Some of this year’s graduates from Addis Ababa University.Photo : EBC
According to government media, Ethiopian broadcasting corporation, more than 10,000 students graduated from the country’s oldest institution of higher learning, Addis Ababa University.
Among the graduates are 207 Phd candidates and 4,351 graduate students. Addis Ababa university has science, social science,law,medicine and architecture faculties.
The rest of the graduates are from Adama, Adigrat, Arbamich,Assosa,Gonder, Haramaya, Jimma, Mekelle and Wello universities.
Ethiopia is one of the countries with highest unemployment rates. Graduates have often hard time to find jobs and thousands of Ethiopians resorted to migration as an option even when it represents clearly uncertain or even perilous journey ahead.
TPLF full of optimism about Mekelle Industrial Park
Mekelle Industrial Park design, Ethiopia
July 11,2017
borkena,Ethiopian News
Mekelle Industrial Park is inaugurated on July 9. The construction cost is reported to be US $100 million. The park covers an area of 100-hectare land and government believes that it will create more than 20,000 jobs for people in Tigray region of the country.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegne and other high-ranking government officials travelled to Mekelle, the capital of Tigray region, for the inauguration. Hailemariam is cited as saying, by government media –Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, that industrial park development will pave the way for the country’s development.
He travelled to Mekelle after inaugurating Kombolcha Industrial Park on July 8. Conveniently located in north central Ethiopia, on the way to central Ethiopia to the capital and to the eastern part of Ethiopia, the town had a textile and meat production factory which was established during Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam’s government. The newly inaugurated Kombolcha Industrial Park is smaller compared to Mekelle Industrial Park.
Arkebe Oqubay, who is one of the key Tigray People’s Liberation Front and chairman of Industrial Parks development board, believes that Mekelle Industrial Park would play a positive role in “promoting technology transformation and economic integration.”
The inauguration ceremony concluded with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalege dancing along with senior Tigray People’s Liberation Front officials to the tunes of TPLF’s military and political song. He was seen jumping with a hundred Ethiopian currency bill on his neck – apparently tipped by euphoric cadres of TPLF.
For many astute observers, TPLF officials dance circling the prime minister, whom many Ethiopians consider to be a puppet of the ruling elite (TPLF), has a political meaning that resonates with the ethnic-supremacy mentality of TPLF officials.
Mekelle Industrial Park inauguration happened just weeks after the council of ministers drafted legislation to grant Oromia region of Ethiopia a ‘special interest’ over Addis Ababa – something that pundits interpreted as a strategic move to make the capital Addis Ababa ethnic battling ground and a playing card for power balance game.
Fears high that the new tax hike could be a cause for re-surging protest
July 13,2017
borkena,Ethiopia News
Ambo Source : Google map
Barely weeks after government introduced new federal tax calculation which rather overburdened small business owners in a matter that is not bearable, protest reportedly broke out in Ambo town, south of the capital Addis Ababa.
ESAT cited sources from the town to report that about four police vehicles were destroyed during the protest in Ambo today.
From the report, there are also protests in other parts of the country in opposition to tax hikes for street vendors and small business owners.
Small business communities in Addis Ababa are also disenchanted and embittered by tax increases. Just to give you idea,based on social media reports, a single barber’s taxes are calculated on the assumption that he gets forty clients a day with a daily income of about 4,000 Ethiopian birr which is equivalent to $US 200. while the estimate is over-exaggerated, small business owners are expected to pay tax on the basis of it. The same is true for other small business owners.
In fact, there is unverified report that a small business owner committed suicide feeling hopeless about government move.
Ethiopia is still under state of emergency rule and there are speculations that government will extend it further in fear of looming protest across the country.
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Administrations admit problems between Amara and Tigray but identity question seem to be either overlooked or ignored entirely.
Peace Conference between Tigray and Amara region. Photo credit : ENA
borkena, Ethiopian News
July 22,2017
Abay Woldu and Gedu Andargachew, presidents of Tigray regions and Amara region respectively, vowed to resolve what government media called `problems` between Amara and Tigray peoples.
The two presidents are to resolutely work to resolve“border and other problems“ between Tigay and Amara as quickly as possible, according to report by Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).
More than four hundred “elders“ from Amara were gathered in Mekelle for a two days conference. They are cited as saying that failure on the part of government to address demands by people in the region were exploited by “anti-peace forces“ – apparently to cause problems between Tigray and Amara.
ENA also quoted Gedu Andargachew as saying “we have a historical responsibility to address appropriately the demands raised by the people.“ He added that there is no way out or solution other than responding demands by people.
Abay Woldu on his part is reported as saying that he, as president of the Tigray region, and TPLF are ready to resolve border issue.
However, Abay sounded equivocal when he said, which may mean the position of TPLF as well, that the origin of the problem is related to difference between rent-seeking and “Developmental Democratic thoughts.“
What seem to be admitted indirectly is that there exists “problem between Amara and Tigray peoples“ – and this is something that government never openly talked about.
However, description of the problem is muddied as `border` problem. The issue has rather a lot to do with identity question. Tigray region incorporated Wolqaite, which has been part of Gonder all its life, as part of Tigray when TPLF took power in 1991. Hundreds of people in Wolqaite who opposed the forced inclusion of it as part of Tigray were either killed or disappeared with no trace.
When popular protest broke out last year in Amara region, one of the key demands was that Wolqaite Gonder proper and should be returned to Gonder.
Government response to popular demand was brutal and hundreds of civilians were killed by government deployed sniper killers. A year after the incident, government seem to be manipulating the issue though the agency of “elders.”
Gonder region of Ethiopia is still militarized and egregious human rights violations including outright extra-judicial killing has reportedly become part of life for some in the region.
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More small business owners across Ethiopia are joining a strike over new tax hike which was introduced lastly.
Over-exaggerated and inaccurate small and medium business daily income calculation and the consequent imposition of burdensome taxes compelled many to quit the business.
Yet, the reactions from many others was rather a strike. It started in Ambo town last week and spread to other towns across the country.
This week significant business in Addis Ababa joined the country wide strike.
Government security forces are already cracking down on business community that is joining the strike in a different town.
Extended state of emergency is supposed to end but there are expectations government will extend it again.
Body of Ethiopian man who is identified as Yetbarek Demoze is recovered from Lake Union, reported Seattle based Komo News citing police report.
He was reported missing early Sunday.
His wife is cited as saying that Demoz came home around 3:30 a.m on Sunday and that he told her he was going to give friends a ride home.
The report added that Demoz was on board of a 25-foot boat that belonged to Demoze. Not much is known at this point as to what went wrong.
It seems that no other body is recovered; Komo News report did not indicate on the conditions of people who were on the same boat.
Yetbarek Demoze,36, was married and a father of two children.
Shakespeare Feyisa who says that he was a close friend of the deceased told the news source that he was supposed to be in the same boat and was to be picked up by Yetbarek.
“As a community we are heartbroken …When anything happens in our community (Demoze) is the first one to lend a helping hand, to donate money, to be there for all of us ” Shakespeare Feyisa is quoted as saying.
This week, the government announced that it arrested more than 30 senior government officials in connection with corruption.
Federal and Addis Ababa Roads Authority, Sugar Corporation and ministry of finance and economic cooperation are among government organizations from which officials were arrested on alleged corruption charges.
As well, “brokers” and business people are also arrested according to pro-government news sources.
Communication Minister, Negeri Lencho (Dr.), gave press statement regarding the arrest. He claims that government was closely following up officials who squandered public funds that are meant to be for development purpose.
He added that a task force drawn from Federal Prosecutor and Federal police was handling the matter and following up the officials.
The reactions
Many Ethiopian pundits and opinion leaders are skeptical, as usual, about the arrest and rather seem to take it as a strategy to carry out purger project that is possibly deemed to be relevant to weaken resistance to TPLF unregulated power within the ruling coalition, EPRDF.
Activists, for example, point to Abaye Tsehaye – key TPLF Politburo member who has been head of Ethiopian Sugar Corporation for a long time. There has been repeated corruption report in the organization.
Huge borrowed money is also invested in infrastructure development including road construction and development of industrial parks and most local contractors are known to be TPLF affiliated companies based in Tigray or the capital Addis Ababa.
No names are disclosed so far but the speculation is that no senior TPLF members are in the list of people who are arrested.
Government, through the communication minister, expressed intent to take “the fight against corruption” to regional state levels and that is where it is expected to serve as a powerful sword for TPLF to deal with dissidents from within who are boldly showing resistance to TPLF power.
Opposition to TPLF is especially stronger from ANDM (Amara National Democratic Movement) and OPDO (Oromo People’s Democratic Organization) – both in essence creations of TPLF immediately before and after coming to power in 1991.
ADDIS ABABA, More than 3,600 Ethiopians have been deported from Saudi Arabia between July 3-27, after serving prison sentences for violating Saudi rules and regulations.
Speaking to Xinhua on Friday, Asmelash Gebrehiwot, senior official at Ethiopia’s National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC), said the deportees are separate from the 70,000 Ethiopians that have returned to Ethiopia ahead of a Saudi amnesty deadline for undocumented migrants to leave.
“The Ethiopian deportees were in Saudi Arabia jails over offenses ranging from being caught without valid expatriate residency identification cards to being engaged in petty crimes,” he added.
Gebrehiwot further said the Ethiopian government is working with the International Organization for Migration to provide shelter, transportation, clothes and pocket money for the deportees.
Saudi Arabia announced in March a three months amnesty program for undocumented foreign migrants to voluntarily leave the country before the amnesty’s expiration in late June.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia will issue national identity cards for the nearly 1,000 Rastafarians who long have been seen as stateless in the East African nation, the government announced Thursday.
The decision means they can enter without visas and live without residence permits. The move also affects Ethiopian Jews and foreign nationals who have made positive contributions to the country.
“These individuals have long been unable to enter and leave the country easily,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Meles Alem told The Associated Press. “In the case of Rastafarians, we have three generations of people residing here that have blended well with our citizens. But sadly they were neither Caribbean nor Ethiopians so were somehow stateless. This national ID will address this problem.”
Close to one thousand Rastafarians live in Ethiopia, especially in the capital, Addis Ababa, and a southern town called Shashamane. Ethiopia’s last emperor, Haile Selassie, granted land for the Shashamane settlement for black people who helped fight off Fascist Italian forces in the 1930s.
Rastafarianism, which began after the emperor came to power, has followers who believe he is god.
“We are overjoyed,” said Ras King, a prominent member of the Rastafarian community who first came to Ethiopia in 1982. “We are extremely happy because this has fulfilled our confidence in our forefathers’ vision for a united Africa and black people from the West. As usual, Ethiopia has led the way and set the example for the rest of the continent in recognizing the Rastafarian movement.”
Ethiopian Jews, also known as Beta Israel, have a significant presence both in Ethiopia and in Israel.
The foreign ministry said the thousands of people who will be issued the new identity cards still cannot take part in elections or engage in the country’s security and defense sectors.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Ababa Tesfaye Ethiopian, a legend who created a name for himself through Children story telling, passed away aged 94.
Post-imperial Ethiopia generation grew up hearing children story from Ababa Tesfaye. His TV show in what was then Ethiopian Television, now rebranded “Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation,” the British way, glued millions of children across the nation to his show.
Strength, loyalty, morality, honesty, and patriotism were among the themes of this story telling. Before his career as Children story teller in the Ethiopian Television, he took part in famous theatres that were played in famous Ethiopian Theatere places including National Theatre and Hager Fikir.
When Ethiopia sent troops, as part of UN mission, during the Korean War, Tesfay Sailu was part of the entertainment team that went to entertain Ethiopian soldiers.
Too many Ethiopians are not even familiar with his real name, Tesfaye Sahilu, as he was affectionately called Ababa. Ababa is an adjective given to elderly people; it connotes a fatherly figure. And he was truly a fatherly figure that became a part fond memories of childhood for Ethiopians.
Sometime last week, Unity University, one of the privately owned Universities in the country, awarded him Honoris Causa sometime last week.
He is survived by two children and grand-children.
In recent years, there was a conversation in social media regarding his condition. In light his life time service to Ethiopia, he was not given the attention he deserves during his old age.
Too many Ethiopians regret that people like him are dying impoverished while people who rather brought about much damage to Ethiopia turned out to be millionaires through loots and squandering of public resources.
No detail is available as yet regarding funeral arrangements. borkena will update readers as information becomes available.
Condolences to the family and all those to whom Ababa Tesfaye was a part of their childhood.
State of Emergency “Command Post ” Secretariat – Siraj Fergessa Photo – Fana
Ethiopian government lifted the state of emergency which was imposed in October of 2016 following widespread unrest in most parts of Ethiopia.
State media reported that Siraj Fergesa, the secretariat of the command post, an executive body that was presiding over the state of emergency across the country, presented a report to the Parliament regarding the implementation of the state of emergency over the past ten months.
In the report, the regime claimed that the state of emergency reversed what the government called instability. The state of emergency was initially imposed for a six months period but the government decided to extend it over the fear of renewed protest.
According to official government figures, a total of 21,109 Ethiopians were detained in Amhara, Oromia and Southern regions of Ethiopia. Well over 7000 Ethiopians are still in custody indictment with “causing instability and terrorism”
It is not clear, from the government report, if “The Command Post” is to be disbanded or not. The state of emergency also granted additional powers to personnel working in the country’s security apparatus.
Reports by Human Rights organizations, local and international ones, indicate that nearly one thousand unarmed civilians were killed during peaceful demonstrations in different parts of the country immediately before the introduction of the state of emergency.
Pervasive gross human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings were reported during the state of emergency.
When it was introduced in 2016 political commentators were of the view that it only legalizes egregious human rights violations which have become Ethiopian reality. News of the end of it is received with similar indifference. With the “Command Post” structure still in place, the indifference does not seem to be unreasonable.
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Exactly one-year ago, at least fifty peaceful protesters were gunned down in Bahir Dar by snipers deployed by the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front government.
For the most part of the year after the bloody day, Nehassie 1 in Ethiopian Calander, the country was under a state of emergency legislation presided over by “Command Post” – mostly from TPLF military personnel. No fewer killings took place in the country during the course of the state of emergency. But no official figure is available regarding the number of victims as there has been information black out following state imposed an official restriction on freedom of expression, not to mention periodic social media black out.
The strike is clearly Bahir Dar’s way of sending a message today to the ruling party. The message seems that last years’massacre of 50 civilians in Bahir Dar is still fresh in the memory of residents of the city.
To mark one year anniversary of the bloody day, a stay-at-home strike was organized and it was effective as of this morning. Nothing is known as to who organized the strike but it is in effect and it is working. Small business in the city remained closed.
The young man in Ethiopian flag, Abebe Geremew, is one of the victims during August 1,2016 massacre in Bahir Dar. Photo: Social media
And as part of the protest, there were two grenade explosions. A resident of the city told VOA Amharic, anonymously, that the explosion took place around 4 or 4:30 am local time.
It seems the case that one of the targets was Amara National Democratic Front (ANDM) headquarter. The other bomb exploded near Pedagogy campus. No detailed information is available as yet regarding the extent of damage caused by the attack or as to who is responsible for the bomb attacks.
Fana, government affiliated broadcasting corporation, reported that five suspects are in custody. However, anonymous sources from Bahir Dar say that the arrest was random and has nothing to do with the entity that is involved in the bomb attack. Social media activists who were calling for a stay-at-home strike in remembrance of last years’ killing are also reportedly arrested.
The bomb attack yesterday is the latest in the string of attacks. The goals of these recurrent attacks are meant to be a resistance to the ruling TPLF dominated government.
In a related story, a strike is reported in Ambo and Wolisso towns in opposition to rights violations of arrested opposition leaders like Merera Gudina.
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EDITH M. LEDERER AND LORNE COOK
The Associated Press
August 10,2017
Laurent de Boeck the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission for Yemen. (AP Photo)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Smugglers have thrown some 280 migrants into the sea off the coast of Yemen in the last two days, causing more than 50 to drown and leaving over 30 missing, the U.N. migration agency said Thursday.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the migrants who were forced from boats in two separate “deeply troubling” incidents were hoping to reach countries in the Gulf via war-torn Yemen.
The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that up to 50 migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia were “deliberately drowned” by a smuggler off Yemen. The U.N. agency said 160 Ethiopian migrants were violently forced into the Arabian Sea on Thursday.
The IOM said in a statement late Thursday that its staff found six bodies on the beach — two male and four female — and 13 people are still missing. It said 84 migrants left the beach before IOM staff arrived while it provided emergency medical assistance as well as food and water to 57 surviving migrants.
Dujarric said the situation for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara desert are “just as heartbreaking” as the tragedy unfolding off Yemen.
He said 2,405 people have died or disappeared during their attempts to cross the Mediterranean and more than 265 people have died or were missing while traveling across the Sahara trying to reach the sea.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “is heartbroken by this continuing tragedy,” Dujarric said.
“This is why he continues to stress that the international community must give priority to preventing and resolving a variety of situations which both generate mass movement and expose those already on the move to significant danger,” the U.N. spokesman said.
“We must also increase legal pathways for regular migration and offer credible alternative to these dangerous crossings for people in need of international protection,” Dujarric said.
The narrow waters between the Horn of Africa and Yemen have been a popular migration route despite Yemen’s conflict. Migrants, most of them Ethiopians, try to make their way to oil-rich Gulf countries in hopes of finding jobs.
Laurent de Boeck, the IOM’s chief of mission in Yemen, told The Associated Press on Thursday that some of the migrants trying to reach Yemen “are not aware at all that there is a war. Sometimes they don’t even believe us when we explain it to them.”
Just by making land they feel “they are halfway to wealthy,” he said.
In the first drownings on Wednesday, a smuggler forced more than 120 migrants into the sea as they approached Yemen’s coast, the IOM said. Its staffers found the shallow graves of 29 migrants on a beach in Shabwa during a routine patrol. At least 22 migrants remained missing.
The passengers’ average age was around 16, the IOM said.
“The survivors told our colleagues on the beach that the smuggler pushed them to the sea when he saw some ‘authority types’ near the coast,” de Boeck said earlier. “They also told us that the smuggler has already returned to Somalia to continue his business and pick up more migrants to bring to Yemen on the same route.”
De Boeck called the suffering of migrants on the route enormous, especially during the current windy season on the Indian Ocean.
“Too many young people pay smugglers with the false hope of a better future,” he said.
The IOM says about 55,000 migrants have left Horn of Africa nations for Yemen since January, most from Somalia and Ethiopia fleeing drought and unrest at home. Many leave from points in Djibouti, with some departing from Somalia. A third of them are estimated to be women.
“Some are coming for the third time. They didn’t succeed, they went back home, but the parents didn’t agree with the fact that they didn’t succeed so they send them back. And they have no choice,” de Boeck told the AP. “They are between 12 and 25 years old.”
Migrants travelling from Djibouti pay about $150, while migrants travelling from northern Somalia pay between $200 and $250 because the route to Yemen is longer.
De Boeck expressed regret that the European Union is more focused on Mediterranean routes where smugglers have also cast migrants trying to reach Europe adrift.
“They have forgotten us a little bit,” de Boeck said.
In Ethiopia, people expressed outrage on social media over the drownings.
“This is an unprecedented level of cruelty,” wrote one Facebook user, Behailu Talegeta.
Despite the fighting in Yemen, African migrants continue to arrive in the country where there is no central authority to prevent them from traveling onward. The migrants are vulnerable to abuse by armed trafficking rings, many of them believed to be connected to the armed groups involved in the war.
Yemen’s conflict itself is a deadly risk. In March, Somalia’s government blamed the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen for an attack on a boat that killed at least 42 Somali refugees off Yemen’s coast.
More than 111,500 migrants landed on Yemen’s shores last year, up from around 100,000 the year before, according to the Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat, a grouping of international agencies that monitors migration in the area.
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For more information about this report, check out AP
US embassy in Addis Ababa Photo credit : US embassy
In a security message for US citizen issued today, United States of America embassy in Addis Ababa says that it is aware of intense fighting and gunfire in Harar, South Eastern Ethiopia.
“The U.S. Embassy is aware of reports that the main road from Addis Ababa to Jijiga has been blocked by security forces between the cities of Babile and Harar due to intense fighting including gunfire.”
The message added that Ethiopian Defense force, apparently by the time the message was posted on US embassy website, were arriving in the area.
The fighting was between Babile and Harar and there was road closure.
The embassy advised U.S citizens to avoid travel to the area, especially between the above-mentioned towns. The message further advised US citizens “…maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to enhance your personal security.” The embassy also advised citizens to monitor local media.
No further information is given regarding entities that are fighting Ethiopian government forces.
Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels have been active in the area but the front did issue any statement about any clashes with government forces.
Ethiopian government media outlets did not report any security incident in the area at this writing.
Meanwhile, wide spread strike across towns in Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia is reported. Businesses remained close in many towns.
The immediate cause for the strikes in towns in the above mentioned two regions of Ethiopia is related to tax hikes. The government introduced new taxes on small business as high as 400 percent, in some instances, of what small business owners used to pay.
But the basic cause is more multi-faceted discontentment with the government which many Ethiopians associate with corruption, incompetence, and minority ethnic-supremacist elite within the dominant Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
The country has been under a state of emergency since last year after more than 500 civilians were killed and more than 20,000 Ethiopians detained in make shift camps.
On Agust 7, residents in the city of Bahir Dar carried out a stay at home strike in remembrance of peaceful protesters killed by snipers
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia has widened an anti-corruption crackdown with asset freezes on 210 individuals and 15 companies.
The individuals and companies sanctioned are suspected to have links with recently arrested government officials, business people and brokers on allegations of corrupt activities, according to report by state owned Ethiopian News Agency on Friday.
The number of suspects arrested in connection to the anti-corruption crackdown has included a Brigadier General, a Deputy Minister and some of Ethiopia’s richest business people.
Sugar development, road and building construction, housing, financial institutions and officials from Addis Ababa city administration in particular have consisted the bulk of the arrested individuals.
Ethiopian government has identified corruption and rent seeking activities as part of the reason Ethiopia was rocked by sweeping unrest in 2016.
The Ethiopian government has since then promised to crack down on grand scale corruption which has afflicted one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
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For more information about this report, please refer to Xinhua
In the latest string of bomb attacks, a hand grenade exploded today in the Amara regional state capital, Bahir Dar.
It happened around 9 pm local time near Karibu Cafe in front of Bahir Dar branch of Ethiopian National Lottery, reported Ethiopian Satellite Television.
Two civilians, both women, are wounded as a result of the explosion and one of them is life threatening. Victims are in Felege Hiwot hospital.
Following the incident, a heavy deployment of defense force in the area is reported.
No entity took responsibility for the attack and the motive of it is not known either.
Some analysts seem to think that explosions like these are orchestrated by the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front intelligence personnel in a move to create a pretext for an, even more, repression of residents in the city.
On August 7, residents carried out a stay at home strike in commemoration of the massacre of more than 50 civilians during a peaceful protest against the regime in power.
Small businesses in the city remained closed for more than a week now. It was organized to oppose the imposition of new tax hikes.
So far more than 200 small business owners are reportedly arrested.
borkena, Ethiopian News
August 14,2017
Source: Facebook page of Artistic Ethiopia
Editor’s note: the melodious instrumental Ethiopian music in the video below is from Wollo, North central Ethiopia. It is called “Kemekem Kule Megalewa.” The band playing it is Qwanqwa. The description that follows from below the video is from Artistic Ethiopia.
Qwanqwa – ቋንቋ, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is named for this concept, Qwanqwa being the Amharic word for language. The members have come together for a unique and powerful sound with an equally meaningful message. At its core, this band is instrumental, since they believe that, to reach the widest audience, a single singer can limit the effect.
However, the list of guests and collaborations is long, including both beloved and famous singers such as Fikraddis, Habte Michael, Hamelmal Abate, as well as beloved Azmari singers Selamnesh Zemene, Ertibu Agengehu, and Etenesh Wassie. Not limited only to singers, Qwanqwa also has collaborated with the virtuoso Masinqo player Endris Hassen, the father of washint, Johannes Aferwork, Dawit Frew, Ethiopia’s foremost clarinetist, and many other treasures of the culture’s traditional music.
Mesele Asmamaw, krar, has been a composer and arranger in Ethiopia for over 20 years. He has released many albums of his compositions as well as traveled extensively throughout Europe and Africa performing the traditional music of Ethiopia. Within the last 8 years or so, Mesele has been a favorite guest of the influential punk band The Ex has recorded several albums with the experimental Norwegian drummer Paal Nillson-Love, has toured and recorded with his experimental rock group Trio Kazanchiss, and worked extensively with Mulatu Astatke, both in the studio and on stage. He uses several interesting techniques in Qwanqwa, including a wahpedal, a distortion pedal, a coke bottle and a plastic tube.
Dawit, is Qwanqwa’s secret weapon. Master of the bass krar, his interests, and experience have informed his unique sound which is at times funky, at times sentimental, but always solid and appropriate. In 2013, Dawit was selected to represent Ethiopia in the Nile Project, with whom he toured Africa extensively. He holds the prestigious position of house bassist at Hagar Fikr, the national theater house in Addis Ababa.
– Sami, Qwanqwa’s rhythmic backbone, brings a fresh enthusiasm to the group’s sound. He incorporates tambourine, bells, and another homemade percussion to his traditional kebero to create a variety of moods. He comes from the Azmari tradition of musicians, known as the troubadours of Ethiopian music.
Kaethe Hostetter, 5-string electric violin, has been living and collaborating with Ethiopian musicians for many years. She is a founding member of the critically acclaimed Ethiopian group Debo Band, and with them has played many stages including Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Chicago World Music Festival, globalFEST,Bumbershoot, Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Calgary Folk Festival, and more. Kaethe has relocated to Ethiopia for her work with Qwanqwa, although still travels to US for Debo Band engagements.
Weyni is one of Ethiopia’s urban refugees in Addis Ababa capital. She is receiving cash grants under the urban livelihood project. Fondly nicknamed Adey or “mother” in Tigrigna language, she is among 16,105 Eritrean refugees surviving under the out-of-camp policy.
She does not know her exact age but she remembers that she was forced into marriage when she was only 16 years old. She was only 18 when she had her first-born son. Seven years ago, Adey Weyni left Eritrea and came to Ethiopia to join her husband who was a truck driver. She passed through Dibarwa to Asmara and Teseney, eventually entering Ethiopia via Metema town.
She paid 50,000 Nakfa, an equivalent of 3,000 US Dollars, for herself and her son to be smuggled into Ethiopia. After a while, they were transferred by security agencies to Gondar city and onward to Endabaguna refugee reception centre in the Tigray. Sadly, her husband died after a few months and was buried in Harari region.
Her biggest fear is that she may never set her eyes on her daughter Nigisti and son Tesfaye, both deployed on mandatory military service back in Eritrea. One of her sons has recently died back in Eritrea due to a heart illness. Her other son Michaele, being a refugee himself, lives in a small house in Addis Ababa with his wife and children.
Weyni has no intention of going back home, fearing that she could be sent to jail for having left the country illegally. Without sufficient income to rent a house, she spends her nights sleeping in churches. She looks at the ground and her eyes are full of tear when she talks about her children.
“My children are scattered everywhere. Not having my children close to me breaks my heart; not seeing them every day and taking care of them is unbearable. I pray to God to protect and guide my children wherever they are because that is the only thing that I can do,” she says.
Cash support to urban refugees
Weyni is one of Ethiopia’s urban refugees receiving cash grants under the urban livelihood project. She obtains a monthly cash allocation of 1000 Ethiopian Birr (about 43 US Dollars). This is due to her vulnerable status as a refugee with no reliable income. “One thousand Ethiopian Birr might seem a small amount of money to live on for a month, but you only know how much it is worth when you don’t have any other income. A day without food feels longer than an ordinary month,” she says.
Weyni spends her money ensuring that her son, Abel is well educated. Abel attends a college located in the eastern part of Ethiopia. “I send over half of my income to help my aon to buy clothes, learning materials for college, food and other basic survival necessities,” she says.
She is a constant visitor to the Opportunities Industrialization Resource Centre, where young Eritrean refugees are provided with vocational training. She started making coffee and tea for the students a year ago. Sometimes she cooks food. However, she earns very little compared to the distance she has to travel to the centre or the time and energy she puts into making the food but she believes in working hard to change her living situation.
A few months ago, she surprised trainers at the centre when she asked to admitted to the hair dressing class. The centre administrators agreed to enrol her because of her ambitious attitude and positive spirit. This bold step has now paid off. She has graduated and is proud of her achievements at her relatively old age.
Overcoming hardship
“I will never give up. With God’s help, I will endure the challenges ahead. My dream is that better days will come to me, to my children and to all refugees,” she says. She is happy because she has secured a place for her younger son at a college in Wollo. She wants to see her family united under one roof. She longs to be able to provide for the young ones. She wishes to visit her husband’s grave in Harari together with the rest of her children.
Dreaming of USA and Europe
Her dream is to go to the United States or Europe, where she can work and make a better life. Until then, she hopes that her coffee business can continue to grow. She prays that the trainees in the opportunities industrialization centre will have enough income to continue buying her coffee and tea. She wishes the compound to be very active, with the library, cafeteria and the playground, so that people will come in big number and keep her busy.
At the moment, only Eritreans can benefit from Ethiopia government’s out-of-camp policy. Eritrean refugees in the different camps apply and obtain an out-of-camp permit, and move to the capital. However, many of them find out that urban life is harder than they imagined.
Eritreans are the third largest refugee population in Ethiopia (165,252 persons) following refugees from South Sudan (328,145) and Somalia (245,949). According to UNHCR, 19,970 urban refugees reside in Addis Ababa, comprising different nationalities. More than 12,000 Eritrean refugees are registered as out-of-camp persons of concern.
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For more information, check out NRC website.
Some of this year’s graduates from Addis Ababa University.Photo : EBC
