Such a comment to Addis Neger Online's DERESE GETACHEW

By Ankober

Dear Derese,

Selam new?

This is a remark for your article entitled " Ethiopia's Leadership Void",August 10,2010. Thanks for your yet insignificant article.My feeling when i first saw the update on your Online's FB address was that you were gonna base your opinion item on the recent leadership meeting that Barack Obama held with African upcoming youth leaders.President Obama held that forum at the White House on with 115 young leaders from Africa designed to mark the fiftieth anniversary of African independence.

Four young ''leaders'' represented Ethiopia at the forum, including Mahlet Eyassu Melkie, 29, a climate change activist; Meron Getnet Hailegiorgis, 27, an author; Salsawit Tsega Ketema, 30, Founder of Sel Art Gallery and Yohannes Mezgebe Abay, 35, Vice President of the Pan African Youth Union.

Are these really representative enough,and really upcoming youth leaders?Was the selection made fairly? Were they all neutral?Or as the Ugandan editor of The Daily Monitor,Peter Nyanzi said it,have they both the gut and intersect to involve themselves in issues that Obama and co preached them in those days such as the importance of transparency and accountability, job creation and entrepreneurship, human rights, and the use of modern technology to empower individuals and communities?

I doubt all of the above.

Mr Obama took off time from his busy schedule to sit down with – not African politicians this time – but with the young leaders of African civil society and business, in the unprecedented meeting. Over the years, the norm in the State Department and the White House has been to invite the same old men to the US to talk about similar issues but with very little results on the ground,says Peter.

“If all you are doing is talking to old men like me, then you are not reaching the people who are going to be providing the energy, the new initiatives, the new ideas,” Mr Obama said at the forum.Ideologically ,Obama did the most plausible sort of thing to help the African youth's dying political socialization and zeal.Unlike to what you crystallized in the last paragraph of this article saying the latest wisdom a la Barack Obama is that Africa needs strong institutions, and not strong men.From what President’s Forum with Young African Leaders, i learn that,Obama is also/rather focusing on ''leaders'' than '' institutions''. Approaching the problems of Africa from leaders/individual centered move is much quicker and reasonably the rightest approach to tackle Africa's (Ethiopia's ) handicaps or drawbacks.

That said so, let me delve on your inquisition on leadership voidness in our nation.It seems a proper and timely question to ask and answer at this time.It is unexceptionably crucial to plant and bear new Ethiopian politicians and leaders, at this moment of political deviance.In detachment from your previous trends,you wrote this less technically jargoned opinion. To proffer some empirically critical basis to this commentary, i will be making few jotted analysis:

1.Lack of appreciation :in our case ( both Ethiopia and Africa ), what is so immanently scarce is due recognition, appreciation and reward for accomplishments.Whatever achievement or success levels you assume,clothes you buy,innovate, initiate or trail-blaze in Africa(Ethiopia) , it is not appreciated or given a ''well done'' either by your mates or the bureaucracy.Colonial legacy and capitalism must have left this culture of jealousy,demotion and underestimation.Your first five paragraphs all revolve around the envy of American culture of regarding success at all stakes by all form of the media.The American acculturation of valuing jobs done as a domino effect of duplicating more leaders from the small community circles to the higher high tech technocratic institutions there. All non existent in our culture.Hence, there is a need from people like you involved in the academia and media to instill this culture of appreciating and respecting your fellow's bits and pieces. Madenek Mesleten new.

2.Zero Stamina :A response to the rest of the paragraphs.The last three paragraphs of this write up are begging questions into why we don't have heir leaders? What caused it and the like? What I call Zero stamina seems to answer your questions.In a diligent deterrence from your opine , I wholeheartedly declare that we have plenty of young capable leaders.If you ask me to name some three ;your colleague Abiye Teklemariam,Teddy Afro and Bertukan Mideksa would be my new generation leaders.Here, readers need to be cognizant of the dual meaning of the term ''leader''.The multidisciplinary ,humanistic and vision orientated meaning of a leader is the first context , that i am utilizing it.All the three leaders in this first definition i stated have a multidisciplinary knowledge, involvement and capacity. Humanity wise also , all the three share a good attachment and concern for and on history and philosophy.Vision is the extremely vital decipher of a leader.He,who has a great and majority agreeable,critical and buying vision , is a typical leader.All the three have it.By the same token , the second context of leader and leadership , i.e. organisational/national leadership ; these three young fellas win my endorsement.Count how many followers, these three young leaders have with values and ethics.Three theories of leadership exist today within the sociology, management and psychological fields.According to the Trait Theory, certain personality traits may lead people spontaneously into leadership roles. A difficult situation or a crisis may bring out the latent leadership qualities in a person, which is referred to as the Great Events Theory. The most widely accepted theory today is the Transformational Leadership Theory, which states that leadership skills can be mastered by people who wish to become leaders.Abiye,Teddy and Bertukan fit within at least one of these theories.

But one common weakness apparently exists both within our old and new generation leaders.When they encounter a small challenge/drawback like the arrest of Teddy Afro, they drift and shy away from their potential leadership capacities and dreams.This sort of zero stamina is testified in other African young/promising leaders.Bob Marley, Mohamed Ali, Mahatma Gandi, and Nelson Mandella are few of the most popular leaders in their own respective fields that were able enough to reap the fruition of their stamina full leadership.ANC Youth Wing leader Julius Malema is the new hopeful and resilient leader to anticipate.

In a nutshell,I would say that we have enough capable young leaders what they lack is resilience to fare well in times of hardship and obstacles.We should be jealous of Westerners and endeavor to empower and appreciate our citizens/children.

Why join politics?

By Ankober

Peter Gill in his just published book ''Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid'' said often in my discussions with him, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi took me by surprise. When I asked him about the western image of his country, I expected a politician’s defensiveness.

The answer I received was this: “Humiliation can be a very powerful motivation for action and therefore I don’t hate the fact that we get humiliated every day provided it’s based on facts ... if we feel we deserve to be treated like honourable citizens of the world, then we have to remove the source of that shame. There is no way round it.”

I will be doing a review of Gill's book in my coming issues.The answer that the self acclaimed prime minster gave bears two meanings.One is an undeniable philosophical conception and reality that humility becomes a source of action and motivation.True that. Accepting this fact as it is,let's delve on the other part of his sentence , he says ' if we feel we deserve to be treated like honourable citizens of the world, then we have to remove the source of that shame'.We Ethiopians as human beings and fellows of the world need to be treated and respected as a human being of whatsoever, economic,historical,cultural or any deficiency we have as a legacy.

Your Lowness Meles ,unlike your farcical statements, without even removing this so called 'shame'' we have ,the citizens of that super country,Ethiopia deserve equal and honorable treatments; God approves it,the UN approves it,human morality and virtue approve it but your mind.Poverty as to me is a phenomena that happens in our life cycles.Human beings in their biological life cycle pass through this interesting step of poverty;so do nations.Never been a country that has not been poor or has gone through relative or chronic poverty.Nonetheless,what makes poverty shameful is when the poor and poverty itself is being used or abused by interested groups.One of these groups being Meles.The young revolutionary democrat in his ever changing statements of the reason why he got into politics was quoted once saying '' poverty of my people triggered me''.Leaving aside the whoness of ''my people'' , his 'wish of eradicating poverty and lifting his people out of poverty '' has never come into fruition.His once popular motto of '' enabling Ethiopians to eat three times a day'' also perished.He rather now applied the most dubious strategy of accepting impoverishments.Meles in the advancement of this policy of accepting our poverty,has now promoted and glorified Ethiopia's signature of attraction as 'poverty' by being a member of any high level international beggary of money for climate change,fighting hunger,poverty and what have you.

My understanding, as most of Ethiopians would also, i suppose, is that albeit Ethiopia is economically poor, that is not our signature of attraction or symbolic value.We detest this fact.What prompted me to write down this memoir is a recent clip (one of the millions done ) published on twenty5ethiopia.org.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=R1cnBsEfGnw&feature=player_embedded

''The Twenty5 campaign is aimed at ensuring Ethiopian people never again experience the devastating effects of widespread famine and in the 25 year anniversary have released a video. In the touching video, people recount the harsh experiences they faced during the famine and how 25 years later, they are still impacted by those who reached out and helped.'' the producers claim about the movie.

The producers of the film St Matthew's Children's Fund Ethiopia,twenty5ethiopia proudly assert that positive changes have been seen since the 1984 famine partly due to their work.Good for them.

This clip is one of the numerous clips,articles,posters, campaigns produced and are still being duplicated on Ethiopia's last famine,poverty, and starvation.I was burning and seeing the dark, hopeless looking and manipulated fellows.

Likewise a promo by another ''aid'' organisation called ethiopianfoodappeal.org has this in the middle of its website as a form of collecting donation -'Ethiopian Food Appeal -- Empty Stomachs, Hungry Minds '. How in the world could your soul tolerate and live with such dehumanizing, degrading and immoral statements?

Permitted by Meles,ambitious Westerners are still engulfed 25 years after the famine in a new form of poverty based business.I feel pained to see Ethiopians being showed as helpless,poor, hungry, starved, innocent and so by these people and their media.

Ethiopia and the current leadership has served as good models and hubs for poverty oriented researches,business,NGOs and etc. Countries like Sudan and Bangladesh have both gone through poverty and famine with same level of consequences around similar times, however neither of them have allowed the portrayal of their nations as poor,starving and helpless.

After all what did the likes of St Matthew's Children's Fund and many other ''Saintly'''NGOs do for us? Did they stop our food dependency,did they change our image,or what good did they do?No any macro change have they brought.

So,how,when,where,and possibly with whom can we change these concocter's, sluggers,and appallingly complex problems of virtue and essence ? I have one answer going into politics.Westerner's with negative agenda or our own looters can only be combated if you and me enter into any form of political circle making our main mission: 'the return of ourness' .

As Meles himself said it ''if we feel we deserve to be treated like honourable citizens of the world, then we have to remove the source of that shame.'' Evidnetly, the source of our shame is You and your failed leadership that failed to take us out of poverty.There is noway round it.Period.

Where are the Gundans (ants)?

By Ankober

I miss Gundans.

Do you guys know Gundan(ant)?Not the ants of the scorpion movies of Hollywood but the ants of Addis,Ethiopia.The real gundans that creep in to your skin and bite you.Those are the gundans that I am discoursing about.But what typologies will gundan have in the current political struggle in Ethiopia?

1. The first typology in this prognosis is the hard working quality of Gundans.From the fall of dawn to dusk, Gundans work hard to feed not individually but cooperatively. They teach homo-sapiens that success and strength are not outcomes of individualistic and insular efforts but of cooperative,collaborative and mutual.They say albeit the African (Ethiopian ) society is generally described as more of communal or in the words of the famous Ghanaian philosopher,Kwame Geyke 'moderate communitarianism', realities on the ground , particularly in the case of Ethiopian politician , individualism takes the precedence and the reign.We take our individual pride,success, ascendancy than our next door or community.Do gundans do alike?

2.The second analogy has to do with the very silent,careful and integrated way of attack or combat that they afflict on their enemies or preys.Gundans never boast or bark to attack they silently enter via you trouser and say to you "who is your mami?''. You know what to say. This strategy of the gundans recounts Winston Churchill’s famous saying “An appeaser is a person who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”.Do Ethiopia's oppositions or the society in general apply this tactic?

3. The 3rd interesting analogy came from the reasoning that gundans won't touch you unless you go to thier territory.I found this reality interestingly put in one of my friends blog as such,

''I and a newly-made-friend, Selam, were discussing/rather complaining about the bites when a guy whose name, I later learned, is Sami, chipped in a very good theory of why these ants bite. He said, “Don’t tamper with these ants. Just don’t mind them even if they trek under clothes. They don’t harm you if you don’t trouble them. Otherwise, they become defensive and keep bothering you.” Isn’t it what we witness everyday with our politics? I am not arguing that we should keep our distance from politics, I am just suggesting that there is so much more to helping one’s motherland than being immersed in the politics. We can do important things (such as tree planting) without having to anger the short-tempered ants. Don’t get me wrong, by ants I mean ants. Hope you understand.''

The excrept has a double meaning.We toady's youth and politicians have this worng view that unless you touch the EPRDf/TPLF's , they won't bother you.Do we have to live slavishly in order not to be eaten by the gundans?

Similarly, as to my little understanding this same writer is stating that we can work underground,with a covert mission and action like gundans to to bite and overthrow ,the authoritarians.This is the gold of the quote. ''We can do important things (such as tree planting) without having to anger the short-tempered ants'' .

Obama to seize Africa's stolen cash

US President Barack Obama.

By ANGELO IZAMA in Kampala

Posted Monday, July 26 2010 at 11:30

US President Barack Obama has announced that Washington would seize money stolen by corrupt African leaders and hidden in the America and the West.

The announcement was made in a special message delivered for him by US Attorney-General Eric Holder at Speke Resort Munyonyo where African heads of state are meeting.

Mr Holder was part of the American delegation to the Kampala summit led by Mr Johnnie Carson — America’s top diplomat in Africa.

In a wide-ranging speech which touched on the terror attacks and America’s help to Uganda, Mr Holder — the first black man to hold the position — then delivered a stinger on the touchy issue of corruption.

Corruption

“The Kleptocracy recovery effort,'' he said, ''would target large-scale corruption perpetrated by foreign nationals.''

“I have assembled a team of prosecutors (to deal exclusively with this)” he said. According to him, the US was also willing to support the development of African judiciaries to deal with corruption.

International cooperation over money leaving national treasuries and entering tax havens and Western banks has long been a sticking issue.

The UN in 2005 pioneered the Convention Against Corruption, which sought to cast a wide net against criminality across borders.

Extravagance

Sunday’s announcement, coming amidst the focus on security corporation to fight terrorism, could be seen as an attempt by President Obama to stay on governance issues despite Washington’s more pronounced interests on transnational terror.

Many African leaders, some of who were present, have long been accused of personal extravagance at the expense of their populations.

Gabonese president Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba, whose father Omar Bongo was till recently the longest-serving president, sparked outrage when just months after his election he bought an $85 million house in Paris.

On Sunday, Mr Holder, however, promised more support for the African Union force in Somalia, saying that America was bound “not only by friendship and partnership but loss’ from the 7/11 attacks.

Sad moments in Bahir Dar: construction terrorism

Bahirdar city has been hit with a construction terror where around 20 sisters of us from the Amhara region perished. The tragedy occurred when these ladies were working on the Bahir Dar University's dormitory buildings ,due to the breakdown of the wooden scaffolding .Who takes the blame? The the careless University administration,local government,the construction company, the workers or who? Eventually, one of them is the cause of this construction terrorism.

Check this link for more:

http://ethiotube.net/video/9996/Black-Friday-in-Bahir-Dar--A-report-on-a-a-construction-accident-that-killed-19-women

We respect every religion equally impartially:HIM Hailesilassie I

Posted on February 5, 2009 by abiy on Addis Tibeb blog

Here is a speech HIM Hailesilassie I gave on October 11, 1963 during his visit of the mosque in Asmara, Eritrea following the welcoming speech by the head of the mosque Sheikh Ibrahim Oumar Muktar.

I thought it would invite further reflections on the current Islam-Christian issue.

The speech is from the 2^nd volume of the book “firekenafir Ze Kedamawi Hailesilassie Niguse Negest ZeEthiopia.” (Witty Words of Mouth from Hailesilassie I King of Kings of Ethiopia.)

Filed under: culture

Africans don't rate Bob Geldof, so why should we?

it hurts to say this, but Live Aid should not be celebrated, writes Andrew Gilligan.

By Andrew Gilligan
Published: 6:35PM BST 15 Jul 2010

Bob Geldof talks on stage at Wembley Stadium at the beginning of Live Aid in 1985 Photo: AP

Every so often, the BBC reminds us that its capacity for woolly thinking is greater than that of the entire sheep population of Wales. Its decision, announced this week, to make a "warm and deeply moving" drama about Bob Geldof and Live Aid is a case in point.

According to the corporation, Geldof – The Movie, on BBC2 this autumn, will "celebrate… one of the most iconic moments in 20th-century history" and "the two men who together changed the politics of international aid forever" (Harvey Goldsmith, Live Aid's promoter, is the second saint).

It hurts to say this, but Live Aid should not be celebrated. It was a failure. Geldof's approach exemplified the worst about Western ideas of "helping Africa": top-down handouts which ignore, or worsen, the continent's problems.

The real cause of the 1984 Ethiopian famine, and so many other African tragedies, was not cruel nature, but bad government: the country was torn by civil war. That is what stopped food getting through. There is substantial evidence that charitable intervention, Geldof's included, may have prolonged and deepened the conflict, and therefore the catastrophe.

Perhaps the BBC's new bout of halo-polishing is a way of making up for its grave error in producing a piece of actual journalism about Sir Bob earlier this year, which reported claims by two former civil-war leaders that most of the funds he raised had in fact been diverted to buy cuddly, child-saving rocket-propelled grenades, light machine guns and the like.

The Wrath of Bob promptly descended on the BBC, with the great humanitarian describing the report as a "total collapse of standards" and "calumny", calling for all those involved to be fired, and saying: "There is not a single shred of evidence that Band Aid or Live Aid money was diverted."

The amount diverted is a matter of dispute – the rebels' claims of 95 per cent may well be exaggerations – but it is simply untrue that there is no evidence. John James, Band Aid's own field director in Ethiopia at the time, has said: "I would be surprised if there were any less than 10 to 20 per cent of the funds diverted to the rebels. It is probable that some money was diverted to buy arms."

The more money we give to bad leaders, the less incentive they have to change, and the less notice they must take of their own people. That is why absolutely nobody in Africa, outside government itself, is calling for more Western handouts, and why many African activists campaign fiercely against aid.

Geldof has conspicuously failed to learn the lessons of Live Aid, staging a very similar event, Live 8, before the 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit. He was criticised by the main G8 pressure group, Make Poverty History (MPH), after describing the aid-based promises made at Gleneagles as "mission accomplished" (MPH was far more interested in trade concessions so African nations and businesses could support themselves).

"At the G8, our worst nightmares came true as far as celebrity engagement was concerned," said a senior MPH figure at the time. "Ultimately, there wasn't anyone who didn't think it was a big mistake to allow Geldof to have the platform in the way that he did."

Youssou N'Dour, one of Live 8's very few African acts, said: "I don't want to expose [Geldof and Bono], but they have to know what Africa thinks of them. [Geldof] needs to come to Africa more, talk to people more. We don't need pity."

Turning the Geldof story into feelgood drama is the logical culmination of the Hollywood idea of international politics, in which one eloquent individual inspires men of goodwill to get round a table and Sort it all Out. Treating Africa as the White Pop Stars' Burden certainly gave lots of Westerners a free concert, and a warm glow of self-satisfaction. But it's much less clear what the Africans got from the deal.

Eritrea to have an Ambassador in Ethiopia?

The fact that the destiny of Ethiopia and Eritrea is tied for eternity, is stating the obvious. Despite the political fallouts of their respective leadership, for generations, the people have shared values, culture, history, and popular aspirations. The historical circumstances that led to them becoming two nations is something many, on both sides, have come to regret.

Nonetheless, Eritrea is a member of the world community, with its belligerent leader who is discourteous to multilateral organisations, from the United Nations to the African Union, and contemptuous of regional bodies such as Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

It ought not to be surprising for Monsieur Issayas Afeworki who has put his country at odds with almost all its neighbours ranging from Yemen, across the Red Sea, to its cousin, Ethiopia, that the leadership of Asmara and Addis Abeba have been bitter foes for over a decade now, which is reminiscent of a nasty squabble between family members.

Yet, Addis Abeba is not only the seat of Ethiopia’s federal government; it is more than that. The city houses the headquarters of the continental body, the AU, earning it a position as the political and diplomatic capital of Africa, with the fourth largest diplomatic representation in the world.

Alas, Eritrean diplomats, since the bloody border dispute with Ethiopia 10 years ago, and due to the subsequent no-war-no-peace status quo, have been glaringly absent from the diplomatic corridors of Addis Abeba.

Over the years, its president has not been tempted to come through Bole International Airport to attend any of the several heads of state summits, including the landmark summit that transformed the OAU to the AU.

Would Ethiopian authorities have a problem with him participating at the AU summits in Addis?

Ethiopian authorities have always asserted that they would not. In fact, they likened the possibility thereof to the visits of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the UN headquarters in New York despite the tense relationship between the US and Iran.

Last year, the Eritrean government accused Ethiopian authorities of refusing to let Eritrean ministers and diplomats enter Ethiopia to participate in the AU meetings. Ethiopian authorities dismissed the allegation as baseless and now they want to prove that they meant what they said.

The foreign office wrote a letter to the AU, stating that Eritrean diplomats are free to come to Addis and reopen their, otherwise deserted, embassy here, gossip disclosed. Furthermore, the Eritrean government could probably reinvigorate the green-white building at Meskel Square, with the new appointment of Girma Asmerom as Eritrea’s ambassador to the AU, disclosed gossip.

Girma, whose contemporaries know him as a superb footballer, is not alien to Ethiopia, for he was born in Dessie and grew up in Ethiopia, before he joined the rebels in the north back in the 1970s. Nor will he be new to the embassy compound for he served as Eritrea’s second ambassador to Ethiopia after his country seceded and gained nation status from the UN in the mid 1990s.

In fact, Girma was serving as his young nation’s ambassador when his president tied on the straw that broke the camel’s back in 1999; Issayas sent his troops to invade the border town of Badme, and the small town has remained in the collective consciousness of both nations ever since. (Addisfortune)

Ethiopian troops kill 15 Somalis, injure more than 25 others

EL-DIBILE - At least 15 people were killed and about

30 others wounded deliberately after more Ethiopian

troops attacked Somali civilians in parts of the

Somali region under the control of Ethiopia, just

as there had been tense between the

troops and residents according to witnesses

.Adan Jama’a, One of the traditional elders

confirmed the number of deaths to all

voices’ reporter adding that the dead

people where all civilians including traditional

elders, peace makers, teenagers, women

and young children.“It was a massacre

against the Somali people. More Ethiopian

troops had attacked us and they had deliberately

killed us. They were speaking Somali language.

15 people had been killed and more others are

in a serious condition at the moment,”

said Adan Jama Clan militias of the Somali

residents in the Somali region and Ethiopian

troops had exchanged gunfire that caused

some casualties of deaths and injuries and

the clash started as the Ethiopian troops

ordered to the residents to hand over two

lorries those transported food for the Somalis

in the region which the residents refused

to follow the order and caused the tense

between the two sides.There had been

several times that Ethiopian troops suspended

the vehicles transporting goods to the Somali

region under the control of Ethiopia and there

is no comment about fighting from the Ethiopian

government and why their troops continue killing

the Somali civilians in the region so far.

Should we be giving African dictators millions when so many need it at home?

By Michael Brennan Political Correspondent

Saturday July 10 2010

This year, we are giving almost €60m in aid to Ethiopia and Uganda, despite the fact they are ruled by virtual dictators. Yet a respite care centre in Limerick city has been shut for the lack of €150,000 and similar services nationwide are under threat due to budget cutbacks in the health service.

So is it wise to continue to give aid to Ethiopia and Uganda when money is so short at home? That question was the unspoken reason behind Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin's visit to both countries.

The €696m annual budget for Irish aid (already down from €869m three years ago) is under more pressure than ever because it's easier to cut spending abroad than at home.

But it is always more convenient to deal with statistics rather than people. Mr Martin was instantly confronted with "hard cases" that even the most extreme financial hawks would find difficult to dismiss.

There was the former street child in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa who was forced into marriage at the age of eight and infected with HIV by her much older husband. Genet Ejigu (17) has been given a fresh start in life after getting anti-retroviral drugs from John O'Shea's charity Goal, which have allowed her to control her illness. She said she was now much happier working as a shoeshine girl in Addis Ababa, which can earn her around US$3 (€2.40) a day.

"I was orphaned, I didn't have any family and I was forced to marry a man I didn't know. I ran away from him," she said, speaking through a translator.

There is no doubting the deprivation in Ethiopia, which remains the eighth poorest country in the world. But the Ethiopian government got its fingers burnt when it held multi-party elections in 2005 that it almost lost -- and has been busy clamping down on opposition parties and free speech ever since.

Several Irish aid workers in Addis Ababa complained privately that it was hard to be completely positive about a country where the prime minister Menes Zelawi has been in charge since 1985.

"I feel so frustrated that we are propping up a dictatorship," said one.

But there are signs that our aid money is having an effect on the ground, as Mr Martin witnessed when he found a slice of "old Ireland" in a rural Ethiopian village outside the capital.

He was shown around a house that had bare floors, pictures of Jesus and Mary on the walls and which had only recently been declared off-limits to the family livestock -- not that dissimilar to an Irish country cottage in the 1850s.

But Mr Martin declared himself "very impressed" with what he saw because the family living there had achieved 16 different health goals -- including clearing out the animals, building an outdoor toilet and vaccinating all their children.

"The health education programme is something I have not seen the likes of before. It involves the whole community improving your health and well being," he said. The programme of health education centres was pioneered by Irish Aid -- and is now being rolled out nationwide by the Ethiopian government.

But it is not helping Mr Martin's cause that Ethiopia and Uganda have lost their "poster child" status of several years ago, when they were hailed as models for the rest of Africa to follow.

Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, has been in charge since 1986 and is standing again in next year's "elections". His police force shot dead 27 protesters last year in the capital Kampala and his parliament is considering a bill that would introduce the death penalty for gay people.

Mr Martin said he had made it clear that he was strongly opposed to this bill -- and pointed out how Irish Aid was funding the Ugandan Human Rights Commission. He also talked about ways of improving the community policing skills (ie not shooting anybody).

"It may involve reciprocal training -- people coming to Ireland to train in Templemore," he said.

It would be nice to get more human rights for our money but Irish aid needs the support of the governments of both Ethiopia and Uganda to allow its staff to operate freely -- and to implement nationwide health and education programmes.

And if it goes down the route of only funding charities such as Trocaire, Concern or Goal, it will never strengthen the institutions that are needed to allow both countries to wean themselves off development aid in the long term.

At the moment, it's a bit like the fascinating version of "Amhrán na bhFiann", which Ugandan schoolchildren sang to Mr Martin "as Gaelige" -- not perfect, but they're definitely getting there.

- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent

Irish Independent