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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.
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Ethiopia: “We Won’t Oppose Ethiopian’s Effort” – Starbucks
The Reporter (Addis Ababa) February 17, 2007
Representatives of Starbucks yesterday announced that they will not oppose Ethiopia’s effort to trade mark regional names for its coffee beans.
In a press conference they gave to the media at the Sheraton Addis, the representatives stated that they had agreed to work with the Ethiopian government to promote Ethiopian value added products like tea and textile and to continue the ongoing dialogue.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200702170234.html
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Ethiopia: Trial of Opposition Activists Adjourned Again
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks – February 20, 2007
The Federal High Court in Ethiopia has once again adjourned the trial of 111 opposition activists and journalists, including more than 70 defendants who have been held in custody since November 2005 on charges of instigating unrest to overthrow the government.
Federal High Court Judge Adil Ahmed on Monday adjourned the trial until 5 March, saying a speech allegedly made by one of the defendants – the leader of the country’s main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), Hailu Shawl – in the US Congress before his arrest needed to be translated from English into Amharic, Ethiopia’s official language.
The trial has been adjourned several times before.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200702200500.html
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Ethiopia: Carter Center Provides 3 million Mosquito Bed Nets
The Reporter (Addis Ababa)- February 17, 2007
Former US President Jimmy Carter, through the Carter Center, donated 3 million insecticide impregnated nets to the Ministry of Health (MoH) this week.
The nets are worth $100,000,000 and are expected to protect their users for a period of seven years.
The MoH has plans to protect 50 million people at risk of malaria by providing 20 million such nets by July 2007.
The article went on to say that malaria is the single most deadly disease in Ethiopia right now, and that they hope to place two mosquito nets into every household in at-risk areas of Ethiopia.
You can read the complete story here: http://allafrica.com/stories/200702170236.html
You can also read more about the problem of malaria in Ethiopia here and here.
