ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (Xinhua) — To the sound of horns, the revving of engines by the assembled construction vehicles and much applause from the delegates, the start of the construction of the new conference center of the African Union (AU) in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa was officially declared on Monday by Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC).
Wu was in Addis Ababa to mark the start of the construction of the conference center and the 25-storey office block, which will provide much-needed working space and conference facilities for the pan-African body. His trip also included an official visit to Ethiopia.
The conference center complex will house a 2,550-seat big conference hall, 500 office spaces, a medium conference hall, five meeting rooms, 30 caucus rooms, a multipurpose hall with a capacity of accommodating 3,000 people, an amphitheatre with 3,000seats, a digital library and archives center, a medical center and various public spaces for utilities such as banks, post and airline ticket offices, among other features.
At the ceremony to mark the occasion, AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping hailed the new construction as a symbol of the strong cooperation and friendship that exists between Africa and China.
” It is an honor and privilege for him to welcome you all to this historical occasion to mark the start of the construction of the AU conference center project,” Ping said.
He said African leaders have long cherished the idea of having a facility which can accommodate the needs of the AU, and which befits the organization’s status.
“The idea of endowing the AU Commission with a modern conference center and office building facilities befitting its status has always been in the hearts of African leaders for long.”
Ping said in this connection they should therefore be proud of having the assistances of the Chinese government for its commitment to design, construct and fully finance such big facilities as a gift to Africa.
The gift from the Chinese government comes at an opportune time when the AU Commission needs more space, he said. “Indeed, this is a wonderful gift from a true and long time friend of Africa. The presence of the high-level Chinese delegation on this occasion is a testimony of the fact that China has attached great importance to its commitment to the success of this project and to its historical and long time friendly relations with Africa,” said Ping.
“We are indeed very grateful for that.”
Ping thanked Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian government and different government departments for facilitating the construction of the center through the provision of land and other services.
He also expressed his gratitude for former AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare, who initiated the process with the Ethiopian and Chinese authorities.
The idea of the construction was first discussed three years ago.
He pledged the AU Commission will do everything possible to ensure the successful completion of the project as scheduled and would facilitate its tasks.
“Africa will highly value this gift as a special one and honor it with heartfelt appreciation and, it will definitely set the relations of Africa and China on a solid foundation in bearing more fruits of interests for both sides.”
In his speech, Wu Bangguo said the start of construction of new AU conference center is another symbol of closer China-Africa friendly relations.
He recalled the historical 2006 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, saying that the summit strengthened the partnership, friendship and cooperation between Africa and China.
At the summit, Chinese President Hu Jintao announced China would build a conference center for AU to support African countries in their efforts to strengthen themselves through unity and support the process of the African integration.
The design of the complex, which includes historical aspects of African culture and tradition, was presented to the 2007 AU summit in Ghana’s capital Accra.
The foundation stone for the new conference center was laid in the same year. The work of construction is expected to take three years.
BEIRUT, LEBANON – At the Ethiopian Consulate in Beirut, a poster declares “Ethiopia: 13 weeks of sunshine” as two officials sit at their desks. The three chairs in the waiting room are usually occupied these days: In just one recent week, the mission heard of one Ethiopian domestic worker who died a suspicious death and another who is in hospital with both legs broken, possibly paralyzed, and can only communicate by blinking her eyes.
The previous week, a woman walked in shaking. When the social officer asked her what was wrong, she replied that her “Madame” – her employer – threatened her with a knife.
It has long been the case that women from impoverished countries like Ethiopia come to Lebanon to work, that many encounter abuse and even violence, and that most find they have nowhere to turn.
Elinore Molla and Victoria Andarge, two Ethiopian women who are involved with the Full Gospel Church in Beirut, have turned an apartment they are renting into a makeshift sanctuary for women who flee their employers after facing some sort of abuse.
“The consulate doesn’t have a resting room. Women sleep under the cars [outside the consulate], so many guys come and harass them. They are only 20 years old with a future and destiny. I take the decision in my life to suffer for them,” said Molla, 27, who is originally from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
Molla first found out about the women sleeping underneath the cars about a year ago.
“When I was walking I saw the girls,” she recalls. “I found four girls … I was shocked. They said, ‘help us.'”
She took them into her home, which today houses about two dozen women at any given time. “I’m Christian, I’m a believer,” she told The Daily Star. “Everyday I see my people and my nation, with no one to take responsibility. The idea comes from God – helping protect someone who was abused. I ask the girl when I take her to my home: ‘What’s the problem with your sponsor?’ And she says, ‘so many things.'”
The head of the social affairs office at the Ethiopian Consulate, who preferred not to be identified by name, confirmed that women continue to sleep under cars near the mission until this day.
There are several problems with the situation of domestic migrant workers in Lebanon, she explained: “It is not only Ethiopian workers facing problems, but because women from other countries stopped signing contracts, the number of Ethiopians increased.”
There is currently no reliable data, but the consulate estimates the number of Ethiopian workers in Lebanon to be between 40,000 and 50,000, a substantial increase since the number of women coming from Sri Lanka and the Philippines dropped off following the 2006 war with Israel – and attendant stories of abuse and neglect. The Ethiopian government officially barred its own women from coming to Lebanon earlier this year, but many are now traveling here through third countries.
The head of the consular section, who also did not want to be named, said that problems frequently begin from the day of arrival. Many sponsors do not adhere to the terms of the contracts, he explained, such as duration, remuneration, and hours of work expected.
What is even more problematic, he added, is when agencies do not take responsibility when a woman files a complaint, paving the way for a volatile relationship between the workers and their employers.
“We are facing a lot of problems,” he said. “One problem is by the housemaids, second by the sponsors. Since we are foreigners to this country we have a different culture, so from the beginning it is difficult for her to get accustomed.
“But I want to turn to the sponsors’ problem,” he added. “There are a lot of problems from sponsors, they don’t pay salaries on time, they treat them aggressively, they don’t get enough food, and they don’t provide shelter.”
According to the consulate, some 70 percent of employers who employ Ethiopians don’t pay their employees on a monthly basis.
“Sometimes they close the balcony and make them sleep on the floor,” added the head of the social affairs office, “and they beat her to make her understand. That’s why she becomes aggressive toward agencies, the consulate and herself.”
Most troubling of all, the mission says it has been sending a record number of corpses back to Ethiopia.
The consulate estimates that 150 women have died in a little more than a year, and there is no accountability.
In one recent case, Mekdes Tesfaye Tefera’s corpse was found with a noose around her neck. But the consulate has doubts that this was a self-inflicted death and has filed a police report.
“They always say, ‘she killed herself,'” the social affairs officer said.
In the case of Zebiba Kedr, who is currently hospitalized, the consulate is working on having charges laid against the woman for whom she was working. The employers have stated that Kedr fell from the 12th floor of their building, but the head of the consular section said that when he went to see her in the hospital and asked her “Madame” had pushed her, she indicated ‘yes’ by blinking her eyes.
Stories like these make the unofficial shelter run by Molla and Andarge even more essential. Andarge said the agencies were the main problem, accusing them of “playing a game” with people’s lives. The government needs to get involved, she added, and make sure the agencies take responsibility for the women and how they are treated.
The consulate representatives said they had an agreement with all the agencies that said the latter were to be responsible for the women they bring to Lebanon, and that this is why mission does not have a shelter.
The nongovernmental organization Caritas offers a safehouse for workers who are flee their employers’ homes, but Molla said that these spaces are usually reserved for those who are very sick or have psychological problems.
Molla is one of the lucky ones. She came to Lebanon when she was 17 years old and says she has always been well treated by her employer.
“She is like my mom, she is Lebanese, and she supports me. I love her,” Molla told The Daily Star.
But since she regards her own experience as the exception rather than the rule, she discourages other Ethiopian women from traveling to Lebanon for work – a process which she described as getting easier by the day.
“The Lebanese name is collapsing everywhere,” she said, explaining that in Addis Ababa, Lebanon’s reputation is causing fewer and fewer would-be migrant workers to sign up.
To compensate, she added, the recruiters have started concentrating on women from remote villages.
Molla said she tells women in Ethiopia “what is going on” in Lebanon, “and that it’s better to stay in your country, because you still have hopes there. Here there are no hopes.”
Nonetheless, a young woman now staying at the makeshift safehouse said she would like to stay here and support her family back home – if her employers here were to treat her well.
Andarge believes there is hope to change the situation and has already noticed changes in public opinion and awareness. New York-based Human Rights Watch recently conducted a hard-hitting campaign on the plight of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, and last month the American University of Beirut hosted a conference and roundtable discussion on the issue. Some of the students were appalled at what they heard, she said, and their reaction was a pleasant “surprise.”
“It will be changed,” Andarge said with tears in her eyes. “We just need strong people.”
A traditional shitamachi area of Tokyo associated with the popular “Tora-san” series of films has seen a recent influx of newcomers looking for a new life away from political turmoil back home.
While many Japanese are unfamiliar with life in Ethiopia, a growing community of people from the landlocked Horn of Africa nation are setting up homes in Katsushika Ward.
Tadesse Gebre, 38, and his wife live in a six-tatami-mat room on the third floor of a small, shabby building among a row of izakaya pubs near Keisei Tateishi Station.
After returning from their respective jobs one night recently, the couple settled down to eat a traditional Ethiopian dinner of doro wat, a fiery stew of chicken on the bone with tomatoes and onions cooked on a portable stove, finishing the meal by mopping up the dark red soup with slices of bread.
While the common tongue in Ethiopia is Amharic, the couple have become fluent in Japanese.
“My wife gets home from work late, so I’m usually the one who does the cooking” Gebre said.
“We have to do our best for our family back home,” his wife added.
Gebre came to Japan 16 years ago as a athlete, twice winning the Hokkaido Marathon for a corporate team. Since retiring from running, he has been driving a truck and collecting plastic bottles to make money.
His 27-year-old wife came here after the two married eight years ago. She works at a factory making bento boxed meals.
The couple pays 45,000 yen a month for the room and has to share a bath with other residents in the building. They said their dream is to save money to buy a house in the suburbs and bring over their two young sons who live with relatives in Ethiopia.
According to the Tokyo metropolitan government, 122 Ethiopians were registered as alien residents in the capital as of January–34 more than two years earlier.
The Japan Association for Refugees, a nonprofit organization that supports applications for refugee status, said a further 30 or 40 Ethiopians have contacted the association this year.
Many people were killed or escaped from Ethiopia when antigovernment protesters clashed with security forces over a delay in releasing general election results in 2005, plunging the country into chaos.
The Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo-based association believes the number of people entering Japan has increased because the United States placed stricter controls on visas following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the country.
As of the end of September, 39 Ethiopians were registered as living in Katsushika Ward–about 30 percent of all Ethiopians in the capital.
It was “tough being a man” for Tora-san, the warm-hearted protagonist in the long-running series of films synonymous with the area, but Gebre maintains that the fledgling Ethiopian community can help immigrants who make the long journey from East Africa.
“If people from the same country are close to each other, people are more comfortable about moving here,” Gebre said.
An Ethiopian man in his 30s who lives in the ward and is currently applying for refugee status remarked ruefully that in his homeland, he was a civil servant, and as such enjoyed wide respect. He spends his days looking for work at a Hello Work job center and washes dishes in a restaurant while waiting to receive permission to live here.
“I want to go back home when the political situation calms down,” he said.
The number of foreigners as a whole is growing in Tokyo. According to the metropolitan government, 405,060 registered foreigners lived in the capital as of Oct. 1–up more than 100,000 from eight years ago.
In Edogawa Ward alone, the Indian community has reached about 2,000. Only about 30 lived there around the turn of the century.
Mihoko Kashima, 30, a refugee association worker said: “We need people to act as intermediaries [with the refugees] and the area and perform tasks such as introducing people to consultation centers when problems arise.”
In September, Gebre hosted an event for Meskal, an ancient Christian holiday celebrated in Ethiopia, for the first time at a local labor welfare center. About 50 of his compatriots met up at the event, which Gebre advertised online.
While the event did not include the lighting of a bonfire or firing of guns as is the custom in Ethiopia, those attending did enjoy traditional food and music. The first election of officials for an Ethiopian association also was held at the event.
“People have to help each other while living lifestyles they’re unfamiliar with,” Gebre said.
Those of us who come into contact with people in such a situation should never forget that kindness never goes unrewarded.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Look no further to find the the main cause of food shortage in the fertile region of Ethiopia. Woyanne agrofuel companies are sucking southern Ethiopia dry.
Gebremedhine Birega, environmentalist, Ethiopia: “It is unbelievable. [Agrofuel] plots have so rapidly expanded that they are even depriving us of space for graveyards…”
To counteract the oppressively high price of imported oil, Ethiopia’s regime put in place a policy incentivizing a shift by farmers to agrofuel crops. The new policy also gave foreign agrofuel companies incentives and a streamlined start-up process for production ventures.
Global Energy Ethiopia acquired 2,700 hectares to grow castor beans for refining into a liquid fuel.
Melis Teka, deputy head of energy regulation and biofuel development, Ethiopia’s ministry of mines: “It is considered a very important area to develop. The balance of payment (spent on petrol) is very high and we want to decrease this burden by encouraging private investment… There is no possibility that arable farmland will be allocated for its purpose…”
9,500+ farmers now grow castor bean plants in the Wolaytta district south of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia’s capital city), many using arable plots. [Wolaytta happens to be one of the hardest hit region of Ethiopia by the so-called ‘Green Famine’. Children in this region are forced to attend school because they are too hungry and weak to attend classes.]
None of the farmers working with Global Energy Ethiopia have received payment because of a bank loan delay.
Ashenafi Chote, farmer, Wolaytta district of Ethopia: “I used to get four quintals (100 kilograms, 220 pounds) of maize from my land from every harvest and earn more than 2,400 birr (240 dollars). But now, I have lost my precious source… I shouldn’t have accepted their offer…” [The profit goes to companies owned by the ruling party.]
Borja Abusha, farmer and father of 8, Wolaytta district of Ethiopia: “Experts… told us we could have up to three harvests a year and they would pay 500 birr (50 dollars) in labour costs… But it has now been six months without a harvest and they haven’t respected their promise to cover costs. We are left with nothing.”
Ethiopian regime officials are giving companies like Global Energy Ethiopia the benefit of the doubt, hoping the projects’ promise will pay off.
Yanai Man, CEO, Global Energy: “We don’t even allow farmers to grow the beans on more than a third of their land. So we are not lowering food production…”
Yet for some reason the farmers and their families are starving, surviving only because there are public relief programs. Almost half of Wolaytta’s population of 2 million do not have enough to eat.
Ashenafi Chote, farmer and father of 2, Ethopia: “I made a mistake”.
Ethiopia is NOT one of the 8 developing countries threatening the European Union (EU) with legal action through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if the EU establishes guidelines on agrofuels. The 8 countries call the EU guidelines “unfair trade barriers.” The guidelines would instruct developing nations which parts of their territory are not considered arable farmland or irreplaceable rain forests and wetlands and therefore suitable for growing biofuel crops.
Letter from the ambassadors of the 8 developing nations: “[The guidelines] impose unjustifiably complex requirements on producers… Some of our countries don’t exclude the possibility of defending their rights in the World Trade Organisation, as a last resort.”
Castor bean plants are toxic but the seed provides castor oil, which can be refined into a biofuel. Farmers say Global Energy Ethiopia lured them into changing their farms over to agrofuels with financial incentives and false promises of continuous harvests.
QUOTES
Letter from the ambassadors of the 8 developing nations: “Provisions relating to land-use change will impinge disproportionately on developing countries, where there are stocks of undeveloped arable land that can be used for biofuels production…”
Gebremedhine Birega, environmentalist, Ethiopia: “We are campaigning for farmers who have planted castor seeds to uproot. It’s not acceptable to undertake such practices in food insecure areas..”
Abraham Tona, farmer, Ethiopia: “I asked myself about the long-term benefits and then decided not to grow castor. I would rather not dare to risk losing food to eat for myself and my family…”
LONDON UK – The chairperson of Unity for Democracy and Justice, Wzt. Birtukan Mideksa, and executive committee member Ato Akilu Girgire, held a public meeting in London on Sunday, Nov. 9. In a dramatic shift from a similar meeting last year, a small number of Ethiopians attended the meeting. (Only 60 people showed up, versus last’s years 450.) The few who attended the meeting had grilled Wzt. Birtukan and Ato Akilu on a number of issues, including why UDJ allows itself to be used by the Woyanne tribal junta that is rejected by the people of Ethiopia.
The meeting in London on Sunday was a fiasco for UDJ. It exposed not only the party’s lack of sound strategy on how to operate as an opposition party, it also exposed it’s chairperson’s shallow knowledge about politics and world affairs. At one point, Wzt. Birtukan compared Ethiopia with Pakistan and said that the Pakistani government under Pervez Musharaf used to do the same thing that Meles Zenawi is doing now. Of course there is no comparison between Musharaf and Meles. Musharaf had never unleashed his special forces on unarmed civilians to gun down women and children. Musharaf did not round up over 100,000 young people and detain them in disease-infested concentration camps. Musharaf did not carry out genocide against his people. After a brief, relatively peaceful uprising by lawyers and others following the dismissal of the supreme court justice, Musharaf allowed a free and fair election. He then resigned as demanded by the parties who won the election. How could a leader of an opposition party compares that to the extremely brutal fascism that is terrorizing the people of Ethiopia? Even Sarah Palin is not that uninformed.
Wzt. Birtukan went on to preach about the virtues of peaceful struggle. But the fact on the ground in Ethiopia is that there is no such thing as peaceful struggle. UDJ leaders cannot move an inch without the will of Woyanne thugs. Where there is complete lawlessness on the part of the government, people have the right to defend themselves. The likes of Wzt. Birtukan, who run to American embassy for cover when ever Woyannes harass them, have no moral authority to tell the people of Ethiopia how to defend themselves.
While preaching about peaceful struggle, UDJ is too scared to even speak out against Woyanne’s scorched earth policy against the people of Ogaden where troops burn entire villages, commit summary executions, gang rape women and block food distribution. If UDJ cannot talk about such issues, it cannot be seen as a genuine opposition party.
During the London meeting Sunday, Wzt. Birtukan conducted herself with servile deference toward the Meles regime by calling it “our government” and other similar terms that accord legitimacy to the ruling junta. This is the same regime that had gunned down in cold blood several teenagers who had tried to prevent Meles Zenawi’s death squads from arresting her during the post-2005 elections unrest. How betrayed the parents of those young Ethiopians may be feeling now when she calls the fascist regime “our government.” Woyanne is not our government. It is the enemy of the people of Ethiopia.
UDJ is not a useless organization like Beyene Petos’ UEDF or Lidetu Ayalew’s UEDP. Those discredited groups are of no consequence. Far from being useless, UDJ provides valuable service to the Woyanne regime. When the UDJ leader calls the regime that was rejected by the people of Ethiopia “our government,” it is indeed a valuable service provided to Meles & Company. The cost is to those of us who had helped Wzt. Birtukan become a popular politician. She is allowing herself to be used against the cause of freedom that we stand for and labor day and night to achive. More importantly, she is being used against the people of Ethiopia by Woyanne to make it look good in the international scene.
The damage that is being inflicted on the opposition camp by UDJ is far reaching. It is more than reviving Woyanne’s image. Because of UDJ, it is becoming difficult to convince the U.S. and European governments to impose sanctions against Woyanne. In many European countries these days it is becoming difficult for those Ethiopians who escape persecution to be granted political asylum. These governments give UDJ as a primary example of how political dissent is allowed in Ethiopia.
UDJ is not getting away with this. Ethiopians are angry, and they are showing their disappointment by boycotting UDJ public meetings and fund raising events. Because of the growing opposition, UDJ was forced to bypass its own support committees in Germany and Switzerland and ask unknown individuals to organize meetings. In Holland, fearing no body would show up, the organizers have abandoned the plan to organize a meeting. In Frankfurt, where most Ethiopians in Germany live, there will be no meeting. Instead, a meeting is organized by unknown individuals in a small town called Nürnberg. In Switzerland, a public meeting is being organized by an individual who is known to have close links with Woyanne. The legally established Kinijit support committee in Switzerland is being bypassed for raising concerns about UDJ’s position.
That is what those who betray public trust deserve. Rejection.
UDJ is not without supporters in the diaspora. It is able to rally a few lumpens (mostly in Internet Paltalk) who don’t know, or are too dumb to understand, what they are supporting. That is why they lash out against ER and others who criticize UDJ. Join the discussion on this topic. Click here to comment.
ADDIS ABABA (Xinhua) – Leaders of China’ top legislature and Ethiopian Federal Council said here Sunday that the two countries should strengthen {www:cooperation} between the two countries’ legislatures as part of their efforts to push for {www:improvement} of bilateral relations of the two countries as a whole.
Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo and Speaker of Ethiopian Federal Council Degefi Bula made the statements during their talks in the parliament {www:building} Sunday morning.
Wu, chairman of China’s National People’s Congress, said that cooperation between the legislatures of the two countries have been an important driving force for further improvement of bilateral ties in general. China’s National People’s Congress is willing to enhance cooperation with the Ethiopian Federal Council at various levels and to exchange views on {www:important} issues of common concern.
“We should make concerted efforts in this filed,” Wu said.
The Ethiopian Speaker said that bilateral ties of the two countries are built on a very solid basis and that the cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries has been playing an indispensable role in between.
He also thought highly of China’s policies on national minorities, saying that they can serve as good examples for Ethiopia in dealing with the similar issues since Ethiopia is, too, a country with many national minorities.
Ethiopia is the third leg of Wu’s five-African nation tour. He visited Algeria, Gabon last week and is to visit Madagascar and Seychelles.
