Ethiopia’s tribalist dictatorship urged Japan to lift a ban on imports of its coffee, saying the Horn of Africa country has taken measures to {www:prevent} pesticide contamination that led Japan to halt purchases last year.
“It’s time to put the Japanese market back and this has already been communicated to them,” Ethiopian Trade Minister Girma Birru said in an interview in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Feb. 17. “I think this is a problem we can leave behind us.”
Japan halted deliveries of coffee from Ethiopia in May after finding “abnormally high” pesticide residues in a {www:shipment} of the beans. Japanese officials demanded that Ethiopia find the source of the chemical and prevent future contamination.
Ethiopia is Africa’s biggest coffee producer. Japan had previously purchased about 20 percent of the country’s exports, said Girma, making it the nation’s third-largest market after Germany and Saudi Arabia. Ethiopia exported $525.2 million of coffee in the fiscal year ending July 7, according to the Trade Ministry.
Girma said the coffee shipment that led Japan to halt imports probably was contaminated by growers using sacks that previously contained insecticides or other chemicals. Most Ethiopian coffee is produced by smallholders who grow the beans without chemical sprays, he said.
Mocha beans from Ethiopia are highly regarded in Japan for their distinctive {www:flavor} and last year’s ban forced coffee shop owners to seek new blends.
No Beans
“We haven’t been able to offer Mocha coffee since last November because the supplier said they have no supplies of Ethiopian coffee beans,” said Takayasu Ito, a coffee shop manager in Tokyo’s Jimbocho neighborhood.
Japan will lift the ban once it receives assurances from Ethiopia’s government that there are no “reappearance risks,” Hiroyuki Uchimi, chief of the inspection planning section at Japan’s Health Ministry, said in a phone interview on Feb. 18.
Measures taken by Ethiopia to prevent a {www:recurrence} of contamination include establishing a laboratory to check for impurities in export coffee.
“We are now going to make clean all the coffee from smallholders or from state farms,” Girma said. “We have everything ready.”
The first survey exhibition in the United States of one of Ethiopia’s most original and prolific contemporary artists. The exhibition, co-curated by Meskerem Assegued, a revered Ethiopian curator and anthropologist, and visionary theater, opera, and multi-disciplinary arts impresario, Peter Sellars, is comprised of more than 100 works in a variety of mediums, scale, and forms. A highlight of the exhibition is a series of striking thrones made of leather, wood, mud and straw, which will be integrated into conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen’s final Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts staged by Sellars in mid-April.
Now through April 18, Tues. – Sat., 11 am – 6 pm
Santa Monica Museum of Art
2525 Michigan Ave.
Santa Monica, CA
(310) 586-6488 www.smmoa.org
When Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar smashed the World indoor 5000m record* on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, running 14:24.37 in Stockholm, it confirmed a stellar start to the year after a 2008 that saw her lose both her outdoor World record and 2004 Olympic gold medal over the distance to fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba.
“It was great,” a high-spirited Defar told the IAAF in an exclusive interview on Wednesday night after her record run. “Today I was in excellent shape. From the beginning til the end, I felt very good. After I passed the first two kilometres, I was certain I was going to break the record and I began to speed up. I ran the last kilometre very fast and that’s why I broke the record.”
Defar smashed more than three seconds off Dibaba’s two-year-old 14:27.42 mark, running a last kilometer of 2:46.6, after being led through 3000m by three pace-setters. “The pace they ran for me was perfect,” said the World 5000m champion Defar.
Redemption for both Beijing and a near-miss in Stuttgart
“When I ran the 3000m in Stuttgart last week, I missed the mark by three seconds,” said the world indoor 3000m champion Defar, who on 7 February targeted the 8:23.72 world indoor record she had set in 2007 but clocked 8:26.99. “It was my own mistake, so today I was determined to make up for that.”
In Stuttgart, Defar was chased by Anna Alminova who finished second in 8:28.49. “A Russian was close behind me and I was of two minds, thinking, ‘What if I lose?’ So (in Stockholm ) I was determined to run a fast time.”
For the Athens Olympic 5000m champion who in 2008 took bronze behind Dibaba, Wednesday’s indoor 5000m World record even helped make up for her crushing disappointment in Beijing.
“Yes, very much so,” said Defar. “This year has been providing redemption for me from the start of the year.”
“Although the Olympics caused me pain because I came away with a result I never expected, since then I’ve had good races, especially in Stuttgart and here,” said Defar, whose Olympic defeat had at first been followed by another 5000m loss, at the Memorial Van Damme Golden League meet. “In Brussels, the weather conditions were wet. I was not in a good place because of the Olympics, and in the final metres I was beaten by Vivian Cheruiyot and was second.”
But she returned to her winning ways in a busy September that included a London road race and the Stuttgart World Athletics Final 3000m and 5000m. “In Stuttgart, I was able to win both races, and in Hyde Park, I ran 5K on the road in 15:01,” she said. “I ran a good time.”
“After the Stuttgart final, I took a one-month break,” said Defar. “I began training on the 5th of Tikimt, according to the Ethiopian calendar [15 October]. I competed after about three and a half months of intense training.” The fruits of that preparation include a huge improvement on her own best time in the indoor 5000, which she had only run a couple of times previously, clocking 15:53.14 in 2004.
Vacations and wedding wishes for Dibaba
Defar spent much of her 2008 month off traveling with her husband. “I was abroad on vacation,” she said. “I went to Spain and Greece.”
She was back home just in time for teammate and track arch-rival Dibaba’s wedding to Olympic silver-medallist Sileshi Sihine. “It was a beautiful wedding,” said Defar, who sent the happy couple a warm letter from abroad before the wedding.
“It was broadcast on the radio,” said Defar, who recalled the gist of some of the words she had written the pair: “I wish you a happy wedding. Sileshi, take care of Tirunesh. As I have entered into matrimony ahead of the two of you, I also want to tell you how wonderful it is.”
Defar’s husband, Tewodros Hailu, is her partner in her career as well and was with her in Stockholm when she broke the record. “I ran the exact time he predicted,” said Defar. “He had said, ‘I’m sure you will run 14:24.’ He was very happy.”
Destination: Berlin
An equally-elated Defar looks ahead to another indoor appearance in Prague and beyond to the outdoor season.
“So far, I’m just running indoor track and haven’t decided what I’ll run after that,” she said, but one thing is certain for the defending World champion: the 15-23 August IAAF World Championships. “My major goal is Berlin, the 5000,” she said.
PRESS RELEASE
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney Southern District of New York
FEBRUARY 20 , 2009
LEV L. DASSIN, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the indictment and arrest of PAUL GABRIEL AMOS in connection with an elaborate, internationally coordinated scheme to gain access to, or “take over,” an account at Citibank in Manhattan belonging to the National Bank of Ethiopia (“NBE”), and to steal approximately $27,167,078 from that account. As detailed in an Indictment returned yesterday in Manhattan federal court:
NBE serves as the central bank for Ethiopia and maintains offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Citibank N.A. provided U.S. Dollar account facilities to NBE through an account at Citibank’s offices at 111 Wall Street in Manhattan. During the period September through November 2008, AMOS and his coconspirators caused bogus documents to be sent to Citibank from, among other places, Lagos, Nigeria. These bogus documents included a “Corporate Resolution for Banking” purportedly issued by senior NBE officials, and a purported “Global Manual Transaction Authorization.” Signatures on those documents appeared to match the signatures of NBE officials in Citibank’s records. The Authorization, among other things, purported to authorize Citibank to accept wire transfer instructions from NBE by facsimile, and included a list of authorized officials – including the purported Governor of NBE and five other purported NBE officials – who could be contacted by telephone to confirm details of any fax instructions received, in what was referred to as a “call back” security check. In fact, the Corporate Resolution and the Authorization, while accepted as valid by Citibank, were forgeries and had not in fact been authorized by NBE.
Moreover, the telephone contact numbers that AMOS and his co-conspirators provided on the Authorization form did not belong to actual NBE officials in Ethiopia, but instead were Nigeria, South Africa and United Kingdom mobile telephone numbers used by co-conspirators.
After supplying Citibank with the bogus Corporate Resolution and Authorization documents, AMOS and his coconspirator caused instructions to be sent to a Citibank payments unit in Buffalo, New York, directing Citibank to wire funds from NBE’s account to various accounts controlled by AMOS and his coconspirators.
Citibank verified these instructions through call back security checks with one or more of the purported NBE officials. In this manner, between October 2 and October 16, 2008, AMOS and his co-conspirators caused Citibank to make a total of approximately 24 wire transfers, totaling approximately $27,167,078, to various accounts controlled by AMOS and his coconspirators in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, China, Cyprus, and the United States.
The Indictment against AMOS was returned late yesterday and charges him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. If convicted, AMOS faces a maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment.
AMOS, 37, a citizen of Nigeria, resided in Singapore until his arrest in Los Angeles on January 15, 2009, while he was seeking to enter the United States. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge PAUL A. CROTTY. AMOS will be presented later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge DEBRA FREEMAN.
Mr. DASSIN praised the investigative work of the FBI in this case. He also thanked Citibank for its assistance in the investigation. Mr. DASSIN said the investigation is continuing.
This investigation is being handled by the Major Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys MARCUS A. ASNER and SEETHA RAMACHANDRAN are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi and wife Azeb Mesfin should also be arrested and charged with looting the country’s national treasure.
By BENJAMIN WEISER | The New York Times
Swindles in which someone overseas seeks access to a person’s bank account are so well known that most potential victims can spot them in seconds.
But one man found success by tweaking the formula, prosecutors say: Rather than trying to dupe an account holder into giving up information, he duped the bank. And instead of swindling a person, he tried to rob a country — of $27 million.
To carry out the elaborate scheme, prosecutors in New York said on Friday, the man, identified as Paul Gabriel Amos, 37, a Nigerian citizen who lived in Singapore, worked with others to create official-looking documents that instructed Citibank to wire the money in two dozen transactions to accounts that Mr. Amos and the others controlled around the world.
The money came from a Citibank account in New York held by the National Bank of Ethiopia, that country’s central bank. Prosecutors said the conspirators, contacted by Citibank to verify the transactions, posed as Ethiopian bank officials and approved the transfers.
Mr. Amos was arrested last month as he tried to enter the United States through Los Angeles, a prosecutor, Marcus A. Asner, said in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Mr. Amos, who was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, told a federal magistrate judge, “I’m not guilty, sir.” The judge, Andrew J. Peck, ordered him detained pending a further hearing. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison, prosecutors said.
The fraud was uncovered after several banks where the conspirators held accounts returned money to Citibank, saying they had been unable to process the transactions, and an official of the National Bank of Ethiopia said that it did not recognize the transactions, according to a complaint signed by an F.B.I. agent, Bryan Trebelhorn.
A Citigroup spokeswoman said: “We have worked closely with law enforcement throughout the investigation and are pleased it has resulted in this arrest. Citi constantly reviews and upgrades its physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to detect, prevent and mitigate theft.”
A spokesman for the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington said, “We are aware of this unfortunate story.” He said the embassy was not involved in the legal proceedings, and declined further comment. Officials at the National Bank of Ethiopia could not be reached by phone for comment.
Prosecutors said the scheme began in September, when Citibank received a package with documents purportedly signed by officials of the Ethiopian bank instructing Citibank to accept instructions by fax. There was also a list of officials who could be called to confirm such requests. The signatures of the officials appeared to match those in Citibank’s records and were accepted by Citibank, the complaint says.
In October, Citibank received two dozen faxed requests for money to be wired, and it transferred $27 million to accounts controlled by the conspirators in Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, Cyprus and the United States, the complaint says.
Citibank called the officials whose names and numbers it had been given to verify the transactions, prosecutors said. The numbers turned out to be for cellphones in Nigeria, South Africa and Britain used by the conspirators.
Citibank, in its investigation, later determined the package of documents had come via courier from Lagos, Nigeria, rather than from the offices of the National Bank of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa.
Citibank has credited back the lost funds to the National Bank of Ethiopia, said one person who was briefed about the situation.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP)–Clashes have broken out in the restive Ethiopian region of Ogaden, with rebels saying Friday they have killed 140 government troops and allied militia fighters.
The Ethiopian government Woyanne tribalist regime in Ethiopia disputed the claims from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), saying some 40 rebels were killed by local clan militia.
“The casualty figures heavily favored our forces due to the nature of our operations,” the rebels said in a statement, adding that they lost 29 fighters. “In particular, surprise attacks and ambushing enemy military convoys.”
Communications Propaganda Minister Bereket Simon told AFP that the insurgents “clashed with some of the clan inside Ogaden and the clans have beaten them well.”
The ONLF is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia’s oil-rich Ogaden region. They say the local people have been marginalized by Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia’s The {www:Woyanne} military launched an offensive against ONLF after they attacked a Chinese-run oil venture in the Ogaden in 2007, killing 77 people, including nine Chinese nationals.
