Breaking the Cycle of Foreign Aid

[With]Holding of US Assistance Won’t Hurt Ties with America...
All Ethio News
September 5, 2020

The temporary holding of USA assistance to Ethiopia will not affect the long bilateral ties between the two countries, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

In his regular weekly press briefing today, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Dina Mufti said the diplomatic relationship between Ethiopia and the United States is historic and will not be eroded by such an act.

The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had reportedly approved a plan to halt America’s foreign assistance to Ethiopia as the administration failed to impose unacceptable agreement on the country over its dispute with Egypt and Sudan on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

The decision by the Trump administration could affect up to 130 million USD assistance to Ethiopia and fuel new tensions in the relationship between Washington and Addis Ababa.

However, Spokesperson Dina said the bilateral ties between the two countries would not be affected due to the holding of the assistance.

Speaking about the ongoing annual training for Ethiopian ambassadors, he noted that the forum will help to boost the capacity of the ambassadors to better carry out diplomatic works.

Among the topics covered included the concept of synergy and the revised foreign policy of the country that replaced the document in use for the past 18 years, the spokesperson stated.

Dina further pointed out that Ethiopia is determined to return Ethiopians under difficult situation in various countries.

The ministry is working to repatriate about 2,000 citizens soon, in addition to the 400,000 migrants that were brought home during the past three years.

Laurel: Reclaiming a Hometown - One Home At A Time

Laurel, Mississippi went on a downward spiral after its pine woods industry went downhill. But, forests grow, and communities rise, especially with dedicated reclaimers, like Erin and Ben Napier.

Nobody knows and loves Laurel, Mississippi, quite like Erin and Ben Napier. After all, the small Southern city is where Home Town is filmed, and the Napiers are the stars of the HGTV show.

Bringing positive attention to their hometown was a major factor in the couple's decision to star in the show, currently airing its second season. In each episode, the husband and wife (and brand new parents!) help Laurel newcomers find and renovate their dream home. Along the way, we get a good look at the quaint town (population 18,756) that the hosts are so very proud of.

Through the series, Erin and Ben have indeed put Laurel on the map. And since it's only a matter of time before people start planning to visit the small town (just look at all the folks trekking to Magnolia Market and Pioneer Woman Mercantile!), here's our guide to the Home Town filming location, complete with Erin and Ben's favorite local spots.

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Ben and Erin: Hometown One Home At A Time

Green Legacy Poetry

Saint George SA Soccer Players for #greenlegacy: St. George Sport Club Facebook

#AddisAbabans came out today from all parts to meet the #GreenLegacy challenge. We’re halfway through the planting season and I commend you for rising to what the next generation demands of you. I encourage all throughout the country to exceed the goal set. We can do it together!

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From PM Abiy's August 2, 2020 tweet:

#AddisAbabans came out today from all parts to meet the #GreenLegacy challenge. We’re halfway through the planting season and I commend you for rising to what the next generation demands of you. I encourage all throughout the country to exceed the goal set. We can do it together! pic.twitter.com/L3iCKl6cDz

— Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 (@AbiyAhmedAli) August 2, 2020

Abay

PM Abiy's Abay vision.


Source: PMO's Office

Abay is the Amharic name for the Nile.

Articles:
- The Sources of the Nile and Paradoxes of Religious Waters

- The Abbay (Nile) Quest in the Ethiopian Popular Imagination and Belief System

- Gish Abay: the source of the Blue Nile

The Ethiopian press and government are repeatedly using Abay as the preferred name for the Nile in its articles and arguments for the GERD (the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam).

The Addis Ababa Riverside Project: Clean the City!

The bold PM Abiy has let the fountains pour out their water. The COVID is also somewhere in Addis Ababa. Instead of hiding behind masks and gloves and a covert-COVID, Abiy is promoting his Addis Ababa Riverside Project, and cleaning the streets and the air

...to enhance the well-being of city dwellers by mitigating river flooding and through the creation of public spaces and parks, bicycle paths and walkways along the riversides.

This project will run along two of the largest rivers of the city, stretching a total of 51 kilometres, all the way from the mountains of Entoto through to Akaki River.

It also aims to improve the well-being of inhabitants and realise the country’s aspiration of building a green economy through the expansion of green spaces...

Ezekiel 36: 25-38

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.

33 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.

34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.

37 Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

China-Covid and Ethiopia

I think Abiy, the new Ethiopian PM, is doing his best othat he could since I think Europe and America abandoned Ethiopia for decades. He looked (or at least his Communist predecessors, ten years now) looked towards China, which Abiy is simply working with. He cannot destroy ten years of social politics. And Abiy's politics is cleverly undecipherable. He works independently. His goal is to help, build, Ethiopia. He is smart, and is extending his influences into Europe and North America, as more Ethiopians in the West are realizing what this all means. I think China-COVID is a Godsend for Ethiopia.

Here is PM Abiy's latest post on his Facebook page:

Through cluster farming of wheat we have great potential to begin import substitution. The experience of cluster farming 2800 hectares of land through irrigation in Jidda Woreda of the Oromia Region is quite encouraging. This shows us that we have the capacity to stop our dependence on wheat imports at a national level if we intensify our productivity in this manner.

Similarly, cattle fattening endeavours by youth in Jidda Woreda is also promising. I encourage our small-holder farmers throughout the country to continue building on these capacities with the needed support.