| Front Page |
Addis Ababa, May 23, 2003 (Addis Tribune) - The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) country fact book described Ethiopia as a "transit hub" for heroin originating in Southeast Asia and destined for Europe and North America.
The latest country fact book updated last March stated that Ethiopia also served as a center for cocaine destined for markets in southern Africa, cultivates qat (khat) for local use and regional export "principally to Djibouti and Somalia (legal in all three countries)."
The CIA fact book, which is produced by the CIA directorate of intelligence and is "a comprehensive resource of facts and statistics" on more than 250 countries and entities, also said that lack of a well-developed financial system in Ethiopia limited the country's utility as a money-laundering center.
Describing Ethiopia's economy, the fact book stated that the two-year "war with Eritrea and recurrent drought have buffeted the economy, in particular coffee production."
"Under Ethiopia's land tenure system, the government owns all land and provides long-term leases to the tenants; the system continues to hamper growth in the industrial sector as entrepreneurs are unable to use land as collateral for loans," it said.
Regarding international disputes the country is experiencing, the factbook revealed that as most of the southern half of the boundary with Somalia in the Ogaden region was a provisional administrative line, regional states had "established a variety of conflicting relationships with the Somali Transitional National Government in Mogadishu, feuding factions in Puntland region, and the economically stabile break-away Somaliland."
The CIA factbook has become an annual publication of the directorate of intelligence a few years back. According to the CIA, the intelligence cycle is the process by which information is acquired, converted into intelligence, and made available to policymakers.
Home | Contact us | Links | Archives