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In Ethiopia, 10,000 tons of coffee vanishes in one month

DBE to buyout flower growers debt

Meles Angered of the Coffee Issue

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi last Wednesday took a firm tone when discussing issues concerning the horticulture and coffee sectors.

During the full-day discussion Meles scolded coffee exporters saying they are making the industry into a family business and ignoring the benefit of the country.
Meles said that the government is going to “cut the hands” of those committing grave crimes against the country as of January 9, 2009.
He further said that 10,000 tons of coffee bound for export has disappeared recently and added that the government is vigorously investigating the case.
At current global prices, 10,000 tons is worth about 20 to 23 million dollars.
Ethiopia produces about 200,000 tons of coffee a year, half of which is consumed locally.
The country’s production is just a small fraction of the world’s coffee, dwarfed by giants like Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam. However, the quality and potential holds a key to unlocking prosperity in one of Africa’s poorest countries, an expert in the coffee sector commented.
At the discussion that predominately held coffee exporters responsible for mishandling the country’s biggest foreign currency earner, Meles warned exporters that work with different licenses both as suppliers and buyers to cease their illegal practice. He said that government is going to take severe actions on those who are dishonestly working in the sector.
During the discussion the PM cited the sector’s performance as a reason for the steep decline of the foreign currency income by the sector from past years.
Replying to Meles’ questions, coffee exporters blamed the problem on the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), saying it has delivery and storage troubles.
Eleni Zaude G. Medihin, CEO of ECX, denied these accusations.
The exporters further said the global economic crisis has hit sales hard and that banks are tightening credit for their customers.
But experts in the sector said that the effect of the global crisis is not more than 5% on the coffee market.
Moreover, the ECX price index is relatively higher than the New York Stock Market that fluctuates minute by minute.
Coffee earned 525 million dollars in the 2007/08 fiscal year.
Some 12 million people are dependent on the coffee industry. Ethiopia’s key markets are Germany, Japan, USA, France, the Middle East and Scandinavian countries.

On horticulture
Meles has also held discussions with flower farm owners who appealed for extensions of loan repayment periods.
During their discussion, some flower growers who began operations taking loans from private banks appealed to the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) to take over their project after settling the loan.
The growers said that private banks are not interested in long-term loans and these farms could not handle the pressure of the private banks for repayment.
DBE officials during the discussion accepted the appeal and said that if the cash flow of the company is considered healthy DBE would service the loan payments for the private banks and would transfer the company to ownership as collateral.
According to DBE’s credit policy ratified by the Public Financial Enterprises Agency - the regulator of state-owned financial institutions - headed by Dr. Eyob Tesfaye on September 25, 2008, the bank could buyout performing loans found in government and private banks. According to the bank’s lending policy, investments in all agricultural products, excluding oilseeds, pulses and gums, all manufactured industry products, excluding hides and skins, agro-processed products and manufactured goods are considered as priority areas.
With the newly approved credit policy, the bank is allowed to take over loans found in other banks upon the request of a borrower.
Another issue that was raised is the one-year grace period the bank gives to its clients. The growers said that repayment time would arrive before they could even start setting up the greenhouses they use for their products.
The borrowers appealed for the extension of the one-year grace period to two years, a request Meles said would be taken under consideration.
The other bottleneck growers raised is the repayment period of five years, which they said could not be achieved by investors in the sector. They subsequently requested a seven to ten year repayment period.
Meles told sector representatives these, and other issues, including freight service by Ethiopian Airlines would be considered.

Millionaires were born out of famine aid

Courtesy of Ethiomedia

Gebre Medin Araya's, Ye Tigrai Be Telat EMewdeq..(The fall of Tigrai into the hand of the enemy, and the repercussions in the rest of Ethiopia) part one and two, fourteen pages in Amharic, is a timely piece on this 25th anniversary of the famine in our country. Sadly, another famine is unfolding at this very moment and those who want to make money out of it are well organized as usual. The author of two books in recent times, Asgede G. Selassie's "Saw Berasu Samba... (People are muzzled) also exposes what he knows about the current situation in Tigrai, famine and politics.

Asgede on his recent interview with Reporter identified many places in Tigrai that are drought-stricken. However, the regions suffering from drought in Ethiopia currently, BBC and other foreign medias showed Tigrai as non-drought area. This is not a surprise and deliberately a misinformation campaign by TPLF. The foreign media got their information from the regime in power and took its word without checking other resources.

This false information is purposely designed to misinform the Ethiopian people that Tigrai region is a beneficiary of the government. The propaganda of other regions in Ethiopia to learn from Tigrai was deliberately orchestrated to isolate the people of Tigrai from other Ethiopians.

In his educational piece, which I recommend everyone to read, Gebremedhin exposes how TPLF made a fortune of the 1984 famine which resulted in launching the huge business conglomerate EFFORT. The $100 million dollars Live Aid's Bob Geldof handed over to Meles Zenawi and Sebhat Nega when he invited them to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, needs further investigation. It is a big robbery unknown for many of us, especially for those who donated their money after they saw the heartbreaking images of hungry Ethiopian children.

The $100 million was kept between Meles Zenawi and Sebhat Nega, who deposited in their foreign accounts. We have the right to ask Bob Geldof to tell us what he knows. We know this money had not reached the dying and starving people in whose name the money was collected.

The tons of food shipped via Port Sudan and reached TPLF also to Arab businesses, which will be very hard to track what happened . However, by exposing such criminal activities of TPLF, we can alert foreign donors not to hand over their aid to be controlled by TPLF and its Sudan collaborators. We know that the Sudanese Port is the port chosen by TPLF to unload foods and other donated materials for the starving people this time.

Famine has been a gold mine for TPLF bosses. Their wealth back home and in foreign countries is at the expense of dead children, women and the elderly. It is time to bring these criminals to justice. There is no statue of limitations on such crime

Eskinder Vs Enginer Gizachew

A dispute between board members of a new cement factory is ongoing after one of the members allegedly used the firm's name to promote a separate business interest.
The argument between the promoter of Habesha Beer SC and the management of Habesha Cement SC occurred following a newspaper advertisement by the beer promoter and cement firm board member, Eskinder Desta.
In a promotion for the new beer, the promoters described themselves as the people behind the idea of the under-formation cement factory.
However, in the middle of last week, a letter sent to local media signed by Gizachew Shiferaw (Eng), chairman of the cement firm, objected to the reference to the cement firm in the beer advert.
The letter sent to local media said in part: "The advertisement confuses the public, especially Habesha Cement shareholders, for which they will be legally accountable."
The main founder and promoter of Habesha Beer, Eskinder, told Capital that both of the enterprises were his ideas: "I can use my past success and promote the new company legally."
But Gizachew told Capital that his objection is not about whose idea the cement factory project is, but that it is illegal to use the company's name in an advertisement for a separate firm.
The letter continued: "Therefore as it is illegal to use the name of our share company to advertise a firm with which we have no relation at all, we demand that you make the necessary corrections on your paper."
According to the chairman, the adverts have continued to be published, despite an initial warning.
He added: "We did not have a problem with the name of the new beer factory, but they should stop stating our company name."
"If the papers print the same advertisement again, we will sue them," Gizachew, the former manager of Mugher Cement, added.
According to him, the new share offer by the beer company is affecting the sale of shares for the cement enterprise. He suggested it is also having a negative influence on subscribers that have not completed their full payment.
Sources suggested that this was because of concerns from investors that the management of the cement firm had turned their attention to a new enterprise before fully establishing the initial one.
According to the letter received earlier this week, a total of 280 million birr in shares have been sold by the cement firm.
Both Eskinder and Gizachew were the main promoters of the cement factory and recently were elected to be board members by a general assembly of the shareholders.
As of tomorrow, the beer factory's shares will go on sale with a minimum share of 4,000 birr and a maximum allocation of 49 per cent of the total amount being allowed per investor. In total, 250,000 shares in the company are available. The sale of shares in the 600 million birr project ends in March next year.
Eskinder said that as per their business plan, from the end of the past week the advertisement will change due to the launch of the share sales. There are six main promoters of Habesha Beer; and the share sales are controlled by Habesha Capital Service, which is managed by Eskinder.
Preparations are underway for the construction of the Cement plant at Holeta, which is 35 kilometres west of Addis Ababa.

Alamudi starts food farm for Saudi Arabia

Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc, Sheik Mohamed Al Amoudi’s newest company formed to grow food in Ethiopia for Saudi Arabia, paid 80 million dollars for the delivery of Caterpillar agricultural machinery and equipment.

The receipt of the money was confirmed by a letter sent to Haile Assegdie, director general of Saudi Star, and Alemayehu Mengesha, managing director of Ries Engineering SC, by Philippe Bory, finance manager of Near East Financial Corporation.

Saudi Star and Ries signed the agreement on August 13, 2009. Paul Ries is the sole agent of Near East Financial Corporation, which is the dealer for Caterpillar products. These products are manufactured in the United States, Europe and Japan, from where they are expected to be delivered to Saudi Star.

Saudi Star’s was the largest order ever for Ries, which was established in 1974 Alemayehu said.

“We supply products to the Ministry of Defence and Salini; but this is the first time we are getting an 80 million dollar order at once,” he said.

Saudi Star was registered at the Ethiopian Investment Agency on August 20, 2009, with a capital of 500 million Br.

The company plans to increase its land holdings to 500,000hct over the next 10 to 15 years, which could cost the company three to five billion dollars, according to Haile. Its short term plan is to acquire 200,000hct from various regional states in the country.

So far it has only received 10,000hct in Alwero, in the Gambella Regional State, where it plans to grow rice. This farm will use the Alwero dam, which was constructed by the military regime to grow cotton in the area.

Saudi Star is the first company that is benefiting from a decision of the Council of Ministers allowing private investors to utilize irrigation dams and canals made by the government. The Alwero dam had been idle for 18 years.

While Saudi Star is waiting for the delivery of the machinery, it has commissioned the Agricultural Equipment & Technical Services SC (AETS), a state enterprise, to clear 1,000hct of land from the Alwero site for a payment of 9,000 Br per hectare.

“We are trying to get a contract to uproot the tree stumps in the area,” said Teferi Belay (PhD), acting general manager of AETS.

The land given to Saudi Star Plc is covered by a medium-dense forest of juniper and other indigenous trees and is land that will be used to grow rice.

The company will add more crops as it increases its territory including maize, teff, sugarcane and oil seeds.

Saudi Star presented a sample of rice to King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, who liked it enough to give him the order.

Saudi Star will also supply the local market as the company looks forward to harvesting one billion tonnes of various crops, Haile says.

Woyanee using copyright/Intellectual Property to restrain freedom of expression and opposition groups

The regime in Ethiopia has used all avenues and doors to suppress democracy and calm oppositions.Measures that started with civil societies have now shifted to audiovisuals.

In the name of Intellectual Property/Copyright , woyanee has now intensified its scope and started hunting publishers and record companies that are belived to be distributing Audiovisual materials that are being distributed by the oppositions.

To have a clear knowhow of the issue watch this clip and critcally ask yourself what is behind the curtain:
http://www.ethiotube.net/video/6069/ETV-News--Ethiopian-National-Flag-Day-celebrated-across-Ethiopia

BPR goes to ethnics re-enginering

Since the introduction of the Business Process Reengineering (BPR) by the very same people advocating the quota system, merit has become a crucial element in appointments.
nstructed to empower individuals from rather historically disgruntled groups, managers of state enterprises

And now BPR requires every assignment to have a 'process owner' who is accountable for actions and inactions.

This had been the issue and subject of intense debate two weeks ago when the authority called a meeting, held at a hall, in the Ethiopian Transport Authority, near the Addis Abeba Stadium. The Authority, which has unveiled its strategic plan, is now requesting many of the enterprises under its supervision to send the list of top management members and their ethnic background.

This has invoked fear among managers of state enterprises that there is the possibility for the authority to get tempted to intervene in the appointments of position as high up as department heads and it is also feared that this might create a huge havoc that can spill an ethnic war within the civil service.

Teddy Stadium concert profit goes to Woyanee's pocket

Ethiopian Singing sensation, Tewodros Kassahun, popularly known as Teddy Afro, is to perform his first public concert since his release from Kality Prison at Addis Ababa Stadium on October 11. At his first press conference since his release three weeks ago, Teddy said that the profit from the concert will contribute to a project to eliminate begging and street living from the country being undertaken by Elshaday Relief and Development Association, a local NGO.

However, DebreBirhan has found out that Elshaday is fully owned by Tigrean born woyanees and is jointly run the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
Eventhough, the NGO has goodwill and commendable achievements in short period of time, the fact that its is owned and run by Tigrean born Woyanees paints it bad color.

In addition, to its mission of resettling street residents , Elshaday excutes elimination task of possible forces from the streets hand in hand with the Mele's regime.

Teddy has never commented on this issue so far.

Elshaday works on the resettlement of street residents to suitable areas or their hometowns.
So far, the NGO has resettled around 28,000 people to their former hometowns over the last year. Half of the 200, 000 beggars in the country are located in Addis Ababa, and on average they collect 100 birr per day, according to an Elshaday and Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs study.

coming stories from DebreBirhan

* Teddy Afro's planned stadium concert is fully in conjuction with Tigrean woyanes

*Woyanee using copyright/Intellectual Property to restrain freedom of expression and opposition groups

*Ethiopian Civil Servants asked to report their ethnic backgrounds through the new BPR system

Stay tuned to our blog

Ethiopian Journalist fleds to Kenya

The correspondent for Washington Post and Time Magazine in Ethiopia, Kassahun Addis, has fled to Kenya last week.

Kassahun had to fled to kenya to save his life from the imminent danger that he was grappled with.As a reporter and correspondent to these foreign media, he was seen by the regime of Meles Zenawi as a spy of the West.

Kassahun before starting with these two big media, had been a reporter and editor in various English language newspapers in Ethiopia such as The Reporter and SubSaharan Informer.

He holds Bachlors Degree from Addis Abeba University in Poltical Sceience and International Realtions and he also did further studies.

Ethiopia is the second African Nation after Zimbabwe having the highest number of journalists in exile.