An Ethiopian shopkeeper in South Africa shot to death by robbers

Durban, SOUTH AFRICA (IOL) - Foreign shopkeepers in Cato Crest are in the grip of fear after an Ethiopian trader was killed last week and another survived a shooting at the weekend.

The brother of a 32-year-old Ethiopian who died after he was shot twice blamed locals for doing nothing to help Dessta Bejego when he was attacked.

Bejego, originally from Hossana village in Ethopia, was murdered outside his brother, Helana Weldo’s, tuckshop on Thursday morning.

He was shot through the jaw and chest.

Weldo, 33, who also has tuck-shops at Amatikwe in Inanda, said yesterday: “My brother was killed by three boys in full view of the people in broad daylight.

“What amazes us is that his money - R2 270 in cash - was not taken. Only the bag containing (cellphone) airtime and cigarettes was stolen.”

He said his brother’s body had been flown to Ethiopia and he was expected to be buried on Tuesday.

“The Ethiopian community living in Durban contributed to the expenses,” Weldo said.

The killing took place in Ward 101 about 50m from the Cato Crest community hall.

On Saturday, an Ethiopian shopkeeper was attacked at his tuckshop in the same area. The door to the shipping container was locked and his three attackers shouted at him to open up.

The shopkeeper, whose name could not be established on Sunday, survived by hiding under a counter when his three attackers opened fire on the container, police said.

Police have confirmed both incidents. The suspects are known in the area.

Police are following several leads and hope to make an arrest in the coming days.

Constable Bongani Mokoena, of Cato Manor police station, brushed off claims of xenophobia.

“Foreigners doing business in the area have become soft targets for criminals,” he said.

“The community is scared to identify them to police. But we can say arrests would be made before the end of the week.”

He said the same gang was believed to have been behind both the attacks.

The chairman of the Ethiopian Community Association in South Africa, Pamiru Woubet, who is based in Gauteng, said yesterday that Ethiopians enjoyed good relations with locals.

“We cannot say in general that this is a xenophobic attack. Our view is that criminals see us as soft targets,” he said.

“We know that there is a high level of unemployment, which drives people to do crime.

“Maybe if the government can address these issues, there would be less crime.”

Somali Ismail Mohamed, 30, who rents a shop in the area where the attacks took place, spoke of his fear after the shootings.

“I am scared it could happen to us as well,” he said.

“We get along very well with customers, but also have frosty relations with local shop owners, who do not approve of us doing business here.

“They held countless secret meetings last year, discussing ways of getting rid of us,” said Mohamed, who is from Kisimayo village in Somalia.

He appealed to the police to protect foreign business owners from criminals.

“We need help. This is our daily bread,” he said.

Ethiopia expected to join WTO in 2015: ministry

The World Trade Organization WTO logo is seen at the entrance of the WTO headquarters in Geneva April 9, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Ruben Sprich

By Aaron Maasho

 

(Reuters) - Ethiopia expects to join the World Trade Organization in 2015 without heeding to demands that it liberalizes its state-run banking and telecoms sectors, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The Horn of Africa nation applied to join the body in 2003, but its hopes for membership had hinged on Addis Ababa opening those areas to international competition.
U.S. officials have publicly asked the country to liberalize both sectors, but Ethiopia says they are "sensitive areas" whose liberalization may harm national interests.
Its chances, however, were given a lifeline last year when the WTO lowered the bar for the world's least developed countries to join the global trading club by agreeing new membership standards.
The new rules allow members to open fewer sectors, liberalize fewer types of transactions, and only open up their markets as their economies develop.
"Ethiopia's accession to the WTO is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2015," a Foreign Ministry statement said, quoting Lesanework Zerfu, head of the Trade Ministry's multilateral trade relations department.
Addis Ababa, with its strongly state-interventionist policies, has one of the world's fastest-growing economies. The government expects growth of 10 percent in the fiscal year ending next month, boosted by rising agricultural output and huge public spending.
Industry, however, accounts for only about 10 percent of gross domestic product, while major sectors of the economy such as banking and telecoms remain in state hands.
With an 85 million-strong population - making it Africa's second-most populous - Ethiopia offers an attractive market with cheap labor for foreign investors.
Speaking at a business forum in the Ethiopian capital last month, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said the telecom sector generated around 6 billion birr ($321 million) a year, which the government uses for railway projects.
Ethiopia plans to build 5,000 km of railway lines by 2020.
"Therefore, the telecoms sector will remain in government hands for years to come," Hailemariam said.
(Editing by James Macharia)

Ethiopia's sesame seed trade with China – a partnership of equals?

Ethiopia uses sesame seeds to repay loans on Chinese-built infrastructure. But what are the long-term benefits to farmers?

Eastern promise … the Chinese-built African Union building is a visible symbol of Ethiopia-China relations. Photograph: Jacoline Prinsloo/GCIS/EPA

It seems unlikely that many Ethiopian farmers sat down and thought about what Chinese consumers want to eat for breakfast before planting their crops. Yet a surge in the eastward export of sesame seed over the past decade has created an unexpected interdependency between the two countries.

In less than a decade, Ethiopia has jumped from being a minor producer of sesame (38,000 tonnes in 2002, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation) to the largest producer in Africa and fourth largest in the world (320,000 tonnes in 2011, according to the most recent data available). During the same period, China has switched from being a net exporter to a net importer, providing the main destination for Ethiopia's sesame seeds.

Sesame seeds perhaps rank among the lesser known of China's growing food imports, lacking the headline-grabbing attention of Brazilian soyabeans. Black sesame paste, eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner, is a popular snack among many southern Chinese people. It is made by mixing roast and ground sesame seeds with sesame oil; a sweeter version can be made by adding sugar or honey. Its use as a popular baking ingredient aside, sesame seed can be used as an oil or a high-protein feed for poultry.

Ethiopia has long produced sesame, but as China's economic ties with the country and elsewhere in Africa have grown, so has seed production. For Ethiopia, Chinese ties have meant an increase in Chinese manufacturing imports, and access to finance and new infrastructure. In January, the China Development Bank provided a $25m loan to finance agricultural enterprises. In May, the Export-Import Bank of China agreed to provide $3.3bn to build a railway from Ethiopia to Negad port in Djibouti.

In return, Ethiopia has effectively been using sesame seeds to repay Chinese loans. Foreign currency earned by selling sesame is passed over to the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and used to secure and repay loans provided by China, according to Deborah Bräutigam, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. The relationship is likely to have started in 2005-06 as a shortage of sesame seeds in China and a favourable tariff policy (set by China) kickstarted the rise in Ethiopian exports, which are regulated largely by the state-owned Ethiopian commodities exchange.

Bräutigam says China is unlikely to have stipulated that Ethiopia export its sesame, which is now its second most valuable export after coffee. "The 'guaranteed supply' of whatever export is already going to China is simply the mechanism for ensuring repayment of the loan," she says.

However, the growth of sesame seed production on the back of Chinese demand is such that traders expect Ethiopia to earn $2bn a year from exports of seeds, spices and pulses by 2015, according to reports.

Among Ethiopian farmers the main beneficiaries appear to be smallholders, with sesame largely grown as a cash crop on farms producing less than 400kg a year, according to Jo Wijnands, a researcher at the Agricultural Economics Research Institute.

"Production has gone up very quickly," says Wijnands, "but I don't think the huge increases have come through efficiency of production, but with much more land being given over to it. The farmers have seen good prices from the previous year, so they have expanded their area. Demand could change quickly, but I don't think it'll change much in the next five years because of demand from China."

You could argue that sesame seed farmers are generating cash for themselves, at the same time as helping to finance Ethiopia's infrastructure. However, Wijnands is sceptical about the long-term benefit of the increased trade. He says there is little evidence of improvements in agricultural techniques in smallholder sesame seed production. An Oxfam report from 2011 said more than 600,000 smallholder farmers produced sesame seeds in Ethiopia, but still faced difficulties including seed shortages, poor product quality and access to finance.

Recent news of a Chinese shoemaker promising a $2bn investment in a new manufacturing hub near Addis Ababa, the capital, is perhaps more indicative of the benefits Ethiopia hopes to reap from its closer alliance with China. As the Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, made clear in a speech during his recent visit to Beijing, his country does not want a lopsided relationship.

"Africa should not be a net exporter of primary commodities and net importer of capital goods whether from China or elsewhere … China has both the responsibility and the incentive, as it has already begun to do, to turn Africa's resource curse into a blessing that will further enhance the mutual interest of both partners."

Chairman of the Blue Party delivers a speech in Addis Ababa

Eng. Yilkal Getnet, Chairman of the Blue Party delivers a speech at the annual “Partners group” meeting in Addis Ababa American embassy compound, the meeting was organized by the U.S Embassy in Addis Ababa. Diplomats from more than 35 countries attended this year “Partners group” meeting.

Thank you Ambassador Booth for inviting me to speak here today. I am honored to be here at the U.S. Embassy.

I also want to thank all of the distinguished diplomats who are here for this meeting. I appreciate the opportunity to be here with you.

Let me say that it is a distinct honor and a special privilege for me to come before you on behalf of the Blue Party of Ethiopia to introduce our Party and share our values goals and objectives.

You might say we are the “new kids on the block” and many people in Ethiopia and abroad do not know much about our Party. That is partly because we have been in existence as a party for a very short time.

The Blue Party is very young party, by that I mean, it is a party of young Ethiopians, by young Ethiopians and for young Ethiopians. But I want to make it clear that it is also a party for all Ethiopian. As you know, the majority of Ethiopia’s population, some say up to 70 percent. Is under 35 years of age, so when we talk about the suffering. Hardship and despair of Ethiopians, we are mostly talking about the situation of the youth. Ethiopian youth today face enormous problems in their daily lives. They also experience deep anxiety everyday about their future.

Far too many of our young people carry with them not only a deep sense of hopelessness but also powerlessness. They feel they cannot change anything that affects their lives. Many of Ethiopian’s youth are denied educational opportunity which could lead to employment opportunity which in turn could lead to self-sufficiency and contribution to Ethiopia’s growth and development. Youth unemployment in Ethiopia by some estimates exceeds 40 percent there are fewer and fewer job and educational opportunities for Ethiopia’s youth as their share of the population increase’s year after year. Read more…

Political Opposition Has New Energy in Ethiopia

(VOA News) ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian opposition supporters carried out their first peaceful protest against the government in eight years last week.  The demonstration has raised hopes the ruling coalition will give political opponents more room to operate.  Three opposition leaders from the past said that no matter what happens, the opposition faces major challenges.
Thousands of Ethiopians took to the streets last week in the capital, Addis Ababa, in a demonstration against Ethiopia’s government.  It was the first time authorities had allowed such a protest since the disputed 2005 elections and was organized by the Blue Party, a relatively new party with many young active members.

Thousands of Ethiopian opposition activists demonstrate in Addis Ababa, June 2, 2013. 

Hailu Shawul is one of the opposition leaders imprisoned following post-election demonstrations in 2005 that turned violent.  He said last week’s demonstration was a huge success but he questions the long-term effect.

“I can assure you, not much will change, but it encourages us to probe the people into action,” Shawul said. “The whole point of the demonstration is for people to steam off, it’s for the government to listen and maybe change their policies, but here, this has never happened.”
Ethiopia has been ruled by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since 1991.  The four-party coalition controls virtually all of the seats in parliament, and critics have accused it of turning Ethiopia into a one-party state.
Opposition leader Asrat Tassie shared his prison days with Hailu and is still politically active as secretary-general for UDJ (Unity for Democracy and Justice), the only opposition party with a seat in parliament.  He too believes the demonstration was a big achievement.
“I hope this new spirit after 2005 will gain momentum, and hope all the others will follow.  There is no choice for the opposition parties but to keep on pressuring the government,” stated Tassie.
Beyene Petros, an opposition leader since 1991, also applauds the efforts of the Blue Party and its young members, but said there are many challenges ahead.
“It may sound like it is an easy road to ride on; they need to be seasoned.  They need to be addressing these complex Ethiopian political parties within a broader perspective, and not only narrow interests,” Petros said. “I see their likes simply pick one line of thinking and then try to harp it.  And that will not be a solution.”