Worancha ወራንቻ

US President Barack Obama made history this week by becoming the first sitting president to visit Ethiopia and to deliver a speech before the African Union. Obama's plan to visit Ethiopia was rebuked by human right advocates who argued that it would award undue praise to the Ethiopian government, which has pursued a crackdown on local media workers resulting in dozens of detentions and multi-year prison sentences, including the jailing of six members of the Global Voices community. The ruling party also secured 100% of parliamentary seats in the May 2015 elections, leaving Ethiopians suspicious that authorities had interfered with electoral systems. The tone of the disappointment and anger began to ease after the release of several bloggers and journalists prior to the arrival of President Obama. President Barack Obama and Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn hold a press conference at the National Palace Barack Obama and PM Hailemariam Desalegn hold a press conferen

By APF US President Barack Obama's visit to Ethiopia, which saw him speak out against democratic restrictions, was positive but Washington must maintain pressure on the government, an Ethiopian opposition figure said Wednesday. "I was not in favour of his coming, but (the visit) exposed Ethiopia and its government," said Merera Gudina, the vice-president of the opposition Medrek party, hailing the media and NGO interest generated by Obama's remarks. "I think the cause of democracy benefited from this," Gudina said. "But we have to wait for the follow-up. If the US really means business, they have a lot of leverage with the Ethiopian government. But the US needs Ethiopia on the war on terror. It's a major ally in the Horn of Africa," he said, adding that he feared Obama's comments were "only for public relations." Obama was in Ethiopia on Monday and Tuesday, making the first-ever visit to the country by a US

Caroline White Thursday, 30 July 2015 A planned caesarean section birth is ‘safest’ for breech delivery, but the absolute risks of vaginal delivery are small, reveals an analysis * of the available published evidence in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology . The best way to deal with breech babies is the subject of ongoing debate, as C-section is not without risk. The researchers therefore pooled the data from 27 relevant studies, involving just short of 259,000 women, to find out the absolute and relative risks of death and complications associated with planned vaginal breech delivery up to seven days after the birth. The analysis suggests that the overall perinatal mortality in the planned vaginal delivery and planned caesarean section grou

የቡናን ዘርፍን በበላይነት እንዲመራ የሚቋቋመው የኢትዮጵያ የቡናና ሻይ ልማትና ግብይት ባለሥልጣን፣ ተጠሪነቱ ለጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ጽሕፈት ቤት እንዲሆን ጥያቄ ቀረበ፡፡  ባለሥልጣኑን ለማቋቋም የተዘጋጀው የሚኒስትሮች ምክር ቤት ረቂቅ ደንብ እንደሚለው ባለሥልጣኑ ተጠሪነቱ ለግብርና ሚኒስቴር ነው፡፡ ሰሞኑን የኢትዮጵያ ቡና ላኪዎች ማኅበር በረቂቅ ደንቡ ላይ ለመወያየት ባዘጋጀው መድረክ ላይ ቡና ላኪዎች፣ ባለሥልጣኑ ለግብርና ሚኒስቴርም ሆነ ለንግድ ሚኒስቴር ተጠሪ ከሆነ ቀደም ሲል ከነበረው የተሻለ አደረጃጀትም ሆነ ሥልጣን አይኖረውም ብለዋል፡፡ ዘርፉ ያለበት ችግር የተወሳሰበ በመሆኑ ተጠሪነቱ በቀጥታ ለጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ጽሕፈት ቤት እንዲሆን ነጋዴዎቹ አሳስበዋል፡፡ አገሪቱ ትልቁን የውጭ ምንዛሪ የምታገኝበት የቡና ዘርፍ በተለይ ልማቱ በግብርና ሚኒስቴር፣ ግብይቱ ደግሞ በንግድ ሚኒስቴር ሆኖ ቆይቷል፡፡ የቡና ዘርፍ በእነዚህ መዋቅሮች በሚተዳደርበት ወቅት በተከታታይ ዓመታት ከቡና ዘርፍ ትልቅ ገቢ ለማግኘት ቢታቀድም፣ ጠንካራ የማስፈጸም አቅም ያለው የቡና ዘርፍ አመራር ባለመኖሩ ዕቅዱን በስኬት ማጀብ አለመቻሉ ይነገራል፡፡ ይህንን ችግር ለመፍታት የተለያዩ ጥናቶች ከመደረጋቸውም በተጨማሪ፣ ጥናቶቹን ያካሄዱ ኤክስፐርቶች የኮሎምቢያንና የጓቲማላን ልምድ ለመቅሰም የተለያዩ ጉዞዎችን አድርገዋል፡፡ በመጨረሻ የተደረሰበት ውሳኔ በደርግ መንግሥት ዘመን ዘርፉን ሲመራ የነበረውን የቡናና ሻይ ባለሥልጣን መልሶ ማቋቋም ሆኗል፡፡ የቀድሞ ቡናና ሻይ ባለሥልጣን፣ በአሁኑ ወቅት ለግል ኩባንያዎች የተላለፉት በበቃ፣ ሊሙና ቴፒ  እርሻ ልማት ድርጅቶችን ጨምሮ ያስተዳድር ነበር፡፡ አዲሱ ተቋም የሚያስተዳድረው እርሻ ባይኖርም፣ አገሪቱ የምታመርተውን

The 5th Annual  Good Food Awards Ceremony took place last night in San Francisco, honoring coffee roasters alongside craft producers in categories such as beer, cheese, spirits, oils and preserves. Sixteen winning single-origin coffees from 16 U.S. roasteries were deemed award-worthy out of a pool of 24 finalists. All but two coffees, both from Panama, came from either Ethiopia or Kenya. The awards program has become one of the most influential in the coffee world, giving winners a chance to market the GFA seal and trumpet their coffees as the best of the best, both in terms of cup quality and sustainable and responsible practices. As its influence has grown and the growing program has gotten more competitive, so too has it taken some criticisms. (See our companion piece with GFA coffee awards committee chair Jen Apodaca to discuss how the program operates and what changes we might see moving forward .) Without further ado, here are the 2015 Good Food Award Winning