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Showing posts from August, 2017

'I can't pay': taxing times for small traders in Ethiopia hit by 300% rate hike

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I n the dense cobblestone streets of Burayu town, outside Addis Ababa, Melaku Abdella* and his family had been making a living selling basic items such as vegetables, cooking oil and soft drinks at competitive prices from their kiosk. But after the Ethiopian government stung him with a more than 300% tax increase last month, Abdella says he was left with no option but to close the business. Photo Like many low-income traders in the country’s Oromia region, the family didn’t keep accounts, meaning the authorities based their annual tax demand of 7,000 Ethiopian birr (£231) on an estimate of income. “It’s beyond my capacity to pay. I will have to hand in my business licence,” Abdella says. Uneasy peace and simmering conflict: the Ethiopian town where three flags fly   Read more The hikes on grocers, barbers and cafes were met with widespread anger and  protests  in parts of the volatile state, which has endured unrest and fatal clashes during the last two years

Sidama - Ethiopia's coffee industry threatened by climate change

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Global warming is affecting the lives of an estimated 15 million Ethiopian farmers, who heavily rely on the coffee industry for their livelihood.  Ethiopia is Africa's largest coffee producer and ranks fifth globally, but dry spells are having a direct impact on production. "The amount of coffee we can produce is fluctuating, especially when there is a lot of sun during the dry seasons in recent years," Kebede Garmamu, coffee farmer, told Al Jazeera. Reporting from Sidama, in southern Ethiopia,  Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford,    said: " A recent study says that up to 60 percent of the area in which coffee is grown in Ethiopia may be unsuitable to do so by the end of the century because of the affects of climate change." Coffee plants ideally need mild temperatures between 15 to 26 degrees Celsius to thrive. Farmers are now taking extra measures and growing alternative crops to combat the problem. Garmamu, who has been growing coffee for more

ሲዳማ ቡና ሁለት ተጫዋቾች አስፈርሟል

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በክረምቱ የዝውውር መስኮት በርካታ ተጫዋቾች የለቀቁበት ሲዳማ ቡና ምስጋናው ወልደ ዮሀንስ እና ኢኳቶሪያል ጊኒያዊው ቤን ማማዱ ኮናቴን አስፈርሟል፡፡ በትውልድ አይቮሪኮስት በዜግነት ኢኳቶሪያል ጊኒያዊው የተከላካይ አማካይ ቤን ኮናቴ በአንድ አመት ውል ሲዳማ ቡናን ተቀላቅሏል፡፡ የ29 አመቱ ኮናቴ በአይቮሲኮስት ፣ ቡርኪናፋሶ ፣ ኢክቶሪያል ጊኒ ፣ ባልሬይን ፣ ኦማን ፣ ኢራቅ ክለቦች ተዟዙር መጫወት የቻለ ሲሆን የተጠናቀቀውን የውድድር አመት በቆጵሮሱ ክለብ ደሞሉፒናር አሳልፏል፡፡ ከ2011-2014 ድረስም በኢኳቶርያል ጊኒ ብሔራዊ ቡድን ተጫውቷል፡፡ ሌላው ለክለቡ የፈረመው የመስመር አማካዩ ምስጋናው ወልደዮሀንስ ነው፡፡ ምስጋናው በድሬዳዋ ከተማ ለ6 ወራት ከቆየ በኋላ ሁለተኛውን ዙር በሀዋሳ ከተማ ያሳለፈ ሲሆን ከሰአት ላይ ፊርማውን ሙሉ ለሙሉ አጠናቆ ክለቡን የሚቀላቀል ይሆናል፡፡ ሲዳማ ቡና እስካሁን 10 ተጫዋቾችን ማስፈረም የቻለ ሲሆን ተጨማሪ ተጫዋቾችን ለማስፈረም እየተንቀሳቀሰ መሆኑን የክለቡ ፕሬዝዳንት አቶ መንግስቱ ሳሳሞ ለሶከር ኢትዮጵያ ገልጸዋል፡፡ የይርጋለሙ ክለብ የቅድመ ውድድር ዘመን ዝግጅቱን እሁድ እንደሚጀምር ይጠበቃል፡፡ ምንጭ

Sidama Bunna likely to take Players’ of the Year doubles

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Photo from Capital Despite criticism from fans over neglecting the two top scorers in their Player of the Year award, Losa Aberra is the clear favorite to win Women’s Best Player. Getaneh Kebede broke a 16 year old scoring record and Salhadin Said had 15 goals and seven more in the African Champions League yet they were not on the shortlist. Saint George and national team central defender Aschalew Tamene, versatile team mate Mentesenot Adane and Sidama Bunna’s Mulualem Mesfin are front runners for the 2016-17 Men’s Player of the Year award. Considering the champions’ strong squad many suggest Mulualem’s contribution in Sidama’s modest squad makes him the favorite for the award. Spear heading Dedebit to unbeaten championship title with 38 goals in her name Losa Aberra is the clear favorite to take home the award while her team mate mid fielder Senait Bogale is likely to finish second ahead of Ethiopia Neged Bank’s Zuleika Jihad. Ugandan international goal keeper Robert Odonkara’

Editing the Bible: From Cush to Ethiopia – and back to Cush

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Photo from OPride (OPride) – In 1517 Martin Luther, a professor of theology at the German-based Wittenberg University, wrote a list of propositions known as the   Ninety-five Theses  to correct errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It set in motion the Protestant Reformation, making Luther an idol for the birth of Protestantism. The reformation process and protests against the excesses of the church appears not to have ended yet. An Oromo pastor has taken up the mantle by translating or changing biblical words that are deemed erroneous. The Evangelical Church of Germany recently unveiled a new version of the Bible as part of the 500 Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, which run from October 2016 – October 2017. Among the most notable changes or corrections in the new bible is the term Ethiopia, which was changed to Cush. Rev. Benti Ujulu Tesso is one of the scholars behind some of the latest changes. He argues that the old version of the Bible, which refers to ‘Ethiopia

ከእኛ ዞንስ ምን ታስቧል?

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በትግራይ የንግድ ታፔላ ማስታወቂያዎች በትግርኛ እንዲፃፉ ተደነገገ ‹‹የክልሉን ቋንቋ ለማሳደግ አስተዋፅኦ ያበረክታል›› ከ1983 ዓ.ም ጀምሮ የስራ ቋንቋውን ትግርኛ ያደረገው የትግራይ ክልላዊ መንግስት፤ ማንኛውም የንግድ ማስታወቂያ ታፔላና የግድግዳ ላይ ማስታወቂያ መልዕክቶች በትግርኛ ቋንቋ እንዲፃፉ የሚያዝ አስገዳጅ አዋጅ ሰሞኑን አፀድቆ በስራ ላይ መዋል መጀመሩ ተገለፀ፡፡ አዋጁን እንዲያስፈፅም ኃላፊነት የተሰጠው የክልሉ ባህልና ቱሪዝም ቢሮ ኃላፊ አቶ ዳዊት ኃይሉ ለአዲስ አድማስ በሰጡት ማብራሪያ፤ አዋጁ ማንኛውም የንግድ ድርጅትም ሆነ አገልግሎት ሰጪ ተቋም፤ የውጪ ተሰቃይ ማስታወቂያውን ወደ ትግርኛ  እንዲለውጥ የሚያስገድድ መሆኑን ጠቁመው፤ አዋጁን ተግባራዊ ያላደረገ ድርጅቱ እንደሚታሸግበት ያሳስባል ብለዋል፡፡  ቀደም ሲል እንዲህ ያለው አስገዳጅ ህግ ባለመኖሩ፣ በክልሉ ከተሞች የሚሰቀሉ የግድግዳ ላይ ማስታወቂያዎችና ታፔላዎች  የተዘበራረቀ ቋንቋ ይጠቀሙ እንደነበር የጠቀሱት አቶ ዳዊት፤ ይህን የሚያስቀር አዋጅ መፅደቁ ለክልሉ ቋንቋዎች እድገት አስተዋፅኦ ያበረክታል ብለዋል። በክልሉ የራሳቸውን ቋንቋ የመጠቀም ህጋዊ መብት የተሰጣቸው የሳኦና የኩናማ ብሄረሰቦችም በከተማ ውና አካባቢያቸው፣ ማናቸውም የግድግዳ ላይ ማስታወቂያዎችና ታፔላዎች በየራሳቸው ቋንቋ እንዲፃፉ አዋጁ ያስገድዳል ተብሏል፡፡   አዋጁ ገና በነጋሪት ጋዜጣ ታትሞ እንዳልወጣ የተጠቆመ ሲሆን የመቀሌ ከተማ አብዛኞቹ የንግድ ቤቶችና ተቋማት አዋጁ መውጣቱን ተከትሎ ታፔላቸውን ወደ ትግርኛ ቋንቋ በመቀየር ተጠምደው መሰንበታቸውን ከአካባቢው ምንጮቻችን  ለማወቅ ተችሏል፡፡ የቢሮ ኃላፊው አቶ ዳዊት በበኩላቸው፤ በእርግጥም ታፔላዎች ከወዲሁ እየተቀየሩ መሆኑንና የህብረተሰቡ ተግባ

Hawassa University (HU) Documentary 2017 in Sidaamu Afoo

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Hawassa University Documentary- 2017- Sidaamu Afoo