Ethiopian photojournalist Aziza Mohamed held without charge
NEWS ALERT Nairobi, July 31, 2014–CPJ is alarmed by the detention of Addis Guday (“Addis Affairs”) photojournalist Aziza Mohamed, who has been in custody for two weeks without charge. Police arrested Aziza on July 18 while she was covering Muslim protests near Anwar Mosque in the capital Addis Ababa, local journalists told CPJ. She is […]
Read More →Where is Amhara’s country
Where is Amhara’s country? If you can not see the maps and other parts of the article, please open and read the PDF file.Where is Amhara Reminder I have used the real identity and names of people which might create some problems since some of those people are well known by the government and the […]
Read More →The Devaluation of the Birr: A Layman’s Guide, Part 2 Seid Hassan‐ Murray State University
shassan@murraystate.edu August 1, 2014. Hitherto, I have been reluctant to post a commentary regarding the World Bank’s suggested birr devaluation measure which is still being debated as we speak. I was reluctant partly because my highly received 2010 commentary addressed many of the issues that seem new today and partly because I did not have (and have yet to) access to the full paper that the World Bank’s Ethiopian representatives have worked on. I decided to disseminate this commentary partly to remind concerned individuals that the predictions that my 2010 commentary has made are largely born out to be true and previous birr devaluations measures were largely ineffective. I also observed errors and misunderstandings made by commentators, bloggers and the general public regarding this issue. At the outset, I agree with Mr. Lars Moller, the Work Bank’s chief economist in Ethiopia that the birr is overvalued. The main driver of the birr’s overvaluation is the country’s ongoing high inflation rates. There are indeed other contributing factors to the overvaluation of the birr, some of them being the influx of remittances and foreign aid (these latter two also being partial conduits for the massive illicit financial flows) as well as the suppressed trade and exchange rate markets‐ including the suppressed, battered and interfered parallel exchange market. Another way of observing the birr’s overvaluation is this: the birr is overvalued because its exchange rate exceeds what the open market would be willing to pay for it and because Ethiopia’s general price level is higher than the general price of comparable countries. This basically means that the birr would have dramatically depreciated were it allowed to float. To see the paradoxical and weird (non‐market driven) nature of the Ethiopian situation, one can look into, for example, the long‐time co‐existence of high inflation rates and low interest rates (and negative real interest rates.) Indeed, negative interest rates, coupled with the ruling party’s practice of credit channeling have played huge roles in impoverishing savers and transferring wealth from the general public and the nation as a whole to party‐owned conglomerates and elites who have close ties with the government. The reader needs to know that there is difference between nominal and real exchange rates. The nominal exchange rate for the birr (or any currency), is the price of birr in terms of a foreign currency. This is indicated by the birr‐ U.S. dollar exchange rate, which was $1 U.S. = 19.7720 birr as of July 30. 2014. Just before August 31st, 2010, the birr/dollar exchange rate was 13.6284. On September 1st, 2010 (after the official devaluation), the birr was quoted by the National Bank of Ethiopia at a weighted average of 16.3514 birr against the U.S. dollar. Given the current birr/dollar exchange rate of 19.7720, the reader can easily observe that the birr was continuously, quietly and in a stealth manner, devalued by about 21% (calculated as (19.772‐ 16.3514)/16.3514)) since September, 2010. At the same time, annual inflation rates in Ethiopia from 2005 to 2013, respectively, were 9.95%, 12.20%, 17.25%, 43.80%, 10.57%, 8.12%, 33.00%, 23.33% and 8.07%. The reader can observe from this that the exchange rate has not been coping with the country’s inflation rates. It is important to recognize that the above (nominal) exchange rate tells nothing about the REAL buying power of the birr or the country’s competitiveness. The real exchange rate is used to measure the buying power of the birr and the competitiveness of Ethiopia’s exports. By definition, the real exchange rate (r) is the nominal exchange rate (e) adjusted by the ratio of foreign price (Pf) to the domestic (home) price level (Ph). Mathematically, it is represented as . f h P re P Using this equation, suppose that Ethiopian the nominal birr‐dollar exchange rate […]
Read More →Ethiopia Says U.K. Review of Aid Is Based on Fabricated Claims
Bloomberg Ethiopia Says U.K. Review of Aid Is Based on Fabricated Claims By William Davison July 30, 2014 A British court’s decision to allow a judicial review of aid given to Ethiopia is based on “fabrications” about a resettlement program propagated by people outside the country, the Horn of Africa nation’s Foreign Ministry said. The […]
Read More →Rally to protest the Human Rights Violations & lack of freedom in Ethiopia / Africa at the US Africa Leaders’s Summit
While Africa is known for its abundant natural resources and fertile lands, over 90% of the continent’s citizens are forced to live below absolute poverty because of tyrannical rulers that enrich themselves and their cronies. Many African people are living under non-elected dictator’s rule with gross human rights violations and lack of freedom. Many are […]
Read More →ከላይ ሆነን ስናይ
ከላይ ሆነን ስናይ በ ገለታውዘለቀ በቅርቡየኣሜሪካፌደራልኣቪየሽንኣስተዳደር(FAA)በዓለምላይለበረራኣደገኛየሆኑትንመስመሮችበካርታውላይከቦኣስጠንቅቆየነበረሲሆንበሪፖርቱላይእንደሚታየውእነዚህንኣደገኛቦታዎችበሁለትከፍሏቸዋል።ኣንደኛውመስመርኣደገኛነትያለውክልል (potentially hostile region) ሲሆንሁለተኛውክልልግንበረራንጨርሶየከለከለ(Flight prohibited) ክልል ነው።ኣደገኛነትኣላቸውተብለውኣብራሪዎችከግምትእንዲያስገቡየተመከሩባቸውክልሎችኬንያ፣ኣፍጋኒስታን፣ኢራን፣ሶሪያ፣ማሊ፣የመን፣ኮንጎናግብጽ ሲናይናቸው።የበረራመስመርየተከለከለባቸውኣካባቢዎችደግሞዩክሬንውስጥድኒፕሮፐትሮቭስክ (ይህ ኣካባቢ በሶቪየት ዮኒየን ጊዜ የኒውክሌር ማምረቻ ተቋም የነበረበትና በኣሁኑ ሰዓት ደግሞ በራሽያ የሚደገፉ ገንጣዮች የሚንቀሳቀሱበት ክልል ነው)፣የክራይሚያ ክልል፣ሊቢያ፣ሶማሊያ፣ኢራቅ፣ሰሜንኮርያናሰሜናዊኢትዮጵያ (ትግራይ)ናቸው። የፌደራልኣቪየሽንኣስተዳደርመግለጫውንካወጣበሁዋላበተለይለበረራየተከለከሉትንክልሎችስናይብዙምጥያቄያልፈጠረብንቢሆንምየሰሜኑየኢትዮጵያክፍልግንተለይቶከነዚህኣደገኛኣካባቢዎችጋርእንዴትሊመደብቻለ?የሚለውጉዳይበተለይለኛለኢትዮጵያዊያንትልቅየመወያያጉዳይየሆነይመስላል።የኣሜሪካመንግስትምንኣይቶነው?ምንመረጃኣገኘ?የሚሉትጥያቄዎችበጣምያጓጉንምይመስላል።ይህጉዳይመወያያከሆነወዲህብዙሰውመላየመታውየኢትዮጵያመንግስትከኤርትራጋርለመዋጋትእቅድስላለውናየኣሜሪካመንግስትምይህንንስለተረዳበኣካባቢውወታደራዊእንቅስቃሴስለሚታይ ቦታውንከኣደገኛኣካባቢሊያስመድበውችሎኣልየሚልነው።ሙያው ባይኖረኝምና ለዛሬ ጽሁፌ ዋና ጭብጥ ይህ ጉዳይ ባይሆንም በዚህ ላይ እኔም እንደ ግለሰብ የግል ኣስተያየቴን መስጠት እፈልጋለሁ። […]
Read More →Oromo nationalism on the rise in Ethiopia
Al Jazeera Protests and online activism in recent months have brought a resurgence of ethnic Oromo nationalism in Ethiopia. William Davison, 29 July Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Aslan Hasan, a student belonging to the Oromo ethnic group in Ethiopia, was called either a guilt-ridden terrorist who committed suicide or an innocent victim of brutal state […]
Read More →41 አለማቀፍ ድርጅቶች የታሰሩት ጋዜጠኞችና ጦማርያን በአፋጣኝ እንዲፈቱ ጠየቁ
የጸረ ሽብርተኝነት ህጉ ይሻሻል ብለዋል ከዚህ በፊት በሽብርተኝነት የተፈረደባቸው እንዲፈቱ ጠይቀዋል 41 የሰብዓዊ መብት ተሟጋቾች፣ የፕሬስ ነጻነት አቀንቃኞች፣ አለማቀፍና ክልላዊ የሲቪል ማህበረሰብ ተቋማትና የሙያ ማህበራት…መንግስት በቅርቡ የሽብርተኝነት ክስ የመሰረተባቸውን ጋዜጠኞችና የዞን 9 ጦማርያን በአፋጣኝ እንዲፈታ ለጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ሃይለማርያም ደሳለኝ ከትናንት በስቲያ በላኩት ደብዳቤ መጠየቃቸውን ብሉምበርግ ኒውስ ዘገበ፡፡ ሂዩማን ራይትስ ዎች፣ አምነስቲ ኢንተርናሽናል፣ አርቲክል 19 ምስራቅ […]
Read More →ዘረኝነት፦ ብዙሃንን በአንድ ቁና መስፈር
Zerihun Tesfaye ያለፉት ሦስት ቀናት ፌስቡክ አሳፋሪ ክስተት የታየበት፣ የዘረኝነት ስካር ናላቸውን ያዞረው አዳጊዎች የሕወሓት ባለስልጣናትን በአንቀልባ ካላዘልን ብለው የጮሁበት መድረክ ሆኖ ነበር። ድርጊቱ አዲስ ባይሆንም የአንድ ባለስልጣን ‘ክብር’ ተናካ ብለው ጉዳዩን ከብዙሃን ጋር ለማያያዝ መሞከራቸው የዛሬ የሕወሓት አጫፋሪዎች ነገ ምን ሊፈጥሩ እንደሚችሉ አመልካች ነውና በጉዳዩ ላይ የራሴን አስተያየት ለመስጠት ተገድጃለሁ። የነገሩ መነሾ፤ […]
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