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During his trip to the U.K. to participate in the G20 meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama took time out to assist the London police in apprehending Ethiopia’s genocidal dictator Meles Zenawi (Satire).

By Yilma Bekele

When they said “a picture speaks a thousand words” they could have been thinking about this one. The setting definitely is a reception. The people sitting around the table appear very important since there appear to be as many servers as guests. In addition to this we see many photographers documenting the event. It is difficult to determine if this is the beginning or the end of the event. Whatever it is, it is a very lavish and formal affair.

A person sitting right around the center is the only one wearing some kind of head covering, which would lead us to assume that he is from the Middle East. Further down you can see the lone woman. Other than that, it is a mainly a men’s affair. One can also assume that it is a formal event since the men are wearing dark suits. The majority of them seem to be white.

Let’s examine the person on the bottom left. He seems lonely, left out, or sad? He is definitely brooding about something. If you look around, you will notice that those in front of him as well as those on his right are engaged in deep conversation. The man on his left has given him his shoulder.

Who is he? What is he doing here? How come he is not engaged with anyone? Why is everyone ignoring him? If they did not want him there, why was he invited?

He definitely does not appear comfortable. You can tell that from his stiff shoulders and his general posture. His hands are clasped in a prayer position. He is probably not praying, but he is definitely in deep thought. It is difficult to tell how long he has been sitting ignored and isolated. Why didn’t the host find him a partner? He is not smiling, and his somber look conveys he is not enjoying the moment.

Why is he there if he is not comfortable; and why was he invited if he is not part of the group? Could there have been some mix up? Could he have been drafted at the last moment? Was he warned about the cold shoulder he might encounter? Did he send a scouting party to assess the situation? Did they lie to him to embarrass him? Was this calculated risk that blew up in his face? Could it be that he is not able to engage with the others as an equal?

It does not look like a good situation for our friend sitting at the bottom left. It can be considered a form of psychological torture to invite someone to such a dinner and ignore him. At the same time, it is not a good idea to crash a party where one is not welcome. Maybe our friend is praying for the party to be over. Maybe there is nothing here. Yeah right the picture is lying.

U.S. President Barack Obama scolded Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi during a brief one-to-one encounter at the G20 meeting in London on April 2. Obama reportedly told Meles that the human rights condition in Ethiopia is deplorable and unacceptable.

Following a meeting with Obama, Meles Zenawi, who was invited to represent New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) at the G20 meeting, abruptly canceled a press conference he was about to give.

“His people gave no reasons for this. But insiders in the press center said Zenawi was worried about the kind of questions that were going to be put to him concerning human rights violations within Ethiopia and his dealing with his opponents and Ethiopia’s neighbors,” Henry Gombya of BSN reported.

“The African continent really wasn’t heard; South African President Motlanthe said he didn’t speak for the continent and Meles Zenawi cowered in the shadows,” Gombya writes.

By Jason McLure | Bloomberg

Ethiopia, Africa’s largest coffee producer, will start exporting beans itself after closing the warehouses of six of the country’s largest exporters, which it claims are stockpiling coffee and contributing to a shortage of foreign currency.

A drop in export income, because of a poor coffee harvest, weak world prices and a ban on Ethiopian beans in Japan, is being exacerbated by stockpiling, Eleni Gabre-Madhin, chief executive officer of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, said on March 27.

Today, the Horn of Africa nation said it would start exporting coffee via the state-owned Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise in a bid to improve the situation.

“Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise knows that it has the capacity to do this and it has a very good opportunity to fill this export gap,” said Berhane Hailu, the company’s general manager, by phone from Addis Ababa today.

The company has started trading coffee on the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange and is in talks with foreign buyers about exports, he said.

Ethiopia suspended the licenses of six of the country’s largest exporters last week after accusing them of hoarding coffee and illegally selling export-grade beans on the country’s domestic market.

The country has experienced shortages of hard currency over the past year, with the nation’s reserves falling to as little as $850 million, enough to cover just one month of imports, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on March 19. The shortfall has led to rationing and shortages, including cement and medical supplies, because companies can’t import goods or raw materials.

Foreign Currency

Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise may use the foreign currency from coffee exports to purchase and deliver wheat to Ethiopia’s urban poor as part of a government program to subsidize food prices, Hailu said.

Ethiopian coffee shipments have dropped more than 10 percent to 76,674 tons during the first eight months of the country’s fiscal year, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Trade Ministry.

The country has earned $221.7 million from coffee exports over the period, short of a government target of $446.7 million. Last year, the government also blamed rising food prices on hoarding by traders.

Hundreds of Ethiopians held a protest rally in London today (April 2) at the site of the G-20 meeting.

The protesters opposed the appearance of Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi at the meeting. They demanded the G-20 countries to stop financing the brutal dictatorship in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian peaceful protesters are the biggest and most visible outside the G20, according to Rajiv Joshi, a coordinator for Global Call to Action Against Poverty .