You, our esteemed readers, are cordially invited to cast your vote for an Ethiopian you thing had an enormous role in Ethiopia this past Ethiopian year, 2006. Not only casting your vote but we also encourage our readers to have a say beside your vote why you choose your nominee and what contributions did he/she do for Ethiopia.

Go ahead and put your nominees right now in the comment box bolow. Voting closes on September 07, 2014

Awramba Times editorial desk

Mesfin Bezu of TG Television interviews Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegne on current Ethiopian politics.
What is the reason behind adding the star on the Ethiopian flag? Is EPRDF torturing Mr. Andargachew Tsige?
Please watch the full interview below to get the answers of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn

ZTE faced fierce criticism over its performance by China’s Telecom operators.   ZTE is one of the two Chinese companies who signed the 1.6 billion Dollar Ethio Telecom second expansion project signed last year.  ZTE had a substantial deal in 2006 from Ethio Telecom in a three-year sole supplier framework agreement financed on seller credit. The project involved 1.9 billion USD of investment by Ethio Telecom—1.5 billion USD for equipment and 0.4 billion USD for engineering construction.

In China, several large-scale breakdowns of ZTE’s 4G equipments threw a gloom over China Mobile’s full-swing execution of its 4G strategy.

The first incident happened in June during Shanxi Mobile’s 4G terminal trade show when a large number of ZTE base stations broke down. Then in July, at Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club’s half time, a lot of Guangdong Mobile’s users could not make calls or access the internet. In the same month, at the “Voice of China” concert, a huge network breakdown struck. All the network breakdowns happened where ZTE equipment were used. The incident that finally drew attention from China Mobile’s senior management happened between July 14 to 16 during China Mobile’s annual market conference. In light of previous accidents, Shanxi Mobile had communicated many times with ZTE to confirm the performance of the latter’s products two weeks ahead of the conference. To avoid network breakdown again, Shanxi Mobile conducted detailed coverage optimization, made plans for project expansion, and took precautions against network risks. According to ZTE’s standard equipment specifications (400 registration users per cell), the carrier even made temporary network transformations for redundancy backup. ZTE also formally promised Shaanxi Mobile by signing a written pledge that it would ensure no disruption at the conference from high data traffic. All necessary preparations were made. However, after 10 AM on the first day of the conference, the call completion rate at the Shanxi Hotel where the conference was being held began to drop. Network experience also started to deteriorate. In the end, the network broke down due to CPU overloading. Following the accident, ZTE replaced the boards, deployed two base stations for temporary expansion, and even adopted its extreme “super-cell split” solution. However, by July 16, the problem is still unresolved. ZTE could not identify the root cause of the problem in two days, which unveiled its weakcrisis management.

During the accident investigation, Shaanxi Mobile dispatched massive manpowerto locate the problem by the way of malfunction reoccurrence. They found that ZTE equipments were fully loaded when 120 terminals were online at the same time, far less from the 400 terminal accesses that it promised in the specifications, which triggered signaling storm and equipment restartas a result.

In the following mid-year network work conference, Vice President Liu of China Mobile made a special summary of this accident. He said: “The recent ZTE device breakdown is a very serious problem and we should learn from this excruciating experience. The reasons for the breakdown are as follows: first, architectural defects exist in ZTE’s hardware design, resulting in insufficient service processing capability. Second, flow control mechanisms for system software have potential risks due to poor design. There are no proper protection mechanisms against big traffic impact. Third, ZTE’s card chips and CPUs are outdated and of insufficient processing capability. ZTE sticks to single-core CPUs and outdated chips to save cost while most other vendors have employed octa-core CPUs. On the other hand, the latest accident also revealed ZTE’s weak capabilities and poor experience in troubleshooting and network assurance. All of us should learn from this experience. Currently, we should conduct inspection and troubleshooting of the entire network. We must set a deadline for ZTE to rectify all network faults. I hope our partners should also learn from this experience.” Why is there such a big gap between the specifications and actual capabilities of ZTE’s products? Didn’t ZTE test the actual capabilities of its products before it boasts to customers? How could ZTE be so careless and reckless in assuring such a big event as China Mobile’s corporate meeting? Our reporter interviewed many concerned persons to find out why. In fact, ZTE started to cut both employees and costs after a significant loss in 2012. It has also imposed harsh employee performance assessments standards. The accidents are an inevitable result of many factors. The problems were actually doomed even in the R&D phase. “There are no other ways. We have KPIs for cutting cost in ZTE, which cannot be neglected. Therefore, to save cost, you can do whatever within your power. You can reduce backup or use inferior chips to reduce the costs of cards. If you can’t find ways to cut cost, you’ll have to quit the job,” said Mr. Wang, senior engineer from ZTE’s Nanjing R&D center, “Due to large-scale employee layoff, many talented and experienced R&D personnel have left the company. The remaining people are mostly dawdlers. Currently, ZTE has a severe shortage of seasoned 4G experts”, said Mr. Wang. ZTE’s financial reports show that the company has lain off nearly 20 thousand employees.

The comprehensive cost cut campaign across ZTE gave rise to a series of problems, which affected the testing process. Mr. Chen, a technician responsible for testing before product delivery at ZTE’s Xi’an R&D center, told the reporter: “These kinds of problems and defects should have been easily detected during testing. However, the company is now experiencing a time of hardship and excruciating cost reduction. Everybody feels a sense of insecurity. Employees are constantly worrying about being given a ‘C’ in performance assessment, which is the worst and causes a pay drop. No one is really serious about testing, even if the testing personnel found the problems and reported them. The R&D department would simply make an excuse like this: they can only be designed this way if costs are to be cut.”

ZTE’s 4G wireless devices are designed in many ways to minimize cost. On the other hand, to win in the bidding process, ZTE’s propaganda of product specifications is greatly exaggerated. Experts point out that judging from the model and numbers of the chips used in their service processing cards, the actual capabilities of the base stations ZTE deployed for China Mobile may be less than half of the capabilities they claimed. Although China Mobile has very sophisticated and standard tender/bidding processes and strict network entry tests, ZTE’s false propaganda and empty and exaggerated promises were just too much to handle. China Mobile was really hurt this time. One of ZTE’s account managers spoke to our reporter: “We had to do things we are made to do. The company imposed harsh requirements on gross profits for 4G projects. The requirements account for 78% in our KPI. As a result, we had to do everything within our power to reduce cost even if it meant the product specifications could not meet carrier requirements. For example, if an additional channel board can be added to realize 1+1 backup or load balancing, each base station would have two channel boards to manage three cells, and the previous accidents could totally have been avoided. However, the competition is so fierce that we had to come up with whatever ways to reduce cost. We just can’t afford to lose the project bidding.” He continued in a self-mocking manner: “If China Mobile wants to expand for backup, we’ll then charge a high price for the products.” In fact, in the bidding contract signing phase, the network development director of one of China Mobile’s provincial branches found that ZTE boosted the contract value by 20% by increasing the quotation for cables and canceling the discount of some cards which was previously promised. The director issued urgent internal documents, notifying other branches of China Mobile to pay attention to ZTE’s product configuration and quotation to prevent it from any mishandling and fowl acts.

Mr. Zhou, a service engineer of ZTE’s emergency assurance team for China Mobile’s Market Meeting, complained: “Field personnel were cut significantly. Excellent network maintenance resources were also transferred to the headquarters to support key markets in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Here in Xi’an, the limited personnel can hardly cope with the job. What’s more, our resources cannot compete with other big provinces. We should have set up a special joint team of market, R&D, and technical support staff and rehearsed several times for a key event like China Mobile’s Market Meeting. Once an accident happens, all the blame is on us.”

As we dug deeper, we found that the recent accidents exposed many of ZTE’s problems. If these problems were not to be controlled, more similar accidents will happen as the number of China Mobile’s 4G subscribers keeps increasing. These accidents will be a great setback for China Mobile’s top-quality network and 4G strategies. ZTE needs to draw experience from these accidents and strives to be honest, professional, and customer-centric. It simply cannot afford another accident or disappointing China Mobile again.

The reporter also notices that on August 2 at Shenzhen’s Spring Cocoon Stadium, a large-scale network congestion and breakdown happened during Jackie Chen’s concert. This accident happened at the heart of ZTE’s home city is a sign that the company had not solved its problems.

Alemayehu Tegenu, Ethiopian Energy and Water irrigation Minister (Photo Awramba Times/Sisay Guzay)

Awramba Times (Addis Ababa) – Egypt and Ethiopia agreed to resume talks after an eight-month break due to ongoing differences over the construction of Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam.

In a press conference held yesterday, Ethiopian Energy and Water irrigation Minister, Alemayehu Tegenu said “Delegations from the three countries held transparent discussions and passed a number of decisions towards the implementation of the recommendations put forth by the international panel of experts.”

Minister Alemayehu also added the delegations had agreed to form a 12-member follow-up committee comprised of four experts from Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan.

Asked if the dam’s construction would be halted while the two studies were being conducted, the minister affirmed “construction will not be halted; nothing of that sort was suggested in the meeting by anybody.”

Addis Ababa and Cairo agreed to resume tripartite discussions after both leaders, Hailemariam Desalegn and Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met at the 23rd African Union Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea last June.

Please watch the press conference highlights below

Artist Daniel Tegegne (Photo: Awramba Times/Sisay Guzay)

Prominent Ethiopian artist Daniel Tegegne denied allegations that he physical assaulted a local radio host over controversial report broadcasted on local FM radio.

Political satirist Kiros from the 9th street blasted Dr.Berhanu’s recent guragigna dance amid arrest of his senior comrade back in Ethiopia. Listen below.

Awramba Times (Addis Ababa) – Difret, an Ethiopian drama film produced by Oscar-winning actress, Angelina Jolie, was banned during Premiere in the capital Addis Ababa yesterday.

Difret is a true story of a teenager from a small, rural village in the Oromiya region Arsi zone whose widely publicized arrest for murder in the late 1990s unleashed a historic court battle that resulted in the girl’s acquittal on the grounds of self-defense, legally ending the traditional practice of child marriage by abduction in Ethiopia.

Please watch Awramba times@the scene

comedian Tefery Mengistu

Awramba times presents comedian Tefery Mengistu. Tefery mocks Habesha here in part one.

[Awramba Times Exclusive] – Why did police block the premiere of an Ethiopian film produced by an American Oscar-winning actress and filmmaker, Angelina Jolie? Awramba Times presents the banning letter of the federal high court.

According to the court warrant, the sole reason behind the banning drama of the premiere is that because of a lawsuit filed by the story owner, Aberash  Bekele. Click here to read

Editor’s Note

You, our esteemed readers, were cordially invited to cast your vote for an Ethiopian you think had an enormous role in Ethiopia this past Ethiopian year, 2006.

Prof. Tekalign Mamo

Accordingly, Prof.Tekalign Mamo has been named Person of the Year by the majority readers of Awramba Times website all over the world.

Professor Tekalign Mamo had received the Yara Prize 2014 on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, in recognition of his outstanding contribution in the field of agriculture.

The ceremony was held on the sidelines of the Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2014. Prof. Tekalign has been engaged in several initiatives on soil fertility, addressing both acidic soils and nutrient deficiencies through his recommendations and leadership. His achievements have also led to his position as one of 13 global commissioners for Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, and is serving as one of 27 leading global experts in the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils. He still guides and supervises graduate students.

Prof. Tekalign is also the founder of the Ethiopian Journal of Natural Resources.

Please listen journalist Ezra Ejigu’s report on Professor Tekalign Mamo below

The betrayal of Andargachew Tsige – SPECIAL REPORT

Andargachew Tsege

(EthiopianReview.com) – For the past two months, Ethiopian Review has been investigating the shocking abduction of one of Ethiopia’s most senior opposition leaders, Ato Andargachew Tsige, by the TPLF junta with the assistance of Yemen’s secret police. Our investigation has uncovered that the Eritrean intelligence not only has passed Andargachew’s itinerary to TPLF, but more importantly, they gave green light to Yemenis to carry out the kidnapping.

The trouble for Ato Andargachew started when he argued with Eritrean officials about the amount of assistance Ginbot 7 has been receiving and the obstacles they were placing against his effort to form an armed force. Despite repeated promises, year after year, he was unable to make progress with the Eritrean regime.

Ginbot 7′s problem with the Eritrean regime was not limited to broken promises. The Eritreans have been actively sabotaging Andargachew’s effort to build Ginbot 7′s capacity beyond producing statements and running ESAT. It became clear that the Eritreans do not want Ginbot 7 (or any Ethiopian opposition group other than TPDM) to turn into a powerful politico-military organization. They want Ginbot 7 to serve as a mere propaganda outlet, as well as a source of hard currency from Egypt and Qatar.

In September 2013, in an effort to make a breakthrough, Andargachew went overboard in heaping praise on Isaias Afwerki in an interview with ESAT. It didn’t work. When he returned to Asmara, he didn’t see any thing moving. Out of frustration, he started to bitterly argue with the Eritreans. Finally, in early 2014, he left Asmara in disgust, and flew to Cairo for direct talks with Egyptian authorities.

The Egyptians, however, told Andargachew that they cannot give assistance directly to an Ethiopian opposition group, but they informed him that they have allocated an annual budget of $10 million for Ethiopian opposition groups to be dispersed by the Eritrean regime. Qatar gives additional millions of dollars to Eritrea and directly to ONLF to buy weapons from the Eritrean regime.

Discouraged by the outcome of the discussion with the Egyptians, Andargachew returned to London. He told his close friends — with whom he shared his frustrations — that he would never return to Eritrea. As Dr Berhanu Nega explained in a speech, Andargachew’s work in Eritrea was completed.

Privately, it was an “I-told-you-so” moment for Dr Berhanu because he never believed that the Eritreans were serious about assisting Ethiopian opposition groups to become a viable force. He argued, instead, for trying to influence the West to stop financing the TPLF junta that could force them to come to a negotiation table and reach some kind of power sharing agreement. He allowed Andargachew to pursue the Eritrea strategy because many of the other senior Ginbot 7 members shared Andargachew’s view on the matter, and to keep ESAT on the air. The only good outcome of Ginbot 7′s relations with Eritrea’s regime is ESAT, and ESAT is indeed becoming a valuable tool for the struggle to bring down the TPLF junta.

Shortly after Andargachew left Cairo, the Eritreans were informed about his meeting with Egyptian officials. They felt disrespected and double-crossed.

This was the second time for Andargachew to offend the Eritrean intelligence agents who are assigned to work with Ethiopian opposition groups. The first time was in 2010 when he went directly to Isaias and asked that Ginbot 7 be allowed to bring all the opposition groups in Eritrea under its command. Isaias agreed, but a few weeks later, Andargachew was beaten up by his own troops in front of Eritrean intelligence agent Col. Fitsum Yissehak at a remote location. The message was clear: do not go over our heads and ask any thing directly from our president.

Andargachew’s Cairo trip made them even more offended and insulted. As a payback, they leaked the information to the TPLF through unofficial channels. The TPLF junta used the information to revise its propaganda campaign and started attacking all Ethiopian opposition groups of collaborating with Egypt — ignoring the fact that they themselves came to power with massive assistance from Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen.

The Eritreans would not stop there. They decided to eliminate Andargachew because they thought he was becoming uncontrollable. Assassination was not an option, since they had already killed another Ethiopian opposition leader, TPDM chairman Fisseha Hailemariam in 2008, and blamed it on a mentally unstable Eritrean soldier; and in 2010 they banished former EPPF chairman Col. Tadesse Muluneh whose whereabouts is still not known. They know that they would be blamed if Andargachew is killed in Eritrea. Instead, they came up with a clever idea of throwing him into the jaws of TPLF.

This past June, the Eritreans told Andargachew that they are willing to discuss and sort out their disagreements and asked him to come back. He made the fateful decision of agreeing to go to Asmara, against Dr Berhanu Nega’s advise. Andargachew was so desperate for any progress, that he was willing to risk his life.

On June 22, when he arrived at the Sana’a international airport in Yemen, on route to Asmara, the TPLF agents were waiting for him with a military plane right on the tarmac. He was taken from the Yemenia Airlines flight directly to the TPLF plane and was flown to Ethiopia the same day.

For the past several years, Sana’a and Cairo have been a regular route to Asmara for members of the Ethiopian opposition, including senior leaders of OLF, ONLF and Ginbot 7. Both TPLF and Yemenis have that information but have never abducted any one from Sana’a airport because it would have meant an act of war against Eritrea. Without the Eritrean regime’s acquiescence, Yemen would not dare kidnap an important political figure who is heading to Asmara as an invited guest. In the past, Eritrea had unleashed its wrath against Yemen over minor disagreements. Kidnapping a guest of the Eritrean government is a big deal and Yemenis would not do it without a green light from Asmara.

After Yemen broke international laws and norms to help in the abduction of Ato Andargachew, Eritrea’s relations with Yemen has not changed. There was no consequence for Yemen’s action from the Eritrean government, other than some unconfirmed reports from supporters of the Eritrean regime about Isayas Afwerki’s alleged anger at Yemen’s action. We have not heard any official statement from Isaias himself regarding the matter. As a matter of fact, just one month after Andargachew’s abduction, the Eritrean regime sent a new ambassador to Yemen.

Unless confronted with such facts and challenged to change its ways, the Eritrean regime will continue to exploit, undermine, and sabotage Ethiopian opposition groups. In principle, Ethiopian opposition must be willing to work with Eritrea, Egypt or any one else, but the partnership must be based on mutual interest and respect, not the master-puppet type relationship that Ethiopian opposition groups currently have with Eritrea.

If Isaias Afwerki genuinely wishes to work with Ethiopians, he must launch an investigation into Andargachew’s abduction.

Andargachew Tsige tried his best to work with Eritrea for Ginbot 7′s mission of helping to bring democratic change to Ethiopia. We admire his courage and commitment. He is an Ethiopian hero. Now it is up to the rest of us to use his experience as a lesson, adjust strategy and continue fighting.

Benyam Kebede (Ben), Editor of Ethiopiafirst speaks to Awramba Times

Homeless street performer in Addis Ababa Showing Off His Talent!

Comedian Teferry

Duro ena Zenduro: Comedian Teferi Mengistu jokes about life in Ethiopia

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that Death of Ahmed Godane shows the beginning of the end of Al-Shabaab. In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, the prime minister reaffirmed his country is seeking a “win-win” relation with Egypt, saying that his country was seeking good relations with Cairo.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn

Anadolu Agency: Your Excellency Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, what does the elimination of Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane mean to Somalia and the region?

Prime Minister: I feel that, you know, terrorism is a global problem. And therefore, the death of the leader of Al-Shabaab, Ahmed Abdi Godane, means a lot to Somalia, to the neighboring countries as well.

It is simply because this man was instrumental in destabilizing and terrorizing the Somali people as well as the neighboring countries. So now there is a chance for the Somali people to get peace and tranquility in Somalia and establish a strong Somali state, which can co-exist with its neighbors in a peaceful, friendly and neighborly manner, so that we can cooperate together having a very strong Somalia as a country.

So this is very important for the Somali people at first and then to the region also – and to the continent and to the global community. So we see it as a strong achievement.

AA: Can this be taken as the beginning of the end of Al-Shabaab in Somalia? How confident are you that Somalia constitutes a functioning state?

PM: First of all, this shows the beginning of the end of Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab becomes the weakest organization. And, besides, the Somali people will get a chance to liberate from the yoke of Al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab has forced the Somali people to stay under the yoke. This is a chance for the people of Somalia to be free from Al-Shabaab. The Somali people will institute a functioning state from now onwards.

You know there is a plan in 2016 that the Somali people have to elect their own leaders. In order for this election to take place, the weakening or elimination of Al-Shabaab is important so that the people of Somalia will get a chance to elect their own leaders.

We will support strengthening of institutions of the government of Somalia. So I think this is the beginning of the end of Al-Shabaab influence in Somalia.

AA: Regarding South Sudan, the country’s warring parties are currently in negotiations that have proven to be very slow. What is the fundamental issue that is slowing them down?

PM: First of all, the process of the negotiations is slow. But the region, IGAD and member states have tried their best to bring this negotiation to an end as quickly as possible so that there will be peace and tranquility in South Sudan.

But we still have hope that the leaders will have commitment, strong commitment. What is lacking now is strong commitment from the leaders’ side, and especially from the leader of the opposition party.

We see that there is a lack of commitment. So I think that is an important issue to be addressed, because the people of South Sudan need peace and tranquility and they need stability. They need a good livelihood; they have been suffering for the last many, many years, and now the war has to stop.

And with that belief, we still urge the parties to the negotiation to complete the negotiation as quickly as possible.

AA: Do you see light at the end of the tunnel? I mean, could this problem in South Sudan be resolved any time soon?

PM:I think there is hope that this problem will be resolved as quickly as possible. But that needs strong commitment from both leaders – specifically, the rebels, because they are the ones who have not signed the recent protocol agreement.

AA: Ethiopia and Egypt are enjoying diplomatic rapprochement, which climaxed with the Malabo meeting in Equatorial Guinea between you and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. How are relations now?

PM: First of all, the relationship between Ethiopia and Egypt is a longstanding relation. We want to continue building on our good relations.

There has been, you know, misbehaving practices in previous regimes, like the Mubarak regime, the Morsi regime. They were, you know, trying to destabilize Ethiopia using rebel groups that are supported and nurtured by Eritrea.

And I think that was a failure. These leaders were wrong, because that harms the good relationship between Ethiopia and Egypt. But they failed. They could not succeed in their will to destabilize Ethiopia through various means. Read more

Ethiopians in Mombasa, Kenya celebrating Ethiopian New Year

Ethiopian patriot, Lt. General Jagama Kello (Photo Awramba Times/Sisay Guzay)

Members and senior leaders of Ancient Ethiopian Patriots Association (AEPA) visited the Grand Ethiopian Renaisance Dam.

Political Satirist Kiros from Washington DC’s 9th street mocks Teddy Afro on his recent song

Ethiopian President Dr. Mulatu Teshome (L) and Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States Girma Birru (R)

Awramba Times (Addis Ababa) – High-level Ethiopian delegation led by President Mulatu Teshome confer with officials and business persons of the United States.

The Ethio-US Investment Summit that marked a new beginning and commitment from both sides to strengthen their economic and business relations, was held in Houston, Texas and Los Angeles, California last month.

The high level delegation has included Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Anhanom, Communication minister Redwan Hussein and other senior government officials and 75 representatives of Ethiopian private sectors. Nearly 400 Americans representing different US firms have also attended both summits. Please watch the video below

Contract signing ceremony of Geba Hydro-power project

Contract signing ceremony of Geba Hydro-power project