A Land Battle in Ethiopia

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

By Cassandra Herrman - A controversial resettlement program in Ethiopia is the latest battleground in the global race to secure prized farmland and water .

Saudi Billionaire to Invest $3.4 Billion

Monday, February 27, 2012

By William Davison - Feb 27, 2012

Derba Group, an amalgam of three Ethiopian companies owned by Saudi billionaire Mohammed al- Amoudi, said it plans to invest 59 billion birr ($3.4 billion) in seven industrial projects over the next five years.

The company, formed last month, has already invested 12 billion birr of a planned 71 billion birr in agriculture and cement in the Horn of Africa country, Chief Executive Officer Haile Assegide said today by phone from Derba Midroc Cement Plc’s plant near Chancho, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) northwest of Addis Ababa, the capital.

“The balance will be invested in the next five-year period,” said Haile. Derba’s cement, steel, agriculture and transport operations may generate annual revenue of 41 billion birr and create more than 370,000 jobs, he said.

Ethiopian-born al-Amoudi is ranked by Forbes magazine as the world’s 63rd-richest person and was worth $12.3 billion in March. The 66-year-old is close to the Saudi royal family and his construction company, Midroc, built the $30 billion underground oil storage facility in the kingdom in the late 1980s, according to the magazine.

Al-Amoudi’s Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc, which is primarily growing rice to export to Saudi Arabia, has leased 10,000 hectares (24,711 acres) of land in Ethiopia’s western Gambella region where it plans to build two rice mill factories, Haile said. The company is also in the “process of leasing an additional 290,000 hectares,” he said, without providing further details.

Foreign Currency

Investment in Saudi Star is projected to be 52 billion birr, of which 3.5 billion has already been spent on agricultural machinery, construction and consulting, according to Haile, a former works and urban development minister. Annual foreign currency earnings from crops, which will also include sugar beet and cereals, may reach 17.3 billion birr, he said.

Derba Midroc Cement, Ethiopia’s largest producer of the building material, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi this month. The factory will make Ethiopia “self-sufficient” in cement, according to Haile.

The five other projects targeted for investment are Derba Transport, Maya PP Bag, Derba Lime and Chemicals, Toussa Steel Mill and Dashen Cement, he said. The government will earn more than 6 billion birr a year from “value-added tax alone” from the seven projects, said Haile.

The group’s other interests include gold mining, trading, construction and cable-manufacturing operations.

To contact the reporter on this story:William Davison in Addis Ababa via Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:Paul Richardson in Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Add Your Voice to Stop Land Grab in Gambella

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Sudan Rebells Created an Alliance

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

February 20, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Malik Agar, chairman of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N) is elected president of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF), an alliance of four rebel groups formally established in November 2011.


Malik Agar (Reuters)

The rebel alliance released on Monday a press statement saying Agar was elected after a series of meeting for the leadership of the four groups in the areas held by the rebel SPLM-N in South Kordofan.

The leaders of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Gibril Ibrahim and the two factions of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) of Abdel Wahid Al-Nur and Minni Minnawi have been designated the SRF’s vice-presidents.

Abu Elgasim Imam al-Haj, of the SLM-AW who is appointed official spokesperson of the rebel alliance.

Sudan Tribune learnt that Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, SPLM-N deputy chairman, is chosen commander in chief of SRF joint military units.

The election of Agar and Hilu to the two leading political and military positions is explained by the failure of Darfur rebels to agree on who among them could fill the posts.

Gibril Ibrahim was proposed to take the SRF presidency but the other two Darfuri groups objected this choice, sources told Sudan Tribune.

Last August after the untimely announcement of Koda alliance between the SPLM and the two SLM factions, Yasir Arman, SPLM Secretary general, intervened to say talks are still going and that was not a final alliance pact. He also stressed that JEM is part of the process.

JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim is tasked as vice-president with foreign relations and humanitarian affairs, Abdel Wahed al-Nur as vice-president is responsible for political and regulatory affairs while Minni Minnawi is in charge of finance and administrative affairs.

The rebel alliance calls for the overthrow of the Sudanese government through political and military means. The members of the SRF say that as the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) refuses to come political settlement it has become a major obstacle for Sudan’s stability.

However, the major Sudanese opposition forces distanced themselves from the SRF and called for a negotiated solution saying more blood puts the integrity of the country at risk.

The NCP accuses Juba of supporting the alliance saying it uses it to get more concessions in the difficult talks on the pending issues, including Abyei, between the two sides since the independence of the South Sudan.

Khartoum also accuses Hassan al-Turabi’s party, Popular Congress Party and the Communist Party of working with the rebel alliance to overthrow the regime but the two political forces say the NCP launches such accusations to confiscate fundamental freedoms.

(ST)

Red Card to EPRDF, National and International Investors in Gambella

Thursday, February 16, 2012

By Abulla Agwa - The EPRD, national and international investors such as Karuturi Global and Saudi Star are given red cards in Gambella Regional State. The land grabbing/ economic genocide and forced villagisation program have generated fierce opposition within indigenous people of Gambella Regional State. The recent death of Getachew Ankore, the right hand of Mr Omot Obang Olum and the whistle blower of land grabbing, was a great lost for the EPRDF in Gambella Regional State. The killing of Getachew Ankore by unknown gunmen in Gambella town became a warning sign for the EPRDF, national and international investors to refrain from economic genocide and forced villagisation program against indigenous people of Gambella

Cry for Help

Monday, February 13, 2012

One Must Negotiate to Get Anywhere in South Sudan

Sunday, February 12, 2012

One must negotiate to get anywhere

Dividing Jonglei State Leads to a Mess Up

Friday, February 10, 2012

By Odit Medho Agwa Didumo - I did mentioned in my previous article regarding Jonglei state division as a prerogative for any citizen across the state provide that the motivations should be tangible and clear on the table by the activists rather than pressing the division button day and night without any logical clarifications to support your application, otherwise it will be consider by the public a racial hatred as well as a conflict of interest.

Djibouti Talk Infrastructure, Integration

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

By Somalilandpress -ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian Finance Minister Sufian Ahmed inked a Memorandum of Understanding last week with his Djibouti counterpart Elias Dawaleh Mussa and South Sudan’s Minister of Petroleum and Mines, Stephen Dhieu Dau, in the Ethiopian capital.