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A
week-long Millennium extravaganza festivity
initially scheduled to take place in Meskel Square
as of September 12, 2007, organised by the Taste of
Addis Africa Annual Festival (TAAAF) and the Addis
Abeba City Administration Millennium Secretariat
Office, has now been called off.
In a letter written from the City Administration’s
Millennium Office on August 17, 2007, TAAAF has been
notified that, on security grounds, the National
Millennium Executive Committee (NMEC), led by Addisu
Legesse, deputy prime minister, decided to cancel
the festival.
Quoting the NMEC’s concern on the safety and
security of the public as well as high government
officials from all over the world expected to
attend, Kiros Haileselassie, director general of the
Millennium Secretariat Office at the City
Administration laments the cancellation of a high
profile festivity such as this at Meskel Square.
“It is with regret that we cancel the joint plan of
the festival at Meskel Square projected between our
office and TAAAF,” Kiros said in his letter.
According to the agreement signed on April 5, 2007,
all the Meskel Square traffic lanes would have been
fully blocked for eight consecutive days as of
September 12, 2007, by activities such as sporting
events, children games, food festival, music
concert, theatrical drama and comical performances
as well as balloon shuttling, fireworks and
fighters’ jets manoeuvrings.
“The fact that leaders from different parts of the
world and other dignified guests will come to honour
the Ethiopian Millennium during which occasion
Meskel Square would be the central point linking the
routes through other parts of the city and the
closure of this link for a festival of such nature
would pose a serious security threat against common
safety. Therefore the decision to cancel the
festival at Meskel Square had to be made,” Seyoum
Bereded, director general of the National Millennium
Celebration Secretariat Office, told Fortune.
According to the agreement TAAAF made with the City
Administration, the company would host festival at
Meskel Square for the next five years annually.
TAAAF was established with paid-up capital of 1.2
million Br and given a business license on October
25, 2006, from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI).
Owned by Mekonnen Beyene, an Ethiopian-born United
States (US) citizen, TAAAF was designed in the model
of Taste of Chicago Annual Festival in the US such
that the company would host annual international
festivals in the metropolis for five years. The
TAAAF’s source claims that the company has devoted
its effort to communicate with the city officials
over the past three years to sell its plan on the
Millennium festival that has now been cancelled.
One year after its proposal has been accepted by the
City Administration, Mekonnen, chief executive
officer of TAAAF, on October 20, 2006, signed
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sheriff Keri,
head of the Mayor’s Office and Social and Civil
Affairs Bureau.
Based on the signed MoU between the two parties,
following instruction by Seyoum Mesfin, minister of
Foreign Affairs, the Ministry on February 22, 2007,
dispatched a letter to the Millennium Festival
National Council; “in line with the proposal of the
project advanced by Mekonnen, the programme should
be arranged through the co-ordination and
cooperation of the Millennium Secretariat Office.”
It was also noted that ministers such as Berhane
Hailu, minister of Information, and Mohammed Drir,
minister of Culture and Tourism, wrote a letter to
the parties concerned requesting cooperation in
order to; “to see the success of such honourable
piece of project that benefits the country a great
deal, our Office would give the full support of
necessary and would like to request other
stakeholders to do likewise.”
In spite of all these supports from various
directions of the government organ, the festival was
cancelled only two weeks before the new Millennium.
However, the agreement signed between TAAAF and the
City Administration stipulates that any form of
termination of the project should not occur without
two months prior notification. Moreover, TAAAF has
already secured sponsorships from various businesses
and international institutions and has collected
over 700,000 Br from them. The company claims to
have already spent over 1.2 million Br.
Furthermore, for promoting their goods and products
at Meskel Square where the festival would take
place; there were around 72 private companies and
public enterprises registered and for which TAAAF
and the companies signed an agreement.
“All we feel is regret,” said Mekonnen in a press
release distributed on August 17, 2007. “It is
beyond the range of our control and capacity to do
anything about decisions made at the 11th hour which
affect everyone involved.”
However, given the fact that contracts were made
between TAAAF and many companies and institutions,
both in participating and sponsoring the events from
December 31, 2007, to January 7, 2008, for which
TAAAF collected payments from, the company started
negotiation with relevant government body in an
effort to find an alternative solution for all those
companies spent resources, according to the press
release.
On the other hand, TAAAF has already laid-off 12 of
its employees in relation to the cancellation of the
project. Meanwhile, the company has begun
negotiation with those artists who entered contracts
earlier.
“Since negatiation with all those involved in the
latest development is underway intent on settling
the problems amicably, I would not prefer to commit
myself into commenting further in the detail of this
issue, for the press release can serve the purpose
at this point in time,” Mekonnen restrained from
making further comment.
If the project at Meskel Square goes as was planned,
there would have been over three million Birr
revenue to be generated, of which 40pc would have
wound up in the coffer of the City Administration,
according to the parties’ agreement.
“It does not mean that the project is totally
terminated, they can make it happen after September
17, 2007, with the departure of guests that need
greater security,” Seyoum told Fortune.
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