient to shocks.
“The mission would like to thank the authorities for frank and open discussions, as well as the warm hospitality extended to the team.”