Month: May 2023

Delegations from Zambia, Niger, Tanzania and Cote d’Ivoire visited wheat cluster farming activities in East Shewa Zone in Oromia region.

The visit was accompanied by Chief Administrator of Oromia Regional state, Shimelis Abdisa and other regional state officials.

The tour is organized to exchange best practices and experiences of Ethiopia in transforming agriculture, particularly cluster farming and development in wheat, avocado, and coffee in Ethiopia.

During its four day tour in Ethioipia, the delegation is also expected to visit various development activities in the region.

Cluster farming is considered as one of the ways by which the country will enhance structural productivity of the agricultural sector, promoting small scale farmers adjacent to one another to work together and produce similar crops in large quantities.

Cluster farming also facilitates, among others, the supply of specific fertilizer conducive for agroecology and enhanced technical support including vital machineries to harvest crops.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The United Nations Special Envoy for Horn of Africa appreciated Ethiopia for opening up its routes to evacuate international staff and foreign citizens from Sudan and called for international support.

Briefing the diplomatic community and representatives of international organizations recently, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mesganu Arga said that Ethiopia has been processing the massive evacuations of nationals of 50 countries from Sudan based on their request.

According to him, the ongoing evacuation efforts require supports from the international community and relevant UN agencies.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, The UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh noted that a lot of international organizations, embassies, and citizens from other countries are trying to leave Sudan because of the conflict.

“Ethiopia being a neighboring country is one of the countries which is being used by some international actors to try to evacuate their staff from Sudan. And I am very appreciative of the fact that the honorable minister said that Ethiopia is ready to make available Bahir Dar Airport and Gondar Airport for the evacuation of civilians from the conflict in Sudan,” Tetteh noted.

The special envoy also took note of the call the state minister has made for logistics support, for in the future the influx of refugees would increase.

“Even though your country (Ethiopia) has been very generous in opening itself up to be a route for evacuation, if this conflict continues…you will not just see people who are internationals, you will see Sudanese who will be running away from the fighting and who will try to cross the border here in order to be able to seek refuge from being attacked.”

Acknowledging that the evacuation activity puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the finance and logistics of the receiving state, the special envoy appreciated Ethiopia which has always been a welcoming state to refugees.

The situation in Sudan and the massive evacuation process is going to put a lot of pressure on Ethiopia, whose resources are already strained and stretched.

She noted that Ethiopia has resource limitations relating the rebuilding and reconstruction efforts in the northern part of the country.

“Of course, we don’t underestimate what that costs of your country in terms of resources. So we would very much like to encourage the international community to be as much supportive possible to Ethiopia’s efforts to facilitate the evacuation of persons and to also facilitate the reception of refugees,” she stated.

Despite all challenges, the special envoy commended the Ethiopian government for acting as a facilitator by making the airports available for use for evacuation and also the security and logistics arrangements put in place.

She also pledged that the UN will redeploy some of its resources to support Ethiopia’s effort and it will be working with the Ethiopian government as requested to support this effort.

The special envoy also called on the Sudanese forces to back the political process because fighting is not going to resolve anything but it is only going to compound the misery and suffering of the people.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Sri Lanka is very much interested to expand bilateral relations with Ethiopia in various areas, Ambassador Theshantha Kumarasiri said.

In an exclusive interview with the Ethiopian News Agency, Sri Lanka Ambassador to Ethiopia Theshantha Kumarasiri said Sri Lanka has very strong relations with Ethiopia and looks forward to expanding this ties.

He noted that Ethiopia and Sri Lanka are ancient friends, having relations since ancient times.

He pointed out that even before we established our embassy in 2016, we have had strong political, diplomatic and economic relations.

“We are thinking of expanding our bilateral cooperation, people to people relations. And we are also thinking of expanding our relations in connectivity; we have signed agreement with the Ethiopian Airlines. We are proposing to have direct flight between Colombo and Addis Ababa,” he said.

According to the ambassador, some Sri Lankan companies have established business in Ethiopia especially in Hawassa Industrial Park.

Sri Lankan companies are engaged in the apparel industry and are in contact with the Ethiopian government and the business sector, he said, adding that they are looking forward to expanding the garment sector as well.

“A lot of investors are coming, Sri Lankan businessmen are very interested in expanding the trade relation with Ethiopia, I believe when we expand our ties, there will be an opportunity for them to expand that area of trade with garment industry and also in other areas,” he added.

Sri Lanka is desirous to strengthen ties in many fields and exploit investment opportunities for mutual benefits in garment, trade and other areas, the ambassador pointed out.

“So many Sri Lankan companies want to invest particularly in the agriculture field and there are many inquiries that we received. This is the time even ( Sri Lankan) president, foreign minister and prime minister; they are looking forward to enhance our relation in Africa particularly in green energy and blue economy, among others. ”

“So, it will be a new beginning and we are looking forward to expand to the entire Africa through our engagement with Ethiopia,” he said.

He also said that they are thinking of having high ranking Sri Lankan government visits very soon, most probably the president or the foreign minister, to bolster bilateral relations with Ethiopia.

They are very much interested in engaging directly with the African leaders including Ethiopian leaders, President Sahle-Work Zewde, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen for strong bilateral engagement.

The ambassador who served in Paris, South Korea and Brazil, before designated to Ethiopia said, the embassy of Sri Lanka in Addis Ababa is also looking forward to facilitate bilateral cooperation and engagement with business partners.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

An impressive display from the Clever Boys on Sunday against a struggling Orlando Pirates saw them keep their hopes for a top-five finish in the Debmarine Namibia Premier League alive.

The Clever Boys, as the University of Namibia (UNAM) football team is known by its followers, outclassed their opponents at the Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) Sports Field, when they beat Pirates with a 3-1 win in a match that saw less than 100 people in attendance.

With the win, UNAM is still fifth on the log standing with 43 points, just a point away from Life Fighters who are fourth with 44 points and three points away from Mighty Gunners.

With African Stars already crowned champions of the 2022/23 Debmarine Namibia Premiership season, coastal-based outfit Blue Water has created an eight-point gap with Gunners after their 2-1 win against Black Africa at the Khomasdal Stadium on Sunday.

Blue Waters comfortably occupy the second position on the log with 54 points and three games remaining in this season.

Meanwhile, Pirates started the season on a good note but things have now turned south as they find themselves just three points away from the relegation battle in 13th place with 30 points, three points away from their arch-rival Black Africa who are taking up the last relegation at 14th spot, with 27 points from 27 games played thus far.

In an interview with Nampa on Sunday, Pirates coach Woody Jacobs said they are well aware of their position.

“We had a good start to the season but things have not been good in the field of play since the resumption of the second leg. Our destiny is in our own hands at the moment, we must win the last two matches against Okahandja United and Mighty Gunners for us to keep our spot of competing in the Premier League next season,” he said.

Jacobs added that they are going to push themselves in the team’s remaining fixtures of the season.

“We just want everyone to be positive. With the position that we are in at the moment, everyone is aware of what will happen if we don’t win our remaining games hence the reason we are looking at regrouping again so we can take points from our two upcoming matches,” Jacobs said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency