Month: July 2014
- Africa
Exclusive: Are Indian companies “grabbing land” in Ethiopia?
Relations between Ethiopia and India date back to some 2000 years ago and today, according to the Ethiopian Investment Authority, India is the second largest foreign direct investor in Ethiopia. But allegations of land grab by Indian companies, vandalism by local people on an Indian owned farm and a recent accusation by an Ethiopian high-level official against the Indian government…
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Ethiopian jailed in China’s first khat smuggling case
An Ethiopian was sentenced to seven months in jail for trafficking khat to China, marking the first such case in the country, which classed the plant as an illegal drug this year.The verdict was handed down earlier this month by the Intermediate People’s Court of Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province. The defendant, Ibrahim Abdulsemed Abdosh, was also fined…
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The Bowe Bergdahl backlash
President Obama was surprised by the initial technical failures of the Obamacare rollout; he was staggered by Putin’s invasion of Crimea; he was stunned by the scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups; he appears startled at the speed of the ISIS takeover of large swaths of Iraq; he’s been taken aback by the thousands of illegal…
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New Nile Petroleum Company Headquarters in Ethiopia
Nile petroleum Company announced that new headquarters of the company will be inaugurated soon in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The placement of the headquarters for the leading petroleum company indicates that the company is keen on benefiting from the Ethiopian market and marketing its petroleum products in the Horn of Africa. “The idea of opening a branch for…
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Technical Committee on formation of Interim South West State approved
An 18-member Technical Committee on the Formation of Interim South West Administration has been approved at a ceremony held in Mogadishu. The President, Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament r all attended the ceremony along with figures from south western Somali regions. A press release from the office of the Prime Minister said the formation of the technical committee…
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Freedom of expression defines the rise and fall of nations
Mesenbet Assefa I was provoked to contribute to the debate on the right to freedom of expression when I read your Editorial about the significance of freedom of expression in serving as a market place of ideas in a democratic society. Given the topical significance of the subject, I thought it would be interesting to highlight some of the foundational…
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Ethiopia formally charges bloggers, journalists with terrorism as confusion surrounds the process
Ethiopian Prosecutors have today formally charged six members of the blog Zone9 and three independent journalists detained nearly three months ago. Soliana Shimelis, the seventh defendant of the group Zone9 is charged in absentia, according to a local bi weekly, The Reporter. However, earlier on Thursday, the lawyer for the eight defendants Amha Mekonnen told AFP that they were “waiting…
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The EU provides another €750 million to support peace and security efforts in Africa
Today the EU has adopted an action program that will provide up to €750 million during the period 2014-2016 to support peace and security in Africa. The new funding had been announced by the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, at the Africa-EU summit in April and will be channeled through the African Peace Facility (APF) to support…
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A new Caliphate?
By Bernard Haykel and Cole Bunzel PRINCETON – The recent declaration of a caliphate by the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is an unprecedented event in modern times. Regardless of how it turns out, one thing is clear: violent jihadism is now an entrenched feature of the Arab political landscape. Not since the Turkish Republic…
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BREAKING: EU imposes sanctions on South Sudanese military leaders
The EU today imposed sanctions against two individuals it said were “obstructing the South Sudanese peace process and responsible for atrocities,” as part of wider EU efforts to stop violence and avoid further instability in the region. The EU failed to mention the names of the two individuals who its statement said were “responsible for violating the ceasefire agreement.” However,…
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