Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines announced that the two companies had partnered to transport humanitarian aid on Boeing 737 MAX delivery flights from Seattle. Three flights delivered the items between November and December 2022.
The three Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, registered as ET-AWF, ET-AWG, and ET-AZO, were delivered to the airline on November 24, 27, and December 4, 2022, respectively, and brought humanitarian supplies with them on their way to the African nation.
According to the jointly released statement, the aircraft brought more than 5443 kg of supplies to Ethiopia.
“Ethiopian Airlines has a long history of collaborating with Boeing on humanitarian flights,” said Mesfin Tasew, the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines.
“This is our 43rd humanitarian delivery with Boeing, and we are proud to partner with their team to once again bring this support home to Addis Ababa,” Tasew added.
Several other organizations participated in the effort, namely the Global Ethiopian Diaspora Action Group (GEDAG) and Noble Humanitarian Missions (NHM), which provided medical supplies, while Open Hearts Big Dreams (OHBD) provided books and art supplies. Lastly, the Ethiopian Institute of Resilience and Climate Change provided clothing and medical items to be transported to the country.
(Aerotime hub)
Severe drought, conflict, and displacement forces children out of education
The number of out-of-school children in Ethiopia as a result of conflict, climate change, malnutrition, and displacement has spiked from 3.1 million to 3.6 million in just the last six months, UNICEF says.
Ethiopia is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises it has seen in decades. On a joint high-level visit to Ethiopia, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and the Norwegian Minister of International Development took stock of education needs in areas affected by the compounding, crippling impacts on children due to conflict, climate change, malnutrition, and displacement.
The recent conflict in the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions has displaced families from their homes. Ongoing violence in parts of Oromia is causing further civilian displacement.
The worst drought in over four decades has made matters even worse, with 24.1 million people affected, including 12.6 million children. Over one million people have been displaced by the drought in the Somali region alone. Across the country, 20 million people are in need of food assistance, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
In three years, the WFP has reached over 250,000 vulnerable children with interventions that include school feeding, psychosocial support, teacher training, school materials, accelerated learning, gender transformative approaches, and the construction and rehabilitation of school facilities.
(Reliefweb)
Turkish Agency, Turkish Red Crescent Co-op on Disaster Recovery Training in Ethiopia
A disaster recovery training was organized in Ethiopia with support from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA).
The “Educational Training for Organizing the Leaders of Society and Reducing Disaster Damages” was held in cooperation with TİKA, the Turkish Red Crescent, and the Maxbridge Foundation. Certificates of Achievement were presented to the participants at the end of the training program, which lasted 50 hours over six days in total.
Speaking at the certification ceremony, TİKA’s coordinator in Addis Ababa, Cengiz Polat, stated that they have been conducting studies to raise the public’s awareness of possible disasters and reduce damages in the country. “Like many regions in the world, Ethiopia faces various disasters such as wars, grasshopper infestations, droughts, and floods. As TİKA, we are developing projects for preventing avoidable disasters and reducing the damages of unavoidable ones.”
Undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Addis Ababa, Mustafa Kemal Basa, indicated the 500-year-old history of Turkish-Ethiopian relations and how the first Turkish Embassy in Africa was opened in Ethiopia. He congratulated TİKA, the Turkish Red Crescent, and the Maxbridge Foundation for carrying out a significant activity like this.
(Africa Newsroom)
Ethiopian, South African murdered in spaza shop robbery
Police in Mpumalanga said an Ethiopian shop attendant and a 35-year-old South African man died after armed assailants stormed a spaza shop in Lydenburg.
“According to the report, police received information about a shooting incident, and on their arrival at the address provided, they found about four cartridges, but there was no one at the scene. However, further information surfaced on the whereabouts of one of the victims.
Selvy Mohlala (Bri.) Mpumalanga police spokesperson, stated that this led police to the discovery of the lifeless body of a 35-year-old male South African victim next to a shack in Shushumela, near Lydenburg. “It is alleged that the victim was shot by the suspects, and he apparently tried to run for his life but lost consciousness not far from where he was shot.”
While processing the crime scene, police officers got information from medical personnel about somebody who succumbed to gunshot wounds on his arrival at the hospital.
Mohlala said the police officers went to the hospital, where they were shown the body of an Ethiopian national.
(IOL)
KPA, coastal ferry collaborate to develop intercounty ports, jetties
The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) is working with eight devolved units to improve the sector in the country by building inter-county ports, jetties, and maritime facilities.
According to the State Department of Transport, the authority is working with coastal ferry waters all the way from Vanga in Kwale County on the south coast to Lamu. It is also working to improve maritime transport on the waters of Lake Victoria for the five counties that share the lake.
The authority is also in talks with the Lake Turkana and Marsabit counties to develop jetties, ports, and maritime facilities in their respective regions.
Public ferry services are currently provided by KPA after Kenya Ferry Services was wound up last year. The authority provides services across the Likoni Channel and Mtongwe.
In other parts of the coast and inland waters, however, these services are provided by the private sector, while the government builds and takes care of some of the jetties.
Transport Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, said Wednesday that the ministry and KPA will work with the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor Authority (Lapsset) to utilize the three berths that are now operational.
(Business Daily)
WB sees poverty in Kenya decline as economy rebounds
Poverty levels in Kenya should resume their pre-coronavirus pandemic decline as the nation’s economy continues to rebound, the World Bank says.
The proportion of the population living on less than USD 2.15 a day is expected to fall to 25.8 percent this year from 26.7 percent in 2021, the Washington-based lender said in its Kenya Economic Update released Thursday. That would be less than the 26.5 percent recorded in 2019 before the pandemic.
“Real per-capita incomes are expected to grow, and the decline in poverty is expected to resume its pre-pandemic trend,” the bank said.
The release of the report comes as President William Ruto, who took office three months ago, begins to implement his so-called bottom-up economic model. It aims to allocate resources to programs that have the most potential to create jobs and boost household incomes.
The World Bank warned that consumption growth is likely to be dampened in the near term due to below-average harvests, high inflation, and tighter monetary policy. It noted that about 52 percent of households had cut back on consumption, 35 percent bought less food, and 10 percent sold productive assets in the first half of this year.
(BNN Bloomberg)
Rwanda accuses US of “exacerbating” crisis in eastern DRC
Rwanda’s foreign minister has accused the international community of exacerbating the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), plagued by armed groups, after the US urged Kigali to stop any supposed support for the rebels.
In a Sunday call with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made it clear that “all external support to non-state armed groups in the DRC must end, including Rwanda’s support for M23.”
Fighting in eastern DRC between government forces and rebels from the M23, a former Tutsi rebellion, has heightened tensions with neighboring Rwanda, which the DRC accuses of encouraging the militia. Kigali denies any involvement.
In a press release, Vincent Biruta, the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Paul Kagame and Anthony Blinken “had good exchanges, but there are still differences in how they see the problem.”
“The erroneous approach of the international community continues to exacerbate the problem,” continued the head of Rwandan diplomacy.
Rwanda has repeatedly said that the government in Kinshasa is to blame for the crisis in eastern DRC. It has also said that the international community is ignoring Kinshasa’s support for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
(Africanews)
TotalEnergies in court over massive oil projects in Uganda, Tanzania
TotalEnergies, a massive French energy company, went to court in Paris after years of delays. Six non-governmental organizations (NGOs) say that it “failed in its duty of vigilance” on two huge oil drilling and pipeline projects in Uganda and Tanzania.
The French group Survie, Friends of the Earth, and four Ugandan non-governmental organizations (NGOs) all say that TotalEnergies is ignoring human rights and the environment as it moves forward with the huge infrastructure deals.
The “Tilenga” 419-well drilling project in Uganda, which is partly located in a natural park, and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project are intended to transport hydrocarbons to the Indian Ocean by crossing 1,400 kilometers of Tanzania.
Once built, EACOP will be the longest oil pipeline in the world.
The NGOs are calling on the company to comply with a 2017 French law passed that compels multinationals to respect a “duty of care” regarding their activities.
The legislation obliges TotalEnergies to “prevent serious violations of human rights, health, and safety of people and the environment” when dealing with foreign subcontractors and suppliers through a “vigilance plan” that must map risks and establish measures to prevent them. (AllAfrica)
