Ethiopia: IMF Projects 5.5 Percent Growth Rate for Ethiopia in 2014

Following a year of strong growth in 2012 the near-term outlook for Ethiopia remains broadly positive, with growth projected to accelerate modestly to around 5.5pc in 2014, according to International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Regional Economic Outlook published last week.

Last year, the IMF said Ethiopia's economy is expected to maintain a growth rate of seven percent in 2012/2013, which was below the official estimates of 11.4pc.

The report also reveals that Africa's inflation will decline further to below six percent by end of 2014, reflecting the expectation of moderating non-oil commodity prices and maintenance of appropriate monetary policy.

The Central Statistics Agency (CSA) announced two weeks ago that Ethiopia's year-on-year inflation rate dropped to 7.6pc in March 2013, from a revised 10.9pc in February, owing to slower rise in the price of food.

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But the Ethiopian government said....................is that exaggerated?? I think so

Ethiopia's economy is estimated to expand by 11.3 per cent in the 2012/13 budget year. This is according to a 9 month performance reported to the Budget and Finance Affairs Permanent Committee of the Parliament by Sofian Ahmed, Minister of Finance and Economic Development.

He explained to the committee that the performance of the economy this year in agriculture, industry, and service sectors indicates that the economy grows at a pace it did a year before.

Inflation has come down to a single digit at 6.1 per cent and this is down to the government's intervention in the market that commits to importing food commodities while it, at the same time, halt borrowing money from the treasury.

Figures say the last 9 months government revenue performance collects US$ 2.2 billion from export and 77 billion Birr from domestic sources.

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The Future Ethiopia Only Dreamed of

Eritrea: Human Rights Situation Unacceptable

Addis Ababa — The United Nations special rapporteur on Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, said the human rights situation in the reclusive Red Sea nation remained "unacceptable", calling for the country to be closely monitored.

Keetharuth made the comments following a visit to Ethiopia and Djibouti as part of her mission to assess the human rights situation in Eritrea.

Keetharuth was forced to carry out her mission by talking to Eritrean refugees being sheltered in neighbouring countries, after authorities in Asmara refused her entry into the country.

During a 10-day visit to Ethiopia and Djibouti, Keetharuth collected first-hand information directly from Eritrean refugees, with the UN human rights expert stressing the need to improve the human rights situation in the East Africa nation

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Refusing a ‘diminished self’

Four years ago this spring, Birtukan Midekssa was in solitary confinement in an Ethiopian prison. Her cell was 13 feet wide and 20 feet long and had no window. She was allowed only two visitors: her elderly mother and her 3-year-old daughter.

Midekssa left Ethiopia in 2011, after two imprisonments that consumed 41 months of her life. She stayed first in Washington, D.C., and then at Stanford University. Today — grateful, happy, and energized — she has an office (with a window) at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, where she is a fellow this year. (A lawyer by training, Midekssa is also a Visiting Fellow with Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program; starting in the fall she’ll pursue a one-year mid-career master’s degree in public administration through the Mason Program at Harvard Kennedy School.)

Most apt of all her local connections, perhaps, is her role as a Harvard Scholar at Risk. The program — based in New York, with dozens of affiliates at universities across the world — guarantees a year or more of refuge for scholars, writers, and scientists who in their native lands are under threat of death, imprisonment, or harassment.

“I was in prison because I spoke,” said Midekssa.
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Kerry's Ethiopia Opportunity

The U.S. secretary of state's visit to Addis Ababa is a chance to pressure the government on its dreadful record on human rights..

By MARTIN SCHIBBYE AND PATRICK GRIFFITH
This month, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the 21st African Union (AU) summit. The message he brings will speak volumes about the future of American engagement on the continent.

In announcing the visit during a U.S. Senate hearing last month, Mr. Kerry expressed concern about the potentially negative impact of China's and Iran's increased presence in Africa. He noted that graft and poor development choices could undermine the stability of some African governments, and he acknowledged the need for more U.S. engagement.

Further American cooperation on development and security would be good news for Africa. But the U.S. must continue to focus on another potentially destabilizing factor in the continent: ongoing violations of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Since their inception, the AU and its precursor, the Organization of African Unity, have embraced the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The African Charter on Human and People's Rights expressly protects a raft of basic human rights, including freedom of association, free expression and political participation. But despite these affirmations, the protection of such rights remains inconsistent across AU nations. Some governments continue to ignore certain provisions entirely.

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An Ethiopian federal policeman shot dead 14 innocent people ....Revenge for Meles Death, he thinks Amaras were happy. Stupid fool

The Ethiopian federal military police was bombarded with all kind of TPLF propaganda that Amahra is the enemy of Tigray, this ignorant militia killed innocent Amaras with no reason at all and TPLF is responsible for this reckless act

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

May 14, 2013 (ADDIS ABABA) - An Ethiopian federal policeman shot dead 14 innocent people in the northern west city of Bahirdar, a regional police source told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.

Amhara regional police commissioner, Mulgeta Worku, said the shooter randomly opened fire on Sunday evening at around 9pm local time against residents of Abay Mado vicinity and against passers by.

The dead include children, women and elderly.

The motive behind the killings is not yet clear however police said a thorough investigation is underway and details will be made public soon.

The incident took place on the shores of Lake Tana. The gunman died after he threw himself off a bridge over the Blue Nile River after he was chased by security forces.

The body of the assailant was recovered on Tuesday.

The bodies of the 14 victims have been put to rest at Debre-Abay, Saint Gebriel Church, in the presence of Amhara regional chief Ayalew Gobeze and other government officials.

While calling the slaughter “cruel, outrageous and unacceptable” Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, on Monday urged the concerned authorities to launch an immediate probe in to the crime.

The federal and regional governments have also condemned in the strongest terms the massacre which is uncommon in the East African nation and extended condolences to the relatives of victims

Ethiopian Federal Police trooper who gunned down 12 civilians in Bahr Dar found dead

Robocall Revolution

May 13th 2013, 22:58 by D.H. | NAIROBI
ERITREANS are engaging in a popular new pastime on Friday nights. In arguably Africa's most paranoid police state, the quietly rebellious stay home and wait for the phone to ring. The draw is the faint possibility of a subversive voice on the other end of the line. The chosen few will hear a minute of recorded seditious suggestions such as: “Start asking questions”, or “Don't take this lying down”—stirring stuff in Africa's answer to North Korea.

The calls are part of a campaign called “Freedom Friday”, which its organisers in the Eritrean diaspora hope will be a small step towards breaking the silence in their country. The effort began two years ago when a brave soul smuggled out a telephone directory. Opposition volunteers worked their way through its pages but decided they were not making fast enough progress. In a bid to reach as many Eritreans as possible, the activists turned to that beloved device of telemarketers: the “robocall”.

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Shame on you TPLF!!...

I trust ESAT!! they were the one who were exposing the death of the Ethiopian PM while TPLF tried to hide the reality of the death of the PM !! ESAT is Ethiopian!!

ESAT Ethiopian News - 8 May 2013 (Amsterdam)

Ethiopia: Corruption 'claims' senior govt. officials, businessmen

Corruption Ethiopia - Ethiopian police on Friday arrested 13 officials, including the Director General of the powerful Customs and Revenue Authority and his Deputy on charges of corruption filed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEAC), the state-owned Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported Saturday.


Also Friday, Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, sacked his Justice Minister, Berhan Hailu, for inefficiency, a prominent private English weekly, Fortune, reported on its website.

The developments came just a day ahead of the meeting, here Saturday, of the Executive Committee of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), designed to discuss 'urban and rural reports as well as supervision report on activities carried out during the current Ethiopian year'.

The Committee will also discuss the local and Addis Ababa City Council elections held in April and discuss activities to be undertaken to implement decisions passed by the ninth EPRDF Congress held in March.

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Who are they trying to cheat?

Comment

The Ethiopian foreign ministry recently wrote about the two Ethiopian prisoners of conscious that are currently imprisoned. While they tried to tell the world their judicial system is working, is there even a judicial system in Ethiopia? As we know the judicial system is TPLF, and TPLF is a law. There is no other law; whatever they say you must do. It is like the word of God, it is absolute and you have no choice but to obey it. This is the jungle law TPLF brought to Ethiopian government, and they have had twenty something years of running the country under this jungle law.
Andualem Aragie was imprisoned because of informing them that they are the most cowardly Ethiopian leaders ever to exist. They are too paranoid and they are afraid to be criticized because they know that they do not have the majority support; but they treated themselves like heroes, so who are you going to cheat?
The Ethiopians know that TPLF rules them by force. The western nations know that you are fake, trading on the expense of the Ethiopian people’s poverty and democracy, so who are they trying to cheat? I will tell you only person they are cheating right now is themselves.
TPLF cannot change from their jungle law because it is not their nature. I am hoping God, the almighty one day will send us the Messiah who can bring us out from this darkness; a great leader who has the fear of God, who can say right or wrong by it is right name, but now for the time being still we are in darkness. The Ethiopian people have almost fought for over half a century, but still we do not reach to our goal yet. There is no clarity of purpose on both sides. TPLF thinks that Ethiopian lives are only by bread alone, they keep talking about development but as the good book says, 'Man shall not live on bread alone’. They need freedom of thought and speech, so who is the TPLF think they are going to cheat?
They said that they know for us, but alas let God help us to bring us out from this jungle law.
What TPLF is doing right now is literally a day time robbery. They robbed our land, our resource, our conscious and our lives; but they are still insisting that they work for Ethiopia. They have a multitude of prisoners; those precious Ethiopians who decided to stay in the country and fight this injustice yet, they keep telling us their judicial system is working, so who are they trying to cheat?

Read more the article from the Ethiopian foreign ministry

In the past week, the trial of Eskinder Nega, Andualem Aragie and others have again been in the headlines following the recent decision of the Supreme Court to uphold the charges of terrorism and the sentences passed last July. A case in point is a statement by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The Supreme Court's action has, predictably, been scorned by those bodies which are always prepared to disparage anything that comes out of Ethiopia. Their arguments have been the usual tired complaints that the country's Anti-Terrorism law is muffling the press, with added suggestions that the trail should be seen as a show trial in which the verdicts could not be in the interest of either the press or the judiciary. The normal claim is that the judicial system is as a stooge of the executive and has no institutional or personal independence. This, in fact, merely shows a lack of knowledge of the country's judiciary and its operation. Such allegations also overlook, indeed, deliberately ignore, the sovereign rights of a nation, reminding one of the heyday of colonial attitudes. The facts on the ground are, however, entirely different from what these critics claim despite their continuing efforts in the business of demonizing the government of Ethiopia.

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