The Ethiopia Summit: Movers and Shakers · Movers and Shakers KFC to open outlets in Addis Ababa KFC to ... page 42 By Kaleyesus Bekele The global fast food chain, Kentucky Fried

www.thereporterethiopia.com

The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |1

Vol. XX No. 999 | October 31, 2015 | ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA www.thereporterethiopia.com

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The Ethiopia Summit:Movers and Shakers

KFC to open outlets in Addis Ababa

KFC to ... page 42

By Kaleyesus Bekele

The global fast food chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), is going to open fast food

restaurants in Addis Ababa next year,

it was learnt.

A source close to the company told The Reporter that KFC is under

preparation to open unspecific number of

restaurants in Addis Ababa in 2016.

The source said executives of KFC are holding talks to local

50% increase ... page 42

50% increase in electricity tariff loomsBy Birhanu Fikade

Pressured by the existing power generation costs, the government is set to take a bold step and increase the existing tariffs with a possible 50 percent increase. Industries are

expressing concerns against the intended increment.

During a panel discussion at the Ethiopia Summit, dubbed “Driving Continued Growth”, organized by The Economist Events and held at Sheraton

Addis on Wednesday and Thursday, Azeb Asnake (Eng.), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ethiopia Electric Agency, made it clear that the new tariff are going to be introduced soon, though the dates are yet to be determined.

According to Azeb, the existing electric power generation costs are about nine US cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). However, the current price of electricity or electric tariff is at US six cents per kWh; the remaining three US cents

have long been subsidized by the government. The rationale behind the introduction of new tariff, Azeb argued, is that the government can no longer endure subsidizing electric

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2| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999

Computer SecretariesBirtukan Abate, Helen Yetayew,

PrintTesfaye Mengesha, Yeyesuswork

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Marketing ManagerEndalkachew Yimam

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EDITORIAL

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Tel: 011 6 616180 Editorial011 6 616185 Reception 011 6 616187 Finance

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Managing EditorBruh Yihunbelay

Editor-in-Chief Asrat Seyoum

Sub city: N.lafto, K. 10/18, H.No. 614

Senior Editors Yacob Wolde-Mariam

Dibaba AmensisaMikias Sebsibe

EditorsKaleyesus Bekele

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Published weekly by Media & Communications Center

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PhotographersTamrat GetachewMesfen Solomon

WebsiteBezawit Tesfaye

Binyam Hailu

CartoonistElias Areda

Fasil W/giorgis

The number of Ethiopians requiring food assistance due to irregular kiremt (summer) rainfall has now topped 8.3 million. While the Government of Ethiopia has announced that it has allocated Birr 10 billion ( a little over USD 476 million) in emergency fund for the purpose of distributing both food and non-food assistance to the affected communities, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also disclosed that it too is doing its part. Though donors have pledged to provide assistance, the gap between what is needed and what has been delivered is still wide. There is a real possibility that the food shortage can induce a rise in inflation throughout the country.

Prime Minister told Parliament this Tuesday that his government has commenced large-scale food import with a view to avert a hike in inflation as a result of the drought. He also indicated that fast-growing food crops are being produced using underground water in drought-hit areas, particularly in pastoralist communities, with a view to forestall and withstand the food shortage that the absence of rainfall may engender. If the government is responding to the drought in this manner, it should indeed be commended. This said, it has to be more transparent in terms of the alacrity with which it is responding to the impacts of the drought and whether assistance is being duly provided to those who truly need it.

Based on the irregularity in the pattern of the preceding belg rains, it was projected that the kiremt rains too would be irregular. And it was known for over a year that the El Niño phenomenon would bring drought to parts of East Africa and other regions. The National Meteorology Agency of Ethiopia shared this forecast as well. Despite these predictions, though, not much has been revealed about the preparations undertaken both by national authorities and international partners. The Ethiopian government first declared that it was capable of mounting the necessary response on its own though it later asked for donors’ help. Unfortunately, the latter’s response has been lukewarm to say the least placing all the responsibility squarely on the government’s shoulders alone.

The fund the government has set aside for emergency purposes in its budget for the current fiscal year amounts to just Birr 1 billion (around USD 476 million). It’s difficult to imagine that this fund took into account the drought for the government allotted no more than Birr 700 million (just over USD 33 million) when the number of citizens seeking assistance was first put at 4.5 million and then revise to 7.5 million. It’s when the figure soared to 8.3 million and the response of donors turned out to be unsatisfactory that the governed announced that it has coughed up Birr 10 billion from its coffers. This sum was not budgeted for; in fact it was plucked from the country’s Birr 34 billion (close to USD 1.62 billion) earning in the 3 months from July through to September of this year. In a discussion he held with

members of the Ethiopian community in England during his recent visit to that country, Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom confirmed that the Government of Ethiopia would divert the budget it has allocated for development activities to ensure that the drought did not prompt any sort of humanitarian crisis.

All this is indicative of the fact that the scale of the drought caught the government by surprise. Granted that it is doing whatever is in its power, the needed assistance has to reach those in need speedily and in the required amount. In this regard it is imperative to institute an oversight mechanism in order to deter and penalize anyone who embezzle food aid or use the aid to further political ends. Otherwise, a considerable humanitarian crisis is bound to unfold that leads to internal displacement. This in turn will strain the urban centers to which the migration takes place and provoke inflationary pressure.

Having climbed to double digits following the onset of the drought last June, the rate of inflation stood at 11.9 percent in September. Aside from ramping up its emergency assistance to the citizens impacted by the drought, it is incumbent up on the government to stabilize the price of basic food and other consumption items so as to prevent urban areas are from being hit by an escalation in inflation that the drought may induce. If the distribution of food aid is to be undertaken fairly, as Prime Minister Hailemariam acknowledged the government is obliged to put in place an effective food procurement and supply system. Towards this end it needs to see to it that its weak bureaucracy does not impedes life-saving endeavors.

The government’s response to the drought must be complimented by the efforts of the general public as well as donors and humanitarian organizations. However, as the latter are generally found wanting when it comes to delivering assistance rapidly, the size of the population looking for help can potentially increase if the situation does not improve in the next six months. The problem has been exacerbated by the above-average rainfall that the El Niño event has brought to parts of Ethiopia with the Wabe Shebelle river bursting its banks and flooding some districts of the Ethiopia Somali region. The flooding not only has swelled the number of affected individuals, but also made aid delivery more difficult.

Although there is no confirmed loss of human life attributable to the drought, thousands of livestock have perished. Given that the drought may worsen and thereby exacerbate the humanitarian crisis there is no alternative but to craft a prompt, coordinated and transparent response. It’s only then that its effects can be dealt with decisively and avert a rise in inflation.

Averting a drought-induced inflation hike


The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |3HEADLINES


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The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015

Vol. XX No. 999

IN-DEPTH

On the back drop of

shattered dreams and

leather sector has started

Asrat

Seyoum

Abai Schulz

Abai Schulze, 27, is the person behind

ZAAF, one of the few high-end designer

labels to come out of Ethiopia, which

specializes in handcrafted leather

luxury goods. Just two years in the

market, the young entrepreneur and

her label ZAAF are already going to

internationally renowned fashion

venues such as the New York Fashion

Week. The high-end leather handbag

she produces from her small workshop/

headquarters located behind Atlas Hotel

and supplies exclusively to the US and

European markets are already regulars

in some of the online platforms which

cater mostly to the designer labels and

high-end products.

Taken to the US at the age of 11 by

her adaption parents, Abai studied

economics and minored in fine arts

before she decided to return to her

birthplace and do something of a

“business nature”.

Then she immediately took notice of

the untapped potential in the Ethiopian

leather sector. “We had the raw

material (the leather), the labor and it

was only the logical thing to participate

in leather value addition,” she says.

For small establishments like hers,

small volume and high quality leather

articles were the only way to compete in

the international market. Dominantly

reliant on the domestic finished leather

supply, ZAAF is increasing becoming

the face of the Ethiopian leather

sector together with the giant Chinese

shoemaker, Huajian, which opened

shop in Ethiopia in 2012.

As far as Abai is concerned, the quality

of Ethiopian leather is serving her right

in the international market and that

with exception of infrequent returns

due to production defect, she has not

faced major problems regarding the

quality of the leather.

True to form, traditionally, genuine

Ethiopia leather is well accepted in the

global market for its fiber and hence

strength. On top that, the local footwear

market as well have come a long way

in the past decade or so. Anecdotal

evidence suggests that domestic shoes

market, which was largely dominated

by Chinese products, is now rapidly

changing in favor of local producers. It

appears that domestic shoemakers are

now reviving in the domestic market

both in quality and price.

Nevertheless, the Ethiopian leather

sector is far more problematic than

what meets the eye. For starters, export

revenue targets in the GTP I, USD

500 million, which largely hinged on

finished leather and leather products

was missed by miles. At the end of the

plan period the total export intake was

just shy of USD 140 million.

This was highly unacceptable for

the government considering the

country’s ample endowment in terms

of its livestock population and large

labor force, two basic ingredients for

leather manufacturing. However,

recent investigations have shown that

one of the fundamental problems lays

downstream the leather value chain: the

raw hide and skin trading sector.

Non-existent market

Hide and skin production and/or

animal slaughter are very traditional in

Ethiopia. Animal slaughter is a highly

traditional and cultural practice, the

majority of which is carried out in

people’s backyards. According to data,

close to 80 percent of the overall animal

slaughter and the production of hide

and skin by extension comes from rural

areas, where the majority of Ethiopians

live; in fact the bulk of the slaughter and

the hide and skin production done in

modern abattoirs and slaughter slabs is

not more than 20 percent of the overall

production.

This gives the domestic raw hide and

Contradiction in the

leather value-chain

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Vol. XX No. 999

INTERVIEWMatar Al Neyadi (PhD), Undersecretary of the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Energy, holds a doctoral degree in international

law from the University of Edinburgh (1997). He has professional experience in leadership, international cooperation, international

maritime law, management of international negotiations, climate change, rationalization of energy and water consumption,

impact of the prices of unconventional sources on oil and gas prices. He is Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Gulf

Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA), the UAE’s Executive Member in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum

of the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA). He has authored a number of legal books

which notably include ‘Maritime Zones of the UAE’, the ‘Rules of International Treaties in Public International Law’ and

‘Documents in Public International Law’.

This week, Matar was is Addis Ababa to attend the World Energy Congress which was held from October 25-30 at the UNECA

and Sheraton Addis. A huge UAE delegation led by the undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and vice chairman of the

UAE National Committee to the World Energy Congress, participated at the conference. Kaleyesus Bekele of The Reporter sat

down with Al Neyadi to discuss UAE ‘s energy policy and possible investment ventures in the renewable energy sector in Ethiopia.

Excerpts:

The Reporter: What is the

government of UAE doing to address

energy demand in that country?

Matar Al Neyadi (PhD): First of all

I would like to mention that this is

my first visit to Addis Ababa and I am

really impressed by what I saw here,

the hospitality of the people, and the

efforts being exerted by the government

to develop the energy sector. This is my

first visit to Ethiopia but I am sure that

it will not be the last.

Ethiopia is a country with historical

connections with the Middle East

and there is a lot of commonality

and trade going on with United Arab

Emirates. More importantly, there is an

opportunity to strengthen the existing

trade and diplomatic relationships

through joint collaboration between

Ethiopia and the UAE.

Regarding, your question on what the

UAE is doing presently in the energy

sector and energy policymaking, we

believe that demand management

is an important pillar in the energy

sector. The country is now working

on a national energy policy for 2035. A

central pillar to this policy is demand

management and energy efficiency.

In the electricity sector, we are working

now on three different initiatives:

first, we are drafting a federal law for

electricity and water efficiency. As

you know, the UAE a water scarce

country; we do not have abundant

water resources as Ethiopia. Water

is a very important resource for the

UAE, therefore, enforcing policies in

water efficiency is a priority and we are

working on a federal law to encourage

efficiency in water and electricity

consumption.

We think this law will enable us

to encourage water and electricity

consumers to make a more efficient use

of resources.

Another element we are working on at

the moment is electricity utilization in

government buildings. The ministry

is charged by the cabinet to look into

the government buildings and try to

retrofit the electricity and make them

more efficient in consumption. The

ultimate goal is to reduce consumption

in government buildings. By taking this

steps, the Government is leading by

example to encourage private sector and

individual consumers to take similar

steps.

We also encourage commercial

buildings to increase their efficiency

and reduce electric and water

consumption. We believe that that will

reduce the demand for electricity in

the country. The other element that

we are working on at the moment for

the electricity is the introduction of

green codes for building. Municipalities

across the country are introducing

green code building that will be crucial

to new construction, ensuring that each

new building is energy efficient and

more sustainable.

Together, these three elements will

help us reduce energy consumption

significantly. It will fit in the energy

policy that the government is forming.

As I said earlier, demand management

is a main pillar in the energy policy.

Another priority for the UAE is the

transport sector and the introduction

of energy policies that encourage

efficiency. Last July, the UAE

government deregulated the price of

gasoline and diesel. This is a significant

step for an energy-producing nation

and the UAE is leading the region in the

elimination of fuel subsidies. Today, in

the UAE the price of gasoline and diesel

is now linked to the international price.

We believe this step will help reduce

the demand. It will also introduce a

new specification for cars that are

imported to our country to be more

efficient. This will help us reduce our

fuel consumption significantly.

The second element in the transport

sector is that we are working on

a project to enhance the public

transportation. We have introduced

ambitious projects to introduce

public railways, trams and marine

transportation. We also have a modern

and efficient bus transportation

linking all the major local and national

routes. There are initiatives being

taken to encourage the public to use

public transportation. For example,

we have designated lanes for buses to

avoid traffic in the road that will help

people to use buses. By doing so, we

hope to reduce our gasoline and diesel

consumption.

Can you tell us about your

electricity demand and generation

capacity? And how it is growing?

Our economy is growing year to year.

Our GDP is growing at a rate of four

percent. This translates to a continued

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24|


Vol. XX No. 999

LIVING & THE ARTS

Ethiopia’s international

ratings seem to have

soared when the

country launched its

light rail system in the

capital Addis Ababa. It

in sub-Sahara Africa to

do so. And the country

is now being used as

a shining example

in infrastructure

development for many

African countries. Now,

with the rail system

serving the public

for about a month,

excitement and anxiety

are what Ababans feel

when talking about the

LRT, discovers Henok

Reta.

On board the light rail

This week the compound of one of the

newly inaugurated offices in as busy

as ever. The brown-painted building in

the Kality area houses the Addis Ababa

Light Rail Transit operations center,

depot and offices. Both the Light Rail

Transit (LRT) system operation and

electric power distribution centers

are located inside. Unlike many other

offices in the country, these offices are

co-officiated by Chinese and Ethiopian

nationals. One can imagine how

difficult it would be as noise erupts

from a group of Chinese and Ethiopians

entering a calm office in a prolonged

conversation about an operational

matter. They all look busy, making sure

the operation is going on well.

“We are coping with a difficult working

environment,” one local employee says.

Apart from the language barrier, both

Ethiopians and Chinese employees

face the huge gap in culture and

mannerisms and that to some extent

seem to be affecting their working

relationships. Nevertheless, they work

in a coordinated manner as this is one

of the highly anticipated projects the

country. Currently, they are taking

maximum care to make sure that it all

runs smoothly.

Angassa Negassa, 50, resides in

Bhere Tsige, Saris, one of the most

inconvenient parts of the city for public

transportation. He has suffered a lot in

the past because he was hardly able to

catch the city bus or a minibus taxi by

the time he left home for work. Since

the beginning of October, he has started

using the Addis Ababa LRT, the first

LRT in Sub Saharan Africa, which aims

to significantly ease the transportation

issues in the Africa’s diplomatic

capital, Addis Ababa.

“I am enjoying it. I see it as something

much more important than anything

else for people like me,” he says.

Last Thursday morning, he stepped up

on the concrete stairs at the Stadium

B terminal and waited for exactly two

minutes to catch the light train that

starts from Menelik II Square and

proceeds to Autobus Tera, Abinet,

Lideta, Mexico, Legahar, Stadium,

Meshualekia, Riche, Lancha, Temengia

Yaz, Nifas Silk 1&2, Saris and finally

makes it’s last stop at Kality. This

16km path of the LRT public transport

has been seen as a relief for the tens of

thousands of the residents who have

come aboard regularly ever since it

commenced partial operations about a

month ago.

The buzz of the much-awaited and

much-anticipated Addis Ababa LRis

still fresh amongst the residents. The

train is usually filled to capacity, and

at times there is hardly enough room

to stretch. Still, many of the residents

have not yet tested it; millions dream

of coming from outside of the city in

pursuit of this special experience. Some

seasoned citizens associate it with the

start of the Anbessa City Bus, which

started operation in the capital as a

share company in 1942. Particularly for

those who are upset with the service of

the blue and white minibus taxis, the

launch of the LRT transport is a dream

come true.

“It’s just been the beginning of

modernity for me. There has been no

harassment and entanglements so

far,” Angassa says, explaining why the

arrival of the LRT matters in the daily

lives of millions of Addis Ababans.

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30|


Vol. XX No. 999

#REPORTERBOOK

R

R

Meme count soars as US spy

runaway #blimp crashes to

ground

#FreeBacon topic sizzles on

social media after WHO meat

report

#Blimp

It was an event made for meming: an unmanned expensive army

surveillance blimp inexplicably going rogue over the United States

on Wednesday.

Within minutes of the craft, which carries

the catchy name Joint Land Attack

Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted

Sensor System (JLENS), breaking loose in

Maryland dragging cable as it drifted over

Pennsylvania, tweets were flying and heads

were being photoshopped onto the dirigible.

The blimp reportedly disturbed power

lines. Two F 16 fighter jets were summoned

to track the 74-meter helium-filled balloon

before it came to rest near Moreland

Township, Pa with authorities aiming to

recover the multi-million dollar sensor

technology aboard the JLENS rather than

shoot it down.

The airborne radar has the ambitious

objective of giving early warnings of low-

flying missiles and planes. The 17-year

program has cost the Pentagon around USD

2.7 billion, according to a recent feature in the Los Angeles Times.

In the short time it drew an audience, the blimp saga trended on

Twitter. Have a look at some of the funny memes…

Bacon lovers took to social media on Tuesday to express disdain

over a World Health Organization report that said processed meat is

likely to cause cancer.

The hashtags #FreeBacon, #Bacongeddon and #JeSuisBacon were

among the top-trending topics worldwide on Twitter for a second

straight day.

Celebrities, politicians and ordinary consumers were reacting to

Monday’s announcement by the WHO that eating processed meats

including hot dogs, sausages and bacon can cause colorectal cancer

in humans, and that red meat is also a likely cause of the disease.

The review by WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer

(IARC) also said there was some link between the consumption

of red meat and pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. The IARC

examined some 800 studies during a meeting of 22 health experts

earlier this month.

An analysis of social media sentiment by Thomson Reuters found

that social media participants were not happy about the WHO

review.

Negative tweets outnumbered positive ones by a ratio of nearly 7 to

1 on Monday and 6.5 to 1 on Tuesday, according to the analysis tool

that tracks and aggregates positive, neutral and negative tweets

with hashtags #cancer and #bacon in order to generate a sentiment

score. (Reuters)

INSI

DE

By Neamin Ashenafi

The African Union (AU) in its long awaited and delayed report has accused both the government of South Sudan and rebel forces of forced cannibalism, extreme violence and gang rapes since the conflict erupted at the end of 2013.

In the report, the AU said the commission, formed last year under the chairmanship of Nigeria’s ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, had identified perpetrators of violence from both sides.

The report documented details of brutal killings, abductions of woman and sexual violence among other abuses, mostly committed against civilians who were not taking part in the fighting.

A commission of inquiry found evidence of killings, torture, mutilations and rape, mostly against civilians, as well as episodes of forced

AU South Sudan report reveals

cannibalism, mass killing and gang rape cannibalism.

“The commission believes that war crimes were committed in Juba, Bor, Bentiu and Malakal,” the report said in reference to the key conflict towns.

Some witnesses in the capital, Juba, told commission members that they had seen people forced to drink the blood and eat the flesh of people who had just been killed.

The investigators found “evidence that some of the people who had been gathered were compelled to eat human flesh, while others were forced to drink human blood belonging to a victim who had been slaughtered and his blood collected on a plate,” it said.

One witness said “she saw SPLA (South Sudan army) soldiers burning dead bodies and compelling Nuer women to eat burnt flesh of burnt victims,” the report added.

The report also accused the forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, of recruiting an irregular tribal force before the outbreak of civil war in December 2013.

The report alleged that government troops carried out organized killings of ethnic Nuer in Juba, the capital. When the violence began, Machar became a rebel leader.

The African Union investigators found that the conflict began on December 15, 2013, when a skirmish broke out between Dinka and Nuer soldiers in the presidential guard following political tension between Kiir and Machar.

The 315-page report dismissed the claims of Salva Kiir about the attempted coup. “From all the information available to the Commission, the evidence does not point to a coup,” it

By Tamiru Tsige

The Federal Supreme Court on Wednesday has suspended the lower court’s order for Andargachew Tsige to be brought before court as a defense witness.

The Supreme Court’s suspension came after federal prosecutors filed an appeal against the Federal High Court order of 14 July.

The court said the prosecution’s appeal asking the decision of the high court to be reversed has been accepted “for consideration” and ordered both sides to appear before it on November 18. The high court ruling will be suspended until the

Supreme Court suspends Andargachew Tsige summon

By Birhanu Fikade

The Swedish telecom giant, Ericsson, is expected to handover most of the 3G networking project it has been installing for the past ten months in the southern part of the country.

Andualem Admassie, Chief Executive Officer of Ethio Telecom, told The Reporter that by the end of December Ericsson is expected to handover the three circles it was awarded to develop when the Chinese telecom company, ZTE, failed to deliver. The latter was awarded the USD 800 million expansion project (half of the 1.6 billion dollars project which was awarded to Huawei and ZTE) to develop six circles with 3G networks. However, Ethio Telecom snatched three of the circles and handed them over to Ericsson.

Ericsson to handover network project by end of 2015

Supreme... page 42AU South ... page 42

Andualem Admassie

Ethio Telecom hints a five-year huge expansion projectRafiah Ibrahim, president and head of the Middle East and North Africa region at Ericsson told The Reporter that the handing over of the projects depends on the period Ethio Telecom has provided to Ericsson. She said that there some sites in the regions the telecom giant has so far handed over to the state monopoly.

Asked if the network disruption would be addressed after the delivery of all the sites Ericsson has been involved in, Ibrahim was confident issues will be resolved. But the overall network entirely depends on how Ethio Telecom launches the finalized projects.

According to Andualem, in the next five years’ time the government plans to embark on another huge expansion projects where the current 40 million

Ericsson... page 42


4| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999HEADLINES

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to step up their relations during talks held on the sidelines of the Third India-Africa Forum Summit.

Ethiopian Ambassador to India, Genet Zewde, who attended the talks, told ENA in India that the two leaders exchanged views on ways of bolstering the longstanding diplomatic relations.

The talks also included increased trade and investment exchanges, technology transfer as well as expanding railway infrastructures in Ethiopia, the Ambassador said.

She also said the Indian side showed interest to import oil seeds from Ethiopia and engage in edible oil production.

The Indian Prime Minister confirmed that Ethiopia will be among the beneficiaries of the 10 billion dollars credit extended to African nations over the next five years.

According to Ambassador Genet, Modi also praised the fast economic growth in Ethiopia which serves as example to other nations.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn and other senior Ethiopian officials were in attendance of the third India-Africa forum. (FBC)

Black Rhino, owned by funds of U.S. investment company Blackstone Group, said on Wednesday it was looking at investments in Ethiopia’s power generation sector.

A foray into the country’s power industry would be Black Rhino’s second large-scale infrastructure involvement after it signed framework agreements last month to build a USD 1.55 billion fuel pipeline between Djibouti and Ethiopia.

“We are currently assessing other opportunities in Ethiopia such as hydro and wind. That is something we are very interested in and engaged in,” Shilesh Muralidhara, a Johannesburg-based developer at Black Rhino, said.

“We want to be here for the long term,” he told Reuters.

In addition to the array of power projects under construction, Ethiopia wants to add 12,000 additional megawatts of capacity through planned projects from hydropower, wind and geothermal sources under GTP II.

Azeb Asnake, Chief Executive of state-run Ethiopian Electric Power, told Reuters on Wednesday the body was in talks with 14 international firms for possible partnership deals. (Reuters)

Black Rhino looks at renewable power

investments in Ethiopia

By Birhanu Fikade

Following the recent announcement of South Africa’s colossal Standard Bank opening a representative office here, Taitu Wondwosen has been appointed to oversee the country office as senior vice president for corporate and investment tasks. Located off Cameroon Street, the representative office has rented a floor at Park Lane Tower around Bole

Standard

Bank appoints

Ethiopian banker

for Ethiopia

office

By Yohannes Anberbir

A draft proclamation which aims to re-establish the existing Document Registration and Authentication Office (DARO) with more powers and new structures was tabled to parliament on Thursday.

The bill cited as ‘Authentication and Registration Proclamation’ proposes to re-establish DARO as an institution both at federal and regional levels of government for “effective synchronization among all the institutions throughout the country.”

The draft empowers both the federal and regional governments to establish their own Document Registration and Authentication Institutions (DRAI) applying similar standards.

“It has become necessary to amend the

existing laws…to create transparent relations between authentication and registration institutions and supervising improperly certified documents and to enable to have efficient economic and social relations among persons as well as to make the procedures among persons as well as to make the procedures predictable and thereby to create one economic community,” the draft preamble stated.

Thus, an appropriate federal institution shall be established by regulation of the Council of Ministers to nationally coordinate and support the authentication and registration activities, to organize and keep a national data base for authenticated and registered documents, according to article five of the draft bill.

Regional governments are also entitled to form Authentication and

Registration Institutions responsible to enforce the proclamation. Structure of these regional institutions shall be determined by respective regions based on their objective realities, the draft bill states.

However, these regional institutions are required to maintain the uniformity of national document authentication and registration system. Furthermore, they have a responsibility to send to the federal institution the necessary data of documents they authenticated and registered as well as to implement other collaborative activities.

Improperly authenticated and registered documents are one of the factors which prompted the government to amend the existing proclamation. The draft bill authorizes the institutions to suspend improperly authorized and registered documents,

made deliberately, by negligence of authenticating officers or through forgery.

“The institution may, if it is proved by adequate evidence, pass temporary order of suspension on improperly authenticated and registered documents when petition is lodged by concerned person or by its own initiative and when it is proved that failure to suspend may cause serious damage that may not be easily reversible,” article 25 of the draft bill says.

After making first round deliberations, the House of Peoples Representatives has sent the bill for further scrutiny to the Legal and Justice Administration Standing Committee, chaired by Gebregziaber Araya who was appointed the same day.

Bill proposes to re-establish Authentication Office

By Kaleyesus Bekele One of the fledgling private airlines in Ethiopia, East African Aviation, imported the first air ambulance aircraft to Ethiopia.

The King Air350 air ambulance aircraft was bought from a US-based company at a cost of 2.5 million dollars. Managing director of MTDN, owner of East African Aviation, Mulat Lemlemayehu (Capt.), told The Reporter that more than 500,000 US dollars were spent to equip the aircraft with a state-of-the-art medical equipment required to give emergency medical services on board.

Mulat flew the new aircraft all the way from Greenville, South Carolina to Addis Ababa three weeks ago. “It was a 28 hours flight or it took four and half days to reach here.”

According to Mulat, all modern medical equipment that enables a physician

East African Aviation imports first air ambulance aircraft

East African ... page 38 Standard ... page 7

Ethiopia, India agree to bolster development partnership

Mulat Lemlemayehu with the imported King Air350 air ambulance aircraft


The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |5HEADLINES

Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom (PhD) said Tuesday Ethiopia has targeted to double its road expansion to 200,000kms by the end of GTP II in 2020.

Tedros made the remark in his address at a Plenary Session on “Collaborating to Address Africa’s Infrastructure Needs” at the India-Africa Business Forum in New Delhi.

To foster intra-regional links in Africa, the foreign minister emphasized that Regional Economic Communities should play a vital role in realizing these goals and pave the way for gradual integration as stipulated in the African Union Agenda 2063.

“My country Ethiopia is a strong advocate of both national and regional infrastructure development,” Tedros said stating that Ethiopia is now connected by highways with all its neighbors and working integration through energy supply, railway and air transport.

Notwithstanding Africa’s weak infrastructure link and the financial gap in such regard, Tedros said Africa “should value the support of many bilateral and multilateral financial institutions in which Indian is also a part”. (The Ethiopian Herald)

President Mulatu Teshome (PhD) has extended calls for immediate action to develop and utilize Africa’s energy potential.

Africa needs to urgently address gaps in the energy sector to improve the lives of its citizens, the president said while addressing the closing session of the 2015 World Energy Council Executive Assembly and Energy Leaders Summit here in Addis Ababa on Thursday.

“It is my belief that this gathering helps us commit to implement proper policy measures and institutional and regulatory frameworks,” President Mulatu stated.

Indicating the huge energy resource potential in Africa, the president said the continent’s energy sector is underdeveloped.

Referring best practices, developing modern and efficient energy technologies, building local capacity and the necessary finance are also among the points suggested by the president to make proper use of Africa’s energy sector.

President Mulatu said the Summit held in Ethiopia provided decision makers and stakeholders with a new momentum to define and recalibrate the countries’ policies and priorities. (ENA)

Ethiopia targets doubling road

expansion by 2020

President calls for urgent action in Africa’s

energy sector

ATA report reveals complex predicament amid success

By Yohannes Anberbir

Ethiopia exhibited a two level improvement in the 2016 Doing Business Report, yet it ranked 146 out of a total of 189 countries assessed by the World Bank.

The 2016 Doing Business Report released from Washington DC on Thursday emphasized a substantial room for improvement for Ethiopia.

The World Bank annually assesses and releases its highly authoritative Doing Business Report. The Doing Business Report captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local firms.

It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for starting a business, dealing with construction permits,

getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

Out of the aforementioned parameters,

Ethiopia has made an improvement only on two of the indicators: dealing with construction permits and enforcing contracts.

The report shows that Ethiopia is among the best performers in the sub-Saharan region on enforcing contacts, with a global ranking of 84th and 7th in the region.

“This is due, in part, to past efforts to ease the process of contract enforcement which has resulted in considerable time gains. For example, over a decade ago, it took an entrepreneur in Addis Ababa 690 days to resolve a commercial dispute. Today it takes only 530 days-less time than Canada,” the WB

Ethiopia shows slight improvement in ease of doing business

Ethiopia shows... page 41

By Henok Reta

A report released by the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) dubbed the “Transformation Agenda Progress Report” covering the period extending from 2011 to 2015 reveals that the transformation of the agricultural sector although largely successful also succumbed to challenges in three critical thematic areas: insufficient alignment with stakeholders, misunderstanding and weak-links to envisage the scope and magnitude of the agenda and broad loopholes in the capacity building process.

Khalid Bomba, CEO of ATA, told journalists that the environment that the new agency started its work was far more challenging since the overall agricultural sector landscape was highly complex and difficult. According to Khalid, getting all the stakeholders who have direct and indirect bearing

By Neamin Ashenafi

Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise, in its endeavor to make their services more modern, is applying technological advanced transportation systems to repair and expand its current three garages and depots, as well as to build a new one in the Akaki Kality sub city. This endeavor financially supported by 18 million dollars from the World Bank, Bedlu Assefa General Manager of the Enterprise, told The Reporter.

WB extends

assistance to

modernize

Anbessa City Bus

WB ... page 41

ATA... page 41

on the success of the transformation agenda was one of the difficulties encountered in the period.

On the other hand, the agency, which commenced its work one year into the first generation of the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP I), has made it difficult to manage the stakeholder aspect, the CEO underscored.

In general, the report highlighted the success story in the transformation agenda indicating 53 percent of the overall 84 deliverables in the agenda to be on track, 35 percent slightly delayed and the remaining 12 percent to be significantly sidetracked.

According to Khalid, the agriculture sector is a very complex sector and that the scope and the magnitude of the agenda should be fully shared among

Wondirad Mandefro (L) and Khalid Bomba



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By Birhanu Fikade

The well-established global policy influencer, The Economist Group, has concluded the day-and-a-half event dubbed “Ethiopia Summit” where intonation of the meeting was directed at the liberalization of monopolized sectors the Ethiopian government frequently resisted for long – banking and telecommunications.

Pratibha Thaker, regional director of the Middle East and Africa department at The Economist Group (her primary task is running The Economist Intelligence Unit), told The Reporter that the summit was mainly geared towards discussing investment potentials and challenges faced by investors and policymakers in the country.

She underscored the position of the government: that liberalization of monopolized sectors such as telecom and finance is clearly unlikely to happen regardless of the pressure put on the government to do so. During the opening of the event, Arkebe Oqubay (PhD), minister and senior advisor of the prime minister, affirmed that there is no intention to open the monopolized state-run firms.

Carlos Lopes (PhD), executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), warned that Ethiopia should sequence in striking the balance of economic growth. One basic action Ethiopia is urged to take is to open up of the sectors that are strategic in the dynamics of global economic and investment activities.

“Ethiopia is facing a difficult timing issue because of the monopoly of telecom and other public sectors,” Lopez argued.

“The huge influx of refugees and the ‘bad neighbors’ Ethiopia is surrounded by are what Ethiopia should recognize well,” Lopez noted.

There are about 830 thousand South Sudanese and Eritrean refugees harbored in Ethiopia. In addition to that, the country is one of the largest peace keeping mission contributors in the region. Lopez emphasized that Ethiopia is a country working to fix the bad neighborhood, and is also a generous nation, which provides free access to tertiary education.

Thaker is hopeful that it doesn’t necessarily mean nothing will happen in those sectors in the future. She also argued that there is an urgent need for reform.

“There is very impressive economic growth over the past 15 years on the back of infrastructure development, agriculture, and education,” Thaker said. “This is one country in the

continent where I feel plans becomes a reality. If not 100 percent, it’s close to it. Human development indicators have improved. The interests are coming from the investors’ side, as well from domestic and international.”

This fact, however, requires investors to come with a long-term perspective as the economy is treading in transition, Thaker advised foreign investors. She stressed that they always have to review strategies as conditions can change so quickly.

According to Thaker, the second five-year term of the economic plan of the country—the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTPII)—and the increasing presence of China shaped the conference. In the GTPII, among other things, industry and the intention to increase the share of manufacturing from the current five percent to 25 percent create a substantial number of jobs with certain skills. The role of China in areas of trade, investment and industrial parks development, private sector involvement in the manufacturing sectors, as well as in the financial elements have been well recognized, the renowned economist Thaker noted.

The event has been instrumental in ushering lively discussions in areas of investment and manufacturing that involved personalities like Helen Hai, one of the Chinese movers and shakers of the manufacturing sector in Ethiopia. Previously she was introduced to Ethiopia as vice president of Huajian Group, the shoemaker. She is currently managing her company Made in Africa. Hai bravely downplayed the negative narratives of the western media, specifically the BBC. Hai challenged Mary Harper, African Editor at the BBC World Service, who moderated the textile and garments panel among others. Harper admitted that the BBC has no appetite for talking about the industrialization of Africa or the Africa rising narrative as it has more interest in narrating war, conflicts or drought.

This platform that The Economist staged may continue next year, but Thaker is unsure of it.

“Next year we are hoping to come back, but that depends on how things shape up here,” she told The Reporter.

The Ethiopia Summit:

Movers and Shakersarea.

The announcement was made during a sideline event at the Ethiopia Summit, which was organized by The Economist Events, and the country representative office has become officially operational since Wednesday.

Ben Kruger, Chief Executive of Standard Bank said that as Ethiopia emerges to be a major energy hub in east Africa; energy exports will become a major foreign exchange earner for the country in the future. Hence, Standard Bank’s representative office will act as an entry point for clients seeking to invest in Ethiopia, Kruger affirmed.

Taitu also told The Reporter that Standard Bank has set priorities in areas of power projects, infrastructure development, agribusiness and consumer goods most investor clients are believed to have vast interests in. According to Taitu, the opening of the office is the result of clients’ push to know more about Ethiopia from the bank’s point of view. “We are here to tell folks about who we are, to understand the market, to build up our research capability and to understand how things work here and know more how the economy works better in terms of supporting our clients if they are looking to do business here”, she said.

Standard bank, the largest bank by assets in Africa, is based in South Africa with clients from different parts

of the world. Currently, the total assets of Standard Bank stands at a staggering USD 163.8 billion. Taitu said that the bank works with companies from the US, Europe, Asia and South America.

Born and raised in Ethiopia, Taitu – single and young – has been educated in the US where she has attended economics and finance schools. She has worked at the New York Federal Reserve Bank – one of the largest central banks in the US – and at JP Morgan Chase in the areas of corporate banking back in the day. She was in the central bank when the global financial crisis hard hit major financial institutions in the US which also led to the collapse of one major bank, the Lehman Brothers. It was the Federal Reserve of New York which was tasked with assessing the magnitude of the crisis during her time there.

Apart from Standard Bank, major banks like Ecobank of Nigeria and HSBC of the UK have already opened their offices here.



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The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |9Advertisment


10| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999IN-DEPTH

Asrat Seyoum

Abai Schulz

Abai Schulze, 27, is the person behind ZAAF, one of the few high-end designer labels to come out of Ethiopia, which specializes in handcrafted leather luxury goods. Just two years in the market, the young entrepreneur and her label ZAAF are already going to internationally renowned fashion venues such as the New York Fashion Week. The high-end leather handbag she produces from her small workshop/headquarters located behind Atlas Hotel and supplies exclusively to the US and European markets are already regulars in some of the online platforms which cater mostly to the designer labels and high-end products.

Taken to the US at the age of 11 by her adaption parents, Abai studied economics and minored in fine arts before she decided to return to her birthplace and do something of a “business nature”.

Then she immediately took notice of the untapped potential in the Ethiopian leather sector. “We had the raw material (the leather), the labor and it was only the logical thing to participate in leather value addition,” she says. For small establishments like hers, small volume and high quality leather articles were the only way to compete in the international market. Dominantly reliant on the domestic finished leather supply, ZAAF is increasing becoming the face of the Ethiopian leather sector together with the giant Chinese shoemaker, Huajian, which opened shop in Ethiopia in 2012.

As far as Abai is concerned, the quality of Ethiopian leather is serving her right in the international market and that with exception of infrequent returns due to production defect, she has not faced major problems regarding the quality of the leather.

True to form, traditionally, genuine Ethiopia leather is well accepted in the

global market for its fiber and hence strength. On top that, the local footwear market as well have come a long way in the past decade or so. Anecdotal evidence suggests that domestic shoes market, which was largely dominated by Chinese products, is now rapidly changing in favor of local producers. It appears that domestic shoemakers are now reviving in the domestic market both in quality and price.

Nevertheless, the Ethiopian leather sector is far more problematic than what meets the eye. For starters, export revenue targets in the GTP I, USD 500 million, which largely hinged on finished leather and leather products was missed by miles. At the end of the plan period the total export intake was just shy of USD 140 million.

This was highly unacceptable for the government considering the country’s ample endowment in terms of its livestock population and large labor force, two basic ingredients for leather manufacturing. However, recent investigations have shown that one of the fundamental problems lays downstream the leather value chain: the raw hide and skin trading sector.

Non-existent market

Hide and skin production and/or animal slaughter are very traditional in Ethiopia. Animal slaughter is a highly traditional and cultural practice, the majority of which is carried out in people’s backyards. According to data, close to 80 percent of the overall animal slaughter and the production of hide and skin by extension comes from rural areas, where the majority of Ethiopians live; in fact the bulk of the slaughter and the hide and skin production done in modern abattoirs and slaughter slabs is not more than 20 percent of the overall production.

This gives the domestic raw hide and

Contradiction in the leather value-chain


The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |11IN-DEPTH

skin “market” a unique character, where a number of actors participate in the overall supply-chain between slaughtering and processing factories. According to Birkinesh Gonfa, director of the marketing directorate at the Leather Industry Development Institute (LIDI), the multiple layer of participants in the raw hides and skins market made the market vulnerable to side trading between the traders and contraband activities ending up in artificially increasing the price. To that end, the government issued a new proclamation in 2013 repealing the one that came out 2005.

If there is any take away from this proclamation, the law sought to slash a number of participants significantly there by shorting the distance between the hide and skin producers and tanneries. That it did with passion. Traditionally, the local hide and skin scene is marked by the door-to-door micro collectors who then pass on the skin to the medium/large regional collectors and suppliers. Further yet, the regional and medium collectors deal with large skin traders in Addis Ababa, who in turn directly supply the tanneries.

As to the new proclamation, this is to be no more. Now the law authorizes only two kinds of formal hide and skins transaction: at first level and second level “markets”. But, limits the middlemen just to hide and skin suppliers, who will trade with households and small slaughter slabs in rural areas at the primary market and then engage with the tanneries at the secondary markets.

Close to two years since its ratification, the formal primary and secondary “markets” are not yet existent, all stakeholders agree. For one, the task of the regional agricultural bureaus and Ministry of Trade (MoT), in structuring the primary market, both in terms of infrastructure and participants, is nowhere complete. Birkinesh argues that at this level the proclamation has not yet touched the ground. She says that all the small and micro collectors as well as medium and large collectors have two options: either to be re-registered as suppliers or become official agents of large suppliers. To be suppliers in their own right, they have to fulfill some criteria and prerequisites and the agricultural bureaus and the ministry has to make sure that they comply.

Poor quality

Primary intent of the proclamation, however, is to address the longstanding leather sector problem that is ensuring quality and adequate supply of raw hide and skin. Quality is of utmost concern for the leather sector for ages.

According to Yigzaw Assefa, chairman of the Ethiopian Leather Industries Association (ELIA) and CEO of Bahir Dar Tannery, the quality of raw skins and hides is nothing but declining by day. He says the most essential intervention in this regard should be on the regional and woreda levels where the hides and skins suffer the most damage.

As a matter of fact, the most damage to raw hide and skin in Ethiopia is done while it is in the back of the animals. For a long time, parasitic skin disease has been destroying raw hide and skin. Although not as damaging, the traditional practice of branding and flaying cattle is also known to be degrading the quality of hide and skins for long time.

For Yigzaw, this is where intervention would matter the most. He says the previous practice of agricultural workers educating and following up the cattle rearing in the countryside looks to be dwindling. Post-mortem skin handling nevertheless is as much

an issue as the former. Proper skin treatment and storage is another big problem currently, the chairman indicates.

But, the traditional skin collection and handling system is not something that can change overnight argues, Birhanu Abate, chairman of the Ethiopian Raw Hides and Skins Supply Association (ERHSSA), a recently formed association of 40 suppliers companies. He argues that the root of the collection system is embedded so deep in the way of life of the people, where households conduct animal slaughter rituals only around holiday times that it cannot change by issuing one or two proclamation. “I am not opposing the proclamation,’ he says, but the supply route of the raw hide and skins is highly scattered; and that is why it called for the services of the small/micro collectors who roam the deep corners of rural Ethiopia to get the hides and skins out to the market.

True to form, the majority of backyard slaughters and the storage system

afterwards are anti-quality to say the least. According to the hide and skin quality measurement standards, which according to informants has been there since the Emperor’s time, the damage to skin during slaughter (number of cuts for instance) and the size of the hide and skin define what is the quality of raw hide and skin.

Standardization

On the other hand, measuring the quality of raw hide and skin in the “market” is a bit of a controversy. For instance, the suppliers association is of the view that tanneries hold the exclusive right to assign quality grading to the raw hide and skin that is supplied to them. “It is a verbal quality grading system, which we call the ‘rejecting system’; the tanneries have personnel who just assign the quality of a raw hide and skin just by looking at the product,” Birhanu told The Rreporter in an exclusive interview. So, at the moment, tanneries holds the most power in determining what quality grade is assigned to raw hide and skin that is supplied to them. “If they say the quality is low, you accept,” Birhanu says. Sinkinesh as well acknowledged this fact and say quality determination is within the power of tanneries she says.

However, the problem looks to be far more than that. According to suppliers, the tendencies of tanneries to reject the quality of raw hide and skin supply even after they have started to process them into pickle and wet blue is another alarming trend. “For instance, some tanneries can tell you that your agreed upon price has been slashed since they have come to realize the poor quality of your (hide and skin) delivery after they started processing,” Birhanu says. And this is absurd because these quality issues might not even have appeared during the delivery and quality inspection phases. How can one be liable to something he has already sold and delivered to customers, Birhanu asks; what if the quality problem was caused by mishandling in tanneries.

Yigzaw counters this saying that the quality problem is in fact harsher on the tanneries. For one, the real quality of the raw hides and skins is not something that is reliable; the real quality becomes apparent once processing starts; that is when leather reaches the pickle or wet blue levels. “Usually, tanneries incur cost due to poor quality raw skin because we have no way of determining for sure what quality we are buying except when we entered processing phases,” he argues further. Nevertheless, a basic feature of the proclamation is having an

Contradiction ... page 40

Birkinesh Gonfa

Birhanu Abate

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14| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999COMMENTARY

VIEWPOINT

Ethiopia has been working in a coordinated manner to put the El

Niño-caused drought under control. It’s unnecessary and groundless to politicize El Niño, which is a

natural phenomena, and discredit the gains made in ensuring food self-

sufficiency, argues

Zekarias Talo Anjulo.

The international community could make a significant difference in this

area, by helping my government monitor and control Somalia’s

EEZ, as well as through improved sharing of the critical intelligence

gathered by international naval patrols, writes

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Somalia is blessed with the largest coastline in continental Africa. Our rich marine waters are some of the most productive in the world, teeming with schools of yellowfin tuna, blue marlin, dolphinfish, and sardines. For more than 30 years, however, this bountiful marine wilderness has also been a source and site of conflict, as foreign illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels have plundered our waters – stealing our fish and selling their catches at distant ports.

Just a few years ago, the encroachment of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing vessels sparked a wave of piracy in Somalia that cost the global maritime shipping industry billions of dollars in lost revenue. As illegal foreign fishing vessels fled our waters, Somali pirates quickly shifted their focus toward more lucrative vessels, such as cargo ships and oil tankers. And, now that piracy has mostly been eliminated, there is growing evidence that foreign fishing vessels have returned to plunder our waters once again.

A new report by the group Secure Fisheries, called Securing Somali Fisheries unveils new satellite data showing that foreign IUU fishing vessels are now catching three times more fish than Somalis. They are targeting some of the highest-value fish in our waters, leaving their Somali counterparts to compete over lower-

value fish.

The report shows that, making matters worse, these foreign fleets have contributed to overfishing our swordfish, snapper, marlin, and shark populations. Foreign bottom trawlers have fished recklessly and acted with impunity, dragging heavy nets, razing the bottom of our seafloor, and damaging an astounding 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) of important marine habitat. The damage is so extensive that even if trawling were stopped today, this area may need many years to recover.

This pillaging of our marine ecosystem is taking place even as Somalia has made great strides over the last 18 months toward better management of our waters. In June 2014, my government laid claim to Somalia’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This past December, we also passed the Somali Fisheries Law, which explicitly outlaws bottom trawling. This groundbreaking legislation calls for improved monitoring of fish landings, an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries’ management whereby the area would be managed holistically, and the protection of threatened and endangered fish species.

But, despite all our progress in strengthening fisheries’ management domestically, we lack the ability

to police our vast waters. The international community could make a significant difference in this area, by helping my government monitor and control Somalia’s EEZ, as well as through improved sharing of the critical intelligence gathered by international naval patrols.

According to the Secure Fisheries’ report, eliminating IUU fishing today would enable Somalia to begin to license and sell commercially valuable tuna sustainably, generating up to USD 17 million per year. These funds could then be reinvested into better infrastructure – such as port construction, improved cold storage, and modern processing facilities – to support our artisanal and industrial fishing fleets.

The elimination of IUU fishing would also allow our overfished stocks to recover and help build a prosperous Somali domestic fishery, along with increased government support and funding for data collection and resource management. The report shows that healthy fish stocks could provide significantly greater amounts of resources than they currently do. In fact, almost half of our managed fisheries are currently exploited at sustainable levels. But we need more investment in better infrastructure to realize our industry’s full potential.

Somalia’s new pirates

El Niño is defined by prolonged warming in the Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures when compared with the average value. El Niño results from changes in the pattern and direction of winds and ocean currents in the region, which have potentially catastrophic effects. There are also changes in atmospheric pressure across the Pacific Basin between Darwin, Australia, and Tahiti called the Southern Oscillation. El Niño is known to cause devastating droughts in Northeast Brazil, Australia and parts of Africa. In addition it also causes hurricanes along the east coast of North America, and so forth.

As a result of the El Niño, pastoralists in Eastern, North Eastern and the Rift Valley regions of Ethiopia are suffering from shortage and delay of rain during Ethiopia’s “kiremt” season. The drought, basically caused by El Niño, has also caused damage on crops and livestock in Afar and Somali regional states.

Following the drought caused by El Niño, the Government of Ethiopia has officially launched the joint – Government and humanitarian partners – Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD). After conducting the humanitarian aid assessment, it informed the public and the international community that there

are more than 4.5 million citizens facing food shortage and are in need of humanitarian assistance. The figure was later updated to include citizens who were already under the safety-net program. As a result, the total number of citizens in need of food have reached 8.2 million.

The fact that 8 million people are in need of food aid was seen as an opportunity by some for a smear campaign. The confusion and the supposed opportunity for smear campaign sprang from a misunderstanding of the May 2015 announcement that Ethiopia has ensured food self-sufficiency at a national level.

So what does ensuring food self-sufficiency at a national level mean? Many Ethiopians and foreigners are doubting the information provided by the Ethiopian government on Ethiopia’s food self-sufficiency. Putting the propaganda and politicization aside one needs to understand the scenario. Ensuring food self-sufficiency at a national level means that a country has reached a a level of production where it can fulfill its consumption needs (particularly for staple food crops) through its own domestic production capacity.

However, this does not mean that

food self-sufficiency is achieved at a household level. Hence, when we say that Ethiopia has ensured food self-sufficiency at a national level, this is to mean that the domestic food production is sufficient to cover the demand. As it is known, Ethiopia has been working decidedly to transform agricultural production and productivity based on its developmental state paradigm and pro-poor policies, strategies and programs. Due to prime focus given to increase smallholder farmers productivity through introduction of modern agricultural practices, Ethiopia’s annual crop production has reached over 25 million metric tons (250 million quintals).

Food self-sufficiency, however, has nothing to do with ensuring rainfall or huge production in all regions of the country at all times. As a result, a given nation may ensure food self-sufficiency at a national level, while facing drought or disaster in some parts of the country. For example, the 2000s drought in Australia, also known as the Millennium drought, is said to be the worst drought ever experienced, while Australia was abundantly food self-sufficient at a national level.

The drought began in 1995 and continued until late 2009 with its end

Politicization of El Niño in Ethiopia

Somalia’s... page 32

Politicization... page 32


The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |15OPINION

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A vibrant India and a resurgent Africa have got so much common cause to

work together. India is believed to be on the right path towards democracy and

delivering good governance while Africa is claimed to be an essential element to

build partnership with the continent, writes

Miheret Gebremedhin.

Afro-Indian relations transcend millennia. India and Africa – the world largest democracy and vast continent – have a shared history of struggle against colonialism, common search for identity, determination to ensure equality, dignity and justice in the post colonial world order.

Throughout the period of struggle for African independence against neo-colonialism, against apartheid and discrimination, India and Africa have been brothers in arms in their centuries-old ties. India’s engagement with Africa remains part of the larger political context of the relationship that India has had with Africa, the brotherly relationship essentially which India has had for a very long time especially after her independence; hence African’s have been an integral part of India’s history and India’s ties with African countries rests on firm historical foundation.

It is against the backdrop of this intersecting history and desire for comprehensive re-engagement with Africa that India start structured engagement with Africa in the form of the Forum on African-India Forum Summit (AIFS). Followed by the first summit which was held in 2008 in India and the second summit held in 2011 in Addis Ababa, the third India-Africa Forum Summit held from October 26 to 29, 2015 and for the very first

time in history it gathered the largest ever African diplomatic corps in the capital city of New Delhi in the spirit of mutually beneficial partnership.

The summit, which gathered 54 countries from the African continent of which 40 of them represented by their heads of state or government, is meant to show the world how India is serious about engaging with Africa and highlight India as an alternative partner for trade and investment. Although Indo-Africa cooperation started centuries ago, institutionalizing the relationship with Africa in such platform is believed not only to boost ties but also enhance strategic partnership given the fact that both Africa and India share common cause towards aspirations for their progress and a voice in the world.

It is at this historic juncture that “the world’s fastest growing continent and the world’s fastest growing major economy,” Africa and India respectively, met for deliberations of forging strategic engagement at the highest political level. The summit is of particular importance for Africa because this is the first major partnership summit after Africa adopts Agenda 2063, the vision document to see where Africa would like to be 50 years on. The summit is said, prepared by aligning the priorities and activities of India with Agenda 2063

and takes into account Africa’s own aspirations for pan-African institutions and development programmes which is an immense strategic interest for Africa. Moreover, it is a summit which took place after UN adoption of the development Agenda of 2030, thus both Africa and India development goals and international aspirations can closely aligned.

A vibrant India and a resurgent Africa have got so much common cause to work together. India is believed to be on the right path towards democracy and delivering good governance while Africa is claimed to be an essential element to build partnership with the continent. The importance of Africa cannot be underestimated. India recognizes the massive growth potential Africa has to offer that’s why engaging in political, economic and strategic terms with Africa is thought to have an immense benefit for India to harness tremendously diverse continent of Africa as an investment destination, market for Indian investment and Indian good.

The enormously natural resource rich Africa is ten times the size of India with large amount of arable land which can become a major source of meeting India’s rapidly growing demand. In addition to this the continent has got a long coastline very important

Modi and Africa: a new partnership

Modi... page 32

STEELY RMI PLC Invitation for International Competitive Bid

Tender No. 07/2015

1. Steely RMI PLC is a private company engaged in steel manufacturing industry. We are producer and suppliers of reinforcement bar and wire rods from size 5.5mm -24mm with annual production capacity of 360,000 metric tons per annum. Currently, we are seeking to import steel billet from abroad and ask all potential suppliers to participate in the

Description: Prime Steel Billets Quantity: In two lots where each lot contain 30,000 Metric tons Size (mm): 150 x150 and /or 130 x130Length (meter): 6 and/or 12Delivery time: December- January-2015

2. Interested bidder can get a complete set of bid document

email at [email protected] indicating your company name, contact person, telephone and fax number, company

3. Steely RMI PLC reserve the right to cancel the bid and /or to accept or reject any or all bids without giving the reasons thereof.

Steely RMI PLCAddis Ababa, Ethiopia

Email:[email protected]

IMMEDIATE VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Our company Ambaye General Trading PLC would like

Position.

Position: Senior Accountant

Work Experience: 4/6 Years working as accountant Place of Work: Addis AbabaSalary: Negotiable

Copy of their CV along With all necessary documents through P.O.Box 24400 within 7 days from the Announcement date.

Ambaye General Trading PLCP.O.Box 24400, Tel : 0115580166Addis Ababa



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18| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999INTERVIEW

Kaleyesus Bekele

The Reporter: What is the government of UAE doing to address energy demand in that country?

Matar Al Neyadi (PhD): First of all I would like to mention that this is my first visit to Addis Ababa and I am really impressed by what I saw here, the hospitality of the people, and the efforts being exerted by the government to develop the energy sector. This is my first visit to Ethiopia but I am sure that it will not be the last.

Ethiopia is a country with historical connections with the Middle East and there is a lot of commonality and trade going on with United Arab Emirates. More importantly, there is an opportunity to strengthen the existing trade and diplomatic relationships through joint collaboration between Ethiopia and the UAE.

Regarding, your question on what the UAE is doing presently in the energy sector and energy policymaking, we believe that demand management is an important pillar in the energy sector. The country is now working on a national energy policy for 2035. A central pillar to this policy is demand management and energy efficiency.

In the electricity sector, we are working now on three different initiatives: first, we are drafting a federal law for electricity and water efficiency. As you know, the UAE a water scarce country; we do not have abundant water resources as Ethiopia. Water is a very important resource for the UAE, therefore, enforcing policies in water efficiency is a priority and we are working on a federal law to encourage efficiency in water and electricity consumption.

We think this law will enable us to encourage water and electricity consumers to make a more efficient use of resources.

Another element we are working on at the moment is electricity utilization in government buildings. The ministry is charged by the cabinet to look into the government buildings and try to retrofit the electricity and make them more efficient in consumption. The ultimate goal is to reduce consumption in government buildings. By taking this steps, the Government is leading by example to encourage private sector and individual consumers to take similar steps.

We also encourage commercial buildings to increase their efficiency and reduce electric and water consumption. We believe that that will reduce the demand for electricity in the country. The other element that we are working on at the moment for the electricity is the introduction of green codes for building. Municipalities across the country are introducing green code building that will be crucial to new construction, ensuring that each new building is energy efficient and more sustainable.

Together, these three elements will help us reduce energy consumption significantly. It will fit in the energy policy that the government is forming. As I said earlier, demand management is a main pillar in the energy policy.

Another priority for the UAE is the transport sector and the introduction of energy policies that encourage efficiency. Last July, the UAE government deregulated the price of gasoline and diesel. This is a significant step for an energy-producing nation and the UAE is leading the region in the elimination of fuel subsidies. Today, in the UAE the price of gasoline and diesel is now linked to the international price. We believe this step will help reduce the demand. It will also introduce a new specification for cars that are imported to our country to be more efficient. This will help us reduce our fuel consumption significantly.

The second element in the transport sector is that we are working on a project to enhance the public transportation. We have introduced ambitious projects to introduce public railways, trams and marine transportation. We also have a modern and efficient bus transportation linking all the major local and national routes. There are initiatives being taken to encourage the public to use public transportation. For example, we have designated lanes for buses to avoid traffic in the road that will help people to use buses. By doing so, we hope to reduce our gasoline and diesel consumption.

Can you tell us about your electricity demand and generation capacity? And how it is growing?

Our economy is growing year to year. Our GDP is growing at a rate of four percent. This translates to a continued

Partnering with Africa

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The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |19INTERVIEWgrowth of electricity demand. One of the objectives of the UAE is to try to break the linkage between economic growth and electricity demand. As I said, all these measures are taken to break the relation between economic growth and energy demand. We are witnessing some success in this area. We are targeting to at least reduce the demand of electricity not to be in par with the economic growth. in 2014 the UAE electricity generation capacity was 29GW whereas the demand for electricity was 27GW. In 2021 the

country will increase its generation capacity to 40GW .

Is that from thermal energy?

By 2021, seventy percent will be coming from gas. And 30 percent will be coming from sustainable energy in the form of solar energy and nuclear energy. We are building four nuclear reactors under the highest standards of safety and quality. They are under construction at the moment and are evolving safely, with the goal to operate four nuclear energy units by 2020 with a total generation capacity of 5600MW.

This investment in sustainable energy that the UAE is making is part of an ambitious energy policy to increase energy diversification, improve energy security and sustainability. So our portfolio of energy generation for the future will be composed of natural gas, nuclear and solar energy.

What about wind energy?

We are not lucky like Ethiopia to have much enough wind to run wind farms. We only have suitable conditions in the east coast, in a very small geographic area, so it would not be commercially feasible. Therefore, for us solar is the best solution.

You are currently in Addis Ababa

participating in the World Energy Conference. What do you expect to achieve during the conference?

The World Energy Congress is an important platform. We are sharing experience and global best practice across all key areas of the energy sector. We are debating the challenges. We are trying to identify any collaboration between member countries.

Last year, I attended a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa organized by the World Energy Council. This year we are participating in the Executive

Assembly that is being held here in Addis Ababa. We believe that Africa is important to us. We are always looking at further enhancing our cooperation.

In 2019, Abu Dhabi will host the World Energy Congress, which is one of the leading international energy conferences in the world. It will be the first time to be held in OPEC member country and we have committed that the UAE will work with our colleagues in Africa in drafting the agendas for the congress, to ensure that the 2019 congress in Abu Dhabi will be an inclusive and be a globally influential congress. Together, we will be identifying the challenges that we will include in the agenda.

Two years ago the World Energy Congress was held in South Korea. Next year it will be held in Istanbul, Turkey. By bringing it to Abu Dhabi we hope to reflect on the challenges we have in the Middle East and Africa and to present it to the world. It will be a golden opportunity to present our challenges and opportunities we have. We will discuss how the world could cooperate with us and benefit by working together.

As you may know many UAE companies are investing in various sectors in Ethiopia. Is there any plan

by UAE companies to invest in the energy sector in Ethiopia?

Two years ago during the Abu Dhabi Future Summit, we had the honor to receive His Excellency Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn. He is one of the three heads of state to participate in a panel discussion in the prospect of investment in the energy sector in Africa. From the discussion, we agreed on the existing investment opportunities. I know many UAE companies are working in Ethiopia in different sectors.

Are there companies which have already shown interest to invest in the energy sector in Ethiopia?

At the moment I do not have the information if there is any company which has an investment in the energy sector in Ethiopia. But we are going to inform the UAE companies of the investment opportunity in the renewable energy sector in Ethiopia. I am sure interested companies would contact the Ethiopian authorities. In general, Africa is an important investment destination to the UAE.

Did you meet Ethiopian government officials to discuss the investment opportunity in the energy sector?

There is a plan to meet with the Energy Minister.

Did UAE companies make any investment in other African countries in the energy sector?

Masdar has an investment in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Fund in Mauritania. They built a solar energy station with the capacity to generate 15WM. The project was inaugurated in 2013 and currently it is operational. Masdar is a UAE company engaged in the development of renewable energy.

Partnering... page 28


20| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999COMMENTARY +

VIEWPOINT +

Externships offer students a better way to acquire skills, because students

are given an opportunity to help a company solve a real-world problem

from the classroom, writes

Ayesha Khanna.

The private sector’s response to Europe’s refugee crisis has

highlighted the role companies can play in managing immigration. But if the business community’s involvement

is to yield long-term benefits, it will have to extend well beyond the

immediate emergency, argues

Khalid Koser

The industries of the future will require people creative and innovative enough to work with technology, not be replaced by it. And workers will need resilience and grit, because failure, more often than not, is part of the innovation process.

Unfortunately, secondary schools today are not providing a platform for imparting the skills necessary for their graduates to compete in the workplaces of the future. With some notable exceptions, mainstream schools in most countries remain insulated from the demands of industry, which all too often means they are cut off from rapid evolution in the economy at large. In order for students to be better prepared, schools and companies will have to learn to cooperate more closely than ever before in the formation of the workforce.

Several American companies are already working to close the gap. General Electric and IBM have both opened schools where students can benefit from a focus on math, engineering, and science. Udacity, the online education start-up founded by Stanford professor Sebastian Thrun, delivers certified courses in partnership with companies, giving students an edge over applicants who have undertaken only classroom study. According to The Economist, more than 70 companies, including Microsoft, Verizon, and

Lockheed Martin – all struggling to find innovative and tech-savvy skilled employees – are working on similar models with schools.

Schools thinking of collaborating with industry naturally think of internships. But for secondary-school students in particular, this approach can be problematic. Opportunities for placing young interns are rare, because they lack the skills and knowledge companies want. And companies are reluctant to have teenagers in their offices for many other reasons. (For example, in Singapore, no one under 18 years old may sign a non-disclosure agreement.)

Those secondary-school students who do manage to get an internship often find the experience unrewarding; instead of learning anything of value, they are often relegated to making photocopies and performing other menial tasks. Meanwhile, university admissions committees know that internships are not productive experiences, and therefore do not give interns precedence over other applicants.

Externships offer students a better way to acquire skills, because students are given an opportunity to help a company solve a real-world problem from the classroom. Examples include tackling innovation challenges related to delivering services in different markets,

developing technology apps to optimize operations and cut costs, and producing prototypes for new products.

In many ways, externships are a close cousin of the apprenticeship programs that are common in secondary schools in Europe. What makes them different are the students’ requirements: less technical knowledge and greater emphasis on foundational skills like entrepreneurship, leadership, communication, and the basics of technology.

One solution is to create programs that allow secondary-school students to tackle innovation challenges for companies without leaving their classrooms. Rather than working on-site at the company, students learn the skills to solve the tasks with their teachers and present their ideas to companies at formal meetings. Companies can oversee students for as little as six hours per externship.

Externships can last from one to four months, and they follow a three-stage learning path. At the first stage, students try to solve the challenges faced by small or medium-size companies (SMEs). Then they grapple with difficulties troubling Fortune 500 companies. Finally, they work on identifying problems themselves,

The case for externships

The case... page 28

As Europe’s refugee crisis continues to evolve, offers of assistance have come from some unexpected places. Interventions by governments, civil-society groups, and aid organizations have been complemented by a broad-based response from the business community. This mobilization highlights not only the role that the private sector can play in managing migration, but also the importance of extending this engagement beyond the response to the immediate crisis.

Contributions have been made by companies large and small. Shop owners have provided refugees with free food and clothing, and local transport firms have helped people move across borders. On the corporate level, FedEx, JPMorgan Chase, and Google have all made direct contributions of more than USD one million to humanitarian organizations. American Express and Daimler are matching their employees’ donations, Western Union is offering ten cents per transaction made by consumers in the European Union, and Norwegian Air has raised money through inflight collections.

Meanwhile, the Bayern Munich Football Club has opened a training camp for refugees, and Siemens has launched a traineeship program in Germany for asylum-seekers.

On the web, Facebook is connecting asylum-seekers with members of their diaspora, as well as citizens who want to help, and a program called “Refugees Welcome” is helping refugees find vacant rooms in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Greece, Sweden, and the Netherlands. In France, an Amazon wish list has been established to allow people to purchase goods for refugees (portable fuel packs and warm boots are the items most in demand).

The private sector’s response to the refugee crisis has helped efforts to address it in three important ways. For starters, the business community has generally proved faster and more flexible than governments. On the whole, the private sector is not encumbered by political constraints or bureaucracy that can impede government action. And many companies are organized to move quickly in response to market opportunities – or in this case a humanitarian emergency.

Second, the business community has filled a gap in the response that the public sector risked overlooking. The international community has been focused on immediate humanitarian relief –rightly so. But the current crisis also has an economic component: in many cases, it represents a business

opportunity, as new arrivals offer their talents and knowledge to forward-thinking firms. As a result, it is not just corporate social-responsibility departments that are driving companies’ response.

Finally, the business community’s reaction has underscored the long-term advantages of migration, something that politicians in fear of (or in thrall to) xenophobic currents have struggled to accomplish. The private sector’s enthusiastic involvement helps make the case for the bright side of the refugee influx: it can help close Europe’s demographic deficit, plug gaps in its labor market, and supply a cohort of young workers and taxpayers for the future.

But while the private sector’s involvement is to be applauded, its impact will be limited if it is not extended beyond the current emergency. Like governments, the business community rallied in a meaningful fashion only after large numbers of refugees began arriving on European shores. The private sector must not overlook the role it can play in helping to stabilize and support economic growth in the countries from which refugees flee.

A migration agenda for the private sector

A migration... page 28


The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |21OPINION +

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Industrial quantities of research, analysis, and debate have been

devoted to the causes of the 2008 crisis and its consequences; so it seems odd

that senior central bankers are still so sharply divided on the central issue of

financial stability, writes

Howard Davies

Very soon after the magnitude of the 2008 financial crisis became clear, a lively debate began about whether central banks and regulators could – and should – have done more to head it off. The traditional view, notably shared by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, is that any attempt to prick financial bubbles in advance is doomed to failure. The most central banks can do is to clean up the mess.

Bubble-pricking may indeed choke off growth unnecessarily – and at high social cost. But there is a counter-argument. Economists at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) have maintained that the costs of the crisis were so large, and the cleanup so long, that we should surely now look for ways to act pre-emptively when we again see a dangerous build-up of liquidity and credit.

Hence the fierce (albeit arcane and polite) dispute between the two sides at the International Monetary Fund’s recent meeting in Lima, Peru. For the literary-minded, it was reminiscent of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Gulliver finds himself caught in a war between two tribes, one of which believes that a boiled egg should always be opened at the narrow end, while the other is fervent in its view that a spoon fits better into the bigger, rounded end.

It is fair to say that the debate has moved on a little since 2008. Most important, macroprudential regulation

has been added to policymakers’ toolkit: simply put, it makes sense to vary banks’ capital requirements according to the financial cycle. When credit expansion is rapid, it may be appropriate to increase banks’ capital requirements as a hedge against the heightened risk of a subsequent contraction. This increase would be above what microprudential supervision – assessing the risks to individual institutions – might dictate. In this way, the new Basel rules allow for requiring banks to maintain a so-called countercyclical buffer of extra capital.

But if the idea of the countercyclical buffer is now generally accepted, what of the “nuclear option” to prick a bubble: Is it justifiable to increase interest rates in response to a credit boom, even though the inflation rate might still be below target? And should central banks be given a specific financial-stability objective, separate from an inflation target?

Jaime Caruana, the General Manager of the BIS, and a former Governor of the Bank of Spain, answers yes to both questions. In Lima, he argued that the so-called “separation principle,” whereby monetary and financial stability are addressed differently and tasked to separate agencies, no longer makes sense.

The two sets of policies are, of course, bound to interact; but Caruana argues that it is wrong to say that we know

too little about financial instability to be able to act in a preemptive way. We know as much about bubbles as we do about inflation, Caruana argues, and central banks’ need to move interest rates for reasons other than the short-term control of consumer-price trends should be explicitly recognized.

At the Lima meeting, the traditionalist counterview came from Benoît Cœuré of the European Central Bank. A central bank, he argued, needs a very simple mandate that allows it to explain its actions clearly and be held accountable for them. So let central banks stick to the separation principle, “which makes our life simple. We do not want a complicated set of objectives.”

For Cœuré, trying to maintain financial stability is in the “too difficult” box. Even macroprudential regulation is of dubious value: supervisors should confine themselves to overseeing individual institutions, leaving macro-level policy to the grownups.

Nemat Shafik, a deputy governor of the Bank of England, tried to position herself between these opposing positions. She proposed relying on three lines of defense against financial instability.

Microprudential regulation, she argued, is the first line of defense: if all banks are lending prudently, the

The trouble with financial bubbles

The trouble... page 32



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24| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999LIVING & THE ARTS

Henok Reta.

On board the light rail

This week the compound of one of the newly inaugurated offices in as busy as ever. The brown-painted building in the Kality area houses the Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit operations center, depot and offices. Both the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system operation and electric power distribution centers are located inside. Unlike many other offices in the country, these offices are co-officiated by Chinese and Ethiopian nationals. One can imagine how difficult it would be as noise erupts from a group of Chinese and Ethiopians entering a calm office in a prolonged conversation about an operational matter. They all look busy, making sure the operation is going on well.

“We are coping with a difficult working environment,” one local employee says.

Apart from the language barrier, both Ethiopians and Chinese employees face the huge gap in culture and mannerisms and that to some extent seem to be affecting their working relationships. Nevertheless, they work in a coordinated manner as this is one of the highly anticipated projects the country. Currently, they are taking

maximum care to make sure that it all runs smoothly.

Angassa Negassa, 50, resides in Bhere Tsige, Saris, one of the most inconvenient parts of the city for public transportation. He has suffered a lot in the past because he was hardly able to catch the city bus or a minibus taxi by the time he left home for work. Since the beginning of October, he has started using the Addis Ababa LRT, the first LRT in Sub Saharan Africa, which aims to significantly ease the transportation issues in the Africa’s diplomatic capital, Addis Ababa.

“I am enjoying it. I see it as something much more important than anything else for people like me,” he says.

Last Thursday morning, he stepped up on the concrete stairs at the Stadium B terminal and waited for exactly two minutes to catch the light train that starts from Menelik II Square and proceeds to Autobus Tera, Abinet, Lideta, Mexico, Legahar, Stadium, Meshualekia, Riche, Lancha, Temengia Yaz, Nifas Silk 1&2, Saris and finally makes it’s last stop at Kality. This

16km path of the LRT public transport has been seen as a relief for the tens of thousands of the residents who have come aboard regularly ever since it commenced partial operations about a month ago.

The buzz of the much-awaited and much-anticipated Addis Ababa LRis still fresh amongst the residents. The train is usually filled to capacity, and at times there is hardly enough room to stretch. Still, many of the residents have not yet tested it; millions dream of coming from outside of the city in pursuit of this special experience. Some seasoned citizens associate it with the start of the Anbessa City Bus, which started operation in the capital as a share company in 1942. Particularly for those who are upset with the service of the blue and white minibus taxis, the launch of the LRT transport is a dream come true.

“It’s just been the beginning of modernity for me. There has been no harassment and entanglements so far,” Angassa says, explaining why the arrival of the LRT matters in the daily lives of millions of Addis Ababans.

Addis Ababans have been using sub-Saharan Africa’s first LRT for about a month now


The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |251, 2015 LIVING & THE ARTS

On board... page 38

Awoke Mulu

According to residents who spoke with The Reporter, perhaps because the LRT is not functioning at its full capacity, the city’s transport problem does not seem to be eased that much. There are still long queues for the blue and white minibus taxis in all corners of the city. Moreover, the blue public service buses are deployed to support the city buses and midi-buses operating in the public transport sector.

Contrary to the buses, the LRT does not seem to be facing the challenge of a high flow of passengers, particularly in the daytime. However, according to Awoke Mulu, head of the public relations department of the Addis Ababa LRTT, the number of passengers is high as the figure displays between 50,000-60,000 per day. However, people might choose other transport vehicles as the LRT is not functioning at its full capacity.

“We have found out reservation among the public related to LRT’s slow speed and high fares,” he says.

He argues that the concern over safety is inappropriate because the month-long service has so far not seen a single accident. Nevertheless, people like Bezunesh Demissie and Meskerem are yet to try out the LRT because of the potential risk.

“I haven’t heard about anything that’s gone wrong, but I scared of it enough that I’m late to trying out,” Bezunesh, 65, says.

In fact, the operation has been going well except for a single near-accident that has kept people away from the tramway. A couple of weeks ago, a public transport bus broke into the protective fence of the railway, stopping an inch from hitting a train that was passing by.

“It was a real threat that has made us more alert to the fact that automobiles and other external factors can cause problems to our operation,” Awoke says.

According to him, the LRT operation is intensely monitored by the Addis Ababa Police, the Addis Ababa Traffic Bureau and the National Intelligence and Security Service in order to curb any casualties. As a result, transit police are assigned inside and outside the train to insure safety.

“They have been very supportive of us, especially in the nighttime,” Shewit Gebreab, a train hostess, says.

According to her, some passengers often cause intractable behavior inside the train. “Maybe because they are drunk,” she says. On the other hand, a few others attempt to get on the train with inflammable goods such as benzene and other inadmissible goods.

“I think the police have to always stay here because the crew can’t handle, especially at night,” she says, explaining that the night shift is unfavorable for the train crew.

According to Shewit, she and her friends have experienced very dangerous moments such as when a crowd of passengers tried to forcibly enter the train without showing their tickets and a couple of hostesses were pushed out of the train. A two-shift duty for a hostess can be as long as eight hours. Their responsibilities includes guiding passengers to their seats and to maintain a proper queue before and after passengers are on board on the

train.

“It’s a somewhat tough job—beyond my initial

expectations—but I’m doing it without

complaint because this is something we

need to have at this time,” she says.

Despite the ecstasy-like buzz

towards the LRT public transport,

there have been some other non-fatal incidents observed over the month. According to an eye witness,

a mother was separated from

her six year-old child who entered

the train quickly, snatching his hands from his mother’s. She

fell down and cried out bitterly because she thought

she lost her child. But as much as people worry about the LRT,

people like Letay Woldekidan, prefer riding LRT to using automobiles. She told The Reporter that she often parks her automobile at home so that she can use the light train because she finds it comfortable and an easy way to escape the many traffic congestions.

“I used it overseas while visiting my children, so I’m really happy to see it here,” she says.

As the 16km railway public transport is making its way to expansion to the East-West part of the city, the train that is currently running seems to be easy and safe. Residents go up and down


26| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999GALLARY

Beach partyOn October 23 and 24, 2015 Ethiopia’s only beach festival took place for the second time at Simbo Beach Resort Langano, 195kms south from Addis Ababa. The event was organized by Diageo in collaboration with Blue Media PLC. More than 2000 people attended the festival. The famous band, Jano, and renowned DJs from Addis performed at the event. Photo Reporter/Nahom Tesfaye.


The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |27SOCIETY

By Henok Reta

Before Fatuma Seid demonstrates the feeding of porridge made of sorghum to her child in front of a public gathered in Kombolcha town, Amhara Regional State, she was already selected by health extension workers in the South Wollo region as one of the model mothers who want to have a positive impact on the future of their children.

A mother of three and a housewife, Fatuma has been struggling to find the right food formula for her children. Her children have been fed different types of food, but nevertheless, they can never escape the stunting. Now, she has realized that the nutritional value of the food she offers her children really matters. Having been trained by the health extension workers in the South Wollo region, she has been feeding her children food that contains vitamins, proteins, minerals and carbohydrates.

Until the non-governmental organization Concern Ethiopia introduced Desta, a micronutrient product and a supplementary nutrient, many of those model mothers had no idea about what it is. The cooperation between Concern Ethiopia, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Bahir Dar University, brought to fruition Desta (meaning “joy” in English). According to Endalamaw Belay, North Ethiopia office head of Concern Ethiopia, the realization of Desta is an answer to major concerns for the children in the region who suffer due to the highest level of stunting cases in Ethiopia, at both the national and regional level. He estimated the 2011 stunting rate of the region to be 52 percent of the nationwide rate; almost half of the figure was registered in the Wollo region.

“This is quite the irony that the leading food producers are the most malnourished people,” he said. According to him, the Amhara Regional State accounts for 30 percent of food production in the country.

This project aims to curb stunting and infant death by reducing anemia. It intends to reach out to 60,000-90,000 children in the 11 woredas in Amhara and Tigray, which are the most vulnerable regions to stunting.

“We are paving the way for future micronutrient production and supplementary food production for children,” Alem Adera, country representative of GAIN said.

The efforts of GAIN have already been impacting the country’s food preparation and eating culture. “In Ethiopia, the reality in poor nutrition stretches from the poorest households to the rich ones,” he said. Explaining his argument Alem, states that the rich eat beef with injera daily while the poor have shiro (a stew made primarily with powdered chickpea or broad bean) with injera.

Despite the promising economic growth in the country, nutrition is still a problem that needs to be tackled, according to Tilahun Teka (Prof.), project manager at GAIN. He said that the traditional food fed to infants and children in Ethiopia is a deep-rooted problem and so, GAIN and other

organizations struggled to come up

with Desta. According to him, before

creating Desta, high-scale research was

conducted in the region.

“We carried out a landmark research to find out what holds back children from complete growth and finally we made Desta,” Seifu Hagos, researcher and nutritionist at Addis Ababa University School of public health said.

Desta will be distributing for free in those 11 woredas as a pilot project before possible expansion throughout the country.

The introduction of Desta is expected to provide a lot to mothers and their children and it is anticipated to curb stunting. In fact, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Ethiopia’s performance in reducing stunting is impressive and it is on the right track towards reducing stunting and anemia.

“Ethiopia is close to be on the track for reducing anemia and stunting, while many African countries of sub Saharan Africa are off track on that,” Lawrence Haddad senior research fellow of IFPRI said at the launching of the 2014 Global Nutrition Report for Ethiopia.

According to the report, with significant improvement in nutrition, infant mortality has declined from 90/1000 live births in 2000 to 47/1000 in 2013. Under five mortality is also declined from 146/1000 to 68 in the stated period.

Ethiopia has high levels of commitment to reduce malnutrition, as indicated by its membership of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement and the government meeting its Nutrition For Growth (N4G) pledges, the report said.

The country has wide geographic and direct coverage of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) treatment at 80 percent, and only two countries with stunting rates as high as Ethiopia have faster rates of decline in stunting, it said.

But there are challenges, nutrition-specific interventions, such as exclusive breastfeeding rates, are low, as are underlying determinants of malnutrition, particularly female secondary education rates.

“Desta” for complete growth of children

Fatuma feeding her child porriage after adding the new micronutreint product--Desta.



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CONT`D FROM PAGE 20 The case...A migration...forming teams, and competing in international venues.

Learning to communicate the process by which students arrive at their solutions is central to any externship. Students must be able to make proposals to company leaders and learn to accept failure and criticism productively.

Externships lie precisely at the intersection of play and rigor, which is where innovation thrives. For SMEs, externships provide much-needed creative manpower. For larger companies, they are avenues for corporate citizenship and innovation.

When properly integrated into a student’s education, externships can provide the competitive edge on college application essays and at campus or alumni interviews, which admissions committees increasingly use to distinguish twenty-first century leaders from the competing hordes of top-scoring test-takers. Externships offer transparency and accountability

for educators and imbue a spirit of fearlessness in students.

Our education system can no longer afford to wall itself off from the world of industry. Its goal should be to cultivate the kind of students that the organizational theorist John Seely Brown calls “entrepreneurial learners.” By helping companies solve their real-world problems, students can prepare themselves to meet the challenges of the future.

Ed.’s Note: Ayesha Khanna is Co-Founder and CEO of The Keys Academy. The article was provided to The Reporter by Project Syndicate: the world’s pre-eminent source of original op-ed commentaries. Project Syndicate provides incisive perspectives on our changing world by those who are shaping its politics, economics, science, and culture. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter.

Furthermore, there are far more Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey than in Europe, and many of the innovative responses now emerging in Europe would have a greater impact (and larger returns on investment) if they were concentrated where most refugees reside.

Above all, businesses must ensure that their current efforts are sustained into the future. The programs companies have put in place will bear long-term fruit only if they are seen through to the end. Firms must prepare for the decline in public goodwill that is likely to occur as efforts to integrate the newcomers hit inevitable obstacles. Local spikes in unemployment, temporary pressure on education and health services, incidents of criminality, and hints of radicalization could spark a backlash in the media and among shareholders. Business leaders must help keep a clear, public focus on the long-term benefits of immigration through statements,

media engagement, and direct lobbying of government officials.

The lesson from Europe’s refugee crisis is clear: all aspects of migration are better managed when businesses, civil society, and governments work together. As the crisis continues to unfold, sustaining and deepening this cooperation – in Europe and elsewhere – will be both a challenge and an historic opportunity.

Ed.’s Note: Khalid Koser is Executive Director at the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. The article was provided to The Reporter by Project Syndicate: the world’s pre-eminent source of original op-ed commentaries. Project Syndicate provides incisive perspectives on our changing world by those who are shaping its politics, economics, science, and culture. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter.

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CONT`D FROM PAGE 19Partnering...As I said, Africa is an important partner to our region. There is an immense potential in the continent

If UAE companies show interest to come and invest in the renewable energy sector will your government assist them in providing financing?

I think investment companies usually

have their own financing. All the UAE companies operate on a commercial basis. The UAE market is a free market economy. The government does not interfere in that market. We encourage investment. We have legislation to protect UAE investments. We have agreements with other governments to protect UAE investments. We also have

agreements to avoid double taxation with many governments. There is a strong trade relation between UAE and Ethiopia. There is an opportunity to strengthen the trade and investment relation not only in the energy but also in other sectors.

Do you have any final statement?

As I said earlier this is my first visit to Ethiopia. I am enjoying my stay in

Addis Ababa. I am very impressed by the progress the country is making. I am impressed by the on going construction projects in Addis Ababa. I am also impressed by the hospitality of the people. I understand that Ethiopia is not only an investment destination but it is also a tourist destination. So I am sure that I will come back to Ethiopia not only for business trip but I will also come as a tourist.




30| The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015 Vol. XX No. 999#REPORTERBOOK

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Meme count soars as US spy runaway #blimp crashes to ground

#FreeBacon topic sizzles on social media after WHO meat report

#Blimp

It was an event made for meming: an unmanned expensive army surveillance blimp inexplicably going rogue over the United States

on Wednesday.

Within minutes of the craft, which carries the catchy name Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), breaking loose in Maryland dragging cable as it drifted over Pennsylvania, tweets were flying and heads were being photoshopped onto the dirigible.

The blimp reportedly disturbed power lines. Two F 16 fighter jets were summoned to track the 74-meter helium-filled balloon before it came to rest near Moreland Township, Pa with authorities aiming to recover the multi-million dollar sensor technology aboard the JLENS rather than shoot it down.

The airborne radar has the ambitious objective of giving early warnings of low-flying missiles and planes. The 17-year program has cost the Pentagon around USD

2.7 billion, according to a recent feature in the Los Angeles Times.

In the short time it drew an audience, the blimp saga trended on Twitter. Have a look at some of the funny memes…

Bacon lovers took to social media on Tuesday to express disdain over a World Health Organization report that said processed meat is likely to cause cancer.

The hashtags #FreeBacon, #Bacongeddon and #JeSuisBacon were among the top-trending topics worldwide on Twitter for a second straight day.

Celebrities, politicians and ordinary consumers were reacting to Monday’s announcement by the WHO that eating processed meats including hot dogs, sausages and bacon can cause colorectal cancer

in humans, and that red meat is also a likely cause of the disease.

The review by WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also said there was some link between the consumption of red meat and pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. The IARC examined some 800 studies during a meeting of 22 health experts earlier this month.

An analysis of social media sentiment by Thomson Reuters found that social media participants were not happy about the WHO review.

Negative tweets outnumbered positive ones by a ratio of nearly 7 to 1 on Monday and 6.5 to 1 on Tuesday, according to the analysis tool that tracks and aggregates positive, neutral and negative tweets with hashtags #cancer and #bacon in order to generate a sentiment score. (Reuters)



Science claims Snapchat makes us happier than Facebook

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with improved search features

A study has found that Snapchat use can make us feel happier than Facebook. The University of Michigan study found that only face-to-face interaction is more rewarding than Snapchat.

Researcher Joseph Bayer and his team recruited 154 college students with smartphones and used “experience sampling” to assess their

wellbeing by texting them at random times six times a day for two weeks.

They found that interactions on Snapchat were rated as significantly more positive than on Facebook, but on the flip side they are viewed as less supportive. If you’re looking for emotional support, you’re better off texting, calling, speaking to someone face-to-face, or even using Twitter.

It was also found that “self-presentational” concerns are reduced. Users are less likely to overly fret about their appearance because the message has a pretty short lifespan. Bayer wrote, “Since Facebook has become a space for sharing crafted big moments such as babies, graduations and birthdays, Snapchat seems to provide users with a distinct space for sharing the small moments.”

Interestingly, participants found that Snapchat is similar to face-to-face interactions because it is less carefully presented and less extravagant than posts on other forms of social media. We’re looking at you, Instagram.

So, that’s all good news if you’re an avid Snapper. (Irish Examiner)

The social network is updating its search features to make posts easier to find. The update is beginning to roll out to Facebook’s website and iOS and Android apps now, the company says.

Once live, Facebook users will see three major improvements in search: personalized search suggestions, the ability to search

posts shared publicly or by friends and the ability to search for what people are saying about specific topics.

Previously, entering a search term would turn up results for pages, people, groups, events, apps or trending topics. Now, when you begin a search, Facebook will surface personalized suggestions to help you find exactly what you’re looking for. Search will also highlight topics that are currently popular, to make it easier to follow topics in real-time. Additionally, individual Facebook posts are now surfaced

in search results. You can also use search to gauge what others are saying about popular topics and viral posts.

Facebook notes that search results will respect your existing privacy settings and won’t show anything that wasn’t already available to friends. That said, the new search features will make your posts a lot easier for others to find, so if you’re concerned about privacy, it can’t hurt to revisit your current settings, or change who can see posts you’ve previously shared. (Mashable)

#EthInIndia



CONT`D FROM PAGE 14Somalia’s... Politicization ... CONT`D FROM PAGE 14

CONT`D FROM PAGE 21

The trouble ...

Fishing in Somali waters must not be allowed to remain a free-for-all, where far-flung foreign fleets exploit the ecosystem in unsustainable ways. I call upon the international community to collaborate with my government to ensure that IUU fishing in Somali waters is stopped for good.

Doing so would improve maritime security and promote a vibrant domestic fishing industry that benefits and helps sustain all Somalis. A sustainable, dynamic fishing industry would help us build a more stable and prosperous Somalia. Given our country’s great

potential and its strategic location, that is an outcome that everyone should be willing to support.

Ed.’s Note: Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is the President of Somalia. The article was provided to The Reporter by Project Syndicate: the world’s pre-eminent source of original op-ed commentaries. Project Syndicate provides incisive perspectives on our changing world by those who are shaping its politics, economics, science, and culture. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter.

declared in May 2012. The Federal Government of Australia had provided USD 4.5 billion in drought assistance. According to the United States Drought Monitor, parts of California and other states of Western US are facing extreme and exceptional drought conditions.

Regarding the current Ethiopian drought, the biggest question is, could Ethiopia feed its citizens by its own capacity in case of drought or disaster and is the country able to ensure fair distribution of produced staple food across a country like the US and Australia? The answer is a big yes! What proves the assertion of the government’s on food self sufficiency is, Ethiopia was able to feed its people from its reserve food. In addition the fact that donors being able to borrow food from the national food reserve show that there is sufficient food production in other parts of the country. Hence, the allegations thrown at the agricultural policy suffer from lack of right information or emanate from deliberate distortion.

Since the outbreak of the El Niño-caused drought in the country, the government has been striving to save the lives of citizens and livestock. National Disaster Prevention Committee was immediately formed. The committee chaired and led by Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen allocated more than four billion birr to provide emergency support to drought affected areas. The committee is also working to distribute millions of metric tons of food and cooking oil to drought victims in Afar and Somali regional states and north-eastern parts and other areas. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources is undertaking a coordinated and integrated distribution of feed to save livestock in the areas where there is shortage of animal feed due to climate change that caused shortage of rainfall. Similarly, the government has been working with international stakeholders to solve the problem and to bring about a long-lasting solution to prevent drought.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn also paid a visit to drought affected areas and held deep discussion with the society at grassroot level. The Prime Minister said that the Ethiopian government has the potential to rescue its citizens from El Niño caused drought. He also promised the community that his administration will provide all the necessary support. The PM’s visit to drought affected areas and the National Disaster Prevention Committee’s wide range of activities show us that the government has given foremost attention and prime focus to save citizens livelihood and mitigate drought.

Ethiopia has been working in a coordinated manner to put the El Niño-caused drought under control. It’s unnecessary and groundless to politicize El Niño, which is a natural phenomena, and discredit the gains made in ensuring food self-sufficiency. It is also important to note that Ethiopia is at the forefront on the global arena to address climate change adversities such as El Niño. Its massive soil and water conservation works is turning areas that were barren to greenery.

Modi... CONT`D FROM PAGE 15

for trade in strategic terms. Africa is demographically Young continent sixty five percent of the population is under the age of thirty five. India and Africa constitute one -third of the world’s population a large majority of them are in their youth. Indeed, India and Africa will have a significant part of the global youth population and according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks; their future will shape the course of this world to a great extent. Therefore, the complementary resources and markets; and, the power of human capital and shared global vision between Africa and India are thought to boost development partnership.

India advocates reforms in global political, economic and security institutions. The country has had a cordial relationship with African nations with most of them supporting New Delhi’s efforts to become a permanent member in an expanded UN Security Council. Africa despite being the largest continent in terms of number of the countries and India, which has one-sixth of the world’s population, still don’t have permanent membership of the UNSC and Modi’s administration need to work together with Africa to remove this anomaly.

India‘s foreign policy interest in Africa displays its manifestation of South- South cooperation. In this regard, India played paramount role in support for African partners in their efforts to accelerate the momentum of their development. This is evident in the outcome of previous India-Africa forum summit which has shown the promise of Indo-African partnership. According to Indian government reports, India’s current trade with Africa is around USD 70 billion dollars and it has granted a whopping USD 7.4 billion for various developmental and capacity building projects in the last four years. The country trade with Africa has ballooned 20 times in the last 15 years and India’s investment in Africa range between USD 30-35 billion. India has implemented a total of 137 projects in 41 African countries during the period. Trade has also benefited from India’s decision in 2008 to offer duty free access to Indian markets to all Least Developed Countries, in the context of the first India-Africa Forum Summit 34 African countries are direct beneficiaries of the scheme. India set up a pan-African e-Network for education

and health purpose which is functional in 48 countries. In training and capacity building program 25,000 scholarships have been provided since the 2nd India Africa-Forum Summit which remains key element to the need of Africa.

India still leads the pack when it comes to most important aspect of education and skill development and has potential of providing health care and is also destination of medical tourism. The country focus development partnership in human resource development and establishment of institutions in Africa, which are, in turn, creating the skills and capacities in Africa, including in areas like agriculture, food processing, textiles, and small industries.

India has sought to make inroads into Africa — not only to continue on human resource development, institution building, infrastructure, clean energy, agriculture, health, education and skill development but also India’s engagements with Africa under Modi’s government came up with broader scope and provide potential new areas for cooperation among other thing incorporates, addressing key challenges of the times, including food, health and environmental security, challenges of climate resilient agriculture and adaptation to climate change, deepening security cooperation on maritime, countering terrorism, and exploring new areas like a sustainable blue economy( economy of the ocean).

While Africa celebrates it’s ‘renaissance’ and narrates the story of ‘Africa Rising’, India’s engagement with Africa could well serve as a crucial springboard to a more intense and mutually beneficial strategic partnership. However, apart from vigorous efforts and a race to harness economic engagements, Africans who strive to build a prosperous and united Africa also have a great deal to learn from India’s consolidated democracy and culture of tolerance.

Ed.’s Note: Miheret Gebremedhin is a graduate in Political Science and International Relations and currently works as an independent researcher on matters related to Africa. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].

chances of collective excesses are lower. But the second line of defense is macroprudential manipulation of capital requirements, to be applied across the board or to selected market segments, such as mortgages. And, if all else fails to achieve financial stability, central banks could change interest rates. Because British law assigns capital regulation and interest-rate policy to two separate committees – with different members – within the Bank of England, the Shafik strategy would require some clever political and bureaucratic maneuvering.

Industrial quantities of research, analysis, and debate have been devoted to the causes of the 2008 crisis and its consequences; so it seems odd that senior central bankers are still so sharply divided on the central issue of financial stability. All those days spent in secret conclave in Basel, drinking through the BIS’s legendary wine cellar, have apparently led to no consensus.

My view is that Caruana had the best of the arguments in Lima, and Cœuré the worst. Sticking to a simple objective in the interests of a quiet life, even if you know it to be imperfect, is an inelegant posture at best. We need our central bankers to make complex decisions and to be able to balance potentially conflicting objectives. We accept that they will not always be right. However, it is surely incumbent on them to learn from the biggest financial meltdown of the last 80 years, rather than to press on, regardless, with policy approaches that so signally failed.

Ed.’s Note: Howard Davies, the first chairman of the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority (1997-2003), is Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The article was provided to The Reporter by Project Syndicate: the world’s pre-eminent source of original op-ed commentaries. Project Syndicate provides incisive perspectives on our changing world by those who are shaping its politics, economics, science, and culture. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter.

Hence, Ethiopians and all concerned bodies should work hand in hand to provide the necessary support to citizens in need. In addition to the immediate support, stakeholders should to come up with scientific researches, innovations and climate resilient strategies to overcome climate shock.

Ed.’s Note: Zekarias Talo Anjulo is a political analyst and researcher in African affiars. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].



By Daniel TeshomeTOUCH &

go

Ed.’s Note: Daniel Teshome is a current affairs commentator for The Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].

No bread, no more law or liberty“How many Gondares live in Gondar?” was a question that gnawed at an inquisitive gubernator in 1930. He could not attend to official business until he had tasked someone with a comprehensive census for Gondar city and its environs. Several surveys had been conducted previously for the purposes of taxation and requisition, but this was to be detailed and comprehensive, arguably one of the first for the country.

A capable clergyman, or rather a clergyman who was deemed capable at first but would turn out to be anything but, was summoned for the task. Like most charges everywhere, past or present, this too did a worthless job. Ordering numerals were abandoned halfway; some residents were listed while others, even prominent ones, were ignored; of those who were listed, only a few were listed with their full names.

There is no mention of age or address except for the general designation - a resident of Gondar. There were some listings for property, but with no apparent order. Some had the type of arms they owned written next to their names while others had their occupations there. One listing is worth a mention: he listed a nun and put down prostitute as her occupation. The Amharic rendering is: Emahoy – Set Adari. (You don’t send this sort to the School of Commerce to work on his technique; you send him to a concentration camp.)

Excepting the literary embellishments, the material facts for the above were gathered from an excerpt – a very truncated one I must say – of the actual document written by historian Bahru Zewde, who had obtained a rare access to the French national archives where the census document is presently located.

Bahru exculpates the clergyman in a brilliant manner. He posits: the Amharic phrase Setegna Adari, which is in wide usage today and means a prostitute, may have had its origins in Set Adari, the actual phrase the clergyman used in his census, but the usage may have been different at that time. Set Adari may have been used in reference to a woman who survives on her own income.

I concede it is a good defense, but it does not explain the things only the man’s sheer incompetence may. It does not explain why he did not adhere to some sort of rule when making entries;

it does not explain his nonchalance when listing names, only first names for some and full names for others. Besides, Set or Setegna Adari, the nuances mean very little to us. As far as we are concerned, Emahoy was a prostitute; more important to our purposes here is the levity a nun-prostitute brings to a dreary discussion about famine.

Upwards of eight million Ethiopians now stand in need of food aid. You can blame this on many factors not the list of which can be can be categorized into: manmade, natural, or both. Before we venture solutions we think may solve this crisis in the short or long terms, we must first establish, there is indeed a crisis.

If one were to take the Machiavellian view that it is better to be feared than to be loved, we would reach the conclusion that the eight millions starving now and however many millions will happen to be starving at some future date, should be allowed to starve. The logic is simple really. A starving people are a dependent people; and a dependent people can be depended on to always be fearful for their lives. Ergo, it is better than not to let the people starve and submit to charity.

If you thought this was horrible, consider the view that personal gain (or utility) should be weighed before any decision is made, before anything is done for anyone. So in fact, according to this Benthamite view, it would be such a marvelous thing if those starving would go ahead and die quickly so that whatever they happen to have owned could be taken over for the utility of the majority. And in Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom, you will find, it is an acceptable consequence of laissez-faire economics to have the poorest segments of society starve.

It was necessary to mention these creeds - the Machiavellian, the Benthamite and the Friedmanite, so that we learn not to take it for granted that starvation is considered a problem by all; there are at least three writers who do not think it is such a bad thing.

The fallacy with these views is, that they cannot be applied universally, that no one would survive if everybody adopted them. While officials can liberate themselves from all responsibilities by adopting these harsh views, those with human feelings, not that they should take it for granted that starvation is inacceptable,

must propose measures.

The immediate solution to starvation is obviously the distribution of food aid. The long-term solution, however, is not so obvious. Notwithstanding, even the short-term solution has a slight Machiavellian tinge about it. Food aid should always be temporary; the safety net programs the government has in place to feed millions, instead of solving the problem once and for all, perpetuate it for eternity. People should never have to depend on charity for survival; charity is control by other means. In the words of Aldous Huxley, the welfare state is a welfare tyranny.

As for long-term solutions, they have to account for the factors that cause the problem in the first place. We already mentioned two general causes for famine: manmade and natural. If we focus on the manmade causes alone, the major ones have to do with the failure of some policy or other. When a society very familiar with food shortage, as Ethiopia is, fails to make provisions for emergencies, it is a failure of policy. When famine occurs more than once in a country’s history, unpreparedness is a serious policy failure, only less serious than the egregious failure to predict a policy failure.

When policies are thought up by one man and implemented by millions with no or little deliberation, the possibility of predicting that policy’s failures is well-nigh impossible. Take Ethiopia’s policy on land. Public ownership, not private, is countenanced by the law. (The actual words used in the constitution stipulate ownership by the State and the peoples of Ethiopia. But we must disregard this as a State separate from the people, as is signified by the phrasing, is not consistent with a system the same document alleges is democratic.)

In contravention of the principle of public ownership, vast expanses of fertile territory are cleared of their inhabitants and leased to foreign governments and their companies. The official reason given is that such land concessions would attract foreign investment which would introduce new capital and new work methods into the country. These claims would have been very reasonable had those foreign producers sold their produce on the Ethiopian market. If that were the case, leasing land to them would have increased food production by putting hitherto unproductive or minimally productive plots under intense mechanized cultivation. It would have

been the last we hear of food shortage.

But, foreigners cannot be coerced to sell their produce locally as that would quickly move them to divest themselves of all their holdings. After all, they came to make profit. If we benefited in the process, it is fine by them. But they would never suffer us at their peril. Therefore, the Ethiopian government gets the short end of the stick every time it leases huge plots at meager sums; it is left with eroded topsoil and a starving people, not to mention thousands of illegally uprooted farmers and their families.

It was only a generation ago that collectivized farming was deemed the way of the future. However, the greatest minds failed to solve the best way to manage such collectives. Collectivized or not, the future is definitely with mechanized agriculture. Tentatively, we can establish a smart policy of not conceding anything without commensurate gain. If the government were to apply this when leasing agricultural land, it would at least consider if it would not gain more in the long run by leaving land fallow for future cultivation instead of having it exploited cheaply by foreigners.

Ethiopians are a warlike people; they never tire of making their bravery or martial virtues known. How about being brave enough to replace half the jets, tanks and armored personnel carriers we can ill afford with tractors? Even if the government desists from diverting resources from state security or other expensive bureaucratic functions that keep it in power, there is more than enough potential in Ethiopia, financial or otherwise, to exploit natural resources responsibly for the benefit of all the people.

During the Terror of the French Revolution, Jacques Roux, a clergyman more meticulous than that Gondare and one of those rarities – a priest who is actually good for something – said, “The people must have bread; for when there is no bread, there is no more law, and no more liberty.”



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Bits PiecesBy Leyou Tameru

&

Ed.’s Note: Leyou Tameru is a graduate of Georgetown and Addis Ababa University Law schools, specializing in International Legal Studies. Born and raised in Addis Ababa, she seeks to understand

the impact of economic, political and social issues on everyday lives. She can be reached at @anchihoye

CONT`D FROM PAGE 25

@anchihoye

On board...

Whenever you attend an event that discusses Africa, whether business or politics focused, there is a topic that will consistently come up: the youth! With close to 200 million population aged 15 to 24, Africa literally is the youngest continent in the world. This number is expected to double by 2045. This topic is gaining so much attention just last week when Ethiopia’s government segmented the ministry of youth, women and children into two different ministries, that of youth and sports and women and children. The Ethiopian Prime Minister stated that the youth Ministry is an important one as it covers more than half of the country’s population. This move is not uncommon, many African countries have a ministry dedicated to youth.

This past week there have been two very similar happenings at opposite ends of the continent: student protests in Egypt and South Africa. The protest in Egypt was by hundreds of high school students from multiple governorates who took to the streets to show their disagreement with a new regulation put in place by the ministry of education. As a requirement, all high school students that have registered for the final year of high school known as thanaweya amma, have to take a series of complex exams to be able to access tertiary education. The results from this final year will determine who qualifies to attend universities and colleges.

The new regulation establishes an new electronic system which allocates grade marks for attendance and behaviour. According to this new system ten percent of the end-of-year grade will now depend on attendance and behaviour. Due to education conditions in Egypt, many students resort to expensive private lessons and choose to avoid overcrowded and understaffed classes. This year, 531,800 have registered for thanaweya amma. During their protests, students held slogans that said “why do you want us to go to schools that offer no education?”

The protest in South Africa was sparked by an increase of tuition fees at numerous universities by up to 11.5 percent. Students from 18 universities, who were later joined by workers, protested in both Cape Town and Johannesburg before the parliament building. The students released a statement stating that they “will not be complicit in an endorsement of the capitalist agenda of commodification of education and any oppressions which seek to denigrate our being”.

The result of both these protests is a direct communication between these students and high ranking government officials. In Egypt, the Prime Minister froze the new grading policy. In South Africa the President not only froze the tuition increase, he decreased tuitions by six percent.

As I was reading about these protests I could not help but notice the similarities between these protest. The age group of the protesters fits into the 15 to 24 group that is quickly growing in the continent. Both groups had poignant slogans, they had a very strong presence online either on Facebook as in Egypt, or Twitter in South Africa. At some point, there was a message circulating asking for people to donate airtime, i.e. phone credit, to the students so that they can keep updating their progress on social media.

Could this be just a small preview of how things will be in the coming years as the number of age group increases throughout the years? One thing is for sure, from Cape to Cairo, Africa’s youth will either speak or shout, act peacefully or violently. The method they will choose to engage in depends of course on how much attention governments will give to the issues particular to them. Whatever the youth decide, we can be sure that we will be able to follow up on social media as the protests will be shared online.

The protest will be shared online

the overpass concrete railway, the ticket-shops are busy and the police closely watch the passengers so they do not cross the railway tracks.

Nonetheless, there seems to be a lot more work ahead in regards to proper safety application. Commentators state that the high rate of traffic accidents might exacerbate railway accidents warning that the tramway has its own inevitable risks. They point out that by the time its low scale operation increases in the near future, more awareness and safety packages have to be introduced to the public. The multimillion-dollar investment (hugely invested by the Chinese) will handed over to the local railway team in 41 months and some observers fear that period might become more difficult for both the operators and the passengers. Awoke, however, responds that the transition period will be uneventful as all trainees are working hard to grasp the necessary knowledge from their Chinese counterparts, who earn high salaries that the country should have put into other developments.

“We are ready to takeover from the Chinese in two—maximum three months,” Adane Woldeyohannes, a trainee conductor, says.

Though the majority grow confident that the railway will bring about several advantages such as punctuality, healthy living status and better socio-economic networks, others still have a more negative view. Citing some of the negative consequences experienced by countries which undertook LRT, these individuals list down factors such as increase in noise levels, loss of wetlands, adverse impact of historic sites, gentrification and risk of displacement as real dangers.

Nonetheless, they are not refusing to accept the visible benefits it holds for citizens beyond its modern and convenient means of transportation. Attributing to the American Public Transit Association (APTA), each person riding rail transit versus driving an automobile for one year reduces hydrocarbon emissions by 9 pounds, nitrogen oxide emissions by 5 pounds, and carbon monoxide emissions

by 62.5 pounds. This argument seems to be substantial for physicians as well and they want to draw public attention towards the health impact of the railway system.

According to Solomon Hailu (MD), the LRT may bring about change that can impact the urban lifestyle which include, timeliness, and introduction to an effective business operations.

“No doubt researches have shown that light electric train produces less carbon monoxide emission per mile more than one automobile does,” he says.

In spite of all this, the LRT may have a negative effect on the environment if it keeps on using paper tickets; even passengers request for Proof of Payment (POP) to avoid pollution from paper.

All in all, the LRT’s month-long operation has been impressive for many passengers and no accidents have occurred so far. The blue and green street cars roll over the railway tracks and stop at every light found in less than a kilometer with the current maximum speed being 40km per hour.

to cater emergency medical treatments aboard an aircraft have been installed on the plane. Stretcher, oxygen and a number of other medical equipment are installed in the aircraft. “A medical service equipment system has been installed in the aircraft starting from the cockpit to the cabin. This is very crucial for a patient who is under intensive care. The medical equipment meet international standards. They are the latest products available in the international market today. Now we can easily fly a patient in critical condition from point A to B anywhere in Ethiopia and neighboring countries.”

East African Aviation has hired a physician licensed by the US Federal Aviation Administration. The aircraft can carry a patient, doctor and caretaker. “The aircraft has highly functional and durable air ambulance equipment that exceeds all stringent aviation regulations. The aircraft has been inspected and approved by the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority,” Mulat said.

Mulat said the King350 convertible aircraft can land and take off on gravel, asphalt and concrete run way. “We selected this aircraft because it is comfortable. It can land and take off on a short field runway in domestic airports and it can cruise at an altitude of 35,000 feet at 300 knots (300 nautical miles per hour).”

Mulat said now East African Aviation has become the first company in Ethiopia to own and operate an air ambulance aircraft. “We can bring a patient from all the regional states

to Addis Ababa. We can fly a patient from Addis Ababa to Dubai, Addis Ababa to Jeddah, Addis Ababa to Nairobi or from Addis Ababa to South Africa via Lusaka.”

The air ambulance aircraft will soon be operational. Mulat hopes to provide the service to international aid organizations, travel agencies, VIPs, mining and construction companies who operate in remote parts of Ethiopia. “We will operate in Sudan and Djibouti.”

Mulat also extended his gratitude to Dashen Bank for the cooperation rendered.

According to Mulat, there was no air ambulance service in Ethiopia. Usually it was from South Africa or Kenya that air ambulance aircraft was called. “Any aircraft can take a patient. But if you do not have the required medical equipment the patient may die abroad the aircraft. Though Ethiopia has the highest concentration of diplomats in Africa there is no aircraft which is fit to provide air ambulance service. And there were very sad incidents where patients died waiting for an air ambulance aircraft coming from Kenya or South Africa. We also had difficulty in transporting a VIP person for an emergency medical treatment abroad. This has prompted me to bring a modern air ambulance aircraft,” Mulat told The Reporter.

Securing landing permit from the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority is a challenge. “Now you have a local company with a modern air ambulance aircraft at your disposal with a short notice.”

East African... East African Aviation is already holding talks with travel agencies in Sudan and Djibouti. It is also planning to avail the service in Ethiopia in collaboration with local insurance companies. “We want to make the service affordable to Ethiopians. We will have a membership insurance scheme where members will be flown by the air ambulance aircraft in case of emergency. We are currently working on this with local insurance companies.”

East African Aviation has finalized preparations to start providing regular charter flight service. It is in the process to bring another King Air350 aircraft for charter flights. For the time being the air ambulance aircraft can be converted to a regular passenger aircraft to provide charter flight service.

It has also established a private pilot training school in Addis Ababa near the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. The flight school became operational four month ago and it currently has nine cadets from Ethiopia and other African countries. Twenty more students are coming from an African country soon,” Mulat said.

The flight school has two Cessna172 trainer aircraft and full flight simulator. East African Aviation Flight School and Charter Flight Service are licensed by the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority.

Mulat is a seasoned pilot who served Ethiopian Airlines for 39 years. In his flight log book he has accumulated 27,000 hours. He commanded various aircraft starting from an old DC3 to the state-of-the-art Boeing787 Dreamliner.

CONT`D FROM PAGE 4



US officeBox

C r o s s w o r d

Your Zodiacs (astrology-online.com)

Ku

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ents

ACROSS1.Nebraska city 6. Itemize 10. Units of electric current 14. Mexican currency 15. Reflected sound waves 16. Source of worry or attention 17. Latin for “Bear” 18. A shrill, weak sound 19. Temporary state of mind 20. Appealing to the senses 22. Turn aside suddenly 24. Flightless birds 25. More clamorous 26. Member of the Society of Friends 29. Reclined 30. Exhort 31. Carried or supported 37. Pertaining to Mt. Ida in Crete 39. Hearing organ 40. Not fresh 41. Resolute 44. Song of praise or joy 45. Disposes 46. Black Sea city 48. Roman governors 52. Smell

53. Unfulfilled obligation 54. Merely a framework 58. Lyric writer 59. New Zealand hardwood tree 61. Jeweler’s magnifying glass 62. Biblical paradise 63. At a distance 64. Latin for “Golden” 65. Siberian river 66. Collections 67. Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic

DOWN

1. A creative work2. Small circular lake or pond3. Association (abbrev.)4. Routine tasks in a home5. Undertake6. Constellation of the southern hemisphere7. Becomes coated with frozen water8. Third person female9. Surface layer of soil10. Highest points of attainment11. Aboriginals of New Zealand12. Establish in truth or validity

13. Passover dinner 21. 1st person plural possessive23. Breezes25. Formerly “Pleasant Island”26. Brief witty remark27. A Hindustani language28. Food thickener29. Units of bread32. Pays attention33. Of an intangible nature34. Narrow beams of radiation35. Decidous shade trees36. A Persian goddess38. Heart artery 42. Ranges of rugged mountains43. Mineral deposit47. Unit of currency48. Collar extension on jackets49. Wear away50. Color of money51. Sicilian volcano52. Approves54. Immediately55. Sod56. Gorillas or chimps57. Shakespearean king60. Wonder

SPO

T TH

E D

IFFE

REN

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Can you spot the 12 differences between the two pictures? Solution Solution

1 The Martian

2 Goosebumps

3 Bridge of Spies

4 The Last Witch Hunter

5 Hotel Transylvania 2

6 Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

7 Steve Jobs

8 Crimson Peak

9 The Intern

10 Sicario

LEISURE

Aries

This week’s events will become a starting point for personal & professional successes. It may cause your to re-think your long term plans a little. Don’t panic. Your determination to succeed may become your greatest asset. Enjoy quiet time to re-fresh your energy & get back to the little joys of life that make you happy. It’s a good

for example .This week lucky numbers are: 93, 36, 30, 32, 96

Taurus

A slowing of pace of life will help you to relax spending time with family & friends. Shell you slow down and all your goals will clearly

on the ground. Don’t be afraid to devote your time to mate, you’ll get more as a result. Personal relationships will start to take a positive turn. Simple things are what make you feel happy. Focus your energy on helping others and you will clearly realize the importance of possessing friends, family. This week lucky numbers are: 85, 4, 56, 74, 72

Gemini

Plan to use your newly found energy to devote it to the most important

will increase greatly. Allow others to help you achieve success in new areas of life. Favorable week for travel, romantic or attending formal functions. Use the quiet time to re-think your direction. When confronted with hurdles, you’ll tend to leap higher than you expect to. This week lucky numbers are: 47, 90, 23, 65, 14

Cancer

The week for you to recollect and sort out all your immotions.You can’t continue to wear your emotions on your sleeve. Recent chain of events needs to be treated honestly. You’ll feel pulled in many different directions. Express your feelings, let the handcuffs fall. Show the strength you possess but use your sense of humour to get your point of view across. This week lucky numbers are: 94, 36, 31, 12, 53

Leo Don’t let circumstances take control under your actions. Avoid unreasoned decisions. Once you’ve thought it out, start to act. Show your leadership but avoid overly aggressive behavior. You’ll make great strides in achieving personal success, this week. You may need to re-evaluate your priorities. This week lucky numbers are: 22, 87, 96, 43, 76

Virgo

You may wish to grow in your learning and experience but power

patience and you’ll build the base for your future projects. Deep understanding of the world, combined with patience may inhibit your deeper understandings. Use your diplomacy and you’ll avoid

that excites you. This week lucky numbers are: 59, 71, 36, 6, 45

Libra

or colleagues will help you to get more organized. It is also time to make some changes in your house. You will probably feel like you’d like to change furniture or change the color of the walls.It can bring a new wave in your life. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to develop professional skills.It may be a good time to begin new projects or even a new career direction. The doors are opened! Solid

This week lucky numbers are: 37, 6, 2, 40, 14

Scorpio

It’s your merit -all this accounts and cash money and you do need to have some fun from time to time. You can spend for the fun of it, as long as you remain truthful to yourself. You need to be motivated by your own passion not by someone else’s desires for you. You must be in charge of your own feelings. An older family member may ask for some help.This week lucky numbers are: 19, 56, 34, 1, 76

Sagittarius

Busiess partners may tend to depend on you too much. Be more

for you. It’s a good week to back off from the old routine and pay more attention to your personal life . There is a problem with a close relationship appears on horizon . Keep your line of communication positive & upbeat. You may need to re-evaluate your mutual priorities in order to resolve your differences.


Capricorn

There’s certainly more in your pockets than you ever expected. It is time for you to build further plans.Some problems with the dear people are possible, but don’t panic! Everyone will calm down by

have to do is to concentrate on your business , clear your calendar early in the week, drop a few projects and then go out and play.


Aquarius

It’s not your style to ask for permission but you may need the support of higher-ups to get to where you want to be. Show your leadership but avoid overly aggressive behavior. The world is not all black or white. There are innumerable shades of gray in between. You’re ready to either conquer the world or rip somebody’s head off, perhaps both. Find a good way to utilize the passion you feel.


Pisces It won’t matter that you have the right answer if you express it in the

get you the recognition that you’ve worked hard to earn. You need to be carried about or you need someone to carry about. Don’t be afraid to take the steps necessary to feel happier with your life.Family life can also be really exciting.


Hey Goshu! Your son is charged with impersonation.

Kuncho! Impersonating someone? Who?

Well, the teacher thinks that he signed your name under his report card.

What? Why on earth would she think that? Hey! Kuncho! Who signed your report card this semester anyways?

Well dad, technically you did. Remember when I asked if you could write your name in the last blackout and you said let me try…



ENTERTAINMENT IN BRIEF

The Pan-African Workshop for Professional Media Production, a joint initiative of UNESCO and the Blue Nile Film and Television Academy with the support of the African Union, was launched at the turn of the week at the Alliance Ethio-Française here in Addis Ababa.

The Workshop, which will last for one month from October 19-November 13, 2015, aims to build the capacity of Ethiopian and other African Media Professionals in photojournalism, documentary film making, and feature writing in order to encourage positive representations of the African continent and ensure local content and local voices are put forward on the international stage.

In the framework of promoting international exchange and the International Decade For People of African Descent (2015-2024) declared by the United Nations, the workshop has brought 11 trainers, many of them Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award winning journalists and leaders in the journalism field from the African Diaspora, to Ethiopia for a month long training intensive in these three fields.

Kenyan director Seydou Mukali and actor Lowery Adhiambo posed for interview having screened the acclaimed “Veve” at Goethe Institut Addis Ababa last Tuesday.

VEVE is a slang word for what is internationally known as khat or miraa. VEVE follows the lives of multiple characters trying to find themselves in a world of political intrigue, revenge, love and longings for success complemented by the background of the thriving yet unregulated veve business.

Amos is an unscrupulous local politician in the Kenyan region of Maua, where the drug khat is farmed, known in the local slang as “veve”. Amos, too, is involved in the lucrative business and tries by all means to supplant a competition.

The film portrays a world of corruption and social injustice. And the fields of veve also have an unpleasant surprise in store: the farmers have organized themselves to force Amos to give them a fair priceThe film was made within the scope of Tom Tykwer’s initiative One Fine Day Films.

Workshop on professional media

production at Alliance Ethio-Française

Director Seydou Mukali posed for

interview at Goethe Institut

independent quality verification system or body, both of which are non-existent at the moment.

In fact, the suppliers go as far as suggesting a standardized independent trading system like Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) to salvage the sector. “It builds confidence; both the supplier and tanner would have no problem agreeing on a quality of the skin they are transacting,” Birhanu says.

Imbalance

Apart from the quality, adequate supply of raw hides and skins as well has been a bone of contention for both tanneries and leather goods producers in Ethiopia. An interesting fact here is that the huge imbalance between soaking capacity and domestic supply of raw hide and skin has always been in the neighborhood of 1:2. And this is so by design.

According to Birkinesh, the installed capacity of tanneries has always been double when compared to the the local slaughter houses’ capacity. For this to change either the local meat demand has to change significantly or the leather export sector should be strong enough to attract increasing slaughter of livestock, she further explains. But, she never denies that this might take time.

“Meanwhile, the local tannery sector should for one be curtailed from competition from the international raw hide and skin buyers in the form of imposing steep export tax (150 percent on pickle, wet blue and crust) and while still retaining the right to import the same with duty-free privileges to fill the remaining gap,” she told The Reporter in an exclusive interview. The consequence of this imbalance is a severe shortage of raw hide and skin that tanneries have to go through every day.

In fact, the average capacity utilization of an Ethiopia tannery currently stood

at 50 to 60 percent at best. However, some estimate say this number can go as far down as 20 percent at times.

Here is another fact; so far, local tanneries are significantly reliant on the domestic supply of raw hides and skins. Both Yigzaw and Birknesh admits that the local tannery sector has not yet resorted to imports to fill the purported gap; or nor did they fully exhaust the local raw hide and skin potential.

There are diverse views as to why the tanneries are not operating at higher soaking capacity at the moment. For Yigzaw, it is all about the global market trends and the demand of the domestic finished leather producing sub sector. He says the two are possible market outlets and when the market potential at the global stages show slowing down tanners cannot be expected to carry excess raw material to which they cannot find market. Similarly, the demand of the local finished leather goods sub-sector is not that big to enable close to 50 tanneries in the country to operate at full potential.

As far as Birkinesh is concerned, it is all about the type of export market that these companies are in. if they are in better paying export markets the factories would have the chance to exhaust the domestic resources and go for the relatively expensive imported raw materials. And for this, they need to upgrade their production technology, she argues.

The contradiction

In a completely different scenario, the local suppliers, modern abattoirs and slaughter houses are indicating another side to this standard narrative. That is, the domestic raw hide and skins sector is in fact in danger for the lack of adequate absorption and fair price for its products.

According to Birhanu, there is an increasing number of raw hide and skins stocked in the regional collectors

CONT`D FROM PAGE 11Contradiction...and suppliers in recent times. “There is huge amount of raw hide and skin in rural areas stored and waiting for market,” Birhanu confirms.

As much as it is a perplexing one, the story also makes complete sense when one considers the seasonal nature of the production of raw hides and skins in Ethiopia. On average, there are about seven or eight religious and cultural holidays in Ethiopia where animal slaughter peaks. Added to that is the highly perishable nature of hides and skins which has to be processed not later than 4 hours from slaughtering and cannot be stored more 3 or 4 months even in cooler weather condition.

Hence, the seasonal production requires smoothing out the yearly demand of tanners and processors. While at the same time, suppliers and traders have to get rid of the excessive stock in their hands for the lack of any alternative markets apart from the local tanners, as result of the policy of curtailing local export of semi process leather and also the lack of preservative technology that can elongate storage time.

This is where it gets tricky; these conditions forced the actors of the raw hide and skin market to develop a perpetual system of credit sales. According to Birhanu, this is a standard practice between the suppliers and tanners as the tanneries cannot absorb all the supply of raw hide and skin at once and suppliers would be forced to sell on credit. “We prefer that they take the products in credit than not taking it all; we have no alternative outlet,” he further elucidates.

Eventually, this system started to backfire as long time payment arrears started to cripple working capital of supplier and collector by extension.

This problem blew over when owners and operators of export abattoirs started to feel the pinch. Abebaw Mekonen, secretary general of Ethiopian Meat Producers-Exporters Association, told The Reporter that at present the sector has reached a point where they cannot continue without settling the claims that his association members has on the tannery industry, which by his account

reaches 20 million birr.

As far as Yigzaw is concerned, the so-called payment issues are solvable by the proclamation which requires the transaction raw hides and skins to be conducted via formal contractual agreements.

This proposition is rejected by both Abebaw and Birhanu; in fact they say contracts would have the said effect if tanneries did not have the monopoly power in the market. Abebaw asks, “Contracts lead to legal accountability, but when the liable party is the one and the only one which buys your product what kind of legal arbitration could one seek?”

As far as the meat sector is concerned, we have lodged our complaints to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and LIDI months ago and are waiting for the response, Abebaw told The Reporter.

For the supplier, thinking off alternative storage technologies at the disposal of the skin traders is a direction that is worth exploring for the government. “For instance, elsewhere, conversion of the raw hide and skin into pickle or even wet blue is not processing anymore but just preservation; maybe we should do that,” he argues.

But, the leather institute looks to be one institution which is fully aware of this inherent contradictions and conflicts of interest in the leather value-chain. Birkinesh recognizes the need to reconcile all this for the sector to progress well and meet its target. By way of solution, she says, the newly formed, Ethiopian Industrial Inputs Development Enterprise, could help in bridging this gap and reconcile between the various participants in leather supply chain. It could do this by actively buying, storing and processing raw hides and skins from the local suppliers where the tanneries are not; and by importing when the local market cannot live up to the demand. Yet again, she admits it would take time for this institution, which has just been incorporated, to get there.



Becoming a senior fellow of TED talk, Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero featured at TED Talk. While sharing her experience and career for junior fellows Meklit spoke about how everyday sounds (nature, language and silence) inspire her creativity.

“As a singer/songwriter people often ask me about my influences or as I call them my sonic lineages,” says the Ethiopian American artist. “And I could easily tell you that I was shaped with the Jazz and Hip-Hop that I grew up with, by the Ethiopian heritage of my ancestors, or by the 1980s pop on my childhood radio stations, but there is another genre. How do the sounds that we hear everyday influence the music that we make?”

Born in Ethiopia, from Ethiopian parents, she feels deeply African and deeply American and her records are deeply inspired by Mulatu Astatke, the Godfather of Ethio-Jazz. Her work builds upon the concepts pioneered by Astatke as part of the late 60s and early 70s Golden Age of Ethiopian music. (Tadias)

Growing up in Sweden Teddy Goitom and Senay Berhe, self-taught Ethiopian filmmakers, have longed to diversify the creative scene in the West and to share the voices of musicians, fashion designers and artists from Africa and the African Diaspora.

The two filmmakers have traveled to 10 African countries with Ethiopia as their first stop releasing five documentary episodes last year featuring the work of “visual artists, filmmakers, fashion designers, and cultural activists” from six African countries namely, Angola, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast.

This year the two filmmakers were presenting their work in Barcelona, Spain when they received an invitation for a one year residency at the New Museum’s incubator (New Inc.) in New York City to further develop their new platform, which is dubbed Afripedia. They describe their project as “a documentary series about the creative forces reshaping the image of Africa and told by African visionary artists who are pushing the boundaries of visual self-expression.” (Tadias)

Meklit Hadero featured at TED TalkEthiopian filmmakers develop creative

hub for fellow Africans

Bedlu said this came after following the consultative meeting with stakeholders and the public mobilization wings held earlier this week at Ethiopia Hotel.

“Among the three garages that the enterprise owns, currently only the one located at its headquarters is in a relatively better condition. The remaining two, which are located in Mekanissa and Shegole, were built about forty or fifty years ago and are somehow the causes for the damages and defects of the buses. And now, due to the financial support from the World Bank, all the garages will be repaired to the required standard.” Bedlu told The Reporter.

Regarding the implementation of the project, Bedlu explained, “The project is enlisted and based on the project the finance is facilitated. And now the consultancy and preparation of the Terms of Reference (ToR) will be conducted right after the items are purchased and then construction will be commenced.”

Concerning the plan to apply the electronic billing system (e-ticketing), the general manager stated, “The enterprise assessed the market to make the billing system electronic. However,

during the assessment, the enterprise allotted only a little amount of money when the price in the market was so high. Additionally, the provision of the tickets should be sustainable, which was not included in the assessment. But now, with the assistance from the World Bank, we are preparing to implement it in the near future.”

Regarding the complaints from some individuals about the advertisements plastered on the buses, the general manager insisted that they do care about the brand of the bus. However, he also stated that the money earned from advertisements is good and that the advertisements are here to stay.

“For instance, if we look at the revenue generated from advertisement last year, it was around nine million birr, which covers the annual budget to purchase tires for the buses.”

The first public transport service to arrive in Addis Ababa, the Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise was established in 1942 with five military vehicles, 40 Italian workers and 80 Ethiopian trainees, and with only five routes. Now, the enterprise owns 814 buses and last year, it transported 185 million passengers.

WB... CONT`D FROM PAGE 5

every stakeholder. Hence, one of the primary setbacks appeared to be proper alignment to stakeholders and cutting down misunderstandings and weak-links to properly envisage the scope and magnitude of the transformation agenda.

Furthermore, some gaps in capacity building, a primary objective of the establishments of the ATA, which is building capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, was also said to be another difficulty for the success of the transformation agenda.

Wondirad Mandefro, State Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said on his part that the progress report reveals more promising situation than anything; and said that the gaps should serve as an ingredients for the agency in GTP II. Having appreciated the success story, he also acknowledged the shortcoming in the first four years of the agency and the transformation agenda.

The thematic areas which the report indicated to be “on track” and/or “delayed” include policies, strategies and regulations, structures, processes, and systems in addition to the introduction of innovative ideas, capacity building, and direct engagement with smallholder farmers. The most significant delay occurred in the capacity building category with 18 percent while the least significant delays occurred in the direct engagement with smallholders.

Speaking about the general theme of the report, Khalid underlined the key involvement the agency had in the making of the transformation agenda. “We are liable to supporting the prioritization process put in place by the ministry and the stakeholders,” he said. According to him, the transformation Ethiopia’s subsistence farming sector should be undertaken carefully as opposed to quick turn to commercial and large scale farming.

Khalid also warned against this speed transformation process citing the experience of some of the developing countries, which ended up in disturbing

their agricultural sector trying to transition to commercial agriculture. He pointed out that sound progress has been seen in the agriculture sector since the agency was established in 2011. This four year report includes major achievements in introducing new initiatives such as EthioSiS, (soil mapping), Agricultural Input Voucher System, Interactive Voice Response and SMS systems to impact the sector.

While hailing the success of his government’s policy, Wondirad reacted to question of food insecurity, drought and traditional farming. “Keep in mind that we have not said that country is food secured; but merely stated that we have increased food production to feed ourselves,” he replied. Furthermore, he downplayed the failure stories of drought and poor water management system in the regions such as Afar, Somali, Gambella and Benisghangul Gumuz ensuring the public that no more problems will arise since the government placed safety-net programs to support the marginalized pastoralist communities in addition to working on sustainable irrigation programs to reduce impact of the disaster.

ATA... CONT`D FROM PAGE 5

representative office in Addis Ababa said in its press release sent to The Reporter.

In the area of dealing with construction permits, Ethiopia ranks 73rd worldwide, according to the press statement.

“On the remaining indicators Ethiopia has substantial room for improvement,” the press statement emphasized.

For instance, in starting a business Ethiopia ranked 176th out of 189 countries and almost 20 days are required to form a small business in Ethiopia. With regard to registering property indicator, Ethiopia ranked 141st and requires an average of 52 days. In the other two indicators, getting credit and trading across

borders (export), Ethiopia is the worst performer ranking 167th and 166th.

Nonetheless, Qaiser Khan, acting country representative of WB to Ethiopia, believes that Ethiopia has been improving in ease of doing business compared to its status ten years ago.

“For instance, 12 years ago, it took a local entrepreneur 47 days to start a business in Addis Ababa. Now it takes only 19 days. Yet, the regulatory burdens of cost, procedures and paid in minimum capital requirements surpass the regional average, which means there is still work to be done,” he said in the statement.

The shining super star in African

Ethiopia shows... CONT`D FROM PAGE 5this year is Rwanda. In its cumulative ranking Rwanda moved up the Doing business ladder to become 62nd in the global ranking. What is more surprising is the Rwanda surpassed some of the previous performers in Africa and also came ahead of countries like China, Brazil and Qatar. Rwanda is also one of the few nations in African which have been registering impressive economic growth in past few years. On the top of that, the country is also dubbed a nation where higher dollar value for aid money is registered across the globe.

However, the report also indicates that although reforming in the areas measured by Doing Business is important, doing so is not enough to guarantee sound economic policies or to ensure economic growth or development.



CONT`D FROM PAGE 1KFC to...suppliers in Ethiopia. “They are very serious about Ethiopian market,” he said. If everything goes well KFC will be the first global food chain to enter the Ethiopian market.

The number of restaurants that KFC is going to open in Addis Ababa is not yet known. However, the company would open its doors in Addis Ababa next year. It will also branch out in the regional states in the coming years, if everything goes as planned.

Owned by Yum! Brands Inc, KFC fast-food chain has over 18,000 outlets in 120 countries across the world. KFC operates in 13 sub-Saharan African countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. South Africa and Nigeria are the largest markets in the region. In South Africa alone KFC has 700 restaurants. Yum! Brands Inc has its sub-Saharan regional office in South Africa.

KFC entered Ugandan market two years ago and now it operates ten restaurants in Kampala. It recently started operation in Tanzania and it runs several outlets in Kenya. “Now it is coming to Ethiopia. The company is expanding its portfolio in Africa,” a source said.

Last year Yum’s regional manager for Africa, Bruce Layzell, said that with a population of 90 million Ethiopia is attractive. “We don’t want to go to a country where we can only build four or five restaurants, because that will not deliver anyone success. We want to go in and build 50 to 100 outlets; our business is a scale game,” Layzell stated.

The company that has annual revenue of three billion dollars has a strong position in China. The KFC chain receives half of its revenue from China, where it operates in more than 4,000 outlets. KFC was one of the first fast food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets in England, Mexico and Jamaica by the mid-1960s.

KFC specializes in fried chicken and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. Other products include chicken sandwiches, Wraps, French fries, Soft drinks, Salads, Desserts and Breakfast.

Founded by Colonel Harland D. Sanders in 1930, it is the world’s second largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald’s

supply consumptions. Adding that the existing costs are deterring investments in the energy sector, Azeb said that, at least, a break-even or nine cents per kWh rate is the least expected tariff to be introduced. In addition to that, Azeb said that the existing tariffs have impacted and weakened negotiation powers of the government in light of approaching multinational power companies.

Bewildered by the announcement, industry leaders like Fassil Tadesse, president of the Textile Industries Association and board member of the African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF), were cynical. Fassil confronted Azeb, saying that the tariff change was only supposed to be applied only on electric power export. However, Azeb has firmly underscored that the tariff increase is applicable across the broad.

Fassil contended that industries could incur hefty running costs and the tariff would further affect the export competitiveness of the textile sector. He told The Reporter that they were pushing the government to withdraw these plans, but that seems unlikely to succeed. But Azeb assured Fassil that adjustments and balancing mechanisms have been considered, though she did not elaborate what all that means.

Back in 2013, the African Development Bank (AfDB) posted an article with the headline “The high cost of electricity generation in Africa”. The article stated that one of the reasons for obstacles in the power sector are increasing electricity generation capacity in an environment where there are high costs of production. To meet consumption demands, governments in Africa are forced to subsidize electricity supplies.

In the case of Ethiopia, following the

government’s recent invitations for multinational companies to take part in the energy generation and transmission activities, a handful of firms are flocking in. In addition to Reykjavik Geothermal, which is currently working to develop USD four billion worth of geothermal power, the likes of General Electric (GE), Black Rhino and some 14 others are joining the government’s activities.

Black Rhino Group, a portfolio company of Black Stone in the US, has been involved in the oil pipeline project, which runs about 550km from Djibouti to the Awash area in the eastern part of Ethiopia. Both parties signed a framework agreement for project financing a year-and-a-half ago, but according to Black Rhino official decisive issues will be routed in the coming six months’ time. In addition to that, Black Rhino is negotiating a way for them to take part in the hydropower generation activities.

That said, Black Rhino and Reykjavik Geothermal have tabled their issues, demanding the government to address the energy sector. Shilesh Muralidhara, senior developer at the Black Rhino Group, made it public that the government has to address issues of payments and the risks in the exchange rate change for large projects; and that it should standardize agreements and the like. Gudmundur Thoroddsson, CEO of Reykjavik Geothermal, said that the bureaucratic red tape, financing and incentive packages for the geothermal sector are some of the issues the government needs to fix. Azeb admitted that tax issues, regulations and the like are some of the areas where Ethiopia is fails to curb problems and where it is unable to be on par with competition in the region.

CONT`D FROM PAGE 150% increase...

stated.

The killings were “an organized military operation that could not have been successful without concerted efforts from various actors in the military and government circles,” the report stated.

“Roadblocks or checkpoints were established all around Juba and house-to-house searches were undertaken by security forces. During this operation male Nuers were targeted, identified, killed on the spot or gathered in one place and killed.”

The government of South Sudan has dismissed the report as “nothing but statement from individuals who want to put the government in loggerhead with the communities”.

Riek Machar has been urging the AU to release the report but the

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rebel camp is yet to issue a public statement regarding the findings of the commission.

The AU’s Peace and Security Council mandated a commission of inquiry in South Sudan at a meeting held in Banjul, Gambia on December 30, 2013 to investigate human rights abuses and other abuses in the conflict.

The commission began work in March 2014, and released its report on Tuesday after talking to witnesses and officials and visiting scenes of alleged crimes.

The United Nations estimates more than 2.2 million people have been displaced and South Sudan has faced food shortages and disease in conjunction with the violence.

Kiir and Machar signed a peace agreement in August but fighting continues. At least seven ceasefires have been agreed and broken since the conflict started, nearly one in five South Sudanese displaced by the current conflict, from the total population of 12 million. The country has been at war for 42 of past 60 years.

supreme court reaches a decision after hearing arguments from both sides.

The Ethiopian born British national is currently on death row convicted of terrorism charges and has remained in detention since his extradition from Yemen in July 2014. The whereabouts and manner of his detention remains a subject of controversy.

Andargachew was expected to appear in public for the first time since his arrest when the high court ordered the Addis Ababa Prison Administration to present the convict on July 20. The court’s ruling followed a petition by defendants in a separate terrorism trial who listed Andargachew, whom they allegedly met in Eritrea, as their defense witness.

However, Andargachew’s appearance was further postponed with err in addressing the first summons cited as a reason. The convict was also a no show in two subsequent hearings. And last week, the prison administration, in a letter addressed to the high court at Lidetta, disclosed that Andargachew is not under their custody.

Some of the defendants remain adamant that Andargachew should appear before court to testify. On Monday, two of the defendants – Dehnahun Beza and Mindaye Tilahun – have asked the

court to enquire the whereabouts of Andargachew from the Anti-Terrorism Taskforce, the Prime Minister and the British Embassy in Ethiopia.

The arrest of Andargachew has created tension in relations between Ethiopia and UK with the latter expressing concern over the handling of the case of their national and his treatment in prison.

Last week, BuzzFeed News UK reported on the British national after “seeing a redacted copy of notes written by UK ambassador Greg Dorey of his meeting with Andargachew at Kality prison on 15 October”.

Andargachew has told the ambassador that his status in Kality Prison was odd, “since he had no ‘warrant number’ (i.e. prisoner number), so he was ‘not even in the system’, BuzzFeed News reported.

Tsige also told the ambassador he was sleeping in a small cell with three other people, had not been outside the prison at any point, his wish to be buried in England and that he was occasionally being visited by his 90-year-old father and his stepmother, it reported.

The Federal High Court at Lideta will reconvene on Tuesday.

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subscribers is expected to reach some 100 million. In addition to that, the internet speed is expected to reach some 1.5 terabytes per second as opposed to the existing 37 megabytes per second. However, the penetration rate of mobile in Ethiopia is 24 percent, which, according to Ericsson, is very low when compared to the population size.

Ericsson forecasts that Ethiopia is experiencing a 10 percent surge in smartphones penetration, which, according to Ibrahim contributes a one

percent growth in the GDP.

The relationship Ericsson established with Ethiopia dates back to 120 years when the first Ericsson made equipment was employed to connect telephone calls from Addis Ababa to Djibouti, Ibrahim recalled. Prior to the current involvement in the mega telecom projects, it was Ericsson which installed the first national telecom infrastructure in Ethiopia until it left the country due to disagreements with the government.

Ericsson... CONT`D FROM PAGE 3


The Reporter, Saturday, October 31, 2015Vol. XX No. 999 |43THE REPORTER SPORT

The Reporter: You have already achieved some success in your early football career. But what motivated you to become a footballer?

Loza Abera: I have always had a big dream of becoming a footballer since childhood but I never thought that I will reach to the level I am right now. We were allowed to focus only on our education in the community I grew up. I used to focus more on my academic life. But I was drawn to football thanks to the sports fields in my neighborhood. But the love I have for football is the main reason. I also believe God has a plan for me.

What was your feeling when you first joined the Women Premier League?

Before joining the league, I had spent very good years gaining good experience at Hawassa City FC. I learned a lot from my teammates and my couches. But it was my biggest success when I joined Dedebit FC. I felt very excited when I came to Addis. I also knew I will face many challenges because of the competition. There were many who were better than me. I knew that I should exert more effort in training to be fit. I bear in mind the advices I got from my former couches and teammates.

Besides the premier league, you are now playing for U20 Ethiopian women national team. How does it feel to represent your country at such a young age?

I felt very happy when I was recruited for the national team. While playing at the youth project, I used to watch on TV when the national team played in international tournaments. In 2011, I was selected for Lucy Tesfa, a junior women national team. But I could not join the main national team because I was at a tender age. I was so happy, though, to be selected for the junior team because it was my dream to join the national team. After coach Seyoum Ababe took over the national team, I seized the chance to be selected again and was included in the best eleven. When you play for the national team, you shoulder a big responsibility because you are representing your nation and there is nothing more

exciting than that.

You have played in international tournaments after joining the U20 women team. How would you describe these participations in term of gaining experience?

We have acquired many experiences from those participations. Every national team possesses their own quality. Those qualities help us on to

work hard. We also learn a lot from them during matches. For instance, when we played against Cameroon on the first match and then with Burkina Faso, it wasn’t the same. You will learn a lot in time. We have come well and improved from match to match.

You now find yourself in fine form both for the national team and your club. What is your next goal?

I want to do a lot in the future. I am aware that too much is expected from me now. I want to be a professional player joining foreign leagues. Then I am ambitious to contribute more for the national team. I am hopeful that God will help me in these dreams I have.

It is often said that it is difficult for women to succeed in football in Ethiopia. What was your experience and the challenges you faced?

I am very grateful to my parents for being supportive. Women were not given due attention in football back in that time. I also want to thank my couches who paved the way for me to participant in youth projects. They are all part of my success. I do not think there was a big challenge I faced through my journey. Everything went according to my plans.

The U20 national team was recently awarded cash prizes by the Ethiopian Football Federation and you have also been awarded 18,000 birr. What differences do you think that would make?

The prize will definitely encourage us to work hard because we made this within this short period of time and our efforts were recognized. So it a good incentive and I am pleased about it. I want to thank the federation.

Off the field, you are studying to become a health officer. How do you maintain the balance between your football career and academic path?

I am in my second year studying to become a health officer. I’m willing to make sacrifices for my education just like I have made some sacrifices for football. I want to succeed in both. That is why I properly make my schedules for both.

The U20 Women national team faces a tough away task of qualifying for the World Cup after the 2-2 draw in Addis Ababa against Ghana. What outcome should we expect?

We have got a long way to go. We are work very hard in trainings and come away with a good result. I believe all of my teammates share the same belief as I do. I look forward to winning Ghana and qualify for the World Cup.

The promising goal prodigy She was the only female player in the town of Durame of Southern Region State when she started playing football at the age of just six. Her love for football grew with her as she took part in school teams and gained two years training in a youth project. The highlight of her early football career came four years ago when she was named best female player during the All Ethiopian Games held in Adama City in which she scored seven goals representing SNNP region. In 2012, she started her club football for Hawassa City, where she also received her secondary education, before moving on to join Dedebit FC two years later. Whatever the competition, Loza Abera, 19, puts her name into the top goal scorers’ chart. She is currently the top goal scorer in the U20 Women World Cup Qualifiers with six goals. Dawit Tolesa of The Reporter sat down with Loza for this exclusive coverage. Excerpts:



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