A free fall to the relegation danger zone and changing room discipline getting out of hand, Hawassa Ketema Head Coach Zeray Mulu’s stay with the club is in question. The giant striker and team skipper Mujib Kasim in bitter contradiction against the team manager, the dressing room discipline is said to be fractured into pieces.
Five defeats in a row, the premier league former champions are now in dire situation with the nightmare of relegation. Conceding ten goals in the past five outings and scoring only two goals, Hawassa slipped down into 13th on the table collecting only nine points in ten matches.
Though Hawassa actively participated in the winter break players’ transfer market and expected to mount a strong title contention, its current results showed that the team is rather in real danger of relegation.
The eight million Birr worth attacking midfielder Mujib Kasim is no longer with the team for he is nursing his sick mother, Zeray couldn’t bring a capable replacement despite having a twenty five member players squad. Add to that the resignation of central defender Million Solomon, Hawassa appears a side cursed for relegation losing five consecutive matches. A shocking three-nil defeat to both Kidus Giorgis and newcomers NegedBank, the team appeared to be in a split up thus life in the club might get shorter for Zeray Mulu who boasted at the start of the season having a strong squad capable of rubbing shoulders with the league heavy weights.
According to team manager Ato Utessa Ugamo, Mujib’s extended leave on behalf of his mother is no longer accepted, thus the club has handed him a suspension letter.“ Being the team skipper as well as the number one highly paid player, he should have led the team by example. But let alone an example, he turned out to be the most difficult player to handle” Club manager Utessa remarked.
According to sources the club management has already started looking for someone capable of guiding the ship out of the turbulence.
Zeray Mulu’s stay at Hawassa in question
‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’ at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum showcases centuries of cultural production
By Vanessa H. Larson
The D.C. region is home to the largest Ethiopian community outside that country, yet displays of its art and culture in area museums have been relatively rare.
The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore now helps fill that gap with the excellent “Ethiopia at the Crossroads,” showcasing more than nine centuries’ worth of what curator Christine Sciacca calls the “amazing cultural production that came out of Ethiopia.” Over the past several decades, the museum has developed one of the most significant collections of Ethiopian art outside Ethiopia, and the 220-plus works in the exhibition are largely drawn from its holdings.
The objects are impressively diverse, including richly painted triptych icons, colorful illuminated manuscripts, a variety of metalwork, ancient coins, contemporary paintings and multimedia art, and even a gold-embroidered black velvet cloak that belonged to Emperor Haile Selassie.
The exhibit is a sensory feast. Adding to the riot of color, the museum has painted some of the gallery walls bright green, yellow and red — the colors of the Ethiopian flag — which complement the predominant palette of the artworks. There are even olfactory elements: Visitors can scratch and sniff (and keep) pocket scent cards that conjure up berbere, a spice mixture, and frankincense, used in Ethiopian church rites.
Rather than conceiving of Ethiopian art as a self-contained universe, the show deftly explores how this art was shaped by interactions with surrounding cultures.
“Ethiopia is kind of where Africa, Asia and Europe come together,” Sciacca says. “We tend to think people didn’t travel much in the Middle Ages … but they did in fact travel a lot. So that’s how you get those points of exchange that [you’re] seeing in the artworks.”
In the mid-4th century, Ethiopia became only the second nation in the world, after Armenia, to adopt Christianity as the state religion. Loosely chronological sections chart the subsequent cultural crosscurrents and mutual influences on the country’s religious art, particularly via the Byzantine Empire, Armenia and Coptic Egypt, all of which shared a common Eastern Orthodox Christianity with Ethiopia. European artists, mainly Catholic Italians and Jesuit Portuguese, later had an impact as well.
“Things like textiles and books are easily portable. … Artists can travel,” Sciacca notes. “So lots of motifs get passed around: The shape of the cross, interlace, images of the Virgin kind of get exchanged back and forth.” Significant items include an early-14th-century Gospel book that is the oldest Ethiopian manuscript in a North American collection, with illustrations of the crucifixion and the resurrection; Sciacca notes that the cross is shown garnished with jewels because Ethiopian artists weren’t yet depicting Jesus on the cross then. Several paintings and icons of the Madonna and child are juxtaposed to show how 15th-century Ethiopian artists and Italian painters at the Ethiopian court interpreted the same scene. “You can see a lot of similarities in terms of the composition, the way that the mother and child interact. But the Ethiopian artist is very much doing it in an Ethiopian vein,” Sciacca says. They were “aware of the traditions in Europe and Byzantium, for example, but taking things in their own direction.”
“Things like textiles and books are easily portable. … Artists can travel,” Sciacca notes. “So lots of motifs get passed around: The shape of the cross, interlace, images of the Virgin kind of get exchanged back and forth.”
Significant items include an early-14th-century Gospel book that is the oldest Ethiopian manuscript in a North American collection, with illustrations of the crucifixion and the resurrection; Sciacca notes that the cross is shown garnished with jewels because Ethiopian artists weren’t yet depicting Jesus on the cross then.
Several paintings and icons of the Madonna and child are juxtaposed to show how 15th-century Ethiopian artists and Italian painters at the Ethiopian court interpreted the same scene. “You can see a lot of similarities in terms of the composition, the way that the mother and child interact. But the Ethiopian artist is very much doing it in an Ethiopian vein,” Sciacca says. They were “aware of the traditions in Europe and Byzantium, for example, but taking things in their own direction.”
“Crossroads” also crucially examines Ethiopia as a multicultural and multifaith society, home to dozens of ethnic groups and a population that’s a third Muslim. Several displays feature Islamic art and artifacts — including Qurans and elaborately woven traditional baskets — from Harar, an eastern city that was a historic center of Islamic learning. Also briefly profiled is Ethiopia’s ancient Jewish community, Beta Israel, whose members have almost entirely immigrated to Israel in recent decades.
The Walters consulted extensively with the region’s Ethiopian community to create the exhibition, and D.C. connections abound. Short videos show a feast day celebration at the Debre Meheret Kedus Michael Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral in Northeast Washington and interviews with community members including a Howard University doctoral student who teaches the liturgical language Ge’ez. The museum had an Ethiopian seamstress in Silver Spring make the deep-red satin dressings for the stately copper, bronze and silver processional crosses on view, some of them centuries old, and drape them in the proper manner.
Ethiopian American artist Tsedaye Makonnen, who was born and lives in D.C., served as a guest curator for the handful of modern and contemporary artworks, which are mixed in with the older objects to play off historical events and themes. The powerful painting “The End of the Beginning” (1972-1973) by the late Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian — an Ethiopian-born artist who moved to Washington and taught at Howard for nearly three decades — eerily presages the country’s 1970s political upheaval with its depiction of the historical sites of Lalibela and Aksum on fire. Two eye-catching collaged portraits by D.C.-born Helina Metaferia and a kaleidoscopic interactive video piece by Theo Eshetu are also of note.
While not part of “Crossroads,” a work by Makonnen herself, the luminous “Senait & Nahom: The Peacemaker & the Comforter” (2019), is on view on the museum’s third floor and makes a nice counterpoint. The meditative installation of totemlike, mirrored light boxes pierced with varied forms of Ethiopian crosses (echoing many seen in the main exhibit) honors two real-life Eritrean migrants who died in a European asylum center.
“Crossroads” is set to travel later to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., and the Toledo Museum of Art, both of which co-organized it with the Walters. With so few exhibits like this, it’s fortunate that audiences beyond the D.C. area will have the chance to see these wonders of Ethiopian art, too.
Join hands to build a high-quality China-Africa community with a shared future
By Ambassador Hu Changchun
Building a community with a shared future for mankind is the lofty goal of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and the core tenet of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy. Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized in his 2024 New Year message that China will work closely with the international community for the common good of humanity, build a community with a shared future for mankind, and make the world a better place for all. Building a community with a shared future for mankind is a Chinese plan for what kind of world to build and how to build it. It originates from Chinese ancient philosophical thought “supreme harmony”, and expresses Chinese people’s yearning and pursuit for an ideal world of peace and prosperity over thousands of years.
Building a community with a shared future for mankind calls for an equal and orderly multipolar world. A multipolar world is one in which all countries, big or small, are treated as equals. A multipolar world is one in which hegemonism and power politics are rejected, a few countries to monopolize international affairs is rejected, and democracy is truly promoted in international relations. A multipolar world shall be orderly, and observe the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, and practice true multilateralism. China and Africa are both important forces in safeguarding international fairness and justice. China always supports the African solutions to African problems, supports African countries and the African Union in playing a greater and more active role in the global governance system. China took the lead in supporting AU’s G20 membership. China is willing to continue to work closely with Africa to jointly improve global governance.
Building a community with a shared future for mankind calls for inclusive economic globalisation. Economic globalisation should address the development imbalances between and within countries resulting from the global allocation of resources. We should work together to make the “cake” of economic globalisation bigger and share it equitably, so as to achieve mutual benefits and common prosperity. Economic globalisation should also be inclusive, supporting all countries to take a path of development in line with their own national conditions and opposing all forms of unilateralism and protectionism. China will unreservedly continue to share its experience of Chinese path to modernisation with Africa, support African countries in exploring the cause of independent modernisation, and provide new opportunities for Africa through its development. China will continue to promote synergies between the high-quality Belt and Road Initiative & Global Development Initiatives together with AU’s Agenda 2063, as well as the development strategies of African countries, in order to support Africa in achieving sustainable development.
In 2013, President Xi Jinping visited Africa on his first overseas trip after assuming the presidency, and put forward the principles of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and to take the right approach to friendship and interests in developing China-Africa relations, stressing that “China and Africa have always been a community with a shared future”. In 2018, President Xi Jinping formally proposed “building an even closer China-Africa community with a shared future” at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation(FOCAC) Beijing Summit, which was unanimously endorsed by African leaders. China-Africa community with a shared future is the earliest idea of a regional community with a shared future. It has pioneered the practice of a community with a shared future, promoted the building of a community with a shared future in multiple dimensions, and revealed the bright prospect of a community with a shared future for mankind. Under the joint leadership and promotion of President Xi Jinping and African leaders, China-Africa relations have entered a new era of building an even closer China-Africa community with a shared future, which has become a model for building a community with a shared future for mankind.
As a resounding brand of China-Africa cooperation, the FOCAC plays an important role in promoting the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future and has become a banner to lead international cooperation with Africa and promote South-South cooperation. The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China has been deeply synergized with the AU’s Agenda 2063. China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for several consecutive years. Large-scale infrastructure projects such as railways, highways, ports and electric power, which China aided or participated in, have continuously benefited the African people. Flagship projects such as the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway and the African CDC Headquarters have greatly helped improve African people’s livelihood and already become a monument of China-Africa friendship. China has always been the most reliable partner of African countries, from coping with natural disasters together to fully implementing the G20 debt relief initiative, from health, poverty reduction to digital innovation and green development. In 2024, the forthcoming FOCAC meeting will be held in Beijing. Leaders of China and African members of the Forum will get together to discuss China-Africa cooperation in the new era.
Standing at a new historical starting point, under the strategic guidance of Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, with building a community with a shared future for mankind as ultimate goal, extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits as cooperation principle, China will work with Africa to jointly promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, embrace challenges and achieve common prosperity to usher in bright future of peace, security, prosperity, progress for world.
Ambassador Hu Changchun is Head of Mission of China to the African Union
The “Servicification” of Manufacturing
Alazar Kebede
Services inputs, like engineering, design, banking, software and logistics, play an increasingly important role in global manufacturing as a direct contributor to the value-added incorporated in manufacturing products. Cross-border trade in services has been traditionally defined as services provided internationally. The different forms of supply envisaged in the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and adopted widely as part of hundreds of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) are referred to as modes: Mode 1- cross-border services trade such as online transactions; Mode 2 – customers purchase services while abroad such as tourism; Mode 3 – a services company sets up a commercial presence abroad; Mode 4 – a worker crosses the border temporarily to provide a service
In recent years however, policy makers and academics alike have recognised that there are other forms of services supply that are becoming increasingly important in international trade but are not covered by the four traditional modes of supply. These are the services inputs that make up a part of manufactured goods and the growing importance of these services inputs has been referred to as the “servicification” of manufacturing. When services inputs are incorporated and traded internationally as part of an exported good, such services exports are not covered by the GATS four traditional modes mentioned above. In line with the existing GATS terminology, this new mode of supply has been labelled mode 5 services.
As indicated in a many research studies, mode 5 services have become an important feature of manufacturing exports and are bound to grow in importance in the future. Mode 5 services can be simply defined as the services content embodied in goods exports. Typical mode 5 services include, inter alia, design, engineering and software that are incorporated and traded as part of manufactured products.
Spurred by global supply chains and technological progress, the role of mode 5 services inputs as part of manufacturing exports has increased considerably in recent years, notably for a number of industrial sectors such as motor vehicles, electronics, but also many other more traditional sectors, such as processed food and textiles. The WTO database shows that between 2010 and 2019, for instance, the share of embedded services as a percentage of total manufactured exports has witnessed double digit growth, with a diverse set of countries such as Finland, United States, Turkey, Poland, and China witnessing the largest increases in their share of embedded services. For a large majority of countries, the share of embedded services represents around one third of the total value of their manufactured exports, with many OECD countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Spain having among the highest shares of embedded services in their manufactured exports in 2020.
Several authors have suggested that service inputs affect firms’ export capabilities positively and that buying-in more services is linked to higher firm-level export intensity as well as to total factor productivity growth, especially in the high-skilled intensive industries. Conceptually, the coverage of mode 5 services as used and further modelled in this paper reflects production services which are an inseparable part of the production process of a manufacturing good, before the good enters the importing country. Consequently, mode 5 represents a subset of servicification rather than servicification as a whole.
As an example, in order to produce a car there is a need for engineering, consulting and design services as well as electricity and logistics services in order to operate the car factory and to purchase necessary inputs. These are the services which form part of the value of the good before it is exported. Another simple rule of thumb to think about mode 5 services is through the lens of the GATT rules that are currently applicable to embedded services in merchandise trade: if the value-added of a service element is included in the value of a product that would be subject to customs duties, then that service can be considered a mode 5 service.
All countries and all sectors would have the potential to benefit from liberalisation of mode 5 services in an international agreement. Mode 5 services represent not only a growing share of global trade in goods but also an important economic activity that support tens of millions of jobs worldwide. For instance, the European Union estimated that over 8 million jobs in Europe which is 1 out of 4 jobs supported by trade, are actually mode 5 services jobs.
Several mode 5 services such as product design, Research and Development (R&D), engineering and IT services, are high-value added and intrinsically linked to technology. Their importance for securing a competitive advantage in manufacturing trade and especially in the context of global production networks is indisputable not just for advanced manufacturing but also for more traditional sectors, including primary sectors like agriculture or mining and processed food.
The importance of mode 5 services is paramount in the automotive sector. The car industry has been at the forefront of the global supply chain revolution, and this was noticed by policy makers early on. One clear illustration is offered by Robert Reich, a former United States Labour Secretary, with his Pontiac example. Robert Reich stated that when an American buys a Pontiac Le Mans from General Motors, for example, he or she engages unwittingly in an international transaction. Of the $20,000 paid to GM, about $6,000 goes to South Korea for routine labor and assembly operations, $3,500 to Japan for advanced components which includes engines, transaxles, and electronics, $1,500 to Germany for styling and design engineering, $8,000 to Taiwan, Singapore and Japan for small components, $500 to Britain for advertising and marketing services and about $100 to Ireland and Barbados for data processing.
CBS reported that the Chevy Volt model, another GM brand, was dubbed one of the most software- intensive manufactured products on earth, with 10 million lines of software codes and the value of its software and electronic components amounting to around 40% of the total value of the car, compared to some 5% in 1980s. Everything from the Volt’s usage of the electric battery to engine controls, power train and motion sensors, plus plenty of other features, all depended on software. Nowadays, just a few years later, Volt is part of a long history of automotive progress.
Today the headlines are made by Tesla, a newcomer in the automotive industry, which has recently surpassed Ford and GM to become the most valuable United States automaker despite having a tiny market share in the US market compared to its competitors. Bloomberg reported that industry analysts claim that one of the secrets for Tesla’s ascent lies in the value of its software and the synergies the company builds between traditional automotive engineering and the new embedded software-driven technological developments. Wall Street and business analysts alike believe the software of this Silicon Valley company will give it an upper hand against traditional companies. Software will have an even more critical role if, or rather when self-driving cars become a reality.
But mode 5 services do not make headlines just in the automotive industry. Take Caterpillar and the Internet of Things (IoT), for instance. In the case of Caterpillar, it is actually the internet of big, yellow things. Running earth-moving machines in remote, harsh environments is costly if such equipment breaks down often and in unpredictable ways, making the repair process long and difficult. Financial Times, reported that by introducing remote sensors and Internet of Things technology in its machines and by applying predictive software analytics, Caterpillar has managed to reduce the typical cost of 900 hours of downtime and $650,000 in repair costs to less than 24 hours and only $12,000.
