Ethiopian coffee received the “2016 World’s Best Coffee Award” at the first-ever Ernesto Illy International Coffee Awards Ceremony held in New York on 1st November 2016.

The Ernesto Illy International Coffee Awards recognizes top quality coffee growers who produce the best beans in the coffee paradises across the world.

The event which was organized with the major aim of recognizing coffee grower’s commitment to quality and sustainability along with emphasizing the importance of working hand-in-hand with the coffee growers was attended by a number of ambassadors and United Nations delegates from around the globe.

The judges, who tasted 27 cups of coffee from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India and Nicaragua, awarded Ahmed Legesse from Ethiopia with the Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award.

In the event, the jury’s spokesperson described Ethiopian coffee: “A special coffee with a mild, delicate aroma and a unique perfume with distinctive floral notes of jasmine and a hint of citrus fruit.”

The Government of Ethiopia has announced today (November 08, 2016) that it has lifted the state of emergency directive which restricted diplomats to travel beyond 40 KM radius outside of Addis Ababa without notifying and getting the permission of the Command Post.

According to Siraj Fegessa, Secretariat of the Command Post and Minister of Defense, the decision to lift the travel ban was ascribed to the relative peace and security currently evident in the country.

The newly issued directives for the implementation of the state of emergency also lifted the directive which prohibits carrying and possessing at home uniforms of law enforcement bodies.

The new directives also include amendments on self-defense measures that law enforcement officers and others on guarding duty would take while implementing the state of emergency proclamation and prohibitions as well as amendments to the state of conducting searches.

Apart from taking self-defense measures to avert attacks by means of weapons or blade directed against their life and property as stated in the first and previously issued directive, law enforcement officers and those on guarding duty as per the newly issued directives for the implementation of the state of emergency are now also entitled to avert attacks targeted against the lives of others and property.

The Simien Lodge, in the Simien Mountains National Park, in Ethiopia’s Amhara Regional State on Sunday (October 30) ranked first in Community Development Projects in the 2016 Skål International Sustainable Tourism Award in the category of Rural Accommodation. The award at the Skål World Congress, taking place in Monaco, recognized the Simien Lodge for its commitment to sustainability and innovative projects that address the needs of the community surrounding the lodge. The projects commended by the Skål World Congress included: educational developments, water safety, sustainable tourism initiatives, medical aid and provision of alternative livelihoods. Other projects acknowledged and praised by the Congress were: the donation of 1000 energy-efficient stoves for cooking and heating; the delivery of over 800 school benches to local schools, and more recently the completion of eight new classrooms in three primary schools in the areas around the lodge as well as the restoration of the ancient Saddique Amba Monastery.

Skål is the oldest tourism association in the world and is represented through clubs in 83 countries. The first club was formed in Paris in December 1932.  Skål professionals meet regularly and share experiences to further the principal of sustainable and equitable tourism. The International Awards are given annually to those companies, who in the opinion of a panel of judges, are considered to have provided the best sustainable tourism projects in the year. This year, some 450 delegates drawn from 49 countries met at the International Congress in Monaco, between the 29th October and 2nd November 2016. The award of the first prize underlines the international standard reached by the Simien Lodge.

The Simien Mountains National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with its undulating plateau and deep valleys, is often dubbed the Grand Canyon of Africa. The Park, in northern Ethiopia, features remarkable vistas and landscapes in which erosion over millions of years has created jagged mountain peaks, valleys and sharp precipices dropping some 1,500 meters or more. The Simien Mountains make up one of the most beautiful stretches of unspoilt mountain wilderness surviving in the world today. The park includes some of Ethiopia’s tallest peaks, including Ras Dashen, which at 4, 543 meters is the highest mountain in Ethiopia.

Wildlife is equally rich, with the Simien range providing the last remaining habitat in the world for the rare Walia Ibex, a type of large wild goat weighing up to 120 kilograms, with long, curved densely-ridged horns. Rarely found at altitudes below 2, 400 meters, these lovely, shy creatures are hard to approach. Ecology has adapted them to live on nearly vertical cliff faces, where they can often be seen in the morning or evening, browsing on narrow, grassy ledges. The Gelada baboon, which like the Walia is another of Ethiopia’s endemic mammals, is also found in the Simien. Nicknamed the ‘lion monkey’ because of its characteristic mane of fine auburn hair, the Gelada is in fact a polite and cautious creature quite unlike the more common baboons found elsewhere in Africa.  The heart-shaped patch of bare, reddish skin seen on the chests of both males and female has given rise to another nickname for this species, the ‘bleeding-heart baboon’. A third representative of Ethiopia’s endemic mammals, the Simien red fox, or Abyssinian wolf, can also be seen in the national park. In fact, neither a wolf nor a fox, it is a member of the dog family, but is the only example of its genus. The unique character of Simien wildlife is also mirrored in the many unusual kinds of vegetation to be found in the park, making it a botanical wonderland.

Ethiopia is, indeed, an encyclopedia of geology and geography open for all to read under the intense blue of the African sky. More than this, it is a living book in which the whole story of humankind from its first beginnings millions of years ago, through all the stages of evolution and development, can be viewed with awe and wonder. The traveler in Ethiopia voyages in time as well as in space, for here the drama and beauty of the present are illuminated in countless ways by the grandeur and majesty of the past and in a nation that is building itself anew, with glimpses and intimations of a noble future. Upon visiting Ethiopia and looking at such wonders, Rosita Forbes, a popular English travel writer and explorer once said, “When the old gods reigned in Ethiopia, they must have played chess with these stupendous crags, for we saw bishops’ miters cut in lapis lazuli, castles with the ruby of approaching sunset on their turrets, an emerald knight where the forest crept up onto the rock, and, far away, a king crowned with sapphires and guarded by a row of pawns.”

On the 8th and 9th of December, the Africa Platform of Ghent University Association will organize its 10th annual symposium on the topic “Celebrating partnership with Africa: Demonstrating the value of international collaboration on teaching and research”.

Register by clicking here

House of People’s Representatives (HPR) has unanimously approved the new cabinets proposed by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on the basis of their competence and commitment.

The Premier scrapped the previous posts cluster coordinator with the rank of deputy Prime Minister and advisor to the Prime Minister
Cabinet members who remained in their previous posts:

Origin of the Ministers: Oromia 9, Amhara 8, South 6, Tigray 4, Somali 2 and Afar 1

See the full list (PDF)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz8HHstw84M&app=desktop