ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, 4 December 2008 – At the crack of dawn, 32,000 registered participants came together in Maskal Square to participate in Africa’s biggest 10 km road race – the Great Ethiopian Run. UNICEF and the Great Ethiopian Run have been partners for the past three years, committed to fighting HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Jamilla, age 16, winner of the ‘Dream Campaign’ girls’ Mobility Cycle race greeting Swedish athlete Carolina Kluft after at the Great Ethiopian Run in Maskal Square.
The race continued its tradition of fundraising for orphans and vulnerable children through the ‘Dream Campaign’ by raising about 11,000 dollars for four charity homes for children affected by HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
The race kicked-off with a display of Ethio-Japanese dancing introduced by delegates from the Government of Japan.
The Great Run received international media coverage by Super Sport, CNN, BBC World, Trans-World Sport, Gillette World of Sport, EuroSport and others.
Aberra, age 19, showing his trophy after successful finish of the 1.5 km Mobility Cycle race at the Great Ethiopian Run.
The guests attending this year’s race include Sweden’s 2004 Olympic Heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft and Britain’s 5000m specialist Mo Farah, alongside a number of renowned Kenyan athletes.
2008 AIMS Children Series
In addition to the mass race on Sunday, around 3,000 youngsters aged 11 and under took part in the 2008 AIMS Children Series, which promote running for children in the developing world.
As part of the Dream Campaign, a 1.5 km Mobility Cycle race for children living with disabilities was organized by UNICEF in collaboration with the Mobility Without Barriers Foundation.
The organizer of the race, Haile Gebreselassie personally greeted each of the contestants.
Jamilla, 16, won the girls’ event and Aberra, 19, won the boy’s event. Awards were given by UNICEF Representative Bjorn Ljungqvist, accompanied by Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebreselassie and Swedish athlete Carolina Kluft after a successful finish.
“It is inspiring to see young people affected by disability given so much hope by something as simple as a Mobility Bicycle. Accessing schools and generating income as a result of these bikes is a cost effective and a humane response,” said Mr. Ljungqvist.
About Mobility Cycles
In Ethiopia, 98 per cent of young people with disabilities do not attend school, in part because of the dangers associated with using wheelchairs for long distances, or over rough ground.
Over the past two years, UNICEF has helped introduced the Mobility Cycle, a safer, more effective means of assisted mobility. As of November 2008, more than 600 young people in Ethiopia have been participating in UNICEF-supported Mobility for Education programme.
Over the next two years, 4000 more children in Ethiopia will receive a Mobility Cycle through a national intervention that will be launched in February 2009.
The initial concept and design for the high performance mobility cycle for landmine victims was introduced by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman during the ‘Long Way Down’ trip through Africa in 2006.
UNITED NATIONS — Members of the Security Council generally expressed support on Wednesday for the International Criminal Court’s moving ahead with the possible indictment of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan for war crimes in Darfur, although several voiced reservations that it would slow attempts to reach a peace settlement.
The discussion came after testimony to the council by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court’s prosecutor, who warned that members should prepare in advance to enforce the indictment. The three-judge panel in The Hague is expected to reach a decision on the case presented by Mr. Moreno-Ocampo in either January or February.
The strongest opposition to the possible indictment came from Libya and South Africa, which called for suspending the proceedings for at least a year, while Russia and China called the timing poor.
“Starting legal proceedings in a hurried manner while the conflict is still going on will make unavoidable interference in the relevant political processes,” the Chinese ambassador, Zhang Yesui, told the council.
The United States, not a party to the court, voiced support. “The international community cannot ignore the atrocities and massive human suffering that have occurred during the ongoing conflict in Darfur,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, an American envoy.
The Sudanese ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, said his country had improved its cooperation with the peacekeeping operations in Sudan, humanitarian groups and its estranged neighbor, Chad. “Are we to bring people back to square one by indicting the president who is the custodian of the whole peace process?” he said in an interview.
But the Darfuri Leaders Network, a coalition of academics and others in exile in the United States, said the government was just making “empty gestures” while the threat of the indictment loomed. The group said in a statement that the indictment presented the best chance for accountability for crimes in Darfur.
According to Internet Worlds Statistics, Internet usage in Ethiopia is the lowest in Africa and the world.
While countries in Africa and around the world enjoy unprecedented growth in information technology (IT) and telecoms growth and reaping the benefits, Ethiopians are thrown in to dark ages by a regime that is terrified of free flow of information between the people of the country.
In this competitive world the actions of the Meles Zenawi’s regime is arresting the development of generation of Ethiopians by depriving them the necessary tools to succeed in the 21st century.
In Somalia, a country that has no functioning goverment, Internet usage is higher than in Ethiopia.
The person who is in charge of suppressing the growth of information technology in Ethiopia is DebreTsion GebreMichael, chairman of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, who is Meles Zenawi’s right hand man and a member of the ruling Tigray People Liberation Front (Woyanne).
An illiterate care of the ruling Woyanne, DebreTsion’s primary duty as the head of ETC is to make sure that the people of Ethiopia have as little access as possible to information technology such as the Internet.
Greenland 92.3%
Netherlands 90.1%
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Morocco 21.3%
South Africa 11.6%
Zimbabwe 10.9
Nigeria 10%
Egypt 8.6%
Sudan 3.7%
Kenya 3.0%
Equatorial Guinea 1.3%
Somalia 1.0%
Mali 0.8%
Ethiopia 0.4%
POZNAN, Poland (AFP) — The food crisis in Ethiopia and other countries in the Horn of Africa region is severe and could rapidly turn into famine, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warned Thursday.
Calling the crisis “the worst … in 10 years”, IFRC secretary general Bekele Geleta said: “After March, it could be a famine situation”.
“Usually, people start responding when they see emaciated children on their screens. If assistance is not given, in a few months, they could start seeing that, there could be famine,” due to poor harvest because of drought and high food prices, he said.
The IFRC will launch an appeal late next week to assist one million needy people, of which 600,000 live in Ethiopia, and the rest in Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia.
Geleta said 80 to 100 million Swiss francs (52 to 65 million euros, 67 to 83 million dollars) were needed for the IFRC operation in the region.
Speaking on the sidelines of UN climate talks in this Polish city, Geleta said global warming was “definitely” a contributing factor to the crisis in the Horn of Africa.
“What we are seeing in the Horn is floods and droughts and the frequency has increased enormously,” he said.
“New areas that did not know droughts and floods are being affected now. It may not be conclusive, but definitely it is a contributing factor.”
Alemitu Girma Hailu’s father Mamo Kacha and mother Sale Mankocha were finally able to give their daughter a proper funeral. The maid’s body was kept at a morgue for 62 days after her sponsor refused to bear the repatriation costs.
Dubai, UAE – The family of an Ethiopian woman whose body lay in a Ras Al Khaimah morgue for over two months, said they were grateful to Gulf News readers for helping send their daughter’s body home.
The body of 19-year-old Alemintu Girma Hailu lay in the morgue of a Ras Al Khaimah hospital since September 9. It was finally sent home to Ethiopia on November 11.
Hailu’s family, which lives in a remote area in Ethiopia, said they suffered a lot during the two-month ordeal as they did not have the financial means to get her body back from the UAE.
Hailu had come to work for a family in Ras Al Khaimah, but fell ill after a few days of her arrival due to heat stroke.
She spent two months in the hospital in a coma before she died on September 9. Unfortunately, her body was left at the morgue for 62 days because her sponsor refused to shoulder the cost of visa cancellation and repatriation.
Gulf News readers stepped in to help after the maid’s story was reported in the newspaper.
Hailu’s father Mamo Kacha and her mother Sele Mankocha are very grateful.
In a letter sent from Ethiopia, Kacha said: “We are poor and were not able to offer her any help. But Gulf News readers extended a helping hand to us at this difficult time.
“Though we are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved daughter, we have no words to express how grateful we feel for all the financial and other support we received.”
The letter adds: “Though the unfortunate loss of our daughter abroad was hard to bear, we are deeply touched by the support extended by everyone who empathised with us like close family members.
“We thank you all for your assistance in getting our daughter’s body to us and arranging the funeral in her homeland.
“Words are not enough to appreciate all the generous comforting we received. It has truly helped us cope with our loss. May Allah repay you for your kindness and may our daughter rest in peace,” said the father.
Hailu’s mother said that like any mother she spent long sad days and nights while her daughter was ill in hospital and when her body was abandoned in the morgue.
“I just wonder how humans sometimes have no feelings, and can be cruel and heartless. We just wish her sponsor would tell us why he allowed her body to be kept in morgue for 62 days. Why no one helped my little daughter…” she said.
She said Gulf News readers came as a blessing from God to wash away their tears and doubts. “They brought my daughter home and made me understand that Allah never abandons his creatures, no matter how long they suffer.
“Despite my pain, I am forgive those who let our daughter suffer in life and in death,” Sele said.
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopia’s population has risen by a staggering 23.4 million people over the past 14 years, to its current 76.9 million, according to a census approved by parliament Thursday.
The census dates from May 2007 and includes a projected annual growth rate of 2.6 million people, after delays in the verification process.
“We carried out a census in May 2007 and it shows that there were 73,918,505 people at that time,” Central Statistics Agency chief Samya Zakarya told AFP.
“But based on a projection of an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent, Ethiopia’s population up to this month is 76,947,760.”
UN estimations of Ethiopia’s population are higher, at more than 81 million.
Ethiopia’s population stood at 53.4 million when the last census was conducted in 1994.
The new census shows the capital, Addis Ababa, with a population of 2.7 million.
Nearly 62 million people, or 83.8 percent, live in rural areas, with the central Oromiya and Amhara regions growing by 3.2 million and 2.4 million respectively.
Muslims increased by 1.1 percent in the traditionally Christian-dominated nation to number more than 25 million, up from 17.4 million 14 years ago.
The Christian population rose to more than 46 million, or 62 percent of the population, up from 32.7 million in 1994.
The census highlights a decrease in the number of Orthodox Christians, traditionally the dominant church in Ethiopia. They now comprise 43.5 percent of the population, as against just over 50 percent in 1994.
The erosion is mainly due to the rising influence of Pentecostal churches in the country. Membership of Protestant churches as a whole has increased from 5.4 million to 13.7 million.
