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Fekadu Petros, 24, moved to Addis Abeba from his native Wolayta, 390km south of the capital following the death of his father, who was survived by seven children and his wife. The short and skinny young man has worked in the city for the past four years, sending whatever money he can save to his mother and siblings.He is attached to a scrap metal store in Menallesh Terra, Merkato, which pays him 250 Br a month. But, he also carries stuff for a lot of people visiting Merkato to do their shopping. On good days he can make as much as 60 Br from these people, he says.The money may seem significant, but living on a day-to-day basis, people like Fekadu hardly think of their incomes on a monthly basis. They pay 10 Br just for a sleeping space on a mat. For 300 Br a month, they could get a better place, but they do not have enough money at any given to pay for it upfront. They live on a daily basis.A proper meal costs about 15 Br in that part of Merkato. Many of these people, including day labourers, shoeshine boys, snack vendors, and beggars, eat gursha, handfuls of restaurant leftovers served from plastic bags.Gursha, under normal circumstances, is a small roll of enjera and stew that one person puts into the mouth of another as an act of intimacy or hospitality, a tradition in Ethiopia. Sometimes the roll of food may be somewhat big with some of it falling into the palm of the person who is being fed, who keeps his hand just under his mouth expecting some spill over.

Al-Shabab said its forces were surrounding the town after making what it called a planned withdrawal.Eyewitnesses said armoured vehicles and heavy artillery were used in the attack, which Ethiopia said was made at the request of the Somali government.Somalia’s prime minister meanwhile announced an operation “to liberate the tyranny of… al-Shabab from Somalia”.”Early this morning, the Somali National Army recaptured some al-Shabab-occupied territories engaging the enemies in Hiiraan and other regions of the country,” said Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, head of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG)

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) — The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Export-Import Bank of China for a $300 million credit facility, Ethiopia’s state- owned lender said.“The amount is to be used by the CBE whenever it needs it in the future,” Chief Business Development Officer Yishak Mengesha said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday.The terms of the loan and interest rate will be negotiated later, he said. The money will help fund projects as part of the country’s five-year growth plan, according to Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa-based Foreign Ministry.The Horn of Africa nation plans to invest about $33 billion in industry and infrastructure by mid-2015. Projects include 10 sugar factories and a $4.8 billion hydropower plant on the Blue Nile river. The loan takes EXIM Bank’s lending to Ethiopia to more than $1.8 billion, according to the Foreign Ministry.The Chinese bank also plans to lend the government 1.7 billion birr ($98 million) for water-supply projects for the capital, Addis Ababa, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement on Dec. 9.–Editors: Gordon Bell, Alastair Ree To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net

.   Ark contains Ten Commandments God ‘gave’ to Moses on Mount Sinai

አንድነት ለዴሞክራሲና ለፍትህ ፓርቲ ባካሄደዉ ሁለተኛዉ መደበኛ ጠቅላላ ጉባኤ ዶክተር ነጋሦ ጊዳዳን በሊቀመንበርነት መረጠ። ዶክተር ነጋሦ ከዶክተር ንጋት አስፋዉና ከአቶ ዘለቀ ረዲ ጋር ተወዳድረዉ በ197 ድምጽ ብልጫ እንዳሸነፉ በፓርቲዉ ጉባኤ ላይ ተገልጿል።
ዶክተር ነጋሦ ጊዳዳ ቃለ መሃላ ከፈጸሙ ባሁዋላ ባደረጉት አጭር ንግግር፣ ድርጅታቸዉ ላይ የተጋረጡ ያሏቸውን አበይት ነጥቦች አንስተዋል። አንድነት ለዴሞክራሲና ለፍትህ ፓርቲ በአደረጃጀት፣ በሰዉ ኃይልና በገንዘብ ደካማ መሆኑን ጠቁመዉ እንዲጠናከርም ተግተዉ ለመሥራት ቃል ገብተዋል።መንግስት የፓርቲያቸዉ አመራር አባላት የሆኑ ንጹሐን ዜጎችን በአሸባሪነት ሽፋን ወንጅሎ ሰላማዊ እንቅስቃሴ ለማፈን እያደረገ ነው፤ ያሉትን ሩጫ እንደሚቃወሙ ገልጸዉ፤ ያሠራቸዉን የአመራር አባላት በፍጥነት እንዲፈታ ጠይቀዋል።ኢህአዴግ የፖለቲካ ምህዳሩን መቆጣጠሩን ከቀጠለና በአገሪቱ ፓለቲካ ተቃዋሚዎችን ካላሳተፈ ሕዝቡ መብቱን ለማስከበር መነሳቱ አይቀርም ብለዋል ዶክተር ነጋሦ። ፓርቲያቸዉ አንድነት ከሌሎች «ሃቀኛ፤» ተቃዋሚ ከሚላቸዉ ድርጅቶች ጋር ያከናዉናቸዉ ተግባራት አኩሪ መሆናቸዉን ተናግረዉ፣ በፖለቲካ ኢኮኖሚያዊና ማህበራዊ ችግሮች መፍትሔ ዙሪያ ከእነዚህ ድርጅቶች ጋር መሥራት እንደሚቀጥል ቃል አመልክተዋል።

Addis Ababa, December 6 (WIC) – The Security Council on Monday December 5, 2011 placed additional sanctions on Eritrea for continuing to provide support to armed groups seeking to destabilize Somalia and other parts of the Horn of Africa, building on the arms and travel embargoes it imposed exactly two years ago.The new measures are contained in a resolution which received the support of 13 of the Council’s 15 members. China and Russia abstained. It follows an earlier meeting yesterday at which the Council heard a briefing from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

Africa AIDS Conference Opens in Ethiopia

An international conference on AIDS in Africa opens in Addis Ababa with an address by former U.S. president George W. Bush. He is being honored for his role in creating PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, the largest ever health initiative dedicated to fighting a disease.Former president Bush received a hero’s welcome Sunday during a brief stopover in Ethiopia. Amnesty International may be calling for his arrest, but in Ethiopia and many other AIDS afflicted developing countries, Mr. Bush is remembered for PEPFAR, which has pumped $39 billion into bilateral programs to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.Bush, his wife Laura Bush and daughters Jenna and Barbara visited St Paul’s Hospital and Medical College in Addis Ababa, where mothers living with HIV told how PEPFAR-funded programs had helped them deliver healthy babies.The famous human rights organization Amnesty International has asked the government of Ethiopia to arrest the former US President George W Bush for torturing prisoners in Guantanamo Bay after the Iraq War begun.

The UN Security Council on Friday refused to delay a vote next week on taking sanctions against Eritrea so the isolated country’s head of state can make his case, diplomats said.The vote is set for Monday but President Issaias Afeworki does not have enough time to get to New York, according to the UN envoy for the impoverished nation, which is accused of plotting an attack on an African Union summit this year.Several Security Council members, including Russia, China and South Africa, argued in informal talks for the vote to be delayed for two days, diplomats said. But the 15-member body stuck to the schedule demanded by the United States and Gabon, which drew up the resolution.”It is going to be Monday,” said Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin after the talks, but he said the details of who would be present are not clear. Some East African ministers are expected to address the meeting by video-link.Afeworki asked in October to speak to the Security Council which sent an invitation this week.Eritrea’s UN ambassador Araya Desta told AFP that Afeworki wanted to attend but did not get a visa to enter the United States on time to organize a flight.However US officials said visas were granted within hours of the application being made. Diplomats said Afeworki still had three days to get to the UN headquarters.