Representatives of the donors' assistance group (DAG) and their bosses from the respective headquarters and capitals who met in Paris in mid-March 2006 agreed to continue engaging the government of Ethiopia but also resolved to focus on issue of governance, disclosed diplomatic sources.

When Meheret Debebe, general manager of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), signed a multibillion Birr contract at the Hilton on June 7, 2002, with the Chinese National Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Corporation (CNWRHRC), he had made it clear that the project should be completed not only to the required standard.

For the first time since the boom in the floriculture industry, private and international companies in the sector have been awarded land in the south of the country.

Title deeds to plots located in Welkite, the seat of the Gurage Zone, have been granted to eight companies. The companies have signed lease agreements with the Zone's Trade Industry and Urban Development Bureau.

One of Ethiopia's two indigenous oil distribution companies, Yetebaberut Beherawi Petroleum S.C., has finalized its first multimillion dollar deal with the state owned Mugar Cement Factory.

Under the deal, worth 422.6 million Br, the oil company will supply Mugar 60 million litres of fuel oil, 2.4 million litres of gas oil, and 30,000 litres of benzene for the next two years.

The Rural Electric Fund Administration has started to allocate money to institutions interested in supplying electricity to areas that do not fall under the coverage of the Ethiopian Electric Corporation.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has awarded a 369 million Br project to asphalt the 99Km Woreta - Gub Gub gravel road to two local companies, SUR and SATCON.

The road is part of the 292Km that stretches from Woreta to Woldiya. It will connect the Addis Abeba - Debre Markos - Gonder road to the Addis Abeba - Dessie - Mekelle road. The 86Km road from Gub Gub to Gashena, and the 107Km road from Gashena to Woldiya, are the two other parts of the Woreta to Woldiya road.

Hailemariam Dessalgn president of the Southern Nations and Nationalities People’s Regional State (SNNPRS), , has had his resignation accepted.

The president resigned from his position due to hypertension after receiving medical attention at the Armed Forces Hospital where he was told that he should be wary of stressful situations, according to sources close to him.

The new head of the Ethiopian Customs Authority, Bogale Negash, has appointed Kibru Lakew as the general manager of Airport Customs.

For two years Kibru was head of the Public and International Affairs Service Department at the Authority, and he has now returned to the same general manager’s seat at Airport Customs that he was appointed to eight years ago. Prior to that, he served as the head of Leghar Customs, the Kombolcha branch and Djibouti Customs Coordination Office for 15 years.

Contrary to his previous appearances in court along with the CUD officials, teenager Binyam Tadesse seemed changed and more confident. This showed in his shaking the hand of Berhanu Nega, Hailu Shawel and Muluneh Eyiol. His jovial smiles were something not previously observed during the other hearings.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MoME) has invited companies to show their expersion of interest for concessions on the Calub and Hilala gas fields.

The Ministry invited “legally established companies that are technically and financially competent” to submit expressions of interest to develop the two gas condensate fields by March 30, 2006.

The Addis Abeba City Administration Land Development and Administration Authority is preparing new industrial zones in the Nefas Silk Lafto and Akaki-Kaliti Districts.

The Authority has so far been awarded 185ht of land in Nefas Silk District and 305ht in the Akaki-Kaliti District. The former plot has already been fenced off and work is in progress for this in Akaki-Kaliti.

Reliable Educational Material Supplier Plc (REMSP) is to inaugurate a five million Birr bookstore on Africa Avenue Bole Road to carry 300,000 books.

REMSP, established in Ethiopia in 2002, is part of the larger international company Research Periodicals & Book Services INC (RPBS), which was established in 1926 in Bombay, India. It opened a headquarters in Texas, US, in 1984. The new bookstore will use a 600sqm space in front of Meridian Hotel.

This is a design view of a nine-storey building under construction on Namibia Street, next to the Atlas Hotel. Yeshigeta Plc, which is undertaking the 16 million Br construction, was founded by Yeshimabet Abegaz and her husband Getachew Meshesha. The building is designed by Ultimate Plan Consulting Architects and Engineers Plc. The building will stand on a 500sqm plot, which has been owned by the couple for close to two decades.

In every society it is said that there are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.

Obviously, only the presence of members of the first group can make a real difference as far as participatory democracy is concerned. The fabric of democratic society is determinedly weaved by the quality of participation.

Sileshi Demissie, or, as he is popularly known, Gashe Aberra Molla, plays a nice piece of music entitled Baburoo (The Train). The video shows the band performing the piece on an old train. Some of the lyrics are taken from an archaic Amharic textbook. Baburoo also has the sound of a moving train and its siren super-imposed on the music track.

As much as I love being the centre of attention and having the last word in every conversation, it is always fun when I come across someone that can paint a picture using words. You know, one of those people who can describe a situation so well that it is like looking at the still shot of a scene out of a movie. I love that ability.

This is not a gift that most possess; often even writers are not as descriptive as they ought to be. There is a sort of firewall that you have to get through to be able to manipulate a language to have it create a visual picture. So, whenever I as a writer, and avid reader, experience a conversation that has a visual attachment, I am tickled pink, to put it mildly.

Invited by USAID, together with three other experts on WTO accession, Mr. Sok was in this country last week sharing his wisdom with Ethiopian trade authorities. Our Managing Editor, Tamrat G. Giorgis, spent some time with him.