Kebena Sefere

African Renaissance leaders what a joke

2005-12-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

What a let down for the British government and all the Western Governments, that saw Meles as an aspiring leader of a new generation of African Renaissance leaders. I wonder what made these Westerners feel that Meles and his likes were any different than there predecessors? Did they ever question how Meles was able to reach his position within his own party? Wasn’t it the same Meles that ascended to the top of TPLF rank and file through deceit and killing? After all, the whole TPLF organization is known for solving all their problems through killings and atrocity.

A brief rundown of TPLF’s opponents and how this notorious organization has managed to solve its problems:

· TLF (Tigrai Liberation Front) one of the first opponents of TPLF. Disagreement between the two was solved with an overnight massacre of all TLF members with only two or three escaping the bloodbath.
· EDU (Ethiopian Democratic Union) led by former Tigrai governor Ras Megesha Seyoum, did mange to defeat TPLF during the early years, thus the reason for TPLF’s animosity till this day for Ras Mengesha.
· EPRP (Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party), another massacre levied by TPLF on their key opponent during the days of the jungle.
· Derg, well we all know what transpired between these two.
· EPLF (Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front) once the mentor organization for TPLF became their nemesis after gaining power. As you all remember, their differences was solved the old fashion way with the killings of thousands on both sides.

In short, TPLF has always solved its differences with opposing functions through the barrel of the gun. So what were we expecting from this malicious group when faced with their new adversary CUD?

Change has always been the last thing on Meles’s mind. He never had any plans or wishes to hand over power to the opposition. May 15th was the day that the Ethiopian population sent a clear and unmistakable message to Meles and company that they have overstayed their welcome. But the government in Addis is adamant on staying on. So which part of “we don’t want you anymore” they don’t understand I have no idea.

Previous Ethiopian regimes that overstayed their welcome have had nasty downfalls. The current Ethiopian establishment seems to be no exception to this historical rule. On May 15th there was a clear message in black and white that did not leave any room for doubts. However, that message has fallen on deaf ears.
Give it time, and we will be witnessing the downfall of the Meles regime in a way never seen by the Ethiopian public. The more harsher the regime, the harder they fall. What worries me is not when EPRDF will go down but how many lives will be wasted before EPRD’s demise.

ETHIOPIA...WHO KNEW?....

2005-11-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

Guest: Amy Sullivan

ETHIOPIA...WHO KNEW?....Thought I should mention that right now, a few thousand Ethiopians are conducting a protest march around the White House (and, consequently, under our windows as well), pretty much shutting down traffic for six or seven blocks. The consensus here in the office is that it's nice to see a focused march for once. No twenty-seven different signs for various causes here. Just lots of green, yellow, and red flags and signs that read, "USA, Condemn the Massacre in Ethiopia." Also, some very catchy music blasting so loud that you should probably not trying calling our offices for a little while.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some internet research to do, as I'm apparently shamefully uninformed about the situation in Ethiopia. Job well done, Ethiopian protesters. President Bush may be hanging out in Asia, and Condi Rice is in the Middle East. But you've made it impossible for The Washington Monthly to ignore you!

Amy Sullivan

Diaspora Politics

2005-10-31T17:30:00.000-08:00

Ethiopians in the Diaspora have either become clueless for many things or are getting high on some of the grass left over from the 70s. The reality in Ethiopia is by far different from what we here in the Diaspora think. We have become detached from reality that we have become the laughing stock of the whole country. If you ask me, I think we should just ignore the whole idea of going home to retire and plan on looking for a nice spot in the sunshine state of Florida. And since most of us don’t even have any form of retirement plan such as a 401k or a simple IRA we should just cross our fingers and hope for the best that social security will be around when we reach our 60s.

Isn’t it funny how we in the Diaspora love to do the flip-flop when it comes to supporting or despising our political figures? Take Dr. Birhanu for instance, one time hero and now an enemy in many circles for taking a moderate stand and mind you this all happened in a matter of weeks. How about Lidetu? A hero to many a few weeks back: and now an adversary to many. And the latest punching bags for the Diaspora are the Drs. Merara and Beyene. The Diaspora considered these two individuals, the future leaders of Ethiopia just a mere month ago when they came to the States for UEDF’s executive meeting. But now, the likes of Dr. Negede and the leader of EPRP God knows who or she is since their leadership believes in a hiding from public have stripped them of their positions as chair and vice chair of the organization. Now how pathetic is that? To begin with, the fifty-two or so members of UEDF elected to parliament belong to Dr. Beyene’s and Dr. Merara’s individual parties. Without these two individual parties, the other parties who are part of UEDF mount to nothing. I mean lets be real, how many members does MEISON have? Three or five tops!

For many political refugees in the West the time is ticking. Lets be real, it has been thirty-one years since the late emperor was overthrown. So if some of these individuals were in their mid-twenties back then, then we are looking at social security age in the horizon. So if I am not mistaken, they are desperate and time is not on their side. So it comes as no surprise when these individuals want the folks back home to rise up and revolt against EPRDF no matter what the consequence might be providing the government is overthrown. But keep in mind the “folks back home” part. It’s always easy to think that way when you don’t have to face Agazzi firing squad. I think Dr. Berhanu said it best when asked if he will support a move to fight EPRDF? He said he couldn’t support something that he would not allow his own kids to engage in.

Antagonizing these prominent individuals in Ethiopia is a plus to EPRDF and does not benefit the opposition at large. The fracture created among the supporters of the opposition is key in whether or not these two parties will survive the onslaught directed at them from all sides. CUD & UEDF leaders face the firing squad on a daily basis as we speak. So the last thing they need is pressure form thousands of miles away from the likes of Dr. Negede and company. If the Diaspora still insists on getting involved in Ethiopian politics, may I suggest that they purchase a one-way ticket on the one-stretch flight and head home to try their hand in Ethiopian politics? If they are not up to this challenge, then I suggest that they shut their mouth and become spectators and give up their Monday morning quarterbacking.

Let’s leave them alone

2005-10-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Dr. Merara and Dr. Beyene have gone their separate ways. The way I see it, they have the right and obligation for their constituents. Whether or not they will be effective in Parliament is yet to be seen. But we have no right to despise or deem them as traitors since we never voted for these two individuals to begin with. They are only accountable to their respective constituents. But this whole idea of making someone a hero when he/she follows our belief and the moment that individual steps out of bounds from our way of thought, bashing and degrading them has to come to a stop.

Who are we to have the moral high ground from seven thousands miles to dictate to the likes of Dr. Merara, Dr. Beyene and the rest of the opposition leaders to oblige to our demands. And don’t even say that we in the Diaspora represent the Ethiopian people. The leaders of the opposition are the ones facing EPRDF forces on a daily bases. Their lives are always in danger. Let them fight the fight the way they think fit. Let us not make this our fight. We can only be productive by supporting them either financially or morally. CUD and UEDF need our support. Let us not get in the way of progress. Let us for a change, support the first legitimate oppositions in our land to get to the promised land.

Good Luck

2005-10-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

To say that the people of Ethiopia are going through a severe anxiety stage would be an understatement. The talk around town is whether the opposition (CUD) will eventually join the parliament or stick with their stand of boycotting parliament which they believe is nothing more than a rubber stamp parliament.

Some wonder if we will ever have a peaceful way of solving our political stalemate. From what I have been able to observe, I see hatred and vendetta on both sides and if we are to see some form of peaceful resolution to our current impasse, both sides need to check in their egos at the door and get back to the conference table to solve their differences peacefully for the sake of the nation and all the concerned citizens.

The ruling party needs to take the first step and take the higher ground and offer the olive branch to the opposition members so that they could come back to the round tables for more talks. And if that is to happen, and if Meles wants to be sincere, he should be their in person and not some newspaper editor or some two time political cadre from OPDO. Furthermore, Meles should bring along the likes of Girma Biru and other toned down EPRDF senior members to the round table and avoid the likes of Bereket, who has become more of a liability than an asset to the ruling party.

On the opposition side, the leadership has to recognize that nothing can be achieved by hard line stands and irrational rhetoric. Some times, one must swallow his/her pride to get what one wants. So the leadership should take a watered down approach and get the moderates to represent them in their talks with Meles and company.

As an avid observer of Ethiopian politics, I am beginning to speculate that the reason both Meles and Eng. Hailu come across as hard liners for the simple reason that both individuals have to answer to the hardcore members of their respective parties. If they were to water down some of their tough talks, I wonder how long these two could last as chair of their respective parties. But sometimes, leaders have to take risks for the betterment of their people and society. That’s when true leaders are born. Leaders with vision and love for their country. For me, I see Meles having more of a challenge to prove his allegiance to the whole population as opposed to Eng. Hailu.

I personally wish both men all the luck providing they have Ethiopia's interest at heart and not their parties.

What will Ethiopia’s future be?

2005-08-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

As the cloak ticks down and the Ethiopian New Year looms around the horizon, both the opposition and the ruling party are in a huddle like great chess masters to outguess the others next moves. The opposition weighing the pros and cons of joining the next parliament, and the ruling party formatting a plan on how to best respond, and all this has increased our anxiety levels to a point never seen before.

The Ethiopian people are tired of this guessing game. The people deserve better. We need leaders with integrity and honor to lead us out of our misery. The ruling party has to understand that the people have spoken. In areas they have lost, they should face up to reality and be gracious losers. And like any loosing side, they should expedite the handover of power in a civilized manner. The opposition on the other hand has to realize that the faith of the people is in their hands. Any move they make will have a major ramification on the faith and destination of our people. So it is advisable that they think twice before they make their next move.

The sentiment of our people varies from place to place. There are those that don’t want to see a total distraction of EPRDF so as to counter balance the opposition groups and those that favor a total banishment of the ruling party all together. The latter opinion might be appealing to many; however, an all out expulsion of EPRDF might not be the most lucrative option in the long haul for our country. EPRDF, one has to realize is not a fly by night organization. It is a movement that has over a million members with the majority being of Oromo and Amhara origin. Even if their views do not coincide with many Ethiopians, it has to be argued that under any democratic society, no matter how small a following a group might have, it must be given its rightful place as an opposing view and should not be discarded as such. And if the opposition wants to win the hearts of the people, they should lead by example by accepting EPRDF’s opposing views and live by the cardinal rule of “agreeing to disagree.”

The wrangling between the opposition groups and the ruling party must cease. Both sides have the accountability to the people. Neither group can escape responsibility. Egos must be set aside for the good of the country. The ruling party must understand that you can’t win all the time. The opposition should also understand you can’t win a game with first at bat. Unless they come to some form of compromise, History will judge them as the generation that could have propelled Ethiopia to the next juncture but failed miserably.

The Purification Has Began

2005-08-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

Considering that coup d'états were rampant and acceptable way of life in Africa in the 60’s 70’s 80’s and part of the 90’s. It is really refreshing to see that in most modern day African countries, power has began to change hands through the ballot box as opposed to the use of the barrel of the gun. It was a rarity to see among African leaders the likes of Sengor and Nyerere stepping down from office on their own terms. But as times have gone by and as we Africans have joined our rightful place in the world community, power grabbing by force is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

True, we still do have cases even under the disguise of democracy, where governments have managed to overstay their welcome by manipulating the ballot box in their favor. However, considering the journey we Africans have traveled, such scenarios will also be a thing of the past ones the people have been empowered with all the necessary knowledge and know-how needed to bring an end to fictitious democracies and replace them with bona fide form of government.

Despite all the wrangling that has taken place vis-à-vis the Ethiopian elections; one cannot deny that whatever the outcome, democracy is here to stay for good. The people of Ethiopia have tasted the power of the ballot box. There is no turning back. People have realized that it is their fundamental right to vote in and vote out their leaders. And as more and more people realize that, the chance of an unwanted leadership staying in power will be the thing of the past. Furthermore, citizens aspiring to ascend to the helm of power must prove to the people they are trustworthy and leadership material. Gone are the days when gunfights like the Wild, Wild West determined our leaders.

At the dawn of a new day, we Ethiopians must look forward to a new start, where myopic way of thinking will be a thing of the past. Let us not dwell too much on the past but long for a better Ethiopia where her people can leave in harmony under the guidance of democracy. Let the past be used as a teaching tool so as not to repeat some of our past mistakes.

As we embark on this new journey, we should teach the new generation that the word politics is not really a dirty word. And politicians are not all bad. In fact, we should encourage the young people to get interested in pursuing a life in politics. A culture of smooth transition of power can only be achieved if we have professionally trained leaders that are capable of taking part in elections and then moving on to lead the nation without having to create anxiety among the population. And as the title of this piece indicates, the purification in Ethiopia for a true democracy has begun.

Ethiopia to probe election fraud allegations

2005-06-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

Mon June 20, 2005 6:36 PM GMT+02:00
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian election authorities pledged on Monday to investigate allegations of election fraud that fanned violence earlier this month killing at least 36 people in the capital Addis Ababa.

But the Ethiopian Election Board said its review panel would only investigate alleged irregularities in 136 of the 299 constituencies where opposition parties are complaining of fraud by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government.

Meles, feted by Western leaders and once hailed by U.S. President Bill Clinton as part of "a new generation" of African leaders, is under pressure to demonstrate transparency.

Good governance by African leaders is one of the key issues under the spotlight ahead of the summit of G8 rich nations in Scotland next month, which will focus on how to help Africa.

"Of the 299 constituencies where it was alleged that fraud and rigging had taken place, investigation will take place only in 136 constituencies," the election board said in a statement.

"Complaints logged on the rest of the constituencies were found not to be properly documented and unsubstantiated."

The Horn of Africa nation -- which the U.S. government views as a key ally in its anti-terrorism drive -- has 527 electoral constituencies.

Claims of fraud in the May 15 parliamentary poll sparked protests two weeks ago in Addis Ababa, with at least 36 people killed when police opened fire on rock-throwing protesters.

According to provisional results announced by the election board, Meles' ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and its allies have won enough seats in the federal parliament to form the next government.

But the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) says the results are meaningless until voting irregularities are probed.

Final results are due on July 8.

The election was only the second true multi-party poll in Africa's top coffee producer, the second most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa with 72 million people.

The opposition CUD expressed concern about the make-up of the review panel, saying it should comprise independent legal experts.

"The members of the review committee as it stands now are employees of the board whose neutrality we question," CUD representative Gizachew Shiferaw said.

Meles has ruled Ethiopia since he deposed Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1974.

Kebena Sefere

2005-06-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

Kebena Sefere

Every day a struggle to survive in Ethiopia

ALAN RODEN

HIGH on a windy hillside a group of young mothers are huddled on the ground as they cradle their babies.

Most of them are laughing, but not because anyone has cracked a joke. Swatting flies from my face, I had innocently asked if anyone has been forced to sacrifice food for the sake of their children.

Mother-of-six Asiya Tudros stops giggling and says: "Of course, that is normal."

Normal, that is, in Ethiopia. Twenty-one years ago, scenes of desperate poverty and hunger in this beautiful African country inspired Bob Geldof to begin his Live Aid mission.

Foreign aid - including millions of pounds raised by a British public deeply touched by the images of famine - poured into this country. Yet today the nation is arguably the poorest on Earth - and growing poorer.

More than 28 million people in Ethiopia live in deep and long-term poverty, and 80 per cent of the population are forced to survive on less than the World Bank's $2-a-day poverty line. In the capital, Addis Ababa, this would buy just a handful of bread rolls to share between a large family.

Families here suffer from disease, lack of clean water, little education and healthcare, and the insecurity of knowing that one poor harvest or drought will lead to mass hunger.

The cycle of poverty is robbing children of their future, which is why the organisers of the Make Poverty History campaign want people to march on Edinburgh and raise awareness during the G8 Summit.

This is the kind of poverty the campaign wants to consign to history.

Asiya, the mother who answered my question, is one of many people who scratch a living from the eroded and densely populated hillsides in rural Ethiopia.

The 38-year-old lives in the remote community of Bobota, around a 12-hour drive from Addis Ababa.

Asiya's one-year-old son is her first healthy baby out of seven children - he's also the first to be breastfed after advice from Save the Children aid workers.

One of her children died of malnutrition - just one of 30,000 children who die every day in Africa die due to poverty.

Her other five children, aged from five to 19, spend most of the week working on the family's land. They have time for only two morning classes at school each week.

Children in this northern area of Ethiopia are sent to work from around the age of four and only some have the luxury of attending school.

Asiya's family live in a tukul - a small one-room hut made of wood, cow dung and thatch. They share the home with their livestock, including a handful of sheep and goats, and donkeys for carrying crops. "We don't have enough food to go round the family and we often have to sell our animals to buy grain," she tells me.

"All I want is for my children to be self-sufficient, so that they can help themselves."

In her village of around 1000 people, Save the Children has been working for 11 months to try to reduce the high infant mortality.

Asiya's husband, Sheh, says he has noticed an improvement in the family's health since the centre opened.

"I have been told about sanitation and I have now built a latrine for our home," the 67-year-old says.

A few hundred yards from the education centre is the village school. In a tiny dark classroom, more than 60 youngsters huddle around just ten small desks.

There are no lights, no text books and not enough space - but a lot of eagerness to learn. As I walk in, the pupils rush over and surround me - but they are not begging for food or money, just exercise books and pens.

One of the pupils, Asiya's son, nine-year-old Abdu, explains that he's spent the morning in science and maths classes and is now ready to work on the family's land - which totals around half the size of a football pitch.

"We own three very small bits of land but there's not enough food," he says. "I enjoy school because I like to learn, but I have to spend a lot of time working on the hills."

Much of the country that I see suffers from the same problems - small landholdings, poor agricultural practices and lack of drinkable water which combine to create a vicious cycle of deteriorating health and environments - and increasing poverty.

From the urban streets, where young Aids orphans merely exist, to the rural villages where men walk for miles to fetch water and young women are left with their backs irreversibly bent from carrying crops, hardship is everywhere in this country.

The difference between what we in the West see as poverty and what's considered poor in Ethiopia is brought starkly home when I'm caught on top of a mountain in a torrential downpour.

Alemnesh Mohammed takes pity on me and shoos me into her small hut, where I join her two young children, ten sheep and two oxen. The cramped room includes a tiny sleeping space on the mud-covered floor and an open fire, but no chimney. It was pitch black and it took minutes before I could see anything, and even then the room was full of smoke.

This is a rich family in Ethiopian terms. They own two oxen, which means the family's land can be ploughed.

I find real poverty in the nearby village of Gimba. There I meet a group of eight men who are only alive because Save the Children gives them 35 birr a month - £2.21 - as part of a cash-for-relief programme each winter.

The men belong to a group of villagers classed as the "extreme poor" and most of them are elderly or disabled.

In return for simple labour, such as helping to build a road, they receive the cash to buy grain and other food such as salt. But the scheme has now run out of money and it is unclear if the charity will be able to help out in the future.

People in the community prefer to receive cash for the projects they work on rather than food aid - something the American charities have yet to recognise. Large sacks of surplus grain from Iowa, branded with the US stars and stripes are often visible on the shoulders of men, women and donkeys.

Save the Children prefers to store food, because just one year of drought or poor harvest would lead to another humanitarian disaster in Ethiopia, probably a lot worse than 1984's.

The Make Poverty History campaign wants to put an end to the trap of bitter, unrelenting poverty and believes this can be achieved by tackling an unjust global trade system, a debt burden that it suffocates any chance of recovery, and insufficient and ineffective aid.

The Ethiopians seem to have a touching faith in Tony Blair and his ability to lift this continent from its knees at Gleneagles next month.

Everywhere I go, people are full of praise - like Solomon Berie, one of Save the Children's Ethiopian workers.

"Tony Blair is a hero for the African people," he smiles.

In less than three weeks' time, the British Prime Minister will have the chance to avoid disappointing millions of people, who believe he really can make poverty history.

• To make a donation to Save the Children, telephone 0800-814 8148 or visit www.savethechildren.org.uk

Hassan's hungry family at mercy of the land

HASSAN ENDRIE has spent his entire life working in the fields but he still can't grow enough food to survive.

He doesn't know how old he is and he doesn't know how old his three children are. But one thing that he does know is how hungry they are.

Hassan has two small pieces of land which he rents from the government. He uses this space to grow barley to make enjera, a popular type of bread in Ethiopia.

Like most people in his country, he is a subsistence farmer. This means everything Hassan grows is food for his own family to eat, rather than something to be sold.

But unlike many others, he doesn't have the luxury of owning livestock, which means his family don't get to eat lamb and they have to carry all their goods themselves.

During the summer food gap, when the fields don't produce any grain, Hassan walks for four hours each day to receive a bag of food from a United States aid agency. He has been kept alive the rest of the year by money from Save the Children, which provides £2.21 a month to each member of his family in return for hard labour on a local building project.

"With the money I can go to the market and buy more grain," Hassan said. "I prefer having money than just receiving food.

"But it is a very difficult life and we have to ration everything we own."

The project has now ended, leaving Hassan once again at the mercy of the land.

If there is just one bad harvest, or another drought, Hassan's family would be unlikely to survive.

THE FACTS

• MORE than 28 million Ethiopians live in what is termed deep and long-term poverty.

• At least 60 per cent of people living in Ethiopia's major towns and cities are living below the poverty line.

• Only one third of children get the chance to complete their schooling.

• Nearly three million Ethiopians live with HIV/Aids, 230,000 of whom are children.

• The Ethiopian famine in 1984 claimed nearly 500,000 lives and left more than 100,000 children orphaned.

• More than 85 per cent of the population depend on agriculture, growing food to feed their families. Of these, 98 per cent are subsistence farmers.

• Every year around five million families need aid because they cannot produce enough food.

Kebena Sefere

2005-06-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Kebena Sefere

'A storeroom of diseases'

Issues surrounding water are central to achieving the UN millennium goals. Jeevan Vasagar visited Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in Africa, to see how a scarcity of clean water affects the people of Addis Ababa

Tuesday June 21, 2005

Ethiopians like to look spic and span. Whether in western suits or traditional white cotton shawls, their clothing is kept spotless.
The same cannot be said for the sprawling slums of Addis Ababa. In just over a century, Ethiopia's capital has grown from a royal village founded by an African queen to a metropolis of over 3 million people. The poorest, most densely populated quarters of the city have expanded too rapidly, and with too little planning, for basic services to keep pace.

Rahima Abagado does her best to keep her children clean, but for years she fought a losing battle. On the other side of her living-room wall was the neighbourhood's communal latrine.
"This is where the children used to sleep," Abagado says, pointing to mats on the floor by the wall. The blue, plastered wall looks cracked and weak, and there is a faint, dank smell. "The latrine used to fill with water. It used to smell from underneath. There would be water running off into the street. The wall was soggy and we were worried that it would collapse."

Abagado, a grandmother in her 60s, lives in the tightly packed quarter of Tekle Haymonot, in a two-room shack of mud, plaster and rusting iron sheets. Outside on the cobbled street, chickens peck at the dirt, cats wander between the houses and children play. The children are forbidden to use the communal latrines, for fear that they will fall in. The latrines are wooden huts, built over vast, dark pits, with shaky wooden slats to stand on. There are buzzing clouds of flies circling the holes.

"Addis is a storeroom of diseases," said Bedria Ahmedin, 40, a mother of six. "People have to go to the toilet and that exposes us to diseases. We try to keep the area outside the toilet clean, but children touch things, put things in their mouth."

Poor sanitation has deadly consequences. There is increased susceptibility to water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea and dysentry, as well as the eye infection trachoma and scabies, a skin infection.

In countries such as Ethiopia, diarrhoea is not just a nuisance; it accounts for 46% of mortality among children under five. For people living with HIV, lack of sanitation creates further problems. Wubiye Bekele, a 28-year-old woman who found out she had the virus two years ago, says: "I've had TB, skin problems, and swellings of my lymph glands.

"We used to have just a pit latrine, but then it burned down. So I either have to ask the neighbours or use a night potty, and dump it in an open sewer. While I had TB I had diarrhoea and had to go to the toilet a lot more. I need more water for washing myself, and also for drinking."

Ethiopia has some of the lowest levels of sanitation in the world. Only a tiny fraction of the population in Addis Ababa, just 3%, have flushing toilets linked to the sewer system.

There are a variety of alternatives; for nearly a quarter of the city's people, the solution lies in the streams running through poor areas, which have been turned into open sewers.

Others use pit latrines, of the old-fashioned, hazardous and filthy variety, or sometimes a safer, modern version built by an aid agency. If they have enough money to build one, some have their own septic tanks at home.

"The bulk of the population in Addis is not in a position to pay for such [sanitation] services," says Mesfin Tegene, Ethiopia's deputy minister for water resources.

"Addis has a population of 3 million-plus. The great majority of the population lives in poverty so a few people, a small percentage of this population, can afford to pay for such services."

Sanitation is a Cinderella service. Everyone knows they need water, and even the poorest are prepared to pay for it.

But the costs of poor sanitation - the increased risk of disease and the environmental damage - fall more heavily on society as a whole than on the individual. So few poor people are prepared to pay.

"The impact of bad sanitation is more long-term," says Abebe Belete, deputy general manager of Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority. "The pollution for example, from liquid waste disposal, pollutes the environment in general, the soil, the vegetation. But there is a natural process - the ecosystem tries to recover itself, you many not notice the immediate effect.

"People think more about getting food or water, rather than considering [that] their child is going to be affected or [how] it's going to cause other detrimental effects for the next generation to come."

Even with the public and political will to build a better system, there are big practical challenges. First, a sewer system requires flushing toilets, because the waste is flushed through the system with water. And that requires plentiful access to water. The second difficulty is the expense of building the sewer lines themselves. The system depends on gravity rather than pumping, so the sewer lines do not necessarily take the shortest route.

"Because of gravitational flow, the system has to be very perfect," Mr Belete says. "It may take a longer time to deliver it to the treatment centre.

"In flat areas we have to pump, and pumping is very expensive, because it has to handle solids combined with liquid, that makes it more expensive compared to the water supply."

The parts required for engineering work are imported either from Europe or the far east, increasing the expense.

The doubling of aid could clearly make a difference here. The levels of aid going into Ethiopia now are low by comparison with other sub-Saharan African nations: in 2001, it was $16 per person, compared with $33 in Burkina Faso.

But there are delays in spending the aid money that is already coming in. According to the British charity WaterAid: "In the water sector, these delays arise from lengthy tender procedures and even repeated losses of paperwork."

Spending can be poorly coordinated, WaterAid says. Some donors prefer to spend their money directly at regional level, rather than going through a ministry, but this can mean that an equivalent amount is simply deducted from that region's central government grant.

The way that some donors choose to spend their aid money can cause further problems. Some aid grants are hedged about with conditions that require the Ethiopian authorities to hire consultants and contractors from the donor country.

Mr Belete says: "Their companies build up their own overhead costs, pay expatriate salaries. Sometimes the amount of money required for a project may be more than double our assessment."

The excess has to be found from Ethiopia's public coffers.

"In some cases [aid] is beneficial," Mr Belete says. "But in some cases it can take more money from us, and we do not benefit from the grant."

Making Addis cleaner and healthier is not always a question of vast projects requiring millions of aid dollars. A far more small-scale initiative is making a big difference in Tekle Haymonot. Every morning, just after dawn, gangs of women and men dressed in long gowns and face masks go out to collect household rubbish - a mix of ash from cooking fires, vegetable peel, bones and chewed up qat leaves which might once have been tossed into a river or dumped in a street corner.

Households pay a small fee, between two and four Ethiopian birr [12p-25p] a month. The narrow streets, where women wash their clothes in steel drums and dogs sun themselves on the steps of houses, are largely clear of rubbish now.

Asnaku Mamo, 35, a mother of two, says: "There have been lots of changes. Our children get sick less often, and there is more of a sense of cleanliness in our environment. Everybody used to leave their rubbish out. It was unsanitary and unhealthy. Everybody knew this and did nothing about it.

"We're not spending so much money on medication. You had to spend 100 birr taking a child to the doctors, compared with spending a few minutes a day or a few minutes a week to clean in the environment."

As well as collections of household rubbish, there is a communal clean-up of the streets every Saturday morning. Each household is responsible for clearing the space outside their front door.

Some people fail to pull their weight, though others have been spurred to display signs of new-found communal pride; there are tiny box gardens by the doors of some houses.

Zehara Bashir, 38, one of the rubbish collectors, says: "There are changes coming, really good changes, but some people just chuck rubbish in the river and that undermines everything. People say, 'Why do I bother paying? Why don't I just chuck things in the river as well? ' It's important that everybody does it. Otherwise we still have a problem."

Kebena Sefere

2005-06-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Kebena Sefere

ETHIOPIA: Rapid population growth undermining development - US
21 Jun 2005 12:48:45 GMT

Source: IRIN

ADDIS ABABA, 21 June (IRIN) - Rapid population growth in Ethiopia is undermining the country's development, the United States warned on Tuesday.

The warning came as the US pledged medical equipment worth US $750,000 to 100 rural health centres in five regions across the country to help improve family planning and reproductive health.

"The equipment donated to the Ministry of Health helps in meeting the reproductive health needs of Ethiopia," the US embassy in the Ethiopian capital, Addis ababa, said in a statement.

According to its National Office of Population, Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of population growth in the world, estimated at 2.7 percent per annum in 2003 with a total fertility rate of 5.9 children per woman.

Government authorities estimate that its population of 74 million will double in fewer than 25 years. Because of poor reproductive health, a mother in Ethiopia is 37 times more likely to see her child die in the first year of life than a mother in Sweden.

The country also suffers from one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 850 women out of 100,000 dying during childbirth.

The US will provide support to health centres in the northern regions of Tigray and Amhara, as well as the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' region and Oromiya in the south and Benishangul-Gumuz in the west.

Experts also warned that a "root cause" of the country's annual food crises is runaway population growth.

Sahlu Haile, head of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in Ethiopia, told journalists at the weekend that each year the country has two million new mouths to feed.

He said the agricultural sector, the mainstay of the economy, was unable to meet the growing population demands, exacerbating erosion, deforestation and the loss of soil nutrients.

The current rate of deforestation of over 75,000 hectares per year threatened to wipe out all forests in less than 20 years, he added.

Ethiopia - currently reeling from a food crisis affecting eight million people - has the third largest population in Africa. According to the UN's Population Fund, only eight percent of its sexually active population use family-planning methods.

IRIN news

Kebena Sefere

2005-06-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

Kebena Sefere

Ethiopia - Addis Abeba - 09.6.2005
A coup in the air
Report from the capital of Ethiopia, where government repression has left numerous dead

Written for PeaceReporter by
Emilio Manfredi

Today the deserted streets of Addis Abeba are patrolled by military vehicles. The result of a day of violence in the ethiopian capital is of 22 people killed. The violence on wednesday flared after weeks of opposition accusations that the ruling party had intimidated voters and rigged the polls to hold on to power. Some opposition leaders were being kept at their homes, according to party sources and European Union observers.

Massacre in Merkato, Wednesday morning. “This morning we were demonstrating in the Merkato neighborhood. The Federal Police suddenly started shooting. Dozens of people fell to the ground. Then the Red Berets came and gave the coup de grace to the wounded by shooting them in the head, the face, or in the temples.” These are the words of one of the approximately ninety wounded who continue to arrive at “Black Lion” Hospital in Addis Abeba. The dead are arriving as well, twelve so far, all shot in the head at close range. All the victims are between eighteen and thirty years old, students and workers who participated in the general strike called today to protest the military-police apparatus that keeps the capital in an undeclared state of siege. Since this morning, the atmosphere in Addis Abeba has been unreal. It began as an almost total strike by the taxis and minibuses that make up virtually the entire public transport system, with the exception of a few state-supported buses. “We can’t go on like this anymore. We voted for a democratic country. The government lost and now it must step aside. I need the money I make by working, but liberty is even more important.” So says Alemayu, twenty-one, a taxi driver, as he sips coffee in a caffè.

The opposition has no military capacity. Trying to keep the volatile situation under control, they call a determined but non-violent demonstration. “We won. The government must accept the protest of Ethiopian civil society and step aside. If the Prime Minister decides to defend his power with brute force, he will be directly responsible for the consequences.”

Today in Addis Abeba, everyone walks: huge flows of people move through the streets, trying to live as normally as possible. Around them, most of the stores in the suq have their gates drawn down. Many have been closed for some days. At each corner, dozens of Federal and Municipal Police and special military troops govern the human traffic. Military trucks, jeeps, pick-ups. In the last several days, even heavy artillery has arrived, displayed before a totally unarmed populace. It’s an undeclared but obvious state of siege. Waiting for the next spark, soldiers stop off-duty taxis. Threatening the drivers with their guns, they force them to take on passengers under a driving rain.

High School and University Students, Tuesday morning. At the windows on the first floor of a school building, a group of schoolgirls look out toward the street, faces filled with fear. After a few seconds, someone from inside pulls them away from the windows.

On the sidewalk below, twenty white-helmeted agents of the Federal Police in riot gear, Kalashnikovs at the ready, create a barrier to keep anyone from seeing what’s happening. A few minutes later, specialized troops break into the compound of the Tegbaree Technical-Industrial College. The students throw a few stones at the police, who are joined by a corps of soldiers who are especially faithful to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawu. From a building under construction across the street, workers start throwing bricks at the soldiers, who shoot back. They seal the school off for several hours. Inside, there are only students (between seventeen and twenty-one years old) and soldiers. “Unfortunately, I had to call for the intervention of public forces, because the students interrupted the educational process, creating abnormal conditions in the school,” explains Assefar Aserko, 49, the Associate Dean. “But after all, nothing happened. As you can seem the kids are coming out now for their lunch break, and afterward lessons will start up again,”says Assefar, smiling.

The school has just been reopened, and the jeeps and military trucks are coming out, filled with students who have been arrested, their skulls fractured and bones broken. There are many wounded. “They came into the classrooms and beat us savagely. They were Red Berets, the Special Forces. They threw us against the wall and beat us with their rifle butts. All my classmates were wounded. They got me on the arm,” says Yusif, 18, his eyes filled with tears because of the tear gas.

The Tuesday demonstration at the Technical College in Addis Abeba came a day after another one at the university compound. The students occupied the campus in protest, and the police response was swift and brutal, with over 600 arrests. The students had demanded the release of others who had been siezed during the night, and called for the revocation of Prime Minister Zenawi’s ban on demonstrations, as well as demanding clarification of the post-electoral process.

The Elections of May 15. In the capital and throughout Ethiopia, the situation has been growing more and more tense for several months. Since the beginning of the electoral campaign for the nation’s third multi-party elections since the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam’s Socialist Derg regime, the opposition parties (CUD, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, and UEDF, the United Ethiopian Democratic Force) had accused the ruling party (with the initials EPRDF) of scheming to impose a democratic façade to please African and international observers without actually accepting the election results. Even before the voting took place, the CUD electoral head, Gizachew Chiferau, stated that his party’s supporters (known as Kinjit, meaning Union) had been intimidated, beaten, arrested, and in some cases even killed by the police or members of EPRDF. On the occasion of the May 15 elections, the Ethiopian populace had given a clear demonstration of its intention to vote

Twenty-six million registered voters, from a total population of approximately 80 million inhabitants, stood patiently in long, slow lines, many waiting as long as ten hours to cast their vote, despite the threatening presence of Red Beret pick-ups which cruised the streets of Addis Abeba. The problems began again as soon as the polls were closed. Prime Minister Zenawi allowed just enough time for the international observers (the European Union, the Jimmy Carter Center, the African Union, the Arab League) to praise the voters for their stubborn patience. Immediately afterward, Zenawi assumed all police and poublic security powers, prohibiting demonstrations in the capital for a month until the definitive results, scheduled to be announced on June 8. The Kinjit, however, organized protests against government intimidation during the electoral campaigns and in some minor cities, as well as denouncing deception during the vote-counting process.

Government Reaction. “Despite the government reaction, we progressed from twelve seats in the last Parliament to almost two hundred. We have 95 per cent support in Addis Abeba, so if the vote count goes fairly we are sure to gain an absolute majority in Parliament. We will govern ta democratic Ethiopia after June 8,” announced Kinjit Vice President Berhanu Nega several days ago as he awaited the election results.

But a few days later, the Ethiopian Electoral Commission (NEBE), the government’s election supervisory agency, declared they would postpone the announcement of the election results for another month. At the same time, the ruling party announced itself the victor. The sole television and radio organs of the country, under the control of the Information Ministry, stopped transmitting news of the opposition parties, broadcasting instead only the favorable announcements by the election commissions. As if that were not enough, Information Minister Bereket Simon has increased pressure first on local and subsequently on international media. Eight Ethiopian journalists, editors, and editors-in-chief of national news organs have been picked up by security forces and kept for two days. Two AP reporters who were following the student demonstrations were held for six hours and released only after the intervention of the British Ambassador. Six Ethiopian reporters who work for the international press (Voice of America and Voice of Germany) have been relieved of their work permits. “We were summoned to the office of the Information Minister, where we were told that we could no longer work in Ethiopia. Our work permits were seized with no explanation,” stated one of the journalists by telephone.

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Translated by Thomas Simpson

Kebena Sefere

2005-06-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

Kebena Sefere

By VOA News
12 June 2005

Ethiopia's main opposition coalition has reaffirmed its commitment to a non-violence pact with the government - a deal aimed at ending post-election violence in the country.

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy, or CUD, Sunday said it "unequivocally" accepts the terms of Friday's deal with Ethiopia's ruling party.

The pact was negotiated in an effort to stop recent violence sparked by last month's election results. At least 29 people were killed in a protest last week, when police opened fire on crowds alleging fraud during the vote.

Ethiopia's government has accused the opposition of engineering the protests and breaking the non-violence pact.

Meanwhile, opposition officials say CUD leader, Hailu Shawel, remains under house arrest for a second day. Officials say attempts to contact Mr. Hailu have failed because his telephone is not working.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.

Let cooler heads prevail

2005-06-07T05:52:00.000-07:00

As events change by the minute, one hopes that cooler heads will prevail and both the ruling party and the opposition groups will come to some form understanding, where by averting anymore blood shed or chaos that might ensue if things are left unattended.

EPRDF seems determined to prevent any unrest or chaos from flaring up in the city. As commendable that might sound, but they are going about doing it the wrong way. The death of innocent civilians or imprisonment of students is only going to make matters worse. As the ruling party, EPRDF needs to show restrains and take the higher ground by releasing the students that were arrested both today and yesterday.

Ethiopia will never be the same. The country has significantly changed for the better. The tide of change that swept the country on May 15th of this year will always be remembered as the day that power can finally be changed through the ballot box. As our famous runner of all time Haile G. Sellasi said “Yechalale.”

Kebena Sefere

2005-06-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

Kebena Sefere

Events in Ethiopia don't look so good. Today, there was unrest around Mexico Square and the Commercial School. Unfortunately, the 300 or so students arrested the other day have not been released yet. If the ruling party had any sense, they should have released these young people from prison today. But EPRDF has no clue to the severity and the consequence of arresting these students. They are basically adding to the long list of opponents to this government. One wonders when or if EPRDF will start learning from its own mistake.