Cyber Ethiopia

We saw last week that the British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin had turned down the Ethiopian Government request to use the machinery of the Four Great Powers in Rome to request the extradition of the two Italian marshals, Pietro Badoglio and Rodolfo Graziani, against whom the UN War Crimes Commission had found a prima facie war crimes case.

Now read on:

Ato Abebe Retta, the Ethiopian Minister in London.

Faced with the well-nigh insuperable difficulty that there were no diplomatic relations with Italy, the Ethiopian Government made one last heroic effort to bring the two Italian marshals to trial. Read the rest of this entry »

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The strategy of food security in Ethiopia is tied with the overall development strategy of Agricultural Development-Led Industrialization (ADLI). This strategy is aimed at structural transformation of the economy in which a high growth of agricultural development is envisaged to raise the share of industry and social services in terms of output and employment. Read the rest of this entry »

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The loot from Maqdala seized by British troops in April 1868 was three years later the subject of a dramatic debate in the British House of Commons, on 30 June 1871.

Gold Crown and Chalice

The matter came to the fore when Colonel North, a Member with a military background, raised a remarkable matter: the British troops had seized a solid gold crown believed to have belonged to the Abun, or Head of the Ethiopian Church, and a gold chalice dating back to the reign of Emperor Iyasu I, but not received any prize money for them! Read the rest of this entry »

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Richard Rivington Holmes (later Sir Richard, 1835-1911) was an Englishman appointed by the British Museum to accompany the British Expedition against Emperor Tewodros of Ethiopia, in 1867-8. His task was to obtain Ethiopian objects for the museum.

We publish today, and next week, three of his letters, and one from the British Commander-in-Chief, Lord Robert Napier of Magdala. These hitherto largely unpublished documents are of considerable interest for Ethiopian history in general. They also throw light on the question of the loot from Emperor Tewodros’s capital, at Maqdala - and hence on the demand for the restitution of this loot currently demanded by AFROMET, the Association for the Return of Ethiopian Maqdala Treasures. Read the rest of this entry »

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We saw last week that Rodolfo Graziani, the Italian Fascist Viceroy of Ethiopia, was confronted with strong opposition in Italy, most noticeably on the part of Alessandro Lessona, the doctrinaire Minister of Italian Africa. Now read on:

The Duce’s Concern about the Military Situation

Disputes and recriminations within the Fascist administration of Ethiopia were intensified for the grim reality of the its failure to crush the Ethiopian Patriot movement. This was a particularly serious matter for Mussolini in view of his ambition to embark on further wars of conquest. (The Fascist invasion of Albania was for example already envisaged).  Read the rest of this entry »

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Sof Omar Caves

It is a bit of a cheat, because the Sof Omar Caves are not in the Bale National Park, but they are so close that if circumstances permit, they are worth adding to a visit to the park.

A surprisingly large number of people make the pilgrimage to the remote and exotic caves in Bale zone. Although they are a bit brutal to reach, they are well worth a look.

The route is spectacular. The wonderful Bale National Park, is a good jump off point to the Sof Omar caves.

Past Dinsho at the Park Headquarters, you must drive 35 km to Robe, then a further 60 to Goro, and a final 45 to the caves. The road starts off quite bad and gets gradually worse. It’s designation as all weather is, to put it politely, an exaggeration. I was there just after the rainy season and it is difficult. In the rain it would have been virtually impassable, even with a good four wheel drive.  Read the rest of this entry »

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This on-going series of articles presents excerpts from historically interesting accounts of Ethiopian markets, and merchants, as seen over the centuries. mainly by foreign observers.

The difficulties encountered by travelling merchants in the past were graphically described, in the early seventeenth century, by a prominent Portuguese Jesuit, Manoel de Almeida.

“Very Frightening”

Writing about the mercantile journey inland from the Red Sea port of Massawa to the province of Dambaya north of Lake Tana, a journey which was taken by many merchants in his day, Almeida states that it was necessary to make twelve river-crossings (without any bridges!) in a single day. After this the traveller reached “a very high mountain called Daguca”. Climbed in half a day, it necessitated “going around it all the time as if in a spiral along a path often so narrow that it is very frightening. As one goes up the mountain slope”, Almeida continues, “a large part of it is over one’s head and below are such precipices that if you once stumble and fell over that side there would be nowhere you could stop”. Read the rest of this entry »

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Nechisar Park is quite a way from Addis. To get to Nechisar you must go through the zonal town of Arba Minch. Going to Arba Minch represents a victory of determination over common sense. Take a look at a map of Ethiopia. Look down, way down, to the bottom of the Rift Valley Lakes. Arba Minch is between the two last lakes. It is a long way from Addis.

Fortunately it’s worth it. The first time I planned to go to Arba Minch I didn’t get past Sodo - about 2 hours north. Apart from the crocodiles in the lake, the place didn’t sound interesting enough to bother with. I went to Jimma instead, which truly was boring. Read the rest of this entry »

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This on-going series of articles presents excerpts from historically interesting accounts of Ethiopian markets, and merchants, as seen over the centuries. mainly by foreign observers.

Taxes: Market Dues

Merchants in traditional Ethiopia faced many problems, many of which resulted from the various taxes to which they were subjected. These were levied either by the provincial rulers of the lands in which they traded, or else by a special official called a negadras, to whom the chief farmed out the right to collect the taxes in return for a fixed yearly sum. The object of the latter functionary was then, as British Consul Walter Plowden says, to “screw” as much as he could from the merchants. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bahir Dar is a nice place to visit. It is a town you can walk around in. It is attractive, with wide boulevards lined with attractive palm trees. But the big attraction of Bahir Dar, particularly for the landlocked inhabitants of Ethiopia, is the magnificent Lake Tana.

The main hotels of Bahir Dar are positioned to take the best advantage of the views of the lake. The faded glory of The Tana Hotel offers one of the best views. There is a nice sitting area outside, an empty swimming pool, a high ceilinged restaurant and bar, and nice old fashioned rooms.   Read the rest of this entry »

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