ababa

Ethiopian official says food aid reaching conflict zone
2 hours ago

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) ― Ethiopia has started distributing food in the volatile Ogaden region, an official said Tuesday, denying reports of a humanitarian crisis fueled by the army's crackdown on separatist insurgents.

The Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency's chief Sisay Tadesse said of 17,407 metric tonnes of food allocated for the region, around 7,000 metric tonnes had been delivered to the five most affected areas.

Sisay rejected reports by human rights groups that the fighting has caused a humanitarian crisis.

"We have done our level best to ensure that there is no such situation," he told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

"There have been reports of fighting in some areas but the distribution points are calm and we have been able to conduct our programmes peacefully."

The Ethiopian army has for months been battling Ogaden Liberation Front (OLF) rebels, who over the weekend accused the military of bombing villages and killing several people.

The Ethiopian army launched a crackdown in the region after ONLF rebels attacked a Chinese oil venture in April that left 77 people dead.

The barren Ogaden region has long been extremely poor, but the discovery of gas and oil has brought new hopes of wealth as well as new causes of conflict.
INQUIRER Senior Reporter, Mrs. Melissa Chea-Annan has left the country for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to participate in a two-day media professionals workshop organized by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices (IAC).

The trip of Mrs. Chea-Annan, along with the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) Television Director, Joe Zaway who left the country today, is being sponsored by the IAC.


The Media workshop, which commences on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 will be held at the Ghion Hotel, Addis Ababa, and it is expected to address topics, including Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs) in General: Research findings on Early Marriage in Ethiopia and Basic Advocacy on HTPs at the grassroots.

The workshop, which is expected to bring together media practitioners from other countries in Africa, will also discuss topics on "Female Genital Mutilation (FGM); African Media and Women's Human Rights; The Role of the Media in the campaign to Eliminate FGM and other HTPs; and Position Paper on the establishment of IAC Journal, among others.

During the sessions, participants are expected to develop communication strategies to reach target groups. Facilitators for the Workshop will include Helen Ovbiagele, Woman Editor of The Vanguard Newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria, Dr. Gebremedhin Simon, Dean from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication at the Addis Ababa University and Mr. Patrice Vahard, Regional Advisor, OHCHR in Addis Ababa, among several others.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - bmi, a British Airline, has started services to Addis Ababa. This new service provides the traveler from Ethiopia with five flights per week to London?s Heathrow Airport. Passengers on this new service will land at London?s Heathrow Terminal 1 where bmi has a network of onward destinations to USA, Europe and within the UK.

bmi has appointed Addis Express PLC as its GSA on both passenger and cargo services. The Executive Director, Alasdair Parker said ?bmi has introduced its services to Addis Ababa as part of its extensive expansion on international routes. It is particularly enthusiastic about this first venture into the Horn of Africa. The flights leave Addis Ababa for London Heathrow on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday with many onward flights leaving from the same terminal. bmi holds the enviable position of being the most punctual airline operating in and out of Heathrow and provides superior baggage handling facilities within Terminal 1.

As with its other routes bmi has introduced superior in-flight services. These include improved food and beverages, new amenity kits and kid?s packs. In-flight entertainment offers up to 22 films including the latest blockbuster movies. Business class passengers will enjoy the luxury of wide seating with a 50" pitch guaranteeing exceptional leg room. Individual video screens provide an extensive range of in-flight entertainment including Audio Visual On-Demand (AVOD).

bmi is a Star Alliance Member which provides many superior services including airport lounge facilities and inter-line arrangements with other Star Alliance members.

It is to be remembered that British Midland plc, the UK-based group holding company of bmi entered Ethiopia as the sole British carrier operating flights between Ethiopia and the United Kingdom.
The airline currently operates around 170 flights a day to and from its main Heathrow hub. bmi is the second largest airline operating at London?s Heathrow Airport and has also announced its takeover of Heathrow-based BA franchise airline British Mediterranean (BMED).
It is also a member of Star Alliance, the world?s biggest airline alliance, providing passengers with global connections and a smooth travel experience. Senior Officials from a host of federal and regional state government offices are being trained on International Migration Law (IML) starting from Monday.

The four day training at the Hilton Addis,hosted by the International Organization for Migration Special Liaison Mission in Addis Ababa was officialy opened by Minister of Justice Assefa Kesito. In his opening remarks, the minister said effective response to on-going challenges should begin with putting the right measure in place-such as capacity building, awareness creation and training in the international, regional as well as national legal instruments governing migration issues.


"I strongly believe that trainings such as this is very beneficial for Ethiopia, and I urge IOM and other International organizations to continue this good work and efforts in collaboration with their relevant government institution to organize such training to enhance the technical capacities of our officials," the minister said.

Experts from IOM, ILO, UNHCR, and ICRC including staff members of the Law Faculty of the Addis Ababa University (AAU) are conducting the training Participants of the four-day training will discuss with IMO officials on the international, national, regional and local legal instruments governing migration management and on raising the awareness and understanding of the IML within the context of Ethiopia, IMO said. It said the training will also look at the specific issues of migration management in relation to human rights of migrants, refugees and displaced people, issues of migration and security, human trafficking and smuggling, irregular migration and labor Migration.

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What's more, the trainees will delve in to a broad range of issues revolving around competencies and responsibilities of states, application of migration law, rights of migrant workers, Irregular migration, forced migration, and Migration and Security, the statement added. About 40 participants from Immigration Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Federal and Regional Police Commissions, and other relevant offices from Amhara, Oromia, Tigray and Debub regions are attending the training.

"The training will also identify gaps within the existing migration management system, discuss issues of inter- ministerial cooperation and coordination as well as draw recommendations for the action," the liaison office said in a statement.

The training is part of IOM's Technical Cooperation Migration Management program funded by the British Embassy in Addis Ababa to enhance the capacities and capabilities of relevant authorities with migration related function and responsibility to address policy and operational challenges associated with managing migration in Ethiopia, it was learnt.





It is about the same size as Britain with a population of about four million