Ethiopia : News
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Differing outcomes of food aid in Africa and AsiaThis paper analyses the outcomes of food aid and food security in India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Zambia. The research shows that there are large differences in the effectiveness of food aid in reducing long term dependence on food aid in Asia as compared to Africa. The study lists the following as some of factors influencing the differences in outcomes in the two regions: per capital GDP; population size; differences in terms of growth and poverty outcomes over time. The paper makes the following conclusions (eldis.org)
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Ethiopia should investigate allegations that local officials are keeping food aid from opposition members to force them to join the ruling party ahead of national elections, a British aid minister said on Tuesday.
(Topix.net)In Brief: Twenty cities most vulnerable to storm surges, sea level rises
DAKAR Thursday, October 01, 2009 (IRIN) - According to (yet another) new climate change report, this time from development think-tank CGD, these are the 20 cities where the most people will be at the greatest risk from sea level rise and storm surges in the developing world. (irinnews.org)
U.S. to Increase Inspections of Food Aid to Ethiopia
The U.S. will increase inspections of food aid deliveries to Ethiopians after complaints by members of the countrya s opposition that its members are routinely denied access to foreign aid, a U.S. State Department official said.
(Topix.net)Ethiopian famine: bad government, not bad weather
A familiar story of looming famine is filtering out of East Africa. Again, a World Summit on Food Security this week is addressing the symptoms but not the causes.
(Topix.net)Ethiopia Denies Involvement in Capture of Oil-Rich Region
The Ethiopian government has dismissed claims by Ogaden rebels to have captured seven towns in the oil rich Somali region located in south eastern of Ethiopia. (AllAfrica)
UK Grants 4 Billion Birr Aid to Country, Political Arena a Concern - Minister
The UK Government announced a four billion birr grant aid to Ethiopia to support the provision of basic services, social protection and humanitarian assistance, Minister of State for International Development, Gareth Thomas, said on Tuesday at the premises of the UK Embassy here. (AllAfrica)
ETHIOPIA-SOMALIA: Rising numbers of illegal immigrants enter Somaliland
HARGEISA Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Immigration officials in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have expressed concern over the increase in the number of illegal Ethiopian migrants entering the region, with claims that up to 90 people are arriving daily, against 50 in 2008. (irinnews.org)
AFRICA: Climate change could worsen displacement - UN
KAMPALA Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - With increasing natural disasters, including floods, storms and droughts, hitting the continent, more people in Africa are likely to be displaced, creating a challenge for governments, the UN warns. (irinnews.org)
ETHIOPIA: Increased condom use among sex workers but more education needed
ADDIS ABABA Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - With non-skilled jobs in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, paying as little as US$16 per month, the financial incentives to engage in commercial sex work are overwhelming - earning 30 times a domestic worker’s salary. (irinnews.org)
ETHIOPIA: Drought need not mean hunger and destitution - Oxfam
NAIROBI Thursday, October 22, 2009 (IRIN) - With droughts becoming more common, donors and the Ethiopian government must look beyond the traditional "band aid" responses to disasters by using approaches that are more cost-effective, sustainable and better suited to the population, international aid agency Oxfam says in a new report. (irinnews.org)
AFRICA: Talking about forced displacement
KAMPALA Thursday, October 22, 2009 (IRIN) - Civil society and government officials are gathered in the Ugandan capital of Kampala to discuss the Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa and a declaration on refugees, returnees and IDPs. (irinnews.org)
GREATER HORN OF AFRICA: Preparing to mitigate negative impact of El Niño
NAIROBI Monday, October 19, 2009 (IRIN) - As countries across East Africa and the Horn of Africa begin to receive El Niño-related enhanced rainfall, disaster risk reduction experts from 10 countries in the region are meeting in Nairobi to develop strategies for reducing the negative impact of the evolving El Niño phenomenon. (irinnews.org)
'Africa to be hit hardest' by climate change
African demands for climate-change compensation and emission cuts by rich nations are unlikely to be met in next month's Copenhagen summit, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday.
(Topix.net)Oxfam's Agricultural Scaling-Up Program Appropriate, Timely - Moard
Oxfam's Agricultural Scaling-Up Program is as appropriate and timely as it is in line with the current trust of the national development strategy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) disclosed. (AllAfrica)
Museveni Meets Meles Zenawi in Addis
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni and other African leaders yesterday agreed to ask for compensation from the rich industrialised nations during the climate change talks to be held in Copenhagen at the end of the year. (AllAfrica)
Bright Lights, Big City is High Risk for Students
Being a university freshman is an exciting time for any young person, but many students get carried away, partying too hard and taking sexual risks. (AllAfrica)
AFRICA: Shining the spotlight on the displaced
NAIROBI Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Forty years after the rights of Africa’s refugees were enshrined in a landmark convention, the continent’s leaders are due to make legal history again by adopting a new instrument to assist people displaced within the borders of their own country. (irinnews.org)
AFRICA: Africa's IDP situation at a glance
NAIROBI Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Africa hosts at least 11 million of the world's 25 million conflict-affected IDPs. Millions more are displaced annually by natural disasters. (irinnews.org)
AFRICA: Africa's IDPs in numbers
NAIROBI Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Most IDPs in Africa have been forced out of their homes by conflict, either between government forces and armed opponents or between communities. (irinnews.org)
AFRICA: The objectives of the IDP Convention
NAIROBI Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - The objectives of the Convention (irinnews.org)
In Brief: When health facilities become casualties
DAKAR Wednesday, October 14, 2009 (IRIN) - Designed to be safe havens in times of disaster, health facilities are vulnerable to upheaval when catastrophe strikes, according to the UN, which is focusing on hospital safety for International Day for Disaster Reduction. (irinnews.org)
Madagascar: UN Urges Leaders to Hold Elections, Form Govt
The Security Council today welcomed the power-sharing agreement reached by Madagascar's current and former leaders, and urged the political forces to end months of internal strife with the establishment of a new Government.
(Topix.net)Museveni meets Meles Zenawi in Addis
By Vision Reporter PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni and other African leaders yesterday agreed to ask for compensation from the rich industrialised nations during the climate change talks to be held in Copenhagen at the end of the year.
(Topix.net)Western diplomatic indifference in Ethiopia
By Alemayehu G. Mariam
"No alternative in the opposition," they whispered anonymously. What a disgusting phrase to use in justifying support for a ruthless dictatorship? That is apparently the scuttlebutt on Embassy Row in Addis Abeba. Reuters' Barry Malone reported last week, "Most Western governments want Meles to continue because there is no alternative in the opposition. As long as the elections are semi-democratic, they'll probably stay quiet, keep giving aid, hope for liberalisation of the economy and leave full democracy for later." Is this the ultimate proof of the triumph of Western moral relativism, hypocrisy and skullduggery in Ethiopia and Africa? Is this the new 21st Century Western paradigm of moral capitulation and appeasement of evil? Is the West going to a moral hellhole in a hand basket?
We now have a clear answer to a question that had puzzled us for the past two decades: Why do Western governments and their multilateral lending institutions support Zenawi's dictatorship with billions of dollars in loans and foreign aid? Answer: Because "there is no alternative in the opposition!" Why do they turn a blind eye to the gross violations of human rights in Ethiopia? Turn a deaf ear to the bootless cries of the thousands of Ethiopian political prisoners rotting in Zenawi's jail? Pretend to be mute on Birtukan Midekssa's unjust imprisonment? Prop up a regime that ruthlessly decimates its opposition, crushes the free press, chokes civil society organizations, squanders and defalcates foreign aid and loans and lords imperiously over a famine-ravaged country? Why do "most Western governments want Meles to continue?" Answer: "Because there is no alternative in the opposition!"
It is agonizing to finally come face to face with the banality of depraved Western diplomatic indifference in Addis Abeba. It is heartbreaking to learn that Western governments have earnestly resolved to humanize and normalize a brutal regime while preaching to Africans in forked tongue that their dictators are on the wrong side of morality and history. They shed crocodile tears for the victims of African dictators. They comfort the helpless and frightened African masses with sweet words of hope and grand promises of democratic renaissance. Now we have come to find out that the hypocrites are secretly in bed with the very dictators they condemn in public! It must be true that "politics makes for strange bedfellows." (Topix.net)
How Country Can Tackle Famine
A familiar story of looming famine is filtering out of East Africa. (AllAfrica)
Koica Plans to Boost Its Development Assistance
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (COICA) plans to increase the quality and quantity of its development assistance programs in Ethiopia. (AllAfrica)
Centre Stresses Media Sensitivity in Language, Image Use of Disabled
Media sensitivity in the use of language and images of the disabled is of considerable significance to show the dignity and respect this section of the society deserves. Failure to do that would reinforce common myths and discrimination in the society, the Ethiopian Center for Disabilities Development (ECDD) disclosed at a consultative workshop held at MN International Hotel on media strategy to promote the equality of people with disabilities here on Thursday. (AllAfrica)
Moard, Oxfam GB Host National Agriculture Learning Event
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) and Oxfam GB are hosting a National Agriculture learning event from 17-19 November 2009 here in Addis Ababa. (AllAfrica)
Opportunity to Lease Farming Land
Ethiopia is inviting investors to lease three million hectares of agricultural land to increase food productivity and earn foreign exchange. (AllAfrica)
AFRICA: Fighting the "double whammy" of obesity and hunger
BANGKOK Thursday, October 08, 2009 (IRIN) - Africa faces a double burden of obesity and hunger as millions take up increasingly sedentary lives in cities and the global financial crisis hits rural populations’ food security, nutritionists warn. (irinnews.org)