The recent Tokyo Olympic games may have been a test of athletic achievement like no other in history with fans largely absent and fears around Covid-19 hanging like a dark cloud over Japan. But there was still plenty to celebrate, especially for athletes from the African continent, who each had their own goals, hopes, and dreams, which for some included much more than winning a gold medal. there were expected successes, like swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker, to a shock silver medal for surfer Bianca Buitendag. everybody’s story is unique. FORBES AFRICA tells the story of four such athletes and their personal motivations for competing on the world’s greatest sporting stage.



By Nick Said 



One of the stories of the Olympics centered around the sensational rise of Namibian sprinter Christine Mboma.



The teenager cuts a shy figure off the track, but once she steps between the lines is explosive in her pace and has the potential to be a genuine superstar of global athletics for the next decade.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1235257391.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-52972" width="559" height="378" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1235257391.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1235257391-300x203.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1235257391-768x520.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 559px) 100vw, 559px" /><figcaption>ZAGREB, CROATIA &#8211; SEPTEMBER 14: Christine Mboma of Namibia breaks the rally record with a time of 22.04 in the women&#8217;s 200 meter during IAAF World Challenge Zagreb 2021 &#8211; 71st Boris Hanzekovic Memorial at University park on September 14, 2021 in Zagreb, Croatia. (Photo by Goran Stanzl/Pixsell/MB Media/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



The 18-year-old’s remarkable run to 200 meters silver in Tokyo, and a subsequent gold medal in the Diamond League finals a few weeks later in Zurich, is all the more impressive after she was barred by World Athletics from competing in her favorite 800 metres event.



Like South African Caster Semenya, Mboma has a naturally high level of testosterone that means she is prohibited from competing in distances ranging from 400 meters to a mile without either undergoing surgical intervention or taking medication that has known unpleasant side- effects.



Semenya is fighting these regulations in the European Court of Human Rights and Mboma will be an interested spectator, but for now, along with compatriot Beatrice Masilingi, she must give up their favored 800 meters event.



The pair received the news just weeks before the start of the Olympics but took it in their stride. Mboma ended up with a silver medal in a breakthrough performance, while Masilingi also made the final.



Until the start of 2021, Mboma’s best performance in the 200 meters was 25.05, but she ran an incredible 21.81 in Tokyo to finish just behind Jamaican sprint queen Elaine Thompson-Herah.



“I believed that I would be a medal contender at the Olympics,” she says. “Especially when I reached the final. I must admit I was feeling scared running with the best athletes in the world, but I tried to ignore it and just focus on my own race.



“The conditions were very hot but standing there [at the start], I just remembered how I started running for my school team and how I fell in love with athletics.”



That simple thought cleared away the clutter as she produced the run of her life – though arguably she was more impressive in winning the Diamond League final weeks later in a quicker time of 21.78, which is a world record for an athlete under the age of 20.



“I was very happy and proud of myself to win the silver medal for my country,” she says of her Tokyo run. “I hope I can be a role model for a new generation of Namibian athletes.”



She is also philosophical about her being barred from her favorite events, though does not want to be drawn into the controversy on the subject.



“There are lots of challenges in life, but a tough challenge can bring out the best in you,” she says. “Even though I was disappointed, I believed that I could do better [than she had previously done] in the 200 meters. That is what I focused on.”



Her remarkable improvement has been overseen by coach Henk Botha, who is more than a trainer to both Mboma and Masilingi, but also a mentor.



“One of the most important aspects of the relationship between me and my coach is communication. I share my problems with him and together we solve them,” she says. Botha says he feels “privileged to work with the rising star. “When I started coaching Christine, she was still a 1,500 meter and 800-meter athlete, but I noticed her speed so I brought her down to the 400 meters and then the 200 meters,” he says. “The rest is history. Now we have a silver medallist at the Olympic Games, who is a beautiful child from Namibia’s grassroots, and I’m just so privileged to have been able to work with her.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-maverick-selemon-barega">THE MAVERICK: SELEMON BAREGA</h2>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1331559952.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-52973" width="595" height="397" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1331559952.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1331559952-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1331559952-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 595px) 100vw, 595px" /><figcaption>TOKYO, JAPAN &#8211; JULY 30: Selemon Barega of Team Ethiopia celebrates winning gold in the Men&#8217;s 10,000 metres Final on day seven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on July 30, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



Ethiopian Selemon Barega has competed in everything from 1,500 to 10,000 meters in his unorthodox young career, but at the age of 21 is now an Olympic gold medallist after admitting even he was surprised at how quickly he took to the longer distances.



Ethiopia is renowned for his long-distance runners, especially in the 10,000 meters where Kenenisa Bekele and the legendary Haile Gebrselassie previously each won Olympic gold medals on two occasions.



Barega only recently targeted that distance having spent most of his career competing over



5,000 meters, but the move has paid off handsomely.



“I started on the journey to the longer distance because I wanted to test myself and I felt very comfortable in the 10,000 meters,” he says. “So looking at the best plan for myself, I felt like it was the best distance for me. But it even surprised me how well I took to the longer distance.”



It was an Olympics like no other, with Covid-19 restrictions hampering training in the build-up to the event, and the athlete’s village not the usual hive of activity and positive energy.



“The training was not normal like before,” Barega says. “Some tracks were closed; we had to modify where and when we trained but all in all we made do and got the work in.



“It was very strange in the athlete’s village for me. The restrictions were so tight that we really did not do much at all. We were not allowed to move freely.” 



Few expected Barega to be a genuine medal contender in Tokyo, but on a blisteringly hot day with high humidity, the conditions were perhaps a leveler and he outsprinted world record holder Joshua Cheptegei and the equally fancied Jacob Kiplimo to win in a time of 27:43.22, the slowest in an Olympic final since 1992.



“I had a plan and I stuck to my plan, and I was very confident on that day,” he said. “Of course, I generally do not like to run in humidity, but to be honest with you, I knew what I wanted to do in the race and nothing was going to bother me that day. “I’m the Olympic champion. I’m in history and I’m the pride of my country right now. I was not letting anyone beat me.”



He hopes he can repeat the feat in Paris in three years’ time and join Bekele and Gebrselassie on two gold medals in the 10,000.



“I want to be mentioned with the greats and these two are our heroes and legends. So to even be talked about at the same time as them is an honor already. I hope someday to make them proud.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">THE MOTHER: FAITH KIPYEGON</h2>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1339319302.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-52975" width="554" height="349" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1339319302.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1339319302-300x189.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1339319302-768x485.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 554px) 100vw, 554px" /><figcaption>ZURICH, SWITZERLAND &#8211; SEPTEMBER 09: Faith Kipyegon of Kenya celebrates winning the Women&#8217;s 1500m Final during the Weltklasse Zurich, part of the Wanda Diamond League at Stadium Letzigrund on September 09, 2021 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



The fact that Kenyan sensation Faith Kipyegon defended her 1,500 meters Olympic title in Tokyo is no surprise given her status as one of the elite runners over that distance in the past decade.



But what had changed between her two wins was the fact that she had become a mother, and with that comes added responsibility, a change in lifestyle and less flexibility to train than she had previously enjoyed.



But an emotional Kipyegon says she gets no greater joy than competing for her daughter, who is now three years old, and was spurred on to gold again by thoughts of family.



“Running in Tokyo was great, especially running as a mother, it meant a lot to me. Of course, I dedicate my medal to my daughter Alyn,” she says. “I was very well prepared, it was my second Olympic title. It was not an easy race, but every time I compete, I hope to inspire young athletes at home, and to inspire my daughter.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">THE VETERAN: HELLEN OBIRI</h2>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1332016016.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-52974" width="622" height="429" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1332016016.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1332016016-300x207.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1332016016-768x531.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 622px) 100vw, 622px" /><figcaption>TOKYO, JAPAN &#8211; AUGUST 2: Silver Medalist Hellen Obiri of Kenya following the Women&#8217;s 5000m Final on day ten of the athletics events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 2, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



Hellen Obiri is a legend in the world of 3,000 and 5,000 meters running, but the one thing that has eluded the Kenyan in her illustrious career is an Olympic gold medal.



That continues to be the case after she picked up a second 5,000 silver medal in Tokyo, and she says she will call it a day over those distances and from 2022 focus on the half-marathon and 10,000.



It is the end of an era, but also the sign of an athlete who can adapt their capabilities to seek out new challenges.



“The young ones are coming and they are very strong. That means I always have to be focussed and give my best,”



Obiri says. “But next year I am moving to another phase of my life. “I think to run 11 years on the track is a great achievement for me, I learned so much. It has not been easy, but now I said to myself I want to try another thing in my life. I will miss the track of course, and the other athletes, but I feel like it is time to let the young ones shine.”

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MEDALS AND METTLE: AFRICA’S HISTORY-MAKERS AT THE GAMES

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Ethiopia&#8217;s first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde, spoke to FORBES AFRICA&#8217;s Managing Editor, Renuka Methil, on the country&#8217;s plans to combat Covid-19 and resuscitate one of the fastest growing economies in Africa.



Zewde, listed as one of Africa’s ‘50 Most Powerful Women’ in the March issue of FORBES AFRICA, says while the virus didn&#8217;t warrant the nation going into complete lockdown, it has hit some sectors of the East African country&#8217;s economy, affecting its GDP growth. 



In early May, the government announced a package to bolster healthcare spending, food distribution, rebuild SMMEs, etc to support the country&#8217;s most vulnerable. Zewde also shares her views on women in the front lines, as well as reimagining education.

Renu and Zewde

Ethiopia’s First Female President On Plans To Combat Covid-19 And Resuscitate The Economy

Sahle-Work Zewde, Ethiopia’s first female president and the only serving female head of state in Africa, tells FORBES AFRICA why more leaders should use soft power to achieve shared growth.



Sahle-Work Zewde has her name etched in political history. A veteran public official having served as an ambassador to Senegal, Djibouti, and France between 1989 and 2006, before her presidency, Zewde was Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union. In an email interview, Zwede, who was also on FORBES AFRICA’s list of ‘Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women’ for its March issue, dwells on why the ‘Africa we want’ will only become a reality with the positive and significant transformation of women’s lives:



In your position, how are you moving to achieve more gender proportionality in Ethiopian politics?



I see my being in this position as both an opportunity and responsibility. I know that it is political will that has opened the way for me and many other women to assume positions of power and influence in the Presidency and the ministerial cabinet in Ethiopia. This stride is a major step forward for Ethiopia as a nation and also for the continent. However, things can regress and go back to how they were unless we take strategic and intentional action to build on the momentum. For me, the way forward is using my platform to empower and embolden the women coming after me. This can occur in two ways. The first is working on empowering the women who are in the workforce and especially in positions of leadership to reach their full potential and engage in activities that provide opportunities for the next generation of women leaders. The second is helping female students at both the university and high school levels to ensure that we have a steady stream of competent, educated and confident women ready to take over. As women in power, we have a responsibility to all the women that will come after us to ensure that their trajectory is easier than ours.



How must Africa change in this regard?



Although more progress has been achieved in terms of delivering on our promise to provide support towards women’s education, health services, access to finance and political participation in a growing number of African countries, much more needs to be done. As a continent, we must go beyond the rhetoric and provide tangible solutions for African women in all sectors. The ‘Africa we want’ will only become a reality with the positive and significant transformation of women’s lives and the extent of their participation in all walks of life.



What do the words ‘power’ and ‘soft power’ mean to you?



There is a clear distinction between ‘power’ and ‘soft power’. While the first uses any means to achieve a goal, the latter relies on influence through communication, understanding and healthy discourse. Soft power does not resort to violence or coercive methods to achieve the results sought. Serving as a diplomat for a quarter century and at the United Nations for over a decade, I became very knowledgeable of the utility of soft power to reach consensus and effectuate change.



For me, the idea of soft power is what we need to promote as a continent. For decades, our continent has been ravaged by civil war, ethnic conflict and infighting.



However, Africa is now enjoying more economic growth than it has ever had. What we need now is more leaders to exercise soft power, finding what unites us to achieve a vision of shared growth. Traditional governance sees the government as the sole owner and executer of international relations. However, with our increasingly globalized world, it’s the people-to-people connections that make a true and lasting impact and bond. Leaders of today have to detach from traditional views and adopt the more global perspective the times require.



– Interviewed by Renuka Methil

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‘It’s The People-To-People Connections That Make A Lasting Impact’

In the past, Ethiopia has been called the Cradle of Mankind, but today it seems Ethiopia is a guiding light for change, shining over all of Africa. 



As new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has made incredible moves in gender equality and inclusion with his gender balanced cabinet and appointment of the country’s first female President, Mrs Sahle-Work Zewde, there is also movement to transform Ethiopia into a middle-income nation through the Growth and Transformation Plan by 2025. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"> <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/FA-2019-ETHIOPIA-36pags-FORBES-vok_FORBES_Sept2019lr.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="591" height="591" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ethiopia-cover.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41784" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ethiopia-cover.jpg 591w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ethiopia-cover-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ethiopia-cover-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ethiopia-cover-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ethiopia-cover-80x80.jpg 80w" sizes="(max-width: 591px) 100vw, 591px" /><figcaption> Download the special report here</a> </figcaption></figure>



Needless to say, the people of Ethiopia have a renewed hope in what the future has in store.



In 2017, Ethiopia’s GDP expanded by 10.9% and is expected to grow by 8.5%, positioning Ethiopia as one of the fastest growing countries in the world and as a result, it is primed and ready to transform through Foreign Direct Investment. 



As part of the GTP II, Ethiopia is focused on streamlining investment in all sectors and enhancing the economy through the implementation of industrial parks, which will become key players in the country’s future. Ambassador to the United States, Mr Fitsum Arega says, “Industrial parks are enhancing the telecom, service, manufacturing and agriculture sectors by bringing potential for export growth, technology and skills transfer. 



Even more, they create a sustainable business environment, linking local workers to the processing of their products and greatly increasing the ease of investment.” The parks not only make foreign investment easier, but they ensure that the local markets and farmers continue to thrive. 



Many of the new changes and advancements in the country are facilitated by technology, which can be implemented in all sectors, from agriculture to transport. Hon. Oumer Hussen, Minister of Agriculture states, “Farmers always rely on the market. In industrial parks, there is a demand-driven approach for our farmers. That produces a big economic impact and guides them to using modernised techniques.” 



Technological adaptation in the agriculture sector is especially important as 85% of Ethiopia’s workforce are farmers. Hon. Getahun Mekuria, Minister of Innovation and Technology, states, “In the upcoming two years, at least 2-5% of Ethiopia’s GDP should come from technological value addition. We have planned different strategies: one is value addition to agricultural products such as coffee, as well as e-commerce. Another strategy our Ministry is pursuing is embarking on technological products such as drones. We could employ them to transport cargo, medical and pharmaceutical supplies to rural areas.” 



The technology sector is full of opportunity and Ethiopia has a vibrant young workforce to lead it. 



Alongside technology, the telecom industry also has its sights set on the future. The sector has experienced incredible progress in recent years and now has plans for nationwide 4G mobile service, as it strives toward 5G. 



Frehiwot Tamru, CEO of Ethio Telecom, states, “Telecommunication has a significant social, cultural and economic impact on modern society. It is fundamental for the economic development of any nation. I believe that the telecom market reform is to bring about economic growth of the country.” 



Hon. Getahun Mekuria, Minister of Innovation and Technology, adds, “As a government, we see [the telecom sector] as a very good environment for creating jobs and wealth because it will unleash the power of the service industry. The GDP coming from technology will be huge.”



&nbsp;The transportation sector also plays a prominent role in the Growth and Transformation Plan. Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, says “Our ever-expanding freight transport fleet facilitates the export of goods, which has led Ethiopia to stand next to Kenya in horticulture export.” 



Other transportation entities, such as the Maritime Authority, are working toward impacting exports, as well. Hon. Dagmawit Moges, Minister of Transport, says, “Lower logistics costs would make our exports more competitive on a global market. The cost of imported items, on the other hand, would decrease, enhancing our country’s purchasing capacity.” 



These advancements in infrastructure will enhance the country’s ability to transport product from farms to markets and beyond. Hon. Jantirar Abay Yigzaw, Minister of Urban Development and Housing, says, “With the construction sector booming, we are planning a number of new projects, like the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. 



The first railway line connecting Djibouti to Addis is already operational. The construction sector constitutes a notable portion of Ethiopia’s GDP, and the government is committed to increase funding for infrastructure.”



From every direction, Ethiopia is exceeding expectations, strengthening their economy, and breaking boundaries in its improvement of the country, whether that be through its commitment to social change, gender inclusion, or advancements in technology, agriculture or infrastructure. It seems that the Growth and Transformation Plan of 2025 is not just a plan. Becoming a middle-income nation is a certainty. 



&#8211; Matthew Scott Rose

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FOCUS ON ETHIOPIA: How The Cradle Of Mankind Is Fearlessly Leading By Example

&nbsp;On a bustling street near the shiny new international airport in Ethiopia’s capital is a small coffee roastery with big dreams.&nbsp;



Nearly 40 Ethiopians &#8211; a third of them women &#8211; sift, roast and package prized Arabica beans for export to Europe under the Moyee brand, founded by a Dutch social entrepreneur.



The roastery, together with the innovative use of blockchain technology to ensure the supply chain is transparent, represents an attempt to keep as much of the profits as possible in Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries.



“It’s the world’s favorite drink. We drink over 2 billion cups a day,” said Killian Stokes, who set up the Irish branch of Moyee.



“The industry’s worth $100 billion and yet 90 percent of coffee farmers in Ethiopia live on less than $2 a day.”



That is partly because most exporters process the beans elsewhere, but also down to price fluctuations and other factors that make coffee growing a precarious business.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/agriculture/2019/01/24/ugandan-firm-uses-blockchain-to-trace-coffee-from-farms-to-stores/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Ugandan Firm Uses Blockchain To Trace Coffee From Farms To Stores (opens in a new tab)">Ugandan Firm Uses Blockchain To Trace Coffee From Farms To Stores</a>



To make things fairer, Moyee has created unique digital identities for the 350 farmers it currently works with &#8211; meaning buyers can see exactly how much each individual grower is paid, with prices set at 20 percent above the market rate.



Now the brand, whose slogan is “radically good coffee”, wants to use blockchain to take that to the next level &#8211; allowing buyers to tip farmers, or fund projects such as a new planting program, through a mobile app.



The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a recent report that blockchain had huge potential&nbsp;to address challenges&nbsp;smallholder farmers faced by “reducing uncertainty and enabling trust among market players”.



The technology, used to underpin cyber-currencies like Bitcoin, allows shared access to data that is maintained by a network of computers and can quickly trace the hundreds of parties involved in the production and distribution of food.



Once entered, any information cannot be altered or tampered with.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">‘BIGGER THAN THE INTERNET’</h4>



Siobhan Kelly, an advisor to the Food Systems Programme at the FAO, said blockchain would ultimately be “much bigger than the internet”.&nbsp;



“Within 10 years &#8211; it’ll take probably 10 years &#8211; it’s going to be a major revolution, for everything,” said Kelly.



Fruit farmers in Caribbean nations are also looking at using blockchain to attract better-paying customers, bring traceability and build a credit trail.&nbsp;



“It’s an innovation that is poised to empower local farmers in the Caribbean region,” said Pamela Thomas, executive director of the Agriculture Alliance of the Caribbean (AACARI), a regional network of nearly 100,000 farmers.



AACARI’s project has two components: auditing by accredited professionals to ensure farmers adhere to the Global GAP (good agricultural practices) standards, and a digital marketplace where buyers can find detailed information about the produce.&nbsp;



Global GAP is a voluntary standard required by many European and U.S. supermarket chains.



Vijay Kandy, whose company is building the blockchain platform, said the auditing process would allow farmers to deal directly with buyers &#8211; bypassing the middlemen that many currently rely on &#8211; and make access to credit easier.



“One reason why buyers from faraway places or different countries go through middlemen is because they rely on them to make sure farmers are following these good practices,” he said.



One such buyer is London-based Union Hand-Roasted Coffee.&nbsp;



The company sources its coffee directly from growers’ cooperatives to ensure higher quality, pays farmers more than minimum price set by the global Fairtrade organization, and works with more than 40 producer groups in 14 countries.



“We currently undertake direct interviews to verify farmers have been paid, but it’s very time- and labor-intensive to do that and to record all that data,” said Steven Macatonia, who co-founded Union in 2001.



“So to have a much more simple system where we can get a confirmation that payment has been received and how much that is, that could be hugely beneficial,” he said.



Price fluctuations and the impact of climate change make coffee a particularly challenging crop to grow.



“Large companies’ profits usually increase when prices are low, but the profit for farmers does not, and in some cases it may cost them money to produce coffee,” said Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.&nbsp;



Davis’s latest research shows climate change and deforestation are putting more than half of the world’s wild coffee species at risk of extinction.



Ethiopia &#8211; the birthplace of Arabica, the world’s most popular coffee &#8211; is of particular concern. Up to 60 percent of the land used to grow coffee could become unsuitable by the end of the century, Davis found.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“The more a farmer is paid, the more resources he will be able to devote to climate resilience,” he said.&nbsp; &nbsp;</blockquote>



Both Davis and the FAO’s Kelly however cautioned that blockchain technology was not going to be a “quick fix”, with farmers around the world facing multiple challenges.



“Farmers need access to affordable seeds, to affordable finance and credit when they need it &#8230; and these things are not going to be given by blockchain,” said Kelly. -Reuters



-Thin Lei Win @thinink

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The Coffee Farmers Betting On Blockchain To Boost Business

Thirty-five years after haunting images of crying, skeletal Ethiopian children shocked the world, Tigray, the region that unwittingly became a poster child for famine, is taking on a new image &#8211; that of resilience.



In Ruwa Feleg, a highland community with vivid memories of the devastating 1984 famine, the 2016 drought, which experts said was the worst Ethiopia had seen in half a century, had minimal impact, local farmers said.



“A lot of the livestock was lost but there were no marked loss of (human) lives,” said Hidrom Haileselasie, 45. “It’s not comparable.”



For one, they had spare cash from selling temperate fruits and vegetables such as apples, apricots and almonds, and no longer live hand-to-mouth. Improved infrastructure meant food, whether to markets or as assistance, arrived faster.



So, despite food shortages, people did not starve to death, unlike during the 1984 “great famine” when a combination of severe drought and civil war killed up to 1 million people.



The lack of conflict and Ethiopia’s strong economic growth helped the arid and mountainous Tigray, home to nearly 6 million people, during the 2016 drought, experts and locals said.



Months of monitoring allowed aid agencies to deliver assistance quickly when things worsened, said Getachew Kalayu, head of planning and coordination with local non-profit Relief Society of Tigray (REST).



“Both the people and the government have learnt a lesson from 1984,” said Getachew, whose organization was set up in 1978 by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a former guerrilla movement turned political party.



Environmental rehabilitation work and efforts to diversify incomes were crucial, experts say.



“If you go back 30 plus years… (Tigray) was a moonscape, so denuded, with people cutting trees for charcoal and abandoning land,” said Betsy Otto, at the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Water Programme.



Through painstaking work, locals moved 90 million tonnes of soil and rock by hand, built infiltration pits and embankments, and planted trees to restore landscapes, said Otto, whose organization was involved in some of the projects.



“People migrate into Tigray now, which is kind of unheard of,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.



The groundwater table has risen and artesian wells that had not flowed for a long time now do, she added.



Tigray also looked to micro dams and watershed management to provide irrigation so small-scale farmers can improve crop productivity, said Fatouma Seid, representative for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Ethiopia.



All these contributed to “the communities’ capacity to withstand drought situations”, said Seid, whose organization has been helping farmers for years, including those in Ruwa Feleg.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CASH FRUITS AND FREE LABOR</h4>



The changes are palpable in Abreha we Atsbeha, a village two hours southwest of Ruwa Feleg on winding, bumpy roads.



Here the community has been working for more than a decade to build terraces on hills to retain water and prevent soil erosion. With about 1,500 locals working 20 days a year, they have so far terraced 5,200 hectares, a local official said.



“Before there were no plants. After (we built) the terraces, the land breathed new life again,” Kidane Gebreselassie, the official, said proudly, pointing at the lush, green hillsides.



A large part of this impressive feat is due to a government program requiring locals to work up to 20 days a year on rehabilitating the environment.



This happens “after the harvest and when people have spare time”, said Zenebu Tilahun Negrash, an official with Tigray’s Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development.



Both Zenebu and Kidane are convinced such conservation work, which won a United Nations-backed award in 2017, helped the area during the 2016 drought.



People in Tigray have long memories of what it was like in 1984.



Tsega Asgedem, 63, a farmer at Ruwa Feleg, fled to Eritrea with her family and relatives, including two newborns. She ended up begging in the streets for a time to feed her children. They did not return for three years.



“It was very difficult to even bury the dead. There was nobody strong enough to do it,” remembered Tsega, who lost relatives in the famine.



Hidrom and Kes Berihu Hailu were only 10 and 9 then, but recall the hunger, the sickness, the food aid and the dead bodies lying in the streets.



So, when they learned of fruits they could grow and sell for cash, they jumped at the chance to leave the vicious cycle of subsistence farming.



“Previously… we planted cereals only for our own (animal) feed, and even then sometimes what we produce is not enough,” recounted Kes, 44, who is also a priest.



Now, Kes’ small plot of land grows only fruits. Life has improved leaps and bounds, he said, standing in front of a large, two-story stone building he had recently built with proceeds from the sale of the fruits.



New Zealand scientists find USB seal footage in seal poo



He spent more than 80,000 Ethiopian birr ($2,820), he said.



Aid agencies, particularly the FAO and World Vision, provided them with free seedlings and taught them technical skills, said Hidrom, the local pioneer who also keeps bees.



Despite struggling with getting enough water for his plants, he sees the fruits as his future.



“The land here is very small so planting cereal crops is not profitable. Highland fruits are the way to go.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT IS NEXT?</h4>



Demand for seedlings and technical knowledge is so high the government has not been able to keep up, said Zenebu, the agricultural official and leader of the team promoting highland fruits in Tigray.



About 33,000 people were producing fruits between June and the end of December, and they hope to raise the number to 96,000 by June 2020, to boost farmer incomes as well as nutrition, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



In the decade between 2006/2007 and 2016/2017, Ethiopia’s economy soared, but the country remains one of the region’s poorest, with nearly one in four living below the national poverty line, according to the World Bank.



More than four out of five Ethiopians also rely on agriculture and livestock for work and income in Africa’s second-most populous nation after Nigeria.



This makes them particularly vulnerable to weather-related disasters, many of which are becoming more frequent. Even Tigray’s restored landscape may only be able to help so much, experts said.



“Thirty, 40 years ago, there used to be rain end of May up till end of October. Now the rain comes in middle of June if you are lucky and stops first week of September,” Ehiopian aid worker Getachew said.



“So, investment in environment and water security are critical,” he said.



Farmers say they do not fear working hard, but rather the unpredictable weather and a repeat of the 1984.



“This is peace value. It allows us to secure an existence,” said Hidrom, pointing to a basket of freshly harvested almonds in his hands. -Reuters



-Thin Lei Win @thinink; Laurie Goering and Elias Gebreselassie

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With Fruits and Green Shoots, Tigray Swaps Image of Famine for Resilience

After rapid economic growth averaging&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/oct/22/ethiopia-african-tiger-middle-income">10%</a>&nbsp;every year between 2004 and 2014, Ethiopia has emerged as an engine of development in Africa.



And there are no signs that ambitions for further growth are fading. This is clear from the government’s <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="blueprint  (opens in a new tab)" href="https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/resilience_ethiopia/document/growth-and-transformation-plan-ii-gtp-ii-201516-201920" target="_blank">blueprint </a>to achieve middle-income status – or gross national income of at least US$1006 per capita – by 2025. This would see a rapid increase in per capita income in Ethiopia, which is <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ethiopia/overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="currently (opens in a new tab)">currently </a><a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ethiopia/overview">US$783</a>, according to the World Bank.



Ethiopia’s growth has been propelled by at least two factors: the prioritisation of agriculture as a key contributor to development and the fast-paced adoption of new technologies to boost the sector.



A <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="third  (opens in a new tab)">third </a>of Ethiopia’s GDP is generated through agriculture, and more than <a href="http://www.fao.org/ethiopia/fao-in-ethiopia/ethiopia-at-a-glance/en/">12 million households</a> rely on small-scale farming for their livelihoods.



One of the drivers of growth in the agricultural sector has been the expansion of irrigation. The country has seen the <a href="https://www.mamopanel.org/resources/reports-and-briefings/water-wise-smart-irrigation-strategies-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="fastest (opens in a new tab)">fastest </a><a href="https://www.mamopanel.org/resources/reports-and-briefings/water-wise-smart-irrigation-strategies-africa/">growth</a> in irrigation of any African country. The area under irrigation increased by almost 52% between 2002 and 2014.



This was achieved by investing in the sector, and by harnessing technology to expand irrigation to farmers who traditionally relied on rainfall to water their crops. This boosted productivity and income for farmers by helping them extend the growing season and become more consistent in their production.



Meanwhile, only <a href="http://www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/pdf/pubs/2013africanagricultures.pdf">6% of arable</a><a href="http://www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/pdf/pubs/2013africanagricultures.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)"> </a><a href="http://www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/pdf/pubs/2013africanagricultures.pdf">land</a> is currently irrigated across the whole of Africa. This means that there’s huge potential to expand irrigation and unlock economic growth.



These factors are highlighted by a <a href="https://www.mamopanel.org/resources/reports-and-briefings/water-wise-smart-irrigation-strategies-africa/">new </a><a href="https://www.mamopanel.org/resources/reports-and-briefings/water-wise-smart-irrigation-strategies-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="report  (opens in a new tab)">report </a>from the Malabo Montpellier Panel. The panel convenes experts in agriculture, ecology, nutrition and food security to guide policy choices by African governments. The aim is to help the continent accelerate progress towards food security and improved nutrition.



The panel’s latest report analyses progress – and highlights best practice – in irrigation in six countries. These include Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Niger and South Africa. Other African countries can draw lessons from the report’s insights.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Reasons for success</h4>



The report identified a number of common factors in countries where significant progress has been made to expand irrigation, including key policy and institutional innovations.



In the case of Ethiopia, one of the main reasons for its success is that agriculture and irrigation have been featured on the Ethiopian policy agenda since 1991. In addition, specialised institutions have been set up with clear commitments to maximise the benefits of water control and irrigation systems.



In addition, the government has invested in the sector and has plans to continue doing so. It aims to allocate US$15 billion to <a href="http://www.agri-learning-ethiopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Agriculture-Policy-MTR_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="irrigation (opens in a new tab)">irrigation </a><a href="http://www.agri-learning-ethiopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Agriculture-Policy-MTR_FINAL.pdf">development</a> by 2020.



The investment is expected to deliver a number of returns. These include:



<ul><li>more efficient use of fertilisers,</li><li>a reduction in the seasonal variability in productivity and</li><li>better yields from irrigated crops grown.</li></ul>



Another major area of development has been the collection of data. This is an invaluable asset that allows for careful monitoring and management of resources such as water, especially in times of drought.



In 2013, Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency began <a href="http://www.ata.gov.et/programs/highlighted-deliverables/input-voucher-sales-system-ivs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="mapping (opens in a new tab)">mapping </a><a href="http://www.ata.gov.et/programs/highlighted-deliverables/input-voucher-sales-system-ivs/">more than 32,400 sq kms</a> to identify water resources, particularly shallow groundwater, with the potential for irrigation development.



The final results of this mapping in 89 districts revealed nearly 3 billion cubic metres of water at a depth of less than 30 meters. This could allow approximately 100,000 hectares of land to be brought under irrigation, benefiting 376,000 families.



Finally, Ethiopia has harnessed the value of a full range of irrigation technologies. These have ranged small-scale interventions to large infrastructure.



A joint project between the Ethiopian Bureau of Agriculture, local extension officers, and an NGO called <a href="https://www.farmafrica.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Farm (opens in a new tab)">Farm </a><a href="https://www.farmafrica.org/">Africa</a>, for example, helped women and young people adopt small-scale irrigation. This was part of an initiative to increase their incomes and improve their nutrition.



Overall, the project reached nearly 6,400 women and landless people. The irrigation project also benefited 700 farming families.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">What other countries can do</h4>



In order to have food and income security and to attain broader development goals, countries need to make sure that all levels of government are engaged in planning and implementation. The private sector and farming communities also need to be involved to expand irrigation.



The experience of Ethiopia and other countries leading on irrigation can help other African governments develop country-specific strategies to effectively take irrigation to scale. The benefits of doing so, such as enhancing on-farm productivity and income, and improving resilience and livelihoods, are transformational.



The expansion in irrigated farming, coupled with reliable agricultural inputs and stable markets for the expected growth in farm products, has the potential to catapult Ethiopia to the forefront of African countries that have embraced agriculture as the engine of economic growth.

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How Investment in Irrigation Is Paying Off for Ethiopia’s Economy

Pnina Tamano-Shata’s earliest childhood memory is receiving a bag of fudge at a refugee camp in Sudan. Since then she has traveled a long way, becoming the first Ethiopian woman to hold a seat in the Israeli parliament and host her own current affairs show on mainstream TV.
Born into a religious Jewish family in the Wuzaba village in northern Ethiopia, Tamano-Shata’s grandfather was a Rabbi (Jewish spiritual leader). He could trace his lineage to the first Jews who arrived in Ethiopia between the first and sixth centuries. A staunchly religious community, they practiced their rituals completely isolated from Jews in the rest of the world.
When Tamano-Shata was three years old, word arrived of a new way to travel to the Jewish homeland, Israel, and thousands set off.
“We were very afraid of the Ethiopian authorities at that time. On the way we were attacked by robbers, women were raped and children disappeared. We ran out of water before we reached the refugee camp in Sudan and a lot of people from our community died,” she recounts.
From 1934 to 1999, four waves of Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel. They number more than 125,000 today.
“Trucks came to take us to an airplane that was waiting for us at a secret meeting point. I remember the Israeli soldiers. They gave us water and candies and bananas.”
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Tamano-Shata, her father and four siblings were separated from her pregnant mother and two sisters.
“Our truck arrived on the tarmac but my mother’s had broken down along the way. People were dying in the refugee camp and we didn’t know if she had also died or not. It was a very hard year for me until the Mossad (Israeli secret service) located her and brought her to Israel. I always say I am lucky because I found my mother and since then God has been taking care of me.”
But life in Israel was also difficult. The country was struggling to integrate these newcomers from mostly rural, remote regions of Ethiopia into a relatively modern country. Tamano-Shata received her first pair of shoes only after arriving in the Jewish State.
“In the first two decades after we came to Israel, the government’s policy was to help and help and help. It was like we were the poor in need. They invested a lot of money but forgot a really important thing – to ask us what we wanted. Only in the third decade did we find our voice and start saying to the government it’s not a problem of money, you need to work more on integration.”
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As a new immigrant, she was painfully aware of the language barriers, cultural differences and lack of knowledge of how their new country worked that prevented many Ethiopians from advancing. She became an activist at an early age, studying law and then moving to journalism and ultimately politics.
“Because of its history, Israel was created to be the home of the Jewish people no matter where they came from. But I don’t think the government understood the challenges black immigrants faced, which are different to those experienced by Jews who came from Russia and elsewhere. For Ethiopian Jews, a Jewish minority in Ethiopia and a black minority in Israel, there was suspicion on both sides at first.”
Over the years that suspicion has eroded in no small part because of the integration and success of people like Tamano-Shata. In recent years, she has turned her attention to getting more women into government because although 52% of Israelis are female, less than 30% hold high office.
“We see progress at the municipality level but unfortunately the ultra-Orthodox (very religious) parties still motivate for legislation that keeps women from top positions. Also, Israel’s biggest problem is security and that’s another reason why women are kept outside the main issues.”
She has always been a great advocate of social issues, arguing that they are part and parcel of security.
“We need to speak loudly and work hard. But never forget where we came from. Our old generation sacrificed a lot to come home to Jerusalem, to the land of our forefathers.&#8221; &#8211; Written by Paula Slier and Andre Toporvski Dryzun

Israel Is Home From Home For This Ethiopian

It began as a squabble between Arab allies, but the standoff between Qatar and its neighbours is threatening to engulf the Horn of Africa. When Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and the Maldives declared at the beginning of June that they were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/05/saudi-arabia-and-bahrain-break-diplomatic-ties-with-qatar-over-terrorism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">severing diplomatic relations</a> with Qatar it appeared to be of interest mainly to the Arabian Peninsula – and the Gulf in particular.
The Saudis and their allies accused Qatar of backing international terrorism. The US, which has the Al Udeid air base in Qatar, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/world/middleeast/qatar-saudi-arabia-egypt-bahrain-united-arab-emirates.html?_r=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">looked askance</a>, but did little more than use its good offices to try to ensure that the war of words did not flare into an open conflict.
But the countries just across the Red Sea have found themselves dragged into the dispute. After prevaricating for some time, Eritrea, which had hitherto good relations with Qatar, fell into line with the Saudis and broke ties with Qatar.
A <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article62713" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement</a> attributed to the Eritrean government declared limited support for the rupture with Qatar. Eritrea explained that the initiative taken by the Gulf nations is among many in the right direction that envisages full realisation of regional peace and stability.
Matters might have ended there, but such are the ties between nations on both sides of the Red Sea that this was unlikely. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have been <a href="http://untribune.com/un-report-uae-saudi-leasing-eritean-port-using-eritrean-land-sea-airspace-and-possibly-troops-in-yemen-battle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">using the Eritrean port</a> of Assab in their war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Egypt – which is part of the Saudi alliance – is also reported to have <a href="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/News/2017/4/29/Egypt-to-build-naval-base-in-Eritreas-Nora-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">plans</a> to build a major base on an Eritrean island in the Red Sea. The Eritreans are alleged to have some 400 troops fighting against the Iranian backed Houthis.
In the circumstances, a rupture between the Saudi alliance and Qatar was highly likely to spread to the Horn. And this was exactly what took place. Qatar had been a <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Full_Report_1869.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">generous donor</a> to Eritrea. It had also played a key mediating role in Eritrea’s border <a href="http://dspace.africaportal.org/jspui/bitstream/123456789/31056/1/SITREP150908.pdf?1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">conflict</a> with Djibouti, which flared in April 2008.
The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/world/africa/25iht-eritrea.4.13193224.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">origins</a> of the disputed border lie buried in the sands of colonial history and would never be easily resolved.
<h2>Qatar pull-out stokes tensions</h2>
The fighting left a number of Djibouti troops as prisoners of war in Eritrea and Qatar did their best to resolve this issue by mediation. Indeed, so close were the ties that when UN monitors met the political advisor to the President of Eritrea, Yemane Gebreab, in January 2013 and enquired about the Djiboutian prisoners of war, he <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/361/92/PDF/N1336192.pdf?OpenElement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">responded</a> that &#8220;all matters concerning the resolution of the conflict with Djibouti could only be addressed through the mediation of Qatar, and that no other intermediary was necessary&#8221;.
Qatar went further, deploying some 200 of its own troops along the Eritrea-Djibouti border in an attempt to reduce the tension. The Qatari peacekeeping force only supervised a small sector of the border near Ras Dumeira. It was therefore not in a position to observe or interdict cross-border movements further to the south, but its presence was symbolically important.
So when Qataris pulled their troops out on June 12th and 13th, there was something of a vacuum, which Eritrea is reported to have promptly filled. Djibouti <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-djibouti-eritrea-border-idUSKBN1971JR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accused</a> the Eritreans of moving their troops into the disputed territory. Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf declared that his country’s military had gone into “alert”.
A senior Eritrean diplomat at the African Union <a href="https://apnews.com/243ba2f8ef5841a5a2eeeb3c9e6edccf?utm_content=bufferaf0de&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> the move came after Eritrea cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and his country sought no confrontation with Djibouti.
But a <a href="http://www.shabait.com/news/local-news/24188-press-statement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">terse statement</a> from the Eritrean Ministry of Information issued days later described Qatar’s withdrawal as “hasty”. It said Eritrea had refrained from commenting because it was not privy to the action but would do so once it had all the information about the event.
The African Union, seldom swift to comment or intervene in any disputes effecting its members, finally made a move. Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, tweeted that the AUC would send a delegation to Djibouti border to <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2017/06/17/au-deploys-fact-finding-mission-to-eritrea-djibouti-border-calls-for-calm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">monitor</a> developments and work with all parties.
<h2>More uncertainty for The Horn</h2>
These events appear to have fallen well for Ethiopia, which has been at loggerheads with Eritrea since their own border war of 1998-2000. While Eritrea and Djibouti are daggers drawn following the Qatari withdrawal, Ethiopia has refrained from taking sides between the Saudis and Qatar. Both parties have sent delegations to Addis Ababa, no doubt asking for <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/qatar-crisis-eritrea-saudi-arabia-625356" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ethiopian support</a>, but so far Ethiopia has sat on the fence.
Ethiopia recently announced that it would reveal a <a href="https://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails/4157/Ethiopia-to-Have-New-Policy-Direction-on-Eritrea-" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new policy</a> towards Eritrea, but none has appeared to date. With its troublesome northern neighbour locked in a fresh controversy with Djibouti, Ethiopia may find it’s more likely to receive a sympathetic hearing for any initiative from the international community.
It will not be difficult, for instance, for Addis Ababa to portray Eritrea as a regional troublemaker, always willing to exploit a neighbour’s weakness. It should not be forgotten that since independence in 1993 Eritrea has been involved in conflicts with Yemen, Djibouti and Ethiopia &#8211; hardly a proud record.
The UN and the African Union are now engaged in trying to mediate between Eritrea and Djibouti. Meanwhile, the ongoing conflict in Yemen continues to have implications for the Horn, as the Saudis and UAE continue to use Eritrea as a rear base. The UAE is in fact seeking a further base in nearby <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-39051551/why-is-uae-building-a-military-base-in-somaliland" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Somaliland</a>.
As ever, it’s difficult to predict how events will unfold, but sparks from Arabia can easily set the Horn alight.
&#8211; Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/martin-plaut-319416" target="_blank" rel="author noopener noreferrer">Martin Plaut</a>, Senior Research Fellow, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study
Originally published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Conversation</a>
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Qatar’s conflict with its neighbours can set the Horn of Africa alight

It’s a dark and strange way to earn a living – in which you can die. If you survive, it is often prostrate on a pile of pills or swimming in an ocean of alcohol.
It is a painful story for one of Africa’s most accomplished journalists, Angus Shaw, to tell. It is also painful to listen to his excruciating experiences.
“A warzone produces two types of journalistic victims – one is shot at and injured or dies and the other type ends up screwed up in their brains,” says Shaw.
“I realized that you can’t drown your sorrows because your sorrows in most cases have learned how to swim. I try not to worry about things I cannot change and always remember that as a journalist my role is to shed light and not to bring change.”
Shaw had his own fight with alcohol. In covering wars in three decades, he says it was not all gloomy.
<div id="attachment_4869" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4869" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-4869 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/006-300x175.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="175" />United Nations media accreditation card, Somalia. Sgt. Rocko who typed it out clearly wasn’t familiar with the first name Angus</div>
“People should know that the African story is not all about wars, poverty and savagery. Journalism for me has been enriching, rewarding, except financially,” he chuckles.
Shaw has been on the frontline in a string of Africa’s nastiest wars: Liberia, Rwanda’s genocide, Ethiopia, Somalia, two wars in Mozambique. In Zimbabwe, the country of his birth, he saw war as both a journalist and a conscript.
The story of the Shaw family is intertwined with a century of tumult in Africa. His grandfather came north from South Africa with the pioneer column in 1890. Settlers were looking for gold and diamonds but ended up farming. Shaw’s grandfather and father prospered in tobacco and lived the life of Riley.
“My father was part of the Salisbury Club and, like many of his peers, he drank hard and worked hard. Due to his drinking lifestyle one day he forgot to come and pick me up from school and only showed up late and drunk.”
Shaw senior also smashed his car into the Salisbury Club, a gentlemen’s club in Harare, after a few drinks with one wheel of his car landing in the hotel lobby. The authorities took his driver’s licence. So, he had to be driven later by his chauffer over 1,500 miles from his Miegunyah farm, 30 kilometers from Harare to Durban, for the Durban July horse race.
Along the way, Shaw’s father put money away for his son to choose between business or school. Shaw chose the latter and went to a minor public school in England.
“After a short stint in the United Kingdom, I returned to Southern Rhodesia, where I would start my journalism career at the Rhodesian Herald in 1970. Those days there were no journalism schools so one had to go for attachment,” he says.
Shaw was soon thrust into reporting the violent bush war leading up to Mozambican independence in 1975. When Samora Machel took over Mozambique, a civil war broke out that would last nearly three decades.
“In Mozambique we were traveling in the company of the Zimbabwean forces and UN peacekeepers. The Zimbabwean forces were mainly protecting their pipeline, while Samora Machel was fighting to keep control from the Renamo rebels.”
After Mozambique, the Rhodesian army drafted him to fight the guerrillas back home.
After he served his time in the rank, he left to interview nationalist exiles in Lusaka and Dar es Salaam. It was not easy.
“Every able bodied white man going through an airport needed to have a clearance,” he says.
“All of the nationalist leaders whose names are inscribed on roads in the capital, Harare, related to me on first name basis.”
They included Robert Mugabe, Josiah Tongogara and Simon Mazorodze.
“I first met Robert Mugabe when I had gone to the townships. I asked if I could interview him and he said he could only talk to me if I arranged a press conference for him in the city center, which I did.”
His experiences in his country’s war would lead to his first book- Kandaya, Another Time, Another Place.
When he moved on it was to the hell of Idi Amin’s Uganda.
“Kampala was on fire, the city was in ruins as there were bodies all over. What I saw made World War Two look elementary,” he says.
The 1978-79 Ugandan war pitted the Tanzanian liberation forces against Amin’s army.
“There were mass graves and as we accompanied the liberation forces to Luzira prison where opponents of Amin were caged, one could not fight back emotions. Prisoners were starved and in one of those prison cells, I threw up. It’s all about wealth, power and corruption,” says Shaw, whom many journalist friends believe is too ideological.
His memories of the Ugandan war would lead to his second book, written in a hotel room in London, Last To Kill, The Rise And Fall Of Idi Amin.
“I wrote the last chapter of this book in the plane to London. A limousine waited for me at Heathrow Airport and with Concorde the book was on its way the following day to New York. Four days later, the book was on sale.”
There was no stopping after Uganda.
<div id="attachment_4868" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4868" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-4868 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0005-300x191.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="191" />Media evacuation from Rwanda aboard a U.N. C130 cargo plane</div>
“In 1979, I also went to cover the Somalia-Ethiopia war. This was a conventional desert war and because of a 16-hour drive on a tractor when one was injured, many died before they could reach medical services. The hum of trucks, tractors and aircrafts drowned the heat of the desert. Journalists were isolated as fighting forces didn’t want anyone outside to know what was happening,” he says.
Shaw returned to Somalia after a clan war broke out. This war almost took his life.
“This was during the famine relief efforts that turned nasty. There were Americans, Germans, Canadians and UN representatives. Americans took a lot of causalities and it’s the same war that Mujahedeen shot down an American Black Hawk,” he says.
Hollywood made a movie out of this, called Black Hawk Down. The reality was worse.
“Americans were sending bodies back home in body bags. One African American said to me ‘we came to help our brothers but they are shooting us’.”
Shaw says war reporting can be seductive as well as disruptive.
“I remember being in Nairobi and felt it strange not to hear any gunshots.”
“I was lucky not to be killed; it was dangerous that we had to always move with bodyguards. Out of seven foreign correspondents that were covering the clan war in Somalia, four died in the country.”
Then came Rwanda in 1994.
“I spent several months there, I saw nice people killing nice people. I cannot describe the experience,” he says.
Nearly a million people are believed to have died in this ethnic war in 100 days.
“The United Nations had burned their fingers in Somalia and when they sent peacekeepers in Rwanda, they didn’t send enough. We went to various massacre sights, in some places we saw people running through the bushes with machetes. In Rwanda we saw piles and piles of bodies.”
What Shaw saw in Rwanda would never leave him.
“I have never been a church person, when you see such horror; you look to the skies and ask God what’s going on. That is where I saw that human nature is imperfect,” he says.
After traveling and covering wars it was time to write about events in his country.
“Between 1988 and 1998 we experienced a lot of multicultural and multiracial relations. The country was prospering but as Mugabe started losing power, all that changed,” says Shaw.
Shaw survived war, but in peacetime Zimbabwe, he was arrested three times. Mugabe saw journalists as agents of the West and supporters of his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai. From his journalism experiences sprang a third book, Mutoko Madness, A Memoir Of Angus Shaw.
“Seven years ago, I went into rehabilitation after a friend convinced me to. I was taught to count my blessings.”
He also believes the changing nature of news gathering led to him being rendered redundant.
“The media has changed so much; I am an old newspaper guy. News agencies are having a hard time. You can’t write a story with 700 words. I like ink on my fingers.”
Shaw has proved this in the dangerous business of shedding light in Africa.

Shedding Light  On Renewable Energy

‘You Can’t Drown Your Sorrows; They Have Learned How To Swim’

Once upon a time, there was a poor little boy named Haile Gebrselassie in Asella, a village in Ethiopia’s dusty south. One of 10 children, he watched his father farm wheat and maize and tend to his cows and sheep. Poverty was the only constant in their life. School was 10 kilometers away, and every day, the young boy would run to his classes and back, covering the distance in minutes. Those were baby steps to global fame.
Years later, he would become Ethiopia’s most famous man entering record books as the world’s greatest distance runner.
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It all began when one day, on his father’s radio, a seven-year-old Gebrselassie heard of Miruts Yifter, the Ethiopian runner who won two golds at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. That made him decide his own course in life – he too would become a runner. The green countryside and rugged mountains of his hometown became his inimitable training ground.
While in high school, a 14-year-old Gebrselassie pleaded with his teachers to compete in the local marathon. He was the youngest in the competition, but was at least 60 meters ahead of the rest when he eventually won. The prize was a dollar – a princely sum. Overnight, he became school hero.
And in time, Ethiopia’s hero, winning two Olympic golds and eight World Championships, and setting 27 world records. The golds were for Atlanta in 1996 and for Sydney in 2000, when he competed with Kenyan Paul Tergat in an epic finish.
Many still remember the rapturous reception when he landed in Addis Ababa from Sydney; thousands thronged the streets all the way from the airport, hailing him like a king. To this day, he is known as the ‘Emperor of Long Distance’.
It’s March 2015, two months before announcing his retirement from competitive running, when FORBES AFRICA meets him for the first time.
Gebrselassie is seated on a pale leather sofa in a dapper suit, sporting a winning smile that people say is his greatest asset. He is undeniably affable. His office is on the eighth floor of the Haile &amp; Alem International building on the arterial Bole Road in Addis Ababa. There is raucous traffic below and the city is a giant construction site – new buildings coming up on either side of the road, and with them, swirling columns of dust.
The building we are in was constructed by Gebrselassie, all nine floors of it, now let out to other offices. Every business he owns has his indelible stamp: the Haile Gabrselassie Avenue in Addis Ababa (he has a road in his name) has another one of his iconic office buildings, so designed as to inconspicuously bear the letters H&amp;A on its face (A for Alem, his wife and business partner). He owns resorts in and en route to Awasa, about four hours by road from Addis Ababa, all of them five-star and named Haile.
It’s hot and Gebrselassie rues Ethiopia is not getting enough rain.
“I am the son of a farmer, I know this is not good,” he says.
He has a 1,500-hectare organic coffee farm in Ethiopia’s south, and he fears the land will be too dry.
Talk of his farm and village evokes memories of his childhood, and that first overseas trip to Belgium from there.
“In 1991, there was a cross-country race here in Addis and I finished fifth. That year, the top six finalists were taken to Belgium for the international competition. I finished eighth but I can never forget my first international trip,” smiles Gebrselassie.
The following year, he flew again, this time to Seoul in South Korea, where he won the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter championships. The prize was a C180 Mercedes-Benz. He also won another C180 Mercedes-Benz in 1995. He says they are both proudly displayed at his resort in Awasa.
In the 2013 book Haile Gebrselassie: Emperor of Long Distance, he recounts that emotional moment when he won gold for the first time at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
“…I had no worries about the sprint. I kicked with 200 meters and crossed the line with a new Olympic record of 27:07.34. My dream came true. Many things crossed my mind when I stood on top of the podium – pressure from Ethiopians, my promise to Alem, the hopes of the family… As soon as the national anthem started, I began to cry. It’s the only time I’ve cried on the podium.”
“I have run for more than 300 competitions so far. I have run for 27 years. But now, it is a different kind of running,” smiles Gebrselassie, referring to his multiple business interests in real estate, hospitality, imported cars, coffee and cineplexes.
“But I don’t think I am an entrepreneur, I am trying,” he says modestly.
He never expected his businesses to grow the way they have.
“I have built office blocks, shops, resorts, cinemas, gyms and schools,” he says.
Since 2014, he has also tried his luck at gold mining, working on exploration in Ethiopia’s southeast.
“Our geologists are working very hard. And we are investing a lot, a lot of money. We have found gold, but production will not be [now],” he says.
He has enough of the gleaming metal in his trophy cabinet too. How many gold medals, we ask.
“That is a good question. I didn’t count them, but could be more than 200. From 1992, until 2008, I have run an average of 15 competitions a year. That is a lot, [enough] to have run at least two times around the world,” laughs Gebrselassie.
The marathon man appears pensive before he speaks again.
“Because I travel a lot, I always think of how to improve my country. For example, if I walk in London, I would look around and wish we had those buildings in Ethiopia. And when I [have] the money, I would come back, and want to build. One building would lead to another.”
His drawing board includes a five-star hotel in Addis Ababa, named Haile, of course. Gebrselassie introduced local cinema to the city. His cineplexes currently showcase Ethiopian films to packed houses. He has even tried his hand at acting. In 1999, he starred as himself in the film Endurance, screened at his cinema house.
The film didn’t do well.
“It was not appreciated,” smiles Gebrselassie. “But the next film we screened was a love story [he was not in it], and that’s when the people came.”
Every November, Gebrselassie organizes the Great Ethiopian Run, commencing from Addis Ababa’s Meskel Square. The turnout in 2014 was 40,000 and growing each year; it’s a resounding success on the continent’s marathon map. In addition, in 2015, he was also part of the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town.
“Actually, my business [philosophy] is like this: there is business for money and business for satisfaction. I opened a school in the village I was born in and another school in west Ethiopia. The fees are minimal and I didn’t open them for profit… If you ask me how much my businesses are worth, it’s not only the property, it’s the people too. I work hard and I don’t see how much I have. I am happy,” says Gebrselassie.
He wants to make sure he’s setting the right example for the upcoming generation of athletes.
“Most runners or sportspeople; how many of them invest in business?” he asks. “I haven’t seen anyone invest money this way. And I know many sportsmen around the world. For me, the chances I have given my people, is worth more than a billion dollars. Most of the younger athletes [now] invest here. They say ‘Haile has inspired us’. To copy is not difficult, but to create something is hard. My farms, hotels and buildings give job opportunities for others. All the money has been from athletics. If you want to see a true billionaire, in terms of money, come back in five years. Don’t ask me how much money I have in currency, but the goodwill [I enjoy] is priceless.”
And who did he look up to for inspiration? “If you ask me who the world’s best long-distance runner is, I would say it is Nelson Mandela. If you have to be a runner, you have to be patient. After 27 years in prison, he forgave [his captors].” Gebrselassie met Mandela in South Africa in 1996 at a world cross-country event and they shook hands.
Addis Ababa being a small city, word, good or bad, gets around. It’s easy to see Gebrselassie is well-respected in the business community.
“He is not just an athlete, he is a smart businessman. What I like about him is he developed himself, is self-made,” says Tihitina Tutu Legesse, one of Addis Ababa’s top entrepreneurs in the furniture business.
On May 10 last year, the two-time 10,000-meter Olympic champion announced his retirement from competitive running. He ran his way to fortune, and there are now rumors that his next turn will be in politics, and that he will be running for parliament in Ethiopia in 2020. He told the BBC in an interview in February this year that he would like to be a politician.
“I think he is very brave. I really admire his strategy,” says Saba Kahsay, the Managing Director of REVO Construction in Addis Ababa. “He knows which fights to pick in terms of business. He has a very strong advisory committee. He does not do everything by himself. He has people doing it for him. He is not just a businessman but also a community man.”
Gebrselassie is expected to be at the Olympic Games in Rio in August where he will be television commentator.
But he is not packing away his running shorts, even though he has changed track to the boardroom. His sprawling hilltop home, where the 43-year-old lives with his wife and four children, overlooks the city. He wakes up before dawn every day to run on the hills of Entoto and their verdant paths. He cannot do without it; he says running is his life.

Farmer. Marathon Man. Businessman.

As chair of the African Union (AU) Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it would seem, far from the politics of her home country South Africa.
But it is now, in recent months, perhaps more than ever before, that her name is ricocheting in the corridors of power. Whilst political observers say she is coming to South Africa more often addressing high-profile meetings, the speculation is if she will be South Africa’s next president in 2017.
Will she be? If she does, it will make her South Africa’s first female president, which will be a political harbinger for the women’s movement.
We posed the question to the sexagenarian and anti-apartheid activist in June 2015 in Johannesburg, a day after the 25th Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government around the theme ‘Women’s empowerment and development towards Agenda 2063’.
“That is not dependent on me,” Dlamini-Zuma had replied with a gentle laugh.
“At the moment, I am working at the AU, and that’s where my efforts should be. Who becomes the president of South Africa is a decision of whichever party wins, it will be the decision of the ruling party. And I have to do my best where I am. If you work for it, maybe it will happen. It is the decision of South Africans, but not my decision.”
A medical doctor, Dlamini-Zuma had been minister of health during Nelson Mandela’s presidency, foreign minister in the Thabo Mbeki government, and home affairs minister in the Jacob Zuma government before becoming the first woman to take on the top job at the AU in 2012.
Dlamini-Zuma’s mandate for now is clear – a united and strong Africa.
The greater financial inclusion of women on the continent, especially in agribusiness, is a subject close to her heart.
“The women on this continent are very unique in many ways. They really are the drivers of communities, of families, they are the curators of our culture, they really are the backbone of our social security as they take care of the elderly and the sick. But they also just make sure the land is tilled, there is food on the table for the children. But we need to empower them to do a lot more.”
Binding a large, heterogeneous continent with similarities rather than differences is challenging, but Dlamini-Zuma stridently believes in the pan-African dream, and the power of the youth to shape Africa.
“What is common is that we are all driven by a pan-African approach, which looks at solidarity amongst Africans, unity amongst Africans, and so I try and use what is common, what can drive all of us to prosperity and peace. And also working around the issues of women, as they are common on the continent and across the globe, and working with youth, which is also a critical part of what we do.”
In September 2015, Dlamini-Zuma received the Gülen Peace Award from the Turquoise Harmony Institute. Previous winners include Graça Machel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
One of her achievements at the AU, she says, has been bringing together Agenda 2063, a development framework and vision for Africa.
“The second thing we have been able to achieve is to get the continent to realize it has to fund its own programs…We want to make sure we are at the forefront and the world should work with us, support us, invest in Africa, but we have to invest in Africa ourselves.”
The management of diversity on the continent is another key focus. And more women in politics, as positive role models, driving the agenda for change. Whether or not Dlamini-Zuma becomes South Africa’s next president, she is certainly only a step away from proving it is possible.

The Pan-African

Ethiopia boasts a kaleidoscope of cultures, from animistic tribes in the southern Rift Valley to its orthodox Christian heritage in the northern highlands. This ancient land offers both the intrepid traveler and religious pilgrim an opportunity to sample the variants of Abrahamic religions practised with unique zeal.
The Kingdom of Axum in what is present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea was one of the first Christian countries in the world, having officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the fourth century. Ethiopia is mentioned over 37 times in King James’ version of the Bible. Today, Ethiopia continues to predominantly be Christian (63%) and the majority of Christians are Tewahedo Christians, who belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
I could feel the deep influence of Christianity traveling around the country. Both Islam and Christianity have flourished here side by side for centuries.
Lalibela, a remote town located at an altitude of 2,800 meters, is known around the world for its churches carved from living rock. The 13 rock-cut structures dating back to the 12th century are said to represent Jerusalem. The rock churches are connected to one another by labyrinthine tunnels with a small river in the middle, which the Ethiopians named the Jordan, in keeping with the idea of Jerusalem.
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The churches were not constructed in a traditional way but rather were hewn from the living rock of monolithic blocks. These blocks were further chiseled out, forming doors, windows, columns, various floors, roofs etc. In addition, several passages, drainage trenches, catacombs and hermit residences were also carved out. Proclaimed as an UNESCO World Heritage site, the churches of Lalibela are also a significant engineering feat, given that they are built atop artesian well formations that bring the water up to the top of the mountain ridge on which the city sits.
Arriving at the Church of Bet Madane, the largest monolithic church in the world (carved out of live rock), I found throngs of pilgrims occupying the many niches in deep prayer. The church is cut 15 meters down, its roof forming the shape of a Greek cross. The roof of this church is leveled with the ground and reached by stairs descending into narrow trenches. Worshippers were crouched, seated and often times standing, in deep individual prayer, following passages from the Bible.
Pursuing one’s religious beliefs in deep silence and quietitude in an amazing setting is something I will never forget.
In one particular church, I found the remains of thousands of Coptic pilgrims. There is a huge pit of strewn bones, skulls and shockingly well-preserved bodies of people who walked from Egypt and Syria to be buried in the church 1,500 years ago.
Upon visiting other churches, I noticed many pilgrims were slumbering in various nooks of these dark churches, tired from fasting and listening to chants all day. There were numerous nuns in traditional head covering. The scene was surreal and I could feel myself transported back in time.
It is said that there are a 1,000 monks in Lalibela amongst a population of 10,000. The priests of many temples were proud to display the treasures of the temples, stored in huge wooden cabinets hidden behind silk curtains. They include beautifully-illustrated Bibles written in Aramaic, and icons, silver crosses and ritual silver vessels used for worship.
Next stop was Axum, considered to be the holiest city. The city was the original capital of the Kingdom of Axum (1st-6th AD). Axumites developed a distinctive architecture exemplified by giant obelisks, the oldest of which date from 5000–2000 BC.
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The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims that the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum houses the Biblical Ark of the Covenant in which lie the Tablets of Law upon which the Ten Commandments are inscribed. Fascinated by such a possibility, I entered the church and sat down with the large gathering of pilgrims, enjoying and appreciating the beautiful paintings inside this male-only enclave.
A religious land and a deeply religious people in a very ancient landscape is what I mainly observed traveling over 1,000 km inside the country. The beautiful smiles of the children and the elegantly-draped women who were glad to talk and be photographed were an added bonus. Ethiopia is still an unexplored gem. Boasting nine World Heritage sites, amazing religious traditions, world-class archeological sites and a host of beautiful people, Ethiopia is an ideal stopover, especially during Easter.

IMGP0916

Where History And Faith Meet

The thatched roof houses and brown earth make Awra Amba, in the Amhara area of northern Ethiopia, look like any African village. But this is no ordinary village.
Here, young girls go to school, and walk short distances from their homes to get to them. Once home, they don’t have to trade their textbooks for chopping boards or babies. Household chores don’t await them. In Ethiopia, less than half the girls don’t go to primary school, but not so in Awra Amba – they all do.
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Take Trissew Fente for instance. She chose not to marry before turning  19. Child marriages are common in the rest of Ethiopia, but not in Awra Amba. Fente opted to marry a man of her generation, and didn’t need to ask her family’s permission for it.
There were no celebrations, no dowry paid. The union was desacralized. Today, 30 years old, she is a mother of three and has opted not to get pregnant again.
Fente uses oral contraception. Awra Amba supports family planning methods, and opposes the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The villagers are well aware of the long-term health issues associated with it.
“We don’t inflict [excision] on our daughters because this creates many complications at birth,”
says Fente.
In Ethiopia, excision is punishable by law (since 2005). Yet, it’s believed that more than 70% of Ethiopian women continue to be victims of this practice – the country has one of the worst rates in the world.
“The people in Ethiopia think we’re crazy. Personally, I think their customs are terrible,” says Fente, as she works away on her wooden loom, traditionally an activity men engage in on the continent.
Petite she is, but performs this physically-arduous job just as skillfully as the men.
In Awra Amba, men and women get the same pay. The jobs are not distributed as per gender, but according to skill-sets. Here, women can be seen ploughing the land while men bathe the children and prepare injera, a pancake made out of a cereal grown locally.
“Doing a woman’s job does not change my sex, it changes my ignorance” is one of the mottos of this community created by Zumra Nuru, a 70-year-old illiterate peasant.
Known for his trademark green hat, Nuru founded this exclusive community at Awra Amba in 1972. Village lore has it that he decided to create his own utopia based on impressions from his childhood, when he witnessed the gross inequalities between his mother and father.
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The beginnings were difficult, as Nuru sought to emancipate and free himself and his community of binding religious ties. Today, the community is made up of a hundred families who follow the unique egalitarian principles set by Numra for a self-sustaining society.
Hopefully, his model will encourage Ethiopia – and the rest of Africa – to come up with other more unique and emancipated concepts that benefit their communities – and the women.

P1000272

Ethiopia or Utopia?

A cold front is sweeping over Addis Ababa from the Eucalyptus-dotted Entoto mountain range. In the gloom of dawn, I shiver and look out from my hotel window at the derelict shell of a half-finished tower block. As usual I am awake as the early traffic noise begins. Despite the gray pallor of the horizon, I set out and take a morning run across the rutted steps of Meskel Square—my feet splashing in rust-colored potholes.
As the shadows lift on the downtown plaza, a more forgiving light gradually reveals hundreds of young athletes limbering up in the drizzle. I know my limits. I am a mere mortal compared to even the least talented of these local runners—most of whom will finish 30 kilometers in a round trip—a day. Rising at 4AM and running between 5AM and 7AM, with their eye on the Olympic dream, this is their solemn and stark ritual seven days a week. It will take the most dedicated years to let it go.
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I may be a stranger in their midst but I know something of their story. I investigated the plight of Ethiopia’s female athletes in 2008. For them, running represented not only a long shot at riches but an opportunity to escape the blight of child marriage which is still common in far-flung rural areas. The stipends paid to the most talented athletes by local associations also ensured the track was a small source of income in a landscape where jobs for young women were, like gold medals, too often beyond reach.
Today, I notice the warring crowds of female athletes, jostling for position along the concrete terraces that line the square, have thinned out.
“More and more are going to college. They all want to work for Western firms setting up shop here,” my driver scornfully tells me.
I have arrived back in Addis to investigate Ethiopia’s thriving leather export industry just as the Swedish retail giant, H&amp;M, reportedly enters the local market with their first small manufacturing hubs in Africa on the outskirts of the city. Other Western firms, notably the British supermarket giant, Tesco, and the ubiquitous Walmart, are also now, according to local newspapers, manufacturing goods here for the first time. This is welcome news in many ways. I know from experience that jobs in the retail sector fill a vital role employing women—although, as recent history in Asia shows us, it is a sector that does not necessarily empower them.
The garment industry and I have had a combative relationship. While a foreign correspondent based in India, I uncovered children in the supply chain of Gap Inc, prompting relentless international headlines and hurtling me into a campaign to expose abundant retail wrongdoing among other Western manufacturers in unimaginable sweatshops from Karachi to Dhaka and Colombo.
It was an issue I couldn’t even stay away from when I first moved to Africa after I exposed suppliers to both Levi’s and Gap, in the tiny kingdom of Lesotho, who were dumping dangerous garment waste and leaking toxic dyes into the heart of an impoverished HIV-ravaged community. An exposé made all the more startling by the fact that the Gap supplier in question was producing clothing for Product Red—an enterprise entirely designed to help the world’s poorest people.
As a consequence, I find myself sitting in an Addis café reading local headlines heralding the creation of garment manufacturing hubs in Africa with both hope and trepidation.
H&amp;M’s decision to look towards Ethiopia as a new low-cost country to produce clothing does not come as a surprise. After all, it is not a newcomer to the textile and garment industry. The first garment factories in the country were built in 1939, during the fascist Italian occupation.
Africa also has a history of production in the sector. Few Western shoppers realize that Madagascan textile factories continue to make clothes for Inditex, the parent company of Zara, and once did so for Gap Inc as well as other major Western retailers. Tunisia and Morocco has been furnishing high street shelves for decades.
But H&amp;M’s decision to move into Ethiopia has captured the attention of many in the garment trade. It comes at a time when many retailers are relying too heavily on nations like Bangladesh for clothing production—a place where many supply chains are at breaking point. Like other foreign firms, H&amp;M, widely seen as an industry leader, inevitably sees Ethiopia as an opportunity to expand its sourcing footprint in Africa, which could come to represent a major consumer market in itself, and not part of a bigger plan to replace its commitment to production in Asia.
But Asia is causing many retailers serious problems. In Bangladesh, sustainability and a series of deadly factory fires has led to international condemnation of the garment industry. The shelf life of China, at least as a source of cheaply manufactured clothing, also appears to be diminishing. According to the research firm, Sanford C. Bernstein, individual garments manufactured in Ethiopia were half the cost of those in China as of 2011.
The Ethiopian government wants to transform its textile and garment industry and has set an ambitious target of $1 billion in textile exports by 2016. In order to achieve this, it is bringing in foreign investors to modernize machines and factories. Other countries like Kenya, Ghana and Uganda are following suit. Led by commitments by firms such as H&amp;M, the garment industry could partly help such nations achieve the goal of moving from primarily agricultural economies to industrial.
Few in the West realize that Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated population approaching 92 million. According to the United States Census Bureau, in less than 40 years, Ethiopia’s population will more than triple to 278 million. In perspective, in 1967, the population was just 23.5 million.
But it is also a youthful demographic. Half of all Ethiopians today are between the ages of 15 and 24. Yet according to a 2012 US Agency For International Development study, Ethiopia has one of the highest urban youth unemployment rates in the world at 50%. In a nutshell, Ethiopia, like all African nations, needs manufacturing hubs to deliver jobs to young people and in particular, young women.
In my opinion, for major players like H&amp;M and Walmart, the country also offers the opportunity to learn from the mistakes made by the garment industry as a whole in Asia. Shaping sub-Saharan nations like Ethiopia into retail manufacturing hubs offers Western retailers the chance to wipe the slate clean and to work harder to help local suppliers avoid supply chain exploitation and sustainability issues. Above all it could represent a chance for retailers to offer consumers and stakeholders more transparent insight into their supply chains.
But there is already a flaw in this ideal. Today, the sub-Saharan Africa clothing industry is challenged by the fact that it is only partly African-owned. The clothing industries in Lesotho and Swaziland are in fact owned by Taiwanese consortiums. Similarly, in Kenya and Ethiopia, much of the industry is controlled by Indian and even Mauritian investment. Before it even grows to a recognizable sector, sub-contracting already shapes much of the industry in Africa—as does the inevitable out-sourcing of profits from local operations.
Shane Godfrey, a senior researcher in the Labor and Enterprise Project at the University of Cape Town, recently claimed that many of the garment factories in Africa are part of a triangular manufacturing strategy. So, despite often being very large operations, they do little more than assemble garments made in other nations. In the industry, he claims, they are known as caravan factories that can be easily packed up and moved elsewhere.
Godfrey’s argument is simple. He claims that that while foreign investment should be retained and encouraged, there also needs to be more stringent requirements for skills transfer so that locally-owned manufacturing capacity can develop. Controversial perhaps but the argument that Indian factories in the heart of Ethiopia will, inevitably, be less engaged in emancipating the local population and more engaged in taking out profit is hard to ignore.
Major Western retailers should not think about building schools or investing in clinics but framing corporate social responsibility investments around the training of young women to work in the garment sector and ultimately assisting Ethiopians themselves to create businesses that contribute and profit from the promising retail economy. Simplistically speaking, these firms should also keep a tighter hold on sustainability issues in far flung production hubs, such as the disposal of garment waste, the use of water during dry spells and the application of dyes.
In recent years, my own thought processes, as the outsider trying to encourage change in the garment industry, has evolved with reason and deeper understanding.
I strongly believe that Africa needs to become a manufacturing hub in sectors like retail to capitalize on the youth dividend of nations like Ethiopia. But there also needs to be more social responsibility from major manufacturers, who have been part of problematic supply chains in Asia and are now eyeing Africa as the next source of cheap clothing.
H&amp;M, now the second biggest retailer in the world, was the first company to sign a Europe-led safety pact for Bangladesh garment factories after the collapse of the factory in Rana Plaza. This despite the fact the firm had no suppliers in the building. Helena Helmersson, the firm’s global head of sustainability, has also urged Bangladesh and Cambodia to raise the minimum wage and revise it annually. Such commitments at the outset of any involvement in Africa should be expected.
Underlying this entire issue, the dialogue between the stakeholders involved in these supply chains also needs to be more open, honest and robust. The NGOs, the CEOs, the grassroots communities and the regional and national governments all need to be involved from the outset as Africa begins to process and build goods for the West and we all need to discard the distrust we have of each other and learn from the terrible mistakes made in the sweatshops of Dhaka and Delhi.

Tag: Ethiopia

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