Friday, March 28, 2014

Pride Versus Humility The Self-Perceived Paradoxical Identities of Ethiopian Journalists

Birhanu Olana Dirbaba

ABSTRACT

This is the first national and multilingual survey of Ethiopian journalists, resulting in, first, a comprehensive demographic profile of Ethiopian journalists; second, the overwhelming evidence of antipathy between government-employed and private-sector journalists that undermines the possibility of a collective identity or cooperative relations among Ethiopian journalists; third, the discovery of an apparent paradox between Ethiopian journalists’ pride in their country’s history as a sovereign nation and their regret at the lack of strong press traditions which is a by-product of this history and, finally, the tension that emerges in the data between Ethiopian journalists’ pride in and embarrassment about their chosen profession.

INTRODUCTION

Ethiopia is an ancient country that shows many faces to the world. It is respected variously as the cradle of humanity (homo sapiens), the birthplace of one of the world’s oldest but now defunct forms of democratic governance (the Oromo Geda System), the stronghold of African independence, and the homeland of the world’s most outstanding long-distance runners. At the same time, it attracts much more international media coverage as the land of famine, hunger, poverty, civil war, and autocratic governments.
Politically, modern Ethiopia has known three different types of governments: the imperial rule of Emperor Hailesilassie (r. 1930-1974; except for the Italian East Africa interregnum from 1936 to 1941), the Marxist military junta led by President Mengistu Hailemariam (r. 1974-1991), and the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front’s (EPRDF’s) revolutionary democratic government, led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi (r. 1991-2012), one of Africa’s longest serving leaders, who died in office in August 2012, and was replaced by Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn.
In 2012, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) had an estimated population of 92 million, making it the second most populous nation in Africa. The country is landlocked, has a predominantly agrarian economy, and regularly suffers extreme weather events such as drought and famine. The country depends on significant amounts of humanitarian and development aid from Western countries to alleviate its economic problems and food shortages. In the last decade alone, US$26 billion in aid was donated, primarily from the European Community, United States of America, and United Kingdom (Dereje, 2011).
The official language is Amharic. It is spoken by only 32.7% of the population, with another 31.9% speaking Afan Oromo, the language of the largest ethnic community of the country. In terms of religion, some 43.5% of the population are followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, another 33.9% identify as Muslims and there are smaller Protestant and Catholic congregations as well as followers of traditional beliefs (Central Statistical Agency [CSA], 2008).
Ethiopia has very limited media and communication resources. According to a recent Ethiopian Broadcast Authority report, by 2013, there were only 16 newspaper titles and 25 magazines available in the market (Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority [EBA], 2013). The country’s Telecom and Broadcast industry is under government monopoly. There are an estimated 1,400 professional journalists in the country or one journalist for every 65,000 Ethiopians. This number does not include around 200 EPRDF cadres that staff the party-owned media. The EPRDF government tightly controls both the state-run media organizations and the commercial press. These adverse conditions have dampened the professional ambitions of many dedicated and courageous Ethiopian journalists. It is a grim fact that those who take their work seriously live with the constant threat of prosecution, imprisonment, or exile. In a recent survey, Ethiopia is named among the countries most likely to imprison journalists or to force them into exile (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2011a2011bHuman Rights Watch, 2010Witchel, 2011).
Thus, despite creating a constitutional and legal framework to protect press freedom and independent journalism in the 1990s as part of the post-junta democratization process, the Meles government then proved more than willing to contravene its own media rules and stifle media commercialization in the 2000s to ensure its own political survival. The recently appointed Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn seems set to follow the same path as his predecessor (“Ethiopia’s Hailemariam,” 2012).
Read More at sgo

Waammicha Ummata Oromoo Maraaf.

Mootummaan Oromiyya Heera Ethiopia fi Mirga Oromoof maluu faalaa  hojeechaa jira.
Heeri Mootumma Ethiopia Keyati 49 lakobsa 5 irrati Finfinnen waan Oromiyya keessa jirtu fi lafa Oromoo waan tateef Tajajila fi dhiiyeesii  hunda Oromiyaa irra waan argatuuf Oromiyyan Finfinne irratii mirga qabdu fi fayida isheen argachuu qabduu kun amoo balinan seeran mirkana’af jeedha. Mirga Oromiyyan Fifinnee irrati argachuu  qabuu Qooratamee akka hojii irra oluu Oromiyya bara 2003/1995 koree tokko hundese ture, koree kana keessa wara jiran kessa Dhabba Dabalee, Ittigafatama wajjira Dargagoota  yeeros (----- ----),fi Jamal Abaso  kkf koreen ijramee hoji isaa hanga amatii hin xumuree. Finfinee keessati Aannaa hunda keessati mani barumsaa Afaan Oromoo banamee akka ijooleen Oromoo Afaan isaani baratan karorii bayee sagantan ba’’e Ittinan Mootumma Nannoo Oromiyya obbo Dagafee Bulaa bu’uura isaa ebban banani ture. Kun utuu hin xumuramin hafee, haraa afaan Oromoo Finfinnee keessa ba’ee jira.  Mirga Oromiyaan Finfinne irrati qabachuu qabdu Heera Fedrerala Ethiopian murteese TPLF hojii irra olchuu didee wagoota 23 ukamsee jira. Mirgi Oromoo Heeran keenameef kun hoji irra oluu utuu qabuu faallaa isaa tuu dalagama jira. OPDOn yaakka Oromoo irrati dalagamuu caalisee ilaalaa jira, Ergamtoon amoo Ergama TPLF kana raawachisuuf wixifacha jiru. Uumani Oromoo kana caalisuu hin qabuu, TPLF kana yoo dafee dhaabbuu yoo batee Ethiopian lafa dhiyooti Siriya ykn Libiya ta'uun ishee hin oluu.

Finfinnee lafa isaa Hanga Kara Gingoo Finfinnee marsuun ala hin darbuu ture. Siirna TPLF keesa utuma Oromiyaa dhiibbun babalifacha jiru. Amoo Seera atatama qoophesun Godiina Adda Oromiyya dhunfachuuf deemuu. Kana dura yaadi kun dhiyaatee Preezdantiin Oromiyaa Alemayo Atomsa goochaa kana waan mormeef dhabatee ture.. Alemayoon du’uun isaa sababefachuun atataman lafa Oromoo gugurachuuf ergamtoon TPLF murasii OPDO keessa folacha jiru. Namoon kun wara mirgi Oromoo Finfinnee irrati akka egamuu dirgamii kenameef ta’ee utuu jiru, garuu wara mirga Oromoo ukamsan ta’an argaman jiru. Oromoon bakka Jirtan  Dirba Kuma, Dhaabbaa Dabale fi Abdulaziz Mohamad Godina Adda Oromiyya Gurgurachuun yakkaa isaan hojeecha jiran balalefachuu qabdu. Lafi Oromoo gara Finfinneeti ciituu hin qabu jeedhe namii morma ture Alemayoo Atomsa du’ee utuu Iji isaa hin buruqiini warii isaa sumii nyachisan ajeesan lafa Oromoo gurgurachuuf deemu Miseensoon OPDO Oromoo ta'aan  kan dura dhabachuu qabuu.

Wayyanen mirga Oromoo dhiibuu, lafa Oromoo samuu fi samsisuu, Afaan Oromoo dhiibuu, Beektoota Oromoo biyya ari'achuu Daldaltoota Oromoo Ashura heeduu  akka kafalan goochun hiyoomsuu, baratoota Oromoo university keessa ari’uun akka Oromoon beekkaaa dhabuu goochuu, shamaran Oromo biyya Arabati gurgurun Oromoon akka wal hin hooree goochu, Aannoolee Oromoo murani naannoo birraf keenun Oromoo xiiqeesuu, salphisuu hôjii goodhatan jiru. Kun amoo Wayyanen of ishee kufsuuf of qoopheesuu ishee argisisa. Uumani Oromoo utuu mirgi isaa dhibamuu kana caalaa sagoo Tigire ittin batuu hin qabatuu. Oromoo TPLF of irra busuu qaba. Kun yoo ta’uu didee mootummaa mataa isaa dhabachuu qaba. Kana caalaa Nafxanya Haraa (Tigire) ykn Nafxanya moofa (Amhara) banee jirachuu hin dandeenyu.

Gaafi WFDO Paarlamaa Ethiopia keessati kassa ture keessa ini tokko Umman Oromoo Naannoo Finfinnee Siirna Menelik egale hanga haraati qabeenya isaa irra buqisun dhabachuu qaba kan jeedhu ture. Dhaabilee Oromoo tokko tokko amo dhimmi akkasi yeero ka’uu kun waan xixinoo dha kun Bilisumùmaa Oromoo dukka furmataa waan argatuuf ama wayee kana dhiphachuu dhifnee wayee Qabsoo Bilisumma qoofa irrati hojeechu qabna jeedhu. Kun siiri miti. Wayee Qabsoo Bilisumma fi dursa keenanif irrati hojeechun gariidha. Garuu gaafa Bilisumman dhufee hunda siiresina jeene yeero uumatii keenya lafa isaa irra buqa’uu fi afaan isaa fi enymaa isaa dhabamuuu caalifnee ilaalun dogogora. Kanaafu Oromoo mirga isaa waan tokko dabarsee lachuu hin qabuu. Mirga isaa waan xuqamee irrati falmachuu qaba. Ummani Oromoo (Shawa ) Nannoo Finfinne siirna Miniliki kasse hanga Haraati mootummaa dhufuu hundan lafa isaa irra buqa’uun dhabachuu qaba, Oromoo naannoo Finfinee bu’qauuf lafa isaa fi enyumaa isaa dhabuun Oromoon Ethiopia irra akka cituuf sababa ta’uu isaa hin oluu, Oromoon buqa’uu, xiiqachuu fi salphachuun dhabachuu qaba.

Dargagoon Oromoo hundi, Baratoon Oromoo, Diasporan Oromoo, dhaabileen Oromoo fi hayuuleen Oromoo hundi goocha Diribaa Kumaa, Dhaabbaa Dabbalee fi Abdulalziz Mohamad fi Naxanyoon OPDO keessa jiran lafa Oromoo gurguruuf yaalii isaan goodhan hundi atataman dhabsisun,  namoon hoji faraa Oromoo hojeetan kun akka angoo irra buqa’aan fi adabaman goochun dirama. Namoon kun maatii isaan dabalatee yaakka kanaaf akka gaafataman goochunmurtesadha.  Gummin Paarlamaa Oromoo TPLF/Nafxanyoon OPDO lafa Oromoo gurguruuf yaali isaan goodhan kara hunda dura dhaban TPLF wayee Finfinee babalisuu fi lafa Oromoo dhiibuuti yoo itti fufan waraa Ethiopian bakaa 5 gargari kukutuf deeman waliin hojeechuuf kan dirqamnuu ta’uu isaa akka beektan Mootummaa wayyanee akkekachisuu feena. Ethiopian Miigri Oromoo dhiibduu jirachuu hin qabduu.

Bilisumman Uumataa Oromoof !!!

Gummi Paarlamaa Oromoo

 27/03/2014




OPDO Elects Muktar Kedir as its president

Gobana Jama | March 28, 2014
Muktar Kedir, OPDO Presient
Muktar Kedir, OPDO Presient
Muktar was born in Jimma. He earned his first degree in Law from the Civil Service College (security) and his second degree in International Leadership from Azusa Pacific University in California in August of 2008.
Muktar joined the OPDO in the mid-1990s, and was appointed administrator of the Jimma Zone in 1999, serving in the post until 2003. Unlike, his predecessors, Muktar is not prisoner of war (POW), who formed OPDO, but awesome loyal and confidant to the late Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi. From 2008 to 2010 he served as Vice-President of the Oromia Region state and head of the office of the Ethipian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Font (EPRDF) council.
Under Meles Zenawi, Muktar enjoyed considerable influence especially after he was appointed to run the affairs of the prime minister’s office in 2010. He also joined the national security council at the time, a post that helped him to gain a great deal of knowledge and skill managing large operations that harassed millions.
Muktar is known as a politician of considerable will, and ego. He is an orator given to addressing mass meetings, and is one of few senior EPRDF figures who can communicate with the people. His biggest problem could come from OPDO where there are already two distinct factions, one supporting him, from Islamic areas and the other from largely Christian areas. Muktar was unpopular with the later faction for approving Wahabist groups to organize gatherings when he was vice minster of the Oromia region, a job with much influence in the party.
Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael, is architect of security apparatus in Ethiopia
Debretsion Gebremichael is an architect of security apparatus in Ethiopia. One can comfortably say, he is the ruler of the country after Zenawi. 
From 2012 to 2014 he was one of the country’s three deputy prime Ministers, serving with Debretsion Gebremichael and Demeke Mekonnen, considered “a loyal politician and trusted ally of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn” and he was appointed as minister for the civil service.
Now, Muktar is a personal confidant of a ruthless security chief, Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael, who is responsible for the disappearance of millions in Ethiopia. Debretsion is an architect of the security establishment in the country, inlcuding wire tapping technique, internet access limitations, depriving citizens rights, adopting torturing menus in prisons, etc. He is also reponsible for retardation of the country’s information technology growth. Ethiopia is far lower than the lawless coutnry, Somalia, when it comes to information technology growth.
Muktar will be closely watched by his boss, Dr. Debretsion, who will test him how he handles the relationship with OLF. The growing popularity of OLF, especially among youth, will consume his office. Will he negotiate or follow his predecessors’ hardline approach, who finally ended up in exile?
Muktar’s second problem is the rampant regional corruption within the Oromo communities, which was deliberately designed and created for divide and rule strategy by the TPLF. The third is the unresolved religion issues.
Observers say that Muktar will be another headless, puppet of Debretsion, who will exercise or apply his security knowledge and skill on innocent citizens. Any way time will tell whom he will be working for.

Abyssinians’ Deplorable Bigotry Remain as active as it was 50 years ago.

Before I briefly discuss why Abyssinian bigotry is wholly deplorable, let’s have critical look at the definition of bigot (individual) and bigotry (attitude, perception and action). OXFORD DEFINITION of a bigot is ‘’Intolerance towards those who hold different opinions from oneself’’, CAMBRIDGE DEFINITION, ‘’a person who has strong, unreasonable beliefs and who thinks that anyone who does not have the same beliefs is wrong’’; DICTIONARY.COM’S definition for bigot is ‘’ stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own’’. Oxford dictionaries further define Bigotry (noun); as prejudice, bias, partiality, partisanship, sectarianism, discrimination, unfairness, injustice; intolerance, narrow-mindedness, fanaticism, dogmatism; racism, racialism, sexism, chauvinism and more.   
People of Abyssinian creed have explicitly or implicitly assume that the people of subjugated nations and nationalities aren’t ready to manage their own affairs.  Therefore, they strongly believes that they have to create a kind of nanny state under which they rule, as is the case under the pretext of ethnic federalism (the current). TPLF’s key players’ remote control others from the level of locality to the federal apparatuses under these assumptions. The incumbent didn’t create this attitude within 22 years’ rule, but it’s a deep seated Abyssinian bigotry against their subjects since they invaded the lands of Oromo, Sidama, Ogadenia, Gambela, Kaffa, Shakacho and others nations and nationalities; as was the case with European colonialists.  
Such deep seated bigotry of the current regime further manifests itself in a number of ways. For instances, the regime states that it is ready to fully allow nations and nationalities to manage their own affairs as per its constitution; however, it contradicts its words by denying these rights under various justifications including subjects’ inadequacy and lack of experiences to take up the leadership roles (of course we might lack experiences of brutalising and dehumanising fellow human being). In Ethiopian military for example there are not proportionate numbers of the vast nation of Oromo whose population constitute at least 40% of the total; whereas the Tigray nation’s (less than 7% out of all population even less than Sidama 8.5%) Generals, colonels, Majors, Lieutenants and others military leadership positions are exclusively reserved for themselves, leaving only jockos’ share for the rest of Empire’s population, 93%.  Its justifications are based on deep seated bigotry that emphasises other than Abyssinian cousins, nations and nationalities aren’t prepared to manage their own affairs; therefore they must be ruled by bigots, whereas the predecessors are fighting to reclaim their lost hegemony under simpler belief.    

On Several occasions, the regime in power insists that the Sidama nation doesn’t have enough people with leadership calibre to allow the Sidama nation to be able to be regionally self-administrative. It uses similar justifications whenever its attempt to federalise their capital Hawassa, despite the fact that Hawassa’s being the first town in the Empire to show tremendous development in the past 22 years under the leadership of Sidama.
Moreover, the current TPLF’s regime never accepts that its guerrilla fighters’ once were bunches of illiterate fighters’ who have struggled to read and write; however eventually were given absolute power to rule over a highly educated Oromo, Sidama, Ogadenia nationals’ supported by a handpicked groups of short sighted cadres from respective nations and nationalities to do their heinous jobs in our lands. If one asks those who are unnecessarily elevated to power (TPLF’s illiterate guerrillas and cadres’) they unashamedly tell our people that they can’t manage their own affairs.  
Although this is the case in Oromia, Ogadenia, Gambela and Benshagul; however, it becomes worse when it comes to 56 nations and nationalities of the direction - south. The regime in power clinically exemplify these nations and nationalities as having no one to give then strategic directions; therefore they attempt to logically justify their occupation of these 56 distinct nations and nationalities. The main secret which makes them to forget about their own calibre is simply because of their deep rooted bigotry upheld by both of Abyssinians.  
For example Amahara’s news groups known as Ethsat TV/Radio operating from Diaspora discusses such bigotries officially clarifying their position on the fact that the South, Oromia and others occupied lands of the subjects aren’t ready to manage their own affairs without being lectured by the settlers. The personnel of Abyssinian Ethsat seem to be agreeing on this particular point with TPLF in addition to others key areas sharing on bigotry. Utterly failed to understand the need to see people with their individual merits, they show their ignorance by surreptitiously supporting and promoting an on-going bigotry against others under various pretexts. They don’t want to hear anything contrary to their deep seated belief.  
Finally, banning peoples’ who dare to disagree with Ethiopianists’ ideology from their circles, further show their ignorance towards those people who uphold diverging beliefs and attitudes which is normal and genuine democratic exercises. Thus, both the current and its predecessor Abyssinians’ are bigots who’ve inherently been bigots and directly promoting bigotry; the attitudes and beliefs wholly deplorable. Therefore, the sons and daughters of Nations and nationalities must reject their bigotry attitudes and continually demand for their rights until the concerned nations and nationalities can assert these to prove these backward travelling bigots wrong! 

Some policy considerations regarding the Ethiopian outmigration

By Seid Hassan and Minga Negash | March 28, 2014
In our December 19, 2013 article entitled “Explaining the Ethiopian outmigration: incentives or constrains” we alerted readers and policy makers in Ethiopia about the push, pull and mediating factors of outmigration in general and outlined the factors as they relate to Ethiopia. In this short article we aim to discuss further the incompatibility between macroeconomic growth and outmigration and close the piece by outlining potential mitigation strategies.
By the end of 2013 and early 2014 the world witnessed yet another shame of Ethiopians. Voices of men, women and children in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Libya, Southern Europe and Southern Africa are instantly being transmitted across the globe through the use of advanced information technology. Saudi Arabia alone deported at least 165,000 Ethiopians within the span of few weeks. Demonstrations were held in Kuwait and Israel against African immigrants. The European Union has erected various forms of fences against immigrants from Africa. As Emnet Assefa of Addis Standard, a journalist in one of the local newspaper noted, “[o]ver the last few years, news of young Ethiopian men and women found dead inside jam-packed containers loaded on heavy duty trucks has become a routine media exercise both locally and in many parts of the continent.”  Abuses, abductions, disappearances and killings of Ethiopians in the Middle EastNorth Africa, and Gulf States has become common. On Thursday March 20, 2014 the (U.S. based) National Public Radio (NPR) run a heart-wrenching story of an Ethiopian young woman who took unbelievable levels of risks and investments to reach the shores of the United States. While outmigration is the history of mankind, as indicated in the holy books, for example, modern day migration, particularly migration into the Middle East, is documented to be associated with calamities.
Detentions of Ethiopians for violating the immigration laws of other countries (such as in KenyaTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabwe), deportations, refugee camps filled with Ethiopians, and sending the remains of Ethiopians who died in their search for better lives and liberty has become routine. Disturbed by the depressing news and the total failure of the  Government of Ethiopia (GOE), the Ethiopian diaspora held noisy protest demonstrations in front of the Saudi Arabian and Ethiopian embassies, collected petitions, contributed and donated some funds to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to aid returnees and painfully listened to the information provided by foreign based radios and websites. While these are normal reactions and laudable works, they are nonetheless temporary measures and will not serve as mitigation strategies unless one understands the causes, scale and depth of the problem, and consider a range of possible policy options.
The Horn of Africa has been and continues to be one of the hot spots of major human movements in the world.  Civil wars, secessionist conflicts, tribal-clan warfare, famine, land scarcity and evictions, and poverty have been the causes of both internal displacements and cross border migration. At the time of writing this article, tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees are reportedly crossing the border and entering the Ethiopian territory in search of security. The civil wars in North and South Sudan, tensions and skirmishes in the Eritrean-Ethiopian borders, sectarian and secessionist movements in Somalia and the Ogaden, ethnic, religious and clan tensions, land grabs and repression have been some of the culprits of the migration.
In addition to the instability and government failures in the region, it is important to note that globalization often manifests itself in the form of increased movement of capital, freer movement of goods and services, internationalization of production and investments, and information about labor demand. Hence, outmigration must also be examined in the context of the global trends in the import and export of labor. Immigration magnet countries generally have labor shortages as in the Middle Eastern countries while exporting countries benefit from remittances. In other words, one might be tempted to ask whether the remittance that a country receives from the export of both skilled and unskilled labor drives a government’s policy towards emigration. This question is pertinent to Ethiopia as the country exports both skilled and unskilled labor and its annual earnings from remittances is estimated at about 3 billion dollars, a figure that is more than the revenue it obtains from exporting products. In addition, the government has been trying to finance mega projects through the issuance of low interest and high risk diaspora bonds.
However, consistent with theory, Ethiopians spend their remittance earnings on consumer goods and alleviating family hardships. Remittance expenditures on consumption goods, particularly imports, therefore, is believed to have played their own roles in exacerbating the high cost of living in the country and widening its trade deficit, in addition to raising the birr’s real exchange rate and escalating real estate prices. Anecdotal evidence also shows that a good number of Ethiopian diaspora members are deeply involved in the real estate sector, particularly housing. Using its monopoly power on land, the government has been engaged in evicting entire neighborhoods, including the forced removal of the remains of the dead from grounds that traditionally belonged to the churches, and building roads and auctioning the confiscated lands at artificially inflated prices that are often set through insider trading of information. This is in addition to continuously raising rental prices. The use of remittances in real estate thus could only add fuel to the fire, thereby making housing unaffordable to residents. Anecdotal evidence also shows that remittances have played their own roles in fueling corruption and heightening rural and urban land speculation.
Notwithstanding the above, the GoE has been claiming that the country has been enjoying double-digit real economic growth for about one decade. The growth statistics however has been questioned by several economists and as of late even magazines that used to be known for echoing the government’s line of story have started to question the validity of the government provided statistic.  Secondly, the country is known to have achieved “stability” since 2000, while at the same time neighboring countries such as Sudan and Somalia found themselves embroiled in escalated internal conflicts and with their neighbors. These stories spark a number of important questions. First, given that the country is claimed to be at “peace” with itself and is also a peace-maker in the Horn of Africa (such as contributing troops in Somalia, Sudan and beyond), and with a “federal multi-party system” in place, why would one observe documents and criticisms against the government? Why should the residents of a land with a growing economy and “federal democracy” choose to emigrate en mass In other words, could outmigration and economic growth move in the same direction or move in different directions or have no association between themselves at all? To answer these questions in the context of Ethiopia, one needs to review the relevant literature.
*Source: de Haas (2010) Migration transitions: a theoretical and empirical inquiry into the developmental drivers of international migration’. IMI Working Papers. Oxford, University of Oxford
A quick review of the relevant literature suggests that as development level increases immigration increases as the country becomes a magnet for foreigners and its own diaspora population. However the association between emigration and economic development is negative. Figure 1 shows the migration transition theory of de Haas (2010), which is now popular among researchers on migration. Validating the migration transition theory in the context of Ethiopia requires an empirical research. Unfortunately, empirical research on economic, social and demographic data is generally hard in developing countries because of data reliability and more importantly the politicization of such information. To test the validity of de Haas’s (2010) model, we reviewed the academic and policy literature, applied qualitative-phenomenological methods of research and outlined policy options.
In its November 2012 report, the International Migration Institute at Oxford University confirmed the common knowledge of Ethiopians, and documented that between 1960 and 2000 Ethiopia’s outmigration was one of the lowest in the Horn of Africa. Authorized emigrant population (including asylum seekers) in 2000 was less than 300,000 – lower than Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen. As a percentage of the size of the population, Ethiopia’s outmigration was also the lowest. However, this statistics requires further analysis as the impacts of conflicts in Eritrea, Tigrai, Ogaden and Somalia, famine, conscriptions for the various wars and the red terror were responsible for driving thousands of refugees to the Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya.
Fransen and Kuschminder (2009:17) of Maastricht University , citing the World Bank, confirmed the findings of the International Migration Institute and stated that “migration flows out of Ethiopia are relatively small”. The World Bank estimated an emigration rate of 0.6 percent of the population in 2005, which amounts to a stock of 445,926 persons”. And in-migration (refugees from neighboring countries) and outmigration of Ethiopians to neighboring countries as refugees, according to the UNHCR, balanced one another, suggesting that the net migration during the period was close to zero. However, like the Institute of Migration’s data, Fransen and Kuschmider’s work heavily relied on limited literature review and extrapolated statistics using data from IOM, UNHCR, OECD and the World Bank. Their results therefore, may not be useful to predict or understand the scale and form of the migration current crisis. Furthermore, an important factor in analyzing international data is that most of the reports contain only the number of refugees that have been recognized. For instance the World Bank’s recent report does not include registered asylum seekers or the number undocumented Ethiopians living out of their country. The bank reported that between 2009 and 2011 the number of Ethiopian refugees who have been granted refugee status were respectively 121,886; 154,295 and 288,844, showing an annual growth rate of 26.59% and 87.2%. In sum, obtaining reliable data and information about the Ethiopian outmigration is a major issue. Unfortunately, the unreliability of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diaspora Department figures compound the problem.
Notwithstanding the above difficulties, in our December 19, 2013 article, we attributed the Ethiopian outmigration mainly to push factors and following the norm in the migration literature, we outlined the factors under four major categories. We have reproduced them here for the benefits of our readers. The four categories are (1) Supply-Push (Predisposing or Repulsive) Factors- which drive/force migrants out of their country of origin. Examples include poverty, the lack of economic opportunities and jobs, economic downturns, political oppressions, abuses of human rights, religious intolerance (constraints), wars, conflicts and insecurities in the home country; (2) Demand-Pull-factors- which in general are positive and are responsible in attracting migrants. Examples include: higher wage rates and better standard of living in destination countries; higher and steady demand for cheap and unskilled labor in destination countries’ informal economies (domestic work, construction, services such as cleaning, restaurant and fast food services), political and religious freedom in destination countries; (3) Mediating Factors, which are divided into two conflicting factors: (a) Facilitating/encouraging factors- which are the ones that trigger, enable and accelerate departure. Examples include the availability of visas, passports, transport, communications, information, recruiters, brokers, traffickers and smugglers, porous borders, and the resources needed for the journey, distance to and between sending and destination countries and length of transit periods. (b) Restraining/constraining factors or intervening obstacles- are the ones which work against making the journey – such as the lack of the ones described in (a) above, high migration costs, perceived risks, stricter controls of recruitments, stiff punishments and penalties against smugglers and traffickers, rogue employment practices in destination countries; and (4) Social network (pull) factors – such as the existence of relatives, friends and acquaintances in host/destination countries, available opportunities for family unifications in host countries, or when individuals send money to bring other family members to join them into the new (host) country- a chain migration which results in migration fields or clustering of people from specific countries into certain neighborhoods or small towns in the new (host) countries (e.g. China Town, Vietnamese Town, Little Ethiopia, etc. in North America). Mediating factors also include success stories of the diaspora.
Returning to the issue about the link between economic growth and migration, in the case of Ethiopia, unlike the growing domestic product data reported by the government and the high rise buildings and construction projects that are undergoing in recent years, the human development indicators generally show that there has been little progress in alleviating poverty in the country (According to UNDP’s 2011 survey, Ethiopia is in the low human development category—positioning the country at 173 out of 187 with 87.3 percent of the country’s population lived in multidimensional poverty (MPI)). Despite the big push and donor support, early human development indicators reveal that Ethiopia, unfortunately, will not be able to meet many of the MDG goals by 2015. Thus, the GoE must blame itself for washing away the donor propelled gain in the economy by inflation. Perhaps, a better indicator could be creating a misery level tracking index, which can be computed by the sum of the country’s inflation rate, unemployment rate, augmented by annual changes in outmigration and subtracting the country’s economic growth rate. In this respect, in a recent paper, Abebe Shimeles and Andenet Delelegn (see African Development Bank Group Working paper No 182 September 2013), using household data that was collected by Addis Ababa University in collaboration with Oxford University and the University of Gothenburg attempted to empirically examine the welfare effects of rising food prices (inflation). They show that between 2000 and 2006, the Ethiopian economy has had a cumulative welfare loss of 53%. The “true” level of welfare loss was 12% worse than what was estimated by the GoE’s statisticians. Between 2007 and 2013 Ethiopia has seen a series of sharp increases in the cost of living, reaching as high as 64% in 2008. The country also “officially devalued the Birr by over 102% against the U.S. Dollar between November 2007 and February 2013 despite being warned that devaluation would not have its intended effects without addressing the country’s economic fundamentals.
While the increases are not unparalleled by the history of hyperinflation, the growth claim made by the GoE appears unparalleled indeed. The ramifications of these inaccuracies for economic planning and hardship (misery index) and outmigration, in an environment of the feminization of poverty are serious. Inflation also has wealth transfer effects and widening inequality especially when it occurs under an environment of full control of land by the government, credit channeling, excessive money supply and monetization of government borrowing, and political-party owned and state owned enterprises. Indeed, there are numerous signs indicating that the government’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) “belies the reality on the ground”, is a “misguided economic policy”, and too “fanciful” to trust. As one of the pro-government local papers noted, the GTP was just one of a “number of fashionable ideas and initiatives” … concocted by the late Prime Minister Zenawi and his party elites…” – the concocted ideas being just a “theoretical synthesis” rather than being practically applicable to the Ethiopian context. As predicted by Ken Ohashi, the then World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, the GTP has become unsustainable, all signs indicating its failure. The tell-tale signs are indicated by: the government’s neglect of the manufacturing sector of the economy (Economist, March 02, 2013, Enku Magazine’s interview of Mr. Mushe Semu, May, 2013 edition, Reporter, October 5, 2013, Addis Fortune, March 9, 2014); the gloomier picture of the flower industry (Reporter, February 8, 2014); the sharp declines in the country’s exports (Reporter: October 5, 2013, January 11, 2014, Addis Fortune), the deterioration of the country’s indebtedness (Ezana Kebede, 2014); the credit crunch facing the private sector (Reporter, February 8, 2014); the negative ramifications in foreign exchange shortages (Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2014); the deprived private sector: (IMF); the rising tide of corruption (World Bank, Global Financial Integrity, Hassan) and disturbingly, the falsely trumpeted “gains” in the agricultural sector, where most of the out-migrants originate (AllAfrica.com, January 19, 2014).
Now that we have shown outmigration is incompatible with a growing economy, the GoE and the donor community need to take the bull by the horn and address key issues that hold the economy from growing and also the drivers of emigration. The ruling party cannot escape re-examining its land policy and restructure the ownership structure in the economy, liberate the markets so that private enterprise would flourish; it should allow the archaic finance industry to respond to the realities of the economy; seriously fight inflation and corruption, grant the poor the freedom to vote on policy, and put in place sound controls against illicit financial flows and human smuggling; design and implement sound population development and family planning policy; restructure public and private information dissemination institutions to allow robust debate on national policy. The government needs to guarantee and respect private property and put in place reliable investor protection mechanisms. More importantly, it needs to take concrete conflict prevention strategies and open the political space at home in order to reduce political instability and minimize the probability of yet another round of large scale outmigration. The available data and the realities on the ground strongly show that both inter-migration and intra-migration have become serious issues for the country. The GoE therefore needs to consider establishing a research center for migration studies in one of the universities.
Outmigration also requires reforming the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labor. Like other nations, Ethiopia, on behalf of its citizens, needs to promote cooperation and negotiate minimum labor standards in host countries. It must push migrant recipient countries the International Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families (ICRMW), one of the core international human rights treaties. For emigrants who go to specific destinations, the government can create incentives for minimum level of skills certifications. It needs to provide coping mechanisms and establish a desk in the embassies for handling physical, emotional and sexual abuses and cultural prejudices faced by immigrants, in general, and women in particular. The remittance obtained from destination countries could justify the additional costs of providing the above services. The country must be able to pass and implement effective regulation against “agents” and human smugglers. The government also needs to re-examine the de facto policy of using remittances (i.e. exporting people) as developmental instrument, for the macroeconomic effects are ambiguous at best.
The Ethiopian diaspora community must also do its part. Most of the diaspora institutions are divided, weak and poorly managed. Similar to the politics inside the country, the diaspora is divided along political, ethnic and regional lines. Hence, there is no “national consensus” and the government’s diaspora policy has become part of the problem. The GoE leaders often face booing and protest demonstrations when they travel abroad. They in turn label their critics as “extremists”, “chauvinists” and even “terrorists”. The diaspora is predominantly unengaged and a small proportion appears to be opportunistic. The majority fears reprisal from the government for showing dissent or for not cooperating with the embassies. With regard to the economic impact, other than the remittance, the magnitude of diaspora’s “contribution” to development appears to be a moot point. Furthermore, unlike out-migrants of other countries, Ethiopian out-migrants seem to have failed to pay attention to the ongoing politics of their respective destination countries. The use of immigrants as political punch bags by the Saudi authorities could have been minimized if Ethiopian migrants were paying attention to the upcoming of large scale and politically-motivated deportations. Finally, Ethiopian immigrants must take lessons from the recent deportations and establish strong centers in their respective destination countries and create a global network that supports the community in times of crisis.

Egypt considers referring Renaissance Dam file to The Hague


A general view shows construction activity on the Grand Renaissance Dam in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz region, March 16, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri)

AUTHOR                                 TRANSLATOR(S)
Walaa Hussein                     Steffi Chakti


The Specialized National Councils in Egypt filed an important report to the presidency, including a study about referring the issue of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam to the International Court of Justice for arbitration. The report was prepared in Egypt by a team of experts in law and international arbitration led by Mufid Shehab. Shehab was part of the international Taba arbitration tribunal, through which Egypt succeeded in recovering the town in 1988.

The report, which is still under examination, included a comprehensive study that was prepared in the same way the file of Taba was prepared. The study documents the damage that would be inflicted on Egypt as a result of the construction of the Renaissance Dam and examines the stance of Ethiopia, which contradicts international law andUnited Nations principles. The report would be filed by the Egyptian government to the UN General Assembly, which would decide whether to present it to the UN Security Council or refer it to the International Court of Justice.
Hani Reslan, head of the Sudan and Nile Basin Unit at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “The study does not include the issue of direct referral to arbitration through the International Court of Justice, since [arbitration] requires a mutual consent from both parties, and it is unlikely for Ethiopia to accept it. This is why the report will be filed to the UN to be later referred upon its order to the International Court of Justice, in case the presidency decided to put the case in motion.” Reslan participated in a closed workshop with the team that prepared the study under the leadership of Shehab.
For his part, former Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasser Eldin Allam told Al-Monitor, “The charters of the UN and the African Union stipulate the peaceful settlement of conflicts. Technical negotiations failed; what is now available is accepting mediation with Ethiopia to build a smaller dam, form a fact-finding committee, choose countries to arbitrate between [Egypt] and Ethiopia or refer to the International Court of Justice.”
Allam said, “In case all the aforementioned solutions are refused, Egypt has the right to resort to international organizations to stop the funding of the dam since there is a conflict. This can be done by presenting a memorandum to the UN affirming the historical rights of Egypt.”
“Egypt can also demand the UN and all its organizations stop the funding of the dam and issue a legal resolution drafted by the International Court of Justice regarding this conflict. The Egyptian government has also the right to go to the UN Security Council to stress that this dam poses a threat to regional peace and security, as it threatens the future of an entire people,” Allam added.
He also noted, “No state can remain silent regarding risks threatening the people. Therefore, we ought to take all the necessary international measures against Ethiopia, and we hope that the Security Council will consider our case, which represents a thirst crisis for 90 million Egyptians. According to Chapters VI and VII of the UN Charter, the Egyptian government has the right to resort to all means to put an end to this crisis. Thus, it has the right to take advantage of regional alliances, use soft power and threaten interests. All this is allowed under international law.”
A well-informed government source told Al-Monitor that the decision of the Specialized National Councils to recommend the referral of the matter to the UN was not supposed to be currently revealed, especially since this step was ostensibly put on hold and waiting for a decision within the presidency. This is not to mention the current circumstances Egypt is going through, as the presidential team was expected to study the case so it can be settled with the next president who will be elected in Egypt.
The source confirmed that the government of new Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb suggested to the presidency that a new round of negotiations be held with the Ethiopian side; the government of previous Prime Minister Hazem el-Biblawi had decided to escalate matters at international levels through visits to many countries and by exerting pressure to stop the funding of the dam and disrupt its construction. This suggestion also included an idea put forth by Mehleb, which is based on the principle of energy for water. This is a new initiative that will be proposed to the government of Addis Ababa, with its details to be revealed shortly afterward.
Egypt has internationalized the issue of the dam, but will it reach the International Court of Justice? This is the question that presents itself in light of the transitional phase Egypt is going through, where decision-makers are preoccupied with the presidential elections that are in the offing.


=>al-monitor




Embu Police Intercept Immigrants

Police in Embu on the 27th of March 2014 arrested eleven illegal immigrants from Ethiopia   being transported from Isiolo to Nairobi.
Embu West officer commanding police division Elphas Korir said that the eleven were arrested at 5 am by police at a road block at the exit of Embu town.
He said police stopped a speeding Toyota Probox which was overloaded with eleven people and on interrogation, they could not produce any documents to justify their presence in the country.
The OCPD said that the eleven seemed to have walked long distances before they reached Isiolo and boarded the vehicle.
He said the vehicle could have been hired in Isiolo to transport the aliens to Nairobi through the Embu route.
Korir said they could not communicate with the immigrants as none spoke English.
Korir said the eleven will be arraigned in court and charged with being in the country illegally.
The driver he said will be charged with overloading and transporting immigrants knowing they did not have any documents.
He said police have intensified patrols on all the routes to Nairobi through Embu, as most of the illegal immigrants used the route, especially at night and in the morning hours.
The OCPD said he has liased with his counterpart in Timau and Nanyuki to intensify patrol along the Isiolo, Nanyuki, and Nyeri highway.
By Irungu Mwangi