E T H I O P I A

AAPO - All Amhamra People's Organisation
ALF - Afar Liberation Front
ARDU - Afar Revolutionary Democratic Union
BPLM - Benishangul People's Liberation Movement
CAFPDE - Council of the Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia
COEDF - Coalition of Ethiopian Democratic Forces
CRDA - Christian Relief and Development Association
ECS - Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat
EDC - Ethiopian Democratic Organization Coalition
EDUP - Ethiopian Democratic Unionist Party
EECMY - Eth. Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus
ENDP - Ethiopian National Democratic Party
EPDA - Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Alliance
EPDM - Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement
EPRDF - Ethiopian People's Rev. Democratic Front
ESDL - Ethiopian Somali Democratic League
ESDM - Ethiopian Somali Democratic Movement
GDU - Gamo Democratic Union
GPDF - Gurage People's Democratic Front
HPDO - Hadia People's Democratic Organisation
IFLO - Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromia
IGLF - Issa Gurgura Liberation Front
KPC - Kembata People's Congress
OLF - Oromo Liberation Front
ONLF - Ogaden National Liberation Front
OPDO - Oromo People's Democratic Organisation
ORA - Oromo Relief Association
SEPDC - Southern Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Coalition
SPDO - Sidama People's Democratic Organisation
TPLF - Tigray People's Liberation Front
WSLF - Western Somali Liberation Front

** POST-ELECTION DEVELOPMENTS **

NEW PRIME MINISTER AND PRESIDENT
(Reuter 23 Aug 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's parliament elected former guerrilla leader and president Meles Zenawi as prime minister of the newly-named Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Meles, head of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPDRF), served as president in a four-year transitional government that handed power over to parliament on Tuesday. He was elected prime minister with strong executive powers a day after Negaso Gidada was voted in as president, a figurehead post in the new federation of nine ethnically-based states.

The EPRDF holds a majority of 483 out of 548 seats in the Council of Representatives, which was elected in May in what was billed as the country's first multi-party election.

Meles, who will serve a five-year term, was expected to make a policy statement later on Wednesday and present a 15-minister cabinet to parliament for approval on Thursday.

The previous transitional cabinet had 22 ministries.

Official sources said most ministers who served in the transitional government were expected to be retained...

Negaso served as information minister in the transitional government and is a member of the Oromo People's Democratic Organisation (OPDO), a coalition partner of the EPDRF.

EPRDF SCORE IS WORRYING
(ION 22 Jul 95, p.4)
Ahead of the European Union's African working group meeting in Brussels on July 5 and 6, heads of EU diplomatic missions in Addis Ababa drafted a balance sheet of Ethiopia's elections for the federal and regional councils. Recalling that Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front had gained about 98.6 percent of seats in the federal assembly, the report says that the ballot was carried out "calmly but in relative indifference". The final results showed "an almost total absence of the opposition" in national and regional commissions, raising "the medium-term question of how the opposition will be able to express its views". The vote therefore consolidated "a situation of near-monopoly in favour of the party elected" and "a system with [sic] democratic evolution is not assured."

UK DEVELOPMENT MINISTER SAYS BRITAIN PLEASED WITH RECENT ELECTIONS
(SWB 28 Jul 95 [RE in Amharic, 26 Jul 95])
President Meles Zenawi today held talks in his office and with the British overseas development minister, Baroness Lynda Chalker, with whom he discussed British aid for Ethiopia, cooperation on education, food supplies and (national reform)...

She also said that the recently-concluded elections for people's representatives and regional council members had pleased the British government and that she had seen for herself how the people were going about their business freely...

WORKSHOP ON WOMEN AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
("Women and the Making of Regional Constitutions", InterAfrica Group 14 Apr 95) In the second of a series of occasional meetings on "Women's concerns: implications for Democracy", the InterAfrica Group invited women from around Ethiopia to Addis Ababa who work with regional women's bureaux to discuss the making of regional constitutions and women's participation therein...

Fifty women from five regions of Ethiopia (Southern, 5, 4, 13, 3) participated in the workshop on "Women and the making of regional constitutions" on April 14 1995. The women discussed issues presented by the InterAfrica Group, and those raised by two papers presented at the meeting in working groups and as a group during the day. The workshop was intended as an information sharing exercise which would raise issues of concern to the women present and suggest responses to them, and also alert programme on women and constitutional rights.

The discussions covered topics including: the role of the regional women's bureaux, the operations of NGOs in the respective regions regarding women, experiences of women in participating in national constitution making, how to mobilise women to participate in regional constitution making and methodologies for doing so...

TIGRAY COUNCIL APPROVES 1995-96 BUDGET
(SWB 27 Jun 95 [REE in English, 19 Jun 95])
The ongoing conference of the new Council of Tigray has approved a 328.5m birr budget for the 1988 Ethiopian calendar [1995-96] fiscal year. The report on the budget indicated that 62m birr of the annual budget would be secured from various revenue sources in the region, while the balance is expected from the central government and donors.

The preparation of the budget was based on the five-year plan of the region for boosting agriculture, conserving natural resources and expanding development infrastructure. The council is expected to end its first conference today after discussing draft proposals pertaining to members of its executive committees and the federal council, as well as the flag of the region.

AFAR REGION FOUNDING CONFERENCE OPENS
(SWB 25 Jul 95 [RE in Amharic, 23 Jul 95])
The founding conference of the Afar [Region Two] regional government council was held yesterday [22nd July], during which it was decided that (?Zamara) should be the regional capital. In yesterday's meeting seven articles of the regional constitution were debated and approved. There was extensive debate on the two differing views of whether the region should have borders or not. The view upholding the need for defined borders was adopted. Agreement was reached on the basis that the region shares borders with the Amhara, Oromiya, Ethiopian Somali and Tigray regions, as well as with Jibuti and Eritrea. It was decided to insert an article on this in the constitution.

It was also resolved that for the time being Amharic should remain the region's official language, but when the region's activities and language began to develop, Afar should become the official language...

On the subject of the regional government's capital, some participants of the meeting advocated the suitability of Asayita, saying a great deal of construction work had been carried out there and that the government offices were situated there... However, for the time being, all government work should continue to be carried out in Asayita town. The timing of the transfer of the capital would be decided by the participants in the meeting in the future.

On discussion of the article on equal rights for women, the Ethiopian News Agency reported that the view that women should be freed from traditional Afar pressures and have equal rights to men in government was adopted by 39 votes.

/HAB/ According to Ethiopian radio as reported by SWB, similar developments are occurring in other regions.

** TIGHTENED SECURITY **

MURDER OF OROMO NATIONALIST
(ION 1 Jul 95, p.2)
In an official communique issued June 18, the Oromo Liberation Front accused the Ethiopian authorities of being responsible for the shooting to death, at 6.30 am on May 21, of one of its members, an Oromo merchant doing business in the main Addis Ababa market of Mercato, Aliyi Yusuf. He was killed outside his shop located near the Ras cinema in the Tekle Haymanot district, which is generally very busy even on Sundays. His killers got away in several cars. Yusuf had been imprisoned and tortured under the regime of former head of state Mengistu Haile Mariam, for having supported the Oromo cause. After the regime fell, he had been a member of the OLF delegation to the Addis conference which, from July 5 to 11, 1991, had drafted and approved the charter for the transitional period. After OLF broke off relations with the transitional government, Yusuf had gone back to his business.

According to OLF, the assassination of Aliyi Yusuf is not an isolated act but forms part of a whole series of eliminations of OLF members and supporters. A young 26-year old farmer, Henok Jonatan, was arrested by government forces in Najjo, in the western Oromia region, on March 16. He is believed to have been tortured afterwards, along with nine other Oromo prisoners, and their bodies were discovered on April 28 at Mucha Fugiso, near the town of Babo Gambel. Similarly, Jafar Ibrahim Utto, a village elder in Kiyyo, in Oborra Province (eastern Oromia), who had been detained by pro-government militiamen, was found dead on April 8. Two months earlier, two of his sons had been arrested, tortured and murdered by members of the same militia.

ETHIOPIAN AUTHORITIES CLOSE DOWN ORA
(Oromo Relief Association UK press release 8 Aug 95, by Lydia Namarra) We have just got the shocking news about ORA's projects in Hararghe, Wallagga and Borana. They have been closed, in fact the office in Borana is occupied by the EPRDF army and its property confiscated. The compound is now being used as an army camp.

Since its formation, ORA has struggled against all odds and managed to bring the plight of needy Oromo to international attention and raise support for them. This continued for nearly two decades. As of August 1991, ORA has been functioning under difficult circumstances, even though it has been legally recognized NGO under the Relief & Rehabilitation Commission of Ethiopia. In these four years ORA has expanded its outstanding work in relief and rehabilitation among the Oromo people.

...[The] government has closed important project [sic] in areas where ORA was legally allocated to work; this agreement had just been renewed.

ORA's project work is just beginning to bear fruit. Stores are filled with food and medical items awaiting distribution. The case of Borana is particularly urgent as the region has been suffering from serious drought and ORA's assistance is badly needed.

The responsibility for the damage done, and the lives that may be lost if food and medicine are not distributed, lies at the door of the Regional Government of Oromia who gave this order, and the Ethiopian Government which permitted it...

RCC REVOKES LICENCES OF 47 AID GROUPS
(Reuter 17 Aug 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia said on Thursday it had revoked licences of 47 international and local relief and development groups.

"Some of these NGOs (non-governmental organisations) were egnaged in raising funds in the name of assistance for Ethiopia and using them for their personal needs," the government-run Relief and Rehabilitation Commission said in a statement.

It said the names of the 47 banned groups would be made public next week and they would be asked to surrender all equipment they had been allowed to import duty-free.

Some 252 NGOs - international and local - are licensed to carry out relief and development activities in different parts of the Horn of African country, according to the commission.

DECREES ON AGREEMENTS WITH FOREIGNERS TO BE OBSERVED FOR SAKE OF SECURITY
(SWB 11 Aug 95 [RE in Amharic 1700 gmt 9 Aug 95])
Excerpt from report by Ethiopian radio on 9th August

The police central office has urged Ethiopians who rent out their houses to foreigners to submit their lease agreements to a court for registration. Individuals who rent out their houses and vehicles to foreigners should check and register the name and passport number, and see if the foreigner has a valid visa and legal entry permit and inform the immigration department of the Ministry of Interior, added the office...

Excerpts from statement issued by police headquarters; broadcast by Ethiopian radio on 9th August

It is through strengthening the comprehensive participation of the people and having people contribute towards respect for the law that we can maintain the country's peace, stability and social security...

** THE PRESS **

NEWSPAPER EDITOR SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR'S IMPRISONMENT
(SWB 8 Jul 95 [RE in Amharic, 6 Jul 95])
One of the two editors of (?`Zog') newspaper convicted of publishing baseless allegations by the third criminal jury at the central high court has been sentenced to one year's imprisonment. The court said the editor-in-chief of (?`Zog'), Mr Twedros Kebede, had been found guilty of printing groundless allegations and rumours as if they were facts, knowing full well that he was duty-bound to make sure that what they were publishing was not liable to criminal proceedings.

One of the editors, Alemu Bogale, was set free because he was ill and in bad health at the time the allegations were published. The central prosecutor-general's office in its conviction statement said the newspaper had carried stories about agreements between the Oromo opposition military organizations which alleged that the Oromo Unity Liberation Front was fighting against the Weyane [a name given to the Tigray People's Liberation Front] on various war fronts, vowing not to put down its arms until what it described as the oppressed Muslim people of Oromia had attained freedom...

JUSTICE MINISTER WARNS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS THEY MUST COOPERATE WITH MEDIA
(SWB 4 Aug 95 [RE in Amharic, 2 Aug 95])
The justice minister, Mehitema Soloman, today warned that all government officials are obliged to cooperate with the press. Since people have a right to be informed, government officials are obliged to cooperate with the press. He said journalists should also examine their approach in the pursuit of information. Tewodros Neway has the details from the Ethiopian News Agency.

[Tewodros - recording] In response to recent complaints from journalists that some government officials have created problems by not giving them information, Justice Minister Mr Mehitema Soloman said that since government officials are civil servants who draw up and implement plans and strategies, they should let people know what they are doing and allow them to judge it.

The minister said the press law stipulates that citizens are entitled to a balanced understanding of various crucial issues and to comment on government leadership and activities. He added that press institutions and their agents had the right to ask for news and information from any government information or broadcasting institution, to receive this information and to comment on it...

** DOMESTIC NEWS **

ETHIOPIA'S 1995-96 BUDGET PUT AT $1.6 BILLION
(Reuter 26 Jul 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's council of representatives said on Wednesday it had approved a budget of $1.6 billion for 1995-96 with more than half allocated to the central government.

The council, the highest authority in the transitional government, said of the total $473 million would be secured from foreign aid with the rest generated from local revenue.

Ethiopia's annual budget for 1994-95 was $1.6 billion. Most of its income comes from exporting agricultural commodities such as coffee, pulses, hides and skin and livestock. The fiscal year begins on July 7.

The council said $877 million was allocated to the central government while the budget for nine new ethically-based federal regions would be around $650 million, taking into account population size, development and capacity to generate revenue...

AUTHORITY PLANS TO CONSTRUCT 11,000 KMS OF ROAD IN FIVE YEARS
(NN/pol.ethiopia 9 Aug 95 [EH 29 Jul 95])
WOLAITA SODO (ENA) - 11,000 kilometers of new asphalted and feeder roads wuld be constructed in the coming five years, an official disclosed. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Sodo-Shashemene road which opened to traffic last week Ato Haile Assegide, Minister of Works and Urban Development, said a plan has already been finalized to construct and repair 10,952 kilometers of road during the stated period.

Ato Haile, who is also board chairman of the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA), said the authority would undertake the construction of about 2,000 kilometers - new and old ones - and the remaining 9,000 kilometers would be carried out by private contractors.

The five-year road construction project includes the maintenance of asphalted and feeder roads and bridges. "Nearly 40 new bridges will be constructed," he added.

The board chairman further said the government would allocate a budget for the projects and at the same time, make efforts to get funds from foreign creditors.

Ethiopia has about 20,000 kms of ashalted and feeder roads, according to ERA publications.

US-ETHIOPIAN TASK FORCE TRAINS LAND-MINE CLEARANCE OPERATIVES
(SWB 29 Jul 95 [REE in English, 27 Jul 95])
The commander of the Ethio-American joint operation task force has said (?40) de-mining cadres drawn from the various divisions of the Ethiopian Defence Force are currently taking part in a three-week training that would enable them [to] acquire knowledge. According to Maj Cariel Bishop [both elements phonetic], commander of the joint task force, the programme will start by establishing a project under which the current batch of trainees would act as trainers and teach others who would carry out the remaining programmes.

Mr Haile Selase Wolde Gerima, coordinator of the programme on the Ethiopian side, said well-trained staff were necessary in the safe disposal of mines, which are hurdles to development endeavours.

On the gravity of the problem in Ethiopia Maj Bishop said there were an estimated 10m mines in Ethiopia and Eritrea, reducing land to unproductivity and killing a lot of people and animals each year.

** FOOD SECURITY **

EARLY RAINS MOSTLY GOOD
(NNS July 95)
USAID's Famine Early Warning System in Addis Ababa report that this year's Belg (early rain) was `generally good and much better than 1994'. The report, which covers five months from February, expects good harvests in most areas and at the national level. Pastoral areas also had a good season. The western highlands of North and South Wello and North Shewa alone are suffering their fourth poor season in succession -but food deliveries to those areas have already been underway for some months.

GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES REVOLVING FUNDS TO ASSIST PEASANTS
(NN/pol.ethiopia 1 Aug 95 [EH 1 Aug 95])
ADDIS ABABA (ENA) - An official of the Ministry of Agriculture disclosed that the government has earmarked 47 million Birr revolving and extension service promotion fund to help peasants in seven regional states.

Cooperatives and Extension Promotion Department Head Belay Ejigu said more than 36,000 peasants in 229 woredas of Somali, Benishangul, Harari, Amhara, Oromyia, Tigrai and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional States will benefit from the fund which will be used to buy fertilizers, seeds and other inputs as well as to promote extension services.

Peasants will borrow from the revolving fund and pay back within a year and would borrow again if they need it. The success of the new extension program depends on the timely reimbursement of the revolving fund.

Two hundred and ninety development workers have been deployed in the areas selected for the implementation of the programme. They are rendering counselling and practical services and educating farmers to effectively use the money they borrow from the fund...

INITIATIVE TO STRENGTHEN LOCAL NGOS
(NNS July 95)
The US based Private Agencies Collaborating Together (PACT) will shortly be starting a new initiative to support and develop the NGO sector in Ethiopia.

The Director of the initiative, Mr Eugene Chivaroli, former USAID representative to Nigeria, has begun work in the country, and will be recruiting staff to work with him on the multi-year US$3.6 million programme which is being provided by USAID. The initiative will aim to work with and through existing local consortia and NGOs such as the Christian Relief and Development Association, Consortium of Ethiopian Voluntary Organisations and the InterAfrica Group in providing targeted training, technical assistance and management consulting services to NGOs.

The main areas of NGO work which the initiative aims to support are food security, democracy and governance, education, and support to street children activities - after the initial phase of the programme, the PACT initiative will provide small grants to NGOs to support programmes in these four sectors.

ETHIOPIAN NGOS MEET WORLD BANK EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
(NNS July 95)
Seven of the twenty four Executive Directors of the World Bank passed through Ethiopia as part of a four country tour of Africa on July 26-28. They met with private sector, government and NGOs in Addis Ababa. The NGO meeting gave leaders in the sector the opportunity to put their points of view across to some of the most powerful policy makers in the World Bank. They raised the need for the Resident Mission in Addis Ababa to communicate more with NGOs, concerns about the impact of structural adjustment policies in the country, possible NGO participation in poverty assessments and other missions, and that they would like to get more information on the Bank and its activities...

[Issues raised] include: that NGOs should contribute their experience in, for example, land, agriculture or irrigation; that NGOs should demonstrate to government their capacity to undertake social mobilisation, participation and projects with positive impact; that NGOs should get greater access to national project information - the World Bank has made some improvements in this area but they can still do more to ensure that it reaches people; not only the Bank and governments should participate in discussions on projects - NGOs, grass roots groups, regional governments and local authorities should also be involved; the Bank should encourage NGOs' negotiation with them; it should also support institutional strengthening of NGOs and also public officials, ministries, and local and regional government representatives; finally NGOs should be able to participate in the design, methodology, execution, monitoring and evaluation of projects (i.e. the whole project cycle) starting at the early stage and not at the end, as usually happens.

WORLD BANK FUNDS TWO FARMING PROJECTS IN ETHIOPIA
(Reuter 15 Jun 95)
WASHINGTON - The International Development Association, the lending affiliate of the World Bank, approved two projects valued at $142 million to enhance farming production in Ethiopia, the World Bank said on Thursday.

One project valued at $120 million will help achieve accelerated and sustainable growth in agricultural production and productivity by helping promote growth of a competitive fertiliser sector...

The second project, valued at $22 million, would lay the foundation for development of a broad-based and competitive seed industry...

EU FUNDS FISHING DEVELOPMENT
(AED 19 Jun 95)
The EU has granted the government EB20.15 million ($3.2 million) to finance the development of inland fisheries in the country, the Ethiopian News Agency has reported.

The report quoted Ato Sileshi, a fishery resources development officer, as saying the money would be used by the people interested in involvement in fishery development activities and increasing the consumption of the not-yet-exploited national wealth...

** REFUGEES AND REPATRIATION **

REFUGEES FROM SOMALIA AND SUDAN
(NN/africa.horn 20 Jun 95 [UNHCR Refugees Update May 95])
...There was a slight increase in the number of Somali refugees listed by the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) in the eastern camps in the past one month. The most recent arrivals, since the outbreak of fighting in Burao, N.W. Somalia, last March, now total some 9,000 with the majority in Daror camp in the Aware area. Added to the old caseload and those who fled following the fighting in Hargeisa in November 1994, the total assisted Somali population in the eastern camps has now reached 271,847.

The fighting which broke out late last March in Burao seemed to have been reduced to sporadic hit-and-run attacks.

In the western refugee settlements of Bonga, Fugnido and Dimma, an increase of 2,181 in the number of Sudanese refugees was registered. The assisted Sudanese refugee population stands at 55,443.

Moreover, ARRA informed UNHCR that over 1,200 Sudanese asylum seekers were awaiting screening in Tharpam screening centre in Gambella region. The newly-arrived asylum seekers may have come from Nasir town in the Sudanese Upper Nile Province. Nasir town, once a stronghold of Riak Machar s South Sudanese Independent Movement (SSIM), was recaptured by the Sudanese army in late March.

Repatriation of Ethiopians from Sudan and Kenya continues

Some 2,100 Ethiopian returnees were repatriated this month from Port-Sudan in three convoys...

Meanwhile the airlift repatriation from Dadaab, Kenya, to Gode, in south-eastern Ethiopia, continued with a total of 801 arrivals during May aboard 14 flights. So far, some 1,775 Ethiopian returnees have been airlifted back to Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Jijiga and Gode from Kenya. Another 707 returnees were repatriated overland via Moyale bringing the total number of Ethiopian refugees repatriated this year from Kenya to 2,482...

UNACCOMPANIED MINORS
(United Nations Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, Monthly Situation Report, July 95)
An estimated 1,000 unaccompanied minors from various ethnic backgrounds (Nibian, Dinka and Nuer) crossed into Ethiopia from Nassir area in July, having initially fled into Mawit before the recapturing of the town by government forces in March 1995. Following registration, the new arrivals were transferred to Fugnido camp. General nutritional status of these refugees seems satisfactory despite the long period of time they have spent in transit between Mawit and Gambella.

The assisted population in the western refugee settlement areas has reached 57, 225 with the following breakdown: Bonga 15,469; Fugnido 31,704; and Dimma 10, 052. This includes the new influx in July.

REFUGEES RETURN FROM JIBUTI
(SWB 28 Jul 95 [RE in English, 26 Jul 95])
Some 1,500 Ethiopians who sought refuge in the Shebele [phonetic] camp of Jibuti have been repatriated and reached the town of Dire Dawa [eastern Ethiopia]...

** FOREIGN RELATIONS **

SECRETARY-GENERAL MAKES ONE-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT TO ETHIOPIA
(UNIC 18 Jul 95 [UN document SG/T/1983 17 Jul 95])
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali arrived at Addis Ababa today, 17 July, in the late afternoon for a one-day visit to Ethiopia...

The Secretary-General proceeded to the presidential palace to meet with the President of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia, Ato Meles Zenawi, who is also the current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). They had an extremely positive tete-a-tete which lasted 50 minutes. The Secretary-General briefed the President on his just completed tour in Africa during which he visited 6 countries: Egypt, Uganda, Rwanda, Angola, Zaire and Burundi. They had a discussion on the political situation in Africa.

The Secretary-General invited the President to come to New York from 20 to 24 October to speak on behalf of the OAU at the summit meeting of the General Assembly to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. The President stated that he also supported fully the Secretary-General with regard to the need to strengthen cooperation between the OAU and the United Nations...

US EMBASSY DENIES REDUCTION IN AID
(SWB 20 Jul 95 [REE in English, 18 Jul 95])
The US embassy here in Addis Ababa has issued a press release statement concerning misleading reports on aid to Ethiopia that appeared in the international and local electronic and print media. The press release issued by the embassy said that claims that the US Congress is cutting or prohibiting aid to Ethiopia, as it has been reported by some media quarters, were incorrect. It said the amendment that foreign operations appropriations are unanimously accepted by the US House of Representatives did not prohibit or cut off current or future aid to Ethiopia but calls for monitoring of the human rights situation as the fiscal year 1996 aid is being disbursed...

KUWAIT TO OPEN EMBASSY IN ETHIOPIA
(SWB 15 Jul 95 [REE in English, 13 Jul 95])
Kuwait Crown Prince Emir Shaykh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah has disclosed that his country will open its embassy in Ethiopia in a bid to strengthen its relations...

QATAR AND ETHIOPIA ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
(SWB 18 Jul 95 [Wakh news agency, Manama, in Arabic 16 Jul 95])
Text of report by the Gulf news agency Wakh
Doha, 16th July: The State of Qatar and Ethiopia have agreed to establish diplomatic relations on a non-resident ambassador level...

** ECONOMIC NEWS **

EIU COUNTRY UPDATE
(Economic Intelligence Unit via RBB 7 Jul 95)
OVERVIEW: The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's (EPRDF) overwhelming victory in the elections in May should boost its confidence and ability to push ahead with policy reforms. Further steps towards a market economy are expected.

Nonetheless, doubts remain over the principles underlying reforms and the modalities of changes scheduled, led by proposals for privatisation, joint ventures and the attraction of foreign direct investment. Growth for this fiscal year is confidently expected to attain the target of 5-6%, with inflation remaining below the 10% ceiling.

The recovery in agricultural output and the continued buoyancy of world coffee prices should boost tax revenue, contain the government deficit and restrict the current-account deficit to the target of 3% of GDP...

COFFEE EXPORTS RISE TO 78,000 T IN '94/95
(Reuter 12 Jul 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia has exported 78,000 tonnes of coffee in the 1994/95 crop year (October-September), up from 73,000 tonnes in 1993/94 and 69,362 in 1992/93, the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority said.

Ethiopia has earned $298.2 million and could have exported more coffee but held back some stocks because of fluctuating international prices, the authority said.

Export earnings were $153.8 million in 1993/94 and $130 million in 1992/93...

ETHIOPIA EARNS $66.5 MILLION FROM HIDES AND SKINS
(Reuter 19 Jul 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia, Africa's largest livestock owner, said on Wednesday it earned $66.5 million from exporting animal hides and skin in the fiscal year ending July 7.

The National Bank of Ethiopia, the central bank, said the $66.5 million was the result of an export drive by private and state-owned enterprises. Ethiopia has an estimated 25 million head of cattle.

But because of lack of proper management of livestock, the country usually makes little money from export, economists said...

ASSAB FREIGHT UP 20 PER CENT
(AED 17 Jul 95)
About 1.1 million tonnes of freight entered the country via Eritrea's Assab port during 1994. This represents a 20 per cent increase on the previous year.

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