ION update: 03/12/06

Lencho Letta has met Meles Zenawi
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1172 11/03/2006

The former chairman of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Lencho Letta, acting in his capacity as advisor to this organisation’s chairman Daoud Ibsa, twice met Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in the latter half of 2005. Their first meeting took place at the beginning of September 2005 in Oslo, when Meles Zenawi came to collect a prize conferred on him by a foundation connected to the firm Yara. The second meeting was held during the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s visit to Germany at the beginning of October 2005. It is true that the two men know each other, having worked together to draw up the transitional charter for Ethiopia at the beginning of the 1990s. However, their discussions in 2005 did not result in any convergence of views. In fact, a source inside the OLF confirmed to The Indian Ocean Newsletter this week that there had been no formal agreement to negotiate between his organisation and the EPRDF (governing coalition).

Moges Chemere, removed as Chairman of DBE
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1172 11/03/2006

Moges Chemere, who has been the Chairman of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) for twelve years, has just been removed without further ado at the end of February. He was immediately replaced by Wondwossen Teshome, 45, who had hitherto been in charge of the finances of the rural credits division of this Ethiopian State bank. Teshome has a degree on accountancy from Addis-Ababa University (AAU) and has worked at the DBE for two decades.