(AP) ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — An explosion in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday killed four people and injured 24 others, a federal police spokesman said. .
The explosion is believed to have occurred in a house inside Addis Ababa’s bustling Merkato market at around 4 p.m. (1300GMT), said spokesman Demsash Hailu.
He said police sealed off the area and were investigating, but the cause of the explosion was not yet known.
There have been several unexplained explosions in Addis Ababa over the past year that have killed several people.
There has been a large explosion in the Ethiopian capital’s crowded Merkato business district where people gather socially after work.
The BBC’s Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says the blast happened in a video parlour where customers were watching a film.
A local radio station says four people died and 24 people were wounded. The police have not released any figures.
Sporadic attacks in Addis Ababa are usually blamed on Eritrean-back rebels.
Our correspondent says the explosion happened at around 1700 local time (1400 GMT).
Lots of ambulances have rushed to the scene – between the main Friday Mosque and bus station – and the whole area has been cordoned off by police, she says.
Merkato is full of teashops and places where young men and boys play table football.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A blast at a bar in the Ethiopian capital has killed three and wounded 12 others on Wednesday, an eye witness told Reuters.
“The explosion occurred in a bar where about 20 people were watching satellite television,” said the eye witness, who wanted to remain anonymous. He had counted three bodies, he added.
The police declined to comment but said they were investigating the blast.
Ethiopia experiences sporadic attacks caused by explosive devices in hotels or buses which it usually blames on neighbouring Eritrea.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — 91 million USD is to be released from the China Exim Bank as a soft loan for expansion works at Mugher Cement Enterprise – Ethiopia`s biggest cement producer. The loan, which will be made in two lots, is currently being processed between the credit provider and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).
CBE will in turn provide the loan for the enterprise, according to one higher official at Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency. The China Exim Bank and CBE had ten months ago wrapped up the loan agreement, which had failed to materialize since.
The delay was caused due to some rearrangement work and document rectifications amongst the concerned parties – Chine Exim Bank, CBE and Mugher Cement Enterprise, according to a top official of the enterprise.
Constituting 64 percent of the total financing of the expansion project, the loan will be used to procure machineries for the new cement plant in possession of the enterprise.
The expansion project is being undertaken by SINOMA, a Chinese company, which recently completed the major civil works of the plant. SINOMA outbid two Chinese companies which contested to clinch the contract.
The financing of the civil works of the expansion project, which constitute 34 percent of the total, was secured from the government’s Industrial Development Fund.
The total cost of the expansion is projected to cost over USD138 million.
The enterprise took the move in order to fill the ever-growing gap between the demand and supply for cement owing to the construction boom in the country witnessed over the last decade.
Other big cement investment projects, including Derba MIDROC, part of which recently started production, are becoming more and more evident lately. Among the list are the France-based world’s biggest cement maker Lafarge, Nigeria’s largest cement producer Dangote, and a couple of Chinese cement makers. These companies, most of which plan to erect cement plants in Oromia region, have already secured licenses from the federal investment agency.
The expansion project of Mugher, which will be the third plant to be erected adjacent to the existing two factories managed by the public enterprise, is projected to more than double the production capacity of the country’s giant cement maker. The new plant will have a capacity to produce 3000 tons cement per day.
The factory’s current capacity stands at 900,000 tons per annum, although it fails to produce in full swing lately.
Located some 150km west of Addis Ababa, Mugher factory has been operational for over the last three decades.
Walks Worldwide’s fully guided 18-day Simien Mountains and Lalibela trek in Ethiopia, combines the UNESCO World Heritage Simien Mountains National Park, including an ascent of Mt Ras Dashen (14,872 ft) the region’s highest peak, with explorations in Axum, home of the Ark of the Covenant, and the ‘eighth wonder of the world’, Lalibela, reputedly built by angels.
From Ethiopia’s cosmopolitan capital, Addis Ababa, fly north to explore the old imperial capital of Gondar, famous for its many churches, castles and magnificent mountain scenery. From Debark, enter the Simien Mountains National Park, and the beginning of the trek, following small tracks along the top of the escarpment to the campsite at Sankaber. The next four days are spent approaching Ras Dashen (4,620 metres), the region’s highest peak.
Follow rugged trails across rock tower-studded lowlands, with views of characteristic flat-topped ‘amba’, mountains, through green pastures of Giant Lobelias, crossing streams and waterfalls along the way, before a final climb to the summit for a spectacular road and town-free panorama. As well as stunning landscapes there will be opportunities to spot rare, endemic Gelada Baboons, Ibex and overhead, Lammergeyer vultures. Continue out of the National Park via a little used, yet stunningly beautiful, route to the north, traversing rich, cultivated farmland.
Next, descend 1,000 metres to the Ansiya River where warmer temperatures provide great swimming opportunities. Ascend again, to the village of Hawaza, past towering monoliths to the final campsite at Mulit. Here, enjoy a memorable final evening of the trek with dinner, followed by singing and dancing around the campfire, and that’s just the trekkers… Transfer by road to Axum, for exploration of its renowned ‘stellae’ (elaborate, enormous and mysterious standing stones) and well-guarded and never seen ‘Tabot’ (Ark of the Covenant), before flying on to Lalibela for a guided tour of the rock-hewn churches. Return to Addis Ababa for a final night and a farewell dinner with traditional dance, before homeward flights next day.
The tour costs £2,295 p/p and includes scheduled international flights, accommodation, all transfers, most meals, local mountain guide, porters, camping equipment and entrance fees.
For more information and bookings, log on to Walksworldwide.com.
I was lucky enough to spend time with the physicians, nurses, and patients at the world-renowned fistula hospital this summer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A socially stigmatizing condition, an obstetric fistula is highly operable and in most cases, completely curable. Therefore, after physicians Reginald and Catherine Hamlin moved from Australia to Ethiopia in the early 1970’s to work as missionaries where they encountered many fistula patients, they decided to open a facility solely serving the needs of women with obstetric fistulas.
A beautiful and pristine facility, one cannot help but sense a “medical utopia” as much of the staff is made up of previous patients and the women there not only get 24-hour medical care, but also benefit from physical therapy, literacy education, and other sorts of counseling. The hospital is well-thought out and well-supported. As I walked through the grounds of the hospital, I had to smile when I saw on one of the buildings, “Oprah Winfrey’s Center for Women.”
This place was far from usual, even by Western standards, and I began to wonder how in the world something so comprehensive could be replicated in all of the other developing countries where obstetric fistulas exist. Would someone be willing to set up a fistula hospital in say, Niger, or Tanzania? And if they could, would that be the best long-term solution? In most of those countries, Ethiopia included, thousands of women are still getting fistulas during childbirth. Whether they’re due to child marriage and hence pregnancy, lack of infrastructure, healthcare shortages, or a combination of all of the above, fistulas are preventable. These problems that interfere with safe childbirth lead to a plethora of other medical emergencies besides fistulas and if these aspects of health care and society could be addressed simultaneously and with the same vigor as the after-affects are sometimes addressed, there would be no need for a special fistula facility funded by Oprah and others.
Of course, today there are thousands of women who have already sustained injuries during childbirth and need the treatment and care offered by places like the fistula hospital, but over time, hopefully there would be so few women needing repair that they could obtain it in a regular public hospital. I am so grateful for the time I had at the fistula hospital and the skilled surgeries I was permitted to watch. I do not by any means want to belittle the work done there, only suggest that the time, effort, and love I witnessed being put into that facility be emulated in all areas of health services, especially that of prevention. One of the ways the Fistula Hospital is doing this currently is by beginning a Midwifery College. They actively recruit high school students in rural areas to train as midwives under the conditions that they return to their homes and work in a government-funded maternal health center. This is something I believe will make a lasting impact on the welfare of women in Ethiopia, and I hope that it continues and expands in its efforts.
Maybe it is more difficult to convince outside donors to give money to something that does not result in immediate change such as an annual large number of repaired women compared to an unidentified and vague number of ordinary women who escaped a fistula because of adequate emergency obstetric care. As future physicians, we should consider how to do this convincing.
– – – – – – – – – – –
Rachel Pope, a second year medical student, Medical School for International Health, Be’er-sheva, Israel, can be reached at [email protected]
I was lucky enough to spend time with the physicians, nurses, and patients at the world-renowned fistula hospital this summer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A socially stigmatizing condition, an obstetric fistula is highly operable and in most cases, completely curable. Therefore, after physicians Reginald and Catherine Hamlin moved from Australia to Ethiopia in the early 1970’s to work as missionaries where they encountered many fistula patients, they decided to open a facility solely serving the needs of women with obstetric fistulas.