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A competition among unequals in the upcoming general election

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Shiferaw Shigute, Minister of Education, another high-ranking official in the region is representing the incumbent in Sidama Zone against a candidate representing Medrek In what appears to be a competition among unequals, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, chairman of the ruling party, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), will face off with little know artist, student and a farmer, representing opposition parties, in Boloso Sore II constituency in the Wolayta Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' (SNNP) Regional State in the upcoming general election. Shiferaw Shigute, Minister of Education, another high-ranking official in the region is representing the incumbent in Sidama Zone against a candidate representing Medrek.  The candidates, who are set to compete with Hailemariam are Desta Da'a (artist), Kegnu Seba (student) and Tesfaye Haile (farmer), representing Addis Tewled Party, the youngest of all parties in the el

With Big Projects, Ethiopia Shedding Famine Stereotype

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FILE - In this Saturday, April 27, 2013 file photo, an Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 787 Dreamliner prepares to take off from the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ethiopia, once known for epic famines that sparked global appeals for help, has a booming...  View Full Caption From  Ethiopia's planned new airport on the outskirts of the capital is still years from becoming a reality but Tewodros Dawit can already envision how grand it will look. "The airport we are planning to build is going to be huge. Very huge," Tewodros said one recent afternoon as he examined project plans in his office in Addis Ababa. "It will be one of the biggest airports in the world. I don't know what other countries are planning in this regard for the future but no country has created this much capacity so far in Africa." Ethiopia, once known for epic famines that sparked global appeals for help, has a booming economy and big plans these days. The planned airport is o

New Film on the Italian Occupation of Ethiopia: ‘If Only I Were That Warrior’

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Megabi Woldetensae, an eyewitness to the 1937 massacre at the monastery of Debre Libanos, is one of the characters featured in the new documentary film "If Only I Were That Warrior." (Awen Films) Press Release CPL New York The idea for  If Only I Were That Warrior , took shape in February 2013 when director Valerio Ciriaci and producer Isaak Liptzin attended a panel discussion on the recently inaugurated monument to Rodolfo Graziani organized by the Calandra Italian American Institute at CUNY and Centro Primo Levi NY An Italian army general responsible for war crimes and human rights violations in Africa, Graziani was first denounced by the League of Nations and, after the war, brought in front of the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Due to diplomatic reasons, he was never tried. In 1948 an Italian court found him guilty of war crimes but was relieved from serving his sentence because he claimed to have only obeyed orders. Graziani and his actions remained in li

Ethiopia launches open data on agriculture, socioeconomic wellbeing

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Ethiopia, with the support from the World Bank (WB) Group has launched open data on agriculture and socioeconomic wellbeing. World Bank In a continuing effort to improve data quality and accessibility, the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) on Wednesday publicly released data from the Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey (ESS) , said WB statement on Thursday. The ESS is a nationally representative, household survey with information on agricultural practices and socioeconomic wellbeing of households. The launch event is a culmination of several years of collaboration between CSA and the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) team of the World Bank Group, said the statement. As part of a global move by WB Group to further support open- data initiatives, the data will be available online immediately after the launch, it said. “These data can be used both directly by the government to help inform policy makers, and by local researchers and analysts to bet

Sisi offers Egypt’s expertise to build future with Ethiopia

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By the CAIRO POST CAIRO: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi offered Egypt’s expertise in various fields to be used in Ethiopia, as well as its network of international and regional relations to reach mutual interests, in a Wednesday speech at the Ethiopian parliament. Sisi, who announced a “new page” in the history of Egyptian-Ethiopian relations, emphasized the need for the two “major African states” counter problems facing life in their continent: global warming, desertification, diseases and dehydration. The Egyptian president, whose speech was met with applause, expressed his hopes that cooperation between the two countries would “set an example” to the continent of Africa. On Monday, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan inked an agreement on the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Khartoum. In his speech, Sisi called on Ethiopians to transcend pending issues in the agreement to include all Nile Basin states, and to seize the opportunity to lay the foundations of a bette