Month: January 2014
- Africa
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns to come to Ethiopia
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will arrive in Ethiopia on a two day visit on January 29-30, a statement from the US department of state announced. During his visit Deputy Secretary Burns “will lead the U.S. delegation to the African Union (AU) Summit,” the statement said. The visit by Deputy Secretary Burns will focus on his meeting meet…
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Peace and Security at the center of AU Executive Council meeting
Mahlet Fasil The 24th ordinary session of the Executive Council of the African Union was opened today with two of Africa’s troubled states, South Sudan and Central African Republic taking the focus of attention. On South Sudan Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Tedros Adnahom called on both parties “to fully implement” the two documents signed last week as pace remained…
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American Hustle: Ready for Real?
Andrew DeCort The Princet on philosopher Harry Frankfurt begins his award-winning book On Bullshit with a judgment as playful as it is serious: “One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.” And even though each of us produces our own share of it, most of us are over-confident in our abilities to…
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AUC Chairperson’s E-mail from the Future
Written to a hypothetical Kwame in the year 2063, the full email is attached below: Date: 24 January 2063 To: Kwame@iamafrican.com From: Nkosazana@cas.gov Subject: African Unity My dear friend Kwame, Greetings to the family and friends, and good health and best wishes for 2063. I write to you from the beautiful Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar, located on Lake Tana,…
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The Decline of upward mobility
NEW YORK – Concern about economic inequality is in the air almost everywhere. The issue is not inequality between countries, which is actually down in recent decades, thanks in large part to higher growth rates and longer lifespans in many emerging countries (especially China and India). Rather, the focus nowadays is on inequality – sometimes called income disparity – within…
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Norway to Co-Chair Human Rights and Democracy Sub Group in Ethiopia with the European Union
Through this role, Norway is actively engaged in human rights and democracy issues in Ethiopia As of November 2013, the European Union has assumed the role as Co-Chair for the Human Rights and Democracy Sub Group in Ethiopia, after the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Norway and EU will Co-Chair the group and regularly bring together…
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Norway gives duty free privilege to Ethiopian exports
Mahlet Fasil The Norwegian government says it would allow trade preferences to Ethiopian export products for unlimited period of time. At a press conference attended by representatives of the two countries, it was mentioned that paramount importance will be given to strengthening the trade and investment relations of the two countries. In 2012, the total trade turnover between the two…
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Rivals sign long awaited South Sudan truce
Mahlet Fasil In what a Norwegian diplomat involved in the negotiations said was “just the first and important of many steps to come” to end the bloody conflict that engulfed the world’s youngest nation South Sudan, representatives of the government and the rebels have signed the cessation of hostilities agreement on Jan. 23rd here in Addis Ababa. Facilitated and supervised…
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Addis Ababa’s ailing state hospitals
Tesfaye Ejigu A city,where the government has built no new hospital for the last 22 years, is struggling with its few outdated and under supplied state run hospitals Around end of October 2013, the online version of Addis Standard published an opinion piece discussing an eight hour power outage and a dysfunctional power generator at Tikur Anbessa (Black Lion) Hospital,…
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The Saudi pain and a call for resignation
Dear Editor, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your team for bringing out to your esteemed readers the suffering of our citizens in the brutal hands of Saudi Arabia’s police forces (Governing by crisis: a labor migration gone terribly wrong, Dec. 2013). Especial recognition for your courage in exposing that “lack of timely and effective…
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