ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) – Ethiopian police have arrested a local man suspected of killing of a U.S. diplomat at his home in Addis Ababa, officials said on Wednesday.
The unnamed suspect was being transferred to the capital after he was detained by officers at Were-Illu village in the remote north of the country on Tuesday.
Local media reported that a laptop computer, mobile telephone, camera and several documents belonging to the U.S. diplomat had been found in his possession.
Diplomatic sources said the 25-year-old victim worked in the U.S. embassy’s consular section and had apparently been stabbed to death. His body was found at his home on Feb. 2.
State Department officials in Washington named him as Brian Adkins and said Ethiopia was his first foreign assignment.
(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Louise Ireland and Daniel Wallis)
EDITOR’S NOTE: The flower exporters are destroying Ethiopia’s fertile land by using fertilizers that are toxic. It would be good if they all get bankrupt and out of business. Ethiopia’s fertile land need to grow food, not flower.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Income from Ethiopian flower exports has reached only 60 percent of a targeted $298 million over the last 18 months as the global recession hits the sector, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
The Horn of Africa nation earned $177.6 million during the period from the sale of some 1.5 billion stems, Girma Gelelcha, an expert in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, told Reuters.
“Unless the global financial situation shows some improvement, it may also be difficult for Ethiopia to earn the targeted $207 million … in (calendar year) 2009,” he said.
Ethiopian horticulture officials expressed fears at the end of last year that the worldwide economic crisis could hit their industry as European consumers cut back on luxury purchases.
On Tuesday, a source at the state-owned Development Bank of Ethiopia said two Israeli-owned flower farms had been put up for auction in recent weeks after failing to service bank loans.
The source said three more farms were in a similar position and might be put up for sale soon.
The government has offered tax breaks to attract investment in flowers. More than 100 local and foreign firms have been drawn to the sector, and the country hopes exports will overtake coffee within five years to be worth $1 billion annually.
United States Department of States
Public Affairs
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
Question Taken at the February 9, 2009 Daily Press Briefing
February 9, 2009
Question: Any update on the investigation into the death of the Foreign Service Officer in Ethiopia?
Answer: We can confirm that Brian Adkins, a 25-year-old FSO, died in Addis Ababa. The death is under investigation by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and we are coordinating closely with the Government of Ethiopia. We will provide details as they become available.
Question: Has the Accountability Review Board been convened as of yet?
Answer: The investigation into the death of Mr. Adkins has not yet been completed. The facts of that investigation will determine whether there will be the need to recommend that the Secretary convenes an Accountability Review Board.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (APA) – Two Tanzanians, aged 27 and 32 years old, who were arrested and accused of concealing drugs inside their stomachs died in Addis Ababa after the drugs burst in their stomach, the Ethiopian police said here on Monday.
The two were arrested at the Addis Ababa international airport two weeks ago and were receiving medical treatment at the Hayat Police hospital in Addis Ababa.
The Tanzanians, who were arrested separately, were said to be traveling from Tanzania to China and China to Tanzania respectively.
One of them was arrested while he collapsed on board the aircraft that he was traveling in, while the other was arrested after inspection at the airport customs.
Police said that the two were undergoing medical treatment during the past two weeks.
“The two died as some of the capsules burst into their stomachs. More than 42 drug capsules were found in the stomach of one of them who was traveling from China to Tanzania on Ethiopian Airlines,” said the police.
From the other Tanzanian who was traveling from Tanzania to China, the police say some 17 drug capsules were taken out of his stomach through surgical treatment.
According to the police, both individuals were trying to smuggle heroin prepared in the form of capsules.
The police say the bodies of the two Tanzanians were sent on Sunday to their country through the collaboration of the Tanzanian embassy in Addis Ababa.
A spokesman for the Ethiopian government said on Sunday that the English monarch Queen Elizabeth the 2nd was descended from a 19th century tribeswoman from the Semien Mountains in northern Ethiopia. Records from the nation’s archives apparently provide evidence of a secret liaison between the then king Edward VII and a local unnamed peasant women. Queen Elizabeth’s great-great-grandfather, also known as the “uncle of Europe”, was said to have enjoyed numerous hunting trips into the heart of Africa during his lifetime.
Sceptics claim that the Ethiopians are trying to follow in the footsteps of their southern neighbour Kenya, who have a legitimate connection to the newly elected US president Barack Obama on his paternal side. Both the Kenyan and Eritrean governments were quick to squash the rumours regarding Queen Elizabeth as ‘absolute and crazy nonsense’.
However, an English historian who has chosen to remain anonymous said it could well be possible. Speaking from Addis Ababa airport, he said:
“I think there is a case to be made that Queen Elizabeth II is in fact partly Ethiopian. From the documents I have seen today, it is apparent that her ancestor King Edward VII had had a hushed up sexual relationship with an albino woman from a remote village in the northern mountain ranges of Ethiopia. If we can get some DNA from her majesty and begin some tests then I think we would establish this claim as a fact beyond any doubt”.
Scientists have often studied the features of the long reigning English queen. Some German biologists pointed out in 1985, that her mouth and cheeks were not typical of the northern European facial structure. French hair salons and famous stylists have often been silenced for mentioning the incredible lengths the monarch goes to in order to take the tiny curls out of her hair.
Paris hair dresser Paul Prideux, who was once her personal stylist, said in a radio interview last year:
“It is impossible! Impossible! ‘er ‘air is like a golli… er… an African! No more I tell you. She must get ‘nother ‘airdresser!”
Buckingham Palace has yet to comment on the speculation but is expected to issue a denial in the coming days. If the claims prove to be true it could mark a major change in British-Ethiopian relations. Some royal experts and supporters even think it could mark a revival in pro-monarchist sentiments amongst the usually hostile Liberal-Left, Socialists and the BBC who would warmly welcome an ethnic minority Commander-in-Chief. Somalia, who has been in conflict with Ethiopia, is said to be worried about the possible repercussions of a future alliance of a major Western power with its enemy.
The two nations are awaiting further developments with much interest.
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA – President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday night openly clashed with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after the two disagreed over the direction of the formation of a single government for all African states.
According to sources at the summit, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe reportedly helped Mr Museveni take on Col. Gaddafi, who besides mooting the single African government plan, also sought to be bestowed the title “King of Kings”.
Col. Gaddafi reportedly clashed with Mr Museveni over his calls for speeding of the single African government plan. Whereas Mr Museveni calls for strengthening of regional blocs, a position he reiterated in Addis Ababa, Col. Gaddafi wants an immediate fast track to form the United States of Africa.
In what looked like a parliamentary debate characterised by points of order, the two leaders also disagreed on the involvement of traditional leaders by Col. Gaddafi in his pursuit of the United States of Africa dream.
Col. Gaddafi sponsored Mr Museveni’s National Resistance Army guerilla war that brought the Ugandan leader to power in 1986.
Their current disagreements could bring one of the longest political relationships to an end. At the AU summit, Mr Museveni reportedly warned that he would arrest any traditional leader in Uganda who claimed to speak for Col. Gaddafi.
The Ugandan government last month cancelled a summit of traditional leaders across the continent convened in Kampala and funded by Col. Gaddafi, saying the leaders had discussed politics.
The Ugandan Constitution bars traditional leaders from participating in partisan politics. In Col. Gaddafi’s proposal for the single government, Africa is to have a president, a vice-president and secretaries handling various portfolios such as foreign affairs, research and the battle against pandemics.
However, with much opposition from the other African leaders, Col. Gaddafi stormed out of the meeting at about 2am and a few minutes later, all the leaders filed out.
Asked why Col. Gaddafi had stormed out, Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe said Gaddafi ‘’may have felt unwell”.
The summit ended yesterday with no concrete agreement on the way forward over a single government.
Col. Gaddafi said a special meeting of the group’s Council of Ministers would meet in three months’ time to iron out what powers its newly created African Union Authority should have.
This came after the 53-member group’s marathon talks that failed to agree on ways to transform the current Africa Union Commission into an authority, a process that will end with the creation of the “United States of Africa.”
Yesterday, at a meeting with journalists, Col. Gaddafi struck a conciliatory figure, talking of his vision for a “continent that relies on itself and which is a key player in world affairs.’’
He added that the continent has adopted a “step by step’’ approach to “this historic effort’’ on a single government. But, AU Commission chairman Jean Ping said ‘the whole process may take years.’’
According to Mr Ping, amending the AU Charter is not a simple task and two thirds of the 53 states must accept to proceed with the amendment.
