“Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia”

Last week, US Senators Feingold and Leahy introduced a draft bill into the US Senate. It was entitled ‘Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia, Act of 2010.’ Any bill that is introduced into the US Senate is, of course, a matter of US internal affairs. And we wouldn’t criticize Senators for anything they might wish to place before the Senate of the US, even if it does deal with the internal affairs of other countries. Indeed, we would entirely welcome support for democracy in Ethiopia. As we have frequently emphasized, democracy, together with good governance and respect for human rights, is a necessity for the survival of Ethiopia and for the achievement of the eradication of poverty, the main aim of government development strategy. This, indeed, is why we spend a great deal of time and energy ensuring the strengthening of democratic governance. Read the rest of this entry »

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The Ethiopian birr was devalued by 16.7 percent on Wednesday, according to exchange rates published on the central bank’s website, a move welcomed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The birr was quoted by the National Bank of Ethiopia at a weighted average of 16.3514 against the dollar compared with 13.6284 on Tuesday. A central bank official confirmed the new rate but was not authorised to make further comment. Read the rest of this entry »

አክሊለ ብርሃን መኮንን ኃይለ ሥላሴ የተባሉ ኢትዮጵያዊ ኢንቬስተር ‹‹ግራንድ ግዮን ሆቴል›› በሚል ስያሜ አንድ ባለ አራት ኮከብና አንድ ባለ አምስት ኮከብ ሆቴል በሰባት ቢሊዮን ብር ወጪ ለመገንባት ከፕራይቬታይዜሽን ኤጀንሲ ጋር ከትናንት በስቲያ ስምምነት ተፈራረሙ፡፡

የሆቴሉን ግንባታ የሚያከናውነው ድንቅነሽ ኩባንያቸው 80 በመቶ፣ የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ደግሞ 20 በመቶ ድርሻ ይኖራቸዋል፡፡

የአፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ የልጅ ልጅ መሆናቸውን በመግለጽ፣ ‹‹ልዑል›› የሚባልበት ዘመን ስላለፈ ‹‹ልዑል አክሊለ ብርሃን የሚለውን ስም አልጠቀም›› በማለት ዶ/ር ቆስጠንጢኖስ በረሀ ከጋዜጠኞች ጋር ያስተዋወቋቸው የድንቅነሽ ኩባንያ ሥራ አስኪያጅ አክሊለ ብርሃን መኮንን፣ ትናንት በሒልተን ሆቴል በሰጡት ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ እንዳስታወቁት፣ የግዮን ሆቴልን ለመግዛት በጨረታ ከተሳተፉት 12 የውጪ ኩባንያዎች መካከል ድንቅነሽ ኩባንያ በገንዘብም ሆነ በዲዛይን በልጦ ስለተገኘ የጨረታው አሸናፊ ሆኗል፡፡ Read the rest of this entry »

Aend-Ethiopia Interview with Kibirt Zenebework Aregaw on Her 80th Birthday Anniversary 08-28-2010, Washington, DC.

Chinese bank to fund Addis Ababa’s Light Railway Network
By Yohannes Anberbir

The Export and Import (EXIM) Bank of China reached an agreement with the Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) to finance its Light Railway Network project in Addis Ababa, a high government official who requested anonymity told Capital. Read the rest of this entry »

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Aug 19, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Africa Oil Corp. /quotes/comstock/11v!aoi (CA:AOI 1.10, +0.01, +0.92%) (“Africa Oil” or “the Company”) is pleased to report that it has received Ministerial consent in connection with the previously announced Farmout Agreement with Agriterra Ltd. (formerly White Nile Ltd.) and the deal has now closed. Under the Farmout Agreement, Africa Oil Ethiopia B.V. (“AOEBV”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Africa Oil, has acquired an 80% participating interest in, and operatorship of, the South Omo Block in Ethiopia. Read the rest of this entry »

APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Ethiopia has obtained around $780 million from remittances from Ethiopians in the Diaspora in the past ten months, the Ethiopian National Bank said here on Tuesday.

According to the bank, this year’s earnings from remittances exceed that of last year by about nine per cent.

An estimated one million Ethiopians are estimated to live outside their country, mostly in the United States and Europe.

The bank said that the amount of remittances Ethiopia is getting each year is on the rise, especially since the past three years.

“We have enforced a new legislation allowing the Diaspora to have saving accounts in US Dollars, which is encouraging many citizens to do so,” said the bank.

However, according to available information, Ethiopia is getting lower remittances than other neighbouring countries, such as Kenya and Egypt.

In 2007, Kenyans in the Diaspora had sent home nearly 1.6 billion dollars, achieving a per capita remittance of 42 dollars.

Ethiopians on the other hand sent home only 359 million dollars, with a per capita remittance of only four dollars, according to a United Nations report for 2009.

However, 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion dollars was remitted to Ethiopia through the non-banking system.

Ethiopia is expecting the remittances to rise to around one billion in the next few years.