With Ethiopia launching a new space
programme last month, India can have a promising partnership with Africa in
this frontier technology, India's outgoing ambassador here has said.
"An Indian rocket may carry an
Ethiopian satellite into space; that is possible," outoing envoy Bhagwant
Singh Bishnoi told IANS at his farewell reception here organized by the Indian
Business Forum (IBF) in Ethiopia. "India's space launches are
much cheaper (than in the West); hence launching micro satellites for Ethiopia
is something that I think the two countries should work closely together
for," he added.
After South Africa and Nigeria,
Ethiopia is becoming a hub of Africa's aspirations in space with the East
African nation's finalising the installation of two huge deep-space observatory
telescopes to promote space research in the region, a prelude to its developing
a space mission by launching its own satellites.
Indian technology has enabled the
successful launching of satellites that now provide the country communication
facilities and information on a range of subjects, including mineral deposits
and weather trends. "I will discuss this new
partnership opportunity with my successor," Bisnoi said. On completing his
four-year term, Bishnoi is moving to New York as deputy head of India's
permanent mission at the UN. He will be succeeded by Sanjay Verma, currently
India's consul general in Dubai. He said Indian technological
companies should invest in Ethiopia in the opportunities that are opening up.
"The technologies that India brings are affordable, adoptable and suitable
for household uses and others depending on the circumstances", the
ambassador said. "There is a lot of things that
Indian industry has to offer."
During his tenure, the ambassador
had encouraged Indian investment to Ethiopia and several Indian projects,
especially in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, have been set up. "As a patron of IBF, he
(Bishnoi) constantly guided us to achieve our main objectives of IBF,"
Mayur IBF president Suryakant Kothari told IANS. According to Kothari, the other
major contribution of the Indian ambassador was to create a platform for
dialogue between Indian and Ethiopian government officials, which is also an
objective of the IBF.
"Creating a dialogue between
government officials is very important for investment and he enabled this
platform where Indian investors frankly and candidly engage with Indian and
Ethiopian government officials, and a lot of their challenges and problems were
resolved," Kothari said. One outcome of this dialogue is that
India is the first country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the
Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) that has been successfully implemented
by both sides. The first visit of Indian leaders
like Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Mnister Manmohan Singh, as well as
of Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to India when he was foreign
minister happened during Bishnoi's tenure.
Source ( IANS)
Aend Ethiopia
VOA Amharic Service
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The coach of
the Eritrean national football team Omer Ahmed and eight of his players have
disappeared in Kenya in order to defect, IBTimes UK can exclusively
report. The defection follows last week's disappearance of two members of the national team.
The Red Sea Camels are in Kenya for the Cecafa Cup. The players went into
hiding in an undisclosed location in Kenya and are now seeking UNHR protection.
"We are hiding because police from the Eritrean embassy are hunting
us," one unnamed player told IBTimes UK. "The reason why we
are fleeing is obvious and doesn't need to be repeated." It is not the
first time players from the national squad have defected abroad. Last December,
17 players and the team doctor claimed asylum in Uganda. In 2009, a dozen members
of the national team disappeared in Kenya. "Our main concern is
safety, that's why we are seeking UN protection," the player told
IBTimes UK. "Once we are protected and safe, we can go to a democratic
and safe country."
The men also fear backlash back at home, where they have left family
and children. "We are really scared and anything scares us at the moment.
We want people to know and sympathise with us," he said. Eritrea is
considered one of the continent's most opaque countries. National elections
have not been held since it gained independence in 1993. The country is
governed by the one-party authoritarian rule of President Isaias Afewerki, who has been in power for 20 years.
Torture, arbitrary detention and severe restrictions on freedom of expression
are routine. Mandatory military service imposed on all men and women
between 18 and 55 is one of the main causes of flight
from the country. It has been calculated that 4,000 Eritreans leave the country
every month and, according to a 2008 estimate, 40,000 Eritreans live in
Britain. A recent study stated that between 2007 and 2012, some 25,000 to 30,000
Eritrean migrants were trafficked by Eritrean and Sudanese security officers,
who collude with Bedouin gangs in the Sinai.
Source ( IB Times) 
Ethiopian
Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom has condemned Saudi Arabia for its brutal
crackdown on migrant workers in the kingdom. Saudi authorities have launched
the weeklong visa crackdown on foreign workers,killing three people, including
an Ethiopian national.
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