The new breadbasket of the world?
As swathes of their country’s land is leased, cleared and prepared for food production by foreign companies, Ethiopians are divided over whether this constitutes ‘agro-colonialism’ or much-needed development, writes MARY FITZGERALD Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Neo-Colonial” Dangers of Land Deals in Africa
By  Akhilesh Chandra Prabhakar   Africa, the world’s most famished continent, cannot currently feed itself. It depends on foreign markets. In a majority of African countries, their average real per capita income is lower than they were two or three decades ago. The average per capita calorie in take has now fallen, below minimal nutritional standards. The United Nations- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has repeatedly warned of catastrophic food shortages. The FAO recently estimated that of Africa’s 750 million people, more than 270 million suffer from some form of malnutrition associated with inadequate food supplies. Whereas the severe famine of 1973-74 took the lives of hundreds of thousands and left many more with permanent damage from malnutrition, its geographic impact was limited to the Sahelian belt that stretches below the Sahara from Cap Verde, off the coast of Senegal in the west, across the continent to Ethiopia. By contrast, in 1982-84, and again in 1987-88, 1991-94, and in 2008-09, the food crisis become much more widespread, with more than 30 countries threatened by severe famine, including, in addition to the Sahelian nations, Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Angola. The Ethiopian govt. has already declared famine on 20th November, 2009. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Chief Jyack Diyof says, ‘more than 0ne billion (one-sixth) people are hunger today in the world.’

Meles Zenwai Violates Human Rights
Ethiopia is on a deteriorating human rights trajectory as parliamentary elections approach in 2010. These will be the first national elections since 2005, when post-election protests resulted in the deaths of at least 200 protesters, many of them victims of excessive use of force by the police. Broad patterns of government repression have prevented the emergence of organized opposition in most of the country. In December 2008 the government re-imprisoned opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa for life after she made remarks that allegedly violated the terms of an earlier pardon.

Ethiopia – country of the silver sickle – offers land dirt cheap to farming gian
This is a country of the bent back and the silver sickle, where virtually all the crops have felt the calloused fingers of the peasant farmer working his tiny parcel of state-owned land. The ox pulls the plough and the donkey the cart, and fertiliser counts as agricultural technology .

“The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has Failed Tigraian
An Interview with Magn Nyang Where were you in May 1991 when the TPLF fighters entered Addis Ababa? I was in high school then, living in Addis Ababa.  On May 27, 1991, my friends and I were sitting around in the living room talking to each other when, unexpectedly, the lights went out. It was approximately around 8:00pm. We stepped outside and saw that the whole city of Addis Ababa was in darkness.  In about an hour later, the lights came back on. My friends and I usually listen to the voice of America-Amharic program (VOA-Amharic) starting at 9:00 pm. Since the lights were back on at 9:00pm, we immediately turned on the radio and right there and then, the VOA announcer from Washington DC dropped the biggest bomb ever on us-“tonight, at about one hour ago, the lights in Addis Ababa went out and it was conformed that the TPLF guerrilla has entered Addis.” Not knowing what to make of the News, we sat there quietly and eventually retired to our bedrooms without speaking to each other.

Ethiopian Farms Lure Investor Funds as Workers Live in Poverty
Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Until last year, people in the Ethiopian settlement of Elliah earned a living by farming their land and fishing. Now, they are employees.

GRO Invitation Note
Dear Friends:   GRO cordially invites you and your guests to attend an evening of fundraising in your honor. You will be treated to dinner and with service and entertainment.  

Ethiopia's Omo Valley Surma
By Joe Van OS “Ethiopia is the most efficiently mis-managed country in the world,” my pilot tells me as we wait on the tarmac by the chartered plane for my baggage and camera gear to clear Customs.  It’s taking more than an hour as five officials debate whether my 500mm lens qualifies me as an unwanted journalist bent on causing trouble by reporting on Ethiopia’s recent military incursions into Somalia and upcoming 2010 elections.  None of them want to be responsible for letting me in with my big “journalist” lens.

U.S. Urges Ethiopia to Improve Human-Rights Record
By Jason McLure Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. called on Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government to re-examine a law that limits foreign funding of human rights and pro-democracy groups, and expressed concern over the closure of the country’s biggest privately owned newspaper.

Ethiopian Despot Hijacks Copenhagen Leadership Role
  ROCHESTER, MN -- I'm going to break one of my own writing rules today. In the six years that I've written about Ethiopian immigrants and politics in Minnesota, I've never editorialized directly against the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi.