Castro Not Well Enough for Birthday Gala

photo courtesty: Art Monthly

Reuters -- Fidel Castro said on Tuesday that he was not well enough to attend a gala kicking off five days of celebrations of his 80 years.

Castro, who has not appeared in public since he underwent intestinal surgery in late July, said in a message that was read out to 5,000 supporters and admirers from dozens of countries that doctors had not allowed him to attend the packed event in Havana's Karl Marx theater.

"It was only in the Karl Marx Theater that all guests could be seated but, according to the doctors, I was not yet ready for such a challenging engagement," he said in the message.

"I bid you farewell with great sorrow for not being able to personally thank you and embrace every one of you," he ended.

Castro's birthday was August 13 but he postponed celebrations after undergoing emergency surgery for an undisclosed illness that forced him to hand over power temporarily to his brother Raul in late July.

Questions about whether he would be well enough to appear this week have dominated the run up to celebrations that some guests said feel more like a farewell than a birthday bash.

The leftist firebrand who seized power in a 1959 revolution could still make a brief appearance at the closing event, a military parade in Havana's Revolution Square where workers are erecting an elevated platform.

But, after the release on October 28 of a video that showed a gaunt, shuffling Castro, many Cubans believe he is too old and too ill to resume governing.

Whether or not Fidel Castro reappears in public, most Cuba watchers agree a successor government led by his brother and designated heir Raul is firmly in place.

For four months, the low-key Raul Castro -- the world's longest serving defense minister -- has run the country with few speeches and less fanfare than his brother.

BUSY ACTING PRESIDENT

Government sources say the acting president has been very active holding dozens of meetings, strengthening the ruling Communist Party and coming to grips with Cuba's economic problems.

"It makes little difference if Fidel shows up or not. The succession has begun," said an Asian diplomat in Havana.

"Many people got it wrong. They thought Cuba would fall apart. But Cubans are not pushing for political change. They want more cheese and ham."

Fidel Castro's absence has not dampened the enthusiasm of visitors who came from as far away as Ethiopia and Laos for the celebration of a man they view as a champion of Third World countries. Events include a two-day colloquium on Castro's place in history.

"We came to celebrate his birthday. Twenty-five years ago he did a good job for the Ethiopian people," said artist Lemma Guya, recalling the thousands of Cuban troops Castro sent to fight in his country and hundreds of doctors who served there.

"Fidel Castro is a representative of oppressed peoples and activist intellectuals," said left-wing American author and State University of New York professor James Cockcroft. "All of us are worried about his health."

Officials said 1,500 guests from 80 countries will attend the celebrations, including presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rene Preval of Haiti and president-elect Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua.

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EthioLion: US to Sacrifice Democracy in Ethiopia?

Additional Reading
Ethiomedia: Outsoucing the Somali War

Castro's Address to the Cuban and Ethiopian Troops in 1978

"You will be an example for future generations of youths. Life teaches us how to act. Sometimes the sacrifice is difficult, but it will produce happiness, an awareness of satisfaction througout your lives. That is what is worthwhile in life. It is more so than anything else. To have the respect and love of your compatriots, the admiration of our people. Comrades, now we have the satisfaction of being here and being able to look at you as sons who are victoriously returning from combat..."

The Great Ethiopian Run Turns Into Protest March Against Meles Policy

photo courtesy: markmedia

Ethiopian Review -- Over 25,000 residents of Addis Ababa and others participated in the Great Ethiopian Run today. The annual 10-kilometer race was organized by Haile Gebreselassie and British marathon star Richard Nerurkar.

Around 10 AM local time (2 AM New York time), ER has received eyewitness reports from Addis Ababa that athletic event turned into a mass protest against the Meles dictatorship as thousands of runners chanted:

"Meles thief!" "Meles dictator!" "Woyanne murderers!" "Free our leaders!" "Meles Yiwred!" "We oppose war with Somalia!" "It is not Ethiopia's war!" "It's Woyanne's war!"

According to the eyewitnesses, the protest has ended without any major confrontaton with the blood thirsty security forces.

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Related News

Markmedia: Ethiopian Blogs Blocked in Ethiopia

Ethiomedia: Meles Q&A Drama

***

The 2006 TOYOTA Great Ethiopian Run Official Result

MEN -
1. Deriba Merga (Defense) 28:18.61
2. Tadesse Tola (Prisons) 28:21.89
3. Eshetu Wondimu (Aysha) 28:34.57
4. Tilahun Regassa (Entoto Terara) 28:34.77
5. Kidane Gemechu (Ethiopian Youth) 28:39.89
6. Wegayehu Girma (Aysha) 28:44.45
7. Gadissa Gurmu (Geta Zeru) 28:46.29
8. Tola Bane (Muger Cement) 28:47.48
9. Henry Sugut (Kenya) 28:47.50
10. Demesew Tsega (St. George) 28:49.13

WOMEN -
1. Belaynesh Fekadu (Omedla) 33:02.25
2. Lineth Chepkurui (Kenya) 33:07.68
3. Genet Getaneh (Prisons) 33:13.19
4. Aheza Kiros (EEPCO) 33:24.57
5. Bezunesh Bekele (Ethiopian Banks) 33:26.09
6. Emebet Eta’a (Defense) 33:32.24
7. Dire Tune (Prisons) 33:41.07
8. Ayelech Worku (Omedla) 33:46.70
9. Teyiba Erkesso (Prisons) 33:48.85
10. Makeda Haroun (Prisons) 34:04.04

Source: IAAF

Filmmaking Davids Take on Corporate Goliaths

globeandmail.com -- Starbucks Corp. was one of the companies that turned down interview requests from Nick and Mark Francis when the brothers were shooting their documentary Black Gold about rampant poverty among Ethiopian coffee growers.

But after the film attracted attention at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the coffee giant invited the British brothers to its Seattle headquarters as it prepared for a barrage of bad publicity.

Black Gold, now being screened at festivals and art houses, is the latest in a growing genre of documentary films shaking up the business world. They take critiques of corporate power that would once have been the province of newspapers and magazines to movie theatres and DVD shops, where there's an increasingly receptive audience.

The trend, which started with Roger and Me in 1989 and more recently featured Super Size Me and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, is forcing some corporate targets to counterattack -- and, some say, even change business practices -- to dodge claims of unfair wages, unhealthy products or environmental degradation.

"When you're talking about a documentary, it's something that's being presented as if it's fact, so that's a huge problem for companies," said Paul Argenti, a professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. .

Michael Moore's Roger and Me left a lasting blemish on General Motors Corp. for closing its plant in Flint, Mich., and leaving rampant unemployment in its wake.

Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary Super Size Me assailed McDonald's Corp. for pushing high-calorie meals, while last year's film by Alex Gibney about Enron Corp. showed how internal avarice and corruption brought down the world's largest energy company.

The films are finding an eager audience, said Erik Schut, editorial director of TLA Entertainment Group of Philadelphia, which runs a chain of video rental shops on the East Coast, and operates a DVD mail-order service. "These are not Hollywood-style films," he said. "So the fact that people are responding to them, that says a lot."

Jon Else, who teaches documentary filmmaking at the University of California, Berkeley, believes the growing interest in corporate-critical documentaries is a reaction to the extremes of wealth created by an untamed free market.

Nick Francis said Black Gold stemmed from the brothers' outrage about the poverty that persists among Ethiopian growers, even as multinational coffee sellers make huge profits. The brothers put the final cost of the movie at $760,000 (U.S.), and said its financing was typical for films of the genre, relying on grants, small donations and pro bono production help.

This year's Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers from director Robert Greenwald was bankrolled by thousands of individual donors who responded to a fundraising e-mail from the filmmakers.

Despite the relatively small budgets, many of the films have drawn big attention.

Starbucks sent an e-mail to employees in Britain characterizing Black Gold as "inaccurate and incomplete" before it played at the London Film Festival. At the film festival in Sundance, Utah, the company distributed a statement saying it believes "coffee farmers should make a living wage and be paid fair prices."

Nick Francis believes Black Gold also helped prompt an upcoming meeting between the chief executive officer of Starbucks and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Starbucks spokeswoman Audrey Lincoff said the film and the meeting were unrelated.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reacted similarly to Mr. Greenwald's Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price when it was released in 2005. The company kept a log of what it called the film's "numerous inaccuracies," and shared it with reporters and on its website, spokeswoman Marisa Bluestone said.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart also made its workers available for a rebuttal documentary, Why Wal-Mart Works: And Why that Drives Some People C-r-a-z-y, which portrays the corporation sympathetically.

Mr. Spurlock suspects his 2004 documentary Super Size Me, which showed the unhealthy effect of a strictly fast food diet, helped influence McDonald's to add healthier items to its menu.

"McDonald's is launching its new 'Go Active! Adult Happy Meals' nationwide," he wrote on his Web log when his movie first began generating buzz. "Coincidence? Yeah, right," he wrote.

Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's has consistently denied any connection between the film and changes to its menu.

Super Size Me is one of the relatively few business-related documentaries to find broad distribution. Los Angeles-based theatrical distribution company Roadside Attractions LLC and Samuel Goldwyn Films picked it up after it won Mr. Spurlock a Sundance documentary directing award in 2004.

Super Size Me went on to take in $11.5-million at the U.S. box office, making it the biggest moneymaker in the genre. Roger and Me took in $6.7-million at the U.S. box office.

Sicko, Mr. Moore's film on the pharmaceutical industry, is due out next summer.

Even less broadly distributed documentaries are finding wider interest than a liberal screed in The Nation or an exposé in The New York Times Magazine with similar ideas might reach.

"You get a lot of bang for the buck when you make a movie," Mr. Else said. "You get a lot of eyeballs."

Websites for documentaries like Black Gold and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price list dozens of screenings each month at repertory theatres, universities and churches, where they're presented by advocacy groups and often followed by discussion sessions.

"They become events in themselves," Nick Francis said.

Mr. Else said the filmmakers are akin to the rabble-rousing reporters who took on railway empires and mining giants in the early 20th century. "These guys are doing what any good crusading journalist would have done in a time when everyone was reading the newspaper everyday."

Zoo Poisons Lion Cubs to Cut Costs

The number of black-maned lions in Ethiopia
has fallen to around 1,000

Al Jazeera -- Ethiopia's black lions are being culled and sold on to taxidermists by an Ethiopian zoo, despite the continuing threat to the long-term survival of the species.

A lack of finances and zoo space has resulted in the cull of the Abyssinian lion population, according to the administrator of Addis Ababa's zoo.

Experts say only 1,000 Abyssinian lions remain in Ethiopia. Despite concern among by conservationists, the 60-year-old zoo is selling lion cubs to taxidermists because it is unable to feed the big cats and lacks room to house them.

Muhedin Abdulaziz, the zoo's administrator, said his US $64,000 budget was simply not enough to provide for more than 16 adult lions, which cannot be reintroduced to the wild.

"There is a shortage of place and a shortage of budget and when they are over-populated, most of the time we send them to taxidermists," Muhedin said.

"It is not really good, but we do this is because of the problems we have," he said.

"For the time being our immediate solution is to send them to the taxidermists, but the final and best solution is to extend the zoo into a wider area," Muhedin said.

Bodies sold

The Abyssinia lions, or panthera leo abyssinica, are smaller than their east African cousins and the males have distinguishable black manes.

The culling is done by a vet who kills the cubs with poison. The bodies are sold for about US $175 each to taxidermists who then retail the stuffed lions for US $400.

The zoo, built in 1949 during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, was intended to rear the animals for exhibition as symbols of his rule. Selassie was ousted in 1974 by a pro-Soviet Marxist-Leninist military junta.

"We have two rooms for eight cubs, but when they grow we have to send them to the taxidermist, we don't have any other alternative"

Currently, there are 15 adult lions and three cubs at Addis Ababa zoo, which receives up to 1,200 visitors daily.

The director of the wildlife division of Ethiopia's agriculture ministry said he had no idea the lions were being culled.

Awareness

"We are not aware that this is happening," said Tadese Haile, refusing to comment further on the matter.

A wildlife expert said he was offered 11 cubs last year but declined because he did not have enough land.

"[The government] have to create public awareness, there should be a lot of people interested in seeing lions," said the expert on condition of anonymity. "In Addis Ababa, there is no proper zoo."

"Some experts say these lions are no more in the wild and they should not be killed every year," he said. "They are part of our natural resources and we need to keep our natural resource."

However, it costs about $4,000 US per month to feed the 16 lions at the zoo and the government has refused to send them to foreign conservation facilities because they are only found in the Horn of African country.

"They are endemic lions," Muhedin said. "They are not present anywhere else in the world so the government says you can't give them to other places."

"Our maximum capacity is for eight pairs of lions. We have two rooms for eight cubs, but when they grow we have to send them to the taxidermist, we don't have any other alternative," he added.

Wisdom of Age, Courage of Youth Antidotes for Africa's Madness - Meles

allAfrica.com -- In a rare display, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi put aside his prepared speech and made an impassioned personal statement about Africa, its leaders and youth and about himself.

A young Kenyan lady seems to have provoked the exceptionally emotional words from Meles.

Young Edwina on Thursday criticized African leaders at the UNECA for not giving due attention to the youth.

"In this conference hall the young people sit at the back. As young people we are here today because we have a critical role to play in building Africa that we want to inherit and I am sure that the adults in this room are here because they would like to renew their commitment to working with us for that," Edwina said during the forum dubbed Youth and 21st Century Leadership.

Edwina complained that African youth were fed-up of the series of speeches delivered by leaders who are not committed to what they say. "Even though we, in general, represent the better-off youth, we have our frustrations in common, from being exploited as perpetual volunteers, to constantly being used for show usually at the last minute and worst of all we have to listen to the many speeches and commitments, existing only on paper about young people being leaders of tomorrow, while the makers of these speeches have no idea about the dreams, vision or even the typical day of a young person."

Impressed by the young lady whom he said spoke form the heart Meles began with the words that African youth were well aware of their challenges. He said it was clearly reflected in the young lady's speech.

"The challenges of the African youth are the mirror image of the challenges of the continent as a whole," Meles told the conference.

He said Africa was the only continent that could not solely determine its own political destiny and the only continent which was not making serious progress in terms of economic transformation.

"And this is not for lack of trying. We tried many alternatives. We tried the post independence alternative. We tried the post independence alternative in mid 1980s. Then we tried a new package since mid 80s. Nothing has worked," he said.

"There is a technical definition of madness. Madness is to do things over and over again but to expect different results. We have been doing this over and over again since the mid 80s expecting different results every time. Now this is unlikely to be because all African leaders are technically mad. I think that is happening because first, the balance of economic, political and diplomatic forces are such that maintaining the beaten track even if it's a dead end, appears to be the only option. I think it is also partly because most African leaders are not that young," Meles said.

Meles who has hardly spoken about himself publicly at such personal level said: "The main difference between me- Meles now- and Meles 35 years ago is that Meles 35 years ago, as a young person, had the courage and ambition to storm the heaven. Meles now does not have the same type of ambition and courage."

The youth at the gathering went laughing and applauding when he asked: "Why, Why has the fear of God been introduced in to Meles?"

"I think it's partly because of the experience of defeats, the achievements, and the experience of life itself which makes a person wiser and at the same time less courageous and less ambitious. If we could combine the wisdom of age and the courage and ambition of youth then we can break out of a mad situation of doing over and over the same thing," Meles said.

"It is appropriate that we recognize that certain forces have played a negative role-by design or by default- they have played a negative role in Africa."

Despite his belief that there are many who deserve to be blamed however, he stressed it was also for Africans to change the balance "in favor of sanity and against madness."

Meles mildly Chided Edwina's criticism of African leaders by saying that it was easier for the youth to blame their "older and less courageous leaders."

"By all means blame us, because there is enough blame to go around. But in the final analysis don't act like a victim. Don't act like the blamed. See what you could do, that you are not doing. And start by doing that," he advised the youth.

About 1000 delegates, of whom 250 were African youth, participated in the meeting.

Participants deliberated on the new African Youth Charter, aimed at enabling the youth to involve in African development strategies.

The out going UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, Chair Person of the African Union, Professor Alpha Oumar Konare, President of the African Development Bank, Mr. Donald Kabe Ruka, and Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, urged all stakeholders to work hard for the endorsement and implementation of the youth charter.

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VIDEO - Protesters: Meles is Anti-Ethiopian

Ethiopian protesters who converged on Brussels from different European countries have condemned the Ethiopian tyrant Meles Zenawi outside the Expositions while some were protesting inside the conference room.

The self-crowned prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, invited by Mr. Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, to lecture on good governance. More details on Ethiomedia.

The Celebrity Scramble for Africa

AFP via Y! -- Their star quality may guarantee publicity but the galaxy of celebrities promoting good causes on the world's poorest continent has left cynics cringing at what has been dubbed the new scramble for Africa.

Ex-Spice Girl
Geri Halliwell swapped her famous Union Jack mini-skirt for a demure white blouse this week when she toured maternity wards in Lusaka in her capacity as a goodwill ambassador for the UN children's fund UNICEF.

The one-time Ginger Spice's trip to Zambia came hot on the heels of Madonna's visit to neighbouring Malawi where she was so taken by one resident of an AIDS orphanage that she decided to adopt the 13-month-old boy.

U2 frontman Bono, Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney and rapper Jay-Z represent just a handful of the other stars who have taken a break from their lives of luxury to deliver lectures on how to improve the plight of Africans.

Some charity campaigners insist they are grateful that the stars are prepared to give up their time to generate headlines and pictures.

But others less than impressed with the motives of the film and pop stars who usually return to five-star hotels after their brief brush with squalor.

"We are totally opposed to this patronising attitude of western personalities purporting to be philanthropists," said Zimbabwe's Minister of Interactive Affairs Chen Chimutengwende.

"This thing about intervening on behalf of the poor in Africa is all racism clothed in a liberal dress."

Western show business first started taking a major interest in African affairs back in the early 1980s when former Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof organised the Live Aid concerts to alleviate the impact of famine in Ethiopia.

Geldof's fellow Irishman Bono is now almost as well-known for championing the cause of debt relief as for his pop career.

One of his more recent visits took him to the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho which has one of the highest rates of AIDS in the world.

Dennis Bailey of CARE Lesotho said Bono's involvement was a welcome ally in the war against AIDS.

"We are very glad when people like Bono come wave a flag on behalf of those we are working with," he told AFP.

Bailey acknowledged that the involvement of celebrities may not always be inspired by philanthropy but that should not negate their usefulness.

"Even if it is shameful publicity-seeking, that can also draw attention to issues, even if it is for the wrong reasons. "

Few celebrities can be guaranteed to attract attention quite like Madonna.

The Queen of Pop had insisted her trip to Malawi was a "private visit" but her move to adopt baby David Banda led to a very public debate about whether her fame had enabled her to ride roughshod over the usual custody laws.

Maxwell Matewere, the director of a children's charity which is contesting an interim adoption order for Madonna, said the apparent generosity of celebrities was rarely as straightforward as it seemed.

"They are showing this generosity because they have an agenda to raise their own profiles," said Matewere who heads the Eye of the Child organisation.

Some celebrities however have little need to raise their profile.

When Brad Pitt came to Ethiopia in April 2005 with a television crew to draw US viewers' attention to AIDS and poverty, most of the subsequent media coverage centered on his relationship with fellow Hollywood star Angelina Jolie.

"It's a strange focus, isn't it?" he mused in a television interview.

"That my relationships or relationship mishaps takes precedent over something like that (the situation in Africa) ... I understand it's about entertainment, but man, it's misguided a bit, isn't it?" wondered Pitt.

When Pitt and Jolie returned to Africa together this year, the couple upset many in the southwestern country of Namibia by sealing themselves off completely from the locals while Jolie gave birth.

Even before giving birth in Namibia, Jolie had already acquired an African child by adopting a six-month baby girl in Ethiopia.

Like Halliwell, Jolie is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador -- a role which has seen her publicise the plight of youngsters all across the continent, including in Sudan.

Despite cynicism over the stars' motives, UNICEF is in no doubt about their value.

"They play an extra important role on shining a light on chronic issues on the continent," said Unicef spokeswoman Sarah Crowe.

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Previous Posts
Bono Makes Wish to Fight Poverty
Oprah, Danny Glover and Brad Pitt Visit Ethiopia

Additional Reading
Babies and Banks: Celebrity Colonialism in Africa

Kate Moss is African (in blackface) on the issue of the "RED" Independent

Events: Ethiopian Night at the African Diaspora Film Festival

ETHIOPIAN NIGHT
Sun. Nov 26 @ 6:45pm

MENGED
NY PREMIERE
Ethiopia, 2006 min, 21 min, comedy, Amharic with English subtitles, Daniel Taye Workou, dir. A lot can happen on the long way to the market in the Ethiopian countryside. A father and his son follow all the people's good advice... and come back to their senses. Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival.

SISAI
US PREMIERE
Israel, 2005, 57 min, documentary, Hebrew, Amharic with English subtitles, David Gavro, dir.
20-year-old Sisai, Ethiopian immigrant in Israel, lives with his adoptive family - the Gavros. Father Gavro returns from Ethiopia with news of Sisai's biological father's whereabouts. Confused by the news and the fresh confrontation with his past, Sisai does not share his family's excitement. He is too busy with his own news; Sivan, his girlfriend, is pregnant. The director, who is also Sisai's brother, joins him and their father on a journey to Ethiopia on their search for identity, blood connection, love and longing. Q&A After the screening followed by Party @ Bowery Bar - $25

Location:
ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
32 Second Avenue (corner of Second Ave. and 2nd Street)
(212) 864-1760

SUBWAY INFORMATION:
train F to 2nd Ave. or trains B,D,Q to Broadway-Lafayette St. or 6 to Bleecker

***

BLACK GOLD
Thu. Dec. 7 @ 4:00 pm

UK/Ethiopia, 2006, 77min, documentary, English, Ethiopian, and Italian with English subtitles, Marc Francis & Nick Francis, dir.
For many people coffee is an enjoyable part of a daily routine; for Ethiopian coffee farmers it represents the corrupt side of a global economy that engages the labor of more than 15 million Ethiopians. Exposing the far-reaching consequences of the worldwide coffee business, Black Gold stops at the International Cupping Competition of Taste Testers before leading us to Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. There we meet Tadesse Meskela of the Oromo Coffee Farmers Co-op Union, which represents more than 70,000 impoverished Ethiopian coffee farmers. Meskela offers a compelling insider's look at the sub-standard labor conditions of the workers responsible for some of the best beans in the world. These scenes are juxtaposed with those of the marketplace, where exchanges set coffee prices to benefit Western corporations, whose consumers then get their two-buck cup. Marc and Nick Francis' intricate, elegant film will forever change the way you think about your double latte. - Peterson

Location:
THE SCHOMBURG CENTER
515 Malcom X Boulevard
(212) 864-1760 or (212) 491-2200

SUBWAY INFORMATION:
train 2 or 3 to 135th Street

***

LIVE AND BECOME

Thu. Nov. 30 at 9:00 pm
at C62 Q&A After the Screening

Sat. Dec. 2 at 9:30 pm
at AFA Q&A After the Screening

Live and Become tells the magnificent, epic story of an Ethiopian boy who is airlifted from a Sudanese refugee camp to Israel in 1984 during Operation Moses. Shlomo is plagued by two big secrets: He is neither a Jew nor an orphan, just a Christian Ethiopian boy who survived and wants, somehow, to fulfill his mother's parting request that he "go, live, and become." The child is raised as an adoptive son in a loving family, and embraces Judaism. But the pressure of keeping his secret, the tension between the truth and reality, and the pernicious racism he must confront as he strives to integrate Israeli society will be the key elements that will define his personality as he becomes a man. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival; Recipient of the Golden Swan for Best Screenplay at the Copenhagen International Film Festival; and Jury Prize at the Valenciennes Film Festival.

Location:
CLEARVIEW 62ND STREET
1871 Broadway - 62nd Street and Broadway
(212) 864-1760

SUBWAY INFORMATION:
train 1, 9, A, B, C, or D to 59th street

Go to www.nyadff.org/order.html to get tickets.

Organic Foods May Be Victim Of Their Own Success

MediaPost -- DEMAND IS FAR OUTSTRIPPING SUPPLY for organic food and beverages, and despite triple-digit growth in organic farmland in Latin America, Asia and Africa since 2000, the industry's long-term stability is fragile, a new report says.

According to Organic Monitor, a British consultancy, countries where consumers have high disposable incomes are driving demand, with Switzerland, the United States and Singapore out front.

"Over-concentration of demand could put the global organic food industry in a fragile condition," said Amarjit Sahota, director of Organic Monitor. The shortages are most evident in North America, and many U.S.-based companies are currently scouring the globe for organic ingredients.

Nuts, beans, and seeds are increasingly being imported from Turkey, China, and Brazil. Herbs and spices are coming from Paraguay, India, and Ethiopia. Organic fresh fruit and vegetables are increasingly coming in from African and Asian countries.

Several European countries are also experiencing supply shortages, said Organic Monitor, as consumer demand for organic foods escalates. G7 countries account for more than 80 percent of sales, while they have only 12 percent of international organic farmland. The report also points out that divisions and differences among the three major trading blocks--Europe, North America and Asia--are impeding the global organic food and beverage industry.

The report projects that revenues will approach $40 billion this year.


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Additional Reading

Daniel Yohannes launches a "green" bank and is tapped by city and state officials for his expertise.

Green is the New Fashion Statement for Consumers

Consumers are more likely to buy products and services from a business they think is tackling climate change, according to the Carbon Trust. Nearly three quarters of UK consumers are concerned about climate change. Two thirds want to know the carbon footprint - a measure of environmental impact - of products and services.

The Government-funded body, which helps business and the public sector cut carbon emissions, said the findings support its belief in the opportunities presented by a low-carbon economy. The report comes shortly after the Stern Review warned consumers to prepare for "green taxes" to help curb pollution.

Euan Murray, strategy manager at the Carbon Trust, said: "There has been a definite shift in behaviour. Fifty-three per cent of people felt that in the last year, climate change had become more of an issue for them."

He added: "Consumers want to use their purchasing power to reduce their carbon footprint and that of the UK as a whole."

According to the Carbon Trust, two thirds of UK consumers are likely to choose products with a low carbon footprint. More than half take environmental issues into account when buying consumer products.
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Of those surveyed, 54pc said environmental concerns influenced their purchasing of food and drink, while 50pc said it made them think twice when buying electronic goods. Nearly a third said the environment influenced their choice of financial products.

The survey also found that 74pc of respondents think businesses are not doing enough to tackle climate change.

Billions of People at Risk from Climate Change-Kenya

Photo Courtesy: Reuters

Reuters -- Saying billions of the world's poorest people were at risk from global warming, Kenya urged a 189-nation conference on Monday to do more to fight climate change and help Africa.

Kenyan drummers and dancers started the annual Nov. 6-17 U.N. talks, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, to chart ways to widen the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol beyond a first period lasting until 2012 amid rising global emissions of greenhouse gases.

"Climate change is rapidly emerging as one of the most serious threats that humanity may ever face," Kenyan Environment Minister Kivutha Kibwana told delegates.

"Climate change threatens development goals for billions of the world's poorest people," he said. He said he knew of five-year-old children in his home village in eastern Kenya who had never seen a maize crop - Kenya's staple food - because of years of drought.

"We face a genuine danger that recent gains in poverty reduction will be thrown into reverse in the coming decades, particularly for the poorest people of the world and especially those in the continent of Africa," he said.

Kibwana urged delegates to "take concrete actions on immediate priorities". And he said the conference should work out ways to help the developing world. Africa is the poorest continent.

A U.N. report on Sunday said Africa was even more vulnerable than feared to climate change, widely blamed on a build-up of gases from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars.

Seventy million people, for instance, could face risks of coastal flooding by 2080 linked to rising seas, up from one million in 1990, it said. More than a quarter of habitats for African wildlife risked destruction.

The talks will seek ways to overcome disputes over Kyoto - a plan by 35 industrial nations to cap emissions of greenhouse gases until 2012.

The United States, which pulled out of Kyoto in 2001, has shown no sign of dropping its view that Kyoto would threaten jobs and wrongly left out developing nations from a first set of targets.

The European Union, a main backer of Kyoto, wants the United States and developing nations such as China and India to sign up for more action beyond 2012.

Organic, Fairtrade Chocolate Hits Ethical Niche

Food Navigator -- The Premium Organic White Bar and Swiss Dark Chocolate with Mint Crisps bar are the latest extensions to the company's successful Organica range which was developed to target ethical consumers.

Market analyst Mintel forecasts that UK shoppers are set to spend over £2 billion (€2.6bn) on ethical foods this year alone and the trend has been making inroads into the confectionery industry with organic chocolatiers such as market leader Green & Blacks experiencing sales growth from £10m (€14.8m) to £50m (€73.8) in the last four years.

Within the ethical foods market, Fairtrade remains the star performer in terms of sales growth. The niche is set to be worth £230m (€342m) by the end of this year, experiencing some 265 per cent growth between 2002 and 2006 alone.

Both the UK Soil Association and Fairtrade Foundation have approved the Venture bars – certifying their organic and fairtrade status.

According to market researchers Leatherhead International the UK organic chocolate market is the largest in the EU with sales of $35m (€27.3m) in 2005.

But it's not just the British market that is feeling the need to go organic – figures provided by Mintel's Global New Product Database, (GNPD) show that 170 new organic chocolate products have been launched globally in the past year.

The new Organica chocolate will be on sale in upmarket retailing chain, Waitrose, priced £1.79 (€2.66) for a single 100g bar.

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While most people enjoy chocolate, it’s no treat for the hundreds of thousands of labourers who pick the cocoa that goes into some of our favourite sweets. Much of our chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast region of West Africa, where cocoa production is an enormous part of the economy. In Ghana, 40% of the country’s export revenues come from the sale of cocoa. Unfortunately, very little of the profit goes to the farmers who grow the cocoa beans. Cocoa farmers receive about a penny for a candy bar selling for 60 cents. More on www.fairtrade.net.

Human Rights Measure Resisted in U.S.

Washington Times -- An effort to call Ethiopia to account on its human rights record was side lined in Congress be fore it adjourned for the midterm elections, with some supporters of the bill blaming Dick Armey, a former House majority leader turned lobbyist.

The sponsor, Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican, shepherded the bill through the House International Relations Committee in June, but Speaker J. Dennis Hastert failed to bring it to the floor for a vote by the full House.

Supporters of the bill, including congressional aides, human rights organizations and members of the Ethiopian community in Washington, maintain that the bill was bottled up at the urging of Mr. Armey, who is now a senior policy adviser with the law and lobbying firm DLA Piper.

An aide to Mr. Smith, who asked not to be identified, said Mr. Armey visited Mr. Smith to argue against the bill. Other supporters of the bill say Mr. Armey, a Texas Republican, argued on Capitol Hill that Ethiopia's leader, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, is "on our side" in the war against terrorism and should not be punished with a reduction in aid or the withholding of visas from some of his key officials.

Both Mr. Armey and DLA Piper have registered with the Justice Department as lobbyists under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, listing Ethiopia as a client. Calls to DLA Piper requesting comment from Mr. Armey were not returned.

Soon after the September 11 attacks, Mr. Meles proclaimed himself an ally in the war on terror. Since then, he has worked with neighbors to foment unrest in Sudan, where a fundamentalist Islamic government is in power, and sent troops into Somalia against an Islamist militia that has solidified control over most of that country after 15 years of anarchy and warlordism.

Mr. Smith's bill would have included an exemption for aid directed to Ethiopia's counterterrorist or peacekeeping activities.

The bill has strong support from the Ethiopian community in Washington, most of whose members support the main opposition party in their homeland and were outraged by the violent suppression of protests after parliamentary elections last year.

The opposition made substantial gains but fell well short of a majority in the elections, which international monitors, including the Atlanta-based Carter Center, found to be generally fair. But dozens of people were killed and many injured when protesters decried what they thought were fraudulent results. Numerous opposition leaders are still on trial facing treason charges.

"Suppression of political and human rights, coupled with failed communist-style economic practices, threaten to destabilize an important U.S. ally and even turn the country into a breeding ground for terrorists," said Mesfin Mekonen, a leader of the Ethiopian community in Washington.

That warning drips with irony, for Mr. Mekonen appears to turn on its head the argument of Mr. Meles' government that it is fighting terrorism as an ally of the United States.

Mr. Mekonen has created an Ethiopian-American Council to rally Ethiopians in the United States against Mr. Meles and to press Congress to act against the Ethiopian government. The bill, introduced by Mr. Smith, is called the Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006.

Related Posts

U.S. About to Awaken to a Nightmare in Ethiopia

The Quiet West

Ethiopian Judge Tells of Regime's Massacres

The Guardian -- The Ethiopian government is responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of students and other critics over the past 15 years, one of the country's most senior judges, who has defected to Britain, said yesterday.

In an interview with the Guardian in London, Judge Teshale Aberra claimed the government of Meles Zenawi is as bad or worse than that of his predecessor, Mengistu Haile Mariam, which was widely condemned for human rights abuses.

"The Mengistu government killed and boasted about it. The Meles government kills and asks 'who killed them?', and then sets up an inquiry commission," Mr Aberra said. "This government may be more deadly."

The US has been muted in its criticism, partly because it sees Mr Meles as an ally in its "war on terrorism" and a counterweight to the unrest in Somalia. The British government cut direct aid last year in protest at a clampdown, but the reaction of the international community, taking its lead from Washington, has been low-key.

Mr Aberra, who was a judge for 12 years, said between 15,000 and 20,000 people have been killed in the Oromia region, which is one of the biggest provinces in the country and includes the capital, Addis Ababa. Others had been killed elsewhere in the country, many of them student protesters.

He cited various incidents with which he was familiar, including two students killed by a policeman last year in what he described as cold blood.

The Meles government was criticised last year after police allegedly massacred 193 people involved in anti-government demonstrations. Mr Aberra said about 80,000 people were arrested in the subsequent round-up, though most were later released.

Mr Aberra, who was president of the Oromia supreme court, said that, with prisons overflowing, those arrested had been held in the military and police academies, and torture was commonplace. "They detain people without court orders. They detain people even after the decision is rendered that they should be released. They persecute people and, in some areas, they kill people. There is massive killing all over. There is a systematic massacre."

He fled Ethiopia on October 29. His wife and two children have also left and are in hiding. He characterises himself as non-political and said he decided to leave because of pressure on the judicial system from the government and threats from senior figures in the Oromia regional government. "They warned me to comply with demands to suppress certain judges, to detain people who had been released, and release the people who had been detained but the government wanted out."

Ethiopia Signs Oil Exploration Deal with Swedes

afrol News -- A month after officially announcing the discovery of oil on its territory, the Ethiopian government on Wednesday signed an oil exploration agreement with Lundin East Africa Bv. The deal allows the Sweden-based oil company to explore and develop petroleum onshore in the region of the Ogaden Basin.

The contract that entails exploration in Blocks 2 and 6 covers over 24,000 square kilometres west of the Calub and Hilala oil and gas discoveries, the company's Stockholm headquarters reported in a press release.

The contract was signed by Ethiopian Minister of Mines and Energy, Alemayehu Tegenu, and Chairman and General Manager of Lundin, Ian Lundin and James Philips.

After the signing ceremony, it was disclosed that the petroleum exploration company would not only create employment opportunities for Ethiopians, but it would also utilise domestic goods and services provided they are readily available at competitive prices and of comparable quality.

Ian Lundin described his independent oil company as highly experienced in the field of petroleum exploration and that it is at the moment engaging in petroleum exploration and development activities in Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia, France, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, among others.

After the October announcement of oil discovery in Uganda, foreign oil companies are said to be scrambling to explore the East African region's oil and gas, including Ethiopia. So far, 17 such companies have shown interest in developing Calub and Hilala gas fields, which are in the eastern part of Ethiopia and where Blocks 2 and 6 are located.

Calub gas reserves are estimated to have covered 76.41 billion cubic metres while reserves in Hilala 48.1 billion cubic metres. The two gas fields cover a total area of 285 square kilometres.

The new agreement allows Lundin East Africa Bv to hold a 100 percent interest in the contract area for the duration of the exploration period. Further, the Ethiopian government is given the option to participate with up to 10 percent interest following any commercial discovery.

The Swedes are to allocate US$ 1.2 million to explore and develop the petroleum basin in the first four years of the exploration period, according to the contract, but the development and production period go up to 25 years.

Also in nearby Uganda, there is euphoria over new oil discoveries as the region is sailing up as a new hydrocarbon producing zone attracting foreign investments. In October, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni used the national thanks-giving service day in the capital Kampala to announce the discovery of oil in his country. This discovery followed several years of the country's painstaking search for oil.

President Museveni said Uganda's search for oil, which cost companies at least US$ 70 million, started in the country's western regions, with the oil blocks of Waranga 1, Waranga 2 and Mputa in 1989. An Australian oil exploration company, Hardman Resources Ltd, made the discoveries in June this year but the government was waiting for a fitting day to make the news public to its citizens.



Ogaden screet scene (photo courtesy: CharlesFred's photostream)

Africans Are Already Facing Climate Change

Christian Science Monitor -- As delegates gather Monday in Kenya for a United Nations conference to set new targets to reduce fossil-fuel emissions after 2012, climate change is a present reality for many Africans.

In Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Chad, people are already seeing the repercussions - including war. The conflict between herders and farmers in Sudan's Darfur region, where farm and grazing lands are being lost to desert, may be a harbinger of the future conflicts.

"You have climate change and reduced rainfall and shrinking areas of arable land; and then you add population growth and you have the elements of an explosion," says Francis Kornegay, a senior analyst at the Center for Policy Studies in Johannesburg.

On Sunday, a new UN report predicted that by 2080, global warming could lead to a 5 percent fall in the production of food crops, such as sorghum in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Zambia; maize in Ghana; millet in Sudan; and groundnuts in Gambia.

Between 25 percent and 40 percent of Africa's natural habitats could be lost by 2085, according to the report produced by the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It also said that rising sea levels could destroy an estimated 30 percent of Africa's coastal infrastructure. Coastal settlements in the Gulf of Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, and Egypt could be flooded,

Ironically, Africa produces the smallest amount of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.

While it's risky to reduce any conflict to a single cause, a growing number of aid workers, government officials, and experts agree that climate change could certainly stretch the tense relations in many regions to the breaking point. Whenever there is less land available, and less water to make that land productive, then competition for that land can turn violent.

"[Climate] changes make the emergence of violent conflict more rather than less likely," said British Home Secretary John Reid last March. "The blunt truth is that the lack of water and agricultural land is a significant contributory factor to the tragic conflict we see unfolding in Darfur. We should see this as a warning sign."

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol - aimed at capping greenhouse gas emissions - expires in six years. Many countries, notably the US, have opted out of the Kyoto accord, which called for higher gas taxes and more regulation to reduce the global consumption of fossil fuels by an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. Many scientists say the use of fossil fuels has raised the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which in turn has begun to raise global temperatures.

Some world leaders, such as President Bush, argue that uncertainty over the cause of global warming does not justify the economic costs of switching from fossil fuels to alternatives, such as solar power or fuel cells. But European leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, call for drastic measures, such as a 60 percent reduction in carbon emission by 2050.

But climate change is already hurting people here in Africa, according to a report issued last month by a coalition of British aid groups. The number of food emergencies encountered each year in Africa have tripled since the mid-1980s, the report says. This year alone, more than 25 million Africans faced a food crisis.

Even though temperatures in Africa have only warmed by an average of 0.5 degree C. over the past 100 years, desert lands are advancing into once arable rain-fed areas, and wetter equatorial parts of Africa are getting wetter, often leading to devastating floods.

According to another British report released last week, by former World Bank economist Nicholas Stern, current weather trends suggest that greenhouse gases will boost overall temperatures by 2-3 degrees C. over the next 40 years.

In the West, conflicts such as the fighting in Sudan's Darfur region are often chalked up to ethnic or religious differences. But equally important is the competition for land, as water sources dry up.

"The fighting in Chad, and the fighting in Darfur are the same," says one North African diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The problem is resources, especially water. On one side you have herders. On the other side you have farmers. And with the spread of weapons in the region, it becomes very dangerous and hard to control."

Indeed, in Niger, the government halted its planned expulsion late last month of nearly 150,000 refugees from neighboring Chad. The refugees, many of them Arab cattle herders, had fled fighting in Chad, but their encroachment on the farmlands and water resources in Niger has increased tensions and led to sporadic fighting with natives.

Jason Stearns, an analyst with the International Crisis Group in Nairobi, says that the competition for basic resources are behind many African conflicts.

"In Burundi, climate change, together with population growth and shrinking arable land is tightly linked to conflicts," says Mr. Stearns. He says that Burundi will have to work hard to meet the expectations of a population that has doubled since the early 1970s and where there are 400,000 refugees expected to return home after years of civil war.

But as bad as things are in Burundi, Stearns says, "it's even more true in the Horn of Africa, in Kenya, Somalia, as well as Ethiopia and Sudan."

Claudia Ringler, a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, says Africa is more vulnerable to climate change because so much of it's agricultural lands rely on rainfall, rather than irrigation.

"All these lobbies say it's bad to build all these dams, but all the dams have been built in Europe, in the US, in Australia, not in Africa," says Ms. Ringler. She has a long list of things that would enable African farmers to better feed their people, including access to paved roads, better weather reports, higher yielding varieties that can survive in times of drought. But above all, Africa needs access to water.

"Water is the most variable input in a changing climate situation," she says. "Strangely enough, on a per capita basis, water availability is not that bad in Africa. In Ethiopia and Somalia, the water's there, but it's not getting to where it needs to be."

Related Posts:

Climate Change and the Poor

Climate Change May Spark Conflict Between Nations

Water Becoming More Precious Than Oil in Arab World

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Check out these video tips from Earth Day Network on how you can protect our planet.

Ethiopians Clash with Police; 8 Hurt

Ethiopian protest in Jerusalem on Monday.

The Jerusalem Post -- What was meant to be a peaceful rally for Ethiopian rights turned violent Monday, when demonstrators clashed with police in front of the Health Ministry in Jerusalem, leaving 19 people injured.

More than 200 people gathered in front of the government compound to protest discrimination against Ethiopians. The boiling point, they said, was a recent decision by the Health Ministry to discard donated Ethiopian blood.

"We won't allow our blood to be spilled like this. The Torah says that blood is the soul. How can this country treat us, fellow Jews, this way?" said Gadi Yabarken, one of the protest's organizers. "We will not leave unless the prime minister agrees to meet with us."

While Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused to meet with the protesters, Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim met with a small group of their representatives and promised to approach Olmert to ask him to create a ministerial committee dedicated to the Ethiopian community. Boim also promised to work for the release the five activists who were arrested during the protest.

The only politician to address the protest was MK Ran Cohen (Meretz). "I feel your pain. A country that discriminates against Ethiopian Jews is a racist country," said Cohen, who added that he would raise the issue in the Knesset plenum.

Demonstrators answered Cohen's speech with shouts that they were "sick of the false promises" of politicians.

Yabarken said the government had not upheld any of its promises to advance Ethiopian rights or deal with problems such as raising the salaries of Ethiopian religious leaders to match other rabbis, expand Falash Mura immigration or increase affirmative-action programs.

"These problems have been building up for some time, but to find out that they will throw our blood away, for no reason other than racist discrimination, that is too much to bear," Yabarken said.

A spokeswoman for the Health Ministry said that all blood donors who have been in countries such as Ethiopia, where AIDS is endemic, cannot donate blood. She added that the decision to discard the blood was not racist, but medical.

"I guarantee you that more than half of the protesters here have never been to Ethiopia, and I would like the Health Ministry to explain why it can't check where we have been and what kind of danger we pose before it discards our blood," said Kasa Bayisin.

Last year, Bayisin traveled to the US with a group of representatives from the United Jewish Communities to discuss the situation of Ethiopian Jews in Israel.

"I regret everything I said to the Americans about Israeli Ethiopians being well assimilated," Bayisin said. "There is extreme racism here and I call on all Americans to watch where they donate their money; they have more influence than they realize."

Carrying drums and colorful banners, the protesters began their march at the Jerusalem International Convention Center. Once they reached the Health Ministry, a group of protesters broke from the group and charged towards the ministry.

One protester was injured when a mounted policeman trampled him, and another was injured when a driver lost patience with the protesters blocking the street and drove directly into the crowd. Four policemen and 13 protesters were injured in direct clashes between the two groups.

A small group of protesters remained in front of the Health Ministry late Monday night, telling officials there that they would not leave until they met with the prime minister.

Related Posts:

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Ethiopian Jews Battle Poverty, Prejudice in Israel

Rwanda: How Colonists Jumbled Rwanda's Making

allAfrica.com/NYTimes -- The above is the title of our national anthem and, indeed, Rwanda is a country of great beauty - and of many contradictions.... It is often referred to as "the land of a thousand hills", a paradise on earth best known for its lush forests, incredible natural diversity and, of course, its mountain gorillas made famous by the movie "Gorillas in the Mist".

The geography of this small, beautiful country is very simple. Rwanda is located near the centre of Africa, a few degrees south of the Equator. It is separated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by Lake Kivu and the Rusizi valley to the west. To the north, it is bordered by Uganda, to the east by Tanzania, and to the south by Burundi. The capital, Kigali, is located in the centre of the country.

Rwanda's countryside is covered by grasslands and small farms extending over rolling hills (from which it derives its endearing pseudonym) with areas of rugged mountains that extend southeast from a chain of volcanoes in the northwest (the home of the world famous mountain gorilla).

The essence of composing this article is not so much as to exaggerate or to praise the natural beauty of Rwanda - because that is an undisputable fact - but instead to bring to light one of the most flagrant contradictions that characterized the history of the country ever. In 1994, Rwanda, with all her beauty described above, became best known to the outside world for something else altogether: GENOCIDE.

Imagine a situation where a set of the same people - sharing one country, one culture, one language and one heritage - would set out, one group intent on erasing the other from the face of the earth. This, unfortunately happened in "Rwanda Nziza Igihugu Cyacu" in April 1994, and in a period of only three short months. Over one million Rwandans were butchered like animals, slain by their brethren, at times by their own direct blood brothers. Incredible, isn't it? So, what could have happened?

In April of each year, Rwanda commemorates the anniversary of the Genocide, one of the most shocking chapters of modern history. Events and circumstances that led up to this horrible blot in the beautiful land, however, have been widely distorted, especially by revisionists of history.

History tells us that for over 600 years, long before the advent of the colonialist, the different groups that make up the Rwandan people shared the business of farming, essential for survival, between them. They also shared their language, their culture, and their nationality. There have been many inter-marriages.

The Tutsi have traditionally been portrayed as a separate pastoralist Hamitic people originating from East Africa (possibly the Horn region of modern Ethiopia), and the Hutu as agrarians. However, current research is inconclusive about this migration. Colonial scholars of the early twentieth century were quick to accept that notion, because it confirmed their racial theories. Today's scholarship focuses on the many cultural and genetic similarities between Hutus and Tutsis, and many scholars today believe that the differences have been greatly exaggerated, and that the differences between the two groups were occupational rather than ethnic.

The definition of "Hutu" and "Tutsi" has changed over time. Mostly it has distinguished between those in commanding and those in subordinate social positions. Traditionally, Tutsi were physically distinguished as taller than Hutu, but today, you can't tell them apart. Examples of the many contradictions and complexities of meaning I spoke of above abound. As far back as the early 1950s, some Hutus did indeed own cattle and had important social standing and people have been known to switch groups, reinforcing the idea that the Hutu and Tutsi labels are labels of class or caste rather than tribe or ethnicity as is usually portrayed by the media and militants on both sides.

Because of the nature of their historical pastoral or agricultural roles, the Tutsis tended to be landowners and the Hutus worked the land; and this division of labour perpetuated a population balance in which the Hutus naturally outnumbered Tutsis. A wedge was driven between them when the European colonists moved in. It was the practice of colonial administrators to select a group to be privileged and educated, 'intermediaries' between the governor and the governed: the infamous 'divide and rule' tactic. The Belgians chose the Tutsis: landowners, tall, and to European eyes the more aristocratic in appearance.

This thoughtless introduction of class-consciousness unsettled the stability of the Rwandan society. Some Tutsis began to behave like aristocrats, making the Hutu to feel treated like peasants. Hence an alien political divide was born.

The Belgian government continued to rely on the Tutsi power structure for administering the country. It also consistently favoured the Tutsis where education was concerned, leading to a situation where many Tutsis were literate while the majority of Hutus were not. Belgians educated the Tutsis in Catholic schools, which widened the ethnic rift between Hutu and Tutsi.

It is widely believed that the Belgians did much to create the enmity between Hutu and Tutsi through their policies of 'indirect rule'. As mentioned above, Hutus and Tutsis lived together as neighbours before the colonial period. However, Belgian rule solidified the racial divide.

Before the colonial period about 15-16% of the population was Tutsi; many of these were poor peasants, but the majority of the ruling elite were Tutsi. However, a significant minority of the political elite were Hutu. European colonists simplified this arrangement and decided that the 'Hamitic' Tutsi were racially superior and should therefore make up the entire ruling class, while the 'inferior' Bantu Hutu should become a permanent underclass.

Also, the Belgian Roman Catholic Church favoured the Tutsis, admiring Tutsi leadership qualities. The Church evangelized also, beginning with the Tutsis, leading more Tutsis to share in the benefits that came with associating with the colonizers' Roman Catholic culture. King Yuhi Musinga was exiled by the Belgians after he refused to be baptised. He was succeeded by his son Mutara Rudahigwa, who had received a seminary education. He was baptised and renamed Charles, and he sought to bring about political changes by allowing Hutus greater access to positions of authority. He chose Catholics for his appointments.

It should also be noted that from mid 18th Century, during the reign of King Yuhi until his forced exile in 1932, the military located in the border camps against external invaders were a mixture of Hutu and Tutsi drawn from across the kingdom. This intermixing helped produce a uniformity of ritual and language in the region, and united the populace behind the King.

Most evidence suggests that relations between the Hutu and Tutsi were mostly peaceful at this time. Some words and expressions suggest there may have been friction, but other than that all evidence supports peaceful interaction. So what could have happened to pit brother against brother in a senseless slaughter as happened in 1994?

To be continued

See the World with 'Green' Eyes

CNN -- Adventure was the goal when John and Karen Lewis liquidated their assets to buy a large tract of Costa Rican rainforest in 1990.

The pair from Minnesota wanted a sweeping change that involved a language they didn't speak, a culture they didn't understand and a business they didn't have any experience with. They also wanted their new life to involve travel and a contribution to other people.

The result? Lapa Rios, a 1,000-acre private nature reserve and ecolodge on Costa Rica's remote Osa Peninsula. The business showcases the rainforest through outdoor activities while introducing guests to ecotourism and sustainable development, which emphasize balance in the social, economic and environmental effects on the local community.

"We have a sustainability tour where people go to the kitchen and they see our recycling program. We also have pigs and we generate bio-gas for the employee kitchen. We only have native plants, hire only people from the local area. We have a public school that we built and the school tour is very popular," said John Lewis, 62. He and Karen Lewis are now divorced but remain business partners.

"A lot of what we do ... is talk about our conservation programs, our community involvement programs -- a lot of it has to do with guest education," Lewis said.

Ecotourism, according to The International Ecotourism Society, is "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people."

For travelers, that can mean things like choosing socially and environmentally responsible travel providers, respecting the natural environment by sticking to trails and leaving plants and animals undisturbed, buying locally and respecting the culture by dressing appropriately and learning to say a few words in the local language.

The label means different things to different businesses, and some travel providers have shied away from it in recent years.

"I think the term ecotourism has gone through a lot of incarnations, and I think through 'greenwashing,' or people saying that they do things and then don't necessarily come through, I think it may have tarnished the term ecotourism," said Ben Bressler, director of Natural Habitat Adventures, a Colorado-based tour company.

But Bressler believes the label is recovering, despite past ambiguity.

"I actually think it's coming back, and true environmentally responsible travel companies are using it, and I do think it's a good word again," he said.

Lewis has seen understanding evolve since he's been in the industry.

"There's a lot less greenwashing now than there used to be because I think people are much more aware," he said.
Navigating the industry

Green travel labels still generate confusion, so the best bet for consumers looking for a responsible provider is to ask questions.

"Don't be afraid to ask if they have an environmental policy and what that is," said Katie Maschman, a spokeswoman for TIES. "What sort of community-based projects they're involved with, how they're involved in those projects, if community members are employed by the organization?

"If a company is doing significant things for environmental and social responsibility, they'll have those stories to share," Maschman said. "If they're not, then you'll get basic answers like 'we don't wash your sheets and towels,' and that's about it."

Maschman also encourages travelers to look for certifications, awards and affiliations with reputable organizations when choosing providers.

There are about 80 certification bodies worldwide, so standards vary, but eco-seals are one way for consumers to narrow their searches.

Various organizations have formed a council to work toward setting up a global accreditation body for sustainable tourism and ecotourism certification programs, and there is much debate in the industry and nonprofit community about how to set certification standards.

"The other big debate in this thing that's going on right now ... is (whether) all of ecotourism (is) kind of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic with the carbon debate?" said Neel Inamdar, a senior adviser on ecotourism for Conservation International, a Washington-based nonprofit organization.

"Basically if you fly somewhere you're contributing significantly to carbon emissions, and should we be taking care of that? Because if we don't, the environment that we say we're trying to conserve will be gone due to global warming," Inamdar said.

Some companies are starting to embrace carbon offsetting. Natural Habitat Adventures purchases offsets through Sustainable Travel International to support environmental projects that mitigate the carbon dioxide emissions caused by the company.

"They take that money and they purchase things like solar ovens to replace coal-burning ovens in Ethiopia. So as they destroy a coal-burning oven and replace it with a solar one, what we're doing is taxing ourselves and making up for it elsewhere," Bressler said.

In 2007, Bressler expects the company to spend $50,000 on offsets covering all of its office operations, business travel and in-country transportation for its guests. Guests are then asked to consider offsetting their own air transportation.
Worldwide sustainability

The emphasis ecotourism operations place on contributing to conservation and community development is taking hold in other sectors of the industry that are not centered on delicate ecosystems.

"We've started to see more and more companies that traditionally offer just sun and beach kind of packages or all-inclusives or boat operations or even urban tourism that are embracing these concepts," said Ronald Sanabria, director of sustainable tourism for the Rainforest Alliance, a New York-based international nonprofit dedicated to conservation and sustainability.

The World Tourism Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has developed a series of programs to get governments, tourists and the tourism industry to follow practices that will lead to a harmonious balance between the ecological, the economic and the social effects of tourism.

"That's called triple bottom line sustainability, and in essence it's also described as making sure that whatever you take out you put enough back in that it covers for it," said Geoffrey Lipman, the agency's assistant secretary general.

Since the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, the role sustainable tourism can play in the elimination of poverty has been an area of intense interest.

"You can go to the world's poorest country and it has some form of tourism product that it can produce and sell. So the big challenge is to ensure that that product is retained," Lipman said.

"That they don't just have that product for this year, they have it for next year and thereafter and thereafter. And that when the tourists come, they don't destroy the very things that they came to see and experience."

Support the Annual Fistula Fundraiser

Help fund the Harrar Hamlin Fistula Center, a mini-fistula hospital in the City of Harrar in Ethiopia. Ground breaking is expected in early 2007. Already, 3 of the 5 planned mini-fistula hospitals across Ethiopia are providing services to fistula victims. When completed, the Harrar Hamlin Fistula Center will be the fourth mini-hospital to be constructed under this initiative.

The Washington DC Area TESFA INESTE Committee Presents
A Special Annual Fistula Fundraiser chaired by Liya Kebede, renowned supermodel and Goodwill Ambassador for World Health Organization, Kassy Kebede, chairman of the Fistula Foundation Board of Directors

Sunday, December 10, 2006
4:00 pm to 7 pm

Crystal Gateway Marriot
1700 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA

The program will feature guest speakers, awards to individuals who have contributed toward the betterment of women's health, a short film and entertainment.

Invited Guests:
Congressman Michael Honda
Congreswoman Carolyn Maloney
Congressman Christopher Smith

Guest Speakers:
Dr. Marcella Roenneburg
Dr. Lekidelu Taddesse-Heath
Ms. Mary Calvert
Ms. Detsy Pisik
Ms. Yahsera Markos

Awardees:
Dr. Bogalech Gebre
Dr. Marcella Roenneburg
Ms. Meseret Defar
Ms. Lisa Russell

Individual ticket: $30
Sponsor: $1,000 (10 seats, plus ad and recognition in program book, etc.)

For more information:
email to tesfaineste_dc@fistulafoundation.org
visit: www.fistulafoundation.org/tesfa

Teddy Afro Arrested, Released on Bail

Ethiopian Review -- Police arrested popular singer Teddy Afro on Friday in Addis Ababa accusing him of hitting some body with his car and running away from the scene of the accident. By the time he appeared in court the next day, the police could not find any body who was hit, according to family sources. The judge released Teddy on bail until the police can complete their investigation.

Reportedly, while Teddy was driving in Addis Ababa on Thursday, a car jumped in front of him. He swerved to avoid accident and ran into a pile of dirt and stones, damaging his car. The area where the incident occurred was a construction site. Teddy then called his friends while waiting inside his car. A few minutes later, his friends arrived and took him home. The next day, the police went to his house and arrested him for hit-and-run.

The facts surrounding the incident are fueling speculations that there seems to be a foul play by the police.

Teddy is one of the most hated musicians by the Meles regime. Meles and his TPLF cadres had attempted to silence him in the past through various intimidation tactics. Last January, they forced him to cancel his concert at the Addis Ababa Sheraton.

Teddy's arrest last Friday almost caused a riot in Addis Ababa as thousands of his supporters started to gather around the police station (Kerchele) where he was detained. The police gave assurances to the crowed that Teddy will not be harmed, but most stayed over night until he went to the court in the morning.

Teddy is asked to appear in court next week.

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Native Vegetables Could Help Solve Africa's Food Crisis

Photo Courtesy: amaranth.twoday.net

Kansas City infoZine News -- Powerful tools for tackling many basic problems in sub-Saharan Africa -- namely hunger, malnutrition, and rural poverty -- could literally spring from the ground. The region is home to hundreds of indigenous vegetables that have fed Africans for tens of thousands of years. Most of these plants are resilient enough to thrive in poor soil and well-suited to the small plots and limited resources of village families. These species, however, receive little or no attention from the research community. Greater effort to explore the potential of such vegetables could lead to enhanced agricultural productivity, more-stable food supplies, and higher incomes in rural areas across the continent, says a new report from the National Research Council.

The report examines the promise of 18 African vegetables to help feed the continent's growing population and spur sustainable development. These native vegetables - including amaranth, cowpea, and egusi - are still cherished in many parts of Africa, and even attract some research interest, but they are typically overlooked by scientists and policymakers in the world at large. In the past, these local plants may have been judged less valuable than the well-known vegetables introduced to Africa from other parts of the world. But because few indigenous vegetables have been studied extensively, information about them is often outdated, difficult to find, or largely anecdotal. Despite this neglect, they are not without merit, the report emphasizes.

While rates of chronic hunger have slowly declined in sub-Saharan Africa, about one-third of the region's population lacks the food necessary to meet daily requirements. Roughly the same proportion of children is malnourished, and the number of poor people continues to rise. With more support from the scientific establishment and promotion in public policy circles, native vegetables could quickly make larger socio-economic contributions to many African nations, helping to tackle such problems, the report says. Greater development of these plants would be a boon to women in particular, who make up a large share of rural farmers.

Amaranth. These are among the most widely eaten boiled greens throughout Africa's humid lowlands. Their protein quality is exceptional, and the leaves provide vitamin C and dietary minerals, especially iron and calcium. They are easy to produce and grow so fast that the first harvest can sometimes be gathered three weeks after planting.

Bambara bean. Capable of growing in very hot, dry climates, this legume produces seeds that are typically boiled, roasted, or fried, then ground and blended into many traditional dishes. The seeds are roughly 60 percent carbohydrate, 20 percent protein, and 7 percent oil. The nutritional balance is so good that some consumers claim they could live on the seeds alone, the report says.

Baobab. This tree's leaves, which provide protein, vitamins, and minerals, are sometimes steamed and eaten as a side dish. More often, they are cooked in soups, stews, sauces, and relishes. Baobab produces throughout the rainy season, and its surplus harvest can be dried. Baobab fruit will be covered in a forthcoming Research Council report on African fruits.

Celosia. This self-reliant plant is simple to grow, and the fresh young leaves, stems, and flower spikes are used to make a nutritious soup common in West Africa.

Cowpea. An estimated 200 million people live off this plant, consuming the seeds daily when they are available. Yet cowpea is still far from reaching its potential. Cowpea seeds are rich in protein and digestible carbohydrate, and the plant can thrive in extremely dry areas.

Dika. This tree's fruit is popular in some areas, but the seeds are its major resource. These so-called "dika nuts," similar to cashews, can be eaten raw or roasted. Most are ground and combined with spices to form the key ingredient in "ogbono soup," a popular dish in West and Central Africa. The kernel meal is high in oil and protein, and the fruit has more vitamin C than pineapples or oranges. Dika grows in evergreen forests and adapts well to hot and humid climates.

Eggplant (Garden Egg). Like its better-known Asian cousin, the African species provides a brightly colored, egg-shaped fruit. It is high-yielding, easy to grow, and simple to harvest and handle. The fruit has a storage life of up to three months.

Egusi. This melonlike crop is grown for its large seeds, which are a component of many West African meals. When ground, the seeds are used to thicken stews or form meatless patties. They are also roasted and made into a spread. High in oil and protein, the seed also contains notable amounts of minerals and vitamins, especially thiamin and niacin, and can supply food year-round. In addition, the crop can thrive in dry, challenging climates where malnutrition among infants is rampant. Egusi is popular in tropical markets and even sold worldwide over the Internet.

Enset. An estimated 10 million people consume this treelike herb, which is a staple in Ethiopia's densely populated highlands yet essentially unknown elsewhere. Every part of the plant is useful.

Lablab. It is relatively unknown in present-day African diets, but the seeds are a good source of energy. The leaves are rich in protein and iron. Lablab is also useful for suppressing weeds.

Locust bean. This tree legume, a concentrated and balanced food source, can grow more than 20 meters tall, or about 66 feet. Its pods contain seeds as well as a sugary pulp. The seeds are commonly fermented into "dawadawa," a cheesy solid that is rich in protein, vitamins, and energy. The seeds mature in the dry season, traditionally the "hungry time." This single species provides possible answers to Africa's twin needs for food and tree cover, the report says.

Long bean. A form of cowpea, this legume is pencil-thin and grows up to 1 meter long, or about 3 feet. Long bean plants thrive in hot, humid climates and can quickly produce a lot of food in small spaces. Already popular in parts of Asia, they are eaten like green beans.

Marama. Above ground, this plant produces seeds that rival peanuts and soybeans in nutritive quality. Below ground, it produces a high-protein tuber that is larger than sugar beets and more nutritious than potatoes or yams. Because marama is a wild plant of the southern African deserts and may prove impossible to produce in large quantities there or elsewhere, cautious horticultural research and nutritional testing are warranted, the report says.

Moringa. This rugged, resilient tree provides at least four edibles: pods, leaves, seeds, and roots. It also furnishes many of the raw ingredients for products that make village life more self-sufficient, such as lamp oil, wood, paper, and liquid fuel. The green pods taste similar to asparagus and provide essential amino acids, minerals, and vitamins A, B, and C. People in various countries boil the tiny leaflets and eat them like spinach. The seeds can also help purify water, the report adds.

Native potatoes. These vegetables are smaller than modern commercial potatoes but contain about twice the protein. A standard serving also provides a large percentage of the daily requirements for calcium and vitamin A, as well as more than the recommended daily allowance of iron. The plants are high-yielding and resilient.

Okra. Robust, fast-growing, and high-yielding, okra seldom succumbs to pests and diseases. It adapts to many difficult climates and provides three food products: pods, leaves, and seeds - all of which have dietary value.

Shea. The egg-shaped nut of shea trees produces a solid vegetable fat used to enhance the taste, texture, and digestibility of regional dishes. Many Africans also use it for skin care, and the product has gone global as an ingredient in some cosmetics.

Yambeana. The seeds of the yambean are about one-quarter protein and have levels of essential amino acids that could equal those of soybeans. The plant's tubers have more than twice the protein of sweet potatoes, yams, or potatoes, and more than 10 times that of cassava. The African yambean grows easily and is well-suited to the tropics. It could potentially benefit millions of malnourished people, the report says. Furthermore, preliminary evidence shows that it could be effectively used for rotating crops and binding soil, as well as for ground cover.

A companion report planned for release this winter will detail the promise of Africa's native fruits, including butter fruit, custard apples, and marula. These two reports will form the second and third volumes of a series.

Funding for the project was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development's Bureau for Africa, with additional support from their Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the National Academies. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. A committee roster follows.

Copies of Lost Crops of Africa, Volume II: Vegetables will be available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at www.nap.edu.

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