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Here are some news highlights from Ethiopia this week. As always, links are only good for a few weeks, unless you subscribe to the news service. I’ve included a summary of each piece to help you decide if you are interested in reading the full story.
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30,000 Runners To Hit Road At Millenium
The Daily Monitor in Adds reported on Friday that 30,000 runners are expected to run in the 2007 TOYOTA Great Ethiopian Run. Elite athletes from all over the world will be running in this 10 km road race, which is scheduled for Sunday, September 9, 2007. The race will be aired live on BBC and other international stations. Thirty thousand tickets for a place in this race have been made available to potential participants.
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Ethiopia’s Minister of Justice Assefa Kessito is concerned because the various organizations and institutions in Ethiopia lack commitment and coordination when it comes to safeguarding the rights of Ethiopian children. In a day-long workshop he discussed the problems and the growing commitment of the government to work in conjunction with UNICEF to do a better job at protecting the rights of woman and children.
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New Programme Boosts Village Health Service Delivery
The Health Ministry in Ethiopia estimates that up to 80 percent of the country’s health problems are due to preventable diseases. Leading causes of death are malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrhea, acute respiratory infections and nutritional deficiency. A new program has been designed to work in rural Ethiopian communities at the family level. Since 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas, the Health Ministry hopes that this new program will reach families effectively.
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Ethiopia Releases Detained Time Journalists
Three American journalists were detained on May 16th in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia near the border of Somalia. After being held at gunpoint and interrogated for five days, they were released on May 21st. They were in the region to report on the conflict in the Ogaden region and were never told why they were detained.
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Africa Day was celebrated in Ethiopian on May 25th. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that the purpose of Africa Day is to remember the efforts made 44 years ago by 31 African leaders for their vision of a free, prosperous and united Africa, one that would someday be free from poverty, and to remember the people who sacrificed their lives in the process of furthering that vision.
