Daily Ethiopia

Derba MIDROC Cement Plc, Ethiopia's biggest cement factory was inaugurated here on Sunday in the presence of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and other invited guests at aground-breaking ceremony held with in the premises of the factory. The 351 million dollar plant was built by the MIDROC Ethiopia group owned by Mohammed al-Amoudi, an Ethiopian-born Saudi Arabian billionaire who is one of the biggest investors in the Horn of Africa. Derba MIDROC located about 70 kilometers northwest of the capital, Addis Ababa, near Chanch town of Oromia State will produce 8,000 metric tons of cement daily.

Access Capital is under negotiations to sell its 90 percent share of TMGD Trade Works Private Limited Company, manufacturer of Real Springs bottled water, sources told Capital.

Some eight members of the terrorist organization, al-Qaeda, were put under control while attempting to launch an organized attack in Ethiopia, the Federal Police said in a statement on Monday.

The Executive Office of the Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change announced on Monday that it had confirmation that the 85 year old Abune Antonios, "the legitimate Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Eritrea" was "sick and in a worrisome condition."

In the late nineteenth century, when the once mighty Ottoman Empire was in a state of collapse, its rapidly failing health gave rise to the phrase "The Sick Man of Europe". Its bleak situation was in sharp contrast to the economic prosperity and political strength that prevailed in the rest of Europe. Today, in 21st century Africa, many countries are moving forward on the path of economic growth and political stability, while there is one notable exception moving in the opposite direction. That country is Eritrea.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hailemariam Desalegn met with Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Kamel Amr for their first political consultation meeting.

On Monday this week, the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed a letter to the United Nations Security Council. It was its usual attempt to deny any report of its activities in continuing its repeated efforts at destabilization in the region. It is after all only a few days ago that tourists in the Afar Regional State of Ethiopia were killed, injured, and kidnapped with the direct involvement of the Eritrean regime.

A group of 27 tourists travelling in the Afar Regional State were attacked by gunmen
last Tuesday at around three in the morning. Five European tourists were killed, four injured and two tourists and two Ethiopians were kidnapped.

There can be no doubt of Eritrea’s responsibility for January 16th attack, which claimed the lives of five tourists in Eastern Ethiopia close to the border with Eritrea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Ethiopian Airlines strongly refutes the final investigation report released today by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport on the accident of ET 409 / 25 January 2010.