Forum, some of the things you have said make sense but most of it don't. If you claim to be neutral lets see u write somethings on the PM's wrongs. Those pilots foresee the potential of the government to committee a genocide on the people of Ethiopia. After hearing Gen. Samora Yenus saying "I will kill as many as I can and head to the Chaka to become a rebel again" before the opposition takes over. I think this will scare any body.

Email: hhaile@gmail.com

City: MS

Bereket Simon wedi eritrea also said, " the land policiy will be changed on the cofin of EPRDF's" . "Land will be privatized be ehadeg mekaber ly" when you hear all these do not u be sacred. These people will not hesitate to commit a genocide to stay on power.

Email: hhaile@gmail.com

City: MS

Thank you very much for removing my article as usual !!!! how may i thank you !?? i have never seen a genuine democrat like You !!! your tolerance & accommodation is very commendable > keep it up brother ,Ethiopia needs Guy Like you , who tirelessly removes , deletes , silences, other Ethiopian ,as you may know your Highness ,we can`t move Forward with our your blessing , so-keep on removing articles who opposes your holy idea,we are fortunate to have you, please keep this room clean from those opposing CUD and UEDF,
thank you very much ,
sincerely yours
i forget To Mention , down with meles zenawi , he`s thieve , criminal , He has To be brought to Justice ,
Dear moderator , am i now Ethiopian enough to Be called , Ethiopian . will my article survive the next couple day`s ?

Forty-Five Percent of Population Estimated to Be Food Insecure

Assistant to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Sally Anne Way, said last Friday that 45 percent of the Ethiopian population subjected to food insecurity.


Speaking at a press conference held at ECA, Anne Way said that it was time for the Ethiopian government to change strategies to ensure the right to food in the country. She said monentary mechanism to ensure the right to food in the country was very weak.

Jean Ziegler, special rapporteur on the right to food, said that some programms being undertaken by the government in some parts of the country to ensure the right to food were promising. He said the resettlement programm and infrastracture development under way in most parts of the country were encouraging.

At the invitation of Ethiopia, the special rapporteur on the right to food, Mr Jean Ziegler, had undertaken a country mission to Ethiopia from 17 to 28 February 2004.

The full report of the mission containing the findings and recommendations will be finalized during 2004 and submitted to the Commision.


Source: http://www.addistribune.com/Archives/2004/03/05-03-04/Forty.htm

Email: kuratekere@yahoo.com

City: Ambo

Aster,

I think you are not aware of the facts at the ground. Haven't you heard that the CUD is now asking for a government of unity?

Everything is changing soon and the opposition seems to realise that facts at the ground. They failed to prove the alleged vote rigging and the only solution is to join the parliament.

So, please don't try to incite violent or armed actions because we had already wars more than our share.

By the way, I am sure you will not volunteer for such struggle. Don't push others to do what you will never try. My last word, you know EPRDF wins any war.

May God help you to have peaceful mind.
Ali

Email: alimodi_akrimodi@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

Ethiopia's digital dream

Twenty years ago, Ethiopia was in turmoil. Now there's a new kind of revolution sweeping the land, reports Michael Cross

Thursday August 4, 2005
The Guardian

Ethiopian government offices are austere affairs. They even lack the typical African decoration of the president's portrait on the wall. None of the furniture would fetch 10p in a British junk shop.
One detail disturbs this pattern - a large flat-screen plasma monitor, plugged into a rack of digital routers, appears to have been teleported from another universe.

The kit is here to support the world's most unexpected e-government programme: Ethiopia, one of Africa's poorest countries, is spending one tenth of its GDP every year on IT. Over the next five years, the government plans to invest more than $100m (£56m) in public sector computers. It aims to equip hundreds of government offices and schools with broadband internet connections. And by 2007, according to the plan, none of Ethiopia's 74 million people will live more than a few kilometres from a broadband access point. The nucleus of this network, 4,000km of optical fibre, has already been laid and will be fully commissioned later this year.

Ethiopia's IT programme is an extreme example of the aspiration of several African countries to leap out of their quagmire of decaying public services with the help of IT. The dream is to skip an entire generation of infrastructure by going directly to internet technology.

Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, talks of IT providing a short cut to development. "I want to see ICT pervade all our activities as a government, not just in the urban areas. We want to connect all our villages in two to three years. All education services, likewise. We would also like to provide a bit of telemedicine."

Telecommunication of any kind is a novelty in Ethiopia. In the 1980s, when I first visited the country to report the famine, making a phone call outside the capital meant picking up the receiver and waiting for an operator to set up a crackly radio link. Two decades on, only 1.2% of the population have a telephone. Internet usage is low even by African standards.

Meles deals briskly with talk that a country where female life expectancy is 50 and famine still threatens millions should have different priorities. IT is no luxury, he says, but rather a "crucial weapon to fight poverty".

He says the national digital network underpins two specific "pro-poor" projects, to connect schools and local government offices.

Schoolnet is an attempt to overcome Ethiopia's desperate shortage of teachers, especially in remote areas. Schools already receive video lessons broadcast for eight hours a day by satellite TV. The syllabus, based on South African material, is being digitised for transmission over the internet so that teachers at the receiving end can prepare beforehand and control the pace of lessons (so long as their electricity supply is working). Demissew Bekele, head of the government's educational media agency, says this control is essential for children moving from primary to secondary school, where the medium of instruction is English.

The education minister, Genet Zewdie, says there is no alternative to e-learning. "IT is expensive, but ignorance is more expensive."

Woredanet is the country's first step in e-government. For the first time the network connects all 600 of Ethiopia's local councils (woredas) to 11 regional capitals through internet telephone and video-conferencing. Half the links are by cable, and half by satellite. The broadband infrastructure also offers the chance for small towns to install their first payphone.

Previously, official reports would take months to reach the capital. Often early warning signs of famine, such as falling livestock prices, would not get through until a crisis had developed. Woredanet has not yet been tested in such circumstances, however it was mobilised in earnest earlier this year to train officials running the May general election - by far the most open in Ethiopia's long history.

Efficient communications between tiers of government are part of a programme of administrative reform that speaks a language strikingly similar to Tony Blair's vision of citizen-centric e-government.

"The whole purpose is to change the mindset of the civil service," says the man in charge, Tefera Waluwa, minister for capacity building. He talks of "transparency and accountability, fairness, efficiency and effectiveness" enabled by the technology.

Tefera says his reforms have already reduced the time taken to issue a foreign investment licence from 225 days to two hours. His target is one hour. It was done by looking at all the procedures and asking why they were necessary. Unlike his British counterparts, however, Tefera is not seeking to re-engineer public employees out of their jobs. "The government has a shortage of educated people. When someone is redundant in one office, they will be required in another place."

Another innovation in the programme is an information desk in every government agency. Tefera shows off an official name badge on his lapel, which he says is compulsory issue to all his civil servants.

Ministers say that, eventually, the government's networks will become community internet facilities. Today, widespread internet use is a distant dream. Even by the standards of the world's least wired continent, Ethiopian internet usage is low: less than 0.1% of the population goes online. According to Internet World Stats, this places it in the same league as Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo and way behind Kenya (1.2%), let alone South Africa (7.3%). Britain's score is 59%.

Ethiopia's digital infrastructure is being built by the national telecom operator, the publicly-owned Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation. Its main contractors are Cisco Systems (whose guest I was) and Business Connexion, a South African-based IT services firm. The government subsidises the project with a tax break and by underwriting bonds. "We do not spend a cent of the budget per se," says Meles.

In fact, Meles says that money is by no means his main problem. "There are two things we need. One is training and manpower. So whatever technical assistance the west can give with high quality internet technology is the most important thing."

The second is hardware. "I know that people throw away computers that are two or three years old," says Meles. "We could do with five, six, seven-year-old computers that work."

Ethiopia is already receiving used hardware from a Brussels-based organisation Close the Gap. It supplies renovated corporate PCs, sorted in standard packages and with new Windows licences for between €45 and €90 per machine.

One consequence of Ethiopia's knowledge gap is reliance on Windows and other proprietary software. Meles, a former guerilla leader who overthrew the dictator Mengistu in 1991, is at ease discussing the question of open source software.

"Our position is determined by the fact that proprietary suppliers have the money to provide initial support," he says. "To implement open source needs a minimum of training and at the moment we don't have that. In five or 10 years time, we will be in a position to choose."

Whether the dream of IT helping African countries fast-track to development will become reality is impossible to predict. The worry must be that national broadband infrastructures will repeat the story of the 1960s and 1970s, in which ambitious industrial and agricultural projects proved unsustainable after lining the pockets of the African elite.

There are some signs that the new wave will be different. One is the existence of grass-roots demand for IT throughout Africa. In many big cities, cellphone networks and cybercafes have bypassed incompetent and corrupt official analogue channels of communication. In Ethiopia, mobile phones outnumber fixed lines. The phenomenon turns on its head the whole concept of "appropriate technology".

African leaders enjoy demonstrating that the latest digital router can be as appropriate to a developing country as a bullock cart or an efficient wood-burning stove. Ethiopians in particular detest the West's automatic association of their ancient country with famine and charity.

"We're not waiting for handouts," assures Genet, "but we do need partnerships."

In Ethiopia's case, it is especially hard to be objective. The country's distinctive culture and the scale of its problems make any visit an intense experience, especially for anyone who saw something of the bad years. Merely sitting in a government office brings back vivid memories of hearing officials reciting district-by-district statistics of families "affected" and "seriously affected" by famine.

The capital, Addis Ababa, looks so changed that it is easy to fall into the trap of over-optimism about an IT-enabled future. But Ethiopia is not Addis Ababa. So long as the vast majority of its people are subsistence farmers scraping a living from a hostile environment, IT can only be part of a bigger package of slow and painful reform.

That doesn't mean it is not a good investment. In any case, Ethiopians don't regard themselves as second-class human beings: no outsider is going to persuade them to have second-class ambitions

Those who ever supported meles are his supporters only because they are benefiting from his rule in one way or an other.

I think it is time for his supporters to forget private benefits and to come to the real world. Please stop sucking the blood of the poor farmer who even never ate enough food in his life. It is ENOUGH, and ENOUGH is ENOUGH.

I think if he deserves the prize it is only for being brother of devil.

UNITY TO ETHIOPIA, AND FREEDOM TO THE ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE ONCE AND FOR EVER BUT DOWN WITH MELES AND HIS REGIMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would like to thank the organizers and would like to tell you that you will be succesful leting meles down only because you are trying to uncover the hidden truth.

FK

Email: flagot@yahoo.com

City: German

Why YARA nominate Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles? Is really a symbol of Green Revolution in Africa? By what standard Yara assess growth, food security, nutrition, and hunger of the people? How Meles government exemplified as good governance? For me it is really a joke. Not only a joke but it is also insulation to Africa in general and to the people of Ethiopian in particular.

Forget others, at present we heard millions are suffering as a result of low production and severely exposed to drought, chronic malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS, etc. This is one indicator of EPRDF and its bad governance. On the other hand the government, Meles, is number one country leader in begging and requesting G8 countries, other developed, and humanitarian organizations to assist millions of Ethiopians vulnerable to abject poverty annually.

Besides it is obvious the international communities, prominent country leaders, and humanitarian observers, including Norway perhaps, recently criticize and condemned government action against opposition, and killing innocent civilians in Addis and other towns.

In parallel what happens in Ethiopia is part of the democratic process in the country. And this is the out put of all Ethiopians struggle against tyranny and anti-Ethiopian Meles for justices and democracy. Even meles use as an idea to convince some friends, leaders and innocent Ethiopians, as it was achieved by the good will and democractic nature of EPRDF. It is not true. EPRDF is not a democratic government by its nature neither in the past nor in the future. It is completely a dictatorial government.

So the going on rally is nothing except to oppress human rights of the people without alternative using security and military forces. Therefore How YARA could nominate such dectatorial, anti-Ethiopia and its people leader as a symbol of GOOD GOVERNANCE.

I condemn YARA because YARA encourage and contributes to this dictatorship and it is a moral and physical damage to Ethiopian people, Africans, and developing countries. It is also a moral question for Norwegians. How a company setting in Norway, regardless it origin as a commentator to the company tries to describe, are initiated to award such dictatorial and anti-Ethiopian leader. To me this should not be happen in Norway.

The Company should know that, one way or the other, he is attributing to dictatorship. In such manner you never contribute to improve food security, reduce malnutrition, and or help HIV/AIDS victims when they award Meles.

Let see one by one what criteria Yara use in the selection based on the official report stated in Yara website.
http://www.yara.com/en/about/yara_centennial/green_revolution/yara_prize_winner_inter.html

1. Yara foundation has evaluated and emphasized the progress to date, and realizes that there are still many unsolved challenges and shortcomings to be addressed.

Here I don’t want to say much. This is self explanatory. What Yara tries to tell us is he knows there are real problems but he needed to cover them with warm blankets in order not to disappoint our prime minister. They are attempting to fuel Ethiopian and other people in a diplomatic word. But they know the actual problems are more than that.

2. A 21st Century African Green Revolution is much more than just producing more food.

If African Green Revolution is more than producing more food as YARA stated; what is prime minister bring to Ethiopia people. Ethnic politics and division, increase food aid beneficiaries, and increase number of people affected by hiv/aids. What else?

3. It also involves providing an enabling policy environment, securing ownership rights, but improving child nutrition, making markets work for the poor and doing all this in ways that protects and enhances the rural environment.

First and foremost, policy is not an end by itself. But it is a means to an end. And in the existing world I never believe a government or country without such decorated policy and strategy was existed.

How we define ownership right? Majority of our people are dependent on land, so let’s take land as example. Even though I have my own stand with regard to ownership right, according to Yara does land belonging to the government means ownership is secured. While others including IMF/World Bank have differences with government on land issue. Here I don’t mean I personally agree with IMF and /or WB policy and strategy in Africa.

Where is the improvement in child nutrition? I don’t want say much only let see some study and UNICEF report

Case-1:

63% of the surveyed children live in very poor households and 89% of their caregivers or biological mothers have not completed primary school. Only 3% of urban and I% of rural households covered by the survey have flush latrines. The preliminary report also shows that the death of a child under-five has been reported in 25% of households and that 96% of the mothers of the children gave birth without assistance from any trained person.

In regard to shocks or events, both the rural and urban households surveyed have experienced up to five events or shocks in the last 12 months before the survey. Furthermore, about a third of the households reported serious debt of whom only 33% thought they could payback. In regard to the health of children, about 10% have long-term illnesses and 36% reported to have experienced an illness 24 hours before the survey.

Case-2:
Members of the ACT Ethiopia Forum - the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC), the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF/DWS), Norwegian Church Aid, DanChurchAid, Christian Aid, Canadian Food Grains Bank and Bread for the World - are bringing to the ACT alliance’s attention a situation in which 8 to 10 million people are at risk of malnutrition. Severe drought conditions, a late start of the Ethiopian government’s National Productive Safety Net Program, meant to provide multi-year support to more than five million chronically food-insecure people, and the lack of adequate resources to provide food and non-food assistance to 3.8 million food-insecure people have combined to create an alarming situation.
ReliefWeb » Document Preview » Ethiopia: 8 to 10 million people ...
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/ db900SID/KKEE-6CYRG4?OpenDocument - 18k



Case-3:
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday it would quadruple the number of its emergency feeding centers for almost 20,000 children by the end of the year in response to rising malnutrition in Ethiopia. The agency said malnutrition was on the increase, with some 170,000 children at risk of death by the end of the year unless they received urgent help. "Severe acute malnutrition among Ethiopia's children has reached alarming levels across the country," Bjorn Ljungqvist, country director for UNICEF in Ethiopia, said.

ETHIOPIA: More feeding centers needed to combat malnutrition – UNICEF, 13 Jul 2005 14:16:22 GMT
Source: IRIN

4. It is a revolution to end hunger that also empowers people with a voice, and the opportunity to create their own future.

As I try to explain, this is the most important issue. In my opinion, this should be the main criteria we need to focus while we are selecting candidate for prize. We need to assess and consider carefully what changes were actually observed in the people and local community.
However in Ethiopia in the last 14 years we observe only drought, hunger, food aid, lack of empowerment, and deem futures. The fact is not what YARA is trying to inform us. Every body knows the fact, either developed or undeveloped; and humanitarian or non humanitarian. It is the opposite.

“Based on YARA he attempted to tell us “the results are among the most promising for achieving the Millennium Development Goal of cutting world hunger in half by the year 2015. During the past decade Ethiopia has more than doubled its food production; from 6.3 million metric tons in 1993, to 14.3 million tons in 2004. Ethiopia’s GDP grew at an average of 5.8 % annually, with agriculture growing at an average rate of 3.1 % in spite of the severe droughts of 1998 and 2001. During the last three years, agricultural production has grown at 8 % per annum. In spite of the fact that about 40% of the population is chronically malnourished, Ethiopia’s food security program aims at enabling 4-5 million chronically food insecure to attain food security within 3-5 years, a major step towards accomplishing the Hunger Millennium Development Goal”.

This is unreliable: The proportion of the people vulnerable to food aid to survive is 10.3% between 1980/1 and 2000/1, this increase to 22% in 2002/3. Meanwhile average yield production per hectare is 11.91 qt in 1980/1 and increases to 12.17 qt, where as fertilizer consumption increases from 43287 mt in 1980 to 279603 mt in 2001 even farmers consumption far less than the total fertilizer imported to the country, so where is the double production at farm household level.

LET ME END BY SHOWING:

HOW MUCH IMPORTED AND WHO EXPORT INORGANIC FERTILIZER TO ETHIOPIA?
To have a clue about HYDRO renamed now as YARA. In 2002: Following a Japanese aid tender floated in August 2001 Hydro has reportedly shipped 20,000 mt of Western European urea into Ethiopia. A new IDB tender for 25,000 mt has been floated with closing on February 7. Small price increases were registered in the supplies out of CIS also. Transagro is reported to have been awarded the business in the November 19 Ethiopian National Bank tender for 50,000 mt DAP with supplies from CIS at a price of $181.99/mt ciflo. Other sales from the CIS net-back to about $135/mt. GCT in Tunisia sold 8,000 mt DAP to Italy at $156-$157/mt fob bulk. It has offered in the Ethiopian ADF tender of January 23 at $189/mt cfrlo bulk. Morocco has also participated in the Ethiopian tender. JPMC from Jordan has sold about 6,000 mt DAP to Malaysia at $166/mt bulk.

The Ethiopian DAP tenders have been the main attraction of the recent past. The November 19 National Bank 50,000 mt tender has been awarded to Transagro at $181.99/mt ciflo through Ambasal, with shipment starting in February., and the January 23 ADF tender is likely to be awarded to Tunisia and Jordan (25,000 mt each). A new ADF tender for another 50,000 mt has been floated with closing on February 4.
www.afamin.net/documents/AFM_Jan02_en.pdf

From this we can visualize how competition and price determine in import transaction in this world. Every year Ethiopia imports a large amount of fertilizer against the interest of Ethiopian farmers. Some of these dangerous chemicals were stored in various warehouses through out the country. They are harmful to human health and the environment.

As USIAD stated in one of their document: “THE UTILIZATION RATE OF FERTILIZERS IN ETHIOPIA IS EXTREMELY LOW. EVEN SO, THE IMPORT OF FERTILIZER IS SUBSTANTIAL AND GROWING AT A RATE OF 20% ANNUALLY FOR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS. THE GOVERNMENT EXPECTS THIS RATE TO CONTINUE WELL INTO THE NEXT DECADE.” http://usembassy.state.gov/ethiopia/wwwhecco.html

This indicate the interest and demand of rural poor farmers is completely ignoring; the government lets say minister Meles imported fertilizer just to satisfy companies interest/benefit and clean a road for corruption. The money allocated to purchase fertilizer never came from the sky. It comes through international debt/loan agreements at the expense of the country and its people. For instance in 2001 77% comes from loan and 23% from grant, no government share at all. However the final destination of this money is bank accounts of individual leaders; and organizations involve in such drama.
IS FERTILIZER REALLY CHANGES FARMERS FOOD SECURITY?

Millions were suffer in Ethiopia as a result of drought, food aid, and malnutrition. We don’t need further evidence to justify this. It is enough to see government appeal, assessment reports, and studies, documents of international communities or non-government organisations. The controversy on fertilizer use is wide and intense. Many argue on the negative effect of fertilizer in recurrent Africa. They argue inorganic fertilizer has more disadvantage than advantage in ensuring food security and alleviates poverty in Africa. It affects indigenous local seeds capacity. It causes to lose their resist to drought then improve soil fertility. It rather enhances desertification, low production, food insecurity and poverty.


SO WHAT YARA TRY TO DO IS LAY AND COVER UP OUR EYES WITH UNJUSTIFIABLE AND GOOD REASONS. WHICH IS REALLY UNACCEPTABLE BY ANY

Email: endashawmekonen@yahoo.com

City: Trondehiem

The YARA Award was conceived and bought to give legitimacy to Meles' claim that he is popular in the rural areas with the farmers and hence winning the election there.Look at the timing of the announcement of the award.

Email: zghiwet@yahoo.ca

City: York

i am impressed with the statistic laden reports, but depressed about the recommendations. why stop the award? why not try to encourage the PM to try better next time? despite your personal feelings for all the faults of the current government, let us not forget those of the previous one, and the one before that, and if we live long enough that which is to come. unless you are amassing some form of military or tremendous political machinery to reconstitute another government, then our most constructive option is to push the govt in a positive direction. fighting amongst ourselves only leads to problems for ourselves. not that i support the divisive policies or all the scams, but just a few years ago i remember when mengistus men took us out of our parents home to kill us or to get us killed. the reason why we are here, and why tplf is in power is because we had a monstrous regime. we should be like the chinese, be patient, and slowly move our country and our people to better self sufficiency and governance. everything is relative, and tomorrow may turn ugly. so be grateful you are breathing, and use your breath to help others breath easier as well.

Email: gedeclue@yahoo.com

City: los angeles

There is nothing we can give credit for Meles. He is enemy of Ethiopia. No one expect good thing from this person. He has been doing it and it is clear that will continue doing it. He gave our port, defend badim belongs to Eritria, divide the country in ethnic group and promot hate rage among us. How can Ethiopians accept this guy as a leader. The recent fact is also killing innocent people using his Agazi criminal forces. How about the million dollar run by his party ignoring other Ethiopians starving to death. The dergue was overthrowen by Ethiopian people directly on indirectly. The only thing Melese did is hijack the struggle and take the power by doing the mentioned distruction against Ethiopia like sale the port, land and using divide and rule. If he has a little interest in Ethiopia, the ethiopian people would follow him but he hate us I don't know how he developed this inferiority complex. But he will live with his anger and hate rage burnning himself. Ethiopia will live forever against Melese&co interest.

Email: hager@hotmail.com

City: DC

I heard more and more people are getting diagnosed with breast cancer and other kind of cancers more than before in Ethiopia. I wonder if it has something to do with non-organic fertilizers from Yara.

Dear participants,

Whichever forum you join, you will read Ali's nasty comment against Ethiopians. Is this his only paid job? Or what else is he doing? spying?

Email: ab89891@yahoo.co.uk

City: LONDON

I don't get it.

How come yara price committee believe to give Yara price for murderer Meles Zenawi? To me, it seems like Yara committee knows only meles Zenawi not Ethiopian.

Email: zewditu@rogers.com

City: Toronto

(I-Newswire) - The only truth in the whole statement is only the last phrase that reads Ethiopia is “one of the poorest countries in the developing world”. Today Ethiopia still remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Prime Minister Meles ruled the country for the last 14 years. During this period the number of Ethiopians requiring food assistance tripled from 5 million to 14 million. Yara claims that Ethiopia’s agricultural average growth is 3.6% per annum. All other reliable data show that it was only 1.6 % yearly. It is not only the opponents of Meles Zenawi that dispute the claims of Yara. All data collected by independent researchers and agricultural experts question the validity of the data provided by Yara. In 1990 Ethiopian per capita income was $120. Today after 15 years under the per capita income is only $96. All data show the contrary to Yara’s claims: the living conditions of Ethiopians has rather worsened.

Then why do Yara have to manipulate the facts concerning the democratization process in Ethiopia, the agricultural production, food security and the reduction of poverty in Ethiopia? The answer is simple. Yara is the biggest fertilizer business partner of Meles Zenawi’s government. Yara by its own advertisement is one of the leading fertilizer producers in the world. It sells fertilizers worth billions of dollars, and Meles Zenawi is a client. In Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopia fertilizer sale is 100 % monopolized by ruling party ( EPRDF ) affiliated fertilizer selling companies .All other companies that were in the fertilizer market were forced out of the market. An Ethiopian farmer who lives from hand to mouth has no choice but to purchase the fertilizer at the exorbitant price from the sole supplier. To add insult to injury, a farmer can be thrown into jail if he cannot pay back the debt. This is only the tip of the ice berg of the corrupt practices of those party –owned fertilizer companies.

One cannot believe that Board members of major European corporation are not aware of the human rights situation in Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi has the worst record of atrocities and gross human rights violations of any current African leader. All known and respected human rights organizations regularly report these shameful facts which are indigestible only to Yara Foundation’s Board members.

According to human rights reports, there are 15, 000 political prisoners in today’s Ethiopia. In the wake of the post-election protests over massive electoral fraud, the Meles Zenawi government by its own account admitted incarcerating up to 5,000 protesters


###

Zerihun, M. Adam
telefon +47 41509453
Oslo,Norway

Minalebet sewatch lela sra btseru. Already Meles has won the prize. Try to work hard like Meles and get a prize in your respective disciplines. It is like the saying "Amlakie yegadegnie hulet aynotch lematfat yenewa and atfalgn".

Email: Debalkie@hotmail.com

City: WDC

debalki teretesh moteshal!

Email: getahun123@gmail.com

City: oslo

CWS emergency appeal: Ethiopia food insecurityAccount: 640-X

Appeal amount: $300,000

SITUATION:

Erratic and poorly distributed rainfall in the 2004 planting season, lack of infrastructure, inability to recover from previous crop failures, and years of economic decline have all contributed to the conditions of acute malnutrition now plaguing Ethiopia. Approximately 3.8 million of the country's 47 million inhabitants are at risk of starvation.

Food shortages are expected to become increasingly more critical in the coming months and the number of at-risk persons could double. Women and children are the most vulnerable, while migrating men and their livestock are both succumbing to weakness in isolated areas.

CWS RESPONSE:

Through February 2006, CWS will support the work of partner and Action By Churches Together (ACT) member Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus -- Development and Social Services Commission (EECMY-DASSC). The group is coordinating direct assistance to 103,967 persons through its area synods and local partners. Project implementation includes, food relief and agricultural rehabilitation inputs, medical assistance, and veterinarian care to ailing livestock, in 14 Woredas or districts in four regions of the country.

EECMY-DASSC will coordinate purchase, storage, and distribution of:

- 9,475 tons of cereal

- 954 tons of supplementary food mix

- 421 tons of seed (variety, purchased in country)

- 20,797 sets of hand tools (three tools per household)

Due to the gravity of the situation and the need to respond quickly, CWS encourages immediate support for this appeal -- Ethiopia Food Insecurity (Acct. #640-X)). The appeal goal is $300,000 in support of the targeted initial funding request from ACT (ref. AFET51) for $4,900,572.

Details regarding specific budget items are available upon request.

Contributions to support Ethiopia Food Insecurity may be sent to your denomination or directly to:

Church World Service
India (Maharashtra) Flood Response (Acct. #6977)
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515
Contributions may also be made by credit card by calling: (800) 297-1516, ext. 222, or online at www.churchworldservice.org.

Email: walexmz@yahoo.co.uk

City: oslo

Debalkie,'Siyamrsh yikr engi' No Yara price for meles!!!Do you have a share??

Email: zewditu@rogers.com

City: Toronto

Moderator,please close this forum,it get us no where since EPRDF paid cadres still blinded by truth.

Email: DillingerJ1@aol.com

City: DC

Cadres of Melese not getting what they use to in thier Embassy abroads the reasons?we Americans are squzzing George troat to free the social security some of us invested.

Email: DillingerJ1@aol.com

City: DC

Hailegnaw, Do not worry,
who ever is ant-Yara commitee member whether shabia or who ever is in the commitee we do not care yara price is still wrong, for the wrong person we still are ant-yara.

City: Toronto

The funny thing is he is making money and get commision from yara because he is bying their sheet and sell to for the moost poor nation on the planet the poor peopel of ethiopia and yara know him he is purchaser of that misken Ager.

Email: aba11715@yahoo.com

City: texas

The people of Norway,
This is one of the many criminal acts comitted by your very first Yara green award winner against Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has warned that his country faces a famine worse than that of 1984 which killed nearly one million people and sparked a big international relief effort.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the BBC that some six million people already needed food aid and the number facing starvation could rise to 15 million early in the new year if international donors did not come to the country's aid.

Meles said

If [the 1984 famine] was a nightmare, then this will be too ghastly to contemplate

Meles Zenawi,
Ethiopian PM

He predicted that the number of people who could be hit as a result of the new drought might be three times the number affected during the earlier famine.

as i said it is one of the thousands. are you happy with your action? Congratulation. The Ethiopian 75 million people have many friends especially God. Your profit motive to prize a criminal leader who took power by force after 17 years Gurilla war will never overshadow the truth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2440093.stm

Email: Gimma@hotmail.com

Hi,

Yara is trying to be smart by legitimatizing illegal profit sharing of 200,000$ with Meles & co. If they're realy concerned, why not make a debt relief to the very farmers who're burdened by fertilizer payment imposed by Meles & co?

Do not be surprized if their next candidate for the prize will be Hitler!

What a shame?

bye

City: Canada

wogenoche,

'LeHodam Bere chid yazletal'. Meles is Hodam and therefore he always wants to eat. Be it by selling Ethiopia, anyone related to him or anything for that matter. He wants to get something out of nothing. That's why he smells 'Genzeb' and goes wherever it takes him. Mind you, he kills as long as he gets 'Tirf' out of it. AFTER ALL, THAT'S WHAT HE DOES WHEN SLAUGHTERING INNOCENT ETHIOPIANS. JUST TO CONTINUE TO BE IN POWER AND GET PAID.

Email: genbiw@yahoo.com

City: Wales

Despite the tireless efforts by the Stop Yara award campign Meles Zenawi have recieved the prize. What amazes me most is those who were on the demonstration were Ogaden Liberation sympatizers, the Shabias and the Somalis

Email: haile#hotmaol.com

Dear compatriots,

It should not surprise us that Yara went ahead with its decision to give the prize to the tyrant. The final action was to be expected in my view. But, the work of the Stop-Yara-Award Committee was undeniably a success. It has exposed the evil deeds of Meles and his junta to the entire world. It has rendered the credibility of the group in world politics highly questionable. This is a loss of collosal magnitude, and they know it; they feel the pain. Meles's reputation is so badly tainted that he will probably never recover from the wound. I think that is the biggest achievement of such a protest. Thus the crux of the matter is not whether Meles took the money or not. After all, $200,000 is a peanut for Meles and Co compared with what the Mafiosos have been plundering. However, they have lost heavily what they have aspired to gain, namely the political advantage. No doubt also that they will continue loosing. So, I would say well done to the Stop-Yara-Award Committee. This type of struggle has to continue until all the evil deeds of these blood suckers are exposed naked to the peace-loving world.

City: A.A

The saying goes as follows "If the poor was not to drink butter on his dream, he/she would have dried up anight". The same is true with "Anti-Yara committe and co.".
The dog continues barking while the camel has no time to listen to the uninteruppted cries of his fellow dog. Meles and the EPRDF has no time to spend a minute with the jobless and hopeless CUD leaders, members and supporters. If the battle field was on the internet you would have been victrious by simply lying without stopping.

You see while you are barking like the dog the Dollar 200,000 is already asigned for helping fellow Ethiopians. EPRDF and its supporters are not suspected working for fulling their Belly.
Who else then? I refer you to the talks of the late Prof Asrat

Email: Debalkie@hotmail.com

City: WDC

Debalkie,

I thinnk 'Negeru hulu Tedebelalkobhal litdebaliq sitmokir'. Do you know, wusha bebelabet yichohal. Therefore, there is nothing new about your comment in support of Meles. God knows how much your share is.
It could be in cash or in kind.~)

What I would like to tell you is, don't ever mention that he got the money because he helped poor Ethiopians. He has never helped them.

One thing you don't realise is 'Money cannot buy the credibility. He lost his integrity and credibility(if at all he had one in the first place). No one will trust him anymore. Even the Norwegian politicians boycotted the event because they don't want to be seen with him. No one greeted him at the airport. Because no one see him as an important person . He attended the event because the money was for him. Would he attend if the money was to go to Ethiopian farmer? NO.

Therefore, even Yara committee knows that he likes money more than his name or postition. For Norwegians, $200,000 is not a lot of money. But for the GREEDY Meles, it is. That's why, he went to attend the ceremoney and get paid 'Aynun BeChew Atibo.

Email: genbiw@yahoo.com

City: Wales

Can any one tell me the numbers of demonstrators in oslo against Yara award. Because i read a conflicting report in Ethiopian newspapers. Is it 50-80 or 1200?

Thanx

Email: blacklion77@gmail.com

City: Dubai

Habeshaw,

Are you just waking up after days of sleep? The number is around 1200.

oh

O

Email: deleted

City: deleted