Thousands of book enthusiasts have thronged the annual Mogadishu Book Fair, which opened its doors to the public on Wednesday.
The three-day literary festival, which ends today, has brought together writers, scholars, authors, intellectuals, poets, musicians and other literary giants from Somalia and the diaspora.
More than 36 guests and twenty renowned poets from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North America, the East and Horn of Africa region are attending the three-day festival.
About fifty (50) new titles are on display at the Book Fair, while more than two-thousand books on 178 different topics are being exhibited.
While officially opening the annual fair on Wednesday, Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Mahdi Guled Khadar, underscored the importance of inculcating a culture of reading in the country.
“Knowledge should be our guiding principle; we should use our minds creatively. Writing, reading and literary competitions, as well creative ideas, are a prerequisite for development,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
For the first time in its history, the Mogadishu Book Fair has introduced a reading tent for children. At least 80-children are attending the fair and interacting with storytellers and writers of children’s books.
“I think this is going to be something great for the parents and children because ultimately what the Book Fair is all about is to promote literacy, reading not just for schooling purposes but reading for fun, reading for pleasure, promoting anything that is related to knowledge, scholarship and uniting authors and professors and poets and playwrights, Somalis and non-Somalis, giving them a chance to network, benefit from each other so that it will contribute, as I say every year, to the building of the new Somalia that will be better tomorrow than today,” said Mohamed Diini, the fair’s organizer.
Somali – Canadian novelist and journalist Hassan Gedi Santur is exhibiting at the fair for the first time. His anthology of short stories called ‘Mediterranean’ gives a look at the African migration crisis and the perilous journeys through the Mediterranean, in search of a better life abroad.
“As a writer I feel nothing is more important than writing and reading for the culture, for the civilization of a nation,” said Hassan.
“So instead of fighting and disagreeing with weapons; to be able to disagree and share perspectives through language, through ideas, I think is the basis of any thriving nation. I think this is going to go a long way to helping that and building a more prosperous democratic society,” he added.
A first time author Halima Hassan Tacshiir says the Book Fair has inspired her to write more. “This Book Fair has encouraged young people who were skeptics about writing, to start putting their ideas together and write a book,” remarked the young writer.
Renowned writer Dr. Shafie Sharif Mohamed described the Book Fair as a meeting hub of creatives. “Mogadishu Book Fair is the yearly meeting hub of Somali writers. This is the forum where people from all walks of life present their ideas and gets feedback from experts or people with more experience. It also gives Somali youth a chance to get to see thousands of books which are not available anywhere else. It is a good opportunity for the youth, as well as for the writers,” he said.
The fair is another demonstration of the atmosphere of peace and stability being enjoyed in Somalia, as a result of gains made on the security front. The presence of the AU troops in the Horn of Africa country has ensured progress in the security, political and socio-economic fronts.
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), is committed to working with the Somali security forces, to spur growth and continue providing an environment where similar activities can take place. (AMISOM)
Annual Book Fair in Somalia
Belay Bekel Waya comes out with new short story collection
A new book called Kebashager Bashager, which literally means beyond what is beyond, by the young poet and author Belay Bekele Weya was released three weeks ago. The 144 page book included a series of short fiction stories and was named after a story based on a poem.
The author uses his unique perspective to develop characters and present his short stories in a continuous form while representing chapters with poems.
Belay is known for his social media activities which mainly focus on societal criticism. Eyehedu Metebek, which was published in 2014, was his first book which later was followed by Enkilf Eena Set, Afkemeleh Poem collection CD and Ke Setegna Adari Yetekoreje Saq. His next book called Yeshererit Kenef is already in the pipeline according to Belay.
The fulltime author, Belay, told Capital that he rewrote the book after he lost the original when his laptop was stolen. “We were planning to inaugurate the book at the reading for life exhibition but the print was delayed so we decided to do it at the National Theater in September,” said Belay.
Belay writes often about society and has praised Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for his unifying agenda.
“The reason that I dedicated the book to him, among others, is that he enabled us to witness the change that we all have been fighting for,” said Belay.
Belay started using his full name, including his grandfather’s, regularly after he read that the legendary Shaka Bekele Weya, originally from Gurage area, defeated the Italian troops using modern military operations and patriotic acts.
“After I read the history of Shaka and when my father and grandfather’s name became the same as his is when I started using my name,” Belay told Capital.
In the coming Ethiopian year Belay is getting ready to release one poem collection called Yesererit Kinf.
“I am completing a fully fledged fiction which I hope to release in the coming year,” he said.
Soul icon, Aretha Franklin, passes away at 76
The American “Queen of Soul” Aretha Louise Franklin died at the age of 76 last Thursday after suffering for months with a grave illness.
The Multiple Grammy winner was known for soul hits and crossover chart toppers such as “Respect,” “Freeway of Love” and “I Say a Little Prayer”. Born in Memphis, Tennessee the gifted singer and pianist was born on March, 1942, the fourth out of five children.
In 1987 when she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The undisputed talent was able to sell more than 75 million records and win 18 Grammy Awards.
As a daughter of a Minister she started her career performing gospel music. Her father was a friend of Martin Luther King.
Her dad also served as her manager when she released her first album. She last performed at the Elton John’s AIDS Foundation party in New York City last November. She was forced to cancel a series of performances due to her critical illness. Aretha suffered from several health problems like alcoholism and heavy smoking and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2010.
The feminist, voice of civil rights and soul music giant was a mother of two.
Ethio-telecom lifts performance security bond for four multinational companies
The sourcing committee which is comprised of high telecom officials unconditionally lifted the security bond for four companies including ZTE, Ericsson, and Huawei, effective for any transaction they have with Ethio-telecom.
The committee is made up of the Chief Operation Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Sourcing Officer and Chief Facility Officer, Chief Finance Officer and the CEO. It has the jurisdiction to pass a decision on a transaction up to 270 million birr although the board can approve more than that.
Every legal framework of government procurements are made mandatory by the performance bond provision within 15 days.
“The reason that the law requires a performance bond is if the company who wins the procurement can’t meet the terms of the contract they will be given a chance to compensate their loss,” said Assefa Solomon, public relations deputy director at the Federal Public Procurement & Disposal Service (PPDS).
“The procurement agency said that the issues of the public enterprises fall out of its jurisdiction,” he said.
The Ministry of Public Enterprises (MoPE) has forwarded the matter back to the procurement agency. The companies, who have a different history with the on-time delivery of projects, have a long history with the telecoms’ multi-million USD projects.
It was back in 2016 Huawei Technologies Co. took over the expansion project portion which was given to Ericsson in 2014. The portion of the project was initially given to ZTE; prior to terminating and giving it to Ericsson, in 2013 as part of the USD 800 million contract, it won.
Also, back in 2011, the Federal court found the Ex- CEO of Ethiopian Telecommunication and other managers, Tesfaye Biru (Ph.D.) et-al, guilty of corruption crimes in a project awarded to Ericsson which cost USD 47.4 million.
The telecom stated that the four companies are strategic partners of the telecom which works in a vendor financing. “As the bond was there for security, the performance of the company we have established relationships,” Abdurahim Ahmed, Corporate Communication Officer at the telecom said. “The procurement policy of the telecom didn’t forbid doing so.”
The performance bond usually is between 5% up to 10% of the total transaction and the amount of the performance bond will not exceeds 270 million birr.
The sole telecom service provider announced last February that it was able to collect 18.4 billion birr in revenue from sales in six months
