Institute of Development and Education for Africa (IDEA)

We shall see what will happen in the run-off elections! It seems to me, however, that Mugabe could prevail only if he deploys all his secret, army, and police forces all over Zimbabwe. This last political ditch may not work for Mugabe this time for three reasons:

1) Mugabe and his cronies are not as young and energetic as they were in the early 1980s; the wear and tear has taken a toll;

2) the bulk of the Zimbabweans, who got the brunt of the crisis, are sick and tired of the monopolistic regime;

3) Zimbabwe has now virtually became a desolate and isolated country in an increasingly globalized and interacting world, and the only hope for Zimbabwe’s resurrection is the MDC and other progressive Zimbabweans.

Ghelawdewos Araia-Unless otherwise the Kenyan constitution is completely revised and re-written, the people of Kenya cannot simply accept a sudden departure from the politics that they are familiar with. According to the present Kenyan constitution, the President [Kibaki] is head of state and government and is elected directly by the people for a five-year term limited to two terms. The president selects members of the cabinet from the National Assembly and he also appoints the governors of the respective districts (69 autonomous provincial districts) and members of the judiciary including the Chief Justice and High Court judges.

If Barack Obama Becomes the Next President of the United States! A Comparative and International Politics Perspective. March 2, 2008

Ghelawdewos Araia- If Barack Obama becomes the next president, can America adapt to the global changing circumstances? Given America’s political history of ‘constancy and change,’ and the ability of the nation to reinvent itself, the United States will definitely attempt to accommodate the new order rather than clash with it. The new world order that I have alluded to above is not just a multi-polar world tainted with balance of powers but it is also going to herald peaceful coexistence and cooperation among the peoples of our planet earth. In order to foster such a grandiose plan of international cooperation and cultural exchange, an Obama type of leader is the necessary prerequisite, because he has already united the American people and will bridge U. S. interests with other global interests and he is of dual heritage, American and African who can smoothly connect not just Kenya but also the entire continent of Africa with America. America needs a Barack Obama leadership in the first decade to quarter of the 21^st century, but we will have to wait and see for its fruition.

THE ETHIOPIAN VICTORY AT ADWA: MEANINGS FOR AFRICANS AND PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT IN THE DIASPORA

Dr. GHELAWDEWOS ARAIA- March 2, 2008 - More than any moment in their history, Ethiopians must jealously guard a united and strong Ethiopia in an effort to continue the legacy of their patriotic forefathers and guarantee the national interest and security of their nation. They should never succumb to ethnic-specific issues despite the current ethnocentric politics hovering over Ethiopian communities at home and elsewhere. Unity and brotherhood among various Ethiopian nationality groups is extremely crucial, and Adwa is a constant reminder of a unified force that can virtually circumvent a negative political monster that is aimed at dismantling the organic and cohesive fabric of a given historic entity. Ethiopians have witnessed peaceful coexistence amongst themselves for millennia and they have no wish other than harmony and fraternity toward one another and toward others. It is in light of the above reality, therefore, that we must now celebrate the 110th anniversary of the victory of Adwa, and so that our subscribers appreciate in some depth and get the flavor of what Adwa was all about, we have hereby post two articles on the victory of Adwa written and presented by Dr.Ghelawdewos Araia; one in English, presented at Howard University (Washington, DC) and the Dusable Museum (Chicago) for the centennial celebration in 1996; the second, in Amharic, presented before an Ethiopian audience in Seattle for the 107th anniversary of Adwa in 2003.

Is the 111th anniversary of the victory of Adwa. This IDEA editorial, however, is not intended to present an elaborate version of the history of Adwa victory. It is rather a critique of the misguided perceptions and misconceptions with respect to Adwa. Some Ethiopians think that the victory of Adwa was the victory of the people of Adwa. This category of people is either misled by some mysterious and unfathomable dictates or is simply ignorant of the historical circumstances that led to the battle of Adwa.

Uganda: Makerere University Ranking Up
MAKERERE University has significantly moved up the rankings of the top 100 universities in Africa.

According to the latest rankings of world universities updated in January 2008, the 86-year old university is now placed at number 47th, seven steps up from where it was last year. Makerere is also the only Ugandan university that features on the list. The Uganda Christian University that was 97th in 2007 is off the current ratings. The highest ranked University in East Africa is Strathmore University Nairobi at number 21. Others are University of Dar es Salaam (22), University of Nairobi (25), Egerton University (33) and National University of Rwanda (44).

A mass literacy campaign, the Kha Ri Gude project, is to provide basic literacy classes to 300 000 adults and youth. This emerged from President Thabo Mbeki's State of the Nation Address Friday, which focuses on a Business Unusual approach, delivered at the opening of Parliament in Cape Town on Friday.

As part of the Adult Basic Education and Training programme (ABET), the President said: "We shall this month launch the Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign. "This will include the training of master trainers who will provide basic literacy classes to 300 000 adults and youth in 2008."

By Bereket Kiros-Seeye Abraha captured in his energetic articulation of the inner reality of the diverse political views (lives) of the many feuding Ethiopians and their organizations. Chinua Achebe in his novel “A Man of the People” narrates about two contrasting groups of people in West Africa. In that novel, he describes two characters representing the old and the new generations of politicians. The conflict between the old and the new political systems is portrayed through the two characters as they disagree and quarrel over political views. Seeye likewise captured in his articulation the essence of the present conflict between Ethiopian politicians, the new against the old, the leftist against the rightist, the Derg against the democratic et cetera that paralleled the main theme of Achebe's novel.

A New Paradigm in Ethiopian Politics: A discussion on what Ethiopians can do at this historical juncture to bring about change in Ethiopia
Ghelawdewos Araia January 14 2008-How can this paradigm of epistemology be attained though? The advanced segment of Ethiopian learned men and women (intellectuals and professionals) could make enormous contribution if they are willing to do so and if conditions in Ethiopia are favorable and permissive. These educators must be open and receptive as well as focused and hard driven, and they can’t afford to exhibit non-committal silence in the middle of their endeavor.

Dr. Ghelawdewos Araia to speak on 'African Commonality with particular focus on the Ethiopian-Eritrean relations'

IDEA Editorial

The Obama Factor and American Electoral Politics

Obama, therefore, may continue to be a charismatic persona representing hope and change, but in the end it is the Electoral College, and not the popular vote, that would decide the selection of the would president of the United States of America. To begin with, the Democratic Party, Obama’s own party, out of fear losing to the Republican Party, may not chose Obama as its candidate in its forthcoming convention.

The three-year 200,000 USD grant will help Bahir Dar University create a regional institute of excellence on disaster risk management and sustainable development with support from the University of Arizona (UA). The new project is being implemented in partnership with the Higher Education for Development.

Critics say donors at a recent high-level meeting failed to make firm funding commitments for improving education, particularly in impoverished, fragile and war-torn countries, making it highly unlikely the world will meet ambitious education goals by the 2015 deadline. "I cannot be very optimistic," Koïchiro Matsuura, director-general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said at a press conference on 13 December in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, at the close of the three-day meeting of the High-Level Group on Education for All, which brought together education ministers, donors and development partners.

This is a new addition to the volumes of works on the Horn of Africa. From the back page of the Book: In this book Professor Tesfatsion Medhanie explores the possibility of confederal relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Such an arrangement could become the nucleus of a Horn of Africa confederation. The author discusses the obstacles at present and the necessary conditions for success in this regard.

Uganda: Makerere University Diverts Internet Money October 22, 2007

MAKERERE University has directed the sh600m meant to pay for Internet services to fixing its roads. The university secretary, Sam Akorimo, attributed the shift to the Government's failure to include the university in its budget for road repairs ahead of the Commonwealth meeting (CHOGM) next month.

Nigeria: Country to Participate in Olympead Math Competition

Nigeria is to participate in the next international mathematics and science Olympiad competition, the director general, National Mathematical Centre Abuja, has said. The center at the weekend held preparatory exams in all the states of the federation and FCT which will be followed by the geo-political and the national one in order to chose those that will represent the country at the international event.October 22, 2007

Eritrea's Economic Survival

Ghelawdewos Araia-Instead of burying oneself in the sand – the ostrich syndrome – the best critique of my article would have been a thoughtful analysis that is credible, plausible, and enumerates in plain but coherent English what Ethiopians can do for their country. Moreover, a critic’s responsibility is to critically examine concepts, themes, and controversies that are part of the corpus of a given essay without resorting to polemics and sarcastically appealing to the powers that be for attention and personal gains. However, as I have stated in the introduction of this essay, we must tolerate a broader continuum of perspectives including the sublime and the absurd. Our destiny has been to traverse a complex path tainted with positive and negative attributes, in order to achieve a relatively sane and democratic society.

Beyond the Millennium, Beyond Illusion and Cynicism, and the Challenges of Development . Ghelawdewos Araia September 20, 2007
“In the last fifteen years, I have argued all along that the EPRDF government needs to attract Ethiopian intellectuals and professionals and utilize their expertise and talent. So far, I have not witnessed the use of Ethiopian professionals en masse for nation building, notwithstanding the few and far in between favored officials that hold ministerial positions and other portfolios. If the Meles regime is indeed in favor of ‘educated and healthy workforce, world-class managers and professionals,’ it should openly extend its hands to all Ethiopians, especially those who are scattered all over the Diaspora. Irrespective of our differences and political inclinations, I personally like the government of Ethiopia to reach out fellow Ethiopians who are willing to contribute to the transformation of their country and the welfare of their people.

The unique character of Ethiopian art is the legacy of its situation high in the mountains on the Horn of Africa. Though remote and often isolated it evolved a tradition, going back to the fourth century AD, in response to contacts with Byzantine, European and Islamic cultures. Beginning in the twelfth century, elaborate crosses were cast and engraved in iron and bronze. Painted and carved icons were produced in a tradition that reached its peak at the end of the seventeenth century. Above all it is richly illustrated manuscripts that have provided the most defining expression of Ethiopian Christianity.

Now, we have high hope that the 26,000 UN troops will effectively monitor the activities of the Janjaweed and the mood and unpredictable behavior of the Beshir regime. First thing is first: the UN peacekeeping forces must end all violence in Darfur by fully involving the spokesmen and representatives of the people of Darfur in their own affair. Whatever actions and resolutions are taken without the involvement of the people of Darfur would become meaningless and ineffective. Beyond the people of Darfur, the involvement of other Africans via the African Union (AU) is also crucially important.

What is important, now, however, is the pardoning and freedom of the 38 CUD leaders. It is a delight to witness their reunion with their respective families, as Siye Abraha did with his family and his ailing mother. We also wish the Kinijit leaders a happy and prosperous life as well as reintegration in Ethiopian politics, and if they pursue the latter they must seriously consider the subtle nuances of Third World politics; they must transcend cultural and linguistic (ethnic politics) affinities; they should not be limited to and motivated by political considerations (the power nexus) but should also consider the exigencies of economic development or transformative politics;

Dear Ghelawdewos (Dr.),
As a supporter of President Clinton's work, you understand we all have the unprecedented ability to help others. We hope you'll put this power to action and join the Clinton Foundation on our journey as we strive to make a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS, poverty and climate change in Africa.

Edris Kisambira- Resource-rich African countries and those with big economies like Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Angola, DRC, Egypt, Libya, should really be judged by the MDGs because they and should do much better than that. Even the poorer countries like Ethiopia can do better if they set their priority right. If Ethiopia has resources to occupy another country it can certainly do better at home.

Southern Africa:SADC to Set Up Gas, Petroleum Body
Wilfred Edwin- The secretariat said the consultant will be tasked to identify petroleum and gas issues that need harmonization and draft appropriate specifications, rules, and standards. The consultant will identify functions, tasks and structure of the regional petroleum and gas sector association and advise on the feasibility of having a composite regional energy regulator encompassing electricity, petroleum and gas. The East African region is said to have a high oil and gas potential. This has seen players in the industry call for joint petroleum exploration ventures. The secretariat of the East African Community hosted the third East African Petroleum Conference in Arusha, this March at which sector development in the sub-region was discussed.

By Dr. Tajudeen Kampala- There are countries that are doing quite well on a number of the goals even if they may not meet all of them. Across the continent in education, most of the countries have seen huge rises in enrolment in primary schools as a result of debt relief and new prioritization of the education of our children by many governments. Uganda, for instance, has raised the gear from universal primary education to the secondary level; Kenya is considering the same. Malawi has proven that where there is a will there is a way and even Africa's sleeping giant, Nigeria has reintroduced compulsory universal basic education.

On the eve of this historic African Heads of States meeting with a possible impending decision expected on how and when to implement the one and only one item on the agenda: the African Union Government: towards the United states of Africa, NES joins all the inspiring pan-Africanists such as Kwame Nkrumah, George Padmore and others to urge Africans to make a big- bang burst into world history by doing Pan-Africanism in practice and making it work by deploying knowledge rather than to use as usual hundred good or not so good reasons why Africans should continue to talk unity while keeping separate and apart from each other.

Granting Freedom to Political Prisoners is a Step in the Right Direction 6/23/2007
We at IDEA do not pretend to act as strategic peace brokers between the Ethiopian Government and the opposition, but we wish peace and development (two faces of the same coin) to prosper in Ethiopia. The Government and the Opposition, therefore, must find ways and means to negotiate their interests and differences via dialogue and civil discourse without resorting to antagonism and coercion. Both groups must understand that in any political process the interests of political groups are accompanied, almost always, by internally generated impulses that could either be contained or go out of hand. In any event, both the opposition and the Government are responsible for developing creative individual niches to systematically control impulses

IDEA Editorial June 8, 2007-Most importantly, history cannot be written by people who harbor phobia to some ethnic group within Ethiopia and by people who suffer selective amnesia. The latter is a debilitating disease that creates discord among people who, in one form or another, pursue a relatively harmonious relationship. The guarantee for Ethiopian unity is, first and foremost respect of the various cultures and linguistic groups that make up Ethiopia. Just advocating Ethiopian unity without due recognition of Ethiopian nationalities (another version of selective amnesia) is empty rhetoric and jingoistic.

State Minister Calls On Universities to Attach Due Attention to Quality Research
Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa
June 4, 2007
Universities should attach due attention to quality research as they are instrumental in ensuring speedy and sustainable growth, the Ministry of Education said. State Minister of Education Dr. Adhana Haile underscored at a research and study symposium here Thursday that higher learning institutions need to give due attention to quality research works as they have significant contribution towards boosting production and productivity.

Government Promotes Reading Culture Among Children
New Vision (Kampala) June 4, 2007
By Francis Emorut and Penlope Nankunda
THE Government is to partner with Uganda Children's Writers and Illustrators Association (UCWIA) to promote a reading culture among African children, the minister of Labour Gender and Social Development, Syda Bbumba, has said. In a speech presented by William Otim, a commissioner in the gender ministry, Bbumba said: "I'm very satisfied with the activities which UCWIA carries out. The Government of Uganda is ready to be a willing partner in the pursuit of your goals."

Dr. Paulos Daffa passed away on Friday, May 11, 2007 at the University Clinic in Muenster.

His funeral service was held on May 18, 2007 in Muenster.

Paulos Daffa was born on August 19, 1946 in Aira, Wallaga, Ethiopia as second son of Rev. Daffa Djammo and Woizero Kanntu Karorssa. He attended elementary school at the German Mission School in Aira and junior secondary school at the Entoto Swedish Mission School in Addis Ababa. Later he attended General Wingate Secondary School in Addis Ababa. He was an outstanding student, a fine athletic person and a development activist already during his teenage years. He received several awards in athletics including first prizes in 800 and 1500 m race from the hands of the late Emperor Haile Selassie.

Connecting Africa and Asia by Bridge

The huge but compact landmass of Africa can be abridged at two points, namely the Straight of Gibraltar and the Straight of Bab al Mendab, with Europe and Asia respectively. The distance

between Morocco and Spain is only 9 miles and that of Yemen and Djibouti is about 12 miles. Although Africa is already connected with the Arabian Peninsula via the Sinai, there is no modern infrastructure that really joins the two continents. Now an ambitious plan to connect Yemen and Djibouti by the longest suspension bridge in the world will be undertaken by the Noor City Development Corporation of Napa, California. The American company was authorized by a Dubai-based developer, and once the bridge is completed it will have a tremendous impact on the development of Djibouti and Ethiopia as well as the rest of the Horn of Africa. For further information please see Tom Sawyer’s report by linking to the following

The objective of this article, as its title implies, is to advocate a lasting peace through mediation and dialogue in an effort to quell the seeming permanence of conflict within Ethiopia and its neighbors. The article will engage and appeal to the political regime, the opposition, and the various institutions of learning to implement peaceful conflict resolution mechanisms. As we shall see below, a whole gamut of strategies and array of concepts and methodologies are suggested in the resolution of conflicts, and the responsible institutions, it seems to me, must effectively play their positive catalytic role in order to have a relatively safe, peaceful, and tranquil society.

Ravinder Rena-The HIV/AIDS is having a devastating effect on many developing countries of Africa, largely by undermining human capital particularly in the countries like South Africa , Ethiopia , Botswana ,

Swaziland

, and Uganda etc. The disease affects primarily the adult population in its most productive years thereby thwarting population incentives to save and invest. The epidemic disease of AIDS destroys the social fabric of whole communities and undermines the capacity of government to provide basic social services and essentially curtails the potential for sustained economic development and social transformation.

The premise that education is a central pillar of human resource development is widely accepted in Ghana. Education produces knowledge, skills, values and attitudes. Education is critical for economic growth and poverty reduction. Through education there is a development of critical thinking skills to create human capital to affect workers productivity and distribution of new wealth. Ghana @ 50 therefore demands frank assessment of the various interventions in education delivery in the country to guide our actions, from the current rallying cry of a fall in standard of education to a reality of achieving excellence

EVERY year when matric comes around, we hear about plucky schools in dirt-poor communities that achieve a decent pass rate. But the reality is that education remains heavily inequitable, with worse resourcing and outcomes for poor, black and female children. In 2003, only 12% of Africans who took matric got a university exemption, compared with 51% of white learners.

The ancient Egyptians virtually gave us all major attributes of civilization: agriculture (irrigation), architecture (pyramids, obelisks, temples etc), mathematics (numerical and standard measures), medicine (Imhotep’s legacy –he is the first physician, not Hippocrates-, herbal pharmacology, anatomy, mummification etc), art of government (Egypt is the first nation), and collection of wealth.

Zimbabwe: The End of "Quiet Diplomacy"?

AfricaFocus Bulletin Mar 26, 2007

The Southern African Development Community (SADC), which has pushed for an approach of 'quiet diplomacy' to the Zimbabwean crisis, has increasingly come under fire for failing to wield any influence." - IRIN, March 23, 2007 Attacks on protesters and opposition leaders in Zimbabwe have provoked a new level of criticism, particularly in the Southern Africa region. But it is still unclear what Zimbabwe's neighbors and the international community more generally can do to help check the country's crisis.

TIGRESS IN THE CROSSFIRE: A Memoir

By Saba Mistlal Desta Webb

“In naming this book I liken myself to a tigress, a strong animal always ready to fight for her rights. Being in the crossfire represents the trials and heartaches I went through in order to help the nation achieve the status it has today. The illustration of the rays of the morning sun shinning down on the tigress depicts the ongoing journey into a new tomorrow for Ethiopia and its people.” From the back cover of the book.

Oprah Winfrey is the embodiment of goodness and a blessed woman destined to donate her love and her money to African children. If Oprah had lived several centuries in the African past and happen to be part of the Southern Africa mythology, she would have been named Hakata (sacred dice). Among the Bantu of Southern Africa, especially among the people of Zimbabwe , legend has it that the Hakata was sought and consulted whenever drought, famine, and pestilence struck.

Come September the world could have celebrated it at the same time had it not been for a historical accident. We all recall that seven years ago most of the world celebrated the Millennium according to the Gregorian calendar. Did you know that the Gregorian calendar came into being only 425 years ago? The Christian world was using the Julian calendar up until 1582 A.D. This was more or less the same calendar that we use in Ethiopian to this very day.

Editor's Note Demonstrators delivered over 10,000 Valentine cards to the U.S. Treasury this week asking the U.S. Treasury Secretary to "have a heart" and cancel Liberia's debt. With the Liberia Partners' Forum in Washington scheduled for next week, even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated that the debt is unsustainable. But more than a year after President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took office, Liberia is still being asked to repay arrears on accumulated debt. This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a press advisory on the demonstration and the campaign to collect Valentine cards, supported by the named groups as well as by others such as Africa Action; excerpts from a background paper on Liberia's debt from the Jubilee USA Network, and from a "Report Card" issued by non- governmental organizations on the international response to Liberia over the last year.

Pan-Africanism literally connotes to all-Africa (n) movement that embraces the ideology of liberation for continental and Diaspora Africans in the political, economic and cultural spheres. Pan-Africanism has a rich but complex tapestry that dates back to the 18^th century. To be sure, however, the ideological roots of Pan-Africanism are not in Africa but in the Caribbean and the United States . In point of fact the early harbingers of Pan-Africanism are Prince Hall, who demanded the repatriation of Blacks to Africa by directly confronting the State Assembly in Massachusetts in 1787, and Paul Cuffee, another Bostonian, * Quaker, and a shipbuilder, who actually ventured in resettling 40 African Americans in Sierra Leone from the United States in 1815.

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

The crisis in Sudan's Darfur region is intensifying without a meaningful response from the White House [despite President Bush's promise not to allow genocide 'on his watch']. Perhaps Harvard professor Samantha Power's tongue-in-cheek theory is correct: The memo was inadvertently placed on top of the president's wristwatch,and he didn't want it to happen again. But if Bush's expressions of
concern for the victims in Darfur are genuine, then why isn't his administration taking real action?" - John Prendergast

Ghelawdewos Araia-It is of paramount importance that we must first understand the complexity of the Ethiopia-Somalia relations by delving into and dissecting the history and cultures of these peoples and reasonably deciphering the root causes of the conflicts. It is for this apparent reason that I wrote several articles pertinent to the Horn crisis including the following: The Horn of Africa: Conflict and Conflict Resolution (1997)¹and The Enigma of the Ethiopia-Somalia Relations and the Islamic Factor (2002)²The latter was picked up by ‘Camel Milk Threads’ or www.somaliaonline.com, a Somali cyber group, and some found my article “an interesting piece regarding history of the Somali Ethiopian animosity;” others regarded ‘the Amhara and Tigray colonial ambitions’ as the cause of the conflict...

Dec 6, 2006 — - Kimani Nganga Maruge is cooking a sweet potato in a battered tin pot over a pile of smoldering corn cobs. He sits on a rickety wooden chair on a patch of mud outside his one-room, mud-walled home. His son, James, is with him on a Sunday afternoon, reading to him from the bible. As Maruge leans over to stir the pot, he flashes his trademark toothy grin. Watch the full report tonight on "World News With Charles Gibson," at 6:30pm, EST. He is proud, he says, that he's learning to read the Bible and speak a little English. Maruge is 86 years old. And he is in third grade. When he first tried to enroll in the local elementary school in this poor village outside El Doret, in western Kenya, the principal brushed him off

Big part of what we do in the report is sorting out what the problem is. We commissioned a study, which we did with the World Health Organization, trying to understand the real public health outcomes from the water crisis in Africa. The headline number that comes out is: globally there are roughly two million child deaths as a result of not having access to clean water. And Africa is hugely over represented in that number. It accounts for something like a third or more, roughly 40% of total child deaths from water-related problems. That is a health outcome.

Dr. Ghelawdewos Araia - November 18, 2006 If there are no foundations and necessary ingredients that contribute to a vibrant democratic culture, how is it possible then that I urge Africans to learn from the American experiment? Understandably, in the absence of democratic principles and practice, one could not expect much for an overnight triumph of free and fair elections. Notwithstanding the cliché ‘more time is needed to foster democracy in Africa,’ it is crucially important for Africans to begin to admit their weaknesses, appreciate other democratic cultures and learn from them. Even if we agree that comparison between the US and Africa is a futile exercise in history, there is no doubt that we can gain immensely and make great stride not so much in implementing democratic principles but in borrowing ideas that could help us inculcate the democratic culture. Thus, Africans should begin at the beginning and take ‘lessons in democracy’.

Sat Nov 4, 2006 BEIJING - China launched a sweeping effort Saturday to expand its access to Africa's oil and markets, pledging billions of dollars in aid and loans as dozens of leaders from the world's poorest continent opened a conference aimed at building economic ties. pledged to double China's aid to Africa from its 2006 level by 2009. Speaking at the conference's opening ceremony, he promised $3 billion in loans, $2 billion in export credits and a $5 billion fund to encourage Chinese investment in Africa.

UNESCO Celebrates 30 Years in Rwanda
October 18, 2006 Last week, at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) celebrated 60 years of its existence. The celebrations, which coincided with thirty years of the organisation's existence in Rwanda, drew students from nine schools, teachers and the general public.

October 18, 2006 The United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) and the public university Agostinho Neto, as well as the private higher education institutions of the Catholic church "UCAN", Jean Piaget and Lusíadas will sign this Wednesday, at the UN head-office in Luanda, memorandums of understanding to stimulate the scientific interchange among these educational entities.

(Advice to the Son & in Memory to the Father) Translated into English by Dr. Ghelawdewos Araia

Ethiopia has been lucky to have extremely intelligent politicians leading her foreign affairs ever since the time of Emperor Menelik II. At the beginning of the twentieth century, once the Emperor realized that the country’s connection with foreign nations was vital to his ambitious development plans for his nation, he knew finding the right person to place at the helm of this crucial post was equally vital.

Zeresenay Alemseged is the first Ethiopian to lead a research team that has made such an important discovery. He is a bright young scientist who has studied in the US and Europe and is currently attached to the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Ghana: Teachers Advised to Do More in the Training of Children
Mr Anthony Amoah, Western Regional Minister has said that teachers have the duty to mould children under their care into future leaders that society can be proud of. He noted with concern that some teachers do not work hard enough to unearth the talents of their pupils.

Sep 20, 2006 — ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian scientists unveiled on Wednesday a 3.3 million-year-old fossil of a girl, which they believe is the most complete skeleton ever found.

"We are excited that we have found a way to return to Ethiopia, a program that has had a long standing history of warmly accepting volunteers into local communities," said Dr. Olsen. "Our hope is that the Ethiopia program becomes a model for the accomplishments that Peace Corps volunteers demonstrate in the health field around the world."

The Institute of Development and Education for Africa (IDEA) presents the partial images of Mekelle, the capital of the State of Tigray that has witnessed in recent years swift transformation in infrastructure, commerce, and capacity building. However, as you can see in these pictures, some scenes are intact and objectify reminiscence of the old Mekelle. IDEA challenges its subscribers to recognize places in Mekelle, figure out what they are, and answer the questions below by writing to webmaster@africanidea.org

By IDEA Research Scholar Report, September 8, 2006-IDEA representative, Dr. Ghelawdewos Araia, also met several faculty members, diligent and studios Africana scholar students at CAS, and the wonderful Ms. Janet Woodruff who meticulously and lucidly explained the mission and objectives of CAS and ALAADS. In due course of her conversation with Dr. Araia, Janet underscored the necessity and significance of recapturing the experience of the African Diaspora in