In less than a decade, she’s zipped from nobody to one of the richest persons in the country. She owns at least four expensive hotels, the famous one being an 18-storey Grand Resort located on the shores of Lake Tana, dubbed the tallest hotel in Ethiopia. She also owns other large hotels in Debre Markos, Awasa, and Gambela towns. She has gained a notoriety for her lavish and luxurious life, frequent travel to Dubai and Shanghai. She says she is a self-made billionaire, hailing from simple peasant family and was making her livelihoods as school teacher only twenty years ago. So how did she come to amass such a huge amount of money in a short time and manage to construct a hotel that costs 300 million birr on the shores of Lake Tana?
The story of Tiliksew Gedamu and the source of her income is not clear. But for many, it might not be attributed to business acumen, financial probity or hard work. Many say Tiliksew’s wealth owes to her ties to some officials of the power. For others, the hotel in Bahir Dar, is not really owned by her but by other powerful politicians. Many of the hotel personnel talk about seeing Kassa Tekleberhan, minister of federal affairs, frequenting the hotel and discussing the hotel administration work with the management. Another official Addisu Legesse, former deputy prime minister often come to address the hotel staff on ways of improving the service. If true, so why would the two bigwigs of the government be concerned about the performance of a private hotel?
One former staff of the hotel, who currently resides in Addis Ababa, claims the hotel was built through a web of transactions with its ownership being held in anonymous bearer shares. Asking for anonymity, the former staff says Tiliksew was not known as a businesswoman but the officials are using her because she was a childless woman and she would not pose any danger for the business. He said the hotel was once investigated by the region for money laundering, but the charge was suddenly dropped for reasons not well explained. Another source in the tax bureau of Bahir Dar says it is an open secret that the hotel paid little or no taxes on its purchases.
Whatever her role in the hotels, Tiliksew is a person of ill-repute and few in the business community of the country provoke such loathing. Many talk about her a notoriety to outmaneuver or intimidate rival businesses. One frequently mentioned case was her unlawful effort to take over the land which was on the premise of a nearby restaurant called Deset and integrate it to her hotel. Though her effort failed, after the owner brought the case to the media and administration, many other business have been easy targets. Tiliksew was sued for stiffing one of her personnel out of promised payments. A certain Tesfaye Bekele who helped her organize the hotel management of Grand Resorts hotel in Bahir Dar brought a suite at Bahir Dar Instant Court for 200,000 birr unpaid fees last year. Tesfaye who had wide experiences in hotel management, including working in Sheraton Addis for more ten years, won the case and he says he is still waiting for the money.
Not so much to indicate that Tiliksew is really an example of self-made woman but rather manifestation of a corrupt system that is enriching itself through so much of the wealth that had belonged to the state and to the people at large.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and his Djiboutian counterpart Ismail Omar Guelleh stressed the importance of enhancing economic and trade cooperation at a Monday press conference in Cairo that preceded the signing of memorandums of understanding between the two countries
El-Sisi said that his meeting with Guelleh saw fruitful talks on ways of boosting the special ties between the two countries.
El-Sisi also said that the two leaders agreed on increasing Egyptian companies’ activities in different fields in Djibouti, including energy, construction and medicine, as well as boosting cooperation and an exchange of experience between Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority and the Port of Djibouti.
Egypt and Djibouti have signed seven memorandums of understanding in the fields of exports and imports, agriculture, technical education, trade cooperation, international cooperation, health and maritime ports.
The Egyptian president also said they have both agreed on continued Egyptian support in Djibouti in the fields of education, health, and capacity building.
El-Sisi said that the meeting witnessed talks about several regional issues, including the situations in the Horn of Africa and Yemen, as well as preparations for the African Union Summit set to take place in Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa in January.
Read the full story at Ahram Online.

Egypt’s government has approved a deal to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia and sent it to parliament for ratification, despite a legal dispute over the plan, according to state television.
The deal, announced in April, caused public uproar and protests by Egyptians who said the uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir belonged to their country.
The controversy has become a source of tension with Saudi Arabia, which has provided Egypt with billions of dollars of aid but recently halted fuel shipments amid deteriorating relations.
In June, Egypt’s higher administrative court annulled the agreement, saying Egyptian sovereignty over the islands could not be given up. The Egyptian government lodged an appeal.
Earlier this month, an Egyptian state advisory body recommended the court uphold its original decision, in a report seen by Reuters. The court is scheduled to issue its final verdict on 16 January and is not obliged to follow the advisory body’s report.Read the whole story at the Guardian.

The Ethiopian singer and songwriter, Eyob Mekonnen, who died from stoke three years ago, was planning to release a new studio disc. Fans can look forward to the music to be released posthumously since the reggae singer’s death three years ago.
Eyob Alemayehu of Yisakal Entertainment said at the press conference in Addis Ababa that the album called Erotalehu will be out next Tuesday. The album comprises materials that the late reggae singer had been working on in the weeks leading up to his death, on August 2013 at the age of 37. Kamuzu Kassa, Dagmawi Ali participated in arrangements and Abegasu Kibrework Shiota helped with the melody and mixing.

Eyeob’s debut album Kal came out in 2007, containing alternately soulful, reggae and traditional Ethiopian folk that scored several hits.Heavily influenced by Oromo singer Ali Birra and the Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley, his songs dealt with issues of morality, love, peace and social consciousness. In 2012 he released two singles; “Beyemehalu” and “Negen Layew”.

The well-known biographer, author, poet and ardent defenders of Ethiopian cultural heritage, Tadele Bitul celebrates his 90th birthday today. Tadele Bitul wrote two important Amharic books about the literary giant and intellectual Kebbede Michael and another book about the statesman, diplomat and Ethiopia’s first western trained physician, Hakim Workneh Eshete.
Ato Tadele has published several books on the history and social aspects of Ethiopia but most notably known for his books which pay tribute to Ato Kebbede Michael whom he befriended when the latter was in his twilight years and made several tape interviews with him, eliciting random casual reminiscences of what he could remember from his life and experiences, which were later transformed into two books.
Ato Tadele, a private-sector structural engineer, has been a member of the Aksum Obelisk Return Committee a private initiative that made a successful bid for the return an obelisk which was taken by the Italian army during the Second World war.
Serving his country in a number of important entrepreneurial posts for several decades, even when he was forced to lead exile years in Sweden after he sympathised with a group of officers who revolted against Emperor Haile Selassie in 1960, Tadele has proved a faithful public servant and patriot.
In celebration of the birthday, family members and friends are organizing a party at Global Hotel in Addis Ababa tomorrow starting from 11 Am. A photo exhibition about his life will be displayed.

A statue of Bob Marely in Addis Ababa will be removed from a spot in roundabout in Gerji area where it has stood for the past two years.
The statue, which according to the Ethiopian Roads Authority, is causing frequent traffic jams, shows the reggae icon Marely in a swaying movement, carrying his guitar, and his face covered by his dreadlocks. The Authority says it has decided to abolish the roundabouts and remove the statue and install a traffic signal pole instead.
The life-size statue was commissioned in occasion of the 70th birthday celebration by two brothers, the Ethiopian reggae singer Zeleke Gessese and music promoter, Addisu Gessese and a businessman Awad Mohamed. Officials promised to find “a more appropriate place” for the statue.

The great and original documentary on Ethiopian music from the BBC TV series of “Under Africa Skies”, shot in 1981 and produced by award-winning film maker, Richard Taylor and narrated by the Ghanaian actor Hugh Quarshie. This documentary featured established and rising stars, Aster Aweke, Niway Debebe, Bezawork Asfaw, Bahiru kagne, Tewodros Tadesse, Mahmoud Ahmed, Desta Gebre, Mulatu Astatke, Abebech Derara, Alemayehu Eshete and Wubanchi Sileshi. The documentary combines interviews with prominent personalities in the arts, theatre and music such as Abate Mekuria, Giovanni Rico, Afewerk Tekle, Tsegaye Gebre Medhin, Ali Tango, and Worku Sharew. Watching this documentary could make you long for a different time and place in which the arts stakeholders share anecdotes about the music scene of the time and presents a conspectus of information about traditional and modern Ethiopian music. Available on You Tube since August 15, 2016.

The government of South Sudan is preparing to send to Ethiopia a mobilization team tasked to advance recent national dialogue message to rebel-held territories, according to a leaked document seen by the South Sudan News Agency.
The leaked text shows primary goal of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Taban Deng Gai is to take peace to areas under control of the armed opposition, and to convince civilians who are in refugee camps, particularly those IDPs living in Ethiopian camps.
“The President [Kiir] is determined to end this war, so our national dialogue team is set to arrive in Addis Ababa…and head to Gambella and stay there for 30 days,” a confidential governmental source who prefers anonymity. The source added that Juba “really” wants its peace delegation to arrive in Addis Ababa by the 5th of January 2017 and return to South Sudan by February 5, 2017.
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) under the leadership of the Former South Sudanese Vice President and rebel Leader Dr. Riek Machar says Juba is just doing all it can to presence itself to the outside world as a peace-maker. The armed opposition blasted the government for not being truthful to the people of South Sudan, IGAD, African Union (AU), Troika, and the United nations. Find the whole story here.

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki was in Abu Dhabi on Monday in an official visit to the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf Today reported. The paper wrote that Isaias was received by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the two discussed “ways of enhancing ties of friendship and co-operation to serve mutual interests of the friendly countries and their people.”
According to the Gulf Today, during the meeting, held at Al Bahr Palace, the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Afewerki focussed on ways of co-operation in political, economic and developmental spheres within the framework of the Emirati-Eritrean leaderships’ commitment to advance bilateral ties to new heights.
Recently, the Beirut based Arabic TV channel, Al-mayadeen reported that UAE has acquired a 30-year lease for military base in the Eritrean port of Assab, a claim denied by Eritrea.
According to reports, the UAE is increasingly focusing on projecting military power “west of Suez.” “Events such as the Arab Spring in 2011, Iran’s growing confidence and escape from nuclear sanctions, plus the rise of the Islamic State have convinced Emirati leaders to become more activist in managing the risks facing their federation,” an article that came out on the War on the Rocks website on September 2, 2016 stated. According to the website, the tiny Gulf nation has established its first power projection base outside of the Arabian Peninsula in the port of Assab and over the last year, this port was built up from empty desert into a modern airbase, deep-water port, and military training facility.

(AP)-An Ethiopian court has sentenced 20 Muslims to prison after they were found guilty of trying to establish a state ruled by Sharia law and inciting violence.
They were charged under Ethiopia’s controversial anti-terrorism law and convicted last month. All but one received prison terms of five and a half years. Two were journalists working for a Muslim radio station.
The state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate, citing the court ruling, said Tuesday that the 20 defendants also were found to be “participating in a movement to secure the release of another Muslim group that was under detention.”
Muslims have long felt marginalized in Ethiopia and have carried out a number of protests since 2011. Some were met with force, and many protest leaders were jailed. “The defendants didn’t get a fair trial. In fact, we didn’t expect the court to give a fair verdict,” Mustafa Safi, the defendants’ lawyer, told The Associated Press. “They were subjected to both a mistrial and a bad treatment at the infamous Kilinto detention center. They were even unable to pray there. But we will appeal the sentencing anyway.”
The defendants had been trying to secure the release of a group of Muslims that had formed to counter government interference in their religious affairs but was detained on terror-related charges. Five members of that group were pardoned in September.
Ethiopia, a strong security ally of the West, is often accused of stifling dissent and jailing opposition groups and critical journalists. The country is currently under a state of emergency declared in October following widespread anti-government protests demanding greater political freedoms.

Dr. Fitigu Tadesse was born in 1939 in Azezo, Gondar town and raised in Addis Ababa. He was educated at the French Lycée Gebre-Mariam. Upon completing high-school he went to Israel and studied at the Bar Ilan University of Tel Aviv where he graduated in political science. He received international relations master’s degree there in 1963. He also received his PHD from the University of Strasbourg, France in international relations in 1968. He joined the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in early 70’s and he had ambassadorship positions in Djibouti and Italy and he had also served as the Vice President of Africa Programmes of the UK-based, The Hunger Project. Fitigu’s manner, his gestures, and his voice recall the vanished provincial of his childhood, where the bourgeoisie retained traces of cosmopolitan culture. The son of a government official and Minister in Emperor’s Haile Selassie’ era, he spent his early years speaking Amharic with his parents, Hebrew with his relatives, and French and English at school. Ambassador Fitigu was interviewed in November 2016 in Addis Ababa Tennis Club’s garden.
Your father Tadesse Yakob was State Minister at the Prime Minister’s office during the Emperor Haile Selassie’ era. He had the Bete Israel (the Falasha) origin. Could you please start by telling us about this heritage of yours?
We were members of the Bete-Israeli family, what we call them Ethiopian Jews, though we don’t know it much. I don’t have any recollections of that. My father’s family became Christian three or four generations before him. And his father was at the court of Emperor Tewdros. And as such, he would not be at higher situation unless he became Christian. So, he adopted the state religion to climb up the higher ladder. My father had an uncle called Tamrat Emmanuel, who when he was young, sent from Gondar to a church school in Debre Tabor, to learn Geez, and Scriptures at the age of seven. And apparently while in Debre Tabor, he met a Swedish missionary, and that mission fellow was impressed with his Geez proficiency. They took him with in that mission. He went from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church School to the Swedish mission school without formally changing his religion. And he learned English, and all that. And for higher study, the Swedish mission sent him to Asmara, which was under Italian rule. He went to a formal school there, Italian school, Caponi. He learned Italian and at a certain point, he became erudite, very knowledgeable in Geez, English and Italian. From there he came back to his mother, and after what he told me later on, he heard rumour that his father was a Falasha. The family didn’t talk much about it because the grand- father became Christian and a member of the high court of Atse Tewodors. So this minority should not be mentioned and all that. He was troubled by the fact that the family was hiding this inheritance. He went to see the Governor of Gondar to discuss the plight of the Falasha and while he was roaming there with the governor, he heard that a certain Jacques Faitlovitch, a Polish Jew who had studied at the school for oriental languages at the Sorbonne in Paris, was there to undertake about the Falasha community. The two met and strike a friendship, intellectual friendship at that. They decided to undertake to study together and they met Falashas in remote villages. They found that they were praying in Geez but a little bit in Hebrew also, though their religious practices did not always conform to rabbinic Judaism. It was explained that they were away for the 2,000 years and obviously, they forgot some aspects of the customs.

(Jacques Faitlovitch and Prof. Tamrat Emmanuel in Ethiopia. Reproduction photo by Moti Milrod)
That was then the task of helping the Falashas to undergo a change of consciousness that eventually led them to Israel started?
First, they decided to take three or four people to Europe for study. Somebody called Aleka Gete was the kind of head of that community. One of them, Yona Bogale was sent to Germany while Aleka Gete went to London. Tamrat headed to Paris with Faitlovitch. They could really garner the support of the Jews and recognition. Since then, Prof. Tamrat became really involved in that and devoted his life to the community. And finally, in 1934, they opened a school, a Hebrew school here, not very far from Merkato, to teach the history of the Jewish people and to preserve the community’s own religious traditions. They had many students. That closed down in 1935 when the Italian invaded Ethiopia. Prof. Tamrat went back to Paris as a refuge and stayed there until 1943. He came back.
He was a big influence on your life?
In a certain way. When I was looking at Prof. Tamrat, it was like I was looking at people like Corneille, like Jean Jacque Rousseau, somebody who was really theoretically very deep, democrat, without probably the knowledge of applying those theories into practice. He was not an office person but an intellectual who went from house to house to tell stories, to debate. I didn’t live with him.
Your parents brought you to Addis Ababa when you were a child. You had a secular upbringing but with some knowledge of religion from your relatives?
I came to Addis Ababa and then we were living in Kazanchis area. I went for the year to Princess Zenebework School, I guess. I don’t even quite remember, I was too young. In early 49, I think the Lycée Français was opened. And my father, who studied in Cairo, who was Arabophone and Francophone said he would send us there. And we went there. So my formative years really come from that the French school and we finished our baccalaureate. Yona Bogale who was sent to Germany and after Second World War came back to Ethiopia and he started continuing that Hebrew School. It was more or less working. In 1956 Israel was already born and many Jews were going by thousands and all that. In Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie refused to send the Falashas to the young nation. He said “Just forget it. I am myself a Jew, Moa Anbesa. The entire Ethiopian people is descended from the people of Israel. You don’t take my people, not even a single one,”
Well, that is actually what I personally feel.
However, the Emperor was willing to the idea of a group of young Ethiopian Jews going there to study on the condition that they return to Ethiopia to serve as teachers. After all, the Emperor, we are sending young people to Europe and the US for education. In 1955, I became among the twelve Ethiopian Jews who were chosen by Yona Bogale to go to Israel. So we went there. Since most of them came from the countryside and lacked languages, since I spoke French and English, I became the de facto leader of the group. I remember when we arrived in Israel, they asked us what our feelings were. I spoke in French, “Je suis heureux d’être en Israël. j’ai beaucoup entendu parler de ce pays. En tant que éthiopien, j’espère que nous serons bien intégrés et que nous aurons l’occasion pour aller à l’école comme tout le monde. » (I am happy to be in Israel. I have heard a lot about this country. As an Ethiopian, I hope that we will be well integrated and that we will have the opportunity to go to school like everyone else.) I was surprised myself I could speak such a thing. I learned Hebrew in one year. They said if you have to go further, they said I had to take matriculation exam. I did and passed the exam, to their surprise. They didn’t know what to do because what they had in mind was to teach us Hebrew so that we could go back home and teach the language to the rest of the Falasha.
You were not so enthusiast to do that?
No, I joined the University of Bar Ilan in Tel Aviv and I got my bachelor’s degree in political science, minoring in economics. And I did in international relations master’s degree in Israel from 1958- 63. After my Master’s degree, I did not want to go Gondar to teach Hebrew. I told them they had enough people that they brought from Gondar. I was thinking about going to the political establishment in Ethiopia. My father at that time was minister of state at the prime minister’s office, Tadesse Yakob. He was minster of state at Aklilu Habte-Wold’s office. And when I wrote to the Ethiopian Ministry of Education saying that I was among the 66 who finished Baccalauréat and since I was Falassha I came to Israel but I wanted to go to France. The response was positive. They told me that I was entitled. They sent me to the University of Strasbourg and I stayed there from 1963-68, I did my PHD in international relations. The title of my thesis was “La politique Française en ethiopie 1933- 1936”. When I came back in 1968, I was assigned in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I went to see Dr. Tesfaye Gebreezgi, the Minister of State under Ketema Yifru.
Before you start telling us about your diplomatic careers, if I take you back to questions of the authenticity and origins of the Judaism of the Falashas. What is your take? Do you believe they are true Jews?
No, I don’t. They are for me autochthone people who were converted to Judaism through contacts with merchants and intermarriage. Jews who came to Ethiopia in medieval times married Ethiopian women and they were made to adopt Judaism, particularly their insistence on respecting Sabbath, which was not specific to Ethiopian Jews. For me Ethiopia is my country, I have always felt Ethiopian. That was why I came back.
In the Ethiopian orthodox tradition, there has been practices such as Mitswat, in which believers go churches and give out handouts to needy people, which is incorporated from Jews tradition.
Many things are Jews tradition because it is the first religion in the world. Jesus was a Jew. He wanted to change the status quo, he was someone who wanted to introduce a different approach to Judaism. But otherwise, there was only Judaism. At the start, there was no Buddhism, no Islam.
There have been people in Ethiopia who have been marginalized as Falasah. The Agew and kimant people more or less went through similar experience. Perhaps you’d like to comment on that.
A little bit less. More emphatically on the Ethiopian Jews, to the extent that they did not have a place to bury their dead. I was hearing about that. I was saying like what. That only stopped during Mengistu’s time. Emperor Haile Selassie was saying, “Well, we will try to teach our people. They should know that the Bete Israel are the original people of the world”. But nothing was done on the ground. But most importantly, beyond this happening and that, the Ethiopian Jews funnily enough are so much attached to Judaism, to Israel. They don’t even know Judaism. But the thing is for a foreigner, you cannot but accept that these people must be Jews. Why are they so attracted to Israel? Today they have all kinds of special problems there in Israel there but they have strong attachment to that land.
You’ve never been considered as sell-out by other Ethiopians Jews?
Not a sell-out. I rather remember the great respect they bestowed me. Of course, they knew that I was ambitious. For reasons I was arguing with the government of Israel. I’ve never felt a Falasha. Even in Israel, but I was never one to wear a keppa. I was tolerated because the Israelis had also their own suspicion that a black could not be Jew.
(To be Continued)

Seid Mohammed Birhan, owner of the Ambassador Garment & Trade Plc, was featured in France 2 television prime time news, 20h, on Thursday, 05/01/2017 under the title, Éthiopie: le pays des millionnaires. (Ethiopia, the country of millionaires.) The news episode shows Seid in his mountaintop villa in Addis Ababa and describes the man who succeeds at everything. Seid who also owns Ambassador Hotel and Ambassador Real Estate ostensibly displays his wealth, the reporter said. The value of his fortune is in millions of euros, and he does not hesitate to show it, even though the interior decoration of Seid’s house was not to the journalist’s taste. Obviously, proud to be rich, Seid exposes the portrait of his model in the corridors of his house, the American billionaire Warren Buffett. Find the link here.

Tell me about your stay in Strasbourg where you did your doctoral studies. Being black and Jew in France, how was it like?
In France, it was different. There were strong Jewish communities there and I’ve never felt any prejudice there. There were some incidents, of course. For instance, once in Strasbourg, where there was a large Jews community, someone at the entrance of a synagogue asked me where I came from and what I was doing there. This is Jews temple, he told me. When I told him that I was a Jew, his response was, “Vous. C’est pas possible.” (You a Jew, that isn’t be possible). And I had to tell him that I was joking. For him, there were French Jews who survived from Shoah, Polish or German Jewish, but to see a black who said he was Jewish did not correspond with his vision.
So when you returned to Ethiopia, you were assigned to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You said you went to see Dr. Tesfaye Gebreezgi. That was the start of your diplomatic career?
Yes. I sat for an exam with other educated people. They gave us lots of questions about the Red Sea, Eritrea’s future and Ethiopia’s role, how the country could save itself from the threats here and there. I mean, it was very interesting. People wrote three or four pages. I think in an hour, I wrote eighteen or twenty pages. It was a flow, something I knew. Particularly I put the issue of Djibouti. One issue that might bring us and how to deal with that. Dr. Tesfaye was very happy. (Dr. Tesfaye studied at Cornell University, he had a PHD from there. He was Ethiopia’s permanent representative at the UN for many years.) He brought me to meet his boss, Ato Ketema who said this was the problem that they had and told me to start the following day. I started in the African Department under Ambassador Mengiste Desta. I became the specialist related to Djibouti. I forwarded my idea that that there was nothing that said that when France left it would go to Ethiopia. But because of the good relationship, we had to make sure that Charles de Gaul understood that he was the only one who could sign an agreement with Emperor Haile Selassie or give a letter of intention or a letter of support that if there was this situation where Djibouti would become independent, to make sure that it didn’t included in Somalia. That Ethiopia had a natural and overwhelming national interest and that in the past the Vichy government of France has blocked all the armament that Ethiopia needed to defend itself against. Because of that in terms of offsetting that establishing a new relationship between France and Ethiopia, we should have that approach. And I think finally they reported that to Emperor Haile Selassie. De Gaulle already said that France’s preference was for Djibouti to become part and parcel of Ethiopia. When he resigned on 1969, he was replaced by Pompidou who launched what they called “la politique arabe de la France”, mostly motivated by France’s focus on Arab countries markets. Somalia became member of the Arab League and Somalia was claiming Ogaden and Djibouti. The French didn’t want to get involved there. So finally, we didn’t know how to handle that. At that time Ahadu Sabure (renowned journalist) was Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Djibouti. He was sending letters to Addis Ababa saying he had had enough, after five years of service there. Ahadu’s attribute was that he was half-Somalia as his mother was Somalian. He spoke Somalia. When he left, he recommended that I should replace him.And then, Ahadu was summoned by Prime Minister Endalkachew Mekonnen and was assigned as Minister of Information. Then Endalkachew urged me to go to Djibouti as an ambassador. I would indeed be interested to go on the condition that a new policy was drafted because my worry was that the uprising against the Emperor was on full swing and the military was busy in different fronts and the country was becoming friable. When I was in the process of preparing the new policy, Endalkachew was thrown into prison. Then the military took over and at that time the Djibouti issue became urgent as Somalia started attacking Ethiopia. So it was at his time that I assumed my duties as an ambassador there.
Did the Derg officials set out a plan for the future of Djibouti?
Not actually. Some of the Derg officials asked what we would do with Djibouti. Some of them had a fixation on annexing Djibouti. Djibouti is ours, they said. I told them it was not ours yet we would try to make it ours, if we followed a very good internal policy. I really worked hard with the French to make sure that Djibouti would never join Somalia when France would grant it its independence. So what was decided was Djibouti would have a guaranteed independence, guarantee from Ethiopia, guarantee from Somalia. Each could involve in military intervention if the other should threaten Djibouti’s independence. Since the Somali population had long dominated the territory’s politics, this agreement was a triumph for Ethiopia. All we wanted was an international agreement which allowed Ethiopia to intervene in case of military intervention from Somalia. The Somalians raised hell, saying it was neo-colonialism.
When Somali declared full-scale war against Ethiopia, I was busy sending information to Addis Ababa. I established some good contacts and I had two deputies, one Issa and another Afar working for me. One of the deputies was trying to garner the support of Afar population and the other that of the Issa. Because we were telling them that Ethiopia was their ancestral home for both ethnic groups. When the referendum was conducted on June 1977, even though Somalia was overwhelming, because, many Somalians infiltrated into the country to change the result of the referendum. We did the same on our side, making the people on the border area vote but not as much as the Somalis. Finally, the country voted for independence. And the French said that Djibouti would be a sovereign state and that would be guaranteed by the United Nations. They tried to seek a more harmonious relationship between the two ethnic groups, and it was decided that the president would be from the majority, Issa and the deputy from Afar, an arrangement which is not changed to this day. That way there was a balance. Our policy was finally a success in making sure that Djibouti didn’t go to Somalia. Of course today, Somalia itself is in precarious situation.
What is your recollections of Ketema Yifru who was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1971–1974?
Ketema Yifru was the new generation Foreign Minister. Young, educated, devoted to the Emperor, but with that devotion, what I saw was that, he could convince easily the Emperor to have an independent foreign policy from the Americans. He pushed the Emperor for non-alignment, not to call Washington to say shall we vote this way or that way. The Emperor by definition, by historical and natural inclination was a reactionary person and he was natural ally to America. And yet he became non-aligned. What does that mean? The country was aligned neither with the American nor with the Soviet, the two blocks. It was a great success for Ketema Yifru. It was like having the patriarch of Ethiopia pray with the Muslim head. Ethiopia depended on America on everything. Yet the non-alignment policy was not to support the Americans or the Soviets. And the Emperor liked Ketema very much. Is it because he was from Harar also? May be. But he was competent and he had an astute tactical mind. He brought Dr. Tesfaye Gebreezgi from New York to Addis Ababa. So the foreign office became an office of young intellectual people. The speeches that we prepared for the Emperor, when he was at the advanced age of 75, 80 were dynamic. There were conservative noblemen who were saying why these young people are making the Emperor say such things. Talking about his commitment to Africa and its plights. Africa this, Africa that. Ketema Yifru took advantage of the Emperor to advance his pan African’s views. One example, I remember was at meeting at the Organization of the African Unity when he attacked Ian Smith of the Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe) who unilaterally declared independence from Britain in 1965 and for several years fought a bitter war against African nationalist guerrillas. Ketema Yifru openly condemned British government and the Ethiopian nobility who were at the meeting were flabbergasted. They went to the Emperor to let him that his minister had the audacity to insult the Emperor’s ally, Great Britain. “You’re getting old and this kids are turning you around,” one of the nobles who would say to the Emperor. But the Emperor remained firm and told the nobles that, “we have to stand with African countries.”
How long did you stay in Djibouti? Where did you go after that?
Three years. After Djibouti I came to Addis Ababa and I continued working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I served as head of the African and Middle East department for a year. After that, President Mengistu asked me to go to Rome as an Ambassador. And I asked why. Because, he said, we had problem there with Eritrean and Tigran liberation movements freely roaming and we wanted you to establish friendly relationship with the Italian government to stop that. Mengistu said he knew I spoke Italian. It was true I studied Italian in Bologna for a while.
When was this?
1977
So the Red Terror wasn’t over yet.
It was not. I felt very bad for the country because young people were killed left and right. I personally refused to be member of Meison (the Amharic acronym for the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement).Haile Fida who felt anybody who put his foot in France for at least twenty-four hours had to be member of the Meison urged me many time to join the party. (Haile Fida was a pro-Derg intellectual who studied in France and served as leader of the Ethiopian Student Movement in Europe). In our student days in France, I was arguing with him and others and I was saying that Ethiopia needed parliamentary monarchy, not Marxist revolution. I argued saying that the point which rallied all of was the Emperor. But anyway I was hurt by the fact that things turned violent and this one was killing the other one, because of part differences. It was a pity.
You were transferred to Italy? Who was the ambassador in Rome before you?
There wasn’t ambassador for some time. The last one was Zewde Reta during the Emperor’s time who left the post after the change of government and decided to stay in exile.
So, I left for Rome with my wife and children. ….You know we did a good job. There was famine back home and I made sure that I got a lot of food aid to Ethiopia. Some of it was apparently sold while it was in the middle of the sea, though it was transported by Ethiopian ship.
One thorny issue was the Eritrean Liberation Front (EPLF) had an office in Rome, with its flag flying which was against the international law. When I enquired left and right, I was told that the EPLF people had some good networks in the Italian foreign office, some of the Italian officials were born in Asmara during the colony’s time.
I went to the foreign office and met the Foreign Minister to discuss with him on the issue. I first thanked him for all the assistance they provided to us. And I raised about EPLF office with its flag. Have you recognized the republic of Eritrea? I asked him and he said he was not aware of it. Then I dropped some names of his staff who were born in Eritrea and who were ostensibly backing the scessionasit movement, based on my information. Within a week, the office was closed. There was also another TPLF office, which they were using to collect money from their supporters. It was also closed. So during my stay in Rome for four years, from 1978-82, I made it difficult the free movement of the secessionist groups. Only individuals were coming and going like Isaias Afewerki who had an Iraqi diplomatic passport. I couldn’t do anything about it. Meles used to come also.
How did your term at Rome come to an end?
I had a problem with a certain cadre who was working at the embassy and was urging me join the Workers’ Party of Ethiopia, known then as Isepa. I categorically refused. I told him that I was a career diplomat and I was working for my country, and I was not obliged to be member of Isepa. Then things got serous and I fired this cadre and he went back to Ethiopia, an act that infuriated his bosses in Addis Ababa. Then a decision came from Addis that I was replaced by a loyal member of the party, a certain Girma. That was my departure with the government, who later accused me of forsaking “the revolution”.
And then?
I decided to stay in Rome and I started working for General Electric as consultant, which I did for five years. Then I was moved to New York and worked for the same company for a year. Then, I joined Hunger Project, an international NGO that works that mobilizes and empowers local people to meet all their basic needs on a sustainable basis. The projects’ board of directors was Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (the fifth Secretary-General of the United Nations for two terms from 1982 to 1991.) I started out as Director for Africa, and after two years I became the Vice President of Africa Programmes until my retirement in 2010.
(Dr. Fitigu today lives in Addis Ababa with his wife and children and often travels to New York where he keeps an apartment there. The person who arranged this interview for me was his daughter, Yodit Fitigu who herself in an interesting person. She is researcher with a background in socio-cultural anthropology working in the humanitarian and development sectors. She is an expert in migration including, labor migration, human trafficking, and mixed migration. Yodit has worked extensively in Ethiopia, Niger, Haiti, Peru, and Georgia.)
The first part of the interview could be found here.

At least 2 persons have been killed and 19 injured after a bomb was thrown into a hotel in Gondar town. Spokesman for the regional authorities, Nigusu Tilahun, said that the bomb was thrown into Entasol hotel located in Maraki area of Gondar, on Tuesday. He also disclosed that three of the injured were in serious condition. Nigusu said police were trying to track down the bombers, whose identity was not known, but who, he said, were likely to be the work of “anti-peace elements.” Witnesses said the bombing happened at about 8.00pm on Tuesday night in the Maraki neighborhood, close to the Gondar University campus, where the Kenema football fans gathered.Two of the injured were waitresses working at the hotel, according to reports. Another bomb had exploded in Bahir Dar’s Grand Resort Hotel, on January 4, but no injuries were reported.

Ethiopia has deported three Egyptian nationals after accusing them of espionage. The Egyptian nationals had initially been arrested— handcuffed and escorted out of their offices in Addis Ababa in early November 2016. Taha Mansour, assistant manager of Radisson Blu, Hani Hill, a site manager of Hayat hotel, a hotel being constructed in Addis Ababa and another businessman Rahman Swelem had been freed and deported from Ethiopia and flown to Cairo yesterday, bringing an end to three months behind bars.
The Egyptian foreign ministry secured the three men’s release after a months-long effort, the ministry said in a statement late on Wednesday. They were not charged with any wrongdoing, the ministry added. Egypt’s Foreign minister Sameh Shoukry traveled to Addis Ababa in November to discuss the release of the men with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
Ethiopia’s government accused Egypt, which is embroiled in a row with Addis Ababa over sharing Nile waters, for inciting a recent wave of violent protests that left hundreds dead in the country. Egypt denied those accusations.

Ethiopian running legend Wami Biratu turns 100 today.
Wami’s incredible career spans seven decades and saw him win 30 gold, 40 silver and 10 bronze medals. He has lived through so many eras of highs and lows… and he’s still here.
A father of 12, Wami became the first Ethiopian athlete to participate in the Olympic Game in the 1956 Canberra Olympic. A soldier serving in the Ethiopian army, he was famous for regularly beating Abebe Bikila in the race. He even at one point trained Abebe, a two-time Olympic marathon champion whose reputation overshadowed Wami’s.
A small party was organized at the Hilton Hotel today for the centenary of the athlete and Great Ethiopian Run donated 20,000 birr to his birthday celebration.

These days, Solomon Asmelash is busy raising money for “charity causes”. Solomon says he is in a campaign to save poor and vulnerable children from premature death and devising strategies for using his and his friends’ fame to cover the medical expenses of those in need. The TV personality established an NGO called Hebret Lebego in collaboration with figures such as actors Solomon Bogale, Girum Ermias, the US based web journalist and the regime’s apologist, Benyam Kebede (Ben), owner of the Ethiopia First website. The fundraising effort was featured several times in Solomon’s own TV show “እስማማለሁ አልስማማም” (a format copied from America’s Deal or No Deal) and was the subject of several local news stories. So far, the NGO never disclosed the amount of money collected and how much of the donations goes to the charitable works.
For many observers, Solomon Asmelash’s new adventure comes as a surprise, because charity and philanthropy has never been his strong point. Former colleagues at the Ethiopian Television mostly recall his towering ego, malicious tongue, selfishness, and changing political stance. Solomon has been absorbing criticism from sections of the society and journalists for his overt and unseemly activism on behalf of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In 2005, when the regime was threatened with losing the forthcoming national election and the ever-increasing popularity of the opposition party, he partnered along with other personalities Zerihun Teshome and Mimi Sebhatu (the husband and wife media moguls who are now running Zami Communication) and launched a government-friendly newspaper called Eftin. The paper worked closely with the Minister of Information, Bereket Simoen who steered the state propaganda machinery to counter attack the opposition voices and defend the regime which was on the verge of collapse. Eftin was not functioning like traditional media platform but has been publishing secret documents obtained from the regime’s intelligence agency. At the time, members of the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) were unpleasantly surprised to see the paper publishing word by word all of their Council meetings and discussions, though the meeting was closed to journalists and the report was not being recorded on tape. Solomon was also the one going to the Central Prison to interrogate CUD leaders and members who were thrown into prison after the post-election conflict started to heat up. Solomon in an interview with Addisu Abebe of the Amharic service of the VOA said that his unabashed promotion of the regime wasn’t and couldn’t be a problem.
Back in the Derg’s time, at time when there was only television station, Solomon used to host the youth program called Le Watatoch and later another entertainment program 120. As high school dropout, his limited education made him determined to succeed, but also resulted in insecurity that remained evident throughout his career. At the time, he was heavily involved in politics, taking active part in the youth organisation, the Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association. After the change of the government, it didn’t take him long to come up with another hat, showing his ardent support for the newly arrived liberation movement fighters who hailed from Tigray region. Though Solomon was born and raised in Addis Ababa, he started asserting his Tigrayan origin apparently to curry favour with the new leaders.
While Solomon was working for the Ethiopian Television, he was an ordinary journalist and paid 700 birr per month, but in 1998 he was given the post to lead Shala Advertising agency, which was owned by the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray. This agency later became Mega and was and still is administrated by Azeb Mesfin, the wife of the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Mega has been accused of involved in “the impropriety of mingling public, private and party-owned businesses.” Solomon, who claims his life has never been about “accumulating wealth”, is often accused of questionable personal financial dealings with Woizero Azeb and other prominent businessmen.
Solomon often seeks to please the powerbrokers. Few years ago, he made it a point to record and archive “the unprecedented and heroic acts of the Tigrayan People’s liberation front,” in film that he produced “Agazi Operation,” a film intended to show how “1300 Woyane freedom fighters” were freed in a fifteen minutes operation from the Derg’s prison in Mekele. The film was largely financed by party officials and described by one critic as “a delusional vanity project” was seen in many parts of the country free of charge.
In a country where journalists who challenge the establishment end up in prison, Solomon is enjoying a spotlight as television star and a businessman. Among others, Solomon now owns a tour company and car renting agency, with five expensive Toyota Fortuner (powerful 7-seater SUV) cars, as he himself once vaunted to this writer. Solomon often goes to the United States for vacation, where he said he got the idea for the show “Deal, No Deal.” Solomon says he is preparing to establish his own TV station, along the way constructing an image as a philanthropist by appearing at charity events and by making promises to give his own money at his own TV shows and interviews. But of course, signs of Solomon’s tendency for philanthropic works are not easy to come by. As matter of fact, various reports are questioning where donations to the NGO are going and Solomon’s business-like approach to fundraising.

You won’t believe this….we hardly believe it ourselves… The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has put the Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL) S.C. on sale (apparently for minority stake…). Is the government so short of money to run its business and service its loans that it has to look for such a short cut? Or is this a matter of “privatization” or “economic efficiency”? By the way, I read that privatization increase neither efficiency nor competition, but do lead to price increases for consumers, higher costs for government, corruption, embezzlement and the destruction of democracy.
But this is a deeper subject …let me leave it for another day.
Now, how does one explain a situation where, one good morning, the Federal Government announces the sale of one its prized assets, which has taken almost three generations to build? Should we applaud the government for this daring move? Should we be grateful for its flair. No debate, no contest, no explaining to the public what other options were considered that could have avoided the sale of this national treasure. What’s more disappointing is the fact that policymakers, in the last couple of months, have been promising to be transparent, open, and inclusive but judging from events on the ground, we have not moved an inch in that direction.
Still believe in democracy?
Many years ago, 1964 G.C to be exact, Emperor Haile Selassie’s government established the ESL with two share holders: the government (49%) and a US firm (51%). In the late sixties the government bought back the 51% of the shares (with real money, if you know what I mean) owned by the US firm. Half a century later we’re back to square one. Selling our hard earned stake, this time to a Chinese company! The Emperor would have screamed!
This is not good news. It tells us there is far more problem in the horizon than potential upside.
From where I sit the proposal to sell the ESL is outrageous. It amounts to disinheritance of future Ethiopians. National assets like the ESL are strategic investments for not just economic but security reasons as well. I don’t know about you, but I can’t bear the idea that a Chinese company may soon control the ESL, and who knows, in a not too distant future many of the country’s public assets.
Not long ago the magazine African Business reported:
“In the next five years, the company (meaning ESL) will extend the entire transport and logistics chain, which could make it the largest liner trader in Africa in the next five years. It will extensively build its competitive advantage and outreach in the oil and gas shipment to serve the international market through strategic partnerships. Existing constraints in finance and limited access to foreign credit suppliers is a challenge. However, the company’s performance report shows a positive return that will attract credit suppliers to work with the company: its strict follow-up and implementation of international rules and regulations has enabled Ethiopia to be among the very few IMO white-listed countries.”
Local news outlets have also regularly reported on the profits of the ESL. You try to make out what is going on here.
Now, I really do not have anything against the sales of assets but then it should only be those that are either not profitable or you cannot run efficiently. As I said, my heart was made heavier when I noted the absence of any debate on the issue, and the news was reported as a benign matter of fact. Who can trust a government when its institutions that are meant to ensure economic prosperity and unity through sound policies fail to do so? Isn’t it this type of behavior that triggers more chaos and panic than poor governance? Apart from the economic dimension, how can we ignore that national assets such as the ESL are instruments of unity in a country that is plural like ours? Afar, Amhara, Gambela, Oromo, Somali, Tigray, Welayta and all other groups have the consciousness that national investments unite us, and that gains or otherwise there from are nationally shared.
No doubt the proposal to sale of the ESL makes many Ethiopians uneasy. From talking to ordinary people I get the sense that the ESL deal has made many compatriots uneasy for reasons they couldn’t quite articulate.
In fact I think the uneasiness of the people has more to do with what it says about the peculiar fiscal climate in the country. How is it that in one of the fastest growing nation on earth, the government simply don’t have the cash to maintain such a strategic asset, the political will to raise such funds, or the competence to run such reasonably profitable operations? Why is Ethiopia being forced to sell off long-term cash cows for short-term cash? People sense that the Chinese buyer would take the company and move it to Shanghai, or Hong Kong. I doubt if the contract spells out in detail obligations of the buyers to invest in maintenance or to maintain jobs opportunities for Ethiopians, or to keep a lid on shipping rates.
Remember selling a public asset is a classic one-shot – a short-term measure that bolsters the balance sheet today but that can’t be repeated. While politicians focus on getting through the next few fiscal years with minimum pain, foreign Chinese companies are thinking about how to get rich off of shipping business for the next three-quarters of a century.
Of course, by selling the ESL at high prices, Ethiopia could be taking foreigners for a ride. In the eighties the Japanese famously overpaid for Rockefeller Center in New York, after all. It’s possible that the FDRE just ripped off the Chinese on this deal. But I doubt it.

Ah!… Two more questions:

Think Ethiopian Airlines and Ethiopian Electric Power and ET Telecom are safe? Think again!

And who reaps the commission from the ESL deal?

You may have the same reaction we did: This is crazy!

Golda Meir (1898–1978) was the fourth Prime Minister of Israel and the first woman to hold the title. An astute and resolute figure, she was known for initiating Israeli involvement in Africa and turning the development of ties with emerging countries into a personal and national mission. Below is an excerpt from her autobiography, My Life, published in 1975 in which Meir wrote about her visit to Ethiopia with her daughter Sarah, her fascination for Emperor Haile Selassie since knowing him during his exile years in Jerusalem after the Italian invasion, and how she became disenchanted with him when the Emperor decided to break relations with Israel in 1973, after pressure from Arab countries.

In 1962 Sarah travelled with me to Kenya and to Ethiopia, where I introduced her to Haile Selassie and we visited the large community of Israel working in that country in agriculture, fishing, transportation, helping train the police and the army and teaching at the University of Addis Ababa. Even Ethiopia, with which we had a very special relationship for so many years, broke with us in 1973, but at the time of which I write the ties were still very strong-although never publicized by the Ethiopians and therefore also no by us. For me, Haile Selassie was almost a storybook character, a man from far-off exotic land who dared to stand up in 1936 and call the attention of an indifferent world to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. He and his family had spent a year in Jerusalem as refugees during the Italian occupation, and I used to see him sometimes-a dark, bearded little man with huge, sad eyes- walking with his empress in the street, while his adored little dogs ran after them. He was not just another refuge from fascism; he is descended from that line of Ethiopian kings who claim that their ancestor was the son of born to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and that they are therefore our distant kin. The Lion of Judah has always been the symbol of the Ethiopian monarchy and the links between the Jews and Ethiopia have always been unique. But although Ethiopia is a Christian country, it is part of Africa and, as such, was subjected for years to strong anti-Israel pressure by the Arabs. For a long time, however, Haile Selassie warily trod a tight-rope; many of his dealings with Israel were kept secret, and we sent an ambassador only in 1961. The Sinai Campaign- because opened up the Strait of Tiran- became the start of an even closer relationship, and Israeli ships and planes helped to develop a steady flow of trade between the Ethiopians and ourselves. At the same time, we did a great deal to develop the educational facilities of Ethiopia, and several Israel professors settled in Addis Ababa for a few years. Sarah was too young, I expect, to feel about Haile Selassie as I did. For her he was only the ruler of a fascinating country; for he was always much more. I can’t say that we became fast friends, but when I saw him in his own palace and remembered the only exiled figure I used to see in Jerusalem in the 1930s, I felt that the justice had-for a change- been done, and I was immensely disappointed when even Haile Selassie –for all his own experience with appeasement- did not stand by us. It proved to me once again-though I didn’t need very much proof by then-that one can never count on anyone but oneself.
(The excerpt was sent to us by photojournalist Irene Fertik who is a regular reader of the Ethiopia Observer.)

The popular Ethiopian lyricist, arranger, vocalist and accomplished pianist Girma Beyene performs in the French capital with a Parisian band, Akale Wube on Wednesday, January 18. Girma who had been a major player during the 1960’s and 70’s budding music scene along with Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatke, Alemayehu Eshete, Getachew Kassa performs at a festival called “Au Fil des Voix”, which is celebrating its 10th edition.
This is not the first time for the veteran singer to make an appearance in Paris, as he already did on September 20, 2015, getting raving coverage from newspapers such as Le Monde and Libération.
Girma and the group Akale Wube just released an album entitled “Mistakes On Purpose”,produced by Buda Musique, as its 30th “Ethiopiques” collection.
Address
ALHAMBRA Paris
21 rue Yves Toudic, 75010 Paris 8.30 PM
You could listen to some extracts of the music and interviews with Girma and Akale Wube in French and English in Radio France Internationale.