Ethiopia gets set for new Millennium, (BBC)

The official feel to the Millennium has been reinforced by the fact that none of the independent events originally planned for the New Year period will actually be taking place.

An offer by the Rastafarian community to bring over reggae stars from the Caribbean was not encouraged.

A project by a restaurateur to feed 2,000 hungry children did not get permission to go ahead.

The Taste of Ethiopia exhibition is not happening either; the tourism and culture minister said darkly that it had failed because the organisers did not work with the concerned body and took a course of their own.

And the organisers of the Great Ethiopian Run, an annual event which had been timed this year to coincide with the Millennium and which was expecting more than 30,000 participants, were told less than two weeks before the race that they had to postpone it until after the New Year celebrations. ...more