Ethiopia: Private Amharic Press
The bi-weekly The Reporter (circulation 10,000) and weekly Sendek (circulation 3,500) reported that in the letter wrote on August 18, 2008, Engineer Hailu Shawel, former CUDP leader, asked the elders’ group led by Professor Ephrem Yisak to influence the government to have dialogue with their party as they were promised before they were released from prison. The letter urged the elders’ group to peruse the government to act positively on the eight-point peace plan drafted by the former CUDP after the May 2005 national election dispute. The letter also stated that former CUDP leaders were promised that they would be able to continue their struggle under their party name, CUDP, and that they would have dialogues with the government.
The Office of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied media reports about the killing of 65 Somali civilians saying these allegations are fabricated by the Somali opposition. According to the statement by the Spokesperson’s office, “some international organizations wittingly of otherwise have only been informed by an Al-Shabbab website.” The statement said that the transitional Government of Somalia and the Ethiopian army had established an independent team to investigate on the killing. The team confirmed that it was the Al-Shabbab bombing of the bus that caused the death of 11 civilian passages. The statement further warns the international media to refrain from reporting fabricated information which wouldn’t do any good for the peace and stability of Somalia. (also reported by Sendek)
The Reporter wrote that in the past four years the Ethiopian Investment Agency has canceled about 334 investment licenses which had a total capital of 11,610,540,610 birr, according to the agency. The agency canceled the license of the investors who haven’t renewing their licenses and haven’t been executed their projects and for some other reasons. Among the canceled investment projects, 209 were in Addis Ababa, 93 in Oromia and the rest were in the Southern, Amhara, Harari regions as well in Dire Dawa.