TsehaiNY.com

Event – A Spiritual Retreat

admin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:20:44 +0000

A Spiritual Retreat organized by Debre Sahel Ba-ata Lamariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church New York

Please click the image below to enlarge

Gebremariam, Kiplagat to compete in NYC Marathon

Other Publications — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:40:42 +0000

(AP) Defending champions Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia and Edna Kiplagat of Kenya will compete in the New York City Marathon in autumn.

The New York Road Runners announced Wednesday that Meb Keflezighi, who in 2009 became the first American to win the race since 1982, will also compete on Nov. 6.

It will be the 35-year-old Keflezighi’s seventh NYC Marathon. He hopes to qualify for the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics and use the race as training ahead of the games.

Olympic speedskating gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno will take part in his first marathon.

A record 140,000 runners applied for the NYC Marathon. The Road Runners say the 2010 event had an economic impact of $340 million.

Obama appoints Dr. Gebisa Ejeta to advising body

Other Publications — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:35:24 +0000

BY SHAAN YADAV-RANJAN | Campus Editor Purdue Exponent

President Barack Obama appointed a Purdue professor to advise the same organization that was responsible for his education in Ethiopia.

Professor Gebisa Ejeta received a three-year presidential appointment to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, which serves as an advising body to the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Ejeta said the high school and college he attended in Ethiopia were built by a predecessor in the agency.

Joe Anderson, head of the Agronomy department, said he is thrilled Ejeta has a position to provide advice to the agency.

“He is a very effective leader,” Anderson said. “He was just named head of the Global Food Security Center on campus.”

Anderson described Ejeta’s leadership style as trailblazing. He said Ejeta is great at defining what the mission is, where it will progress and how to get from here to there.

Ejeta will advise the agency on topics such as agricultural development priorities and U.S. universities’ involvement in famine prevention and freedom from hunger issues around the world.

Anderson said Ejeta strives to help create agricultural systems that are more than just productive. He said Ejeta tries to help agricultural systems that produce things in a way that is economically sound and makes environmental sense as well as enhancing the overall livelihood of the citizens in those countries.

In a press release, Ejeta described the appointment as a privilege and a responsibility.

“I have now gone full-circle, from a young African child given an opportunity for education by an act of a U.S. government body such as this to now having the chance to offer a new vision or a new policy directive that may give a similar chance for an education to another African child or a lifesaving act for another child somewhere,” Ejeta said.

Fox News still tries to court “Birthers”

admin — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:56:08 +0000

The White house released President Obama’s Long-Form birth certificate earlier today putting an end to the so-called “birther” debate, or did it?

Below are headlines from major news organizations that covered the news of the long-form birth certificate release. One headline sticks out. (Click on image to expand)

Fox News’s unique headline may signal a hint and the beginning of the next phase of the “birther” debate.

FOX NEWS: White House Releases what it Says is President Obama’s Long-Form Birth Certificate

CNN: White House releases Obama birth certificate

ABC News: President Obama Releases Original Long Form Birth Certificate

MSNBC: White House Releases Obama’s Long-Form Birth Certificate

CBS News: Obama releases long-form birth certificate

Ethiopian Government Denies Arrest of Opposition Party Activists

Other Publications — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:15:27 +0000

By William Davison (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia’s government denied claims by the opposition that political activists in state of Oromia have been arrested in recent weeks as part of a crackdown to pre-empt potential anti-government protests.

Those arrested were members of the Asmara, Eritrea-based Oromo Liberation Front, government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said in a phone interview. “They have been trained and sent here from Eritrea a few months back,” he said. “They have been sent out to carry out terrorist activists and have been apprehended.”

Oromos are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, though national politics in the country have been dominated for centuries by politicians and feudal lords from the smaller Amhara and Tigrayan ethnic groups. The outlawed ONLF has waged a 38-year campaign for autonomy in Oromia, the largest of Ethiopia’s nine federal states.

The action by the federal police has been taken to neutralize the risk of anti-government protests similar to those sweeping North Africa and the Middle East from erupting, Bekele said. Activists have been detained by policemen who sometimes used vehicles without registration plates, in towns including Jimma, Nekemte, Burayu, Holeta and Sebeta, he said.

Demonstrations

No anti-government demonstrations are planned because any violence is “not in the interests of our people,” Bekele said. “We know who the army belongs to.”

Shimeles said the government arrested 200 rebels, who have been denied bail and are being detained while evidence is collected to prosecute them.

The government has been arresting members of legal political organizations and suspected members of the OLF, the rebel group said in a March 27 e-mailed statement from Asmara.

“It is clear that the current alarming mass arrest of the Oromo individuals is a sign of desperation of the TPLF regime,” it said.

Oromos make up 34.5 percent of Ethiopia’s population of 90.9 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook.

The detainees, who include students, teachers and former parliamentary candidates, are being held in Central Prison without access to lawyers, or being allowed to receive visitors, according to Bekele.

“The very existence of these organizations is testimony that political pluralism exists in Ethiopia,” Shimeles said. “No-one will be prosecuted for pursuing different political policies to the ruling party.”

The ruling Ethiopian People’s Democratic Revolutionary Democratic Front, led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and allied parties won all but three of 547 parliamentary seats in a May election. Security forces killed at least 193 people protesting the results of Ethiopia’s 2005 elections.

Heineken Submits Highest Bids for Two Ethiopian Breweries

Other Publications — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:06:02 +0000

March 29 (Bloomberg) — Heineken NV, the world’s third- largest brewer, submitted the highest offer for an Ethiopian brewery being sold by the government and is the only bidder for a second one, the country’s privatization agency said.

Heineken offered $85.2 million for Bedele Brewery SC, Wondafrash Assefa, spokesman for the Private and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency, said in an interview today in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. The Amsterdam-based company is also prepared to pay $78.2 million for Harar Brewery SC and there are no competing bids, he said.

“Our bids were the highest and we look forward to engaging formally with the Ethiopian government once it has completed its review of the detailed bid documentation,” Heineken spokesman John-Paul Schuirink said in an e-mailed statement. The company was told that process may take “up to 120 days,” he said.

Ethiopia is selling state-owned companies to private investors as it seeks to diversify its economy. The Horn of Africa nation, the continent’s biggest coffee producer, relies on agriculture to generate 43 percent of its economic output, according to the CIA World Factbook.

The government plans to sell 50 companies by mid-2015, including agricultural, food and printing businesses, according to Wondafrash.

Communist Regime

Most of Ethiopia’s private businesses were nationalized in the 1980s under the former Communist Derg regime. That government was toppled by the current ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, a party with Marxist roots that has shifted toward a market-based economy since it came to power in 1991.

“The private sector is more efficient than the public sector,” Wondafrash said.

Bedele, situated in western Ethiopia, has the capacity to produce 300,000 330-milliliter (0.7-pint) bottles of beer per day, according to the agency’s website. Harar Brewery can produce 200,000 hectoliters (5.28 million gallons) of the beverage annually, it said.

Among other bidders for Bedele were SouthWest Development Plc of Ethiopia, which bid $70 million; Carlsberg A/S, the Copenhagen-based beer maker, which offered $68 million; and BGI Ethiopia, a unit of French brewer and vintner Groupe Castel, which bid $64 million, Wondafrash said.

“It’s good to see the big companies interested,” he said. “And it’s also good for them, as these breweries have a lot of resources.”

Growing Consumption

BGI Ethiopia, Ethiopia’s biggest brewer by sales, accounted for about half of the 300 million liters of beer sold in the 12 months to July 7, 2009, in Africa’s second-most populous nation, Access Capital, an Addis Ababa-based research group, said in May. Beer consumption is expected to grow by about 15 percent every year for five years, it said.

“With its large, growing population, political stability, improving economy and rapidly growing beer market, Ethiopia is a promising, long-term growth market for Heineken in Africa,” Schuirink said.

Ethiopians, Eritreans hold friendship conference in San Jose

Other Publications — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:24:18 +0000

By Pete Carey: MercuryNews.com: San Jose may seem like an out-of-the-way place for an international friendship conference. But on Saturday, Ethiopians and Eritreans from as far away as Europe and South Africa met to find ways to bring the two peoples together.

The occasion was the third annual Ethiopian and Eritrean Friendship Conference, held this year at the Masonic Center in South San Jose. About 100 participants pledged to set aside their differences and forge a movement they hope will catch on in their bitterly divided, once warring homelands.

There were a few tears, plenty of laughter and many open hearts and minds — all necessary ingredients for the reconciliation movement the conference represents.

“Ethiopians and Eritreans are exhausted and want to live in peace — for themselves and for their children,” said Berhane Ghebre-Negus, a board member of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Friendship Forum, which sponsored the event.

He called on “those of us in the diaspora who escaped, and who now are enjoying the fruits of peace,” to work together to bring harmony and development to their two countries.

Eritrea, a country of 5 million, was once the northwest region of Ethiopia, which has a population of about 76 million. But Eritrea gained independence in 1993.

The split was followed by a war with Ethiopia in which an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 perished on both sides. A treaty was signed in 2000.

Divisions and suspicion and occasional border

conflicts persist in the region. Immigrants to the United States often bring those divisions with them, sticking to their own groups in the Bay Area, said Abebe Gelagay and Hagos Tekle, board members who helped launch the friendship forum in 2008.

Gelagay said it’s the first group to bring Ethiopians and Eritreans together since the war.

Gelagay, a teacher, and Tekle, a contractor, founded the friendship forum as a grass-roots effort to bring the two immigrant communities together. The group facilitates conferences on peace and reconciliation and encourages collaboration among Ethiopian and Eritrean community agencies and organizations that represent the 20,000 Ethiopians and Eritreans who live in the San Jose area and another 20,000 who are scattered throughout the Bay Area.

New chapters have been formed in other cities, including Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Denver and Los Angeles. Baltimore and Toronto may soon have their own chapters.

Gelagay, who is Ethiopian, and Tekle, an Eritrean, said the organization’s goal is to help the two peoples break free of the emotional and geographic prisons of the past.

Gelagay said he grew up in an area that is now the border between the two countries. At the time, he said, there was a free exchange of commerce, culture and friendship, but that has been replaced with bitter division.

“Those people don’t even share a market, don’t even pray together now,” he said.

The idea behind the forum is that uniting the two immigrant communities here will encourage emulation in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

“We said let’s have this grass-roots movement so we can find a solution, live peacefully side by side as two nations and have economic, political and cultural relations,” Tekle said.

The movement is the only way to empower people to “demand better relationships between those two countries,” Tekle said. “We understand it may not happen right away. But when peace comes, we want people to be ready.”

Added Gelagay: “Politics have divided us. But come on, the world is getting smaller.”

Ethiopia bomb blast wounds two, official says

Other Publications — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:45:00 +0000

By REUTERS

ADDIS ABABA – A bomb exploded near a court in the west of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on Thursday, wounding two people, police officials said.

“It exploded at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on the pavement of a road that links with the Lideta High Court,” Tesfaye Eshetu, a district police investigator, told Reuters.

Tesfaye said two people had sustained light injuries but were now on their way out of hospital.

“We haven’t apprehended any suspects so far. The case is still being investigated,” he added.

Ethiopia warns of action against Eritrea

Other Publications — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 13:10:25 +0000

By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia warned on Saturday it would take “all measures necessary” against Eritrea, in a rare threat of direct action against a neighbour it routinely accuses of supporting rebel groups.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have often traded tough rhetoric since a 1998-2000 border war killed some 80,000 people, but Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has up to now ruled out confrontation.

“What we are saying is that we will not sit idle and watch Eritrea challenge our sovereignty and our development efforts,” foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told Reuters.

Ethiopia claims Eritrea is trying to destabilise the Horn of African nation by backing rebels, while also supporting Islamist militants in Somalia. The Ethiopian government usually says it is content to keep security tight at home to deter attacks.

Eritrea fiercely denies the charges and accuses Western nations of siding with Ethiopia over the unresolved border row.

Dina accused Eritrea of attempting to carry out attacks inside Ethiopia during an African Union summit in February and said Addis Ababa was asking the international community to pressure Asmara into “refraining” from such moves.

“If they (international community) don’t heed, then we will take all measures necessary to defend ourselves,” he said.

CHANGE POLICIES OR GOVERNMENT

Prime Minister Meles told local media earlier this week that his administration should “either work towards changing Eritrea’s policies or its government”.

“This could be done diplomatically, politically or through other means,” he said.

Eritrean authorities were not immediately available for comment on the apparent hardening of Ethiopia’s stance.

The Red Sea state was part of Ethiopia until 1991 when rebel forces led by President Isaias Afewerki fought their way to secession following a 30-year liberation war.

Meles and Isaias were allies when they led separate rebel groups fighting former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, but they have been foes ever since the border war.

Eritrea is one of the world’s most secretive nations. Analysts and rights groups accuse Isaias of subjecting his opponents to arbitrary detentions and torture.

Eritrea was also hit with U.N. sanctions in 2009 over charges it provided funds and weapons to Islamist insurgents in Somalia — an accusation it denies.

Fundraiser for Ethiopian Women suffering from Obstetrical Fistula

Other Publications — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:22:43 +0000

Press release: For immediate release
Event Date: Monday, April 4, 2011 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Re: Fundraiser for Ethiopian Women suffering from Obstetrical Fistula
Contact person: Nancy Feldman
Contact number (973)707-5247
Email: Nancy Feldman16@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE

On the evening of Monday, April 4, 2011 a “Spring Gala” will be held at Mesob Restaurant, 515 Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair, New Jersey. A consortium of US and Ethiopian healthcare and community leaders has organized this “Spring Gala” event to raise money for Ethiopian women who suffer from a medical condition called obstetrical fistula. Only $450.00 US dollars is needed to help pay for one woman to receive the medical attention needed to surgically repair her obstetric fistula. Our goal is to raise enough charitable donations to cover the costs for 25 women waiting to receive obstetric fistula repair. The price to restore one women’s health and dignity is just a little more than the cost of one IPOD!

The funding will be distributed to Hamlin Fistula’s satellite hospital, located in Harrar, Ethiopia through The FISTULA FOUNDATION – “Love-A-Sister” Program, a non-profit national organization located in San Jose, California (www.fistulafoundation.org).

Committee chairperson, Nancy Feldman, a R.N. employed at West Orange High School, who is a Montclair resident, first became interested in helping the plight of women who suffer from obstetrical fistula, after having attended a seminar on the topic at Montclair State University. Members of the committee include Angela Cherami, Asmeret Ghebremicael, Mayda Kale, Tezeta Roro, Irvington’s West Ward Member and Council President John Sowell and business owners, Tekeste Ghebremicael, CPA, of Cass Inc., Realtors, Kristine Massari of Trumpets Jazz Club, and Berekti Mengistu of Mesob.

The Spring Gala will take place on Monday, April 4th at Mesob Restaurant, renowned for its Ethiopian cuisine. Tickets for the gala are priced at $100 per person, 100% of which will be a fully tax-deductible contribution. Tickets for the gala will be available for purchase at both Mesob Restaurant and Trumpets, by emailing Nancy Feldman at nfeldman16@gmail.com or by calling her at (973) 707-5247.

Tickets for the Monday, April 4th event can be reserved by calling Mesob at 973-655-9000 or by sending an email to nfeldman16@gmail.com

Attend an enjoyable evening of discovery of Ethiopian food, music, culture and possibly winning great donated prizes. All this while supporting a most worthy cause and knowing that your caring and monetary support will change the life of one of our Ethiopian sisters!