A deal was sealed between Messebo Cement Factory Plc, a Singaporean firm, Kusto Group Pte and Fairfax Africa Fund to establish a new factory MKF Building Materials Production Plc. The partnership will be investing over USD 70 million.
The company that is to be set up will be 60 percent majority owned by Messebo while Kusto and Fairfax own 40 percent.
The agreement was signed on Thursday, January 04, 2018 between Azeb Mesfin, CEO of EFFORT (Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray), Zemedneh Nigatu, chairman of Fairfax and Hayder Gulam, general legal counsel of Kusto.
“I am hoping it will be a fruitful company since it is the first of its kind in Ethiopia and I also hope that it will not only supply the local market but also export the products to East Africa,” Azeb said during the signing ceremony.
It was also stated that MKF’s products such as roofing materials, will be used in residential housing as well as commercial real-estate and industrial buildings and will be sold in domestic and regional African market. The products will utilize the latest technology in corrosion prevention, thermal conductivity and sound reduction and will have useful lives of more than 50 years.
It was further stated that MKF will help reduce Ethiopia’s reliance of imports of certain types of building materials since it will be manufacturing the products with very high local value addition including locally sourced raw material.
“Investment in infrastructure are rapidly transforming the economic landscapes across Africa, especially in Ethiopia, one of the fastest growing economies in the world. That is why we decided to invest in MKF together with Messebo and Kusto. MKF will introduce global best practices in manufacturing and distribution and positively enhances the country’s economic transformation by creating hundreds of jobs, generating exports and saving hard currency through quality import substitutions,” said Zemedeneh Negatu, Chairman of Fairfax Africa Fund.
The factory is said to be located around Mekelle and Abi Adi in Tigray and production is expected to start within a year.
New partnership to set up building material producing company
Walta to build new HQ on old amphitheater site
Walta Media and Communication Center, which obtained land six years ago, at an old amphitheater, located at Churchill Road, plans to build a ground plus 15-storey building at an approximate cost of half a billion birr.
The place initially belonged to Mega Arts and Advertisement Agency, before their assets were liquidated after the company suffered a financial crisis and was unable to pay its debts. As a result the court gave the property to Walta.
It took six years for the Addis Ababa City Administration to give the title deed to Walta because of bureaucratic issues.
The property is 2,600sqm and was used to show dramas, theater and musical concerts. In May 2005 the facility was destroyed by a wind storm.
Atsede Gebremeskel, Walta’s Deputy Corporate Manager told Capital that the new office plan will be one building instead of the three proposed previously.
“We need a total of 10,000sqm for the three buildings but the city administration told us that we could only have the land we requested if we paid compensation for relocating people with homes in that area and we don’t have the money to do that so we changed our plan and decided to construct one building.”
She said construction will begin during the next Ethiopian year and tender for design and construction will be posted in a few months.
She added that the current office, located near Beklo Bet will continue to be used for media work.
We are expanding and building new rooms in our current office to do extra media work. We will not construct a high rise building because the area is one of the green spots in the master plan of Addis Ababa.’’
Walta Information and Public Relations Center is affiliated with the Ethiopian government. The Tigray, Oromia, Amhara, Southern People’s Nations and Nationalities endowment companies own Walta.
Recently Walta started a satellite TV station, and the Center is also known for producing documentary films broadcasted through the Ethiopian Broadcast Corporation.
No outside pressure for the release of political prisoners: FM spokesperson
30 migrants to be repatriated from Libya
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoF) says the government of Ethiopia is ready to release political prisoners and thus create a national consensus in the country. The Ministry spokesperson added that this was an internal decision that was made without regard to outside pressure.
Capital asked Meles Alem, spokesperson for MoF, if there was any foreign pressure from the European Union, USA, Amnesty international or any other human rights organization behind their action.
“No it is not due to external pressure it is our government’s decision”, he said.
At a news conference with leaders of the four parties making up the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that some members of political parties under prosecution will be released and that those convicted will be pardoned based on an assessment “to establish a national consensus and widen the political sphere,” according to a statement released by his office.
The Maekelawi Detention Center in downtown Addis Ababa will be closed and turned into a museum, the statement added. The opposition has long demanded the closure of the prison while also calling for the release of prominent opposition figures held in detention.
The government did not disclose the list the prisoners who will be released after the PM made the statement.
The opposition parties have frequently asked the government to release opposition figures held in detention.
In his statement Meles added that Ethiopia is working with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to bring back 30 Ethiopian migrants from Libya.
‘’Our embassy in Cairo has prepared travelling documents to bring these Ethiopians and we will do the same thing to bring back more Ethiopians from Libya to save them from bad living conditions,’’ he added.
Many African migrants have been sold in modern-day slave markets in Libya, based on information from the IOM.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that there are 700,000 to one million migrants in Libya, and more than 2,000 have died at sea this year.
Most of the migrants in Libya are fleeing armed conflict, persecution or severe economic hardship in sub-Saharan Africa. Their journey usually begins with a deadly trek through vast deserts to Libya and then involves either braving the Mediterranean Sea on rickety boats headed to Europe or struggling to survive in one of the overcrowded detention centers run by smugglers on the Libyan coastline.
In a press statement the spokesperson added that the Ethiopian government opened three embassies in 2017 in Morocco, Algeria and Rwanda. This means Ethiopia has 43 embassies and 15 in Africa.
NGO, insurance, banks team up to help pastoralists survive devastating droughts
Orgo Bodo is a 40 year old member of the Hammer Tribe, a pastoralist community living in the South Omo Zone of the SNNP region. Like many in the Hammer community he raises cattle and goats to feed his family.
“Our community is not engaged in other farming activities we are pastoralists,” Orgo explained.
It is for this reason that climate change and a recent El Niño weather pattern affecting southern and eastern Ethiopia over the past couple of years has severely affected him.
Orgo and other Hammer community members have lost most of their animals due to the severe drought. Even though the South Omo area is arid and people were used to dry conditions, the weather has become so severe that, over the last two years, people living in the area like those in the Hammer tribe have suffered greatly, according to experts.
“The climate has changed in the past few years and it has affected the livelihoods of the people in the area. Rainfall has declined significantly, causing grassy areas to dry out,” Orgo told Capital. 
Orgo said he lost all of his cattle and goats, which has devastated his family. “Before the drought I had 50 sheep and cows, others also lost their all their animals like I did and they had up to 1,000,” he said.
To combat this problem Orgo says he is now working with an alternative farming program under an association formed by community members to help fight the effects of drought on their daily lives.
“We have formed a 10 member association and started growing vegetables as an alternative source of income,” he said.
“There have been two harvests of onion, tomato and chili at Dimeka town at Hammer Wereda,’ he added.
Orgo was one of many invited participants from three regions, living the pastoralist life, who came to share best practices and learn from others at Farm Africa’s National Resilience Forum held from December 20 to 22 at Hawassa, SNNP.
The Farm Africa’s Market Approaches for Resilience project funded by Department for International Development (DFID) is being implemented in Ethiopia under the global Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) program in three regions.
The project that focuses on pastoralists in the Ethiopia Somali, SNNP and Afar regions. The goal is to show ways people can still survive when their former way of living is threatened by climate change.
The interventions show people how to mitigate the effects of climate change by creating access to financial insurance services, establishing and strengthening village saving and credit groups, natural resource management including participatory forest management, and climate information dissemination via media. The project has also designed programs in semi urban areas including technical support on expanding income sources and job creation and creating green spaces.
Negusu Aklilu, Chief of Party, BRACED/MAR, said that that the BRACED project of Farm Africa mainly focuses getting the business and private sectors to expand savings and credit and participatory natural resource protection to alleviate climate change in the three regions.
In the past three years the program has benefited 178,000 individuals, mostly pastoralists. The goal is for them to be able to generate their own income rather than rely on aid.
“We are helping them act on their own ideas to earn more money,” he added.
For instance they established a village saving and loan association with a group of individuals saving a small amount of money when they earn some and then providing that sum as a loan for other members to implement new projects. Currently Farm Africa’s BRACED MAR program has formed 329 projects. Besides the saving and credit association the groups has social funds to help out people in emergency situations.
“We believe that by creating strong social bonds that the community will be able to support themselves when the program ends,” Negusu said.
Besides village savings and loan associations BRACED has also facilitated the linkage of microfinance institutions in the three respective regions to provide loans for pastoralists. “We have provided loan guarantees for the microfinance institutions to commence their operation in rural pastoralist areas in addition to helping them establish branches in targeted areas,” he added.
So far over 4,680 households have benefited from the microfinance institutions. In collaboration with M Birr and Bell Cash mobile banking service has also commenced in the rural areas for the community to settle their loans with the micro finances and also to manage their savings without having to travel long distances to banks.
Since the program has gotten the private sector involved insurance companies have also helped out. They have instigated a program to provide insurance coverage for livestock. Like the mobile banking and credit scheme with microfinance institutions insurance coverage came as a result of a partnership with Nyala Insurance, one of the leading private insurers.
Farm Africa’s documents indicate that in addition to partnering with Nyala, Mercy Corps, a nongovernmental organization, and a consultancy firm Pula Advisers have also taken part in the pilot project. Insurance coverage is a big help when it comes to giving pastoralists a leg up in response to climate shocks.
Aklilu said that two types of insurance coverage have been delivered to micro insurance clients. Animal indemnity insurance is linked to microfinance. Solomon Zegeye, Manager of General and Micro Insurance at Nyala Insurance told Capital that under the public private partnership the insurance company is working with relevant institutions to cover the pastoralists affected by climate change. “Under the BRACED program we have provided coverage in SNNP, Afar and Somali regions,” Solomon added.
Indemnity based coverage which began at Arba Minch and Derashe Wereda to help protect against the loss of animals due to disease, theft, and accidents.
The distribution cost for the current operation is easily managed by an IT application. As a result the person does not need to travel to the insurance coverage area. This helps expand the insurance service in rural locations, an insurance company spokesperson said.
So far Nyala has settled claims for the loss of two cattle which has led to a more trusting relationship with local clients.
The other insurance coverage is asset protection for pastoralists which helps them get veterinary support veterinary for milking cows.
Solomon said that in 2007 Nyala began agricultural micro insurance as a pioneer for its micro insurance policy and now it has expanded its coverage.
Experts said that the role of Mercy Corps, who is one of the implementer of the project with Farm Africa, on the implementation of micro insurance that includes indemnity based livestock insurance is crucial. The contribution of Farm Africa in the three regions is helping change the lifestyle and expand economic resources of pastoralists like Orgo who otherwise would have been devastated by climate change.
Mohammed Beroele, a pastoralist from Chifra Wereda of Afar region who is currently involved in small scale farming, told Capital that Farm Africa is providing technical support and equipment. “They provide us seeds for vegetables and fruit as well as the equipment and support we need,” he said.
“About five years ago I began farming, I was growing corn,” he said.
Mohammed said that in the last year he expanded the activity by adding the variety of fruit and vegetables and a ranch for livestock.
“At first I was not saving like other people in my region but now I am able to feed my family and livestock,” he said
“I could start saving soon, he added.”
The latest metrological forecasts for the community predict more dry weather so more will need to be done to prepare. The program has set up to 25 metrological data collectors, which give reliable and specific climate information transmitted via radio that they follow via their village radio group.
“The collected climate information is analyzed so we can make recommendations for the pastoralists and agro- pastoralists and they can take action based on the latest metrological forecasts,” Nigusu said
Nigusu added that they are getting promising results on their activity in the regions and expect to continue their strategic support since they will get more funds from their partners.
