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Indian publishing firm wins textbook contract in Ethiopia

By Groum Abate

Addis Ababa, March 21 (IANS)

Ethiopia’s ministry of education has awarded Indian media house Laxmi Publications a contract to print and distribute textbooks and teacher training guides.

The ministry had issued a tender for the publication of civics and ethical education textbooks and guides for high school students, which attracted nine international and local companies.

Laxmi Publications was selected for its offer of $1.44 million, as this was the lowest offer that met all the criteria, officials said.

Ruwi Modern Printers of India offered the highest price of $4.87 million. But the offer was rejected at the initial bid process itself for its failure to submit the $30,000 needed for bid security, officials said.

Even though the lowest financial offer of $1.19 million was submitted by Pitambra Books, also from India, it could not meet the technical requirements, officials said.

United States Strongly Criticizes Ethiopia's Jamming of Voice of America


Gordon Duguid
Acting Department Spokesman
Washington, DC
March 19, 2010

Listen: United States Strongly Criticizes Ethiopia’s Jamming of Voice of America

The United States opposes Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles’ decision to jam Voice of
America’s Amharic Service and condemns his comparison of their programming to Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda. Comparing a respected and professional news service to a group that called for genocide in Rwanda is a baseless and inflammatory accusation that seeks only to deflect attention away from the core issue.

The Prime Minister may disagree with news carried in Voice of America’s Amharic Service broadcasts; however, a decision to jam VOA broadcasts contradicts the Government of Ethiopia’s frequent public commitments to freedom of the press. We note that the Ethiopian Constitution states that all citizens have the right to freedom of expression “without any interference” and that this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, “regardless of frontiers.” The Constitution further notes that freedom of the press shall specifically include “prohibition of any form of censorship.” We look to the Government of Ethiopia to abide by its constitution.

We call on the Ethiopian Government to protect the universal and fundamental right of freedom of expression.

Canadian company to engage in oil exploration project in Ogaden

By Kaleyesus Bekele

Reporter

A Canadian company, African oil, is to prospect for oil and gas resources in the Ogaden basin in the southeastern part of Ethiopia.

Based in Vancouver, the company has acquired two exploration blocks in the Ogaden basin, previously under Lundin, a Swedish oil and gas company. Lundin has conducted different geological surveys including aeromag survey in the blocks covering an area of over 25000 sq.m of land. African oil has also bought exploration blocks in Keya and Puntland. These blocks were also owned by Lundin. Last year Lundin announced that it was to farm out all its concession in East Africa, namely in Ethiopia, Kenya and Puntland.

Industry analysts believe that East Africa is the next hot zone for oil discovery. The recent discovery of oil in the Albert basin of Uganda by Tullow Oil has boosted hopes for more discoveries in the East Africa rift system.

The Ogaden basin is a vast arid land in the remote eastern part of Ethiopia. The sedimentary basin has a total area of 350,000 sq.m. As the basin has an equivalent age and similar geological formation to oil productive basins in the Middle East, it has been considered as the most promising area for oil reserve discovery.

Dozens of foreign oil companies at different times have engaged in oil exploration activities since the 1950s in the Ogaden basin, found in the Somali Regional State.

To date 47 exploration wells have been drilled at different sites by various companies in the basin. Seismic data was conducted on more than 20,000 km-long lines. Various useful geological data were collected by different companies, including the American company Tenneco and the Soviet Petroleum Exploration Expedition (SPEE).

In 1972, Tenneco discovered a natural gas reserve in Calub locality, 1,200 kms southeast of Addis Ababa. The natural gas reserve in Calub is estimated at 76 billion cu.m. Tenneco also discovered a non commercial crude oil reserve with a thickness of one meter at Hilala. The well ( Hilala 1), which is 4116 meters deep, has a production capacity of 35 barrels per day, according to studies.

After Tenneco was expelled by the socialist government, SPEE drilled more wells in Calub and Hilala localities and confirmed the natural gas reserve in Calub. SPEE discovered a gas condensate at Hilala 4 at a depth of 4,750 meters. The gas reserve at Hilala is estimated at 42 billion cu.m. Tenneco has drilled other exploration wells in the El-Kuran, Bodle, Magan, Callafo and Ghebri localities in Ogaden.

A total of 14 wells were drilled in the two localities - ten in Calub and four in Hilala. Eight of the wells in Calub were made ready for gas production by a Chinese company, Zhoungyan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB) in 1995.

SPEE, in addition to Calub and Hilala, also conducted seismic survey and drilled exploration wells in Magan, Tulli, Faf and Shillabo localities. Oil and gas shows were noted in some of the wells.

Ethiopian Airlines to increase fleet to over 100 in the next decade

By Kaleyesus Bekele

The Reporter

The management of Ethiopian Airlines has revealed a new ambitious and strategic 15-year plan called “Vision 2025” in which it envisions to increase the airline’s fleet to over 100 jet liners.

At the internal staff meeting held the previous Thursday at the Addis Ababa Conference Center, Ethiopian CEO, Girma Wake told the employees that the airline had drafted a new farsighted development strategy. Girma said that the development strategy will have three phases with a five-year term. The development strategy would be evaluated every five years.

The management will soon present the development strategy to its board of directors chaired by Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin. The public relations department of Ethiopian said that it would not reveal the details of the strategy before it is submitted to the board.

However, reliable sources told The Reporter that the strategy included increasing the number of the airline’s jet fleet to over 100. Ethiopian currently operates 30 jetliners. Ethiopian also plans to increase the number of employees to over 10,000 from the existing 4850. Sources said the management anticipates to raise its destinations to 200 and its operating revenue to three billion dollars. The airline has achieved its vision 2010 that included making an annual revenue of 1 billion dollars.

Ethiopian minister: Co-op with China brings practical, tangible results

by Liang Shanggang

People's Daily

Cooperation between China and Ethiopia brings practical and tangible results to Ethiopians, Adugna Jabessa, the Ethiopian minister of Ministry of Water Resources, has told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Over the past 40 years, especially since the current Ethiopian government took office, the cooperation with China has developed from strength to strength, he said on Wednesday.

The Ethiopian government has come to realize that the Chinese government has been giving a lot of support in road construction, hospital building, telecommunication and water resources developing sectors, the minister said, adding that practical and tangible results have been observed.

The cooperation between the two countries will continue in a much better, deeper and wider form so that the benefits that have been obtained so far can be further maximized, Jabessa added.

China has been giving Ethiopia immense and substantial help to Ethiopia and the assistance is multifaceted, he added.