Africa News blog
African business, politics and lifestyle
Did politics play a role in Gebrselassie’s short-lived retirement?
By Aaron Maasho
It is not hard to notice Haile Gebrselassie’s huge popularity in Ethiopia. It emanates from pride over his illustrious career that saw him break 27 world records, as much as from who he is when not running.
With his ever-present smile and sarcastic quips, “The Emperor” — as he is affectionately known — has never shied away from charity work, as well as providing hundreds of jobs to impoverished locals in his numerous business ventures.
Having spent the vast part of his 20-year career on the track, Gebrselassie switched to the marathon and has never displayed signs of weakening, despite his 37 years.
Until this month, that is, when the wealthy athlete unexpectedly announced his retirement after a knee injury forced him to pull out of the New York marathon.
“I never thought about retirement,” he tearfully told reporters afterwards. “But for the first time, this is the day. Let me stop and do other work after this.”
Gebrselassie’s sudden announcement sent shockwaves through the athletics world and prompted criticism at home because he dropped the bombshell overseas rather than in his own country.
Hotter in the long run?
Ethiopia’s long-distance runners are among the best in the world, winning seven medals at last year’s Olympic Games. Generations of athletes have trained in the cool highlands of Asella but the weather there is changing, apparently as a result of climate change. There are now worries that this could have an impact on the country’s future runners.
For many young Ethiopians, this is where dreams are made. Internationally famous athletes like Haile Gebrselassie and Kenanisa Bekele have trained in these very parts.
Runners attend a training camp named after Tirunesh Dibaba who is the current holder of the world 5000 metres record. But the trainees’ future will depend greatly on the weather. Athletes require no more than 20 C when training and because it’s generally cool, Asella used to be perfect.
Not so lately. Temperatures rapidly increase as the day progresses and now runners have to get up earlier before training becomes almost impossible.
Tefere Alamerew is the squad’s coach. He told Reuters Africa Journal: “The temperature has changed — it’s hotter and hotter — so it will be difficult to train the athletes for the future here because the climate is changed.”
Like some other top Ethiopian runners, marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie was also born in Asella.
“Three weeks ago I was in Asella and I had the chance to jog 3km – around 9 o’clock – 9.30. You don’t believe it – I mean I was sweating, I asked myself, and I was running with Darata Tulu, we were struggling: ‘is this Asella, the place where we were training before? Yes it is.’ It’s amazing. My worry right now, what it will be like after 20 years?”
from The Great Debate UK:
Squandered oil wealth, an African tragedy
-Arvind Ganesan is the Director of the Business and Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. The opinions expressed are his own.-
Equatorial Guinea is a tiny country of about half a million people on the west coast of Africa, but is the fourth-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.
Most of the investment in the country’s multi-billion dollar oil industry comes from the United States. ExxonMobil, Hess and Marathon are all there. Right now, the U.S. imports up to 100,000 barrels of oil a day from Equatorial Guinea, or about a quarter of the country’s oil production.
Oil money gives the country the means to be a model for development and human rights. The economy is nearly 130 times as big as it was when oil was discovered in 1995. But as a report released by Human Rights Watch today details, the government has squandered or stolen much of the money at the expense of its people.
It is a sad contrast, since the country has a per capita income comparable to Spain’s or Italy’s and development indicators more like Afghanistan’s. For just one sad example, infant and child mortality actually has increased -- from an already-dismal 103 deaths per thousand in 1990 to 124 per thousand in 2007. Similarly, under-5 mortality rates increased from 170 per thousand in 1990 to 206 per thousand in 2007.
The president and his family are doing just fine, though. They lead lavish lifestyles while most people live in crushing poverty.
A series of corruption scandals involving government officials and their families will give you some idea of how bad it is.
Unfortunately, this “curse of oil” now threatens to affect countries rich in other resources as well: uranium in Niger and Namibia, for example. It’s going to be quite a challenge for African oil-producers and other energy suppliers to hold governments accountable. Some are saying now that the constitutional crisis in Niger and President Tandja’s desire to extend his mandate are directly related to elites wanting control over uranium supplies. I hope systems for sharing wealth equitably are created, otherwise we may see more resource conflict, more corruption, and more political tension in many African countries.
