The Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister was one of the victims of the surprise ministerial reshuffle announced on 30 October in Parliament in Addis Ababa by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. True Addisu Legesse will keep his post of Deputy Prime Minister, but he has lost his important additional portfolio of minist er for agriculture and rural development. This illustrates how he has lost influence in the Ethiopian executive team. Moreover, Meles Zenawi has stated that Addisu Legesse had not been able to fulfil his ministerial functions correctly because of the very high work load resulting from combining the two functions. But in the view of the Prime Minister, Legesse also bears, at least partially, another responsibility: the failure of the programme to take cereal production from 20.1 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 33.8 million tonnes in 2008-09. This very ambitious target will be all the harder to achieve as the final figures for 2007-08 could disclose cereal production considerably lower than the 28 million tonnes targeted. The ball is now in the court of the new Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Tefera Deribew.
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Al Amoudi no longer untouchable
N° 1249 08/11/2008
The Indian Ocean Newsletter
Completely un imaginable a while ago, some Ethiopian newspapers are beginning to ask questions about the trading empire of Mohamed Hussein Al Amoudi.
According to the Ethiopian press, some companies owned by the Saudi-Ethiopian magnate Mohamed Hussein Al Amoudi owe money to State or have not paid certain taxes. The Reporter is asking questions about the empire that is Al Amoudi’s Midroc Ethiopia group. Work has yet to begin on many projects for which the latter has already been allocated land. It is true that the paper never takes Al Amoudi to task directly; the criticism only concerns the management by his executives or his recourse to intermediaries. Nevertheless, it illustrates a start of distancing between Al Amoudi and the authorities of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (governing coalition).
Other clu es point in the same direction. The Ethiopian government has taken back a plot of land in Addis Ababa which had been attributed to Al Amoudi by the city’s former mayor. The Midroc group had begun excavation work on it in order to construct a building, but the Ethiopian government wanted to restore the plot to the Orthodox Church which had made strong protests, claiming its ownership. Similarly, plots of land rented by Al Amoudi in Nazareth have also been taken back by the Ethiopian authorities.
For his part, Al Amoudi took a dim view of the recent visit to Ethiopia and the promises to invest there made by Tarek Mohammad Bin Laden, the main shareholder in the Saudi Bin Laden Group (SBG) and half brother of the wanted Islamic terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Finally, nor does Al Amoudi appreciate the growing presence in Ethiopia of businessmen from the Yemen and Sudan.
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TPLF loyalists have turned their backs on the Reporter newspaper editor
Nov 21,2008 by ethioforum
Joe Michael, 21 November 2008 - The authoritarian Ethiopian ruling party, Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) loyalists have turned their backs on the Reporter newspaper editor, their one time closed partner. While the editor’s recent stories about the Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi monopoly and unproductive investment in Ethiopia was stated as a reason for the conflict, the editor’s unusual stories and their negative effects on EPRDF loyalists’ benefits is the main reason for the clash between the partners.
Mr. Amare Aregawi, who is the owner and chief editor of the Reporter Amharic and English newspaper, was a prominent EPRDF member who earned respect by his comrades. He served EPRDF in different positions ever since they have taken over the country. He was very loyal and closed friend with many high-ranking officials including EPRDF business partners. Mr. Amare knows about EPRDF and its partners more than any other journalists do because he was entitled unconditional access to many classified information.
Thus, what made EPRDF loyalists angry was not because they lost their loyal friend, but because their former loyal friend knows a lot of secrets.
The Reporter editor has begun unfolding attenti on-grabbing stories about EPRDF and its business partners, which apparently damage the interests of the EPRDF family. The loyalists know that if this bean is left alone for tomorrow, it will never be chewed. Thus, they are digging a deep hole to bury their one time friend. They are looking for tactics to make Mr. Amare the next Teddy Afro.
The Reporter editor, the one time beloved son of EPRDF is indeed in a grave danger for telling the truth. In fact, he was incarcerated a couple of month ago for reporting about employee’s abuse in one of the EPRDF’s partner companies. Recently, he was viciously beaten up by a group of people who had a hidden mission. EPRDF loyalists from all corners are furiously pointing their nasty fingers at him. Some called him crazy. Some even recorded a personal message on their websites and warned him to stop telling the truth.
The EPRDF’s ruthless dogma; “If you are not with me you are my enemy” is chasing its former comrade to possibly end his best days.
