Ethiopian Hydropower Dam Assessment Warns of Structural Weakness

By William Davison October 03, 2013

Ethiopia’s plan to build Africa’s biggest hydropower dam on the main tributary of the Nile River must address concerns that there may be flaws in the design of its foundations, a group of international experts said.

They also called for further studies on what impact the 6,000-megawatt, $4.7 billion project may have on the downstream nations of Sudan and Egypt, the International Panel of Experts said in a report e-mailed to Bloomberg News and verified by Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry. Egypt, which relies on the Nile for almost all of its water, expressed alarm about the dam when Ethiopia in May diverted the Blue Nile as part of the construction process.

“Structural measures might be needed to stabilize the foundation to achieve the required safety against sliding” of the main dam, according to the report. There are also “weak zones” in the rock that will support an auxiliary dam that need to be studied, it said.

STORY: Hank Paulson: This Is What It Was Like to Face the Financial Crisis

Construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is part of a government plan to spend 569 billion birr ($30 billion) on infrastructure in the five years through mid-2015. The country, Africa’s second-most populous nation, targets becoming an industrialized middle-income nation by 2025.

Ethiopia is the source of 86 percent of the water that flows into the Nile, the world’s longest river that runs 4,160 miles through 11 countries from Burundi in the south to Egypt, where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Ethiopia has said it will take five to six years to fill the 74 billion cubic-meter (2.6 trillion cubic-feet) reservoir created by the dam.

Regional Specialists

The panel, which held its first meeting in May last year, was formed at the suggestion of Ethiopia’s government. It comprised two specialists each from Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan and four from other nations. The report, which hasn’t been made public, was submitted to the three governments in June.

STORY: Univision's English-Language News Network, Fusion, Targets Millennials

Ethiopia said the report found the project to be of international standard and won’t cause “significant harm” to downstream countries, while Egypt said it was inconclusive.

Ethiopia delivered a hydrological study to the panel that analyzed the downstream impact of the reservoir-filling period given low, average or high rainfall.

The project document concluded that Egypt faces a 6 percent reduction in the High Aswan Dam’s electricity-generating capacity and no water loss if the reservoir was filled during years of average or high rainfall. If the reservoir was filled in a dry year it would “significantly impact on water supply to Egypt and cause the loss of power generation at High Aswan Dam for extended periods,” according to the document.

A “comprehensive” additional study of the dam’s impact on water resources should be conducted, the panel said after reviewing the document. “The analysis presented is very basic, and not yet at a level of detail, sophistication and reliability that would befit a development of this magnitude, importance and with such regional impact.”

Ethiopia is working with Sudan and Egypt to enact the panel’s recommendations, Dina Mufti, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said in an interview today in the capital, Addis Ababa.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at wdavison3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net

=>bloomberg business week

Italy: More than 100 migrants die in second horrific shipwreck this week

The Italian authorities and the European Union must redouble efforts to patrol their shores and assist migrants in order to prevent further tragic loss of life, Amnesty International said after at least 100 people, including children, perished off the coast of Italy on Thursday morning.  

The boat – which was reportedly from Libya – was apparently carrying more than 500 migrants, mainly from Eritrea and Somalia, when it caught fire and sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. Around 120 people have been rescued and more than 100 bodies have so far been brought to shore. Many more are still missing. 

“The waters around the small island of Lampedusa have again tragically become a graveyard for migrants. These grim events keep repeating themselves as thousands of people make the perilous trip across the Mediterranean to seek protection or a better life,” said Jezerca Tigani, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia Programme.

“It is high time the Italian authorities and the EU increase their search-and-rescue capacity and co-operation in the Mediterranean Sea, rather than concentrating resources on closing off the borders. More must be done to prevent further loss of life in the future.”

Survivors have described the horrific ordeal they endured in this latest tragedy – dead bodies floating in the water as crews from fishing vessels frantically tried to rescue the living.

Another boat carrying more than 460 migrants arrived in Lampedusa shortly before today’s shipwreck. Those on board are now housed at the island’s centre for migrants, which currently hosts some 700 people. 

This is the second shipwreck of a migrant boat off Italy’s coast this week.

On 30 September, 13 mostly Eritrean migrants drowned when the boat carrying them ran aground off Ragusa in Sicily. The traffickers (scafisti) on board the sinking vessel reportedly forced the migrants to jump to their deaths in the sea by whipping them and threatening them with knives.


=>amnesty

Prison places restrictions on jailed journalist Reeyot Alemu

Reeyot Alemu (IWMF)

Nairobi, September 16, 2013--The decision by authorities at Kality Prison to impose visitor restrictions on imprisoned journalist Reeyot Alemu constitutes harassment and runs counter to the Ethiopian constitution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

"We call upon the Ethiopian authorities to lift these latest restrictions and allow Reeyot Alemu to receive all visitors," said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. "She is a journalist, not a criminal, and should not be behind bars."

Reeyot, a critical columnist of the banned private weeklyFeteh, began a hunger strike on Wednesday to protest an order by Kality Prison officials to turn in a list of visitors, according to local journalists andnews reports. The officials did not provide an explanation for the request. In retaliation for the hunger strike, authorities forbade her from having any visitors excluding her parents and priest, local journalists said.

Two days later, prison officials said she could receive any visitors except for her younger sister and her fiancé, journalist Sileshi Hagos, the sources said. Sileshi was detained for four hours at the prison later that day when he attempted to visit Reeyot.

Reeyot stopped the hunger strike on Sunday, but decided not to receive any visitors until the restrictions on her fiancé and sister are lifted. The journalist is serving a 14-year prison term on vague terrorism charges that was reduced in August 2012 to five years on appeal.

It was not immediately clear whether the visitor restrictions were in connection with anarticle published by the International Women's Media Foundation last month that had been written by Reeyot. It is also unclear if the journalist wrote the letter from prison or if this was a translation of an earlier story. In the article, Reeyot criticizes Ethiopia's anti-terrorism law, an overbroad legislation that was used to jail and convict her for her critical coverage of the government.

Kality Prison Director Abraham Wolde-Aregay did not respond to CPJ's calls and text messages for comment. Desalegn Teresa, a spokesman for Ethiopia's Ministry of Justice, did not return CPJ's call for comment.

The denial of rights to Reeyot runs counter to the Ethiopian Constitution, which states: "All persons shall have the opportunity to communicate with, and to be visited by, their spouses or partners, relatives and friends, religious counselors, lawyers and medical practitioners."

In a December 2003 report, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment  stated that prisoners should be "permitted to have contact with, and receive regular visits from, their relatives, lawyers and doctors."The same report stated that "access to the outside world can only be denied on reasonable conditions and restrictions as specified by law or lawful regulations."

This is the second time in six months that the prison administration has put pressure on Reeyot, according to CPJ research. In March, officials threatened to put Reeyot in solitary confinement, according to sources close to her who spoke on condition of anonymity. Officials accused the journalist of indiscipline, according to news reports, a charge she denied.

In a report issued the same month, the United Nations Special Rapporteur determined that the rights of Reeyot under the UN Convention against Torture had been violated on account of the Ethiopian government's failure to respond to allegations of her ill-treatment. Reeyot had complained of mistreatment, and her health had deteriorated while she was held incommunicado in pre-trial detention, reports said.

=>cpj

Wayyaanee EPRDF Sabababoota adda addaan Uummata Oromoo nagaa irratti darara daangaa hin qabne gaggeessaa jira.

Mootummaan Wayyaanee Uummattoota Impaayera Itoophiyaa keessaa xiyyeeffannoon ilmaan Oromoo hidha, ajjeesa, saama, qeee irraa buqqisa… shira daangaa hin qabne irraan gaha. Gochaan farrummaa mootummaa wayyaanee kun yeroodhaa gara yerootti dhihee bariiu caala malee hin hiratu. Kun sababawwan gurguddaa armaan gadii irratti xiyyeeffatamuun hojjetama.
1. Lafti Oromiyaa lafa qabeenya Uumamaan badhaate, albuudota hedduu qabdu, lafa investimentiif mijattuu… dha. Impaayera biyyattii keessatti biyya DIAMOND taate dha. Mootummaan wayyaanees bittaa umrii isaa dheereffachuuf hojiin hojjetu inni guddaan dinagdee isaa guddifachuu dha. Dinagdeen mootummaa wayyaanee guutummaan guutuutti jechuun kan dandaamu qabeenya lafa Oromiyaa irraa argamuuni dha. Lafa Oromiyaa irraa dinagdeen kamuu galii hin tahu taanaan humni wayyaanee dadhabaa tahuu irraa itti fufinsaa fi xiyyeeffannoon lafa Oromiyaa barbaadu. Kanaaf Uummata Oromoo hidhuun, ajjeesuun gaaffii abbaa biyyummaa tasa akka hin kaasne gochuuf waan hojjetaniif ilmaan Oromoo nagaa mana hidhaatti ukkaamsu.
2. Uummatni Oromoo mootummaan wayyaanees tahe nafxanyummaan biyya isaa keessatti akka hin diriirreef qabsoo wal irraa hin citnee fi wareegama qaqqaalii gaafatan taasisaa as gahe. Qabsoon uummattoota biro Impaayera biyyattii keessaa akkasiin Jaarmayaan qindoomina qabuu fi muuxannoo qabu hin jiru. Kun ammoo mootummaa wayyaanee daran dhiphisa. Jaarmayaan muuxannoo qabu aangoo irraa darbuu akka dandau akkasumas haqa qabeessa tahuu irraa uummata waan hawwatuuf uummata harkaa baasuu dandaa. Paartiiwwan amaaraa hedduun wayita diddaa taasisan hin hidhu. Kunis jaarmayaan isaan qabanii fi muuxannoon isaanii dadhabaa akkasumas ajandaan isaanii ajandaa abbaa biyyummaa osoo hin taane aangoo barbaacha tahuu beeka. Uummatnis haalaan akka hin hawwatamneef haalaan waan beekuuf xiyyeeffannoo ilmaan Oromoo irratti taasisee duula gaggeessa.
3. Gaaffiiwwan mirgaa Uummata Oromoon taasifaman rakkoowwan uummata biyyattii furuu kan dandau tahuu wayyaaneen haalaan beeka. Gaaffiiwwan akkanaa hidda qabannaan uummatni lammii biroon qabsoo kana waliin akka hiriirus beeka. Gaaffiiwwan mirgaa OPDO keessatti kaan illee paartiiwwan EPRDF tahan TPLF, ANDM, SEPDM mara keessatti diigumsa waan uumaniif ABO jaarmaya Uummata Oromoo waan taheef habashootnis kana waan beekaniif osoo dhugaan jiru hin dubbatamiin mana hidhaatti ilmaan Oromoo ukkaamsa.
Egaa sababoota gurguddaan Wayyaanee irratti xiyyeeffachuun uummata Oromoo nagaa mana hidhaatti ukkaamsu hangi tokko kanneen armaan olii kana.

=>qeerroo

Ethiopia most restrictive Sub Saharan Country, Freedom House reports

October 3,2013 (Freedom House) — In a Global assessment of Internet and Digital Media, Freedom House finds that Ethiopia is the most repressive Sub-Saharan country when it comes to Internet freedom.

Over the past years, the global number of censored websites has increased, while internet users in various countries have been arrested, tortured and killed over the information they posted online. Iran, Cuba and China remain among the most restrictive countries in the World and Ethiopia tops the list of most restrictive nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In September 2012, Ethiopia’s government passed the Telecom Fraud Offences law, which is supposed to combat cybercrime but also includes provisions that toughen the ban of VoIP, requiring users to register all ICT equipment including smartphones.  Manyazewal Eshetu, a 21 year old university student was also arrested and charged with criminal defamation for posting a comment on Facebook criticizing the ‘rampant corruption’ in a local university. He still remains in prison and has not been persecuted. The well known dissident Eskender Nega was found guilty under the anti-terrorism law and sentenced to 18 years of prison for his alleged links to a  ’terrorist group’ after he posted online articles that criticized the government’s use of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation to silence political dissent.

Freedom House’s country report on Ethiopia also recalls that Ethio Telecom had deployed deep packet inspection to enable more sophisticated selective internet filtering of internet traffic.

The most recent ONI tests in September 2012 found that filtering by Ethio Telecom primarily on ”independent online news media, political blogs and Ethiopian human rights groups’ websites. Of the 1,375 unique websites tested, 73 were blocked including online portals such as Cyber Ethiopia“, the reportstates on page 278.

–Full Report in PDF

=>ayyaantuu

Gaaffiin daballii miindaa jalqabame itti fufuun waarshaa Sukkaaraa Tandaahoo keessatti gara hojii dhaabuutti cehe.

Diddaan Hojjettootaa mootummaa Wayyaanee irratti finiinuu kan eegale umriidhaan bubbulaa jira. Rakkoowwan siyaasaa biyyattii keessaa waliin wal qabachuun uummatni Impaayera biyyattii keessaa guutummaan rakkoowwan garaa garaaf saaxilamee jira. Rakkoon hanqina miindaa, qaalainsa jireenyaa, malaammaltummaa, hojii dhabdummaa hanqina bulchinsa gaarii irraa kanneen dhufan keessaa hangafoota. Hojjettootni mootummaas waajjiraalee fi dhaabbiilee garaa garaa keessaa dabalinsa miindaa gaafachuu kan eegalan ammas daran jabeessuun Hojjettootni waarshaa Tandahoo dabalinsa miindaa cichanii gamtaan gaafatan. Gaaffiin keenyas deebii hin argatu taanaan hojii akka dhaabnu mootummaan wayyaanee haa beeku jechuun jala sararanii beeksisan. Mootummaan wayyaanee kutannaa kanaan kan baarage doorsisaan kanneen gaaffii kana gaafattan shororkeessitoota jechuun mana hidhaatti ukkaamsee jira. Hojjetaan waarshaa kanaa Irrigation irraa Alamaayyoo Mitikkuu jedhamu sababa kanaan kan hidhame yoommuu tahu hojjettootni gamtaan diddaa isaanii jabeessanii jiran. Itti gaafatamaan waarshaa kanaa Abaay Tsehaayyee kan jedhamu gaaffii kanaaf hatattamaan deebii barbaaduuf waadaa kan seene tahuu beeksisuun guyyaa haraa federaalota hedduumminaan bobbaasuun hojjettoota humnaan hojjechiisuuf duula gaggeessaa jiru. Hojiin waarshaa kanaas gaaffiiwwan mirgaa akkanaan laamshaaa jira. Hojjettootni waarshaa Sukkaara Fincaaaas gaaffiiwwan mirgaa wal fakkaataan hojii dhaabanii turuun isaanii ni yaadatama.

=>qeerroo

Agarii Tullu: from serfdom to a revered Oromo hero

by Mohammed Ademo

(OPride) – The history of the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s single largest ethnic group, is marked by socio-political oppression and a continuous resistance against it.

Every Ethiopian ruler, especially starting with emperor Menelik II, has devised systematic campaigns aimed at making the Oromo aliens in their own homeland, impoverishing millions by expropriating their land, and denying them the most basic human rights.

The Oromo, in various locales of Oromia – the Oromo country –have also put up powerful resistance at different times. The modern Oromo movement evolved from loosely organized local resistance(s) such as the Bale Oromo movement, the Macha Tulama Association, and the Afran Qallo musical group to name just three – culminating with the formation of a pan-Oromo movement, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). However, there were also several other popular movements against imperial Ethiopia and its social injustices, albeit less known even among the Oromo or sometimes erroneously misconstrued as economic or social banditry (shifta).

In undated segment of Maaliin Beekkaman, a program on the state-run Oromiya Radio, journalist Ababa Magra profiled one of those lesser known movements: Agarii Tullu’s fierce resistance against Haile Selassie’s monarchical rule.

=>More at Opride