The Reporter

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The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

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Unmasking Saudi Arabia: An enemy under a cloak of friendship?

“Ethiopia and Egypt have one history and one destiny”

Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia have had long standing relations for many centuries, both in terms of business relations and people-topeople contacts...

Mohamed Idris is currently the ambassador of Egypt to Ethiopia. A physician turned diplomat, the Ambassador joined the Egyptian....

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Vol. XVII No. 860 | March 02, 2013 | ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

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www.thereporterethiopia.com

Price 5.00 Birr

Tullow, ministry deny oil discovery report

By Kaleyesus Bekele

Tedros Adhanom (Ph.D.)

Ethiopia to plow ahead with Dam project regardless of panel report

The British oil company, Tullow, and the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines denied media reports that claim that Tullow has discovered oil in the South Omo Valley.

A US based website, Energy and Capital, this week reported that Tullow has discovered oil in Ethiopia. However, executives of Tullow have completely denied the news report. The executives who labeled the report as baseless said that drilling work has been going on but no oil has been yet found.

Egyptian diplomats visit Ethiopia

“Tullow Ethiopia wishes to clarify its position with regard to oil exploration in South Omo zone of the Southern Nation Nationality and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR.) This follows a confusing and poorly written report on one website in the USA which suggested in its headline that Tullow had discovered oil in Ethiopia,” the oil company said in a statement sent to The Reporter.

Commenting on the issue, country manager of Tullow Ethiopia, Petros Abebe, said: “The Sabisa-1 well is being drilled currently and no report has been issued by Tullow or our partners on our progress or whether hydrocarbons have been found. We expect to have the results from the well within the next two months, at Tullow... page 5

On the See of Mark, Teklehaimanot On Thursday, His Holiness Abune Mathias was elected to be the 6th Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Archbishop of Axum, Ichege of the See of Saint Teklehaimanot.

The 71-year-old former Archbishop of Jerusalem for Ethiopian monasteries will be enthroned on Sunday. Abune Mathias has lived abroad for more than 30 years in the United States and Israel, first going into exile in 1982 after denouncing the then military regime led by Mengistu Hailemariam. His predecessor, the late Abune Paulos, who passed away last August, was chosen to lead the church in 1992.

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www.thereporterethiopia.com

Photo By: Reporter /Mesfen Solomon

By Birhanu Fikade A study report that involved experts from Ethiopia, Egypt and the Sudan and independent individuals from other countries, is expected to come out in May, however, Ethiopia is saying that it will stand firm in resuming the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam. Tedros Adhanom (Ph.D.), foreign affairs minister of Ethiopia told journalists last Wednesday that the panel of ten experts’ study on the impacts of the dam over the Nile was well undergoing and this year in May, the final results are expected to go public. According to Tedros, even though his government is ready to make some adjustments, if found depending on the findings of the report, the construction will not be Ethiopia to plow... page 30

EDITORIAL

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The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

Published weekly by Media & Communications Center Address: Bole Sub City, Kebele 03, H. No. 2347 Tel: 011 6 616180 Editorial 011 6 616185 Reception 011 6 616187 Finance Fax: 011 6 616189 PO Box:7023 0910 885206 Marketing E-mail: mcc@ethionet.et Website: www.thereporterethiopia.com General Manager Amare Aregawi Managing Editor Bruh Yihunbelay bruh@ethiopianreporter.com Editor-in-Chief Asrat Seyoum Sub city: N.lafto, K. 10/18, H.No. 614 asrat@ethiopianreporter.com Senior Editors Yacob Wolde-Mariam Dibaba Amensisa Editors Hayal Alemayehu hayal@ethiopianreporter.com Kaleyesus Bekele kaleyesus@ethiopianreporter.com Yonas Abiye yonasa@ethiopianreporter.com Senior Reporters Tibebeselassie Tigabu tibebeselassie@ethiopianreporter.com Merga Yonas merga@ethiopianreporter.com Columnist Leyou Tameru bitsandpieces@ethiopianreporter.com Chief Graphic Designer Yibekal Getahun Senior Graphic Designer Tewodros Kebkab Graphic Designers Tsehay Tadesse Fasika Balcha Endale Solomon Semenh Sisay Netsanet Yacob Bezaye Tewodros Head of Photography Nahom Tesfaye Photographers Tamrat Getachew Mesfen Solomon Website Bezawit Tesfaye Binyam Hailu Cartoonist Elias Areda Fasil W/giorgis

Marketing Manager Endalkachew Yimam Tele Marketer Helina Kebede Marketing Officers Biruk Mulugeta Bezawit Tsegaye Biruk Chernet Computer Secretaries Birtukan Abate, Helen Yetayew, Print Tesfaye Mengesha, Yeyesuswork Mamo,Gezaghgn Mandefro

On guard against looming danger

The 7th Regional Nile Day was colorfully celebrated last week in the north-eastern Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar under the theme “Land Degradation and Climate Change: Address Shared Threats, Sustain Nile Cooperation.” The Day was marked by a military march band, tree planting, a rally, as well as a panel discussion.

All stakeholders contributed their share to the success of the celebrations.

The site visit to the remarkable watershed around the nearby Debre Tabor area particularly drove home the theme of the day and lent encouragement to all concerned.

The previously degraded area was rehabilitated through the collaborative efforts of the government and the local community, significantly improving the livelihood of the latter.

This came about as a result of the decision that the Nile Basin countries took jointly and the watershed works undertaken by the local community as part of the Ethiopian government’s environment protection initiative aimed at combating soil erosion and water loss. The works that were carried out included, among others, strictly enforcing the prohibition of use for grazing land, which was not designated for such a purpose, which had the effect of arresting the loss of soil and water.

The Blue Nile is not a stand-alone river; it is a system that is made up of scores of tributaries. If these tributaries dry up or its basin is not used sustainably, the river will do so slowly. Hence, the very existence of the Blue Nile is inextricably tied to the wellbeing of its tributaries and proper watershed management.

This is precisely what was observed around Debre Tabor.

The effective watershed management work carried out there, which not only changed for the better the lives of the community but also the continuity of the Blue Nile, heartened the participants of the Nile Day celebrations and made the celebrations both lively and successful.

Such watershed management works should be encouraged. There are already similar schemes under way in the Amhara and Tigray regional states. Though few in number, they are already showing promising signs and need to be replicated throughout the rural parts of Ethiopia given their implication in terms of ensuring development and the flow of the Blue Nile, which has multi-faceted uses, including the generation www.thereporterethiopia.com

of electricity.

Therefore, protecting the environment is not just a green issue which happens to be the flavor of the month. It is a question of development and survival. Several rivers are drying up. The Haromaya and Abiyata lakes have vanished over the past decade. This should alarm us as a nation and serve as a wakeup call.

While the disappearance of Haromaya and Abiyata lakes is a cause for misgiving, the outstanding watershed works on a Blue Nile basin around Debre Tabor are inspiring and give rise to optimism. And they drive home a clear message: if we look after and protect the environment we shall prosper, but if we neglect to do so we are bound to suffer the consequences.

The choices before us are about development and survival. But we should not just pay lip service to these choices. We have to take practical measures immediately. Much has been said about the adverse effects of land degradation, climate change and other environmental calamities. Sadly, the actions taken to mitigate their effects are so woefully inadequate that it has become commonplace to hear of the resulting catastrophes all over the world. Developing countries are particularly bearing the brunt of the problem. Thus, it is imperative that we always keep in mind the damage we suffered from due to the drying up of our rivers and lakes and at the same time guard against complacency lest the areas that have been rehabilitated do not become degraded again.

The option facing us is simple—to extricate ourselves by following the green development strategy. This is a job that requires the unstinting effort of all actors. The government must put in place the appropriate policies, institutions, procedures and human resource. And on its part the public has to make whatever contribution it can to attain this objective together with the government.

We should be able to see the looming danger. There is no greater warning than the disappearance of rivers and lakes, the famine and displacement that the perennial food and water shortage has caused over the years. We need to heed this warning and act in a concerted manner.

We have to scale up the encouraging initiatives under way and work tirelessly on bringing about attitudinal changes through education. It is only then that we can avert the impending threat.

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

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HEADLINES Though road construction is going on in the town, the collapse of the Baresa Bridge was accidental and the contractors have not prepared a detour,

Notice to All Importers Working with ESLSE

Fallen bridge splits Debre Birhan town

The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE) is a new merger company formed by integrating the former three Government enterprises that had their own legal entity; namely, Ethiopian Shipping Lines S.C, Maritime & Transit Services Enterprise, and Dry Port Services Enterprise.

By Merga Yonas

The collapse of the Baresa Bridge, located at the heart of the Debre Birhan town, 130km to the north of Addis Ababa, has left the residents, businesses and other activities divided for three weeks.

The bridge is known also as an interconnector for long-range business and passengers’ transport from Addis Ababa making it through Debre Birhan, Dessie and to Mekele.

Though road construction is going on in the town, the collapse of the Baresa Bridge was accidental and the contractors have not prepared a detour, a resident of the town who requested anonymity told The Reporter.

As the bridge was worn out, indeed, it needed renovation or renewal. However, without preparing an alternative bridge, deciding to demolish it was not necessary.

Residents of the town, business people and individuals engaged in various activities involving transportation have been facing problems for the past three weeks, he added.

Big

vehicles

drive

through

water

that flows every year in and year out. However, Bajaj, a three-wheeled motorbike model, which most of the local people use for transportation cannot pass through, sources said. As a result, the public is forced to walk through the water on foot in order to cross the river.

No announcement has been made on when construction of the bridge will begin or end. This has left the public in great worry considering the fact that the rainy season is approaching and, once it has arrived, crossing the water will be impossible to both pedestrians and vehicles alike.

As the bridge collapsed due to construction, it will be built soon, Samson Wondimu, public relations with the Ethiopian Road Authority told The Reporter. There is an alternative road for transportation, Samson said, though the residents find it inaccessible because of its distance.

The Baresa Bridge - ten to fifteen meters high, was built over a ditch ten meters deep. Debre Birahan town is believed to be the home of the first wool factory in Ethiopia.

After having designed a new organizational structure ESLSE has launched its full-fledged service provision since December 2012, one of which is the multimodal transport system that avails timely and cost effective services.

In this regard, the enterprise recently convened with stakeholders to discuss and find solutions for imported containers that are much longer stacked at Modjo Dry Port and Comet Container Terminal, and identified that the main problem was financial shortages on the part of customers. Thus, in order to alleviate these critical problems the company has proposed and decided upon the implementation of the following remedial approaches: 1. For all containers that were transported through multimodal system and arrived at Djibouti Port before July 1, 2012 and are due for demurrage and storage fees, ESLSE will cover all their due payments and customers will not be liable for such fees.

2. For those companies who have five or more containers at Modjo

Letter to the Editor

My views are my own Dear Editor, Reference is made to a news story under the title “Business Community considers taking ERCA to court over dividend tax” published in The Reporter February 23, 2013.

While I fully subscribe and stand by your statement in the news regarding the position I maintained on the newly introduced “dividend tax”, I should like to bring to your kind attention that this is entirely and strictly my own personal view and does not necessarily reflect the position of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (AACCSA) nor the Arbitration Institute of AACCSA wherein I am its Director.

As I have explained in a meeting organized by AACCSA between the business community and the Ethiopian Revenue Customs Authority, AACCSA honor the constitutional right of expression of its employees and I am always entitled to my own legitimate personal position on any issues including the newly introduced “dividend tax” that must not be mixed up with my institutional affiliation with AACCSA and more specifically with the neutral and independent arbitration body of AACCSA- the Arbitration Institute.

Yohannes Woldegebriel johnwaa@hotmail.com

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and Comet Terminals: 2.1 Any one who needs to take goods in containers will not be required container deposit fee; instead, can provide Letter of Undertaking to return the empty containers within 15 days.

2.2 All importers subject to payments of sea and in-land transport fee and port handling services at Djibouti Port together with due demurrages are allowed to take out those goods with Guarantee only, i.e., without being required for advance payments.

Customers that could get credit service are those whose import goods passed through Multimodal Transport System and arrived at Modjo and Comet Dry Ports on or before January 8, 2013.

Customers entitled for credit services should complete all formalities till March 9, 2013 and present same to our Enterprise.

Any application after March 9, 2013 will not be eligible for credit.

Payment Due Date: All payments due to the Enterprise should be settled until May 8, 2013.

Any Customer who seeks any of the above services should primarily complete and accomplish due Customs and Bank formalities and produce evidence to that effect.

Therefore, we hereby notify and invite our esteemed customers to effectively use these special privileges of financial scheme proposed and decided by our company and to clear your cargo as per the given deadline; our Enterprise is more than ever prepared to provide to you efficient services.

The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise Addis Ababa

www.thereporterethiopia.com

HEADLINES

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The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

Ethiopian to inaugurate cold warehouse

Heineken launches construction of new brewery

Leases three Dreamliner aircraft The Ethiopian Airlines is to inaugurate the cold warehouse it is building at its hub at the Bole International Airport at a cost of 63 million birr.

According to the Public Relation office of Ethiopian, work on the project commenced last October. Asmelash and Sons Plc, an indigenous construction firm, is undertaking the civil construction work while Celtic Cooling, a German company, is supplying and installing the cold room facility.

The cold warehouse will be used to store perishable cargo like horticulture and meat products. The facility has four aircraft uplift capacity at a time.

Meanwhile, the airline on Tuesday officially launched the construction of a state-of-the-art aircraft maintenance hangar at a cost of 100 million dollars.

The airline has three maintenance hangars and it now building the fourth one. The new hangar can accommodate wide body aircraft like Dreamliner, B777, B767 and B747 aircraft.

The hangar will have a length of 210 m and a width of 117 m. Zemene Nega, head of maintenance and engineering, told The Reporter that the hangar will have two big compartments – one for aircraft

maintenance work and the other one for aircraft paint. Work on the project will be finalised within two years. A Chinese construction firm, AVIC, is undertaking the construction work.

On the sideline of the 22nd African Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) conference organised by African Aviation Services Ltd this week, the ribbon at the construction site was cut.

Ethiopian CEO Tewolde Gebremaraim said that the fast growth of the airline and addition of new fleet it was necessary to expand the maintenance facility and the aviation academy. The airline is investing 45 million dollars in the expansion of the aviation academy.

Ethiopian used to earn 15 million dollars a year from third party MRO service but this business has been scaled down as the airline is acquiring a large number of new fleet. Only last year the airline acquired 10 new aircraft.

Under the Vision 2025 development strategy the management anticipates to raise an annual revenue of USD 535 million from its MRO business.

In a related news, the national flag carrier recently leased three Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft from an international aircraft leasing company,

Ethiopian ... page 28

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Photo By: Reporter/Tamrat Getachew

By Kaleyesus Bekele

Lilianne Ploumen laying the cornerstone

By Birhanu Fikade

The world renowned Dutch-based Heineken Brewery launched the construction of a new factory here to brew 1.5 million hectoliters of beer after the construction completes in 18 months time.

With the presence of Lilianne Ploumen, Netherlands Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperative, the company launched a 120-million Euro construction project last Thursday here in Addis at a place called Kilinto, around the Kaliti area. During the launching, Advertisment

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Johan Doyer, general manager of Heineken said that the new brewery would brew the Heineken brand with the existing Bedele and Harar local beers that are currently owned by the company. It is to be recalled that Heineken joined the beverage industry last year after purchasing the two brewery factories with an investment of USD 163 million.

Doyer told journalists that the deal to obtain loans from local banks is under process. Though he refrained from disclosing the amount of money he is

Heineken ... page 28

HEADLINES

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

“In the past Russian companies were engaged in the mining sector in Ethiopia. They were also engaged in oil and gas exploration and development projects.

Ethiopian delegation to visit Moscow

By Kaleyesus Bekele

An Ethiopian business delegation led

by Tedros Adhanom (Ph.D.), Minister of Foreign Affairs, is to head to Moscow on Sunday.

The delegation includes the Minister of Water and Energy, Alemayehu Tegenu, the Minister of Mines, Sinkenesh Ejigu, representatives of the Ethiopian Investment Authority and about forty Ethiopian manufacturers, horticulture producers and exporters. According to a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the purpose of the visit is to promote the existing investment opportunities in Ethiopia.

“It is also aimed at promoting Ethiopian agricultural and other products among the Russian business people,” the official said.

A senior official at the Ministry of Mines told The Reporter that the delegation will brief Russian business people about the investment opportunities in the mining

sector. “In the past Russian companies were engaged in the mining sector in Ethiopia. They were also engaged in oil and gas exploration and development projects. We now want to call upon them to come back to Ethiopia and venture into the mining and petroleum exploration and development sector,” the official said.

Soviet Petroleum Exploration Expedition (SPEE) was actively engaged in oil and gas exploration projects in the Ogaden basin. SPEE undertook different geological surveys and drilled many exploration wells in the Ogaden.

The company discovered the natural gas reserve in the Hilala locality. Other former USSR companies and Geological Survey Institute were engaged in mineral exploration projects in the southern and western parts of Ethiopia.

Zemedeneh Nigatu, managing partner of Ernest and Young East Africa, will travel to Moscow with the Ethiopian delegation to make a presentation.

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Tullow... which point we will issue a statement that will be available on our website and through international media.

No update will be given before the results are known and have been fully evaluated.”

“With regard to articles published, it is always best to check in with Tullow especially as, in this case, we had made no statement ourselves as a cursory check of our website would have shown. Furthermore, the article itself did not state that oil had been found - it was the headline that was misleading and I note that this headline has since been changed,” the company added.

The company said its spokespersons in Addis, Nairobi and London are always available to answer enquiries either by telephone or email.

Minister of Mines, Sinkenesh Ejigu on Thursday said that the news report released by some websites and newspapers are inaccurate.

Sinkenesh said that because of the fruitful results Tullow achieved in Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, distorted media reports are being released.

“There is ongoing exploration work.

The company plans to drill three exploration wells in South Omo and currently it is drilling the first well.

At a point where even drilling on the first exploration well is not finalised Advertisment

United Nations Nations Unies United Nations Nations Unies (Economic Commission for Africa) (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) (Economic Commission for Africa) (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) Title of the EOI:

Long Term Contract for Graphic Design and Printing Services.

Term Contract for Graphic Design and Receipt Printing Services.

Title of 25 the February EOI: Long2013 Date of this EOI: Closing Date for of EOI :

18 March 2013

of this EOI: 25 February 2013E-mail Closing Date forbidofficer@uneca.org Receipt of EOI : 18 March 2013 EOI Number: DateRFP/PCMS/13-135 Address: Number:by RFP/PCMS/13-135 E-mail Address EOI EOI response fax for the Attention of: Address: The Bidbidofficer@uneca.org Officer response by fax forNo. the Attention of: The Officer Fax Number: Address +251EOI 115 511874, Tel. 0115445623 or Bid 0115443104 Number: CODE: +251 115 511874, Tel. No. 0115445623 or 0115443104 UNCCS Code:Fax UNSPSC 82140000 UNCCS Code: UNSPSC CODE: 82140000 DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENTS DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENTS UNECA hereby seeks an external contractor for graphic design, layout and printing services to express their interest in participating on the subject tender. Companies which express their interest will be UNECA hereby seeks an external contractor for graphic design, layout and printing services to express invited to participate in the tender in a form of a Request for Proposal (RFP) where the detailed their interest in participating on the subject tender. Companies which express their interest will be requirements will be appended. This tender envisages the selection of a single firm to undertake the invited to participate in the tender in a form of a Request for Proposal (RFP) where the detailed system contract for Graphic Design and Printing Services. requirements will be appended. This tender envisages the selection of a single firm to undertake the system contract for Graphic Design and Printing Services.

Please note that the UNECA is precluded from entering into contract with a firm that is not fully registered with UNECA. Please Thosenote interested in responding this invitation but not as vendors that the UNECA is precludedto from entering into contract withcurrently a firm thatfully is notregistered fully registered with UNECA, are encouraged to register before submission of the bid.

Further details may be obtained by with UNECA. Those interested in responding to this invitation but not currently fully registered as vendors visiting www.uneca.org/procurement.

Registration forms could be downloaded from this website.

Similar with UNECA, are encouraged to register before submission of the bid. Further details may be obtained by documents could also be collected from the Registration UNECA, General Section, 2ndwebsite. floor, Room visiting www.uneca.org/procurement. forms couldServices be downloaded from this Similar no. 2N11.

In order to be eligible for UN Registration, please make sure to declare in writing the Prerequisite documents could also be collected from the UNECA, General Services Section, 2nd floor, Room no. 2N11. for Eligibility criteria itemized from A-E as contained in EOI In order to be eligible for UN Registration, please make instruction sure to declareattached. in writing the Prerequisite for Eligibility criteria itemized from A-E as contained in EOI instruction attached.

Those interested should write to the above-mentioned e-mail address or fax number to submit their “expression ofThose interest” by the deadline of above-mentioned 18 March 2013. interested should write to the e-mail address or fax number to submit their “expression of interest” by the deadline of 18 March 2013.

www.thereporterethiopia.com

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there is no new development to announce,” Sinkinesh said.

Sinekesh said Tullow is a reliable company that undertakes the exploration work properly, adding that the company spends 50 million dollars on each exploration well.

Tullow is an independent oil and gas, exploration and production group, quoted on the London, Irish and Ghanaian stock exchanges.

The group has interests in over 100 exploration and production licences across 23 countries which are managed as three regional business units: West and North Africa, South and East Africa and Europe, South America and Asia. Tullow has a fifty percent stake in the South Omo concession while Africa Oil, the Vancouver based company, and Marathon Oil, US company, has 30 and 20 percent respectively.

Tullow discovered oil reserves in Ghana, Uganda and more recently in neighbouring Kenya. Last month the company announced that it started drilling on the first exploration well called Sabisa1. Tullow anticipates drilling a 2600 meters deep well and currently it is at about 1500 meters.

The company previously said the drilling operation comes after an extensive 18-month seismic Tullow ... page 30

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In-depth

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

Unmasking Saudi Arabia: An enemy under a cloak of friendship?

government officials between Ethiopia and the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and a number of agreements have been signed to enhance relations. There is a Joint Ministerial Commission that is meant to meet annually to review the progress in all areas of cooperation.

The Commission also has the task of suggesting new areas for cooperation and of working towards their implementation.

By Yonas Abiye

Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia have had long standing relations for many centuries, both in terms of business relations and people-to-people contacts. Cultural bonds are deep-rooted, strong and ancient. Indeed, they go back to the time of the Prophet when he told his family and followers to take refuge in Ethiopia when threatened by persecution in Mecca.

Trade relations have been on the rise.

At present the total volume of trade stands at just over 12 billion birr but this is expected to increase significantly in both quantity and quality.

In return, the Prophet instructed his followers not to touch Abyssinians, Ethiopians today, except in selfdefense. Islam, of course, was born in Saudi Arabia but it was in Ethiopia that its adherents were first allowed to practice it freely. There are a number of similar episodes detailed in the annals of Islamic and Ethiopian tradition.

They have certainly contributed to the strengthening of relations between the two peoples.

Investment is a growing area of cooperation and a growing number of Saudi investors are engaged in different sectors in Ethiopia, with a total of 369 million dollars currently involved. The largest investor is Sheikh Mohamed AlAmoudi, the owner of Midroc, which has interests in hotels and tourism, construction, mining, agriculture, manufacturing and education. All in all there are some 69 companies, in addition to those of Sheikh Al-Amoudi.

Investment is growing but taking into account the long-standing relations and strong cultural ties between the two countries, considerably more investment should be expected.

But this week, in unprecedented manner, news that stirred controversy came out from Cairo, Egypt following a “harsh” criticism filled remark by Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Defense Minister, Prince Khalid bin Sultan, against Ethiopia, something totally unexpected by the Ethiopian government and people.

The real intent of the remark made by this senior official of Saudi has raised several questions from different sides.

Was it just an echo for Egypt and Sudan being merely a messenger voice? Or really the position of the Royal Kingdom.

Last Wednesday the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Addis Ababa for the latter to give an explanation on the real notion of the remarks made by the defense minister which was made during the Arab Water Council Meeting in Cairo.

“The [Grand] Renaissance dam has its capacity of flood waters reaching more than 70 billion cubic meters of water, and is located at an altitude of 700 meters and if it collapsed then Khartoum will drown completely and the impact will even reach the Aswan Dam,” the Saudi deputy defense minister Khalid Bin Sultan said at the meetings.

“Egypt is the most affected party from the Ethiopian Renaissance dam because they have no alternative water source compared to other Nile Basin countries, and the establishment of the dam 12 kilometers from the Sudanese border is for political plotting rather than for economic gain and constitutes a threat to Egyptian and Sudanese national security” the Sudan Tribune quoted the Saudi official saying.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Abdulbagi bin Ahmad Ajlan told Ethiopian officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the defense minister’s comment is neither his (the ambassador) nor the Royal Kingdom’s position.

Prince Khalid went on saying, “There are fingers messing with water resources of Sudan and Egypt which are rooted in the mind and body of Ethiopia. They do not forsake an opportunity to harm Arabs

Prince Khalid bin Sultan without taking advantage of it”.

According to the spokesperson of MoFA, Ambassador Dina Mufti, the Ethiopian government has been alarmed after hearing the unexpected news.

After the “harsh” criticism against Ethiopia was made, Prime Minister Hailemarlam Desalegn, together with finance and economic development minister, Sufian Ahmed welcomed a group of Saudi Arabian delegation led by the minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia, Dr. Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf.

The visit of the delegation was said to be aimed at trade and investment boosting between the two countries.

But nothing came out from the two sides as they discuss the Nile related controversy that sparked the diplomatic dispute.

On the occasion that the two countries signed two loan agreements amounting to a total of 25 million USD with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD.) At the same occasion, the country also signed avoidance of double taxation agreement with Saudi Arabia.

Critics said that though Saudi Arabia has a concern on the Nile issue with regards to Ethiopia’s dam project, it should not have been publicly disclosed as far as diplomatic relationship is concerned.

While the Saudi official also added that Egypt would be largely affected by this dam, which is scheduled to be completed

“

Prime Minister Hailemarlam Desalegn

Critics said that though Saudi Arabia has a concern on the Nile issue with regards to Ethiopia’s dam project, it should not have been publicly disclosed as far as diplomatic relationship is concerned. in six years, because it only has the Nile as water resource. Constructing this dam in Ethiopia at this location has political rather than commercial motives.

“It also threatens the water and national security for Sudan,” he said.

Six months after Hailemariam assumed the premiership following the death of the late Meles Zenawi, the incident can be regarded as the major challenge that Hailemariam has been tested with so far.

There have been a number of exchanges of visits over the years by high level

www.thereporterethiopia.com

In June 2011, after Hailemariam Desalegn was appointed Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs, he visited Saudi Arabia and he was reportedly said to have had fruitful discussions with officials from the Royal Kingdom.

At that time he told the Saudi Gazette at the Jeddah Conference Palace that the Kingdom had requested around 30,000 laborers including housemaids, drivers and technical staff from Ethiopia.

He said that his country would make sure all workers sent to the Kingdom were well trained. For this purpose, he added, there are a number of training centers.

Hailemariam said that the environment in his country was conducive to investment. “There are huge investment opportunities in mining, agriculture, tourism, construction and real estate.”

Saudi Arabia, he said, is among the top investors in Ethiopia. “Saudi businessmen have invested around SR 2 billion in agriculture in Ethiopia,” he said. He said the number of Saudi tourists has also gone up due to the ongoing unrest in several countries in the Arab world. “We (Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia) will sign three agreements for the promotion of livestock and agriculture, promotion and protection of investment and avoidance of double taxation,” Hailemariam said.

Back then the deputy prime minister said that they were working on a dam project, which would have a capacity to produce 5,200 megawatts of electricity.

With all these relations, still the question remains regarding how much Hailemariam’s administration handled the matter, would it bring a win-win solution as is the usual rhetoric or is there more determination to challenge any potential opponents as far as the country’s national interest is concerned.

Interview

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

|7

“Ethiopia and Egypt have one history and one destiny” Ambassador Mohammed Idris, Egypt Ambassador to Ethiopia 14 or 15 years, since the NBI (Nile Basin Initiative) was established; today is not the beginning of the Cooperation. The CFA is simply a modality of cooperation.

So if they have some conflicting views, it is a difference of views still on cooperation; it has nothing to do with the principle of cooperation, which all the countries are committed to. But it is different on how to cooperate. What is going on now is a collective attempt to try to talk and have a dialogue to find a common formula to agree on the issue.

However, we have to agree on every detail and every element, if we are to form one level of cooperation to another.

The concern is that two downstream nations, Egypt and Sudan, have been given an exclusive right on the Nile by the colonial era agreements of 1929 and 1959. So far, there is no sign that the two countries are abandoning the old agreements, hence how could there be another framework of cooperation between the upstream nations and them?

Mohamed Idris is currently the ambassador of Egypt to Ethiopia.

A physician turned diplomat, the Ambassador joined the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs after passing the exam in 1987. In the mean time, he proceeded with his studies and got his Master’s Degree from London University in Political Science. Prior to coming to Ethiopia in the aftermath of the revolution, he served in different posts stationed in Washington DC, Turkey and Syria. During his time of service, he held a deputy ambassador post permanent representative mission in New York. In September 2011, he was assigned to Ethiopia as an Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the AU and UNECA. Given the recent diplomatic issues regarding the Nile, Ambassador Mohamed Idris sat down with Yemane Nagish of The Reporter. Excerpts: The Reporter: A year ago, there were some high level diplomatic exchanges between Cairo and Addis.

The exchange was regarded as a new chapter in the two nations’ relationship. So, have you seen the status of the relations since then?

Ambassador Mohammed Idris: The current status shows that there is the will to move forward on a cooperative path.

Since the revolution, the relationship is witnessing a new chapter in history.

This new chapter is based on trust, confidence, common understanding and cooperation for the benefit of the two peoples. It is moving on dual track; one is the popular track, which represents the true sense of the people in both countries, while the other is between governments.

We had a public diplomacy delegation come to Ethiopia to convey the message of friendship and cooperation, and now a

public diplomacy visit from Ethiopia is scheduled to convey a similar message.

This shows that the people of both sides are keen to work together. At the same time, this path is coupled by another track-the official. The official track is responding to the peoples’ will and is trying to transform this will into a practical step on the ground. These two tracks are moving on the right path.

And I am sure that the time ahead will witness more and more consolidation of this cooperative mood between our two sisterly countries.

Despite this positive mood, there are still serious concerns about whether it could be practical. A few months back, leaked information that belonged to a geopolitical intelligence company, Stratfor, disclosed that Egypt and the Sudan were plotting to bomb the Ethiopian Renaissance dam. What do you say to that?

I read such stories and I think they always jump over the reality. These are conclusions that are totally unfounded and untrue. The reality is that the peoples of the two countries believe they have a lot of things in common across history, their present day and for the future.

And they can benefit only when they cooperate. These facts are reaffirmed in the public diplomacy missions, which could not have been manipulated by any side. This reality is also accompanied by official steps. These steps took place in several fields: in the field of trade, investment, agriculture and so on. And recently, young diplomat trainees visited Ethiopia and met with their different counterparts, government officials, and the academia. This is a practical move to have a first hand information

and avoid gross misunderstanding and misinterpretations.

This document quoted Egyptian higher officials’ secret conversations.

Do you believe the change of heart and the political view that you are referring to actually represents a majority of the politicians in Cairo?

I think the majority both in Egypt and Ethiopia are well convinced that the two peoples have got much in common and the bond has much to give to the two countries. Ethiopia and Egypt have more vested interests in one other than antagonism and definitely have more to gain by cooperation than dispute or conflict. With regard to those negative media reports, they are completely unfounded. After the release of the reports, the Egyptian government has made it clear to its Ethiopian counterpart that the reports were totally fabricated.

The three countries, including Sudan are cooperating through the panel of experts. So that means the reality on the ground contradicts these reports.

But beyond these reports, there are also other practical concerns. Sudan and Egypt have not yet signed the Cooperative Framework Agreement.

That indicates the two nations have not abandoned the old treaties of 1929 and 1959, which give the two nations an exclusive right to them.

The fact that Egypt, Sudan and Congo did not sign the CFA doesn’t necessarily mean that the treaty will undermine or deflect the countries from the path of cooperation. Because the three states believe in the principle of cooperation, they have been cooperating for the last

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Those are agreements we inherited from the colonial era. These are decisions that we did not make by ourselves. We did not impose these agreements; we simply inherited them from our past colonial powers. As a continent we inherited so many aspects of the present day Africa; even our borders. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t move forward together.

But as we move along, we have to talk at every step and every detail; we have to agree on where we are going and what our destination is.

Currently, a panel of experts is studying the impacts of the Renaissance Dam that Ethiopia is constructing. And it is expected to release its report in May. But in the mean time, this week, the Saudi Arabian deputy ministry of defense, speaking on the Arab water meetings in Cairo, accused Ethiopia of posing a threat to Sudan and Egypt. Don’t you think this statement could affect the mood of cooperation and particularly the work of the panel of expert?

Quite frankly any statement has to be accurately quoted in its exactly right context. Because if you take something out of context, it gets so distorted and we don’t have the accurate statement.

We only have what the media has told us about it. At the same time, what I am sure about is that Saudi Arabia is a friendly nation both to Ethiopia and Egypt. And just today [Thursday], I was in an event where the Saudi Minister of Finance was in attendance; currently, he is visiting Addis Ababa. I am also sure that Saudi is keen to cooperate with both sides and play a very constructive role in promoting cooperation among the three countries.

Very recently, we celebrated the 7th Regional “Nile Day” and you were part of the group that visited

“Ethiopia ... page 28

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

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The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

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Commentary

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

T

he Ethiopian ethno-territorial federal arrangement was designed with the prime intention of mitigating the then overflourishing ethnic tension and strife. After a decade and a half of experimentation, the federal arrangement has been hailed by its architects for it has achieved its ultimate objective – stability.

Has Ethiopia really achieved stability?

By Tegbaru Yared

As variegated as attitudes towards the Ethiopian federal arrangement are, I genuinely believe that one needs to engage in a true public debate on these divergent views, not for the sake of labeling everyone’s intellectual station but for the sake of forwarding some constructive ideas in the process, particularly for practitioners. The Ethiopian ethno-territorial federal arrangement was designed with the prime intention of mitigating the then over-flourishing ethnic tension and strife. After a decade and a half of experimentation, the federal arrangement has been hailed by its architects for it has achieved its ultimate objective – stability. However, it seems that we, as a nation, are at a historical juncture to define what we mean by ‘stability’ and gauge as to

how the federal arrangement fostered the ‘stability’ we claim to enjoy. Since stability is an end in itself, it is plausible to assume that it requires a myriad of instruments as means of achieving it.

Therefore, when one claims that the Ethiopian federal arrangement fostered ‘stability,’ one also needs to single out the instruments that helped the system achieve its objective. Succinctly, it is high time for us to engage ourselves in an inventory of indicators of instability and/or the instruments of the Ethiopian federal arrangement that bridged the rift between instability and ‘stability’ and ‘blessed’ the nation with ‘stability’ if at all the nation is stable.

Both in academia and the policymakers group, there has been endless debate as to what the conditions and causes of stability are and how to measure the degree of stability. In effect, the prescriptions for the ills of instability

Viewpoint

and the suggested preventive measures to sustain stability are diverse.

Nevertheless, one can still single out the most commonly suggested causes, conditions and instruments of stability and assess whether a certain nation is stable or unstable. More often than not, the common instruments of analysis pertaining to stability are economic, socio-demographic and institutional factors.

The socio-demographic approach depicts political stability as an asset based on ‘patterns revealing wide distribution of material well-being and a mass consensus concerning the values of the political system.’ The economicbased perspective focuses on the degree of economic disparity within a nation beyond political factors. Put otherwise, this perspective argues that inequalities of any kind could disrupt stability and may lead to political violence. Both these perspectives, however, seem to depend on one aspect of Huntington’s analysis of

political instability, particularly in third world countries. As the Nigerian author Kola Olugbade puts it, Huntington sees political instability in the Third World as stemming from psychological and structural stresses. The psychological stresses are ‘the disorientation, rising expectations, and relative deprivation that accompany large-scale social change’ while the structural stresses are the dissatisfaction, resentment and rebellion that follow from a poor fit between political and social institutions.

In line with Huntington’s perspective, one may raise queries on the causes and consequences of such rifts between political and social institutions and the possible remedy for such ills.

In fact, federalism can also be taken as one means of stability, among others, for some claim that the institutional

Has Ethiopia ... page 20

A

dwa was a major anti-colonialist battle fought by all Ethiopians, under the skillful leadership of Emperor Menelik and Empress Taitu. This victory resonated well beyond the Ethiopian and indeed the African border. It represented the clash between colonialism and liberation on a world-scale.

Adwa victory is a definitive victory over world empires

By Mammo Muchie

We start with the inspiring words of courage and wisdom from our ancestors.

I would like to thank you for making the effort to remember and celebrate the 117 year anniversary of the battle of Adwa victory, which is now increasingly becoming recognised as a definitive victory over world empire and colonialism.

“I am a woman. I do not like war. But I would rather die than accept your deal,” Etige Taitu Bitul, Wife of Menelik II, said. “They lost their history, so they died” (an African maxim.) “A country without historical memory is like a person without a head” (African Maxim.)

Everything is moved but memory, and the Ethiopian Heritage Society in America has done a great service by taking the time and energy to organise this important education about the Adwa Victory, which is a real African victory over empire and colonialism.

Over a century ago, the Ethiopian people and the national leadership united to defeat the foreign power that eyed to take over Ethiopia. The victory of Adwa is a victory that united a nation, the people and the leadership, linking regions to regions, ethnic groups to ethnic groups and people to people to overcome a common colonizer.

At the same time, there are efforts to remember this day in Ethiopia, in the UK and South Africa. These are truly commendable, and I say congratulations to all involved in organising and preparing the necessary education on the Adwa Victory, that must continue every year without fail.

All the varied groups from Oromia to Eritrea were mobilized and contributed richly to the success of the Adwa victory by all Ethiopians through the depth and breadth of the land. This was not a victory of the leaders, or one ethnic

group. This was a national victory with a wider African and indeed, world significance. It was and remains an exemplary episode in demonstrating what a united people can achieve.

Adwa was a major anti-colonialist battle fought by all Ethiopians, under the skillful leadership of Emperor Menelik and Empress Taitu. This victory resonated well beyond the Ethiopian and indeed the African border. It represented the clash between colonialism and liberation on a world-scale.

Every year during Yekatit, Adwa can provide the occasion to appreciate fully the international significance of the Ethiopian victory over the world colonial project in Africa. The failure to put this victory in the context of the wider challenges, which confronted Africa before, during and after the nineteenth century needs to be put right.

It is a matter of historical record that the Adwa victory signaled the beginning of

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the end of the Scramble for Africa. This victory constitutes a crucial chapter in the record of African resistance and liberation. It armed generations of Africans with the confidence of victory to engage in resistance and liberation.

It attracted attention as far as the Caribbean and the Americas, not to mention Europe and the rest of Africa.

It deserves to be celebrated both as a significant episode in its own right and as a memory serving well the emerging communities of resistances in the African world, never again to surrender to colonial tyranny. The battle of Adwa is not just a memory of the past. It continues to live on in the eternal river of time.

This event, which took place 117 years ago by a relatively small and weak country, against Italy, a formidable, highly armed and ambitious new colonial power is still relevant today.

Adwa ... page 21

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

A

new World Bank report provides a practical agenda for building sustainable cities. The framework – which emerged from a three-year effort to develop a foundation of credible facts and analysis from countries with diverse urban experiences, such as Uganda, China, India, and South Korea...

Commentary +

|11

Getting cities right

By Mahmoud Mohieldin and Zoubida Allaoua

The developing world is experiencing rapid urbanization, with the number of city dwellers set to reach four billion in 2030 – double its 2000 level. But unplanned and uncoordinated urban development is risky, threatening to replace migrants’ hopes for a better life with unsanitary living conditions, joblessness, and high exposure to natural disasters.

In many respects, urbanization is rational. After all, cities are the hubs of prosperity, where more than 80 percent of global economic activity is concentrated.

And their density facilitates the delivery of public services, including education, health care, and basic services. Indeed, it costs USD 0.70-0.80 per cubic meter to provide piped water in urban areas, compared to USD 2 in sparsely populated areas.

But the high concentration of assets and people, especially in coastal areas, is an

economic liability, with around USD 3 trillion in assets at risk from natural hazards. Vulnerability will increase further over the next two decades, as cities triple their built-up land, to 600,000 square kilometers, often without basic infrastructure or policies to prevent construction and settlement on disasterprone and vulnerable sites.

To get urbanization right, policymakers must take urgent action to build sustainable cities. Through effective land-use management, they can provide reliable and affordable access to basic services, education, housing, transport, and health care to growing urban populations, while minimizing the carbon footprint.

This entails, first and foremost, abandoning the perception of a tradeoff between “building more cities” to accommodate rapid urban growth and “building cities right” to enhance social and environmental outcomes. In fact,

Viewpoint +

evidence shows that building cities right generates near-term benefits, while reducing the longer-term costs associated with sprawl, congestion, pollution, and climate change. The alternative – building cities around a low-density, individual-vehicle transportation model – will leave urban planners struggling to increase density and develop public-transport systems later, a challenge that the United States is currently facing.

A new World Bank report provides a practical agenda for building sustainable cities. The framework – which emerged from a three-year effort to develop a foundation of credible facts and analysis from countries with diverse urban experiences, such as Uganda, China, India, and South Korea – can help policymakers to understand the obstacles to urbanization and to identify politically, technically, and fiscally feasible policy options.

This framework reflects three main aspects of urban development: planning, connecting, and financing. A major finding is that, regardless of the level or speed of urbanization, planning for land-use management should be the top priority. By clearly defining property rights and implementing effective landuse systems that are coordinated with infrastructure, particularly transport, policymakers can help cities to attract private investment, connect people with jobs, reduce environmental and social risks, and decrease vulnerability to natural hazards.

With urban growth in developing countries likely to occur largely in secondary cities, the opportunity is still open (but closing fast) to shape urban design to ensure that, for example, residents do not spend half of each day commuting to and from work. While

Getting... page 20

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n this winner-take-all environment, only a small number of those who have taken programming courses will reap a majority of the rents. Completing the right preparatory courses is no guarantee of receiving a share of the software jackpot

Will programmers rule

By Raghuram Rajan

the problem that he poses?

Marc Andreessen made his first fortune writing the code that became Netscape Navigator, the Internet browser. He is now a venture capitalist who evangelizes about the growing importance of software in business today. Indeed, he proclaims that software is taking over the world – that it will be the primary source of added value – and offers the following prediction: the global economy will one day be divided between people who tell computers what to do and people who are told by computers what to do.

Perhaps not. Two attributes of software creation allow a few talented programmers to corner the market and take all the associated profits.

First, software with a slight edge tends to get a significantly greater share of the available market; and, second, the available market is global, because it costs so little to make an extra copy and send it anywhere in the world. As a result, those who are creative and competent enough to write that slightly better search engine will capture the global market.

Andreessen’s aim is to shock his listeners – not just for effect, but to get them to do something about it. To stop the world from being divided between a few alpha programmers and many drones, he wants the potential drones to stop taking easy liberal arts courses in college. Instead, he wants them to focus on courses in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), where the good jobs will be. But will this solve

In this winner-take-all environment, only a small number of those who have taken programming courses will reap a majority of the rents. Completing the right preparatory courses is no guarantee of receiving a share of the software jackpot. Differences in luck and talent among those equally prepared will ensure that the quality of software firms’ products lies on a bell curve, with only

a few Googles and Facebooks and many more bored, moderately paid computer technicians helping the average confused person deal with malware.

Put differently, in a winner-take-all world, raising the average level of skills or education does nothing to alter the skewed distribution of income. So, will anything prevent inequality from widening?

The obvious answer is yes. But how society responds will mean the difference between a prosperous world and a world torn apart by slow growth and resentment.

Property rights are ultimately sanctioned by society, and, to the extent that they seem to be unfair, society has an incentive to change them. But will society see the software billionaire as having acquired her wealth unfairly, or will it see that wealth as a fair reward for cleverness?

The more that everyone has access to

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the same educational opportunities, the more society will tend to accept some receiving disproportionate rewards.

After all, they themselves have a chance to be winners. Interestingly, software may itself reduce the cost of expanding educational access – witness the massive open online courses (MOOCs) offered by companies like Coursera.

But equal access is probably an unlikely ideal. The other extreme is very unequal access, made more unequal because the wealthy have the time to help their kids with homework and the money to arrange for tuitions, while the poor leave their children watching TV while they work a second job. Will the resentful workers who must follow a computer’s instructions – say, in assembling an order in Amazon’s fulfillment centers – vote to tax the programmers who put them there until the software creators lose the incentive to innovate,

Will... page 27

Health

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The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

Checking food labels allows one to compare a variety of brands and products that are lower in salt. An important consideration is the serving size of the food selected. Many food labels state the amount of salt per serving. If there are three servings in a container, you must take the total sodium and multiply by three.

Hidden salt costing lives Dr. Cory Couillard

including chefs, can use less salt and still enjoy the great flavors of food.

It’s well known that unnecessary salt intake is associated with high blood pressure in the adult population.

However, there is now evidence that supports excessive salt consumption will influence blood pressure, respiratory illnesses such as asthma, stomach cancer and obesity in children as well.

The overall aim is to bring a reduction in salt intake throughout the world to the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum intake of 5g per day. This can be achieved by reducing the amount of salt in processed foods as well as salt added during cooking and at the table. However, most people that eat too much salt don’t even realize that as much as 75 % of the salt that we eat is already in the food that we buy.

Although the older population and certain ethnic groups are at immediate risk, the youth are at the greatest risk of health-related problems due to salt intake. Salt intake is similar to other cumulative risk factors such as obesity, tobacco and alcohol use – the longer you abuse it, the greater the risk.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, totaling 17.3 million deaths per year according to the World Health Organization (WHO.) Salt intake is directly linked to the main cause of strokes, heart attacks and heart failures.

It’s also known to produce kidney disease, kidney stones, obesity and exacerbate the symptoms of asthma, Meniere’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

The World Action on Salt and Health (WASH) has been created in efforts to curb this global catastrophe. WASH will be holding it’s global World Salt Awareness Week on Monday 11th – Sunday 17th March 2013. The ‘Less Salt Please’ theme will show how everybody,

Locating hidden salt For starters, we must understand the importance of reading and understanding food labels to help us select low salt or sodium options. Food companies primarily add salt to increase the shelf life, not the nutritional value of their products. Salt is a well-known preserving agent for a variety of meats, fish and convenience foods.

Checking food labels allows one to compare a variety of brands and products that are lower in salt. An important consideration is the serving size of the food selected. Many food labels state the amount of salt per serving. If there are three servings in a container, you must take the total sodium and multiply by three.

Foods high in salt have more than 1.5g salt / 100g (or 0.6g sodium / 100g) Foods low in salt have less than 0.3g salt /100g (or 0.1g sodium / 100g)

An informed consumer can take control of the amount of salt in personal food preparation by simply looking at the food label. However, counting one’s salt intake is difficult if one chooses to eat out in restaurants, cafes and takeaway establishments. You may be surprised to learn that a lot of the food industry serves salt-laden, unhealthy, preservative-rich foods.

Tips to reduce salt when dining out The best way to reduce one’s salt intake is to ask a lot of questions when ordering. Ask about sauces, marinades and rubs as they are likely loaded with excess salt. Also look for the words ‘salt’ ‘salted’, ‘smoked’ or ‘cured’ in the name.

It’s important to know what kind of meat is in the dish as well. Processed meats and fish such as ham, bacon, salami, sausages, pate, smoked fish have the highest amount of salt.

Takeaway restaurants are often the worst as they simply assemble their foods from boxes versus preparing fresh foods from scratch. It’s important to cut back on sauces such as soy sauce, ketchup, brown sauce, pickled condiments and salad dressings as these can be very high in salt. Take it easy on the cheeses, olives, deli meats, and croutons in salads and ask for salad dressings on the side, if at all.

It’s important to stick to lean meats and fresh vegetables that are grilled, baked or roasted. Ask for steamed vegetables with a squeeze of lemon instead of sauces

or additional cheeses.

And, always remember to taste one’s food before adding any additional salt.

Shopping and cooking with less salt Convenience foods are also found in grocery stores. Pizza, pasties, readymade meals, canned, boxed and even certain frozen foods should be closely looked at. Snacks such as crisps, salted nuts, popcorn and processed snack meats commonly sneak into the shopping cart.

Look for fresh, tinned or frozen meats and vegetables with no added salt or preservatives. Cooking these food items from scratch will have significantly less salt than dining out or eating assembly food from a box. When preparing fresh foods, avoid adding salt while cooking or serving.

A food can be salty without tasting the salt Breakfast cereals, soups, sauces, ready meals, breads, cheeses, cakes and biscuits often do not taste salty at all.

One or two servings of these foods often contain more salt that is recommended for adults and especially children. The consumer is completely unaware due to the amount of sugar that suppresses the saltiness.

Taste buds eventually get used to high levels of salt and it’s common for one not to notice the saltiness of some foods.

When people eat less salt their taste buds

Hidden... page 27

Letter to the editor

Looking at the bigger picture Dear Editor, It is true that the condo residential and non-residential houses built in the Afar Regional State at Aysaita and other villages intended to accommodate the sugar factories staff are at risk due to gusty wind as it was reported in The Reporter on February 23, 2013.

Understandably, the region is characterized by strong winds. As a result, the roofs of many buildings, including locally built houses, were destroyed. This natural phenomenon recurs year in and year out.

readily handled in consonance with the General Condition of Contract for Civil Works clause 21 under “excepted risks” directive of the Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MOWUD) 1994.

However, the report has disregarded the details and does not show the bigger picture.

Nevertheless, as I am one of the 299 vulnerable contractors, I willingly would like to reveal the disputed matter to readers with sincerity and honesty.

This act of God or force majeure, however, is not the bone of contention for the dispute created between the contractor and the client, the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation.

The long time inherently simmering dispute surfaced in the month of January 2012, following the arrest of the Tendaho Housing Development Project Office management group suspected of embezzlement, fraud, and corruption allegation.

Such

This grim scenario was followed by

occurrences

in

essence

are

harsh illegitimate measure of the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, who at the time intervened and expelled all contractors, contrary to the individually signed contract the General Conditions of Contract of MOWUD and the Public Procurement and Property Administration Agencies’ conditions of Contract.

In spite of this fact, conflict of interest flared up between contractors and the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation. As a government institution, however, the Corporation could have done a better job to do the least administrative measures thought to be a panacea for everyone and us including the vulnerable public in the project area who are denied their basic rights in spite of contractors’ failure to discharge their responsibilities in effecting payments in reward for the

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service attained.

I understand the Corporation’s severe and one-sided measure emanated as a result of the voracious financial appetite of the project that devoured millions of birr in excess of its set financial benchmark.

Be that as it may, regarding the disputed matter, lastly after untold and exhaustive efforts of contractors, the government has taken and is taking daring steps to settle claims tabled prior to the arrest of the management group.

Hoping the outcome would be fruitful in the end, I advise The Reporter to discharge its duties responsibly and dutifully.

Tadele Alemu tsige_2233@yahoo.com

Man

Society

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

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desperately hanging on to history stones at one another and was arrested for days because of this,” he says, Ali Hasan is also studying to prove the possibility of Berta being the immediate next generation that came after Adam as many of the world’s names, according to him, particularly names of countries and city’s are already in the language of the Bertas. “Any known name in the world has its meaning in Berta,” he argues. Names of continents, countries and big cities of the world have their own meaning in Berta, he asserts. “I’m on the verge of completing my personal studies and hopefully some professionals like historians or anthropologists show interest in the matter and conduct their own investigation,” he says.

Ali Hasan has always been curios about legends of his tribe and the stories that he had learned from his fathers through time. He has always been emotional and at times aggressive about the legacies of his family. He traveled across the country to inspect and make sure the treasures are kept well. He, however, feels sorry these days that he can never do it as he did before. Now he is old and deso not possess the resources to cover its expenses. “We have houses and shops in different part of the capital that the government granted to our grandfather for his role that was played in the patriotic movement during the Italian invasion,” he remembers. There are about 10,000 grandchildren from 73 offspring of the late Sheik Hojele, and many are in the misery that they can’t even access their daily bread, he remarked.

Ali Hasan

By Henok Reta

have introduced a democratic system and fair judiciary in the region.

For its somehow hostile weather and remoteness from the center of the country, the Benishangul Gumuz region attracts an impressive number of visitors both from within and outside of Ethiopia, mostly for its immense business opportunity. The region’s mineral resources, including, gold have made it the most important site for investment. Agriculture and energy are also the other untapped resources that the region has to offer. Nevertheless, its ancient historical heritage could also be as important as its resources since there is the potential to discover one of the most incredible stories of the world. The people are composed of five basic ethnic groups: Berta, Shinasha, Mao, Komo and Gumuz. The dominant ethnic group – Berta – has been so influential in the region for years under their renowned leader, Sheik Hojele, who was one of the greatest provincial governor of the early 1900 Ethiopia. Despite reservations of some historians and politicians, he was admired for skillful management of tribal differences and was also said to

Asosa, the capital of the region, hosts some of the main heritages of the kingdom from those days. However, very few of these historical relics of the old kingdom are left behind, and those which survive the test of time appear to be on the verge of demolition. Sheik Hojele’s palace, the courthouse and a few other administrative buildings have been preserved and still welcome tourists.

But, one can tell that they are in need of quick restoration. Ali Hasan Abdulahi Hojele is the only grandson alive to tell the story of his grandfather and father alike. Residing in a ramshackle house, which is an old villa used as the main retail enterprise of the town, the 85-yearold Ali Hasan struggles to remember historical facts that both his fathers and grandfather were famous for in the reign.

According to him, the region is one of the most war-torn regions of the country which has seen a series of tribal conflicts and the external invasions.

He asserts that war has been the

most significant cause of instability, poverty and migration of the people in Benishangul. “I remember when I was a child, the region was the number one in the country in its cattle population ,” he says.

Due to protracted war and internal conflict, the resources in the region were shattered slowly. However, the people have not generally been hostile towards one another; rather they were able to find themselves in a somewhat harmonious situation most of the time. As a person who likes to put his personal historical accounts in an organized way, Ali Hasan, strives for preservation and revelation of the true historical facts and legends of his land. He has suffered a lot because of this, he says. Once he even had to fight people who attempted to desecrate his families’ history by constructing their dwellings in his grandfather’s palace in the capital. “During the transition some 17 years ago, I went to Addis Ababa to see how the palace was doing. I wanted to check if it was preserved not. When I got there there were some people in the locality who were ruining this historical site. I got into a fight with them, we threw

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Currently Ali Hasan was able to get a budget for the restoration of the ancient courthouse that was used by his grandfather after a series of negotiations with the government. 150,000 birr is not worth that much in restoring an ancient courthouse which is found in a devastating state without any proper attention from the regional government or the ministry of culture and tourism.

Like an old African saying goes, the death of an elder is equivalent to the burning down of a library and Ali Hasan is one of the few survivals of his noble family who can hand over the historical accounts and the legends of his tribe. He seemed hopeless about a better future generation who is vigilant and vibrant about safeguarding those innumerable heritages in the country. Nevertheless, this is somehow a better time to recognize the diversity of this great nation, Hasan contend.

“When I went to the capital to see Sheik Hojele’s palace, only one third of the palace was in good shape and new construction was going on inside the palace. That was really upsetting; it is the generation itself that should stand against such outrageous behavior of destruction,” he concludes.

spirit Lifestyle

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

The

14|

of the net buster

Assosa Stadium is the where Saladin started his football carrier

By Henok Reta

African football field but possesses nothing worthy of the name; except a lot of potential to produce many youngsters even for the world class football leagues.

The only attraction for the children is something intrinsic – love for game of football. “We don’t know it. It‘s just something that can’t be expressed in words. We have known it earlier than anything here,” Anmut tries to explain the passion brushing away sweat off the forehead.

The cloud of dust and the burning heat doesn’t seem to bother the youngsters who are busy chasing a ball in the disfigured football field. They pay little attention to what is going on past the field since they never wish to take their eyes away from the ball. They tirelessly chase the ball and pass it to a team mate, after a doing few trick and moves, sometime passing it through between the legs of an opponent player to slam the ball hard into the net. The celebration of a goal is every bit genuine as a professional match and the man behind the street football in Asosa is their living legendnational team striker Saladin Said.

Anmut Kebede, 22, is one of the youths who plays football, enthusiastically so, all-day long in the sensation of Saladin’s success.

“Wow, he is so big in Asosa. Whoever plays football here is inspired by him.

He is such a skillful and self-trained footballer,” he says. Formally named Asosa stadium, the pitch is a typical

Saladin Said

Ethiopians have a profound affection for football and they are as crazy as any footballing nation about the game.

Almost every child grows up playing football much frequently than any other game in most parts of the country.

However, the majority drops it like a bad habit some time as if they feel they just recognized that they would be in danger if they kept playing. They rather turn to education or other businesses to secure better living conditions. Despite deeprooted affection it has among the youth, professional football has never been a success story in Ethiopia.

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As a founding member of the continental championship and CAF, many believe that Ethiopian football should have been in the position where the likes of Egypt, a peer founding country of continental tournament, is at present. However, it remains a fact that the country’s national team is still at the bottom of the lower rating teams. According to some critics, the poor organizational structure in the federation is not fit to tackle the bottlenecks at the grass-roots level, not to mention the lack of proper professionals at the regional level to cultivate young talents like Anmut. The level of amateurism that is dominating the national football is also not a small problem, they continue to argue.

Nevertheless, many of the youths don’t simply give up football by feeling discouraged. They rather roll around the pierced ball in their dusty fields, and torn jerseys. These youths, in Asosa might somehow be the lucky ones as they have inspiration; a man that made it out of shambles and somewhat laid out a road-map to follow.

Viewpoint +

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

|15

T

ime is so important. But in developing countries, it is wasted.

Here in Ethiopia it is wasted. In my office I see it wasted. In my family I see it wasted. But most importantly, I see it wasted in my own personal life.

Time and habit

By Nebyou W.

Time is so important. But in developing countries, it is wasted. Here in Ethiopia it is wasted. In my office I see it wasted.

In my family I see it wasted. But most importantly, I see it wasted in my own personal life.

We Ethiopians seem to be blessed by having aeons of time on our hands but are cursed for not doing much with it.

We drink coffee, socialize, sleep etc.

These may not be too bad. The essence of using time, I suppose, is realizing that the effort we put into things today are bound to be fruitful in the future. There is a saying in the Big Book, ‘you reap what you sow.’ This verse, I found, just like the whole word of God, is a two-way sword. On the one hand, if you sow ‘good’ then you should rejoice no matter what your environment is now. On the other hand, if you sow ‘bad’ then you should realize that down the tunnel something not too pleasing is waiting for you. As much as it is pleasing to be on the first list it is such a ‘I wouldn’t want to be in your feet’ thing to be on the second. What I am trying to say is that just as those good habits add up every day to make our later lives more successful, those bad habits that we have built up along the years will beat us down several times before we break them or they break us.

As mentioned on the ‘7 habits of highly successful people,’ one of the things that is hard to beat is a habit. As it takes time “We had heard of some who played for big teams in Addis Ababa and Yemen before but what we know about Ethiopian footballers is mostly about Saladin,” Muhe Idris, 20-year old prospect football star admits. Ahmed Said, oldest in Saladin’s family, who also played in the first league in the capital, remembers how his brother was. “He was so devoted to play football. He usually runs from home in the morning and comes back around evening with his ball. He never thought about other things except the games; he would make it to the field every day,” he says.

“Saladin was not only a skilled footballer in his childhood but also a clever student as well, but he gave much of his time to football. Now he is backing bread with the game,”Zainaba his mother remembers. Kedija, younger sister, strives to draw a lesson from of her famous brother. “We are very proud of him and we are learning a lot from the path he is walking on every day.” Among seven siblings in the family, four of the

to form a habit, it takes time to beat it. So these easy things that we do every day, these dilly-dallies which we do to satisfy our whimsy inclinations will in the end become a very hard habit to beat. This is why it is always imperative that we build good habits. But we should realize that even the good habits can become our prisons. In the novel, ‘The Last Samurai’ (I may be mistaken about the title), it speaks of the ‘thousand walls’ that the Japanese built around themselves in order to ‘succeed’ in their way of life. But the problem is that the best of them who managed to put up such an impregnable wall end up trapped in the wall.

Oh! what an awe-inspiring client time is! It is never on your side or against you per se. There is a saying that chance favors the prepared mind. Well, time favors the prepared. Time is given to us as a ‘Meklit’ or a talent and we need to trade with it and bring forth profit.

And the owner of time is going to come to ask what we did with it. Note that this will not happen at the end of times, but rather at intervals (which can be as small as seconds and micro seconds) to check what you or I do or did with it.

That is what we call the reaping of what we sow.

Actually the phrase ‘reap what you sow’ doesn’t just indicate the ‘sowing.’ But it includes all the cares that the ‘farmer’ needs to bestow on the land and the sown seed to bring about a fruit. I think that can be indicative of the ‘habit’ concept. boys fall in love with football. “This is not peculiar to their family, however. Every young man in Asosa plays football. But what makes them different is that they did it at the level of the biggest leagues in the country,” Kidane Abere, resident of the village says. He views there will be more skillful players to appear in the coming few years from the field that yielded the most famous football player of the country at the time. “I’m counting on the skills and unshakable passion to play football here,” he added.

Saladin helped the national team side in the qualification round of 29th African Cup of Nations by scoring the winning and most decisive goal during the game held in Addis Ababa stadium a few months ago. He was also the only player to play in all three games in a row in South Africa finales. “We were ecstatic whenever he played in international games and we light up the night sky with firecrackers in every game. We, however never forget the night when he scored the winning goal against Sudan

The more you spend your time tending a ‘habit’, the more fruit it brings. The more you cultivate drunkenness and debauchery the more you reap of it.

There was a work mate of mine with whom I worked for quite a number of years. He used to be a heavy drinker, which finally got him fired and out of work for a considerable length of time.

But the thing was that he had a very good education (‘the good habit’) from film professionals from abroad. So, even though he was fired, he managed to get various freelance jobs from other sources. But in the end he chased away these jobs (his employers) and even his parents (who in turn chased him away from home) as he couldn’t control his awful habits.

Although his jokes sometimes take a wild turn and become outright insults, which sometimes earn him a punch or a kick, one credit to this guy is that he is jovial and knows how to crack jokes. Anyway, two or three years after he was fired, we started working at the same place. He joined this firm some four or five months before me and one of our colleague told me what he said when he was hired.

The literal Amharic was ‘beqa, ende aweliya menor qere.’ The translation is ‘finally, living like an Awelia is over.’

Awelia is a sort of ancestral spirit that is worshipped by some people in the country. Bewildered by his utterance, this colleague of ours asked him what he meant. The answer was ‘Awelia’ doesn’t is to take his team to the tournament after 31 years. It was a kind of national ceremony and we headed to his family to celebrate,” Anmut says.

Nowadays football is not just a game that someone plays for enjoyment. Rather, it is a serious business worth millions of dollars if the player is disciplined and skillful. Many professional football players in Europe have been earning a great deal of money to uplift their family and even their society out of poverty.

For instance, the renowned Ivorian footballer, Didier Drogba, has done an exemplary job for his fellow citizens in Abijan. Saladin, the man who opened the door for professionalism in Ethiopia having signed for a Belgian side, Lierse, has now started helping his family in his home town. He contributed to the reconstruction of his family’s home and has bought his family a truck to generate additional income, moreover he is on the way to start business in his hometown that might help others than his immediate family. “We are

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get off people’s shoulders’. The Amharic is quite expressive and it goes ‘awelia hule ke sew ras ayeweredem.’

Anyway, the main morale of the story is that this guy had bad habits and good training (which I will call a productive ‘habit’.) The bad habit just kept throwing him in all sorts of storms and forced him to even ‘live like an Awelia.’ But the productive habit helped him survive the storm. But time has changed him now as he is maturing and has even kept this job for more than two years now.

If each of us look back at our lives, our good habits have, most of the times, been there for us in testing times and the bad ones have let us down. Therefore it would be safe to assume, at least to a certain degree, that our lives are predominantly colored by our habits. Moreover the way we utilize our time also dictates our life story. I think this realization will help in at least two aspects. One is that we can now think more carefully about how we use our time and we can start sowing now watchfully and with diligence so that we can reap it some where down the road (it should also be mentioned that there are immediate benefits, not just long term ones.) Furthermore, we should also realize that it takes time to beat our weaknesses (especially those associated with our habits) and that we should fight and keep on fighting until we win them over. Merci beaucoup – thanks! helping our family together but much of the contribution is coming from him,” Ahmed, the eldest one says.

Now, every child has got his own role model there and the spirit of Saladin is taking root there in the form of inspiration that they can be someone, whoever they want to be, in the football world.

In spite of all the talents, however, the kids of Asosa are still in need of more investment to exploit their potential.

“We don’t have many clubs here except a few funded by the government agencies.

Most of us here are doing on our own.

It will be so promising if the clubs are established professionally,” Anmut, one of the promising young talent points out. Rashid, the youngest of the family in the shadow of the Saladin, is showing prospect in the business, however. And many in the town admire his talent and say he would be next t to reign in Ethiopian football.

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

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When

the going gets tough,

the tough get going

T

he injuries, passing out, the gushing blood everywhere and the violent and obvious aim of hurting and knocking out your opponent are the goals of boxing, and also the reasons the sport has sort of a bad reputation. It’s one of the more controversial sports out there, banned in many countries. “What’s wrong with a little bit of blood,” asks Meskerem Chura, a female boxer, champion for ten consecutive years.

See the full story on the next page

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The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

By Tibebeselassie Tigabu

The injuries, passing out, the gushing blood everywhere and the violent and obvious aim of hurting and knocking out your opponent are the goals of boxing, and also the reasons the sport has sort of a bad reputation. It’s one of the more controversial sports out there, banned in many countries. “What’s wrong with a little bit of blood,” asks Meskerem Chura, a female boxer, champion for ten consecutive years.

When it comes to woman’s boxing, the violence is given more significance and exaggerated, where it is given medical reasons. They say since women give birth, they should be precautious, which is believed to be bringing hormonal imbalance. Those who understand the sport and those who consider it an art say these are all myths and say it is only associated with cultural reasons.

Women are depicted conventionally as being fragile creatures, life-givers, emotional, and objects of beauty, the idea of boxing goes against all of these roles.

Those women who veer away from these stereotypes are dubbed Tomboys, or “wondawond” in Amharic.

These are women who made it against all odds, who fulfilled their dreams despite the name-calling and alienation they endure.

Going to the in scene of the neighborhoods of Addis proves to be a different experience; it has a different flavor and comprises different people Shiromeda,

which

is

the

old

|17

neighborhood of Addis, is renowned for its traditional clothes and for being a residence for the weavers who have been around for some time.

They stretch their little hands and concentrate on following the routines, where they do the upright stance, semicrouch and full-crouch.

Apart from that, the street is full of people and there is a tej bet (a drinking joint) every 100 meters. There are also signs that read Netela hung outside, indicating that this is the neighborhood of the weavers.

Unlike in films, there is no punching bag, they don’t have gloves or rowing machines, the only thing they have is jumping rope.

Meskerem Choro, 25, is one the Shemanes, but in the neighborhood she is renowned as a boxer.

Walking the streets gracefully, many smile at her or nod their heads as greeting but it is easy to tell it’s her neighborhood, no strange feelings.

This recognition did not come easily. She paid the price and the sacrifice in blood and sweat starting from her childhood.

Attired in her jacket that has Addis Ababa written on the back, sweat pants, Adidas shoes and braided hair she is full of humility even though she claims she is egoistic.

For two years now, every day she walks to the Youth Center to train more than 100 children and teens and plays a big role in fulfilling their dreams of being boxers.

She understands their thirst to make it somewhere; many of them train barefooted on very cold floors. Most of the ones who have shoes have torn or plastic ones, ragged and faded uniforms The youth center is located around Shiromeda, in a condominium, and is filled with the children’s laughter, heavy breathing and running around.

T h i s situation reminds her of her childhood, when she also trained w i t h o u t boxing gloves, wrist wraps, mouth guards breast protection, armed solely with her fighting spirit.

Her dream of being a boxer started at the Entoto Amba School where she played football until fifth grade.

Her attention was diverted when she saw boys training for boxing. In her hiding spot she used to wait until the after school box-training program started and just stare at them.

She started talking to them and the trainer was okay with the idea of training her so she started her training with the boys. She was the only girl and

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the other boys were nice to her.

“They treated me well and that was nice,” says Meskerem.

That was the start of her professional boxing career. Boxing, as she says, is her life

even though it does not benefit financially.

her

Her friends were boys and they considered her one of them, with cleancut hair. When she finished high school she joined technical school, studied mechanics and also studied cooking, which she never pursued.

It was in the ninth grade that she started her fights and went to the regions.

Her only hope now is being part of the national team, if it is ever established.

When... page 18

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

18|

When...

Since many of them are tall, she makes them bow down, after that, the face hitting starts. She was a champion of Ethiopia from 2001 to 2011, a champion for a decade. She competed in four competitions individually, club, Ethiopian, Yidnekachew championship and she has been a champion of all.

The awards she got is in the whole Ethiopian championship were 1,000 and 1,500 birr but which goes to only for her outfits.

She is short and plump and when she fights she usually smacks their stomach, that’s also her strategy in kicking. She used to train by herself in the field, in the forest, wherever spot she got, even sometimes barefooted.

comes to woman’s boxing.

Even though it started in 1904, it was included in the Olympic in 2009.

Cont`d from page 17 She had a hard life and somehow she thought she would escape the hardship in her life. Growing up she started as a shoeshine girl, daily laborer. In her 11year stay in boxing, even though she thinks it is her life she barely gets any money and rather gets her satisfaction through the children. A smile comes to her face when she talks about them.

She is frustrated with the current situation but still gets relief to be in control in her life, and be in serenity.

This is her escape method from her disappointment and expectations. One thing she is proud of is paving a way for many boxers, including her three sisters who were also inspired by her, all becoming boxers.

After winning a couple of fights she was able to make a couple of hundred birr, with which she bought shoes. Her parents didn’t want to hear the word boxing but she was persistent.

According to Solomon Zewdu, Ethiopian Boxing Federation Yesirahidet (working progress) director, this boxing sport was introduced during the Italian occupation when it was popular among the Italian army.

In 2004 she became part of the Alebe Show Club that was founded by the late comedian Alebachew Teka but it did not

Since there was racism it was hard for them to accept fighting with a black

Nowadays there are training and competition programs. In 2008 the program went to the woreda level.

Now they are encouraging different stakeholders to support the sport.

One of the thing about this sport is that it needs materials and many of them do not have the protection material.

There is no woman’s club in the country where women boxers wait for yearly competition and there is no money to live off of so they are forced to leave.

In Amhara there is boxing in the woreda level, but Solomon stresses how the club is necessary to support them. Now the federation is trying to fulfill materials so the sport can be practiced in a safe and convenient way, saying it is about discipline, control and freedom.

Recently, they are promising initiatives especially in the Amhara region, Gondar, Bahardar and Dessie.

Abraham Abebe is an instructor in the small township of Gondar named Maksegnit that is a 30-minute drive from Gondar. It has been two years since they started woman’s boxing project where they have been successful in taking the gold medal to their township.

When they train many people come and watch them through the window.

Despite the societal belief and resistance to accept the sport, Meseret Awoke is trying to change the township belief in woman’s boxing.

Last year was one of her successful years, when she won gold medal in Adama and became champion.

Her first exposure of boxing was watching TV, after that she met Abraham and he persuaded her and also made her fall in love with the sport.

Usually she does her trainings if she is not on her period. She is a tenth grader but also a part time singer and dancer in a club called Hiwot Chora. Since it is a very small township, people know her, where many men also do not harass her and that is one of the privileges of the sport. Different from Meskerem, she was never called a wondawond, rather she is suspicious how people look at her when they see her different from women..

She does not like the name wondawond but does not confront anyone who looks at her suspiciously or who comments about it.

Those little ones who think they are already grown up who know the language of grownups and calculate the right answer like Sara Addis are not afraid of confrontations and want to school everyone.

Sara is a fourth grader at Atse Teklegiorgis School and is trained by Meskerem. Talking to her for a while one forgets that she is a child, a grownup trapped in a young body.

She started boxing a year ago and talks about her former trainer who passed away passionately.

She believes boxing is an exercise that is done for health and goes on and on how women are seen in the society and how women are capable of doing anything men can.

“We need support from the different stakeholders. So we can be effective in anything we do,” says Sara.

She believes boxing can be used for a defensive method and also advises how to be careful especially during sparring.

She is grateful of those women boxers; women coaches making it like the men.

bring money but food, a gymnasium and a yearly outfit.

“Money was never my issue back then,” says Meskerem

person. Fregzi was an Eritrean who won many fights and somehow forced them to revise their racist rules.

Monthly pocket money of 200 birr started a while ago and she was part of the club for almost four years and for one year she lived in the camp. After the founder died, the club also ceased to exist.

Woman’s boxing started very late, around 1991 and the pioneer was a girl from Dessie named Hanna Meresa and after six year she came to Addis to compete but there was no one in the country.

Those boxers who were with her actually went to Dubai looking for a better life, quitting the sport, but she was persistent in doing what she does in any case.

Around 1997, different regions started their own boxing, Adama, Jigiga, Diredawa, Hosaena, Harari, and in 2000 the first championship started.

She continued her training again until she stopped two years ago and focused her energy in training children. When she started, there were 150 children and also teens comprising both sexes.

In 2001 the coming of four-woman club, namely Nyala, Addis Ababa Police, Alebe Show and Addis Ketema started flourishing, which gave rise to women boxing.

She strongly believes in the young ones and puts in a lot of work there. Even though these children are part of the sub-city they only get yearly outfits and they give her 400 birr for soap for the children, which disappoints her in a way.

Many of these clubs supported them in food and also outfits, which he thinks is the reason for the dissolution of these clubs. According to Solomon, one of the challenges of the sport is that many of the materials are not available and it is very expensive which makes the boxers face hardship.

“We don’t get anything. It is frustrating,” says Meskerem.

He says the assumption about boxing is wrong and it becomes doubled when it

Now there are three women boxers in the township.

He trains them three times a day, where they have a gymnasium with the support of a public school, which is a huge relief.

They also prepare fights even though there is no ring but they do matches that are two minutes for four rounds, which is different from the men’s three-minute three rounds.

The challenge here is that there are no protection materials where there are six gloves for 23 boxers and they use it interchangeably, and also the ring is very alien to them, normally competing in the field.

Since there is no protection for breasts, they are forced to compromise the fights, where the women are told not to hit each other around the chest area.

Even though there are different categories, 48-52 kilo bout is the usual one. He believes a woman boxer is a unique thing and in that township many people are used to the idea of women boxers but also at the same time they are not used to it.

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During the sub-city competition, she won gold, and got a hundred birr and gave the money to her mother and got shoes.

Her ambitious dream is to be a boxer who can represent Ethiopia internationally and also a scientist, and she is sure she will make it as a boxer.

Aster Churo, 19, who’s been nicknamedd Boxe for the past six years, is not so confident about making it as a boxer.

Alternatively she is studying nursing but also does her trainings persistently.

Many believe women are not created to fight but she does not believe that. She goes to the different regions and has acquired silver medals. Her family is fine with it and so is her boyfriend.

Sometimes he teases her by saying “do not beat me up” but she says it is not serious.

She gets the society mixed feeling when some encourage and also discourage her but leaving this entirety aside, she continues boxing. Her dream is also to leave Ethiopia and to compete abroad.

Usually she wears dresses, not fitting the stereotype of boxers.

Lifestyle

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

|19

The four musketeers of Kenya: the adventures of bike riding

From left: Jacob Meninga, Paul Chekuhero, Mburu Ngugi and John Kamande mounting on their motorbikes here in Addis

By Birhanu Fikade

Unlike the four musketeers of Alexander Dumas, our friends are not swordsmen who fight so courageously to occupy enemies’ strongholds, or fight for their freedom. They are typical countrymen from Kenya who happen to be fond of having fun with their motorbikes.

They love riding. That is all. They have crossed most East African countries riding medium horse-powered bikes.

Just last week they hit the road to Ethiopia and rode some 1,662 km up here from Nairobi. And that’s how they had a real adventure. The four of them came down here by themselves to face the road challenges and enjoy a vacation. Paul Chekuhero, 34, a self-employed family guy left a nine-month old child and a four-year-old kid at home and rode to Addis Ababa. He remembers how hard it was convincing his beloved wife. Of course, all four have families back home.

The insurance broker, Mburu Ngugi, left four kids at home for the love of riding.

The story is similar for Jacob Meninga, 32, a security systems businessman who became a legal rider last year, and the group chief and the eldest, John Kamande, 48, a property developer who has lately become a passionate rider was

honest to tell The Reporter that he got his biking license at the age of 45. All four may not have been allowed to leave by their loved ones as riding is exhilarating but extremely dangerous. From the families’ point of view, it is absolute madness. However, the husbands crossed the border into Ethiopia and the journey took them just about four days.

They said they were riding about 70 to 80 kmph.

Our four brethren told The Reporter last week before they hit the road back home that they were almost embarrassed to know that the Kenyan side of the road – some 400 KM - was really hard to ride through. It is treacherous up until they reach the border town of Moyale.

They said it was challenging but most of all scary too, as bandits occupy all the off-grid roads. “In Ethiopia, the roads are much better and safer. In Kenya the challenges are the roads and the bandits,” Ngugi said, though the Ethiopian customs officers made them stop and be checked. And that forced them to ride in the dark for about two hours in a strange land, especially because they would normally not ride at night. However, it was a safe.

The amazing thing here is that all the musketeers had to guide them on their

journey were their motorbikes and roads.

They said none of them had any map of any sort. The beauty of riding on a bike, according to them, lies in interacting with the people and places they pass.

Navigating and fixing the roaring machines all make it adventurous as the same time enjoyable. Kamande, however, advises that if people have not already had many children, to “please not try” to do these things. You might end up childless.

Our visitors were happy not just about the smooth roads. They, like many tourists, tell stories splendidly of how they enjoyed the local food at such cheap prices, or how happy they were visiting historical and cultural sites, like the one in Hawassa town called “Sidamo Cultural Center.” They could even tell you how blessed Ethiopia is to have museums as reminders of the past glorious times and preserved kingship.

They mentioned how fast broadband Internet connection was in the border towns, much faster than in Addis.

Hearing many such stories would make an Ethiopian gaze out for a moment and feel proud.

However, the other side of the story is also aggravating. This tourist and tourism favored country fails to brand

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and make money, even from our respected neighbors, which is what the musketeers are telling us. They did not have a single clue about what to visit when they drove through the country.

They say they knew nothing about cultural centers or attractive lounges until they came into the towns. But now they claim to be witnesses of the beauty they experienced. The musketeers mentioned a few more things that they loved about our country, for instance they were very happy about the man who fixed one of their motorbikes.

They mentioned a motorbike mechanic, “Doctor” Mohamed, who lives in Addis.

The good “Doctor” managed to fix one of the troubled bikes in just about a few hours. According to Paul Chekuhero, that could have taken three or four days’ back home. They spread the word about Mohamed to their friends who intend to follow suit.

Now they are planning another adventure to southern Africa. They have almost exhausted East Africa, with the exception of visiting Burundi and Somalia for security reasons. And they plan to ride into Johannesburg to enjoy the most daring challenges of biking.

They left Addis and rode back to Kenya last Saturday morning

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

20|

Getting... no single model for managing rapid urbanization exists, positive examples offer some guidance.

For example, Seoul’s population more than tripled from 1960 to 2000. South Korean policymakers, anticipating the challenges, strengthened institutions for valuing and pricing land, trained a cadre of appraisers to ensure transparency in the valuation process, and publicly disseminated land-value information.

At the same time, the government supported construction of high-rise residential buildings capable of housing the growing urban population and developed multiple transport modes, including highways, rail networks, and subway lines, which have helped to connect people with employment opportunities within and among cities.

Likewise, leaders in Singapore and Japan treated public transport as a

crucial aspect of land-use plans. As a result, they boast some of the world’s lowest energy consumption as a share of GDP. In order to encourage citizens to use public transport, policymakers in Tokyo reduced subsidies for private cars, so that driving one became five times costlier than using public transport. Complementary investment in high-speed inter-city transport has reduced travel times between Japan’s two largest agglomerations, Tokyo and Osaka, which are 314 miles apart, to less than two and a half hours, thus integrating labor and housing markets and enhancing productivity.

On the other hand, detractors of federalism see justifications for federalism such as the above as nothing but academically furnished ways of romanticizing federalism. Skeptical writers like Jan Erk warn us not to celebrate only the rosy side of federalism.

He argues that, in divided societies, federalism and the institutions it relies on might pave the way for secessionist impulses and exacerbate conflict. Dawn Brancati complements Erk’s skepticism that federalism might be a resting point

In Mumbai, the auction of 13 hectares of land in the new financial center, the Bandra-Kurla Complex, generated USD 1.2 billion. This amounts to more than ten times the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s total expenditure in 2005, and six times the total value of municipal bonds issued by all local governments and utilities in India in more than a decade.

Of course, financing rapid urban development requires significant capital outlays to build efficient systems for transport, water provision, solid waste management, and sewage removal and

Similarly, in Istanbul, the auction of an old bus station and government building in 2007 generated USD 1.5 billion – more than the city’s total expenditures and infrastructure investments in 2005.

And Colombia’s finance ministry has developed Findeter, a bond bank that finances regional urban infrastructure projects by providing resources to financial intermediaries that allocate

Cont`d from page 10

standards; and mutual understanding of rights, interests, intents, and flexibility despite incompatibilities. In a nutshell, these are the conditions, causes and instruments for stability.

Has Ethiopia... design it brings about is congruent with instruments of stability. As the renowned theoretician on federalism, Daniel Elazar, vehemently argues, federalism is all about marring ‘selfrule’ with ‘shared-rule’ and the genuine application of these two principles of governance make federalism the most eligible candidate to foster stability as it embraces both the principle of subsidiarity-managing local affairs at the lowest level, and involving divergent views and intentions of groups of many kinds at the national level of governance.

He infers that these instruments are crucial and applicable in a view to creating double allegiance, one for the group that an individual claims to be a member of and another for the overarching national polity all the groups claim to belong to (save for a secessionist group.) Some also hail federalism as a unique type of governance that stretches the benefits of democracy in matters that can be addressed by both a constituent unit of a federation and the federal government for the individual gets an extended opportunity of litigation.

Moreover, federalism theoretically dictates economic stability both at a constituent unit level, as it suggests local affairs to be administered by local institutions (with the power of taxation,) and at the national government level which is composed of the constituent units and whose primary economic objectives are wealth redistribution and economic stability, among others. For such reasons, there is overwhelming enthusiasm that federalism is a vital condition, cause and instrument of political stability.

Cont`d from page 11

treatment. But, as these investments bolster economic growth, increased tax revenues would imply more sustainable financing, as would local governments’ ability to leverage land markets and approach local-currency debt markets.

on the way to secession, particularly for groups with their own vigilant political party that can exploit the economic and political instruments the federal arrangement provides to its benefit.

Furthermore, some are hesitant to suggest the federal instrument to sustain stability for they fear that federalism and its institutions have the potential of freezing identities and leading to ethnic and related conflicts. Hence, federalism might also be a slippery slope. However, putting the skeptics and critics aside, one should analyze whether the Ethiopian federal arrangement brought about ‘stability’ or not in the light of the institutions the system forged over the years.

I need to be very clear at this point that I am not one of those who tend to equate stability with negative peace (a political condition characterized by mere absence of wars and violent conflicts.)

Had stability been all about negative peace, I would have been one of the first speakers about the stability achieved by the Ethiopian federal arrangement and the institutions it built. But for obvious academic and practical reasons, I argue that stability goes beyond positive peace, let alone negative peace. The University for Peace elaborates positive peace as a political condition that ensures justice and social stability through formal and informal institutions, practices, and norms. Accordingly, several conditions must be met for peace to be reached and maintained: balance of political power among the various groups within a society, region, or, most ambitiously, the world; legitimacy for decision makers and implementers of decisions in the eyes of their respective group, as well as those of external parties, duly supported through transparency and accountability; recognized and valued interdependent relationships among groups fostering long-term cooperation during periods of agreement, disagreement, normality, and crisis; reliable and trusted institutions for resolving conflicts; sense of equality and respect, in sentiment and in practice, within and without groups and in accordance with international

I argue that the political, economic, ethnic and the recently religious cleavages and tensions in contemporary Ethiopia are axiomatic. And I ask the proverbial question Walker Connor asked decades back, whether ignoring this fact or giving scant attention to such cleavages as one of the minor impediments to the loudly voiced ‘developmentalism’ project is worth ‘nation building or nation destroying.’

Needless to mention, this question is worth asking particularly in a polity like ours where these cleavages are political facts to face. Worse, such cleavages with their potential to shake the very foundation of the polity, if at all we are a polity, are floating amidst a political environment where the causes and conditions for positive peace and stability are seldom celebrated and practical beyond rhetoric.

One may doubt all the skepticism and wonder the merits of the assertions.

However, my line of argument hinges on the institutionalization and institutionsbased analysis of stability. In line with this perspective, I ask whether the Ethiopian federal arrangement and the political system thereof forged institutions; institutions that earned legitimacy and trust; ensured justice; fostered cross cutting identity and unity; prevented/ managed/transformed/resolved tensions and conflicts of various types; helped develop, at least, the framework for national consensus; and nourished a democratized political sphere beyond fear and pretention politics. By the same token, as a committed citizen, one may be wary as to how institutions drive the center-periphery relations, or is that only the party-channel that the nation hinges on? Or, are we risking stability by dampening the fire? These queries, I believe, spark a soul-searching national dialogue that may pave the way to political understanding, hence help commence the nation building project both from below and above. As an enthusiastic and moderate citizen, I believe democratization, state and nation building are processes. So does federalism and federations. On the other hand, I also believe that ‘a fruitfull’ process requires promising inputs and actors. The question is, therefore, how

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them to subnational authorities.

By building sustainable cities, policymakers can support social and economic development, while minimizing environmental damage.

Managing urbanization as it occurs, rather than struggling to fix cities later, is an opportunity that developingcountry leaders should not miss.

Ed’s Note: Mahmoud Mohieldin is Managing Director at the World Bank Group, and was formerly Egypt’s minister for investment.

Zoubida Allaoua is Director of the World Bank’s Urban and Disaster Risk Management Department. 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. promising are the institutions and the political actors our federal political system established to accelerate the pace of the democratization, state and nation building process and how well equipped are our politicians and the public in handling these processes.

Inter-ethnic relations in Ethiopia have been traumatic and the FDRE constitution was designed in a bid to heel these wounds. The constitution vows to right the wrongs of the past as the preamble explicitly reads. Sanity dictates to appreciate the very intention of the constitution in this regard.

However, I have a well-founded belief that to right the wrongs of the past is virtuous but having the political courage to right the wrongs of the recent reveals the genuine commitment of those at state power to nation building. This starts by opening up the political space for the general public to freely ponder on the institutions we have and the respective value they entertain from the public.

How is the parliament, the supreme legislative body of the nation, perceived?

Such questions are directly intertwined with the electoral system we exercise and the party politics and their political role. Law-making is a huge task and it demands not a rubber stamp but a vibrant and deliberative parliament. In such a circumstance, forging a reasonable, able and active society will not be ephemeral.

In fact, the form of government Ethiopia adopted is also a subject of contention and one may elucidate that such a form of governance has contributed in undermining the vibrancy of the parliament as the executive and the legislature are fused in a parliamentary form of government. Well, I believe that we can also discuss if a presidential form of government accentuates the vitality and effectiveness of our institutions within the federal framework.

The other institution that has been suffering perpetual mistrust is the judiciary. Constitutionally speaking, the judiciary is devoid of the power of judicial review, hence has little role to serve as an instrument of controlling the other organs of government. However, the judiciary in general and our courts in particular have failed us to make themselves ‘at least slightly politicsproof’ as one of my colleagues recently puts it. This has been the case at many instances and for such an institution, lacking public trust and legitimacy is

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

Adwa...

It is united and not divided Ethiopians that brought the victory to a full realization.

It is the strategic thinking of the leadership that made a big difference.

The Adwa Victory is a key pillar of the Pan- African Triple Helix.

The Adwa Victory provided the best practical example of the African resistance history during the Scramble for Africa. Hence it becomes one of the pivotal helices for Pan-Africanism and Ethiopianism (e.g. the Adwa Victory).

Helix I (1896).

The other helix is World Union of Ethiopians (Africans,) formed as the African association in 1897 from the Diaspora. The pan-African congresses that I classify as the Helix II (1900) was founded by Sylvester Williams who was in direct contact with Emperor Menelik at the time.

The third helix is the formation of the African National Congress, which celebrated its 100th year in 2012. This First Liberation Movement, ANC was formed with spiritualism and Ethiopianism acknowledged by former president Mandela: “Fundamental tenets of the Ethiopian Movement were self-worth, self-reliance and freedom. These tenets drew the advocates of Ethiopianism like a magnet, to the growing political movement. That political movement was to culminate in the formation of the ANC in 1912. It is in this sense that the ANC, we, trace the seeds of the formation of our organization to the Ethiopian Movement of the 1890s,” Mandela said during a speech he made to the Free Ethiopian Church of South Africa.

African -American churchmen who went to South Africa in the 1890s arrived at a time when some African Christians were setting up churches of their own.

This independent-church movement was called “Ethiopianism.”

Ethiopianism became a generic term to describe a whole range of the black man’s efforts to improve his religious, educational and political status in society.

|21 fragmentation by virtue of the union of Ethiopians from America to Southern Africa

Cont`d from page 10 It became the concept that constituted pan-Africanism from the 18th, 19th to the 20th century, until World War I in 1914.

The Adwa victory provided practical expression to Ethiopianism: selfworth, dignity, unity, confidence, selfreliance, spirituality and freedom from colonialism.

•

•

Continuing Ethiopianism as PanAfricanism

The Triple Helix components are three distinct events that reinforced each other:

•

Locating firmly the values of Ethiopianism to anchor also the African Renaissance

•

Removing colonialism for good in Africa

•

Full unity and dignity by removing the current unity and dignity deficits in Africa

•

For Africa as a whole to prove free liberation logocentric imagination by defeating econocentric donorising elites that allow the donorisation of the African agenda by pursuing to attract external aid when Africa loses by permitting unprecedented flow out of its resources

•

The best example of African resistance history culminating in the Ethiopian history of resistances during the Scramble for Africa. (e.g. the Adwa Victory.) Helix I (1896)

•

The World Union of Ethiopians (Africans), from the Diaspora– panAfrican congresses Helix II (1900)

•

The First Liberation Movement, ANC, with spiritualism and Ethiopianism preceding its formation as its inspiration (1912)

Ethiopianism can thus be revived to provide the spiritual public good also for the African Renaissance

For Ethiopia, Adwa Victory continues means

•

To remove the unity deficit in Ethiopia

•

•

To remove the unity deficit in Africa

•

We still find it hard to unite

•

Donorisation divides not just groups but also the African conscious agenda for unity

•

Adwa Victory is achieved through unity, resolve and self-reliance

•

Let us draw lessons that endure and build the African united and free future through the symbolic example of what all united Ethiopians achieved for Africa as a whole.

Valuing, learning and cherishing civic Ethiopian identity and not building barriers and fences of ethnic, linguistic and religious differentiations to undermine the shared similarity of ‘AfricanessEthiopianess,’ as if expressing the latter undermines the expression of full civic rights when in fact it provides the best non-locally, vernacularly, ethnically or religiously fenced framework to express full civic rights

•

To learn to express civic rights directly with Ethiopian identity coupled with African identity and remove ethnic entrepreneurial approaches that undermine the civic anchored nationhood of Ethiopia

•

To continue to unite Ethiopia and learn to center her to be at the core of the African Renaissance by retaining what made Ethiopianism attractive: self worth, confidence, self reliance, dignity, pride, resistance, spirituality , independence, liberation and freedom.

The Adwa Victory must continue to revive Ethiopianism for the 21st century Ethiopianism provided the foundation of pan-Africanism by providing the spiritual public good for the anti-colonial movement in the African World

•

Ethiopianism still provides to this day the spiritual public good against

•

As one of the key founding pillars of the pan-African Helix and as a provider of Ethiopianism’s spiritual public good by revitalising selfworth, confidence, pride, selfreliance and liberation amongst free Africans

•

Create liberation movements like the pillar of the ANC with strong values like the early ANC was shaped by Ethiopianism and spiritualism

•

Revivify the pillar of the PanAfrican Congresses so that a global observatory to make all Africans free from harm can be actively promoted

•

Together with three helixes we improve and build a strong and united, proud and free Africa!

For Africa as a whole, continuing the Adwa Victory today means:

We say today the Adwa Victory Must Continue

•

It is important for the Adwa Victory to continue

Finally, as the spiritual values of Ethiopianism laid the foundation for pan-Africanism to unite all Africans to fight colonialism and apartheid, the same values that Ethiopianism and panAfricanism has been founded on are needed also to realize and inspire the African renaissance today by enabling Africa to emerge as an independent, strong and proud leader rather than a mere follower of former colonial powers in the 21st century. Ethiopianism for Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance should be promoted in this year of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance that the AU has declared to be this whole year. The Adwa Victory is the core driver of Ethiopianism and celebrating the Adwa Victory must not just be the work of Ethiopians but also the work of all Africans the world over.

Though a lot remains to be done, I am happy to acknowledge from March 1 to March 3, various seminars are being held in Ethiopia and South Africa, by Pan-African friends from the Caribbean and Europe in Britain, the Ethiopian Heritage Society in America, Australia, the Netherlands and elsewhere. We must make every Yekatit Adwa Victory Month so that vast education is prompted across the world. Long live the Adwa Victory.

Ed’s Note: The writer can be reached at mammo@cgs.aau.dk.

T

he recently launched growth and transformation plan and the rush to attain it should be applauded. But it was also received with suspicion as it puts the very existence of some minority national groups at the periphery, where the immense transformational projects are taking place.

The role of our institutions in resolving such issues remains to be seen. The experience so far, however, does not tell a happy story. self-suicidal. One can add to the list the Electoral Commission and the mistrust the political actors (particularly the opposition squad) and the public display.

The seasonal voices of dismay on the nationwide census results (by some ethnic and religious groups) signify the trust rift between the public and government institutions. This tells how the political mistrust among political actors is diffusing into such institutions and it is no wonder that this has been the case even in ‘non-political’ institutions (religious institutions.) This can lead us everywhere but unity and stability.

Despite all these, there is no gainsaying

the economic boost Ethiopia has registered recently. But, as Stephen Haber, et. al. expounded, we all need to be cautious that economic growth can also be registered amidst political instability, which is characterized by suppression and hegemony, among others..

Still, however, the visible class disparity shadows on the claimed economic progress and development.

The recently launched growth and transformation plan and the rush to attain it should be applauded. But it was also received with suspicion as it puts the very existence of some minority national groups at the periphery, where the immense transformational

projects are taking place. The role of our institutions in resolving such issues remains to be seen. The experience so far, however, does not tell a happy story.

Obviously, the federal political dispensation is an opportunity that should not be missed. It is an opportunity to establish institutions; to experiment on institutions; to innovate institutions and exercise democratization and nation building. I believe that we need to stop and explore the potentials and opportunities of our federal arrangement and step forward by way of fostering stability. Stability is to be secured through institutions and fidelity to their

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principles of proper functioning. At some moment in our journey, we need to know that stability is not a commodity we can buy or sell by rhetoric or polemics. It has to be substantiated. Polemics and rhetoric aside, we all need to engage in constructive dialogues.

Ed’.s Note: Tegbaru Yared is a lecturer and managing editor of Ethiopian Journal of Federal Studies. He waks at the Center for Federal Studies, Addis Ababa University. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter. He can be reached at tegbar2000@gmail.com.

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

22|

The Victory of Adowa and Empress Taitu Betul against colonialism and for freedom.

It was a battle that stopped the colonial aggressions of Europeans in Africa. It was a battle that taught an unforgettable lesson to Europeans.

The decisive battle of Adwa is made clear that Africans will not bend to the oppression of European colonization, and ‘Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God.’ Taitu’s continued strength and warrior spirit helped to lead her countrymen to an overwhelming victory against the Italians.

The Empress had devised a plan to cut off the enemies’ water supply in the battle of Mekelle. Italy was ill prepared for this battle just as in previous battles. They had not studied the art of war, as had their African counterparts. They were not prepared to defeat Ethiopia. But Ethiopia was well prepared to defeat the Italian trespassers.

On January 19th, 1896, the last of the fort’s water was distributed.

Eventually the Italian army could take no more. Italian general Baratier: ordered his men: “In the name of Italy’s majesty Umberto, cede the fort at Mekelle to the Negus of Abyssinia.” After their surrender, Taitu allowed them to draw water.

Taitu fulfilled her role as a valiant and passionate leader.

Taitu gathered 10 to 12 thousand women and organized them to care for and aid the soldiers. Some gathered buckets of water to carry to the men in battle. Others stayed in camp to care for the wounded.

The front page of Le Petit Journal depicting Empress Taitu

By Befikir Leykun

a non-white nation had defeated a European power.”

In February 1918, a popular French newspaper, “Le Petit,” announced the death of Empress Taitu Betul of Ethiopia, something that had never been done, publishing a photograph of an African woman on their front page. In the article, the newspaper admired and praised Taitu for her wisdom and profound contribution in the battle of Adowa. Scholar Wyld wrote, “on that brutal wintery day of February, so many onlookers have come to gather by the glass window of the only News stand in downtown Paris quietly staring at the photo on Empress Taitu Betul and bidding farewell to the wisest queen of mankind’s modern history. ”

Hailemelekot Agizew, historian, senior researcher, with the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH), says about the victory of Adowa and the significant role of the heroine and Iron Lady, Empress Taitu, the following:

Ethiopia was brought to the world’s attention in 1896 when an African country with no industry of weaponry and with mostly bare-footed soldiers, defeated Italy, a modern European country, at the battle of Adowa Ayele Bekere, historian and lecturer at the University of Mekele said: “…The victory of Adowa is also celebrated throughout the world, for Adowa stands for human dignity, freedom and independence. As such its significance is universal and its story should be told repeatedly. Its narrative ought to be embraced by young and old, men and women. The Battle of Adowa should be listed as a World Heritage.”

According to Donald Levine, “the Battle of Adowa qualifies as a historic event which represented the first time since the beginning of European imperial expansion that

Empress Taitu’s presence in the battle of Adowa is a clear testimony for the active role women played in the history of Ethiopia. This is a legacy that has been passed down to generations. Empress Taitu’s presence in the midst of the army was a moral boost that motivated them to die for the sovereignty of the nation. In war no one is sure what would be the out come of any war.

Predecessors of Emperor Menelik, Emperor Tewodros and Emperor Yohannes both lost their lives in a battle. Menelik and Taitu do know all about this. They were not sure about the outcome of the war. Doing so, they went to the battle of Adowa to die for the nation. What makes the battle of Adowa different is the presence of an Empress in the war.”

European strategy to carve up Africa into external and exclusive spheres of influence was halted by Emperor Menelik II and Empress Taitu Betul at the Battle of Adowa.

The Europeans had no choice but to recognize this African (non European) power.

The Battle of Adwa was a global historic event, for it was a battle heroically and victoriously fought

As the battle continued, Empress Taitu continued to pray to the Almighty as shells rained down around her. She would emerge as an unstoppable force. As she ran towards the enemy on foot, yelling to the men, “Courage, Victory is ours! Strike!” She once again shed the stereotypical roles usually given to women and advanced as a lioness would for her pride’s survival.

The Ethiopian forces broke the Italian center and the fighting intensified. Taitu, along with the women she had assembled, spent the rest of the time caring for the wounded. By noon the battle was over.

Eleven thousand casualties in all, 6,000 of which were Italian. In this land-sliding victory of Adowa, women had a gigantic role; the outstanding heroine Taitu was an architect of the battle with her wise, courageous and patriotic leadership along with her husband Emperor Menelik.

In Italy, as news reports poured in about the war, riots were unavoidable in the streets. New York Times headlines (March 7th 1896) read “Radicals Shout Menelik’s Praise... The greatest excitement prevails everywhere, reports of disorder came in from all directions, excited radical socialist and republican socialist members of the chamber of deputies were sent to Rome this evening amid crowds of people, crying, Viva Menelik! Long Live Menelik!”

Long live Ethiopia!

Selam! Shalom!

www.thereporterethiopia.com

By Leyou Tameru

Bits

&

Pieces

Putting others first!

In many ways, a family is a microcosm of a country at large. And by that I mean trends that one can observe in a family are most likely to be found on a larger scale, i.e. in governance or the way the people respond to it. One of our noteworthy qualities as Ethiopians is our hospitality. We accommodate guests to an extreme; if someone comes from out of town we’d even give up our own bed and sleep on the floor. We serve guests with the best of what we have, the best of food and drink.

Whatever it is, we have a custom of making sure the guests are treated well. The interesting aspect of this whole practice is that although we offer the best to guests, we would never do the same for ourselves, i.e. we would never treat ourselves as well as we do our guests.

There are many reasons for putting others ahead of ourselves; we want them to feel comfortable, leave them with a great image of who we are and even show off a little. Regardless of the reasons behind it, it seems that this is a trend that can be observed in a lot of aspects of life in Ethiopia.

In my reading this week I came across a very interesting legal stipulation. While researching coffee and its origin, I was learning a lot about the types of coffee available in Ethiopia and how they rank in the world. I was reading the laws regarding coffee and, to my surprise, came across the legal definition of the coffee that can be consumed domestically. It says “coffee the taste of which has deteriorated due to mishandling or length in storage and with no more than 15 percent purity, which is not harmful to health but is not fit for export.”

Here we go again, putting the rest of the world ahead of ourselves and offering them the best of what we have while we live with mediocrity. Of course, we’re all clever enough to understand that all this is done so that our country can get all the foreign exchange it possibly can, but I can’t believe that there is an actual legal definition of the kind of coffee we can consume. And adding insult to injury, not only is there a law dictating what coffee we can drink but we’re legally obliged to drink the worst coffee of them all, well if you can still call it coffee considering that it’s only has 15 percent pure. The consequence of this is that we get our coffee from elsewhere, i.e. imported Nestle café, Mac coffee. Did we export all that coffee to get dollars just so we can buy coffee with it?

As shocking as it may be, this isn’t the end of it.

Our whole tourism and investment sectors are focused towards giving the “guests” the best deal and leaving our very own with what’s left. Even our education system is filled with praises and admiration for the innovations and creations of others and utterly ignores our contributions to the world. It seems that we have come to the false realization that if we copy others, if we treat them so nicely and changed their perception of who they think we are, then we become better.

Things must change. We must learn to prioritize ourselves and our own. Our worth and our image does not depend on others, it depends on us. It’s about who we are and not who we lead others to think we are. And so, every now and then when we have guests over and we’ve made that great doro wot, let’s not hold back from serving ourselves with the best part of the chicken. We can’t talk about how good something is if we never get a taste of it.

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 bitsandpieces@ethiopianreporter.com

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

|23

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Invitation to Quotations UNDP/AU/Communication and Outreach Materials for the 50th AU Anniversary Celebrations, Design and Printing Works RFQ/UNDP/PROC/2013/006 Invitation for Bids (IFB) IFB Ref: IRC/FOs/NCB/01/2013 International Rescue Committee (IRC) - Ethiopia Country Office has been working in Ethiopia since 1999 and is implementing integrated, community-managed programs aimed at improving the quality of lives and recovery of livelihoods of disaster-affected populations through promoting individual participation, strengthening institutions and emergency response.

Currently IRC is operating in Benishangule, Tigray, SNNPR, Somali and Oromiya regions on refugee’s assistant and livelihood. Now for the implementation of its programs, IRC Ethiopia Country Office would like to invite all qualified eligible bidders for the supply of the following items: S/N 1 2 3

Description Diesel Generators Water Pumps Fiberglass Tankers

Lot Number 1 2 3

1. A Complete set of bidding documents can be obtained up on submittal of renewed trade license and payment of ETB 50 Birr, non-refundable, from IRC Ethiopia Country Office during working hours from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., from the first date of appearance of this IFB on the Ethiopian Herald or the Report, at the address below: IRC Ethiopia Country Office TK Building 6th Floor, near Bole Airport Bole Road, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Telephone (0116) 638302/6735/6/7 2. Bidders can bid for one or more lots but are required to offer 100% quantities of each item in a given lot.

3. Bids should be submitted in a wax sealed envelope, at the address specified above latest by 10:00 am (4:00 O’clock local time) on Thursday the 21st of March 2013.

4. All bids should include company profile, summary of performance record/history on similar contracts, together with all other relevant credentials and documents TIN, VAT Registration Certificate, renewed trade license etc.).

5. Bids should be accompanied by a bid security in the form of CPO or Bank Guarantee in the amount 2% of the bid amount for each lot.

6. Bids will be opened in the presence of bidders and/ or representatives who choose to attend the opening ceremony at 10:30 am same date at the conference Hall of IRC- Ethiopia office.

7. IRC Ethiopia Program reserves the right to reject the whole or part of any of these bids.

UNDP Ethiopia wishes to do Production of Communication and Outreach Materials for the 50th Anniversary Celebrations under the Make Peace Happen Campaign. To this effect,firms legally established are kindly invited to submit their Quotationsfor Communication and Outreach Materials Printing and Design Work.Quotation may be submitted on or before Thursday, March 14, 2013at 2: 00 PM and via sealed envelope.

Interested firms can download and obtain the detailRFQ documents from the following links:http://www.dagethiopia.org/index. php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=294&Itemid=120 or you can contact Hanna Zemelakvia email;hanna.zemelak@undp.org to get the softcopy of the RFQ through email.

United Nations Development Programme Procurement Unit ECA Old Building 6th Floor, Africa Hall Tel: 0115444150 P.0.Box 5580 Addis Ababa Ethiopia Your Quotation must be expressed in English and valid for a minimum period of 60 days. It shall remain your responsibility to ensure that your quotation reaches the address above on or before the deadline.

Quotes’ that are received by UNDP after the deadline indicated above, for whatever reason, shall not be considered for evaluation. For any details clarification request you may contact: assefa.gebrehiwot@undp. org Advertisment

Invitation to International Competitive bid for the procurement of polyester fiber Requirements

ALEDA TEXTILE PLC

1. ALMEDA TEXTILE PLC invites all interested and eligible bidders for procurement of 315,000kg of polyester fiber. The tender remain floating up to March 09/2013 12:00 A.M Technical specifications and bid documents can be obtained from: Almeda Textile Plc OR Addis Ababa branch office P.Box 13383 Tel: +251 115515916 Fax: +251115517442 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Almeda Textile Plc Adwa, Head Office P.Obox 117 Tel: +251347711630 Fax: +251347711543 Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia

Bole road in front of shoa shopping First floor 2. All local firm organized and licensed under the law of Ethiopia that qualify to bid are invited to participate in the invitation to bids and have to fulfill the following requirements. a. Valid and renewed trade license for the year b. VAT registered c. Fulfilled their obligation to pay taxes according to Ethiopia law 3. Bidders must be accompanied by birr 100,000.00 bid bond or bank guarantee.

4. Bidders shall present original and copy of their financial and technical proposal separately.

5. Bids receive in time and fulfilling the other formalities shall be opened in the presence of interested bidders or their representative at 10:30 Am (time) on March 11 (month) 2013.

6. Bidders can collect the bid documents and instruction from Almeda Textile plc Addis Ababa branch office or head office by paying un returnable birr 100.00 7. Alemeda Textile Plc reserves the right to reject all or part of this bid.

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fina-Amharic-samsung-NP.pdf

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2/22/13

4:52 AM

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

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በቅርቡ ገበያ ላይ የዋሉ ነፃ 3G ሲም ካርድ

2,499

ነፃ ሲም ካርድ

499 ብር

ብር

ሳምሰንግ ጋላክሲ ፖኬት

ሳምሰንግ GT-1205T

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

. የ 15 ብር ነፃ አየር ሰዓት . ኤፍ ኤም ራዲዮ . የባትሪ ብርሀን . የጆሮ ማዳመጫ

. 200 ሜጋ ባይት ነፃ የኢንተርኔት አገልግሎት . በአንድሮይድ ሲስተም የሚሰራ . እስከ 32 ጊጋ ባይት ሜሞሪ የሚቀበል . መልቲ ሚዲያ ፋይሎችን በፍጥነት ዳውንሎድ ማድረግ . በተለያዩ ቀለማት የቀረበ

የሚያስችል

www.ethiotelecom.et ዋጋው ተ.እ.ታን ያካትታል። ነፃ የአየር ሰዓትና 200 ሜጋ ባይት የኢንተርኔት አገልግሎት የሚቆየው ለ አንድ ወር ጊዜ ብቻ ነዉ ።የሞባይል ቀፎዎቹ የ 6 ወር ዋስትና አላቸዉ።

www.thereporterethiopia.com

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

|25

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www.thereporterethiopia.com

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

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Every week The Reporter presents á la carte featuring culinary specialty of restaurants and hotels in the metropolis. So if you have specialties contact us on +251911 345 345 or mccreporter@ yahoo.com and partake. Bon appetit Nr Edna Mall. Bole Medhanialem, P.O.Box 16139,Addis Ababa –Ethiopia PBX +251 11 618 3100,Fax +251 11 618 3100 info@harmonyhotelethiopia.com, marketing@harmonyhotelethiopia.com www.harmonyhotelehtiopia.com

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ከላይ ያለው ዋጋ የአገልግሎት ክፍያን እና ተጨማሪ እሴት ታክስን አያጠቃልልም PLEASE NOTE THAT 15% VAT AND 10% SERVICE CHARGE IS NOT INCLUDED Cazanchise: Tel.: +251 11 552 7333 Fax: +251 11 552 6418 Bole: Tel.: +251 11 661 6969 Fax: +251 11 661 6999 E-mail: info@jupiterinternationalhotel. com www.jupiterinternationalhotel.com

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The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

Will... leaving society poorer? Or will the rich programmers all migrate to Monaco or Switzerland, taking the brains and rents with them, as society falls apart into barricaded and mutually resentful enclaves and ghettoes?

In reality, many intermediate possibilities exist. One is that cultural norms may develop that encourage billionaires to share their wealth, even if they are spared taxation. For example, the Giving Pledge is a commitment by some of the world’s richest people, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates among them, to devote the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

Hidden... become more sensitive again. Within a week, foods that were once craved may not have the same appeal.

Young and old need to worry about salt Eating too much salt can raise blood pressure at any age. The global trends of obesity, diabetes, and diminished lifestyle factors such as poor diet and physical inactivity will increase the risk of developing heart disease earlier and earlier. Children are often victims of not knowing what they are eating.

Parents are more likely to feed their children processed foods and takeaways in our high-paced, busy life. Television, video games, computers, cellular phones

|27 Cont`d from page 11

Economic competition may also play a role – if billions are to be made by innovators, more of the most talented get into innovation, so that, even in a winnertake-all world, the winner captures the market for a fleeting moment before someone else takes it away from him.

The billions to be made today may only be millions tomorrow.

And values also adjust. While a quartz watch keeps time more accurately than the most finely crafted handmade mechanical Swiss watch, the value of a quartz watch has plummeted, while Swiss watches’ value has climbed into the stratosphere. Even though they

Cont`d from page 12 and other technologies are getting our children sick, overweight and overmedicated. We often classify salty foods as treats and give them to our children for a job well done.

Cutting back on salt may be difficult at first but within a few weeks one’s taste buds will adjust and you’ll taste the same amount of flavor, with less salt! The important item is consistently improving one’s health over time. No one’s perfect but striving to reduce one’s salt intake will improve quality of life, health outcomes and overall longevity.

It’s still a good idea to cut salt intake even if you’re lean, healthy and don’t have

Write your comments and opinions to

are virtually indistinguishable in appearance, people seem to cherish the knowledge that someone has lovingly crafted their watch.

So it may well be that the demand for discussing, say, medieval French church music in small classes at a university will grow even as the demand for MOOCs grows. Not everyone should heed Andreessen’s exhortation to quit liberal arts programs!

That is not to say that his basic concerns are unwarranted. Better access for all to fundamental needs like quality education is necessary to make the winner-take-all character of markets more tolerable. But societies may also have to change. If we are lucky, the changes will take place spontaneously. high blood pressure. Blood pressure often increases with age and additionally a high salt diet is linked to osteoporosis, stomach cancer, kidney disease and obesity. Don’t wait to develop a health condition to try to reverse it. Prevention is the key.

For additional information on World Action on Salt and Health, please visit: www.worldactiononsalt.com.

Ed’s Note: Dr. Cory Couillard is an

Ed’s Note: Raghuram Rajan, Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the chief economic adviser in India’s finance ministry, served as the International Monetary Fund’s youngest-ever chief economist and was Chairman of India’s Committee on Financial Sector Reforms. He is the author of Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy. 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. international healthcare speaker and columnist for numerous newspapers, magazines, websites and publications throughout the world. He works in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s goals of disease prevention and global healthcare education. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter. He can be reached at drcorycouillard@gmail.com and can be followed on twitter @Cory_Couillard.

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JMC Projects (India) Ltd. An ISO 9001, ISO 14001 (EMS) & OSHAS-18001 Company JMC is one of the fastest growing construction companies with more than two and a half decades of exp’ in Power,Building, Industrial, Institutional and Infrastructure sectors, with its presence across the nation with US$ 379.5Mn. (as on Mar, 2012) annual turnover and order booked worth US$ 1091Mn. is looking for self motivated Civil Engineering Professionals having relevant experience with contracting companies for its International Operations in Infrastructure (Roads/Highways) Projects at African Countries.

REQUIRES • Execution Engineers –Bachelor of Engg/ Diploma of EnggCivil with 3 to 15 years exp in road projects • Mechanical Engg –Bachelor of Mechanical / Automobile Engg having 3 -8 yrs of exp in road equipment • Material Engg – Qualified Civil Engg having exp in Quality deptt for 5 – 10 yrs • Laisoning Officer - Graduate with min. 8 to 10 years of experience • Operators(Grader/ Paver/ Hydra/ JCB) – All types ofoperators with relevant experience in road projects.

• Supervisors :Qualified Supv having exp of 3 – 5 yrs in Road projects • Drivers(Heavy Vehicle/ Light Vehicle ) -Local license holder –minimum of 5 yrs of exp • Commercial Officer –Graduatewith 4 – 8 yrs in accounting profile Salary will commensurate with Qualifications and experience.

www.thereporterethiopia.com

Interested candidates may send their updated resumewithin 10 days, alongwith their salary proof mentioning the position applied for at: jmc.overseas@jmcprojects.com or JMC PROJECTS ( INDIA) LTD Ethiopia Branch Office P.O. BOX NO 21732/1000, Addis Ababa ETHIOPIA Website:www.jmcprojects.com

www.thereporterethiopia.com

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

28|

Ethiopian...

ILFC. Ethiopian leased three 787-8 aircraft that will be delivered in January, March and April 2015 respectively. ILFC is a Dublin based international aircraft leasing company.

The grounding of Ethiopian Dreamliner fleet has affected the airline’s operation.

Ethiopian is the third airline next to All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines (both Japanese carriers) to take delivery of Dreamliner aircraft. Ethiopian said it faced no serious problem with its Dreamliner fleet. However, it said that it decided to ground the four aircraft as an extra precautionary measure. Tewolde said the airline is forced to switch to its B767 fleet for some of the long haul flight services. “We are apologizing to our customers for that. Boeing has given a mitigation plan for FAA and if it is accepted the aircraft may soon start flying again,” Tewolde said.

A statement issued by the CEO of Ethiopian said “On behalf of Ethiopian Airlines, I would like to personally apologize for the inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of the grounding of our Boeing 787

Cont`d from page 4 Dreamliners.

As a testament of our commitment to safety and following US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) airworthiness directives, we have taken steps to ground four of our 787 fleet from service on the very day of the FAA decision.

We have not encountered the type of problems such as those experienced by the other operators. However, as an extra precaution, Ethiopian has decided to remove its four Dreamliners from operation starting January 17, 2013.”

Tewolde said Boeing and FAA have been working around the clock to find out the causes of the two cases on the battery of the 787. Boeing is continuing to work with the FAA to demonstrate the safety of the 787 and return the fleet to service as soon as possible, he added.

“All of us here hope that the cause of the problem will be identified soon. We are sincerely looking forward to the opportunity of welcoming you again on board the Dreamliner and provide you the wonderful Dreamliner experience that you deserve. Once again, please accept our sincere apologies.”

Heineken... looking for, however, he nodded that the loan amount will extend between three to five billion birr. And unwilling to name the bank he is dealing with, some say the government owned Construction and Business Bank is the frontier.

In related news, Heineken signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two government offices for the supply of malt barley locally. The four-year deal makes Heineken better off, getting some 20 thousand MT of malt barley every year from smallholder farmers.

According to Doyer, it is part of the 60 percent raw materials supply from within Africa that Heineken envisaged to reach the level by 2020. The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) signed the MoU to facilitate the supply chain and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EAIR) will undertake research and will foresee the availability of seed varieties for malt

“Ethiopia... watershed management sites around the sources of the Blue Nile. What was your impression?

The ceremony was well organized.

As part of the event, we visited the some exemplary ground sites of projects under the NBI cooperation.

That included Tana Beles watershed management project where we saw with our own eyes and met very smart farmers in the area who gave accounts of how the projects are benefiting them.

It definitely promotes sustainable development with its three colors: the economic, social and environmental.

The site visit was inspiring to go for more cooperation. When we see the fruit of cooperation like this, we become more convinced that cooperation is the only way to benefit from the Nile. The riparian nations have one history and one destiny. This great river should be a bond between our countries; should be

Cont`d from page 4

barley.

The current supply shortage of malt in the local market forced Heineken to jointly look for options that in later years about 100 thousand farmers are expected to take part in the supply chain.

The oldest and government owned Assala Malt Factory processes malt way below 60 percent of the total demand of the industry. The total capacity ranges between 16 to 20 kMT per year.

The tripartite malt barley program involves the Netherlands Foreign Affairs Ministry and an NGO called the European Cooperative for Rural Development, the previous as a cofinancier and the latter as an executing agent.

Heineken runs some 165 breweries in over 70 countries with a volume of 221 million hectoliters a year. Last year the company grossed more than 19.7 billion euros.

Cont`d from page 7 an area of cooperation, development and prosperity and should not be an area of contention at all. Those who would plan to drive us into conflict and sidetrack us from our way of cooperation will not succeed because they are going against the reality.

In previous times, it was widely believed that Egyptian high-level experts working in international organizations and Egyptian government were busy lobbying international donors not to finance any Ethiopian projects on the Nile. Do you think this mindset has changed fundamentally?

Ethiopian officials always, wisely say that Ethiopia has one and one enemy, which is poverty. This is very wise and responsible. Poverty is common enemy

Ethiopia ... page 29

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL- Only for INTERNATIONAL FIRM/ORGANISATION RFP-ETH-2013-9105712 1. Topic: Consultancy services- to research & Study on Understanding Stunting Reduction in Ethiopia (2000 – 2011) -for period of 5months 2. Background Child survival rates in Ethiopia have improved dramatically over the past decade with reductions in child malnutrition playing a major role in improvements. Ethiopia, a country once synonymous with hunger and starvation, has made huge strides in fighting malnutrition over the past decade. In 2000, 166 children (of 1000 live births) would die before reaching their fifth birthday.

Malnutrition was a contributing factor in more than half of these child deaths. According to the EDHS 2011, under five child mortality rates in Ethiopia have dropped to 88/1000 live births.

This success is a direct result of concerted efforts to bring basic preventative health, nutritional, water sanitation and hygiene to rural Ethiopians through the Ethiopian Governments flagship Health Extension Programme. Nutrition interventions such as the timely identification and treatment for severe acute malnutrition, a condition that can kill if untreated, has played a major role in this success. These nutrition interventions complement other simple measures that prevent children getting sick, like vaccinations, distribution of insecticide treated nets, malaria testing and treatment, building latrines and promoting hand washing with soap.

3. Objectives -To analyze and understand the main determinants of high stunting levels in Ethiopia -This research will explore the potential factors that contribute most to the reduction in stunting rates seen from 2000 to 2011, including an analysis based on equity -Make recommendations for programming in order to maintain and accelerate the improvement. This research will be based on analysis (and triangulation) of DHS datasets available from 2000, 2005, 2011 and other data, quantitative or qualitative.

4. Qualification of Firm and Experience Required The successful consultant is expected to have considerable and proven research experience conducting advanced statistical data analysis, including multi-level modelling and logistic regression analysis. PhD and ten or more years of experience required.

Significant previous experience analysing child nutrition data and trends required. Experience working with international agencies/ institutions is plus. Proven publication of peer-review papers required.

Interested and eligible bidders are invited to collect the complete tender document by sending an email to the address below starting on Friday 4st March 2013. Formal offers are to be submitted to UNICEF on Monday before 10.00 am. 25th March- 2013. Due to the nature of the bid, there will be no bid public opening for this offer.

UNICEF reserves the right to accept or reject part or all of any or all bids.

ADDRESS: UNICEF ETHIOPIA, Supply Section, Room 118, Attn.

Mr. Sebastian Muzuma (smuzuma@unicef.org) P.O.BOX 1169, TEL: +251-11 5184214, ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia.

www.thereporterethiopia.com

Sport

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

|29

Rafa responds! Defiant Benitez insists he Nobody will wants the fans to back him and the team reach 1,000 games Rafa Benitez made no apologies for his comments about Chelsea’s supporters on Wednesday night as he took part in his first press conference since then.

He insisted he still wanted the fans to back him and the team and that he had no regrets about taking the role at Stamford Bridge.

Benitez also denied he had wanted to take the Chelsea job on beyond the summer, saying that all he was desired was to stay at the club until his contract ended and not become ‘a distraction’.

When asked about unrest at Stamford Bridge because of his remarks about the club’s decision to make his title ‘interim’ manager he said: ‘I do not have any problem with the board, Michael Emenalo, Roman Abramovich, the players.

‘Yesterday I was with Ron (Gourlay), today I was with Ron. He was saying it’s a cold day and I was wearing shorts. We were joking.’

‘What I want to do is the best for the team, the best for the club.

‘I have been for 26 years training and coaching and always I have had principles, respect and education.

‘It’s the way that I have achieved what I’ve achieved. We have 11 games to play.

If we stick together, it will be easier and we can get more points.

‘I would like to see a fantastic atmosphere supporting the team, and I will be really pleased with that.’

Benitez refused to confirm if he had been spoken to by Roman Abramovich

“Ethiopia... for both of our nations. We in Egypt believe that prosperity of the Ethiopian people is the prosperity of Egypt as well. Whatever good thing happens to our family in Ethiopia, will also be a good thing for us. We are also sure that the feeling is the same vise versa. We are common factors to one-another’s success. I want to emphasize that things should not be looked at from a divergent point of view. We can benefit only when we cooperate. We have different options for development: the high-case scenario is to have a win-win situation regarding the Nile. The other version is to have benefits for one at the expense of the other. This is the most unwelcoming scenario.

But international organizations and international donors have some standing policies of doing business that will not be affected by the influence of any nations. The same is true for water experts and professionals; they do not have the power to shift the view of these international donors. They do have independent policies and frameworks regardless of any objections coming from any party. From outside, any project or any developmental endeavor has benefits for our sisters and brothers in Ethiopia, we so much appreciate and encourage it. At the same time, we are also aware that some of projects will not do any damage to the brothers and sisters in Egypt. Let me tell you one thing about

after his comments and said they were designed to get the fans to back the team instead of chant about him.

‘The message was very clear. Together, it will be easier to win games to get points, to be in the top four, top three, or maybe top two,’ he said.

‘I can control what I say. I cannot control what some people write. I don’t have any problem with anyone. With the owner, the board, the players, Emenalo, nothing.’

Following Wednesday’s FA Cup win at Middlesbrough, Benitez said the decision to appoint him as ‘interim

Cont`d from page 28 the perception in the countryside back home. Water is life for anyone, and for Egypt, water means the Nile because it is the only source of water there. That’s why it is a matter of sensitivity and a concern for the Egyptians. As the same time, it is also clear that climate change, land degradation and deforestation are problems that either of the countries can’t face alone.

The populations in all of the Nile basin countries are increasing rapidly, which in turn increases the competition for share of water. To make matters worst, the volume of the water is decreasing from time to time. Besides cooperation, what do you recommend to the three states?

Could one recommend formation of a regional economic block and political integration as well?

I believe this is the way forward, and it is also the only way that makes sense.

In fact, this is what is appropriate for the whole continent; integration is a necessity and no wonder the theme of the African Union for its 50th year anniversary is “African integration and the African renaissance.” When it comes to the three sisterly countries, I believe that integration is the way forward.

These three countries have great potential in human resource, water, land and so many other diversities.

manager’ was ‘a mistake’, but now said ‘it’s not an issue’.

‘I said before... One thing’s a mistake.

Another’s an issue. Now it’s not an issue.

‘In my head, I am the manager. I have to manage the team. The title doesn’t matter. The Champions League is a big title. I just concentrate on my job. That’s fine, okay.’

Benitez said he hoped the fans would recreate the atmosphere that saw Chelsea beat Napoli during their Champions League run, and also mentioned the Arsenal game from earlier this season. (dailymail) Imam spoke from Washington DC, suggesting Muslims in Ethiopia should fight Christians. In light of the current Islamic movement in Ethiopia, what is your comment?

I have read and heard about this Imam during the past few weeks. This is totally nonreligious, not Islam or Christian.

All religions have one core message, which is love, respect, cooperation and caring about each other; not fighting and killing. So, we should also be very conscious of people who call themselves Imams. Not anyone who has a long beard is an Imam or religious person. There are a lot of distortions out there. So all these calls should not be confused as teachings of religion.

But the Egyptian government is yet to react officially against his teachings?

It has never been given any attention or was never considered a religious message. For people either at an individual or official level this is totally out of the religion. It is just a mere destruction and it is anti religious attitudes.

Could you please briefly comment on the current turmoil in Egypt?

The demonstration going on is transforming the Egyptian society and the Egyptian political arena.

The Egyptian revolution of January 2011 was like a political earthquake.

Every earthquake has its aftershocks

Two weeks ago, a prominent Egyptian www.thereporterethiopia.com

Ethiopia ... page 30

Ryan Giggs has signed a one-year contract extension to stay at Manchester United until the summer of 2014.

The deal will take Giggs, who will celebrate his 40th birthday in November, into a 23rd season as a first-team player at Old Trafford.

Giggs told the club’s official website: ‘I am feeling good, enjoying my football more than ever and, most importantly, I feel I am making a contribution to the team.

‘This is an exciting team to be part of, with great team spirit, and we are again pushing for trophies as we head towards the business end of the season.

‘I am delighted to have signed a new contract. I would like to thank Sir Alex and the coaching staff and I would also like to thank David Gill who has been a tremendous support over my many years here.’

Giggs is on course to win a 13th league championship with United 12 points clear of Manchester City.

His next game will be his 1,000th senior appearance, which includes games for Wales and Team GB at the London Olympics.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: ‘What can I say about Ryan that hasn’t already been said?

‘He is a marvellous player and an exceptional human being. Ryan is an example to us all, the way in which he has, and continues to, look after himself.

‘He could be playing his 1,000th game tomorrow and I don’t think that will ever be achieved again, the way players contracts seem to work these days.

‘He deserves this contract as his form has never changed. He still has great balance and touch on the ball and great fitness.

‘He still gets you a goal, too.

‘He has fantastic energy for the game and it is wonderful to see. Ryan seems to reach a new milestone every week and to think that he now has 23 unbroken years of league goals behind him is truly amazing in the modern-day game. (dailymail)

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

30|

Tullow...

Cont`d from page 5

campaign, which also included one of the world’s largest airborne gravity surveys covering approximately 18,000 km. The results of this seismic activity helped to determine the location of Tullow’s first exploration well in the South Omo Block. A Polish drilling contractor, OGEC, is conducting the drilling operation,

which commenced on January 14.

Senior executives of Tullow Oil last week came to Addis Ababa from London, the headquarters of the company. The executives met and discussed Tullow’s ongoing exploration project with the Minister of Mines.

An independent oil expert told The Reporter that the fact that Tullow discovered oil in Kenya has made speculations on Sabisa-1 rife.

“Unless you drill and see what is stored underground there is no way that you can tell whether or not there is oil just by looking at seismic data,” the expert said. “So far there is no technology that enables you to determine a place where there is oil without drilling.

Seismic data and satellite pictures play significant roles in oil exploration work but they cannot enable you to know the result without drilling and testing a well. Even after discovery, the reserve estimate work (appraisal) could take two to three years.” However, sources told The Reporter that BGP Geo Services, the Chinese company contracted by Tullow collected promising seismic data from Tullow’s concession near Omorate.

Sources said executives of Tullow expect positive drilling results. In addition to Sabisa-1, Tullow plans to drill two more

Ethiopia to plow... seized by any means.

Tedros recalls that a study by Ethiopian experts has proved that there will be no harm on the Nile because of the construction of the dam, which according to reports was denied by the other parties for safety concerns, and due to that, the panel of experts commenced the study in May of last year. The mega dam is expected to produce

6000 megawatts of hydropower and some portion of the electric power generated is planned to be exported to neighboring countries.

In related news, 32 Egyptian trainee diplomats for the first time ever visited Ethiopia and met with their Ethiopian counterparts who are currently attending diplomacy courses at the Ethiopian Civil Service University. The Ethiopian

trainees were also invited to visit Cairo, Tedros said. The invitation, according to him, is vital to enhancing young diplomats to nurture and grip experiences on the field. Tedros has also received an invitation from his Egyptian counterpart. Moreover, the public diplomacy mission to Egypt is also expected to resume this year, it was originally scheduled to take place a few months back but was suspended due to the recent unrests in the capital Cairo.

Events EVENTS IN Addis Ababa

FESTIVAL - SHEGA FEST

March 1 - 10, 2013 In Mekelle City /At Mekelle University, in Mekelle Municipality Hall and in Grand Hawelti Hall/ Shega Fest will prepare a big festival based on youth expression, campus clubs exposure, art fair, sporting fair, personal growth fair, entertainment and empowerment /charity moment/ for the public

MEMORY BOOKS

WHAT: FILM PREMIER WHEN MARCH 05 TIME: 6:00PM WHERE: GOETHE-INSTITUT ADDIS ABABA In order to commemorate the International Women’s Day, the German Embassy in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut cordially invites you to attend the screening of “Memory

Books”, on Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 6 pm, at the Goethe-Institut (Sidist Kilo, Faculty of Business and Economics, AAU) “Memory Books”, directed by Christa Graf, 2007, 90 Min, Documentary There are more than two million orphans whose parents died of AIDS in Uganda. There are few countries in Africa that have more households run by orphaned children and, despite extensive efforts by the government to raise awareness, experts on the subject predict that nearly 35% of Uganda’s population is infected with HIV. A very special project has emerged in Uganda as a result: Memory Books, written by infected parents, mostly mothers, and their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Openly, honestly and compassionately, the books give the children a chance to prepare themselves for life on their own.

Values and traditions are passed on in the form of stories, fairytales and songs and the family’s history is

TV Guide

MBC

recorded with the children’s favorite memories or their parent’s wishes for the future.

The film will be presented in English language with German subtitles.

The screening will be followed by refreshments.

UND KEN WEDNESDAYS

WHAT: MUSICAL PERFORMANCE WHERE: JOLLY BAR TIME: 8:30 - 10:30PM Jolly Bar, Addis Ababa proudly presents Singer/Songwriter/Producer Kenny Allen’s und ken Wednesdays starting this Wednesday. und ken Wednesdays offers an up-close and personal, solo acoustic, storytelling live session for true music lovers.

A leading pioneer of the live music scene in Addis Ababa for the last 7 years, Kenny will get you over the weekly hump, with soulful interpretations of classic Ethiopian and International hits as well as introduce original songs from his 6 Album catalog spanning from 1996 to the present, all powered by the

SUNDAY MAR 3

3:00 THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 4:45 RED HEAT 6:30 ALLAN QUATERMAIN AND THE TEMPLE OF SKULLS 8:00 THE STORY LADY 11:30 DISHDOGZ 13:00 KING OF CALIFORNIA 15:00 MRS. DOUBTFIRE 17:00 ADAPTATION 19:00 STOMP THE YARD 21:00 SCOOP WITH RAYA 21:30 DEMOLITION MAN 23:30 HANCOCK 1:30 THIR13EN GHOSTS

17:30 MY KID COULD PAINT THAT 19:00 LICENSE TO DRIVE 21:00 THE NOTEBOOK 23:30 HAPPY END 00:30 STEEL MAGNOLIAS 2:30 KINGPIN

SATURDAY MAR 2

“Ethiopia...

4:30 ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE 6:15 ALL ROADS LEAD HOME 8:30 ZEUS AND ROXANNE 10:00 HAPPY END 11:30 LICENSE TO DRIVE 13:00 THE NOTEBOOK 15:00 ROMANCING THE STONE 17:00 LOST IN SPACE 19:00 OSMOSIS JONES 21:00 FOOLS RUSH IN 23:00 IDLEWILD 00:45 ZEUS AND ROXANNE 2:30 LICENSE TO DRIVE

TUESDAY MAR 5

Cont`d from page 29

7:30 SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE 9:30 CURIOUS GEORGE 11:00 SOMETHING NEW 13:00 BEWITCHED 15:00 STEEL MAGNOLIAS 17:00 ALL ROADS LEAD HOME 19:00 THE HONEYMOONERS 21:00 ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE 23:00 KINGPIN 1:00 DANCER, TEXAS POP. 81 2:45 BEWITCHED

SUNDAY MAR 3

4:30 SOMETHING NEW 6:00 HEATHERS 8:00 STEEL MAGNOLIAS 10:00 THE HONEYMOONERS 11:30 ALL ROADS LEAD HOME 13:30 ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE 15:30 ZEUS AND ROXANNE

4:00 HAPPY END 5:30 THE NOTEBOOK 7:30 MY KID COULD PAINT THAT 9:00 LOST IN SPACE 11:00 ROMANCING THE STONE 13:00 FOOLS RUSH IN 15:00 THE JEWEL OF THE NILE 17:00 CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG BRIDE 19:00 MARIE AND BRUCE 21:00 FIRED UP! 23:00 THE GOOD NIGHT 00:30 LOST IN SPACE 2:30 IDLEWILD

WEDNESDAY MAR 5

new Jolly Bar. Whether you want to experience this intimate set with a date, take a musical journey with friends, or simply enjoy the ambiance of grown, sexy, cool with other music lovers, Jolly is the place to be each and every Wednesday night. und ken Wednesdays featuring KENNY ALLEN Jolly Bar 4 Kilo 8:30 - 10:30PM

1:00 THE X FILES

Movies This week

MONDAY MAR 4

exploration wells in its concession near Chewbahir.

and we are witnessing and living the aftershocks of the massive earthquake that took place. This is nothing different from all revolutions in history that had a post-revolutionary transitional periods, which were very confusing and perplexing. The Egyptian revolution is not an exception to this. Of course, there is the need to quickly overcome this transitional period and move forward.

Now the political arena is witnessing new developments and actors that were not there before. And these actors need to develop a constructive approach towards each other. This approach needs a build up because the political powers have different political views and different political power. But it is important these political powers interact together in a constructive manner. And this process needs time to be built until the political powers see a common ground and try to expand that political ground. At the same time, try to live with some of the differences because it is inconceivable that all political powers have a unified position. The most important variable here is the ability of Egyptian people to cause and impose a change. They have to be an active participant in the making of the history of the country.

This is irreversible that the people are aware that their role should never be marginalized.

Cont`d from page 1

NAFKOT ENA FIKIR

and Zeritu Kebede will perform with Zemen Band. The entrance for the show is 350 Birr for a regular and 600 Birr for VIP.

WHAT: MUSIC CONCERT WHEN: MARCH 2 WHERE: LAPHTO MALL ENTRANCE 350/600 BIRR TIME: 6:30 Adika Communication and Events invites all music lovers to a music concert where Michael Belayneh

CINEMA @ MATI CINEMA

in

Addis Ababa SATURDAY, MAR 02 Cinema 1

Cinema 2

Cinema 3

Time

Show Title

Time

Show Title

Time

04:30 pm 06:15 pm

Taschereshegnalesh

Snitch

04:30 pm 06:30 pm

Identity Thief

(Amharic)

04:15 pm 06:15 pm

Show Title

06:45 pm 08:45 pm

Sem Ena Werk (Amharic)

06:45 pm 08:45 pm

A Good Day to Die Hard

06:45 pm 08:45 pm

Identity Thief

09:15 pm 11:00 pm

Kemeten Belay (Amharic)

09:15 pm 11:15 pm

Snitch

09:15 pm 11:30 pm

Identity Thief

MONDAY MAR 4

4:00 MARIE AND BRUCE 5:30 FIRED UP! 7:30 CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG BRIDE 9:00 FLY AWAY HOME 11:00 BLAST FROM THE PAST 13:00 BEFORE SUNRISE

MBC

2

SATURDAY MAR 2

8:30 THE PATRIOT 11:00 ALMOST HEAVEN 13:00 YOU’VE GOT MAIL 15:00 SYDNEY WHITE 17:00 SPEED 19:00 MRS. DOUBTFIRE 21:00 ADAPTATION 23:00 KISS KISS BANG BANG

3:00 KISS KISS BANG BANG 4:30 RANSOM 6:30 MRS. DOUBTFIRE 8:30 SCOOP WITH RAYA 9:00 HANCOCK 10:30 SCOOP WITH RAYA 11:00 PREMONITION 12:30 SOUL FOOD 14:30 STOMP THE YARD 16:30 SCOOP WITH RAYA 17:00 HANCOCK 18:30 I AM SAM 21:00 THE INTERNATIONAL 23:00 THE OTHER GUYS 1:00 AMERICAN HISTORY X

TUESDAY MAR 5

3:00 DEMOLITION MAN 5:00 AVH: ALIEN VS. HUNTER 6:30 MYSTIC NIGHTS AND PIRATE FIGHTS 9:00 THE OTHER GUYS 11:00 THE INTERNATIONAL 13:00 I AM SAM

4:45 ROMANCING THE STONE 7:00 OSMOSIS JONES 8:30 MARIE AND BRUCE 10:00 THE GOOD NIGHT 11:30 THE JEWEL OF THE NILE 13:00 FIRED UP! 15:00 FLY AWAY HOME 17:00 L.A. STORY 19:00 BLAST FROM THE PAST 21:00 TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME 23:00 BEFORE SUNRISE 00:45 THE JEWEL OF THE NILE 2:30 THE GOOD NIGHT

THURSDAY MAR 7 15:30 PREMONITION 17:00 THE OTHER GUYS 19:00 BEETLEJUICE 21:00 ABDUCTION 23:00 JURASSIC PARK III 1:00 KNOCKED UP

WEDNESDAY MAR 6

3:00 BALIBO 4:45 THE FLY 6:30 ALL ABOUT US 8:00 THE THREE INVESTIGATORS 9:30 BEETLEJUICE 11:00 A GOOD YEAR 13:00 YEAR OF THE DOG 15:00 LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE 17:00 JURASSIC PARK III 19:00 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 21:00 I LOVE YOU, MAN 23:00 SHOOTER 1:00 THE OTHERS 2:45 ABDUCTION

THURSDAY MAR 7

4:30 BEHIND ENEMY LINES II: AXIS OF EVIL 6:15 THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND 8:00 LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE 9:30 THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS 11:30 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 13:30 I LOVE YOU, MAN 15:00 THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL 17:00 SHOOTER 19:00 SHOWTIME 23:00 THE DA VINCI CODE 1:30 THE REAPING

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LEISURE

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

Crossword ACROSS 1. Confess 6. Den 10. Aquatic animal 14. Collide 15. Monster 16. In contact with 17. Severely or exactitude 18. Harvest 19. People possessing self-conceit 20. Parts of a sequence of events 22. City in Pakistan 24. Small mountain lake (Old Norse) 25. Infected or corrupted 26. Italian economist Vifredo ______ (1848-1923) 29. Chance or fortune 30. Teller of untruths 31. Coming before 37. Foolish behavior or action 39. Annoy 40. At no time 41. City in Alabama 44. Urn 45. Sympathy 46. Barely sufficient 48. Attaches or closes 52. “Snow runners”

Cont`d from page 15

53. Statement 54. Blunders 58. Long periods of time 59. Graphical representation 61. Dutchess of York 62. An English Royal House 63. Naked 64. useful 65. Picnic insects 66. Enlarged 67. Appears DOWN 1. Unit of area 2. Dull person (slang) 3. Wise man 4. Having equal or constant specific volume (physics) 5. Windpipe 6. Lost (archaic) 7. Gets older 8. Individual Retirement Account 9. Substitute 10. A warm dry wind 11. Piece of cast metal 12. Shop or market 13. Drenched 21. Small amount of fluid 23. Pulitzer prizewinning poet Conrad Potter _____ (1889-1973)

Hey Kuncho!

Did you hear the great news?

Kuncho Komments

What is that?

|31

25. Folds in close together 26. Braided 27. Native of northern Japan 28. Rodents 29. Name from the French meaning “The King” 32. Violent disturbances 33. Cause great destruction 34. ____ the Terrible 35. Bird home 36. Earl ____ tea 38. Prank 42. Connecting 43. Requests 47. Genus of woody vines 48. Norse goddess of love and beauty 49. Pertaining to flight: _____autics 50. Knowledgeable 51. Pieces of work to be done 52. Fibrous tissue 54. A la ____ 55. Great Lake 56. Inner surface of the hand 57. She is (contraction) 60. Ill-tempered dog

We got gas!

Oh boy, not again.

I just grew out of diapers a few years back. Now this?

No dummy, I’m talking about fossil fuel. GAS!

Oh that! Great! Despite all our bravery and hunting history, I was beginning to think that maybe we hadn’t killed enough dinosaurs.

US 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Box office

Identity Thief Snitch Escape from Planet Earth Safe Haven A Good Day to Die Hard Dark Skies Silver Linings Playbook

Warm Bodies 9 Beautiful Creatures 10 Side Effects 8

Your Zodiacs ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20)

That will one of those weeks when just about everything goes right. In your case, it’s friendships, romance and career that will put you on top of the world - which really doesn’t leave a whole lot more to be desired, now does it? Don’t be shy to take full advantage of this gift from the Universe. On the other hand you shouldn’t be too quick to respond to a plea for help. This week lucky numbers are: 34, 71, 10, 88, 14 TAURUS (Apr. 21- may 21)

Money matters are not to be overlooked, even though any financial juggling you’ve planned may not be able to be concluded.

This is another fine week for creative work as well as mental interests. Your sales skills are tops. In case there is such occasion, enjoy dating or other happy outings to fun places.

Events might not go exactly as promised, so decide what you can salvage. This week lucky numbers are: 53, 72, 59, 37, 86 GEMINI (May 22-June 21)

You should focus your attention on the heart matters now. You will be able to open up and allow others to be more aware of what your needs are. You will probably want to take a trip; however, before you do, make sure that you have planned everything properly. This week lucky numbers are: 40, 35, 24, 41, 79

(astrology-online.com)

CANCER (June 22-July 22)

LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23)

LEO (July 23-Aug 22)

SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22)

Very soon and almost without efforts you’ll be able to find the new ways for an improvement over the old and be telling all your friends to follow your lead! Later in the week your memory will be jogged in a must unexpected way leading you to think about old friends and maybe even weighing up the chances of getting in touch with them again. This week lucky numbers are: 71, 51, 68, 74, 70 There is only one serious warning for you now. Take the action only after you are 100 percent sure of the facts. You deserve the limelight and you know that. Generosity is your middle name - and everyone it. You will be amply rewarded from a source you never expected. Choose amber to help you to remember the secrets in your heart that will lead to the shining of your inner beauty. This week lucky numbers are: 45, 60, 65, 59, 31 VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23)

There could be some fuzzy thinking at the beginning of this week--ease up on yourself and when things do not look clear, ask questions. A change may not be welcome, but it will be beneficial. Keep in mind that if you hardly afford to take care of yourself it is not very good idea to donate to organizations.

This week lucky numbers are: 39, 98, 13, 47, 33

You will certainly have the power to minimize your fears and to banish forever any further doubt you may have about a current project. Life is good, love is grand, and the word is a wonderful place to be.

There’s no catch, either. For the next few days, if not weeks, you’ll be right on top of the world - and when you’re happy, everybody’s happy. Travel will also be exciting. This week lucky numbers are: 1, 5, 9, 89, 91

CAPRICORN (Dec 22.- Jan. 20)

If you want it, you can have it now. There’s just no other way to say it. If you really want it, you won’t be shy about letting that fact be known. Taking precise action will help you smooth things over. Emotional upset at work may set you back, so avoid such difficulties. You will be able to learn valuable information if you listen and observe what others are doing and saying. This week lucky numbers are: 35, 71, 36, 64, 48

People think there is more fun to be around you that it used to be. If so, try not to spread yourself too thin as some time spent on your own is calming and relaxing. Say ‘YES’ when someone suggests a fun night out on the town, and remember it. It is certainly time to become the butterfly and show your true colors. The pink quartz is a powerful gem to help you bring increased prosperity into your world. This week lucky numbers are: 96, 98, 51, 78, 28

AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21)

PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20)

You will certainly be making plans to give a party soon. If you are still single, there is a big chance for a delightful romantic opportunity. You could make a break with any rules, regulations or constraints that are needlessly complicated and tedious and possibly even holding you back, it’s time to take control of the situation and show people what you can do. This week lucky numbers are: 2, 67, 79, 12, 55

Spot the differences

Can you spot the 12 differences between the two pictures?

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Solution

All sorts of organizations and worthy causes want to get you on board and although you feel flattered and you would like to get involved. There are so many events going on in your life at the moment that it might be difficult for you to keep in mind the main goals and priorities. A visitor in your home by the end of this week will compliment you on your tastes or belongings.

This week lucky numbers are: 16, 54, 60, 66, 1

Ask for help with a project if you need it now. Remember that you are just a human being(like everyone else) and there is nothing wrong if you ask someone to help you or to give you a piece of a good advice. Moreover, it looks like other people are more than willing to lend you any assistance that you may require. There is a chance that Cupid will have you in her sights. This week lucky numbers are: 97, 28, 48, 5, 90

Last Week’s Solution

The Reporter | Saturday | March 02, 2013

32| Advertisment

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