The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ADDIS ABABA

  • Bereaved families jostle rescue workers at Ethiopian landslide site

    Bereaved families tussled with rescue workers on Tuesday at the site of an Ethiopian rubbish dump where a landslide killed 65 people.

    Relatives pushed and shoved the handful of emergency workers, angrily accusing them of delays and saying dozens of people were still missing after Saturday’s disaster at the Reppi dump in the capital of Addis Ababa.

    “Nobody is helping us. We are doing all the digging ourselves. It is shameful,” Kaleab Tsegaye, a relative of one victim told Reuters.

    NAN reports that parents scrabbled through a towering pile of fetid garbage on Monday, screaming the names of children buried when a mountain of trash collapsed on makeshift homes and killed at least 65 people.

    “My babies, my babies, my little daughter,” cried one man wandering through the garbage dump in the Ethiopian capital, tears streaming down his face.

    The landslide late on Saturday destroyed 49 dwellings and left 28 people injured, city spokesman Amare Mekonen said. Residents said dozens were still missing.

    Hundreds of people live on the 50-year-old Reppi dump, the city’s only landfill site, scavenging for food and items they can sell such as recyclable metal.

    On Monday, rescuers used bulldozers to move piles of trash as hundreds of people gathered at the scene, weeping and praying. Some dug through the garbage with their hands.

    On one side of the hill, volunteers sobbed as they pulled out three corpses, including a child found on top of its mother.

    Meselu Damte said the weeping man had lost his wife and four children.

    “Their bodies were found in the morning,” she said. “There are still houses that are to be found and many of my neighbors are inside.”

    Diggers used makeshift stretchers of plastic sheets to carry corpses to a single ambulance parked nearby.

    Some volunteers expressed anger at the city administration.

    Only three ambulance workers were at the site.

    Scuffles broke out between them and residents as journalists approached.

     

  • Landslide kills 35 in Ethiopian capital

    Landslide kills 35 in Ethiopian capital

    A landslide at a huge garbage dump on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa killed 35 people who were searching for food and other goods there, an official said on Monday.

    Hundreds of people rely on the 50-year-old Reppi dump, the city’s only landfill site, to survive.

    They sift through the garbage for food, as well as items they can sell like recyclable metal.

    Local authority spokeswoman Dagmawit Moges said: “we have been scouring the site in search of victims ever since an accidental landslide occurred at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

    “The corpses of 35 victims have been recovered so far, while two others were pulled out alive.”

    She said that 28 people were injured, two seriously.

     

  • AU to help end post-poll tension in Gabon

    The African Union (AU) has reaffirmed its readiness to contribute towards the search for a solution to post-election tension in Gabon.

    Chadian President Idriss Deby, current Chairman of the Union, said on Tuesday in Addis Ababa that this move has become imperative because he has continued to follow, with renewed attention, the evolution of the situation in Gabon.

    “There must be immediate solution following the announcement on August 31 of the provisional results of the presidential election held on August 27.

    “In this regard, I have maintained a constant liaison with the Gabonese main actors, as well as with other stakeholders concerned,’’ he said.

    The Chairman of the Union reaffirmed the readiness of AU, with the support of the countries of the region and partners concerned, to assist the parties in Gabon in their search for a rapid settlement to the post-election crisis that prevailed in their country.

    He promised that the move would be in strict respect of the constitutional and legal provisions, as well as in the light of the relevant AU instruments on democracy and elections.

    Deby stressed that a high-level delegation comprised of African Heads of State, accompanied by senior officials of the AU Commission and the UN, is ready to be dispatched to Libreville, as soon as the conditions for such a visit are met.

    Local media reported that protesters took to the streets of Libreville late Wednesday after poll results showed that president Ali Bongo Ondimba narrowly won re-election in a vote the opposition said was stolen.

    Reports say demonstrators attacked the parliament building and clashed with police, leaving over 1,000 of them arrested.

     

  • Revenue leakages: FG to review its tax incentive policies

    The federal government plans to review its existing tax incentive policies further block revenue leakages.
    Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed made this disclosure on Monday at the sideline of the conference of African Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
    Ahmed said that with the current decline in oil revenue, the government had “begun strengthening our tax revenue collection agencies and processes. We are also expanding our tax base by trying to bring as many people and organisations that are in the informal sector not paying tax into the tax net.”
    She then added by that “we are also pulling back some of the waivers that we feel are absolutely unnecessary and are rather slowing down the economy and are simply a drain on our resources. We are also trying to bring in revenue that was not properly harnessed from the government owned entreprises who were before now, making money and spending it with little or no returns to the government.”
    Ahmed said the Buhari administration plans to continue to finance its subsequent budgets through non-oil sector revenue which was why it was very serious about blocking all leakages concerning tax.
    Also speaking at the event, Mr Tunde Aremu, the Head of Policy Advocacy and Campaign Manager, Actionaid Nigeria said if the government was looking at reviewing its tax policies, it should focus on tax concessions handed out to multinationals.
    He reiterated that “what Nigeria is losing through the granting of tax incentives is an average of 2.9 billion dollars every year. That is huge and unnecessary. We think it’s absurd that a country with a large population like Nigeria with purchasing power still thinks it needs to give tax incentives to attract investors.”
    Aremu cautioned that “Nigeria needs to look at its tax policies in terms of the types of provisions it has that gives concessions to multinationals and other laws guiding the granting of incentives in Nigeria. We’ve discovered that there are several agencies that play the role of granting incentives. This means we have several locations where treaties are being negotiated and signed.”
    Aremu said Nigeria needs to also revise its existing tax treaties signed with countries. He said some of these treaties have become an avenue for huge corporate bodies to evade paying taxes.
  • Addis Ababa – bound passengers stranded at Kano airport

    Addis Ababa – bound passengers stranded at Kano airport

    Numerous Ethiopia airline passengers, earlier scheduled to depart Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (*MAKIA) en- route Addis Ababa by 9am on Friday was later cancelled, compelling the passengers to be stranded.

    One of the passengers, Aminu Abubakar, lamented that the plight of the passengers was further worsened when the operators subsequently announced the rescheduling of the flight to 9am on Saturday but the fight was also eventually canceled.

    Accusing the airline operators of insensitivity to passengers’ plight, Aminu observed that many other international flights took off, while they were stiil awaiting their flight.

    However, efforts to speak with the Ethiopian airline manager failed, as he was said not to be available but a source, who simply identified himself as Abdul but declined to be exposed, explained that the cancellation was due to poor visibility, noting that the minimum visibility since yesterday was below 800 meters.

  • Photo: Osinbajo in Addis Ababa for peace talks

    Photo: Osinbajo in Addis Ababa for peace talks

    Konare, the VP and Kenya Foreign Minister Ms. Amina Mohamed
    Konare, the VP and Kenya Foreign Minister Ms. Amina Mohamed
    VP wiith Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta
    VP wiith Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta
    Vice President Osinbajo signing to witness the event
    Vice President Osinbajo signing to witness the event
    Vice president , South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit after the signing event on Monday evening in Addis Ababa
    Vice president , South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit after the signing event on Monday evening in Addis Ababa
  • Dream team VI departs for Addis Ababa

    Dream team VI departs for Addis Ababa


    The Nigerian Super Eagles, dream team VI are set to depart the country for Addis Ababa, Nigeria football governing body reports.

    This was made known on Thursday after the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) posted a tweet concerning the journey of the team.

    “Dream Team VI about to depart Abuja all the way to Addis Ababa where they would connect Pointe Noire. Send in your wishes for the team,” NFF posted.

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  • Malaria: Global leaders call for increased financing

    As global leaders gather in Addis Ababa for the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), the malaria community has outlined a vision for a malaria-free world and, in order to achieve it, called for increased investment in malaria control and elimination efforts around the world to bring an end to this costly scourge. A special side event titled Malaria Financing for a New Era: An Exceptional Case for Investment was convened by H.E. Prime Minister HailemariamDessalegn of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, as host country of the conference and Chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance. Government leaders, UN officials and development stakeholders highlighted malaria as a cost-effective investment for development and urged greater commitment to build on the unprecedented progress seen under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This call comes just months before the UN Member States plan to adopt a new set of Global Goals for Sustainable Development which calls for malaria elimination by 2030.

    H.E. Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn said, “I am now convinced more than ever before that we can achieve our ambitious goal and eliminate malaria from our continent.”

    With greater coordination and increased financing, malaria has been one of the great success stories of the MDG era, with more than 6 million deaths projected to have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children less than five years old in sub-Saharan Africa. In that period, globally there has been a 58% decline in mortality.

    Yet more than half of the world’s population remains at risk of malaria infection, representing an alarming threat to global development. The disease is still endemic in 97 countries and territories around the world. Each year, malaria costs the African continent alone an estimated minimum of US $12 billion in lost productivity, and in some high-burden countries it can account for as much as 40% of public health expenditure.

    During this special session on financing for malaria elimination, leaders also presented a new strategic vision toward malaria elimination, outlined in the World Health Organization’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030, which was previously approved by the World Health Assembly and lays out the technical strategy needed to continue driving down the burden of malaria, and the Roll Back Malaria (RBM)

    Partnership’s  Action and Investment to defeat Malaria 2016-2030 (AIM) – for a malaria-free world,  which charts the investment and collective actions needed to reach the 2030 malaria goals. Together, these complementary documents provide the technical guidance and a framework for action and investment to achieve ambitious malaria elimination targets and unlock unprecedented economic potential in communities around the world.

    “As we move toward a new set of global goals for sustainable development, we have an unprecedented opportunity to put an end to the global threat of malaria once and for all,” said Mr. Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General. “And we have the strategic vision to do so, as outlined in WHO’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership’s Action and Investment to Defeat Malaria.”

    Malaria control has long been proven to be one of the most cost-effective public health investments.  With more countries around the world shifting their focus to ambitious elimination targets for the first time in history, and new regional commitments to malaria elimination announced in the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Asia Pacific and Africa, experts estimate that the return on investment will only continue expanding. Analysis in the AIM document suggests that the global return on investment in malaria elimination by 2030 could reach a staggering 40:1, rising to an unprecedented 60:1 return on investment if malaria is eliminated in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

    “Investing in malaria is one of the best buys in global health,” said Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Financing the Health MDGs and for Malaria.  “As a businessman, I would urge every country to look at financing malaria control as an investment that will generate real returns as a key driver of growth, not as a cost.”

    During this financing for malaria event, leaders highlighted the importance of both continued financing by the international donor community and increased domestic financing by affected countries, noting the need for these to be supplemented by innovative financing mechanisms that encourage deeper participation and investment by the private sector and which could include trust funds and malaria-related bonds.

    “The next five years will be critical to get us on the right path to achieve the 2030 targets. We must close the funding gaps and double current malaria financing by 2020,” said Dr. FatoumataNafo-Traoré, Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership.  “The amount is ambitious, but the investment carries a significant return and could save over 10 million lives, avert nearly 3 billion malaria cases and unlock over US $4 trillion in additional global economic output across the 2016-2030 timeframe.”

    For the first time in history, the possibility of eliminating the scourge of malaria from the world is before us. It demands vision, courage, investment and patience over the next 15 years which would lead to faster reduction in poverty and accelerated economic development, enhanced educational attainment and vastly improved  national systems to respond effectively to health security threats.

  • African Central Bank governors meet in Addis Ababa March 29

    African Central Bank governors meet in Addis Ababa March 29

    The Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission will host the second Caucus of African Central Bank Governors, in Addis Ababa in the margins of the eighth Joint Annual Meetings of the AU Specialised Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. The Conference will be held on the theme, Implementing Agenda 2063 – Planning, Mobilising and Financing for Development. The meeting will take place on 29 March at the UN Conference Centre.

    The main objectives of the Caucus are to identify concrete follow-up measures to the outcomes of the first Caucus, which was held in Abuja in 2014. They will also look into measures to enhance the role of governors of central banks in the consultations leading up to the Third International Conference on for central banks in Africa.

    The Caucus, which brings together the governors of central banks of a number of African countries, will provide a unique opportunity for governors to engage in structured dialogue on the issues that they would like to see reflected in the outcome document. An action plan will be developed, outlining a road map for the implementation of the proposals of the first Caucus that was held Financing for Development, which will take place in July 2015 whose outcomes are expected to have direct implications in Abuja.

  • Co-pilot hijacks Ethiopian plane

    Co-pilot hijacks Ethiopian plane

    •Requests asylum in Geneva

    The co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet en route to Rome from Ethiopia seized control of the Boeing 767-300 early yesterday and flew it to Geneva, where he asked for asylum, a spokesman for the Geneva police said.

    The plane landed safely, and none of the 202 passengers and crew members on Flight ET-702, which originated in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, was injured, the police spokesman, Eric Grandjean, said. “Everybody was safe from beginning to end — no problem,” he added. Other officials said passengers were unaware of the hijacking until the plane landed in Switzerland.

    The plane was in Italian airspace when the co-pilot, an Ethiopian national who was not immediately identified, took the controls after the pilot left the cockpit to use the restroom. After locking the cockpit door, he initially told Italian air controllers that he needed fuel, but then activated a transponder to signal that the plane was being hijacked, Grandjean said. Italian fighter jets were scrambled, and they escorted the aircraft out of Italian airspace.

    The plane landed in Geneva at 6:02 a.m. and continued to a taxiway, where the co-pilot turned off the engines, opened the cockpit window and lowered himself to the tarmac with a rope, officials said. He then ran toward security officers and identified himself as the hijacker, declared that he was in danger in Ethiopia and requested asylum, the officials added.

    A Geneva prosecutor, Olivier Jornot, said the co-pilot would be charged with taking hostages, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, The Associated Press reported. He added that the man’s chances of winning asylum were slim. “Technically, there is no connection between asylum and the fact he committed a crime to come here,” he said, according to The A.P. “But I think his chances are not very high.”

    Ethiopian Airlines, in a statement published on its website, confirmed that all passengers aboard the flight were safe, and said it was making immediate arrangements for them to continue to their destinations.

     

    The airport was closed briefly, but normal operations were resuming quickly.

    Hijackings of civilian aircraft by crew members are relatively rare. In one such case, in 1986, Wang Xijue, a pilot for China Airlines of Taiwan, overpowered his two co-pilots on a cargo flight en route to Bangkok from Taipei. Mr. Wang then diverted the plane, which was not carrying passengers, to Guangzhou, in mainland China, where he defected.

    Decades earlier, in 1953, Mira Slovak, a pilot for Czechoslovak Airlines, locked his co-pilot out of the cockpit shortly after takeoff of a flight to Brno from Prague carrying 25 passengers. Mr. Slovak changed course for Germany, where he landed the plane safely in Frankfurt and requested political asylum. Mr. Slovak, now 84, eventually made his way to the United States, where he became a celebrated speedboat racer and a pilot for Continental Airlines.

    In 1993, Carlos Cancio Porcel, a pilot for Aero Caribbean, a Cuban state-owned airline, ferried 48 family members and friends — as well as an unsuspecting co-pilot and cabin crew — to Miami, in a twin-engine turboprop, where all but four people aboard sought asylum in the United States.

    There have also been cases of hijackings by airport employees. In 2000, a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to London from Jiddah was hijacked by two airport guards, both Saudi citizens, who forced the pilots to divert the plane to Baghdad.