[allAfrica.com] Strike Backfires On Addis, Nazareth Businesses Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa) NEWS November 13, 2005 Posted to the web November 16, 2005 By Tesfalem Waldyes and Muluneh Gebre Getu Genanew's store in Bomb Tera in Kebele 2 of Merkato area is one of possibly over 1,000 stores that have been closed in Addis Abeba following the warning given by the City Administration to open on the first Monday after the week-long strike. He said he had closed for one week fearing the crisis, and on the second week he had to go to Debre Zeit where a sister had just been widowed. On another frontier, following riots that started in Adama (nicknamed Go to Hell) and Gelawdeos Secondary schools, on November 3, leading to the death of one student, injury of 15 and damage to school windows, the Adama Police in Nazareth arrested butchers, hoteliers, music store owners, a druggist, and other business owners the following day. No stores were reported closed there, unlike in Addis Abeba. On Sunday evening, November 6, FM 97.1 aired repeated messages from the Addis Abeba City Administration that stores had to open on Monday morning. In the Addis Ketema District, those who heeded the call stood at the doorway of their stores on Monday morning and witnessed as a task force from the Kebele administration walking from door to door applying a "Closed" notice, with the seal of the Trade and Industry Development Office, to those that had not yet opened. Some were able to arrive just in time to stop the authorities. Addis Ketema was the only District to start closing shops down on Monday. On that day, the District, where Merkato, the largest shopping centre in Ethiopia is located, closed 514 businesses, the largest number among all the 10 districts. Leaving aside Yeka District, from which Fortune was unable to get data, 993 businesses were closed. Akaki Kaliti District authorities said that no businesses were closed there, other than six khat joints. The city had closed down about 1.2pc of its stores for not opening as officially instructed on the public media and in some districts on notices posted to their closed doors. Gulele, Arada and Kirkos districts followed Addis Ketema with a wide margin, closing 130, 109 and 100 stores, respectively. Among closed prominent businesses in Addis Ketema, which boasts 11,500 licensed businesses, are Merab Hotel and the stores of Star Business Group, United Tebarek and Family Plc, and even the state owned Anbessa Shoe Factory. Nazareth matched this with the detention of such people as Haji Ditamo Shifa, a wholesaler and owner of a large four-storey building where a branch of the Abyssinia Bank and other offices and stores are housed, and Alemu Gebru, owner of Joka, Enat and Finfine hotels. Dima Ayeta, Deputy Commander of Adama Special Zone Police Department, said that it was not only business people but also others in different walks of life that had been arrested, but declined to say why the arrests were made. He did not wish to disclose the number of people arrested; residents estimate that there were up to 200. Some of the store owners in the Addis Ketema District in Addis Abeba claimed that they were late because of the unavailability of transport and found that their stores were closed when they arrived. Store owners near Tana Supermarket said that two stores were closed when their keepers had gone for lunch. As soon as the keepers had got back, they communicated with the officials, who removed the seal and allowed them to go to work. According to eyewitnesses, these people were briefly taken into custody on allegations of tearing the seals off their doors and going in. They were later released although their stores were re-closed. Getu spent three days with his grieving sister and had just returned. He was in bed when he received a telephone call from friends in Merkato breaking the news that his store had been closed down. He rushed to the conjoined Kebele 01/02/03 Administration, where he was told that he had to bring proof from his own Kebele that he had been away. He did that, but that did not achieve anything. On Friday, November 12, he was one of nearly 100 business people whom Fortune observed looking up to the third floor of the Addis Ketema District, from where the decision they sought would come. Some people, selected to represent the business people had ascended to talk with the officials; they descended with the information that the District did not have any definite timetable. Kebele and District officials said they had informed the businesses to wait until the ongoing investigation had finished identifying those who had intentionally closed their stores. Tadele Asfaw, head of the Trade and Industry Development Office of the District, said that it was impossible to say when that would be completed. He added that police were also investigating cases of those people who had allegedly broken the seals and opened their stores. The business people that had gathered at the Addis Ketema District will meet again on Monday to look for options. Alemu's daughter, Tigist, said that her father and the other detainees in Nazareth had been transferred to Ziway; Alemu's family did not even have the chance to have a word with him, according to her, and in his absence, and with divided attention, the hotels are not managed as well. A brother of one of the butchers, who claimed ignorance of the cause of his brother's arrest, said, nonetheless, that the business was going on as usual. Yehualashet Melese, president of the Adama Chamber of Commerce, said that the arrests targeted not just business people but everyone suspected of morally and financially supporting the Friday riot. The Nazareth arrests were not large enough to affect the business in the town, according to him. Nazareth stores were more affected by the week-long strike in Addis Abeba, which had blocked their supply source, leading to empty shelves in many stores. Deputy Commander Dima said that the reasons for the Nazareth arrests would be made public when the investigations had been completed.   ==============================================================================  Copyright © 2005 Addis Fortune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ==============================================================================