Zela Gayle
Never in the history of Ethiopian music has there been a creation of an all female band until Jananites, a nine piece band which has three lead vocalists, three guitarists, two keyboardists and a drummer all in their twenties.
The dramatic and moving experiences of three young Ethiopian competitors in the recent Olympic and Paralympic games in London are captured in a powerful new documentary, Hopes of Ethiopia II. The ten-minute film is a follow up to an earlier film highlighting the participants’ hopes and dreams before the competitions.
The three characters featured in the documentary are Yanet Seyoum, Ethiopia’s first female Olympic swimmer; an 800 and 1500 meter Paralympics runner, Tesfalem Gebru, and the 800 meter Olympic runner and a new sensation in Ethiopia’s athletics, Mohammed Aman.
The crisis in Mali is no longer a simple Malian affair. How Africa deals with it will speak volumes on the continent’s readiness to solve its troubles by itself.
Fred A. Eno, Special to Addis Standard
Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma could be pardoned for over indulgence in the oft-criticized but favorite past-time of the AU Commission: travel. Yet the Malian crises, and the many others she will have to tackle in the next four years, cannot be resolved from behind her desk in the Office of the Chairperson of the Commission in Addis Ababa. The tasks ahead require the best of her experience, tenacity and perseverance, as they bring to play all the challenges, and criticisms that the AUC encounters in determining its role in questions of peace and security, development, governance, democracy, human rights, social equity, humanitarian issues and inclusivity on the continent.
