Ethiopia Skype Ban

Ethiopian dam spurs debate

By Jenny Vaughan (AFP) – Jun 6, 2012



GIBE III, Ethiopia — The mud-coloured Omo River which snakes through green gorges, feeding lush vegetation and providing vital water to one of Ethiopia's most remote regions, will also power a contentious dam project.
The government says the Gibe III dam will boost development, give access to power for many Ethiopians -- about half of the population -- currently living without it, and generate revenue from the export of electricity to the region.
But with construction under way for Africa's highest dam at 243 metres (nearly 800 feet), critics say Ethiopia must also consider the environmental and social impact it will have on some 500,000 people living downstream and at Lake Turkana in neighbouring Kenya. Their livelihoods rely on the river.
"If they're going to build this huge hydro-power dam than it should be done in a way that benefits the people who are most affected," said David Turton, a senior research fellow at Oxford University's African Studies Centre.
The Omo River is over 700 kilometers (430 miles) long and supplies Lake Turkana with 80 percent of its water. It is a source of annual flooding for the agro-pastoralists living in the South Omo valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The completion of the dam in 2014, which will have a capacity of 1,870 megawatts, will regulate the river's flow and, according to the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), offer a predictable water source for communities living along the river south of the dam.
Agro-pastoralists in Omo's valley have traditionally relied on flood-retreat agriculture for cultivation and animal grazing.
"Before, the wet season was two months, or maximum three months, then there was nine months of drought, now for 12 months there will be a regulated flow for all the downstream users," said EEPCo chief executive Mirhet Debebe.
The centuries-old flood-retreat agriculture practised by the downstream tribes is a cultural mainstay of the Bodi, Mursi and Nyangatom tribes, famed for their lip-plate and body painting customs.
But Azeb Aznake, Gibe III project manager at EEPCo, has said artificial flooding would be created annually "so that their practice is not interrupted."
She said the regular river flow would provide irrigation for small-scale cultivators downstream, and denied that the Gibe III dam would feed irrigation channels to nearby foreign-owned plantations, as some groups have charged.
"The purpose of the dam is for hydroelectric power, and nothing more," the power company executive said.
Most of the $1.8 billion (1.5 billion euro) cost of the project -- the third in a series of five dams planned along the Omo River -- will be covered by EEPCo, with a Chinese firm bankrolling the $400 million electromechanical costs.
The dam has been mired in controversy from the project's inception and the "Stop Gibe 3" online petition has collected over 18,000 signatures.
EEPCo's Azeb admitted that any project of this magnitude is bound to have an impact on local communities and ecosystems, but said the overall benefits were too great to ignore.
"Water is our major resource.... We have to make use of it and develop, we have to eat three times a day like any human being, so there has to be compromise," she said.
Power generated by the dam will be fed to a main transmission and sold to neighbouring Djibouti -- which is already receiving Ethiopian power -- as well as Kenya, Sudan and Somaliland, providing a major source of income, CEO Mihret said.
For Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the US-based think tank Oakland Institute, which is opposed to the dam's construction, the benefits are not widespread enough.
"It's really about who benefits and what benefits.... At the macro level you might have increased exports, economic growth, but what about human development, what happens to the people?" he said in a phone interview from California.
He urged the Ethiopian government to halt the dam's construction "so investment could go towards infrastructure that could really benefit the people."
Some nearby residents welcome the job opportunities that have accompanied the dam's constructions. Over 4,000 Ethiopians have been hired to help build Gibe III, which was started in 2006 and is over 50 percent complete.
"It is good for our development and the area's development (because) we get more employment," said Mengistu Mara, 26, a student in Lala town about 30 kilometres away from Gibe III.
His brother who works as a crane operator at the dam pays Mengistu's school fees at the local high school, built in 2009 by the dam's contractors.
"I'm learning now because my brother is bringing me money," he said, standing in front of the school built near the village's newly paved road.
Lala resident Desalegn Barata, 41, also welcomed the job creation, but said that even with the construction site next door his community still has no clinic.
"There is no clinic or hospital and there are many diseases here," he said, swatting at the flies swarming around him in the midday heat.
For analyst Turton, the government should prioritise social justice as the project moves ahead, saying it is possible to balance the benefits with the potential impact.
"This is often presented as a choice between development and what we sometimes call cultural preservation, it's presented as sometimes you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs," he said, adding that he is not opposed to the construction of Gibe III.
"But it should be done in a way that shows a concern for social justice." http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gwxOoLrFc8Lv6Vejaz6d5DtTxZlw?docId=CNG.e181c5564288f3eff54718418df3b4af.81

Is the specter of the Arab Spring haunting Ethiopia?

Alemayehu Fentaw, 4 June 2012

Although Ethiopia has never been a breeding ground for Islamism, the government has started to interfere in religious affairs in order to preempt radicalization. This strategy will most likely backfire, sowing the very seeds of political Islam that it seeks to keep at bay.

Ethiopia has been swept by Islamic protests ^↑ in opposition to what the Muslim community calls the 'government-sponsored propaganda activities' of the little-known Islamic sect, Al-Ahbash, throughout the country, and the suspension of the Addis Ababa-based Awolya Institute on the alleged grounds of promoting Wahhabism. The security forces reportedly killed four and injured ten Muslims during a confrontation after Friday prayers in Assassa in April and detained a large number of protesters in Addis Ababa in May. Eleven are being tried over charges concerning a terrorist bomb-plot ^↑ . According to Shimeles Kemal, the government spokesman, “The aim of the terror network was to establish an Islamic state by toppling the government.” 

The protesters ^↑ also accuse the Government of Ethiopia of hijacking the Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, or the Majlis. They demand that the current members of the Majlis are replaced by elected representatives. They also call for elections to be held in the city's mosques rather than in the Kebeles, local government institutions.

What are the roots of the current Islamic protests in Ethiopia? Without claiming to offer a complete account of the reasons and motivations behind these developments, this article outlines some possible explanations and important aspects.

In domestic politics, the introduction of ethnic federalism has resulted in, to borrow Milan Kundera’s expression, 'the unbearable lightness of being' Ethiopian. One undesired consequence of the constitutional enshrinement of identity politics, which extended recognition to ethnic and religious groups, rooted in historical interpretations of the marginalisation of non-Amharas and non-Christians, is the empowerment of particular religious identities such as Oromo or Muslim over a universalist national identity, that of 'being Ethiopian'. If the Islamic revival of the past two decades is the logical outcome of the rise of identity politics, radicalization is an unwanted side effect.

In international affairs, the US war on terror and Ethiopia's position as a key partner, coupled with its legitimate regional security concerns, have placed Ethiopia not only in the unenviable position of having to keep extremist elements such as Al-Shabab at bay, but also of countering the growing influence of Wahhabism at home. Most recently, fears over rising Islamism have spread widely in the wake of the Arab Spring. The problem with this is that tyrants such as Meles Zenawi won’t hesitate to use the pretext provided by national security to capitalize on his regional role in fighting terrorism, with the aim of garnering American support that he does not deserve, given his regime's disregard of human rights and free and fair elections as documented meticulously by the US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, year after year. In the same way as Ethiopia’s military intervention in Somalia was used to annihilate regional rebels such as the ONLF and OLF, it is hard to rule out the possibility that this will also be used as another opportunity to clamp down on political dissidents.

Having said that, it has to be noted that different governmental actors have been engaged in misguided efforts to counter the growing Wahhabi influence in Ethiopia. The first actor is the Government of Ethiopia (GoE). The GoE through its Ministry of Federal Affairs, in joint cooperation with the Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (Majlis), has launched, since July 2011, nation-wide workshops on religious tolerance targeting the Muslim community. The Ministry of Federal Affairs is said to have allocated more than 11,000,000 Ethiopian Birr, or 800,000 USD, to the programme, bringing in trainers from the Al-Ahbash headquarters in Beirut. The continued public engagement of the Ministry of Federal Affairs in promoting Al-Ahbash, at the expense of the prevailing schools of jurisprudence of Sunni Islam such as Hannafi and Maliki is not only a clear contravention of the constitutional principle of secularism, but has also turned out to be unacceptable to the Muslim community.

It seem that the other source of interference is the United States. Recent wikileaked cables of the US embassy in Addis Ababa discuss the Wahhabist threat there at great length.

According to the first cable ^↑ , “The newly appointed Council [Majlis] is decidedly anti-Wahhabi and speaks openly of their concern about Wahhabi missionaries and their destabilizing influence in Ethiopia.” The same cable also elucidates the causes of intra-Muslim conflicts in the following terms, “Conflicts within the Muslim community have also arisen over control of mosques, which imams should be allowed to preach, and over control of Islamic education. The IASC [Majlis] wants to build an Ethiopian Muslim theological school so that young Ethiopian men will not have to go to the Middle East to study in preparation for becoming Imams, as they must now. These young men are increasingly studying in Saudi Arabia due to the generous scholarships and subsidies available there, and when they return to Ethiopia to take up their posts in new Saudi-funded mosques, they continue to receive subsidies from Saudi Arabia or Islamic NGOs. Unfortunately, the Sufi-dominated Muslim community in Ethiopia does not have sufficient funds to start their own theological school, nor can they counter the financial advantage Wahhabis have in Ethiopia.”

The same cable also addresses the question of why the US should care about Wahhabism in Ethiopia. It takes note of the prevalence of a culture of inter-faith tolerance among the three Abrahamic religions of the country as a result of mutual co-existence and the tradition of tolerance in Sufism. The cable claims, however, that “With the advent of Wahhabism in Ethiopia, … this delicate balance is in danger of being upset.” It goes on to assert that “Conflicts have begun first within the Muslim community, but have also begun to spread out to include Christian groups as Wahhabis seek to assert themselves on college campuses and in smaller towns outside the capital. The threat of inter-communal conflict in Ethiopia between Muslims and Christians, as well as between Muslims themselves, can only give a foothold and operating space to Salafist and extremist groups that might seek to exploit the situation.” The cable adds that “In a shift from past practice, the IASC is now completely purged of Wahhabi members. …the Council members acknowledged that the Council is now all Sufi and in their public statements they repeatedly make reference to Ethiopia’s tradition of religious tolerance and co-existence with the Christian communities. As the Ethiopian government appoints the members of the Islamic Council, it is clear that the GoE shares this concern about growing Wahhabi influence and is supporting moderate Muslim leaders in trying to counter that influence.”

US security interests in the Horn of Africa region are detailed in the second cable ^↑ , in which the Addis Ababa Embassy alleges that “Ethiopia’s delicate Muslim/Christian balance and historic attitudes between the faith communities regarding tolerance and mutual respect are being challenged, thereby undermining US interests in the region.”
The first cable concludes that “there are ways to counter this growing influence through aggressive cultural programming”, which the third cable ^↑ describes in more detail. The strategy centres on conserving Islamic places and objects, and restoring Ethiopia’s unique Islamic traditions by preserving its shrines, literature, and rituals as well as making moderate Islamic literature available in local languages. This strategy has for example been supported by grants and programmes such as the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation grant to restore the Sheikh Hussein Shrine in Bale, the Jama Negus Mosque in Wello, the Teferi Mekonnen Palace in Harar, and the Muhammad Ali House in Addis Ababa; and also by translating Khaled Abou el-Fadl’s books, The Place of Tolerance in Islam and The Great Theft, into Amharic, Oromifa, and Somali.


With respect to the translation of Khalid Abou el-Fadl’s books, two earlier wikileaked cables ^↑ confirm ^↑ that the Embassy’s efforts at having them translated into Amharic and Oromiffa by Ethiopian Islamic scholars initially fell through, “because no Muslim translator in Ethiopia is willing to do it, fearing Wahhabi pressure.”

Even if conflicts have arisen between Wahhabis and Sufis, these have been very much localized hitherto. What is worrying is the government’s tendency to blow the threat out of proportions. Just a few years back, the ‘T’ word was ‘Khawarij’, now it is replaced by ‘Wahhabi’ and ‘Salafi’. It seems all the more perplexing that in a country such as Ethiopia where the Muslim population is roughly equal to the Christian and there isn’t any advocacy for forming an Islamic political party, let alone an existing organized Islamic party vying for public office, how demands for autonomy in religious affairs and governmental non-interference can be construed as a political movement. The declared disavowal of violence on the part of the Muslim community, and positive adherence to non-violent means in its protests so far demonstrate that the threat of Islamic militancy in Ethiopia is only a figment of Meles Zenawi’s imagination.

This is not to deny the legitimacy of the international and domestic security concerns of the US and Ethiopia, but to question the legitimacy and efficacy of the means used to achieve a legitimate end.

Washington should view Addis Ababa’s problems in the proper context of the wider issue of the rise of authoritarianism in domestic politics. The Arab Spring has already produced an Ethiopian winter as in many other sub-Sahara countries, for fear that comparable uprisings may emerge. Controls have been tightened. It has already become clear from the continued mounting crackdown on political dissidents and journalists following the Arab Street protests that the specter of the Arab Spring is haunting Meles Zenawi. Despite this, we should not lose sight of the fact that Ethiopian Muslims have, for much of their country’s history, been peaceful. Needless engagement could disturb the equilibrium of co-existence and tolerance maintained among the various Islamic sects as well as between Muslims and Christians in the country.

The right strategy would be to leave Islamic affairs to the Muslim community and faith-based non-governmental organizations. This again is not to gainsay the right of Al Ahbash or any other Islamic sect to operate in Ethiopia provided that it respects the laws of the land. The solution to the problem created by the securitization of Islam and intra-Islamic relations should be nothing but its de-securitization, not the privileging of one Islamic sect over another. Except for a few historical instances from the country’s remote past, Ethiopia has never been a breeding-ground for Sayyed Qutb- or Al Zawahiri-styled Islamism and there is little indication that it ever will be given that the Muslim community continues to enjoy and exercise its freedom of worship without interference.

Whatever else has been done by Addis Ababa will prove nothing but a recipe for future conflicts. The strategy deployed could easily backfire, thereby sowing the seeds of political Islam that it seeks to keep at bay. It is imperative to bear in mind that it is the marginalization and suppression of Muslims by the Ethiopian Christian State in the past that bred extremism. Current interference by the secular tyrant in the internal affairs of the Muslim community will do nothing but exacerbate the situation.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/alemayehu-fentaw/is-specter-of-arab-spring-haunting-ethiopia

“Ginbot 20″ which marks the TPLF dictatorship in Ethiopia was greeted by renewed resistance and attack on its economic interest.

June 01, 2012 By Qeerroo

Ginbot 20, 1983 E.C; which officially marked the TPLF control of power in Ethiopia was a day of celebration for the very few from Adwa political elites and party cadres members who enjoys the leftover of the big fishes. This year it is 21^thanniversary. For the majority of Ethiopians, specially the Oromo’s it is the day of humiliation, renewed looting, different and intensified form of dictatorship. Under the current government of Meles zenawi, who ruled Ethiopia for the last 21 years, the Oromo’s have suffered the most and more than 35,000 remained political prisoners. These include Lelisa Olbana and Beqele Garba, Leaders of the officially registered OFDM and OPC parties.

In a way that looks pretty well organized, the people from the central, western and southern Oromiya has flashed their rejection of the day and the authorities on power by an act of arson on selected party economic interest, attack on the cadres and disruption of events. In central Oromiya, a warehouse of a known TPLF agent and land grabber at Gooroo area was attacked and a property estimated at more than 10 million Eth birr was damaged. Shocked by the incident right around the capital city the authorities have responded by heavy presence of the army, which includes mistreatment of innocent individuals.

In Hawasa University, the huge music concert was disrupted by committed students, which resulted in the huge mess and the burning of cars belonging to the party cadres. Despite the change of venue, the authorities failed to secure their event and the students were able to clearly speak out unequivocally that the day does not concern them except for its curse of invisible apartheid, looting and dictatorship.

In Western Shoa zone of Gindeberet and Midekengi, organized members of the community have attacked the power transformer in the neighborhood and the celebration meant was turned in to complete darkness. In Qellem Wollega too, the residents of Ashi and Garjeda villages showed their resistance by abstaining to appear on the events. However, when the government militias were trying to force residents to the event, the people responded by pulling its available weapon to chase them away. In Dambi Dollo town, several messages of resistance were posted in protest to the day and Meles led government of Ethiopia.

In Western Wollega zone of Haroo Limmu district, where several clashes has been reported in 2012; the organized resistance of the people have killed the special agent of the government Mr. Sibhat Araya, who was notorious for his anti-Oromo stance and assigned to the areas to hunt down “supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front”. After the attack, his handgun was handed over to the leaders of the resistance group.

http://qeerroo.net/2012/06/01/ginbot-20-which-marks-the-tplf-dictatorship-in-ethiopia-was-greeted-by-renewed-resistance-and-attack-on-its-economic-interest/

EPRDF’s Dominance in Ethiopian Politics

By Seble Teweldebirhan

Addis Ababa, June 4, 2012 (Ezega.com) - The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) celebrated the 21st anniversary of the party’s successful conquest of political power last week. As usual Ginbot 20 (May 28) was remembered for the seventeen years of difficult armed struggle to defeat the Derg regime and the endurance and bravery of it’s fighters. In addition, the ‘constitutional rights’ guaranteed as a result of Ginbot 20 victory was over-emphasized as part of the celebration.  

One of the fundamental human rights Ginbot 20 credited for is civil and political rights ensured under the FDRE constitution. The constitution guaranteed the Ethiopian people freedom of association for any cause or purpose. It ensured the rights of every one to vote, to be elected, and to participate in public affairs directly or through representatives. In addition, every citizen has a right to be a member in any political organization by his/her own will. In other words, the constitution creates a suitable environment for a multi-party system in Ethiopia.

However, it is clear that, for the last two decades the nation has been ‘unsuccessful’ in forming a strong and trustworthy political party or individual politicians other than the ones already in power. At this point many are starting to wonder if Ethiopia, regardless of constitutional promise for multi-party system, is slowly moving back to where it all started. To many, the outlook appears to be that the nation is once again on a path to one-party system and, at its worst, a one-man rule. Indeed, just as Haile Selassie and his imperial rule dominated the country or Mengistu Hailemariam and his Ethiopian People Workers Party had absolute authority over the country, today PM Meles Zenawi and his party, the EPRDF, are the dominant political figures.

However, some disagree and suggest that the present-day Ethiopia by any standard cannot be seen as a one-party state. Rather, the country has formed a dominant single party system, which is common in some nations with respectable democracy. The difference between a one-party and dominant single party system has a demarcation blurred in certain situations. However, it is possible to come up with some clear differences.

A dominant single party system may be defined as that despite the multi-party situation in the country, only one party is dominant and directs the political system by default. That party is firmly in control of state power over a long period of time. In this system periodic elections and other democratic gestures exist. In fact, multi-party activity is always behind the scenes. However, one particular party wins elections every time, and it might be difficult to forecast when that party will fall and lose elections. The reason why a single party dominates politics power differs depending on the history of each nation. Singapore, Russia, and most African nations, including South Africa and Tanzania, are examples of dominant single party system created through multi-party elections.

On the other hand, a one-party system is a system where there is only one political party in the country, and formation of any other opposition party is prohibited. For that matter, in most one-party system countries, there are no periodic elections. Eritrea, Cuba and China are some of the examples for a one-party state.

From the above brief description, it is possible to see, theoretically, where Ethiopia stands. Unlike the suggestion by many, the country actually formed dominant single party system, with a number of existing opposition parties unable to break into power.

The main question is how that is better than a one-party system. Dominant single party system is mostly criticized for anti-democratic features. This is because of the popular belief that alternation of power is a very crucial element for democracy – and for long-term development, for that matter. The main concern on dominant party system is the governing party sees less and less need to respond to public opinion because it is always assured of re-election all the time. It is therefore reasonable to argue that this in most cases leads to autocratic rule and abuse of power. It also weakens the separation of power and puts the integrity of the legislature in question.  In addition, the vital elements of democracy, which is genuine competition and uncertainty in the outcome of elections are absent in a dominant single party system. There is also concern that a dominant single party system will likely lead to a one-party system.

Dominant single party system, however, for some is not all that bad. Scholars suggest that its advantages are worthy of consideration. This is because a political party can be dominant with democratic means. If it manages to win the hearts of its citizen repeatedly, regardless of existence of strong opposition, then it could be a sign of political stability especially in fragmented political environment.

EPRDF won the last election with more than 99% of the vote. So far, the society as well as the party expects similar results in the next election.  For two decades, the only significant challenge to the ruling party was the 2005 election. Even that, one way or another ended with great political victory for EPRDF. The party that lost considerable votes gained a lot of acceptance after oppositions failed to meet any of the expectations of the electorate. The fact that they ended up refusing to join parliament, and embarrassingly fought between one another and kept blaming each other, formed breakaway mini-parties, some fled the country, and others failed to show any integrity and sound strategy to confront the ruling party was a huge political victory for EPRDF, even better than election win, some argue. (It must also be mentioned here that many also argue with reason that, whether the opposition had joined the government or not, the path to genuine multi-party system was doomed from the start – for lack of independent judiciary and military, they say. But this is a topic for another discussion some day.)

All of this created an environment for the ruling party to be dominant. However, one might question if the EPRDF played a role in this drama of the opposition and gained its dominance in an undemocratic manner. In other words, does all of this come, as the officials claim, with no intention of their own, but just because the opposition couldn’t manage to build the capacity to become a strong challenger?

Now the most important question is, is the country heading eventually to a single party system because we could not and do not have strong opposition parties?

The failure of the opposition parties in Ethiopian helped create an attitude among the public that says ‘Ethiopia is better off with the EPRDF’. During the 2010 election, many people voted for the ruling party, and their reason was that there was no better alternative. The oppositions in their own time seem to have lost the trust and acceptance of the public. Highly fragmented, weakened and confused, they seem to lack the reliability and endurance to flight and mount any significant challenge to the ruling party.

In addition, today, those who lead opposition parties happen to be individuals who have already disappointed the public politically in the past. The existing parties, even the main ones, have failed to show a clear vision for the country and present a compelling political agenda, or could not reach the public even if they have the strategy. Their voice is unheard on many of the critical problems of the society, unless when they blame or insult one another. At times, their comments and actions are hypocritical. For example they accuse the ruling party for worshipping individuals, creating a one-man rule and dominating the politics while their entire existence solely depended on individuals and never show any spirit of democracy or power sharing in their inside party politics.

For the ruling party, their every move seems a boost in its run to dominate the country politics. This is used to disgrace them in the eyes of the public and present them as a joke rather than an alternative. 

However, the argument mostly is that the EPRDF intentionally played opposition parties in their eventual doom. Many cite the tough and challenging legal environment that followed as a reason. Especially after the 2005 election, several legislations that targeted and weakened the opposition one way or another were written into law. In addition, the public media is used almost entirely for ruling party programs and the miniature private media in Ethiopia never grew. Therefore, most opposition parties in Ethiopia are unknown even at name level. Some opposition leaders may have also been victimized for their political run, including economically ruined as they claim.

Regardless, it is proper to suggest opposition parties share a significant role for EPRDF’s political dominance in the country today. Indeed they have shown already in 2005 that there is a chance to influence power however small that may be. They won 100 seats in the House of Representatives, which has the highest political power in the country. The ruling party admitted this win at the time and was ready to give them (at least in theory) their share of power. This may have been the beginning of the moderating process in an otherwise the dominance of EPRDF.

The path they chose is well-known. Presently, they keep embarrassing the politics by sometimes acting in an irresponsible and self-centered manner, as if committed to popularize the ruling party.

A tough political environment is to be expected in a country like Ethiopia. The fact that the EPDRF itself came to power through armed struggle means sharing or giving-up power through elections is not conventional. In general, such parties have the history of resistance for opposition of any kind. However, if opposition parties choose to challenge this, it is important to come up with practical and clear vision and long-term strategy, and one that is not dependent on individuals, but rather on a party system. If not, they will always be doomed. After all, political game in countries like Ethiopia is not all about the best interests of the people, but rather a constant struggle to be relevant and/or stay in power. http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Page=heads&NewsID=3303

Blue Nile Ethiopian Cuisine Tasty Ethiopian fare in downtown SLC

By Ted Scheffler

Posted // June 1,2012 - Anybody remember People Express? Back in the 1980s, when I was living in New York City, the budget airline People Express offered flights to Washington, D.C., and Boston for a mere $19 each way. You simply got on the plane and paid cash. Ah, those were the days! I’d fly up to Boston for games at Fenway Park, and down to D.C. to, ostensibly, spend a weekend with a college pal who lived in Washington’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, home to a large Ethiopian population. In reality, though, I was flying down to the nation’s capital to feed my addiction to Ethiopian food. There was then, and still are, an abundance of fantastic—and fantastically cheap—Ethiopian restaurants in D.C.; some estimates place the Ethiopian population of D.C. at a quarter-million. Those unique East African flavors quickly became among my favorites.
Well, for many years after moving to Utah, I pined for Ethiopian fare, but none was to be had. And now—in just the past year, amazingly—three different restaurants offering Ethiopian food have opened: Mahider Ethiopian Restaurant, Red Sea Cafe and Blue Nile Ethiopian Cuisine. Am I in heaven, or what? The focus this week is on the latter—Blue Nile—which is also the newest of the trio, having opened in early May.
Blue Nile Ethiopian Cuisine is located in the State Street space that was the home of Evergreen House Cafe, a longtime favorite of vegan and vegetarian diners. When you visit, you’ll be given a choice of seating options. There are standard, American-style restaurant tables and seating on the right side of the restaurant or, in a room on the left, you can choose to dine at one of three traditional Ethiopian tables: colorful, hourglass-shaped straw tables called messobs, which look sort of like African drums. They’re perfect for couples, although you can squeeze a third diner into your messob. Whichever dining option you choose, you’ll be eating with your hands, like in Ethiopia (although utensils are available by request). Ethiopian food is typically shared using the spongy, traditional “bread” called injera to scoop up meats, veggies, legumes and such. Yes, it’s a bit messy, but no more so than eating tacos, pizza and such with your mitts. It’s breaking bread together, literally.
I recommend starting with an appetizer called yemisir sambusa ($4.99). It’s a pair of triangle-shaped puff pastries stuffed with a delicious blend of brown lentils, onions, scallions, peppers, subtle spices and herbs. Ethiopian sambusa is very similar to the Indian samosa, and the yesiga sambusa ($5.99), which features minced beef instead of lentils, is also quite appealing.
The easiest and most economical way to sample a range of Ethiopian flavors and textures at Blue Nile is to select the value-priced combo plates. There is a vegetable combo ($9.99), which features five items from the vegetable menu, and a meat combo ($12.99), which offers three meat items. We ordered both. Each combo easily serves two people, and you’ll probably have leftovers. Since we chose to try both the meat and veggie combos, they came served together on one gigantic piece of injera, with more injera on the side.
Ethiopians are some of the friendliest, most generous people I’ve ever met. That’s true as well of Blue Nile, where the service was nothing short of loving. When I asked if they made their own injera (they do), co-owner Seyoum Abebe came to our table with a framed teff plant to show us. Teff (also called tef) is a species of lovegrass native to the northern Ethiopian Highlands. Similar to buckwheat flour, its grains are used to make injera, which anchors virtually every Ethiopian meal. However, teff is very expensive to import from Africa, and Abebe found an Ethiopian immigrant who raises teff in Idaho. Due to Utah’s arid climate, at Blue Nile they add a little brown-rice flour to achieve the spongy, airy consistency you’d find in Africa, and the bread takes an entire day to rise.
So, most dishes you order at Blue Nile will come served upon big rounds of injera. The meat portion of our combo plate included kay wat, yesiga alicha and doro wot. These are small cubes of tender prime beef that are sauteed in Ethiopian clarified butter and served in a tangy sauce (kay wat); chicken legs simmered in a spicy sauce similar to Indian curry and served, traditionally, with a hard-boiled egg (doro wot); and more beef chunks served in a mild sauce tasting of coriander (yesiga alicha). Although a lot of Ethiopian food is infused with curry-style flavors, I find it to be milder, overall, than Indian versions.
Lentils and split peas are cornerstones of Ethiopian cooking, as you’ll discover with the Blue Nile vegetable combo plate, which includes tegabino shiro, yemisir wot, ater alicha, gomen and atkilt alicha. Of these, we especially liked the pureed split peas with spices, onions and garlic (tegabino shiro); gomen—which was fresh, crunchy collard greens simmered in a very mild sauce; and especially yemisir wot, which is split lentils simmered in a zippy, curry-style hot sauce. The only item that missed the mark was tepid, limp green beans with carrots (atkilt alicha).
Navigating the Blue Nile’s beverage choices is … interesting. There are sodas and tea, Ethiopian coffee, juice (mango and pineapple), along with a few domestic and imported beers and wine—well, sort of. They were temporarily out of Tej Ethiopian honey wine, which we’d hoped to try. So, I asked about regular wine. The only option was “red,” so I ordered a glass ($5). It came ice cold—not just the glass, but the red wine itself. If you’d like to drink wine at Blue Nile, I recommend bringing your own and paying the $5 corkage fee.
Personally, I’m thrilled that Ethiopian cuisine has finally made its way to Salt Lake City. For a warm and delightful introduction to Ethiopian food and culture, I strongly suggest the Blue Nile adventure.
BLUE NILE ETHIOPIAN CUISINE
755 S. State
801-364-4042http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-15986-blue-nile-ethiopian-.html

“Ethiopia Is Not Oromia; Oromia Is Not Ethiopia” – Oromo Community @ Africa Day 2012 in Ireland

May 30, 2012 at 10:28 pm · Gadaa.com

The Africa Day was celebrated colourfully on 26 and 27 of May 2012 in Dublin, Ireland. Many African embassies and communities across the country came together in open space to show their culture, identity and the best of their communities, their countries and their continent at large. The Association of Oromo Community in Ireland was, not only one of these communities on the event, but also the shining star of Africa and its people. Starting from the first day of the event, the community’s members and leaders were there at the event and were very busy explaining, demonstrating the Oromo heritage, as well as participating in different competitions at the event.
The Oromo community’s pavilion was just beside that of the Ethiopian Embassy. The Oromo community displayed beautiful Oromo artifacts, including cultural costumes. Most of the Oromo gents and ladies, including leaders, were in their attractive costumes. The visitors had to wait in turns to see our artifacts, to try them and to take pictures wearing the Oromo customs, jeweleries, and ornaments. The Oromo community’s pavilion was full of Oromo culture. We had a live Oromo coffee ceremony during the event, where many enjoyed the fresh aroma and taste of Oromo coffee. We had the pictorial display of the world famous runners from Oromia, such as Abebe Bikila (Ababa Biqilaa), Derartu Tullu (Daraartuu Tulluu) and Kenenisa Bekele (Qananiisaa Baqqalaa), whom many recognized, but did not know that they are children of the Oromo nation.
The members of the Oromo community used this big opportunity to inform every visitor that the Oromo people had been subjugated people under the tyranny of successive Abyssinian regimes for more than a century. Since most of them, even our African brothers and sisters do not know that we, Oromos, have been under colonial rule, we explained that why Ethiopia is said to be a country that has never been colonised. We used the analogy of why Britain has never been colonised because it had been a coloniser. By doing this, we, the Community members, sent many to read more about the Oromo. Many visitors promised to continue to be the friends of the Oromo and left their contacts to be in touch with our community.
Our community and our people became the focus of discussions even after our beautifully dressed lady Aaddee Ayyaantuu Bantii won the award of “The Best Dressed Woman” competition on Africa Day 2012. To everyone’s surprise, Aaddee Ayyaantuu, Aaddee Seenaa and Aaddee Makkiyaa – all three from the Oromo community – were the top three “Best Dressed” ladies. All of them were in our well-decorated and beautiful Oromo dresses. Then came questions – like who are Oromos? Where are they from, etc?
We, the Oromo community members, used the opportunity to inform Kenyan, Sudanese, Ugandan, Somali, South African, etc. communities, nationals and diplomats to support and understand Oromo refugees in their countries. We explained that Oromos left, and will leave their country, to run away from colonial persecutions, and they never migrate for economic reasons as Oromia is naturally a rich country.
While this trend continued into the second day of the event – keeping the Oromo members overwhelming busy, no one had visited the pavilion of Wayane, which was just metres away from Oromo’s pavilion. To our surprise, their pavilion was mostly without supervision, and only occasionally, an Irish lady came into and went out of it, no other members of the Wayane Embassy in Ireland came except at the beginning and end of the show.
The first day we observed that there was one Oromo item in their show, but the next day there was no items that showed Oromo in there exhibition. We exhibited that we are not Ethiopian, and the Ethiopian Embassy exhibited that Oromo is not Ethiopia, too. Actually, their pavilion had nothing to do with other peoples in Ethiopia at all. There were some pictures from the northern part of the empire, and a picture of the Ethiopian Airlines. The Irish, who occasionally went in and out of the pavilion, was in Tigrean costume. We informed the Irish lady, who claimed that she was the former Irish Ambassador to Ethiopia, that Oromo is a great nation suffering by the oppression of the Ethiopian government and the Irish government has been deaf-ear to their cause for many years. She sympathized with us saying that, if real democracy exists in Ethiopia, things would have been better. The lady informed us though that the Ethiopian Embassy was busy in politics of Somalia – where she said “the Ethiopian diplomats are in meeting with Somali community.”
The Africa Day was a great success for the Oromo Community in Ireland, where the Community clearly and precisely provided information for many African and European nationals and diplomats that Oromo is a great peace-loving nation, which is denied of freedom of any sort and being subject to incessant oppression.
The Oromo awareness has just started two weeks before the Africa Day by running Oromo cultural exhibition in Fingal County Council public library in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. The exhibition continues until 15 June 2012 in Dublin City Council public library in the ILAC Shopping Centre, which will start on Friday 1st of June 2012. The exhibition so far attracted a large number of visitors.
Association of Oromo Community in Ireland
oromocommunityireland@yahoo.ie
www.oromocommunityireland.com