Bono Makes Wish to Fight Poverty

photo courtesy: usatoday.com

Bono targeted worldwide poverty in the wishes he was granted as a recipient of the inaugural TED Prize from the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference.

The U2 frontman and global activist said Thursday he wished for the creation of ONE, a social movement he hopes will have more than 1 million Americans fighting worldwide poverty.

He also wished to tell people of this movement 1 billion times and wants TED to help connect every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia to the Internet.

CHECK out Africa's Internet usage statistic.

Sun Microsystems, Inc., today announced it will join Bono to electronically enlist legions of Americans into the ONE Campaign, a non-profit initiative launched by the singer and social activist to raise the voices of citizens to combat AIDS and poverty in Africa.

Ethiopia's Crop Production Up 24%

Ethiopia produced 14.27 million tonnes of crops in 2004, 24% higher than in 2003 and 21% more than the average of the past five years, a report says.

The increase was due mainly to better rains, increased use of fertilizer and improved seeds, especially wheat and maize, the UN agencies said.

Nevertheless, 2.2 million Ethiopians will still need emergency assistance.

Why do millions of Ethiopians go hungry even when production is high and the market is full?

The government should consider self-sufficiency programs
Less dependency on foreign aid programs
Create local, sustainable economies

News
The government encourages Qatar to invest in Ethiopia's agro-industry.

Background on the Famine
The 1984-85 famine had seriously threatened Ethiopia's reserves of landraces of traditional seeds. According to RaceandHistory.com, the famine - itself in large part a product of the economic reforms imposed to the advantage of large corporations by the IMF, World Bank and the US Government - served to undermine Ethiopia's genetic diversity to the benefit of the biotech companies.

At the very same time Ethiopia was using some of its agricultural land to produce linseed cake, cottonseed cake and rapeseed meal for export to the UK and other European nations as feed for livestock.

Meanwhile...
Millions of acres of third world land are now being used exclusively to produce feed for European livestock.

Politics
The United Nations' food agency continues to endorse biotechnology Monday as a promising way to improve farming around the world, but complained the technology is still not designed to meet the needs of poor countries.

Facts
Agriculture is the main economic activity in Ethiopia, representing 45% of gross domestic product.

About 80% of Ethiopians depend directly or indirectly on agriculture.

The 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) was released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, today. The study of 146 countries finds that many African countries rank "above average", with good systems in place for the management of environmental and development issues. Gabon is the highest-ranked country in Africa, which means that it is least likely to experience major environmental deterioration in the short and medium-term future, the report says. Worst of in Africa, according to the ESI, are Sudan (35.9), Ethiopia (37.9), Burundi (40.0) and Zimbabwe (41.2).

Uranium Discovered in Ethiopia

According to Ethiopian Reporter, uranium, a radio-active substance used for making nuclear weapons and many other devices, was recently discovered in the Bale zone of the Oromia Regional State by a group of farmers and a businessman.

The businessman, who was not identified, and who is prospecting for precious stones in the zone, was informed of the presence of the mineral by farmers in that locality. With the help of the farmers, the businessman collected samples, which he sent to the Ministry of Mines for analysis. Geologists with the Ministry carried out scientific tests and confirmed that the substance was uranium.

Time will tell if this discovery will benefit Ethiopia for better or worse.

Iran Broader Ties Favored with Ethiopia

Iran's President Mohammad Khatami received visiting Ethiopian Minister of Finance and Economic Development Ahmed Sufian on Monday.

During the meeting, Khatami pointed to historical commonalities between the two countries and Ethiopia's social and economic conditions, praising peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims in that country, IRNA reported.

More on Iranmania.com

A Clarion Call to All Women of Ethiopia

With elections only two months away the Ethiopian Media Women's Association(EMWA), urged every woman - be it an election candidate or a voter - to stay focused in the journey to realizing gender parity in this country.

In a press statement they said that Ethiopia need not only have more women representatives in the government but also men representatives who are gender sensitive and are keen on uplifting the status and freedom of the women in this country. More on allAfrica.com

On a similar topic related to women...
Ethiopia has a 90 percent prevalence rate for female circumcision, according to the Italian-based international association, No Peace Without Justice. In 2004, however, the government criminalized female circumcision.

Ethiopia is Top Choice for Cradle of Homo Sapiens

According to a recent study published by Nature, two Ethiopian fossils have been crowned as the oldest known members of our species. An estimated 195,000 years old, the pair were witness to the earliest days of Homo sapiens.

Ethiopia was once a thriving cultural center, but one has to wonder why we are one of the poorest countries in Africa!

Ossie Davis Remembered in New York City

Actor Ossie Davis was remembered yesterday with rousing eulogies by Harry Belafonte and Bill Clinton and a musical tribute by Wynton Marsalis in a service that lasted almost four hours and was described by several speakers as a state funeral for black America.

Did You Know?
While still in high school, Davis had dreamed about joining Ethiopia's struggle against Mussolini, although he confessed he was not sure where Ethiopia was.

Benito Mussolini's Italy used mustard gas in Ethiopia and Libya.


Effects of mustard gas on a patient picked up by an Norwegian Red Cross ambulance.

© CICR - ref. hist-03503-19a.jpg

Ethiopia's Ruling Party Accused of Killing Opposition Members

An opposition coalition said Tuesday that five of its members were killed and 22 wounded in recent attacks by members of Ethiopia's ruling party.

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy said the attacks in the past month were meant to intimidate opposition leaders in the run-up to national elections set for May 15.

At least five members of the All Amhara Unity party -- a member of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy -- were killed in the past two weeks in the northeastern region of Eastern Gojam, the coalition said.

Reported on CNN.com

Just like Iraqis, shouldn't Ethiopians in the diaspora be given the right to vote in the upcoming elections?

Eritrea Demands Return of Artefacts from Ethiopia

Eritrea is to demand the return from Ethiopia of hundreds of archeological artefacts taken from ancient sites in the 1960s, an official said on Thursday, threatening a new row between the feuding Horn of Africa neighbours.

In addition, Asmara will petition Italy for the return of objects it says were taken by Italian nationals before Eritrea -- an Italian colony and then British protectorate annexed by Ethiopia in 1962 -- won independence in 1993.

"Today, just as Ethiopia asks Italy to hand back the Axum stele, we ask the Ethiopians to hand back the objects found in Matara which are currently in Addis Ababa," said National Museum chief Lebsekal Yosief.

Reported by Mail & Guardian.

There have been excavations in Matara. TAKE a look at one of the cosmopolitan centers from the ancient trading world. There's an extensive history lesson here on Adulis, Matara, and Axum.


Photo courtesy: Skip Dahlgren

Prosecutors Investigate Pushkin 'Pornography'

He is the all-time giant of Russian literature, who shaped the literary heritage of the world’s biggest country.

But now Alexander Pushkin’s legacy is in danger of being tainted by an argument over whether some of his early work is pornographic, and whether his ‘adult verses’ even came from the pen of the ‘National Poet’.

Reported in The Moscow Times

Pushkin's mother is believed to have been a descendent of Abraham Petrovich Hannibal. Was he from Ethiopia or Cameroon?

Here's a short history on Pushkin's Ethiopian great-grandfather :

Abraham Petrovich Hannibal was born in Lagano, Ethiopia in 1697, the son of the reigning prince. At the age of eight he was captured and taken to Turkey, where he was once again kidnapped and taken to Moscow. He was given to the Czar, Peter the Great. Peter grew fond of him because of his intelligence. For ten years Hannibal went everywhere with Peter.
Source: www.ipoaa.com

Ethiopian Airlines to Buy Up to Ten Boeing 787 Dreamliners

Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines today announced a preliminary agreement for up to 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger planes that will make the airline the first Africa-based operator of the super-efficient, all-new jetliner.

This is a good thing...
The airplane will use 20 percent less fuel than today's airplanes of comparable size, and provide customers with up to 45 percent more cargo revenue capacity.

READ about it.

Nile Restrictions Anger Ethiopia

From its origin here in the Ethiopian Highlands, the Blue Nile flows hundreds of miles north into Sudan and then Egypt before eventually flowing into the Mediterranean.

Looking out across the vastness of Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, it is difficult to see why Ethiopia is known as a land plagued by horrific droughts.

Yet despite this apparent abundance of water about 2.5 million farmers, in this region of Ethiopia alone, depend on food aid to survive.

In Egypt, there's a massive irrigation system that spawns thousands of acres of fruit and vegetables at the Al-Hoda farm, one of Africa's largest organic farms. Most of the crops are bound for supermarkets in Britain and other European countries.

What is wrong with this picture?

"While Egypt is taking the Nile water to transform the Sahara Desert into something green, we in Ethiopia - who are the source of 85% of that water - are denied the possibility of using it to feed ourselves. And we are being forced to beg for food every year,"
-Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

FIND out.