Ethiopia Bars British Journalist

I don't know what the fuss is about. So this guy is not liked by the ETH gov't, so what!
There are lots of other journalists around to report on situations...

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=14245
http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/africa/ethiopia23feb06na.html
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-02-24-voa21.cfm

By VOA News 24 February 2006
An international media watchdog says
Ethiopian authorities have barred a British journalist from reporting in the
country because he wrote stories about human rights abuses there.
The New
York-based Committee to Protect Journalists stated late Thursday that reporter
Inigo Gilmore was denied accreditation this week.
Gilmore, who reports for a
London newspaper, had covered alleged abuses committed during protests over
disputed election results last May.
C.P.J. says at least 17 journalists were
jailed in Ethiopia while covering the post-election unrest.

Does anybody stop and ask what kind of work has this
journalist embarked on in the past? What kind of credibility does he have? Does he report in order to tell the truth, or is he out to satify a
certain conservative group's point of view?

Here is a typical example of he work (I would call it tabloid):

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=7549

The Smoking Gun

By Inigo Gilmore
The London Telegraph April 29, 2003
Iraqiintelligencedocuments discovered in Baghdad by The Telegraph have
providedthe first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden's
al-Qa'eda terrorist network and Saddam Hussein's regime.

and these are the type of adds his newspapers commend!
The pictures are adds from the website. Please pay attention to what's written on the chests of the women.
1. The ACLU is the American civil liberties Union, an organization that advocates for the respect and upholding of civil rights. "C" in ACLU is replace with the communist logo of "maCHed'ena medosha". "Enemy of the state" is the slogan.
2. There is the "PEACE" sign, with a fire-spitting fighterjet in the center. "Through Superior Firepower" is the slogan.

What kind of idea do these journalists and newspapers uphold?
And how about the title of the article? "THE SMOKING GUN" ????????

What smoking gun, you &$%#^(!@&*

more on FLOWERS

Five Major Flower Firms to Abandon Naivasha for Ethiopia

The East African (Nairobi)
February 21, 2006
Posted to the web February 21, 2006
Catherine RiunguNairobi

High production costs and insecurity are forcing firms in Kenya's flower sector to relocate to neighbouring countries, particularly Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania.
Already, five investors have acquired farms and started the groundwork to set up operations in Ethiopia.
Kenya Flower Council chairman Erastus Mureithi told The EastAfrican, "Flower exporters have complained for too long about rising production costs, which are at an all time high now because of spiralling fuel costs, a strong shilling and insecurity."
Mr Mureithi said, "A combination of factors is persuading investors in this high-investment industry to shift their operations to Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania." Ethiopia has become a favourite with the investors, with at least five Kenyan flower firms - who asked not to be named - having acquired large farms there.
Mr Mureithi said even of more concern is the drought currently facing Kenya. The drought has also brought into focus the reliability of irrigation-dependent farming in the long-term. Flower firms are worried that without government intervention to harvest, store and regenerate water, Kenya will not have any farming water in five years' time.
Tiku Shah, chairman of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya, said that Kenya has not had a reliable rainfall pattern since the 1997/98 El Nino rains, despite the fact that there is no water policy in place, leaving agriculture at the mercy of the vagaries of the weather.
Oserian Development Company managing director Ron Fasol said Lake Naivasha - where 70 per cent of Kenya's flowers are grown - could dry up due to the uncontrolled use of its waters if the government does not stop issuing more water permits to farmers.
In 1995, the lake was designated as a Ramsar site, a wetlands of international importance due to its rich diversity of flora and fauna.
But with the expansion of the 4,000-acre flower farming sector on the lake, the population around the lake has grown in the past 20 years from about 7,000 to about 300,000.
Mr Fasol said the Ministry of Water and the National Environment Management Authority should stop issuing water permits until the lake waters are sufficiently replenished, "Otherwise, the flower sector will be wiped out in five years because there won't be any water for irrigation."
There is no legal framework guiding the use of water from Lake Naivasha. The flower farms, through the Lake Naivasha Growers Association and the Lake Naivasha Riparian Association, have drafted their own self-regulating codes for responsible water use and conservation of the lake. Among these are keeping a 100-metre buffer zone of riparian land between the farms and the lake, establishment of wetlands for natural water purification and the sinking of boreholes instead of drawing water directly from the lake.
Over the years, however, environmental lobbyists have raised concern over the unmonitored use of water from the lake by flower farms, as well as the uncontrolled sinking of boreholes. Farmers around the lake, who initially dismissed the concerns as alarmist, now want the government to control water usage and enforce regulations to protect the lake, including ensuring that permits for domestic water are not used for large-scale farming, a common malpractice.
Minister for Water Mutua Katuku said the government was studying the situation with a view to taking action, adding, "We do not want to reach a situation where we cannot move any more."
According to Permanent Secretary for Agriculture Dr Romano Kiome, the government has drawn up a comprehensive water harvesting and conservation policy within the current Agricultural Strategic Plan that will see stalled irrigation schemes revived. Micro-dams and large-scale boreholes are to be built all over the country for water harvesting. A fresh inventory is to be carried out to establish how many small dams and water pans there are in Kenya.
The last such exercise, done in 1992, put the number of dams at 406 and water pans at 2,254. The new inventory will be useful in the planned transition of water use patterns from the current smallholder and private commercial farms to community-based irrigation.
There are growing concerns that the success of Kenya's flower industry, whose earnings are estimated at $350 million, has blinded the authorities to the reality of the competition, to break the country's domination of the world's largest market - the European Union. Kenya has commanded a 25 per cent market share since 2000 after edging out Columbia and Israel and, last year, its share increased to 31 per cent. But now, emerging suppliers such as Rwanda, Ethiopia and Uganda have designed intensive marketing programmes to promote their countries as friendly for foreign flower investors.

Flower trade in full bloom

Ethiopia's annual flower exports to Britain to reach 100 million by 2007.
February 18, 2006

Major British retail chain Morrisons is soon to stock Ethiopian flowers, roses, carnations and the red-brown berried hypericum, officials said Saturday.
Annual flower exports from Ethiopia currently stand at more than 20 million U.S. dollars and are expected to reach 100 million dollars by 2007, said Melaku Legesse, director of the Export Promotion Department, the country's foreign trade watchdog.
More projects, with a further 100 investors from the Netherlands, Germany, India and Israel have acquired the use of 450 hectares to set up farms, and should generate an estimate extra 300 million dollars a year by 2007, he said.
Floricultural development is a thriving part of Ethiopia's export trade, according to Melaku.
He said that revenue earned from flower exports has grown significantly over the last couple of years from sales to the European market.
"Ethiopia has an ideal ecology for floricultural development, with an immense potential to grow high quality standard flowers that would meet the requirements demanded by the international market," he said.
Karuturi Networks is one of a number of hi-tech Indian floriculturalists that has recently announced that it is setting up operations in Ethiopia. The Indian company has set up a 50- hectare unit at Holeta, near Addis Ababa and is in the process of adding a further 50 hectares. Other companies, including Pushpam Florabase Pvt Ltd., are also in the process of setting up their operations.
Karuturi recently won a major order with the British supermarket chain Morrisons and will be using its Ethiopian operations to service it.
Ethiopia's appeal lies in its proximity to consuming markets, such as Europe and West Asia, its ideal climate conditions all year round, the improved investment code in the country, the accessibility to bank loans and the availability of land.
Located in the equatorial belt, Ethiopia has an ideal climatic condition that helps in producing premium grade roses. The Ethiopian government offers large tracts of land for floriculture companies on a perpetual long-lease at very attractive rentals.
Source: Xinhua