A foundation for a malt house to be built with EUR 70 million at Bole-Lemi Industrial Park was laid on Wednesday.
Soufflet Group Company CEO, Jean Michel Soufflet said on the occasion, “the plant covers 10 hectares of land that is found in a strategic location in the outskirts of Addis Ababa, which is very close to barely growing areas.”
He added that the company will begin operation in 2020.
Soufflet noted that the production of malt locally will help reduce the amount of imports, which currently accounts for 70 percent of the market.
According to him, as the supply of local malt is not enough to meet the demand, Soufflet Malt Ethiopia will support 15,000 farmers to produce 30,000 tons of barely for malting in 2019, and will be working with 40,000 farmers by 2020 to produce 80,000 tons of barley.
The malt house construction is going to create job opportunities for 300 job seekers, it was learnt. (ENA)
South African bank Absa joins list of Ethiopia’s suitors
South Africa’s Absa bank has become the latest multinational corporation to express interest in exploiting the Ethiopian market, following last year’s decision by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to liberalize the economy.
Ethiopia has long prevented foreign ownership in economic sectors including banking; but Abiy has embarked on rapid political, diplomatic and economic reforms since coming to power in April.
Jason Quinn, the bank’s chief financial officer, told Reuters that Absa was investigating how and where to enter a number of other growing markets, including Nigeria and Angola.
“We’re not in Ethiopia at all, so those would be the type of markets we’d look at over time,” he said on Monday.
An entrance into the Ethiopian market of a 100 million people, while not imminent, would be part of a strategy Absa laid out after its split from Britain’s Barclays in 2017.
“It would be hard to build a retail banking business from scratch so Absa was more likely to think about acquiring,” he added. (Reuters)
ESLSE to build its 8th dry port in Woreta
The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE) on Thursday laid a foundation stone for the construction of a dry port in Wereta, South Gondar zone of Amhara region.
Present at the groundbreaking ceremony were federal and state government officials, including Minister of Transport, Dagmawit Moges, and Chief Administrator of Amhara regional, Ambachew Mekonnen (PhD).
The port will be built on 20 hectares of land at a cost of 100 million birr.
Recalling the recent agreement signed between Ethiopia and Sudan to build a 504-km railway line linking the two countries; Dagmawit said that the port would help to export raw materials and agricultural produces from the regional state.
Ambachew, in his part indicated that the construction of the port would play a key role in improving and facilitating the country’s import-export trade.
CEO of ESLSE, Roba Megersa, said that the inland ports are aimed at reducing costs and minimizing the time wasted as a result from using sea ports. (FBC)
Ethiopia urges EU to be removed from List of Countries with Weak Anti-money Laundering, Terrorist Financing Regimes
The Government of Ethiopia on Wednesday urged the European Commission to consider removing the country from the list of “high-risk third world countries” with weak anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regimes.
The statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister said that the new administration of the Government of Ethiopia has been taking important steps to effectively prevent money laundering and terrorist financing since 2018.
The government has introduced sweeping changes to the financial and judicial systems to respond to the strategic deficiencies especially evident due to Ethiopia’s geopolitical position in the Horn, it noted.
The statement further said that “Ethiopia is vulnerable to bank frauds, cyber-crime and money laundering effectuated by transnational criminals.”
The new administration has continued to “take steps in strictly controlling and monitoring informal value transfer networks and operations, and has implemented stringent financial sanctions against perpetrators.”
It has also enhanced international cooperation with EU and other member state countries. (ENA)
Horn In Brief
23 South Sudanese could face ICC over war crimes
The UN, on Wednesday said that at least 23 South Sudanese could face trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, crimes against humanity and possible genocide.
The suspects, including politicians, reportedly committed the crimes in South Sudan’s five-year war.
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said that the identified individuals have superior responsibility under international criminal law for serious crimes related to the conflict.
Members of the commission told the media on Tuesday that the listed individuals, along with previously identified alleged perpetrators, could face justice in courts around the world, not just in South Sudan.
“We have not placed all our eggs in one basket,” the chair of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka said.
“We have framed these crimes in multiple ways to allow future prosecutions to take place in jurisdictions inside and outside South Sudan. This allows for the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity in states that are parties to relevant treaties on torture, enforced disappearance and attacks on UN personnel, for example,” she explained. (The East Africa)
UN chief appoints Gabonese as special envoy for the HoA
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday announced the appointment of Parfait Onanga-Anyanga of Gabon as his Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa.
Onanga-Anyanga brings with him extensive experience with the United Nations, having served most recently as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
In 2015, Onanga-Anyanga served as the Coordinator of the United Nations Headquarters response to the Boko Haram Crisis. Prior to this, he was Head of the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB) and System-Wide Senior Coordinator on Burundi (2012-2014).
From 2007 to 2012, he was the Director of the Office of the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General. Previously, he was the Special Adviser to the President of the sixtieth and sixty-first sessions of the United Nations General Assembly (2005-2007) as well as Chef de Cabinet to the President of the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly (2004-2005). (Africanews)
Somalia bans old Antonov planes from its airspace
The Somali government on Tuesday announced that it is banning four types of Antonov airplanes from flying in Somali airspace, citing safety reasons.
The Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) says the AN-24, AN-26, AN-32 and AN-12 models will not be allowed to operate in Somali airspace after March 15.
Officials say there have been no accidents involving the Soviet-era planes, but there have been “near misses.”
A letter from the SCAA originally gave airline operators until February 28 to cease flights. However, that deadline has been extended until March 15.
The letter states that the Antonovs do not have approved maintenance centers in the East Africa region where they can be repaired. Instead, mechanics repair these planes in the airport. It also says these planes lack an air traffic collision avoidance system, and that their noise certification is “unacceptable.”
A senior official with SCAA later told the Investigative Dossier – a program of VOA’s Somali Service – that the decision to revoke their permits is final. (VoA)
Egypt to supply Sudan with electricity
The Egyptian government on Wednesday announced that Egypt will be ready to deliver electricity via the Toshka substation to Sudan by the end of March with a maximum of 40 megawatts electricity.
The announcement came after a meeting between Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohamed Shaker, and Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ali Moselhi, to follow up on electricity interconnection procedures with Sudan.
In a TV interview with DMC on January 27, Shaker said that Egypt will become a hub for the transfer and exchange of energy between Africa, Asia and Europe. He noted that there is a connection with Jordan with capabilities of up to 450 megawatts, and with Libya, with capabilities of up to 200 megawatts.
Shaker noted that Egypt is striving to expand the export of electricity with great capacity, but it takes time. (Al-Monitor)