Avoiding Resource Curse in ERi

As Eritrea prepares to starts its first Gold production and with so many foreign companies rushing to get hold of Eritrea's undiscovered Gold, Mewael Frezgi provides advise on how Eritrea can avoid the so called 'resource curse". Read his suggestions here.

Measuring Economic Progress

French president Sarkozy and Nobel prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen. propose a change in measuring countries economic progress. The current metric which focuses primarly on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is often ctiticized for ignoring other factors vital to the well-being of society. The new proposed measure will include broad catagories such as meaures of hapiiness and welbeing, environmental protection and work/life balance as well as economic output. To read more follow the link.

The Gold are Coming Soon!

The finacial times has the following report on Eritrea's Gold production...

The first commercial production is due to begin in the third quarter of next year when the Bisha mine opens on a site in western Eritrea that contains nearly 1m ounces of gold, said Alem Kibreab, director-general of mines at the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

Bisha is being developed by Nevsun Resources, a junior mining company listed in Toronto, which has a 60 per cent stake in the project. The remaining 40 per cent is held by Eritrea’s state-owned mining company. Beneath its layer of gold the site has about 700m pounds of copper and 1bn pounds of zinc.

The eight companies awarded new exploration licences this year include Andiamo Exploration and London Africa from the UK; South Boulder Mines from Australia; India’s Spice Metals & Minerals; and Zhongchang Mining of China. A total of 14 foreign companies are now in the country.

Eritrea is “highly prospective ground”, said Kevin Tomlinson, managing director of the mining practice at Thomas Weisel, an investment bank. “It’s in a very prolific geological corridor that runs from Egypt along the Red Sea, down through Sudan to Eritrea, and then to Somalia and the northern tip of Madagascar. That’s where a lot of the pharaohs’ gold came from,” he said.

Eritrea’s deposits are not likely to be larger than those in South Africa or the Democratic Republic of Congo, but income from royalties, taxes and new jobs could ease the government’s fiscal problems and spread more wealth among its 5m or so people, many of them living on the margins of survival. To read more click here.

In The Name of the People.....

The prime minister of Ethiopia has lied for his people and the world for 5 years...saying this is his last term and he will step down in 2010. Now, he will stay in power because his people wanted him! Really? there is no one like Meles in the 80 million Ethiopians? in the name of the people? What an insult! of course no one expect him to giveup easily, but it still drives me nuts to read the following...

Ethiopia Prime Minster Meles Zenawi will seek for a new five-year term, his ruling party announced on Tuesday. The 54 year-old former guerrilla leader, who has been in power for 18 years, was convinced by party members to stay on. The Ethiopian People Democratic Front (EPRDF) council underlined that the Ethiopian people and his party need Mr Zenawi for one more term at the end of a two day annual gathering. "Meles is playing a key role in transforming Ethiopia...." EPRDF said in a statement.

African Entrepreneurs

The freakonimics blog of the NY Times has some interesting stories about creative African Entrepreneurs, who also believ entrepreneurship rather than food aid is the way out for Africa. Follow the link to read those stories.

Friendship between a Man and Lions

Should English be a Working Language of Eritrea?

Mogos Tekeste proposes English to be the working language of Eritrea. He argues this will have two advanatages. First it avoids politiciazation of the language issue and second it provides Eritrea a comparative advanateg in the glabal economy. I think his proposal deserves consideration. Read his article here.

Leading Eritrean Politicians of the 1950's

Somehow, browsing over old pages of awate.com, I came through a list of leading Eritrean politicians of the 1950's. The list and information about the persons was provided by the British administration in Eritrea to the government of the United Kingdom (1950).I found it interesting. I thought some people may also want to read it. If you are, follow the link here.

Eritrean Green Movement?

Did anyone know how many movements and political parties are in the opposition camp? So many.... that they have to take all the names in the dictionary of political parties. Here is one name that catched my eyes...

Eritrean Green Movement for Social Reconciliation, Justice and Ecological Wisdom! mknay trah mknay...

So many Reasons to be Thankful