Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign, Salil Shetty said Ethiopia is in a very good position to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals to be achieved by 2015 that respond to the world’s main development challenges.

Ethiopian activists Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie may face brief additional time behind bars, as the court today sentenced them to two years and six months in prison on charges of incitement, despite demands by the prosecution that they receive the maximum sentence of 10 years.

The case of anti-poverty activists Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie was not heard again as one of the three Judges in Ethiopia’s High Court was absent due to ill health. The case hearing is now postponed until November 30th, leaving Daniel and Netsanet in jail for at least another 8 days, as they were refused bail.

2 November 2007 – Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro is heading to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she will be participating in a regional meeting between the United Nations, the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

“It will be her first participation at a meeting of this type to emphasize the importance the UN attaches to regional cooperation and to the role played by regional commissions in promoting development,” UN Spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.