Ethiopia’s footwear marches on Bethlehem Alemu is making great strides in creating employment and developing artisanal skills The flagship soleRebels store in downtown Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, is a hipster shoe haven. A lilting reggae soundtrack pervades the air. The wooden décor is splashed with Ethiopia’s warm national colours: green, red and yellow. Hundreds of funky shoe designs, their price tags ranging from $40 to $100, festoon the shelves. In its midst sits Bethlehem Alemu, 34, the company’s founder and owner, sipping Ethiopian black coffee and boasting breathlessly about the fast rise of her foot- wear empire. “Our business model…
Matthew Newsome
South Sudan A deadly conflict has sent thousands fleeing across Africa’s newest border Biel Boutrosb was in his family home in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, when he heard gunfire on the evening of December 15th last year. He soon realised that the shots were coming closer to his neighbourhood. Mr Boutrosb, who is 32 years old and works for the South Sudan Human Rights Society for Advocacy, based in Juba, feared that soldiers from the presidential guard were targeting homes of suspected opponents. He fled for his life. He boarded a plane to Uganda and from there flew to South…
