[Pol.ethiopia] News Items

[Political Ethiopia]

March 31, 2005

Benshangul-Gumuz State launches five-year food
security strategy

By Dagne Biazen
ADDIS ABABA – The Benshangul Gumuz State yesterday
launched a five-year food security strategy whose
formulation has taken 18 months.  The strategy, which
will run until 2010, was launched at a one-day donor
conference: “Food Security for Poverty Alleviation,”
held at the Addis Ababa Hilton.

A total of 280,061,635 birr is required to implement
the programme of which, the government would cover
81,217,874.15 birr and the remaining 170,837,597.35
birr by donor and NGO sources.

Opening the conference, President Girma Wolde-Giorgis
said: “The strategy that lies before us will provide
the necessary framework and guiding principles for how
best to go about fulfilling the potentials of the
state.”

The President also said that Benshangul-Gumuz is
generally well endowed by nature and has, in most
parts, a lush natural cover, good water resources,
cultivable land, and relatively low density of
population compared to many parts of the country.

But we have to look closer at the complex causes of
poverty and food insecurity, the president said, and
needs to be an integrated phase and comprehensive
intervention, Abay added.

“The key success factors are ownership of the
programme by the people and the state, making use of
the available labour force and natural resources and
building up the all-round capacity of the state and
the people to implement, own as well as benefit from
the programme,” he said.

Abay also appealed to all donors to pledge generously
in the spirit of partnership to implement the
programme.

The food security strategy will address agriculture,
livestock, environment and natural resource
management, gender, socio-demography and capacity
building, among others.

Due to lack of internal capacity and funding, the
state had not developed its own food security
programme in the past.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
funded the strategic plan.

Over 80 participants drawn from NGOs, donors, federal
and Benshangul-Gumuz State Government attended the
day-long conference.

 
April 1, 2005

Meles holds talk with U.S. delegation


ADDIS ABABA (ENA) – Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held
talks here yesterday with a U.S. delegation of a
member of Congress and two senators.

Member of Army Services Committee, Senator James M.
Inhote, told journalists following the talks that the
discussion centered on national and regional issues of
interest.

Ethiopia and the U.S. have a very close relations,
Senator Inhote said.  The U.S. Government also sees
Ethiopia’s HIV/AIDS prevention efforts as a model, he
said.

The U.S. is ready to provide every support to the
efforts of the African Union to establish an African
Stand by force, he added.

The objective of the delegation’s visit is to consult
with officials on ways of promoting the U.S.
Government’s AIDS initiative for Africa in Ethiopia.

The delegation would also hold discussions on how the
U.S. Government provides support to the planned
regional brigades of the African Standby force,
especially the East African one, an official with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs who attended the meeting
said.

The delegation is scheduled to hold talks with AU
officials about the Stand-by brigades to be
established in North, East Southern, Central and West
Africa.

Senator Inhote’s grand daughter is foster mother to an
Ethiopian child.  Senator Inhote said his family has
thus special affiliation to Ethiopia.

PAP should concentrate on political aspects of
bringing African states together: Dawit

ADDIS ABABA (ENA) – Speaker of the House of Peoples’
Representatives Dawit Yohannes says despite the good
work that the Pan African Parliament has done, there
are serious omissions in its work plan.  The PAP’s
Draft Work Plan was presented Wednesday at the
meeting.

As Head of the Ethiopian delegation to the PAP meeting
in Midrand, South Africa, Dawit stresses that PAP
should concentrate on the political aspects of
bringing African states together, instead of being
divided.  SABC quoted Dawit as saying, “Africa does
not have the time to drag its feet in the
international arena”

Malik Hussain Hamed, a Sudanese delegate also
criticized the work plan saying there should be more
concentrated efforts on committee activities as these
“activities are the backbone of parliament”.

He stressed that these activities will have to show
how PAP is going to be a lucrative triumph for Africa
as a whole.  Hamed added that they would like to see
the possibility of synchronized abilities and finances
to inculcate this work plan.

PAP has many challenging tasks ahead of them in the
implementation of activities, following through with
tasks, and seeing concrete results.  It has been
echoed that PAP needs to be on the ground and needs to
be felt as an organization to be reckoned with, SABC
reported.

PAP has elected its fourth vice president at the
plenary session at Gallagher Estates, Midrand,
yesterday.

Theophile Nata, a candidate from Benin, was
unanimously elected by the parliament after the
untimely demise of Jerome Sacca Kina Guezere, the
previous vice president, also from Benin.

Nata received a 78 per cent yes vote from the 126
delegates attending the session.


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pol.ethiopia
April 1,2005
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