Ethiopian flags are everywhere today.Not just in the usual places like government buidings.They are literally everywhere.They can be seen on cars, clothes, glassware.
It is a National Flag Day proposed by the government. People in Addis seem to be amused by the government’s new-found patriotism.They have no problem embracing it but still suspicious about the real motives.
Two young merchants in Megenagna and Piassa offering flags for sale.
It was thought Teddy Afro would be released this morning but the court postponed the decision again.The case was adjourned until next week, July 11 due to the alleged date error in hospital document.So they need the correct version by then.
What a farce!
I’m saddened to announce that the distinguished Ethiopian historian and linguist Dr. Berhanu Abebe has passed away. He died suddenly today in Harare, Zimbabwe where he wentas the secretariat member the African Observer Mission.He was 75.
Dr. Berhanu begun his studies at the Lycée Franco-Ethiopian Guebre-Mariam school where he developed a lifelong association with the French language and culture.He left for France in the early 1960’s and did his PHD there on Showa’s land-ownership.He has worked there as an assistant professor in the l’école Nationale des Languaes Orientales.
Dr. Berhanu was very close to Emperor Haile Selassie and was director of the Haile Selassie I Prize Trust.He was also the first member of the Ethiopian languages Academy and has served as professor of history at the Addis Ababa University.
Dr. Berhanu is the author of a number of highly valued books, including his last one¨ Ethiopian History from Axum to the Revolution¨, which was written in French.He has been a cultural ambassador between Ethiopia and France and the French-Amharic dictionary that he has prepared with Ethiopian and French lexicographers is one of the most comprehensive and trusted works.
Elegant and a brilliant orator, Dr. Berhanu will be remembered for his outstanding contributions to Ethiopian history, for his lively and impassioned teaching and bringing the French and Ethiopian cultures together.He is survived by his wife and two children.
His body is expected to arrive in Addis tomorrow with his funeral to follow the next day.
Related -Zimbabwe’s Herald
Addis Ababa University is in the news again…This time for the loss of money.
An incident involving a cash robbery has become another fodder for gossip. The theft has occurred in Business and Economic Faculty’s fianance office on June 20.Ethiopicalink reported that the money amounting to 147,455 Birr was taken from a van during the night after thieves forced open a door.Two or three people might have been involved in carrying out the raid.
The theft was reported to local and campus law enforcement forces and guards who were on duty that night had been interviewed as part of the police probe.The Gulele Sub-City Police station is currently investigating the matter.No arrest have been made.
The loss of such amount of money is a massive shame to the heavily guarded university.
It would have drawn a big crowd.But a government ministry found it distasteful, or sort of.
The Amharic Reporter this morningn reported that the controversial exhibition in Addis featuring nude photos has been cancelled.
The exhibition, featuring the photographs of 50 nude girls taken by Binyam Mengesha, was due to open Friday at Dembel City Center’s Abesha Art Gallery.
The gallery is privately owned but permit is required from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.But the Ministry refused to grant the permit saying that the works violate the society’s norms and culture.A claim the photographer doesn’t agree with.” They are works of art that showcase our culture and beauty.Such artistic works should be encouraged, not banned.” he was quoted as saying.
Democracy and the Social Question III
A series of lectures in the Acadamic Year 2007/08
After the storm:
How to Assess the Setback in Kenya’s Democratisation Process?
By Cyprian Orina-Nyamamu
cheif executive of National Convention (NCEC), Kenya
Moderated by Leulseged Tadesse, Forum for Federalism and Democracy
Tuesday, 24 June 2008, at 6 p.m
GOETHE-INSTITUT Gebrekirstos Desta Center Addis Abeba
According to allAfrica.com, the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation will lead hundreds of U.S. based delegates to Arusha, for its 8th Summit scheduled from the 2nd to the 6th of June. Distinguished personalities in the world’s entertainment industry will be parading Arusha.
Ethiopian Airlines has been named the official carrier for the Sullivan Summit. The company will use two Boeing 767 jets to transport the delegates to Tanzania.
It has been a great week for different sorts of juicy news. An Addis businessman reaped 100,000 Birr from a friend in a bet after Manchester United won Chelsea in the champions League final last Wednesday. But he gave it all and ten thousands Birr more to fellow supporters.
Betting on sporting events, especially the Premier League, has become common around here but this must have been one of the most unusual winning football bets.
According to Ethiopicalink, an FM gossip show, Samuel Tafesse, owner of Sunshine Construction, made a bet with a friend predicting Manchester’s win over Chelsea.
The 50- year- old man who watched the game at his lavish house on outdoor screen with numerous musician friends overjoyed when the match ended like the way he predicted it too. Among the celebrities who were at the rich man’s residence to watch the game were Niway Debebe, Haileye Tadesse , Serawit Fikire, and Tadele Roba.
To celebrate his windfall, the ecstatic Manchester United fun gave 10,000 Birr to each of eleven celebrities who were on his side while watching the game, handing out ten thousand more than he grabbed.
In another news, Niway Debebe, who is back home after 16 years of stay abroad, found himself in an uncomfortable position after a newspaper reported about “his apology” to the government.
In an interview with Addis Admass last Saturday, he hits back at the claims.” I haven’t done anything wrong and I have nothing to apologize for,’ he said.
His statements follow claims in the Awra Amba Times, an influential Amharic weekly, that he returned to Ethiopia after apologizing secretly to the government seeking pardons.
Niway in the past has been an outspoken critic of the Meles government but has gone soft since he came back home.
Here is a story that I translated from last Saturday edition’s Addis Admas with a haunting tale of a mother who had to go through terrible ordeal at the hands of uncaring medical staff in different government hospitals while trying to give birth. What happened to this woman and to many others in Ethiopia is a terrible reality. Here it goes.
Chuchu looked young but had already two children of her own. She was expecting her third child. Even though the due date had passed, she wasn’t overly worried. Her return visit to hospital was on April 28, day after the Ethiopian Easter. Chuchu and her husband had a wonderful Easter celebration and they had dinner at a neighbor’s house. But around 8:15 after they got back home, Chuchu began to suffer stomach cramps, which got sharper with each passing minutes. She was rushed to Yekatit 12 hospital. When she reached there mucous flew out of her body, which the attendant took an unhealthy sign. He told her she might need Caesarean section but he said there wasn’t any doctor who would perform it. So he could only provide her referral to Gandhi hospital, where such an operation was possible. (more…)
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