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Ethiopian Airlines has taken delivery of its 100th aircraft, Boeing 787 Dreamliner on June 6, 2018, once again leading the way in fleet expansion and modernisation in Africa.
As part of Ethiopian Corporate Social Responsibility commitments, the new aircraft has ferried medical equipment from the Seattle-based NGO, Direct Relief, to St Paulos Hospital in Addis Ababa. The shipment includes surgical stools and other medical supplies to be used for both teaching and patient care.
Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr Tewolde GebreMariam, remarked, “It is an immense honour for all of us at Ethiopian to reach the milestone of 100 aircraft. This milestone is a continuation of our historical aviation leadership role in Africa and a testimony of the successful implementation of our fast, profitable and sustainable growth plan, Vision 2025.
Ethiopian was the first to avail jet service in the continent back in 1962 and operated the first African B767 in 1984, the first African B777-200LR in 2010, the first African B787800 Dreamliner and B777-200 freighter in 2012 and the first African A350 in 2016 and the first African B787-9 aircraft in 2017.
Ethiopian now operates one of the youngest and most modern 100 aircraft, with an average age of less than five years. Fleet modernisation and expansion is one of the four critical pillars of our Vision 2025 strategic roadmap, in support of our fast expanding network, which has now reached over 110 international destinations covering five continents.
Over the years, Ethiopian has been investing heavily in fleet modernisation and expansion, which is one of the pillars of Vision 2025. Ethiopian was the first African Airline and second only to Japan to operate the B787 Dreamliner in 2012 and the first carrier in Africa to usher with the Airbus A350 XWB in 2016.
Ethiopia’s prime minister said on Wednesday 6 June that ending the war and expanding economic ties with neighbouring Eritrea is critical for stability and development in the impoverished Horn of Africa region.
Abiy Ahmed’s remarks followed the announcement on Tuesday by his ruling coalition that Ethiopia would fully implement a peace deal signed in 2000 and meant to end a two-year war that devolved into a stalemate resulting in a substantial military buildup by both countries.
It is one of many policy shifts announced since the 41-year-old took office in early April, moves that could reshape Ethiopia’s relations with its neighbours and have equally dramatic impacts inside the country of 100 million people.
Whether the new measures, including liberalisation of the state-controlled economy, end up addressing critical challenges from high youth unemployment to rising government debt remain to be seen. But they are shaking the country up.
“All that we have achieved from the situation of the last 20 years is tension,” Abiy said.
“Neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea benefit from a stalemate. We need to expend all our efforts toward peace and reconciliation and extricate ourselves from petty conflicts and divisions and focus on eliminating poverty.”
Eritrea used to be a part of Ethiopia and waged a 30-year struggle for independence. The war on their shared border between 1998 and 2000 killed tens of thousands of people, caused significant displacement and the splintering of families.
Eritrea’s government has not responded publicly to Addis Ababa’s offer of an olive branch.
PM Abiy said Ethiopia needed to resolve what he seemed to view as a costly and pointless dispute.
“Putting an end to this situation and finding peace is necessary beyond anything else not just for Ethiopia but also the wider Horn of Africa,” he said in a speech in Addis Ababa.
“Every Ethiopian should realise that it is expected of us to be a responsible government that ensures stability in our region, one that takes the initiative to connect the brotherly peoples of both countries and expands trains, buses and economic ties between Asmara and Addis Ababa.”
Diplomats say punitive measures taken against Eritrea may prevent an immediate conclusion to the dispute.
The U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea in 2009 on charges that Asmara provided political, financial and logistical support to militant groups in Somalia.
The Executive Committee of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) decided yesterday to liberalise the economy partially.
The move is aimed at increasing the constructive role of Ethiopian Diaspora as well as potential local and foreign investors in Ethiopia’s fast-growing economy.
Ethiopia will sell minority stakes to foreign and domestic investors in state monopolies such as Ethio Telecom and Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise, the continent’s biggest airline, as well as Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprise.
Other sectors such as railways, the sugar industry and hotels will be open to full private sector ownership.
Ethiopia announced on 5 May that it would accept and implement the Algiers Agreement, a 2000 peace agreement with Eritrea over their disputed border.
“The Eritrean government should take the same stand without any prerequisite and accept our call to bring back the long-lost peace of the two brother nations as it was before,” the governing party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, said in the statement.
The countries fought a war from 1998 to 2000 over their border dispute, which left about 80,000 people dead. The border has been a deadly point of contention ever since, and the dispute had been widely regarded as a diplomatic stalemate.
But Ethiopia signalled a few months ago that it wished to resolve the problem when its new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, vowed in his inaugural address to seek peace with Eritrea. Ethiopia’s major objection was the boundary commission’s decision to award Eritrea the border town of Badme.
With this decision, Ethiopia is signalling its seriousness and commitment to finally resolve the dispute.
“Ethiopia and Eritrea have the most unique cultural, historical and blood ties. The suffering on both sides is unspeakable because the peace process is deadlocked. This must change for the sake of our common good,” Fitsum Arega, the prime minister’s chief of staff, tweeted shortly before the announcement.
In its 29th regular session today, the House of People’s Representatives (HPR), passed the draft law proposed by the Council of Ministers to lift the State of Emergency.
The House passed the draft bill with majority in favour and eight abstentions.
Ethiopia declared the State of Emergency on February 16, 2018.
Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen underscored the need to ensure food security of people living below the poverty line so as to achieve Ethiopia’s target of development at the launching of the second phase urban safety net program in the capital Addis Ababa yesterday.
The government would give due attention to ensure food security of people living below poverty line, he added.
Diriba Kuma, the Mayor of Addis Ababa, specified that that 200,000 dwellers living in 55 woredas (districts) would benefit from the 2nd phase of the program. About 600,000 people are estimated to live below the poverty line in Addis Ababa and more than 320,000 people have so far benefited from the first and second safety net programs.
The urban safety net program was launched in 2016 in partnership with the World Bank a cost of 450 million US dollars. The Ethiopian government allocated 150 million US dollars for the program, while the remaining 300 million US dollars was a loan from the World Bank.
Ethiopia’s parliament is set to lift the six-month state of emergency two months early after the cabinet approved a draft law that said calm had been restored. The government imposed emergency rule in February.
Since then, the authorities have pledged to push through a raft of reforms that have included the release of thousands of prisoners. The draft will now be sent to parliament for its consideration. Ethiopia’s 547-seat House of People’s Representatives often holds its sessions today.
Abiy Ahmed, who replaced Hailemariam Desalegn as premier, has travelled to several areas of the country to discuss with the population and address their grievances. Since being selected by the ruling party and taking office in April, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has helped bring greater stability. He has freed thousands of prisoners and toured the country listening to people’s grievances. He has also reached out to opposition figures both inside and outside Ethiopia.
During an Iftar (Ramadan breakfast) feast in Sudan for news agencies and the local press, organised by the Ethiopian embassy, Zoudi added that “work in the dam is in full swing.”
“As you know, it is a huge project, and we still have a lot to wait for, but the construction process is going well and has not stopped for a minute. So far we have completed more than 65% of the construction and very soon, maybe in less than a year, we will celebrate the completion of the GERD,” he explained.
He pointed out that the three countries managed to overcome their dispute, saying all fears would disappear when the three parties reached a technical compromise on the dam.
The Ethiopian Ambassador underscored the three countries would advantage from the GERD.
Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt agreed last month on disputed issues about the technical impact studies and options for filling and operating the GERD.
The agreement was reached in a sitting of the ministerial board on the GERD together with foreign affairs and water ministers and heads of security and intelligence services of the three countries in Addis Ababa.
The contract provides to send a letter to the consultant including observations and questions of the three countries on the initial technical report and to discuss the reaction at the meeting of the national technical committee in Cairo.
During a discussion with senior members of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) last weekend, PM Abiy asked the security chiefs to focus on improving the professionalism of the army. The army plays a critical role in the securing national interests and sovereignty, in addition to ‘protecting the Constitution and working for the befit of the people’.
“Our national capacity will be evidenced when we are able to achieve our goals of peace, development and democracy as well as guarantee the dignity of our people and sovereignty of the country,” he said.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also disclosed that Ethiopia is planning to build a navy. “Following the efforts made to build the capacity of our national defence, we built one of the stronger ground and air forces in Africa”. “We should build our naval force capacity in the future.”
Ethiopia currently has a civilian Ethiopian Maritime Training Institute on Lake Tana. It trains more than 500 electromechanical engineers and technicians each year and plans to increase this number to more than 1,000 officers a year.
