Ethiopia to takeover UNSC presidency in September
Ethiopia will take over the presidency of the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) in the coming month of September.
During its presidency, Ethiopia will lead two important meetings, Meles Alem, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
The first will be the meeting of the Council that will be held in Addis Ababa on 7 and 8 September 2017.
During the meeting, members of the Council are expected to deliberate on current situations in Somalia, South Sudan and the Chad basin.
Discussion between the Council and the African Union is also expected to take place during the Addis Ababa session. The conference to be held in New York on 20 September is another forum to be held under Ethiopia’s presidency.
The meeting is expected to discuss on strengthening the UN peacekeeping missions. The session will be attended by countries that have role in peacekeeping operations. The presidency of the UNSC is held by each of the members in turn for one month. (ENA)
Hand grenade attack in Jimma town leaves 13 injured
A hand grenade thrown by unidentified individual in Jimma town, Oromia Regional State, has injured 13 people.
The grenade attack occurred on Thursday at 12 a.m local time at a place called Legehar, according to Inspector Fadil Mohammed, the town’s police commander.
Those injured in the attack were receiving medical help at the Jimma university specialized referral hospital.
Among the injured include a 10 year-old boy and two women.
According to the Inspector, police has continued its search for the person suspected of carrying out the attack.
In a separate development, police seized illegally possessed over half a million US dollars in East Hararge zone, according to communication affairs bureau of Oromia regional state.
Addisu Arega, head of the communication bureau, said a suspect was arrested yesterday at Bordede check point while transporting the money from Addis Ababa to eastern part of the country.
He said the money was intended to fund those forces of destruction who are trying to incite violence and destabilize the region. (FBC)
US wants to deport more Eritreans
The United States is threatening to apply visa sanctions on Eritrea, one of the world’s most repressive countries, as leverage to force Eritrean authorities to accept its citizens who could be deported from America.
“Our goal is to get countries to agree to accept the return of their nationals,” David Lapan, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman, told reporters Wednesday.
Lapan said DHS had asked the State Department to implement the sanctions on four countries, but declined to identify them. The Washington Times quoted unidentified sources as saying they included Eritrea.
It remains unclear whether the sanctions would be imposed or how many possible Eritreans could be at risk of deportation. The State Department declined to comment about whether it was concerned that Eritrean deportees would be jailed or tortured upon return.
“We follow a standard process to implement a visa suspension as expeditiously as possible in the manner the Secretary determines most appropriate under the circumstances to achieve the desired goal,” the statement said. (Washington Post)
Child & Maternal Death Conference Ends on High Note
The two-day 2017 conference – Acting on the Call Summit held at the African Union concluded on a high note in Addis Ababa on Friday. The conference that was officially opened on Thursday by President Mulatu Teshome (PhD) was and had hundreds of delegates in attendance. It was organized by the governments of Ethiopia and India with the support of USAIS, UNICEF and the Bill & Gates Foundation.
“Mothers and child morality remains among the world’s most pressing and distressing challenges, Solomon Zewdu (MD) of the Gates Foundation told The Reporter. “The introduction of the Health Extension Platform, established 13 years ago, has serve d as the vehicle to operationalize the top down and down up efforts and ultimately translated into effective maternal and child mortality reducing among, many other health sector successes”.
The conference highlighted better approaches to increase impact on the ground, pressed on countries to commit for better health and make a commitment to end preventable child and maternal death in the world. (By Samuel Getachew)
