PM, city mayor sign MoU to enhance good governance
A memorandum of understanding to root out bad governance through the implementation of a delivery unit strategy was signed on Tuesday between the Prime Minister’s Office and Addis Ababa City Administration.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn and City Mayor Diriba Kuma have signed the MoU intended to introduce accountability among officials down the ladder starting from the mayor.
The agreement will play a vital role in ensuring fair and quality service by scaling up accountability, said Muktar Kedir, Head of Social and Good Governance Delivery Unit Office. He recalled that research and field assessment, in which more than 60 service providing offices in Addis Ababa City Administration were assessed, was conducted to identify the bottlenecks of good governance.
Land, construction licensing, dry waste, water and sewerage, trade and single-window service are the areas identified as sectors of prior attention.
Thus, the MoU incorporates implementation modalities including solutions for the specified obstacles, a three year plan and an implementation guideline for this fiscal year. (ENA)
US troops call in airstrike after they come under fire in Somalia
The US military conducted a “self defense” airstrike against al Shabaab fighters in Somalia early Thursday morning after a joint Somali-US force came under direct attack by militants.
US Africa Command, which oversees US troops in the region, announced in a statement Thursday that the US had conducted three “precision” airstrikes against al Shabaab militants in Somalia, killing seven fighters.
The drone strikes took place in Jilib, Somalia, about 200 miles southwest of Mogadishu, Africa Command said in its statement.
A US defense official told CNN that pro-government Somali troops, accompanied by US military advisers, came under direct attack while approaching the objective of a planned counterterrorism raid. The joint US-Somali ground force returned fire in an attempt to neutralize the al Shabbab attackers but were unable to and the US troops called in the airstrike to defeat the threat. There were no US casualties as a result of the firefight. (CNN)
Norway extends 1.7 bln Birr for REDD+ Project
Norway has extended a 1.74 billion Birr financial assistance on Wednesday to support the implementation of Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy through the REDD+ project, ENA reported on Thursday.
According to the report, it is the first financial assistance form Norway to the REDD+ project and is expected to make significant contribution to reduce emission from forests.
During the occasion, Admasu Nebebe, State Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation stated that Norway and UK are the countries who officially pledged continued support to realize Ethiopia’s vision of building carbon neutral and climate resilient middle economy by 2025.
Noting that Ethiopia remains committed to realize its vision, Admasu said “we have mainstreamed CRGE into our Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-II) and combating climate change is one of the key pillars of the GTP”.
Noting that Ethiopia’s green development ambition is huge, Admasu said it needs continued and strong financial, technical and technological support from development partners. (ENA)
370 human traffickers sentenced
A total of 370 human traffickers and facilitators were detained and brought to justice over the last Ethiopian fiscal year, the Office of the Secretariat for Anti-Human trafficking Taskforce reported.
Yebeltal Walegelegen, Office Coordinator told ENA that the individuals were sentenced up to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Apart from arresting traffickers, awareness creation programs on the dangers involved in illegal migration was also conducted.
Through the monitoring activities, 8,500 individuals who were to be smuggled out of the country through the border areas were repatriated back to their original domiciles.
Basazin Deribe, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said awareness creation training programs were provided for more than 19,000 community members on the perils of illegal migration and human trafficking.
He added that activities to rehabilitate more than 67,700 returnees were also conducted.
Over the past two years more than 860 human traffickers and brokers were sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment and fine of 150,000 birr. (FBC)
By staff reporter
