The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, today called on the international community to keep Eritrea under close scrutiny until meaningful change is evident in the country. “Blatant disrespect for human rights in Eritrea is unacceptable,” Ms. Keetharuth stressed after a ten-day mission to Ethiopia and Djibouti to collect first-hand information dir ...

Following on from the success of the first two programmes, run in 2011 and 2012, today Orange (http://www.orange.com) is launching the third Orange African Social Venture Prize. The project promotes social innovations in support of development that use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Orange, which is present in 18 African countries and boasts over 70 million customers, is seeking to becom ...

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia's customs chief was arrested on Monday as the government and police move toward cracking down on corruption in the country. A spokesman for Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn confirmed to Bikyanews.com that the Revenue and Customs Authority head Melaku Fanta and his deputy Gebrewahid Woldegiorgis were detained as an investigation into their corruption continues. "This is not the end o ...

Less than one per cent of all patent applications relating to Clean Energy Technology (CET) have been filed in Africa, highlighting an opportunity for the continent to leapfrog existing fossil-fuel energy sources and thus cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions and bring major health benefits. A new study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Patent Office (EPO)—Patents and Clean Energy Technologies ...

CAPE TOWN: Key players in the mining sector attending an industry partnership meetingfor Mining and Metals session organized by the World Economic Forum and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) have underscored that the window of opportunity provided by rising commodity prices must correspond to a rise in revenues for African governments by equal measure. Held on 8 May, the session was aimed at examinin ...

The African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur Joint Special Representative/Joint Chief Mediator (JSR/JCM), Mr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, condemns in the strongest terms the criminal attack on 12 May 2013 which led to the killing of Mohamed Bashar, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement-Sudan (JEM/Bashar), and a number of his colleagues. The JSR/JCM recalls that this group had clearly stated its prefe ...

Adventures Of A Film-maker In Ethiopia tells the remarkable story of Bob Maddams, who swapped a high-flying advertising career in London to go and teach a group of young people, who included kids who had been living on the street, in a back-street community film school in Addis Ababa called Gem TV. Bob was a successful director of TV commercials in London.  Then a chance encounter at the Media Trust, an org ...

Africa cannot continue to be marketed as a country, when it is a continent of 54 countries, which, by 2040 will have the largest workforce in the world. The statement was made by the Economic Commission for Africa’s Executive Secretary, Mr. Carlos Lopes at the World Economic Forum on Africa this week during a session aptly titled:Myth Busting; investing in Africa. Mr. Lopes underscored that by 2040, Africa ...

ADDIS ABABA: They call themselves Lucy and Tina. They are Ethiopian. They are lesbians. They are a couple who have been together for five years. But last week, while dancing at a local club in Addis Ababa, they told Bikyanews.com they were attacked by other women, beaten and forced out of the nightclub. The reason: they are lesbian. "The women just kept yelling at us and screaming and pushing when we starte ...

ADDIS ABABA: The issue of domestic workers' rights in the Middle East has plagued Ethiopian women for years, with ongoing reports of abuse, neglect and sexual violence often coming to the forefront of media across the region. One woman is taking on the battle and using her "inside" position, being married to a Lebanese man, to advocate for Ethiopian women's rights as they continue to work in the Middle East ...