UK-based asset management firms Duet Group and Vasari have partnered with the TIRET Group, an Ethiopian endowment fund, in the brewery sector, in what will become the largest private equity investment in Ethiopia to-date.

Duet Group has a made significant investment into Dashen Brewery in the form of an equity injection from the newly-formed Duet Beverages Africa company, which will be managed by the Duet Africa Private Equity team together with Vasari as the company’s industrial partner.

Deaths during childbirth in Ethiopia are expected to be halved thanks to a $43 million investment from the Australian government.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday signed an agreement promising the money over four years to help Ethiopia reach its millennium development goal targets on child health.

The cash is expected to dramatically increase the number of trained midwives from 2002 to 8635 and boost attended deliveries from 18 to 62 per cent.
The number of women who die during childbirth is expected to drop by half from 590 to 267 per 100,000 births, while infant deaths should fall from 59 to 31 for every 1000 births.

African heads of state and government have begun arriving ahead of the African Union (AU) summit scheduled to begin in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Sunday.

Observers say a record number of African leaders are expected to attend this year’s summit.

“Everything is in high gear on preparations for the opening of the summit Sunday,” said AU adviser Keizire Boaz.
Boaz says the leaders are expected to elect the new head of the African Union commission, as well as formulate a framework to promote trade and commerce among African countries.

Petrol is already beyond the price range of many Africans while surging population levels should force governments in Asia to limit car use, political and business leaders said Wednesday.

While economic gloom in the Eurozone is the most immediate concern of delegates gathered here for the annual Davos forum, the challenge of feeding and powering an ever expanding planet is the main long-term headache.
As tensions with Iran and Nigeria once more raise fears about oil supplies -- and Japan's Fukushima disaster undermines the appeal of nuclear energy -- titans of politics and industry admit it is time for a radical reappraisal.

Former expat Charlotte Coleman-Smith reunited with old friends to take part in an Ethiopian charity run

We lived in Dublin for six months short of 10 years. During that almost-decade I made so many good friends that when we returned to the UK, at the end of August 2011, it was heart-wrenching.

My friends had watched our three children grow from babies to young boys, had been with me through so many milestones: first days at school, birthday parties, nativity plays, summer camps and moments of triumph and tears on the touchline of muddy pitches.

The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on 25th January 2012 signed a membership agreement, making Ethiopia the 36th African country to join ACBF. The signing of this membership agreement reiterates the confidence of African nations about ACBF and signifies the political commitment of Africans to capacity development as the best endeavor to pull Africa out of poverty.

The Federal High Court third criminal bench today sentenced five defendants from life to 14 years imprisonment and fines after being found guilty of terrorism. The court passed life imprisonment on Elias Kifle, Editor-in-Chief of the Washington DC based Ethiopian Review website; who is tried in absentia.

Aid is ineffective. By some estimates, more than $2-trillion has been spent fighting poverty since the 1950s, with little direct impact. The stories of failure are illustrated with hydro dams that never worked, crops that never grew and roads that went nowhere.

Entrepreneurs, however, are changing the world. Since 2005, an estimated half-billion people or more have been raised out of poverty, mainly by small business, trade liberalization and gains in productivity. In China, Pakistan, Indonesia and Nigeria, booming local economies, oblivious to the latest schemes of aid programs, are creating millions of jobs.

Hundreds rally in central Tel Aviv to show solidarity for those suffering from racism directed at Ethiopian citizens.
Hundreds rallied in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday night in what organizers and participants said was a show of solidarity for those suffering from racism directed towards Ethiopian Israelis.

Yoyo Avraham, 29, said he came to the protest to increase awareness of what he said is the worsening problem of racism faced by Ethiopians in Israel.
Avraham, who immigrated to Israel at age 9 from Ethiopia, said during his childhood he was cursed at for being Jewish, and in Israel he gets the same treatment because of the shade of his skin.

The governments of Ukraine and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia are to sign an agreement on air traffic.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Jan. 25 approved a respective draft instructed submitted by Vice Premier and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov, according to the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry.
According to the statement, the agreement will form the basis for regular air communications between Ukraine and Ethiopia.

The United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday announced it is investigating reports of suspected polio cases among Somali refugees living in camps in Ethiopia and three cases in the surrounding community. “The immediate priority is to confirm the outbreak, and samples have been collected and sent to Addis Ababa for laboratory confirmation,” said Melissa Fleming, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR is working with the Ethiopian ministry of health, the World Health Organization, the UN Children’s Fund and other health partners to coordinate the response in the five refugee camps where the cases were reported.

ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China and Africa are enjoying very robust relation on win-win basis and the high level Chinese delegation's visit is expected to further strengthen and consolidate the high-level cooperation between China and Ethiopia now, said Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian Prime Minister. In an exclusive interview with journalists of Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television on Monday at his office here, Meles said China has been contributing to Africa's ongoing development and growth by creating market for Africa's products, financing infrastructure on the continent, and by being source of technology and investment among others.

Details of the high-stakes negotiations before Kenya signed a 400MW electricity deal with Ethiopia two weeks ago are emerging, revealing that Nairobi managed to talk down the initial charges proposed by Addis Ababa as too high. The deal, which analysts say presages a new era of power trading in the region, was arrived at after a great deal of haggling, with the Ethiopians pressing for a higher price on the grounds that Kenya is currently buying even more expensive power from thermal plants.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A high-ranking Ethiopian government official says a rebel group’s claim that Ethiopian troops killed five European tourists during a gun battle is “pure fiction”.

Ethiopia’s foreign affairs spokesman Dina Mufti said Monday that the statement was completely untrue. Ethiopia has blamed its archenemy Eritrea for the incident.

An unverified Jan. 21 statement claiming to be from an obscure rebel group in Ethiopia’s arid northern Afar region claimed gunmen clashed with Ethiopian soldiers.

Islamist militants have launched a suicide truck bomb attack on an Ethiopian military base in central Somalia, witnesses say.
Al-Shabab says it killed 10 Ethiopian soldiers in the attack in the town of Beledweyne but this has not been confirmed.

Ethiopian forces seized Beledweyne from al-Shabab last month.

Kenyan troops have also entered Somalia to battle the al-Qaeda linked group which still controls many areas.

Beledweyne is a strategic town, 30km (20 miles) from the Ethiopian border on the main road to the capital, Mogadishu, and also on the major artery linking the north and south of the country.