Six Eritrean footballers claim asylum in Angola

Six Eritrean footballers have requested asylum in Angola after their 2008 African Cup of Nations qualifier a United Nations official has said.

"I can confirm there are these six football players and they requested asylum here. They are in the custody of the Angolan authorities," the official said, requesting anonymity.

Neither the UN High Commissioner for Refugees nor the Angolan football federation were immediately available for comment.

Angola beat Eritrea 6-1 on Sunday to leave them five points clear at the head of Group Six.

Eritrea is a one-party state, with no free press of any kind.

Amnesty International reports that anyone suspected of supporting the opposition faces indefinite detention and torture.

Protesters smashed raw eggs on Ethiopian Embassy Official

Ethiopian protesters in Germany smashed raw eggs on the face of an embassy official and demanded the immediate release of political prisoners including journalists and human rights activists who are facing treason and genocide charges in Ethiopia.

At a meeting called by the Ethiopian Embassy in Germany to discuss investment opportunities and the allotment of land to pro-government investors and would-be homeowners, scores of Ethiopian protesters chanting pro-democracy and anti-government slogans ruined the event as scuffles broke out before the meeting kicked off. As the protesters were barred from attending the meeting, a couple of rotten eggs were smashed on the face of an Ethiopian embassy official who tried to block many Ethiopians from entering the meeting hall. A suspected protester was arrested by the German police who released him minutes after the protest rally wound up. Organized by UEDF and Kinijit supporters, the successful protest rally was reportedly well attended.

Breaking News: British embassy workers kidnapped in Northern Ethiopia Released

A group of British embassy workers kidnapped in northern Ethiopia 12 days ago have been released, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has said.

The workers - four Britons, one French citizen and their Ethiopian staff - were being held in Eritrea, she said.

The party were apparently on a sightseeing tour when they were abducted on 1 March.

Mrs Beckett said the members were safe and well and were "broadly all in good health".

Week on, Britain still hunts Ethiopia kidnap victims

MEKELE, Ethiopia, March 8 (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it was "narrowing options" in the hunt for five people linked to its embassy in Ethiopia who were kidnapped a week ago in one of the world's most inhospitable corners.

But as friends and family held vigils for their safety, and speculation mounted of a possible rescue operation, there was little concrete information about the hostages' condition or the identity and intentions of their armed abductors.

"We are narrowing our options, but obviously I can't give details," a Foreign Office spokeswoman in Ethiopia said.

British media reports have repeatedly said that Britain's elite Special Air Service (SAS) was readying an operation to rescue the hostages.

"Rescue missions are only used as a last resort. We try to resolve these things peacefully, but we have to make prudent plans," the spokeswoman said.

Britain does not comment on its special forces operations, but the SAS and other elite units are known to have soldiers trained in hostage rescue.

Ethiopia's state news agency repeated accusations from local officials that the five expatriates and eight Ethiopians with them were marched across the border to Eritrea by the 30-strong band who seized them during a tour of the remote Afar region.

Asmara has denied any involvement and that the hostages are in its territory. The two Horn of Africa nations still have bitter relations over a 1998-2000 border war.

British diplomats would not confirm the report of the hostages' location, but said they believe a local Afar group is responsible.

Afar separatist rebels, pro-government militia, and bandits all operate in the area of northeast Ethiopia, one of the hottest and poorest parts of the globe.

A witness and local officials have told Reuters the kidnappers might have been Afar rebels based in Eritrea.

The five foreigners include three British men, an Italian-British woman, and a French woman. The eight Ethiopians were with them as guides and drivers.

In Mekele, a day's drive from the kidnap scene but the nearest town with an airport, several British officials monitored the case from a local hotel.

Ethiopia Official Says Tourists Held By Eritreans

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An Ethiopian administrator accused Eritrean forces of kidnapping a group of five Europeans and 13 Ethiopians in a remote part of Ethiopia, and taking them to a military camp near the Eritrean border.

Two groups of tourists, including at least seven French nationals and five Britons, were believed to have been kidnapped in a remote, inhospitable area of the Horn of Africa nation.

"They were taken to Wema district of Asab Province in Eritrea. This has been confirmed by two Ethiopians of Afar origin who have been left behind," Ismael Ali Sero, the head of the Afar administrative region, told Reuters by telephone.

"We have confirmation that the commandos came from Arat military training camp inside Eritrea. They torched four vehicles and two homes before they left with the group."

Britain sent a six-strong team of senior Foreign Office officials to Ethiopia to step up diplomatic efforts to free the foreigners.

The head of the tour company that organized the trip for the seven French tourists said earlier on Saturday the French were safe. But a French diplomat was unable to confirm the report, saying Paris had not yet made direct contact with them.

British officials said five of those missing were staff from the embassy in Addis Ababa or relatives of members of staff.

Officials said the team sent to Addis Ababa early on Saturday had arrived to help diplomats at the British embassy.

A small delegation of embassy staff has already flown to the city of Mekele in the north of the country, which has the closest airport to the area where the Westerners went missing, expatriate sources said.

Foreign Office officials in London declined to say whether hostage negotiators were among the team sent to Ethiopia.

Tour companies said the groups disappeared while visiting the northeast Afar region, considered one of the world's most hostile terrains. The missing Ethiopians were people from the Afar region and were working as drivers and translators.

Afar, one of Ethiopia's poorest regions, was also the site of a low-level rebellion against the government in the 1990s by separatists calling for an Afar state on territory straddling Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

Never Trust Western Correspondent

Les Neuhaus, an Associated Press correspondent in Ethiopia, is sacked as Voice of America journalist, because of an email correspondence with the Ethiopia Somalia Friendship organization, made public on the Ethiopian Review forum. Just read about it at The Other Side, an excellent blog by a Ferenji. As most readers probably know I do not have great esteem for the foreign correspondents at present residing in Addis Ababa, who appeared more worried when something is happening with foreigners and lions in Ethiopia, than in our people who are tortured and murdered daily. Mr. Neuhaus is going one step further than most of them by mimicking the usual TPLF propaganda and misinformation of the CIA.

He is accusing Ethiopians living in the Diaspora of being the sons and daughters of the Derg officials who now live comfortably in Georgetown. It should be known to Mr Neuhaus that the majority of Ethiopians living in exile left because of the Dergue and its red terror campaign in the seventies.

This also puts Mr Neuhaus attempt to uncover Ethio-Zagol’s identity in a new perspective.
Quote:
Les Neuhaus, AP said...
This is Les Neuhaus with the Associated Press in Ethiopia ... Could "seminawork" send me an email so that we may communicate - I would be appreciative. My email is leslieneuhaus1@yahoo.com ...
Unquote

This happened in October 2006. It is part of the comments made on Ethio-Zagol’s blog about the release of Yalemzewd Bekele, the lawyer who was arrested while driving to Moyale after she was accused of spreading the calendar promoting civil disobedience.
Because she worked a lot for the European Union, political pressure worked to free her.

This could be very innocent but knowing now that Mr. Les Neuhaus is a supporter of the ruling gang, I think his colleagues at the VOA will sigh a breath of relieve.
From now on we will keep an eye on him.

Tourists missing on Ethiopia trip

British embassy officials and their relatives are among a number of foreign tourists missing and feared kidnapped in a remote part of Ethiopia.

Whitehall officials told the BBC there was "a national security dimension" to their disappearance.

Ethiopian police said the tourists were kidnapped, along with 13 Ethiopian aides, about 800km (500 miles) north-east of the capital, Addis Ababa. More

Cholera Epidemic In Ethiopia

Do not come to Ethiopia. Do not celebrate the Millennium. Due to the great wisdom of our leaders who will lie and deny everything about reality, Ethiopia will be a no go area for the rest of this year. Again health officials of the UN are sounding the alarm about the acute watery diarrhea epidemic which in the real world is called CHOLERA.
While they are spending millions of dollars on the Millennium promotion, hundreds of people die because of cholera and the ministry of health is just denying that such a thing is the matter. And things will get worse. With the coming short rains and in June the main raining season, that will last up until the Millennium celebrations, the epidemic will spread like fire.

Quote from Associated Press dated 22-02-2007
Ethiopian health officials, who say the disease is not cholera, are describing the outbreak as acute watery diarrhea, but they have not shared any of the test results, that they have carried out. Ethiopian Health Ministry spokesman Ahmed Emano said that contrary to UN concerns, the outbreak was being contained by the government.
Unquote

If they do not shoot you or starve you to death, they will a killer disease help to do the job. It is starting to look like a criminal offence, but that’s nothing new to these bunch of crooks. Probably there has been an order from the Crime Ministers’ Office to stick to the fairy tail of Acute Watery Diarrhea, so everyone, even if they know better, keeps his mouth shut. That is what a police state and being kept hostage is all about.
And if you don’t, you’ll be anti development, democracy and peace. I think that some workers at the Ministry of Health are full of shame when they have to talk to their amice at the UN.

This insane situation shows that because of their twisted political system, in which greed and narrow minded ethnicity are the major motives, everything is denied.
In a couple of months pictures of starving children like in 1973 and 1984 are spread over the world and the Ethiopian government will tell to everyone to hear that development, democracy and peace will take care of a prosperous future for the Ethiopian people.

Eritrean Opposition Seeks Ethiopia's Assistance to Oust Esayas

As a coalition of Eritrean opposition parties and individuals converged on Addis Ababa last week, some of them were openly calling for Ethiopia's intervention to help oust President Esayas Afeworki from the power to which he clung to since the Red Sea state's independence in the early 1990's.

His increasingly severe treatment of his people and the harsh economic conditions had pushed the country to the brink of collapse, according to opposition members who are calling for his removal.
Oracle Content & Collaboration

Dr. Rezene Habte, who formerly fought against the Ethiopian government forces as an Eritrean liberation Front (ELF) fighter, told The Reporter that the opposition forces must be assisted to topple the government led by President Esayas which he labeled, "a government made up of bandits."

He accused the US and Ethiopia for failure to help the opposition in their bid to remove the Eritrean president.

"If there is the political will, the Ethiopian government can replace Esayas within a week," said Rezene, who once fought in the late 1970s with the forces of Eritrean People Liberation Front (EPLF) led by Esayas when the EPLF routed ELF forces from much of Eritrea while both fronts were fighting the Ethiopian army to secede Eritrea from Ethiopia.

"Forget a direct military action. If Ethiopia officially decided to remove Esayas and make some political move, Esayas's government will tremble and tumble down," argued Rezene.

He criticized the US for falling short of giving support to the Eritrean opposition, ". . . if America gives the green light, no other country would dare to oppose."

He said that President Esayas is enemy, not only to Ethiopia but also to the people of Eritrea who have found it difficult to cope with the rapidly increasing cost of living.

"Eritrea is Africa's North Korea. The people start to line up in front of bakeries beginning from 4:00 am every day. Sugar and other items are rationed. Sometimes, when some youngsters flee the country, the government takes away that ration card from the family. This is how harsh the government is," Rezene lamented.

"Had the Eritrean people known in advance that they would have such a regime, they would have long abandoned their struggle (for separate Eritrea)", he said.

Dismissing the notion that there could be a power vacuum if President Esayas is gone, Rezene compared the situation with Somalia: "Honestly speaking, we saw the recent takeover of power by the Somalia transitional government. In terms of the existence of opposition, Eritrean opposition forces had a better chance than their Somali counterparts."

US accused of using Ethiopia to launch air strikes on Somalia

The US military secretly used landing strips in eastern Ethiopia to launch air strikes on suspected Islamists in Somalia last month, it was reported yesterday.

Quoting anonymous army officials, the New York Times also claimed that the US diverted spy satellites to provide intelligence to Ethiopian troops as they swept across the country to drive the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) out of the capital, Mogadishu.

If true, the report would confirm rumours of close planning between the two countries before and during the war. Both administrations deny this was the case. The account also raises questions about the relationship between Washington and the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, whose record on human rights has come under severe scrutiny.

Asmara's Ethiopian allies in trouble

Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1208 17/02/2007
The attempts by the Eritrean authorities to manipulate certain Ethiopian opposition groups to their advantage have only worsened internal splits inside these groups.
In spite of the victorious military communiqués issued by Asmara, the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF, Ethiopian armed opposition), whose members undergo training in Eritrea, is not always in a position to carry out military operations in Ethiopia that can make a serious dent in the Ethiopian armed forces. In fact, this group has completely fallen apart internally. Some of its members accuse the commander Meskeram Atalay of abandoning them to flee to Germany where he has settled after initially going there for medical treatment. They also call for the expulsion of Mussie Tegegne, whom they consider responsible for the internal split in their movement and the arrest of EPPF combatants by the Eritrean authorities.
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), another Ethiopian opposition movement supported by Eritrea, is also subject to internal divergence. The friction is aggravated by the fiasco of Eritrean collaboration with the Somalian Islamists to create in Somalia a point of entry into Ethiopia for armed opposition groups like the OLF. Daoud Ibsa, president of the OLF, had already been considered too dependent on Eritrean strategy by a meeting of OLF partisans in Oslo in mid-December, which he did not attend. He is globally reproached for having operated policies which marginalised the OLF in the 2005 general election. The Oromo population had not really heeded his call to boycott the election. He had later accepted to form an alliance, that many Oromo activists consider “contrary to nature”, with the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP) consisting in their view of “chauvinists”.

Bealu Girma

He came to class reeking of the brothel where he had spent the night and of the undistilled Katikala that still swam in his body. He was a drunk fool, my Amharic teacher, a man small in stature and in mind and prone to hurling insults at his students in the cruelest words he could conjure in the Amharic language. He was unashamed to discharge audible bodily vapors so putrid those of us condemned to his class learned to hate our own language.

But then there were those rare moments of sobriety that more than made up for the daily gaseous inferno. A lucid clear-eyed man would bounce from the door to his desk in his heavy platform shoes and bark a perky "endimin aderachuh!" to a room of adolescents uncertain how to deal with the malevolent moods of an alcoholic teacher. A torturous gilmicha (glare-filled) roll-call later, the tiny man would ceremoniously reach for a crumpled paperback from his equally crumpled jacket. He would then launch into a dramatic reading from Oromay, the recently published novel by Bealu Girma. More Here or Here

Meles Zenawi saw Enver Hoxha's Albania as a model

As leader of the most powerful and populous country in the Horn of Africa, Meles Zenawi has found it relatively easy to forge strong alliances with the west.

But Ethiopia's prime minister, whose Marxist guerrilla movement in the 1980s saw Enver Hoxha's Albania as a model, draws inspiration now - as well as a growing proportion of funding - from the east.

In an interview with the FT in Addis Ababa, Mr Meles argued that the "neo-liberal" market reforms that have been the hallmark of western and World Bank intervention in Africa for more than two decades have failed to "generate the kind of growth they sought".

They were correct in identifying the predatory nature of African states as the "central problem". They were also right in addressing huge macroeconomic imbalances, he said. But they had been "unable to transform the rent-seeking nature of the state", merely weakening the state and reducing its influence instead.

"I believe in a strong developmental state. Developmental states do not intervene in the market in a wanton fashion. They intervene in the market to address pervasive market failures," Mr Meles said, responding to questions on the book he has recently written on the subject. "It is a combination of market instruments and non-market instruments to optimise the outcome. That has been the model of, let's say, Korea and Taiwan."

In practice Ethiopia has had to swallow a certain amount of World Bank orthodoxy. Mr Meles has liberalised agricultural markets, for example, but he has been reluctant to privatise the national airline or telecommunications industry.

Mobile telephony "is a licence to print money in Africa" Meles Zenawi

Mobile telephony "is a licence to print money in Africa", he said. "The issue is how do you use that money. Do you use it to build less profitable but in [the] long term more important infrastructure?

"We are investing in the future in spite of the fact we are begging for food aid at the same time," he said.

In the 17 years since the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) swept south from the highlands of northern Ethiopia to end dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's reign of terror, Mr Meles has weathered numerous crises.

When relations soured with his erstwhile allies across the border in newly independent Eritrea, Ethiopia fought a bitter and bloody two-year war. Unwilling to convert fighting over their shared border into a broader war to reconquer parts of Eritrea giving access to the sea, Mr Meles lost many domestic allies, prompting an internal crisis in government in 2001.

Just four years later his government's record on democratic reform came under attack when dozens of protesters claiming elections in the government's favour had been rigged were shot dead on the streets of Addis Ababa.

In the west, some of the lustre has worn off a leader seen in the mid-1990s as one of Africa's great hopes.

However, fresh from his army's swift victory over a coalition of Islamists in Somalia, whose expanding rule and jihadist rhetoric Ethiopia deemed a regional threat, Mr Meles has recovered some of his standing. The US, which provides about $600m (€464m, £306m) in aid annually and considers Ethiopia one of four top strategic partners on the continent, has endorsed Ethiopia's action, shared intelligence and, according to Mr Meles, provided "vital diplomatic support".

The UK and other western donors, having initially suspended direct budgetary support to the government because of concern over its human rights record, are again increasing development aid.

Meanwhile, Mr Meles is drawing on China's appetite for lending to the continent, attracting, he says, $500m in concessional loans, $1.5bn in investment towards telecommunications infrastructure and a further $1.5bn in short-term trade credits.

But he strongly rejects concerns in the west that China's willingness to lend without asking questions is undermining western aid conditionality.

"I think it would be wrong for people in the west to assume that they can buy good governance in Africa. Good governance can only come from inside; it cannot be imposed from outside. That was always an illusion," he argued.

"What the Chinese have done is explode that illusion. It does not in any way endanger the reforms of good governance and democracy in Africa because only those that were home-grown ever had a chance ofsuccess

Ethiopian Players Disappear in Gaborone

The acting Station Commander of Central Police, Superintendent Andrew Montshiwa said they are still searching for three players of the Ethiopian army side, Defence FC, who went missing on Sunday. The disappearance of the players was reported to the police on Monday when the team was returning home after drawing 1-1 with Notwane in the first leg of the CAF Confederations Cup on Saturday.

The three players left their rooms at President Hotel on Sunday night and have not been seen since then. It is said they were picked by a car with local number plates. Defence club officials and the rest of the players flew back to Ethiopia on Monday.

Local football official, Charles Maruza who acted as a protocol officer for the visiting club said the Ethiopian contingent was made up of 24 people. He said on Sunday, when the team was about to have dinner, it was found that three players were missing. Maruza said the team management was taken aback by the development and ordered the captain to go and look for the players in their rooms.


He said the captain only found one player who told him that the other two were taking a stroll in town and would come back later. Maruza said the hotel employees later saw the three players leaving with their bags.

The players told the hotel receptionists that they would be coming back. However, they were not back on Monday when the team was about to leave. When he phoned the airport later, Maruza found that the players had not left with the team. He said Ethiopian sportsmen and women have always absconded whenever they were on international trips.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Football Association (BFA), Thabo Ntshinogang declined to disclose the names of the missing players because the police are still conducting investigations. The visas issued to the Ethiopia players expired on Monday.

Ghadafi Brings in Cars, Gold as Present for Leaders

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Libyan leader Muamar Ghadafi has brought in 15 cars and two bags full of gold as a gift for African heads of states who are expected to participate in the 8th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, scheduled to open tomorrow, Monday, January 29th.

Reliable sources disclosed to Capital that Ghadafi’s 15 cars have already arrived at Bole International Airport and have been issued permits to enter the country; however, the two bags of gold are kept in a room at the airport awaiting consent from Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

The Assembly of the Union is expected to discuss and pass several decisions on the crisis in Somalia and Darfur, Sudan, in addition to conferring on other important issues, such as climate change in Africa.

Ghadafi is expected to lead a large delegation that will stay at the Sheraton Addis. We have not received any confirmation as to whether the Libyan leader has been given the green light from the Ethiopian Prime Minister to bring in the gold until we went to print.
Sources from Bole International Airport disclosed that the two bags of gold have been seized to check on the legality of bringing gold into the country.
Ghadafi is noted for engaging in very controversial ventures; Britain and the United States restored diplomatic relations with Libya in 1999 after a 15- year hiatus and have been involved in negotiations to end the country’s international isolation.

The United States, which retained its 17-year embargo, has Libya on its list of nations that sponsor terrorism. The U.N. Security Council ended sanctions against Libya after Ghadafi’s government took responsibility for the Pan Am bombing and agreed to pay 2.7 billion USD to the victims’ families.

In relation to Ethiopia, Ghadafi has been pushing for many years to have the headquarters of the African Union shifted from Addis Ababa to the Libyan capital Tripoli

The Exploitation of Petroleum Resources

Kaleyesus Bekele

The history of petroleum exploration in Ethiopia dates back to the late 1930s. After the discovery of huge oil reserves in the Middle East countries international oil companies considered Ethiopia as a potential area for activities aimed at petroleum exploration.

The Ogaden basin in East Ethiopia in particular, which has a similar geological formation and equivalent age with that of the basins in the Middle East, had drawn the attention of international oil companies.

In 1944 Sinclair Petroleum, an American company, signed an agreement with Ethiopia and started petroleum exploration activities in the Ogaden. Until 1951, Sinclair Petroleum drilled 17 exploration wells in the eastern part of the Ogaden basin. The Ogaden sedimentary basin covers 350,000 sq. km. of land. Sinclair Petroleum had noted the existence of oil inflow in one of the exploration wells drilled in Gelladi locality.

Between 1952 and 1961 a German petroleum company, Elwerath, undertook exploration work in the Ogaden basin. Elwerath collected seismic data and drilled two deep exploration wells. The company identified the Calub, Hilala and Magan structures.

Another American company called Tenneco, which explored the Ogaden basin from 1962 to 1973, achieved fruitful results. Tenneco conducted seismic surveys and drilled eight deep wells. The company discovered a natural gas reserve in Calub and Hilala localities, some 1200km east of Addis Ababa. Oil inflow was noted in the exploration wells drilled in Elkuran and Hilala localities. Tenneco achieved encouraging results in the exploration studies it conducted in Tuli, Shilabo and Kelafo localities.

Between 1965 and 1969, White Stone and Voyager Group, British and German companies, jointly conducted a gravity survey on a 81,400 sq km of land in the Ogaden basin. Based on the gravity survey, the companies identified Fefam and Yerer structures.

The Derg military regime expelled all western companies engaged in different business activities. In Ethiopia, Tenneco, which had a 50-year concessional agreement with the imperial regime, was forced to quit the exploration activity and to leave the country like any other western companies. The socialist government hired Soviet Petroleum Exploration Expedition (SPEE) in 1980. SPEE conducted an exhaustive seismic servey in the Ogaden basin. During the exploration period SPEE drilled nine deep exploration wells in Calub, Hilala and Shilabo localities. The company was able to confirm the natural gas reserve in Calub and Hilala localities estimated at 76.49 and 36.49 billon cu.m. respectively. SPEE's contractual agreement with the Ethiopian government was terminated in 1993.

An American company, Maxus, started to collect seismic data in the Ogaden basin in 1990. However, after conducting a sasmic survey along a 1500 km length. It interrupted the work and left the country in 1994. The company did not give an explanation for its withdrawal. Another American company, Hunt Oil, launched exploration activities in 1990. After collecting and analyzing a seismic survey, Hunt drilled one exploration will in the Genale locality. In 1998, the company aborted the exploration project. Executives of Hunt told officials of the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) that they decide to pull out from Ethiopia because of budget constraints.

According to the MME, the petroleum companies drilled 35 deep wells in the Ogaden basin. Minister Alemayehu Tegenu said gas and oil inflows were noted in the exploration wells drilled in different localities. Alemayehu noted that in addition to the proven gas reserves, a small amount of crude oil reserve was discovered in Hialal locality. "Oil inflow was noted in at least eight of the wells," he added.

The Malaysian oil and gas company, Petronas, won Calub and Hilala gasfields development tender put up by the MME in April 2007. Petersons proposed to construct a gas pipeline that stretches from the gas fields to a sea port. The company plans to build a gas processing plant and to drill additional wells in and around the gas fields. Petronas proposed to invest up to 1.9 billion dollars in the gas development project.

Gas transport and gas processing are some of the major components of the project. Last August, Petronas presented draft agreement documents and memorandum of understanding on the three components of the project to the MME. Since then, officials of the Ministry and Petronas held three rounds of negotiations. "Since we have agreed on most of the issues discussed in the negotiations, we are planning to sign the final agreement in March this year," Minister Alemayehu said.


Once the agreement is signed Peteronas will be able to extract and export the gas reserve. The construction of the gas processing plant and the gas pipeline will take over three years. If the project is implemented as planned, Ethiopia would become gas producing country.

Petronas is undertaking exploration activity in Genale, Kelafo, Wel-Wel and Wardre localities found in the Ogaden basin. The company has also been prospecting for oil in the Gambella region, western Ethiopia. Last year, the company drilled the first exploration well in the Gambella basin, near the Ethio-Sudan border, in Chikaw locality. Unfortunately, the wild-cat well turned out to be dry. However, Petronas, will soon start the second exploration well in the Gambella basin. The Gambella basin covers 16500 sq. km. of land.

In addition to Petronas, some other companies are engaged in geological studies in different parts of the country. Three companies (Pexco, South West and Lundin), which have shown a keen interest to prospect for oil in different localities in the Ogaden basin, signed agreements with the MME last year. An American company, Afar Explorations, which agreed to prospect for oil in the Afar region, in north-east Ethiopia, also signed an agreement a year ago. A local company called K and S has been undertaking a joint geophysical study with the MME in the Abay basin and in North Wollo for the past three years. White Nile, a British petroleum company, has also been undertaking a joint geological study in the Omo basin, south Ethiopia.

Yemen accuses Ethiopia of holding Yemeni

The Yemeni foreign ministry accused the Ethiopian forces of detaining a Yemeni national in Somalia, but it did not identify the Yemeni person.
The Ethiopian prime minister Melease Zinawi said that the Ethiopian forces had arrested a group of Yemenis who were fighting with the forces of the Somali Islamic Courts against the Somali interim government and Ethiopian forces.
Our embassy in Addis Ababa is contacting with the Ethiopian side on the case of those persons to check their identity, Yemeni foreign minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, told Naspress.
This is the first time Yemen and Ethiopia exchange such accusations since the Ethiopian forces have entered Mogadishu.
Observers fears arouse that such statements might affect relations between Yemen and Ethiopia and the coming summit of Sana'a Forum for Cooperation supposed to be held in Addis Ababa.

Horn Of Africa Update

Reuters - The U.N. Security Council, frustrated by the long-stalled peace process between Ethiopia and Eritrea, is leaning toward more cutbacks in the peacekeeping force monitoring their shared border, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Here's what's really going on: the Eritrean government is constraining the UN force's ability to receive petrol and even when they import their own the Eritrean government 'taxes' it; they are forcing the UN forces to travel on the worst roads even when there are asphalt roads available; finally the Bangladeshi contingent has been quarantined because of alleged sexual misconduct, and this quarantine hinders the mission because their contingent is rather large. I learned from an officer in the task force in Axum two weeks ago, and a doctor who was leaving but was a part of the task force. Both men I met in Axum.

Economist - WITH the backing of Ethiopian forces and American intelligence, government forces have quickly recaptured all of central and southern Somalia's towns, including the capital, Mogadishu. Now the important questions are how many of the defeated Islamists have gone to ground, where they are and what their aims are. Some of their harsher commanders are at large but their support seems, for the moment, to have shrunk. The Americans admit that the three top al-Qaeda men they at first thought they had killed in air strikes last week are still alive, but no one seems to know where they are lurking.

Kapuscinski Dies

WARSAW, Poland (Reuters) -- Polish journalist and author Ryszard Kapuscinski, whose chronicles of the world's trouble spots won him an international reputation, died on Tuesday, the PAP news agency said. He was 74.

From 1959 to 1981, Kapuscinski covered the globe's poorest and most dangerous places as a correspondent for PAP. He also wrote books about Africa's emergence from colonialism -- and its descent into turmoil and war.

Best-known among his 19 books was "The Emperor", an account of the downfall of Ethiopia's Haile Selassie told from inside the castle walls.

He witnessed 27 coups and revolutions, befriended the likes of Che Guevara, and was sentenced to death four times, according to his American publisher, Alfred A. Knopf.

Eritrea Security Forces Detain Dozens of Christians, "Burn" Bibles

SOURCE:Journal Chrétien - Paris,France

ASMARA, ERITREA — Security forces have detained dozens of devoted Christians, including government workers, in the East African nation of Eritrea, a Christian news agency reported Tuesday, January 23.

Compass Direct News, which investigates reports of persecution, said the 68 Christians were taken into custody following three "round-up operations" conducted in the first week of January.

In an apparently unprecedented arrest police officials in the northern town of Keren on January 5 also detained eight staff members working in government ministries.

The Keren police station commander reportedly told families of the eight imprisoned government staff members that the arrest order had come from higher authorities.

“This is a new strategy of the government,” one local Christian speaking on condition of anonymity was quoted as saying. It was believed to be the first known arrest of government ministry staff solely for their religious beliefs.

RENEWAL MOVEMENT

The wave of arrests of both Protestant evangelicals and Orthodox renewal movement church members marked the Eritrean government’s "widening crackdown against Christians" whose faith and freedom to worship have been outlawed for nearly five years, Compass Direct said.

The jailed Christians are all members of Medhane Alem, a renewal movement within the Coptic Orthodox Church. Police have reportedly forced eight detainees, five men and three women, to identify local leaders of their movement and to name everyone known to be supporting them.

Three Medhane Alem priests have been jailed for nearly two years, and 10 months ago 65 of the group’s lay leaders were excommunicated from the church by government order, investigators said.

On January 5, security police in the southern port city of Assab reportedly detained 25 Christians from their homes, workplaces and schools. All 25 prisoners were incarcerated at the Wi’a Military Camp and allegedly subjected to harsh pressures to recant their religious beliefs. Seven of the 25 Christian prisoners are reportedly women.

PROTESTANT ROUND-UP

Officials in Assab have apparently indicated that the roundup of local Protestants was expected to continue. In a separate incident, hundreds of Bibles were burned by this month at the national Sawa Military Center by military personnel as part of what they termed a “random check-up on the activities of Christian extremists" among student conscripts on January 4, news reports said.

In total 250 Bibles that the Christian students were using in their personal devotional time and commanders detained 35 of the teenage students and ordered them subjected to "severe military punishment, including physical torture," Compass Direct said.

Military and government officials were not immediately available for comment. The Eritrean government has denied human rights abuses.

However church leaders and human rights groups point out that in May 2002, Eritrea closed down all independent religious groups not operating under the umbrella of the government-sanctioned Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran or Muslim faiths. Anyone caught in Christian activities outside the ’official’ groups faces detention.

THOUSANDS DETAINED

Over 2,000 Christians, including pastors and priests from both Protestant and Orthodox churches, are now detained in police stations, military camps and jails, including in containers, across Eritrea because of their religious beliefs, Christian rights groups and church leaders say. Although incarcerated for months or even years, none have been charged officially or given access to judicial process, according to human rights groups.

In a statement monitored by BosNewsLife, human rights group Eritrea Release said it believes one in 10 evangelical Christians are now imprisoned in the country.

The US State Department in its 2006 religious freedom report named Eritrea a ’Country of Particular Concern,’ designating it one of the worst violators of religious freedom in the world.

Bawadi to be home to 5 Star Ottoman Palace Hotel and Resort

Al Amoudi today signed an agreement with Bawadi, a member of Tatweer, to create the Ottoman Palace Hotel and Resort.

The development will provide world class offerings replicating the 16th and 17th century era at the AED 100 billion hospitality and tourism boulevard.

The agreement confirming the partnership was signed between Saeed Al Muntafiq, Chief Executive Officer of Tatweer and Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi, Chairman of Golden Leaves Hotels and Resorts Ltd at the Bawadi offices in Emirates Towers.

Al Amoudi owns a wide ranging business portfolio, notable amongst which are oil refineries in Sweden and Morocco, gold mine, agriculture projects, in addition to industrial projects. He is also the founder and Chairman of MIDROC Ethiopia Group, which owns major diversified business sectors in Ethiopia. His hotels portfolio includes properties in Ethiopia, Uganda, Djibouti, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Europe and Yemen where two new hotels are under construction.

Saeed Al Muntafiq, CEO of Tatweer, said: 'Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi represents the best of private sector entrepreneurship and is proof of much of what is happening in African development.
'With the alliance of industry leaders in the hospitality sector, Bawadi will considerably enhance Dubai's global positioning as the world's leading tourism destination.'

Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi said: 'Dubai has firmly established itself in the world economic community. The high profile projects that Tatweer represents convinced us of Bawadi's extraordinary vision for the region. We look forward to developing the Ottoman Palace Hotel and Resort as a must visit resort within Dubai.'

A 5 star hotel, Ottoman Palace Hotel and Resort will be a model of the life and times of the 16th and 17th centuries. Replicating the Ottoman era, the resort will include inimitable hospitality offerings from speciality Turkish baths. Enhancing the exclusive thematic experience of the 600 room resort will be world class traditional performances mirroring the best of the period.

Bawadi will represent the largest concentration of leading hotels in the world on a 10 km boulevard, including the largest hotel in the world, Asia Asia. Source

Al-Amoudi Haggles to Buy CMC Houses

The Ethio-Saudi business tycoon Sheik Mohammed Al-amoudi is under negotiations with the Rental Houses Agency to buy houses in the CMC area in a new round of talks with officials of the agency. Both sides failed to reach an agreement on the terms of the purchase a two years ago.

Sources disclosed to Capital that Al-amoudi intends to buy the residential houses known as CMC to be used by the many foreign construction professionals that are making their way to the country, for the piazza tower project as well as to accommodate other workers that will be involved in the ongoing ventures of the Ethio-Saudi business tycoon.

In mid- September last year the agency increased rental fees for houses in CMC by almost 100%. Disagreeing with the terms of increase many tenants have left their homes.

A two bedroom apartment in the area was previously being rented for 2,300 birr and has now been increased to 4,600 birr.

An official of the Rental Agency confirmed to Capital that he was aware of the negotiations that were underway but refrained from unveiling details.
CMC was built during the Derg regime for diplomatic homes. The present government gave the property to Rental Houses Agency to administer.
The agency has been renting the apartments for the last decade, mostly to diplomats for high rental fees.

In 2004, a Singapore based company involved in real estate development submitted a proposal to the office of the Prime Minister for the acquisition of the properties. The company submitted its proposal through the Ethiopian consulate in Singapore.

The company has also sent its consultants for a pre-feasibility study to evaluate the agency’s property but negotiations for the sale have not been finalized.

The Agency for Administrating Rented Houses merged with the Government Housing Agency to form the Rental Houses Agency six months ago.
The Administration for Rented Houses presently administers more than 3,000 houses including apartments and spacious villas that host embassies, governmental institutions, residential units and offices.

Dozens Die In Rebel Attack In Ethiopia’s Ogaden Region

JIGJIGA, Ethiopia Jan 20 (Garowe Online) - Dozens of people were reported killed after Ethiopian rebels raided government positions in Gunagado, a district in eastern Ethiopia’s Somali-inhabited Zone 5 region, according to witnesses.

The fighting erupted Friday between rebels loyal to the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and local government troops, killing a total of 25 people, including some district officials.

Reliable sources have confirmed to Garowe Online that at least 4 officials were killed in the rebel attack, including distict security commissioner Sa’di AwSiad, security commander Hashi Qadadi and local legislative chief Sayid Wafer.

Some other district officials were missing and feared dead, the sources added.

At least 3 wounded people were rushed to hospitals in Jigjiga, the region’s capital.
Its not the first attack ONLF rebels launched on the Ethiopian government. Last week, rebels attacked positions in Garbo town, leading to at least 5 deaths.

Addis Ababa has not commented on these attacks in the countryside. but the attacks come at a time thousands of Ethiopian troops are deployed inside neighboring Somalia to help the interim government restore order.

Ethiopia Christian Killed, Houses Burned, Investigators Say

Christians in especially rural areas in Ethiopia often gather despite persecution, church and rights groups say.

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (BosNewsLife) -- Groups of Ethiopian Christians were reportedly still hiding in churches Thursday, January 18, after one believer was killed, Christian homes burned and several believers were threatened with execution for converting from Islam.

Tensions this year began January 5 when Christian Ajja Delge was killed by an unknown person in the town of Kofele, said Christian human rights group the Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC), which investigates the situation in the region. "Delge, a father of five, was walking near his house when he was hit on the head with a metal iron. His body was found in a nearby jungle the following day," VOMC said.

His family reportedly believes that he was killed by a Muslim militant as the Kofele area is dominated by Muslims, but there was no claim of responsibility. Local Christians have said they fears local police will not conduct a proper investigation into Delge's murder.

Shortly after the murder, homes of three Christian families were burned January 8 by Muslim militants in the village of Begge, said VOMC. "All of the family belongings were burned." Tareku Meres, Jemal Tasesa and Tamene Gemechu and their families are currently taking shelter at a local gospel church, the group added. "At last report, the police have not investigated the incident or taken any action to bring the arsonists to justice."

LIVING IN CHURCH

In a separate case, ten Christian youths have also been living in a church building in Begge as they "were chased from their homes after their families threatened to execute them for converting from Islam," three months ago VOMC said in a statement obtained by BosNewsLife.

The group said it had urged supporters to pray for the homeless Christians and family of the murdered man. About half of Ethiopia's roughly 75 million people are comprised of Muslims, the rest belongs to Christian and other minority faiths and religions, according to estimates.

There has been concern over the growing influence of Muslim extremist groups in the region.(With reports from Ethiopia).

Somalia to issue new passport

Somalia's interim government is set to issue new passports in its headquarters in Baidoa for the first time since the civil war erupted in 1991.

Legislators also voted out on Wednesday the influential speaker of the Somali parliament who had tried to negotiate with the Council of Islamic Courts group.

The transitional government says its decision on passports is a response to the forging and selling of existing Somali passports, both inside and outside the country.

Abdullah Mahmud Javo, the immigration chief, said: "The Somali passport was easily available to non-Somalis.

"Drug dealers had forged passports. We now announce that old passports will be cancelled starting July 2007."

Border controls

The decision also aims to prevent the entry of foreigners or people the government calls "terrorists", Al Jazeera reported.

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At the same time, the Somali foreign ministry has ordered its embassies around the world to grant travel visas to citizens or visitors wishing to enter Somalia.

"Of course we have to know why a foreigner would come to our country. We do not want Somalia to be open for people to come without the government's knowledge," Hussain Jamea, the Somali deputy foreign minister, said.

The Somali government has set July 2007 as the deadline for renewal of old passports. Applicants will have to hand over their old passport to obtain a new one.

The government said that old passports will automatically be cancelled. It is hoped that this new measure will reduce the obstacles faced by the Somali people travelling in the past.

Many countries had stopped recognising the Somali passport, which had forced many citizens to acquire new nationalities.

Speaker's dismissal

Wednesday's vote to dismiss the speaker, who is currently out of the country, garnered a total of 183 MPs gathered at the transitional government's base of Baidoa. Nine voted against the move.


"We do not want Somalia to be open for people to come without the government's knowledge"

Hussain Jamea, Somali deputy foreign minister
Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden angered many in November when he launched unauthorised negotiations with the Islamic courts, who were then ruling large parts of the country, including the capital, Mogadishu.

Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Mogadishu, said that the move to dismiss Sheikh Aden is all part of the government trying to deal with internal conflict.

"Sheikh Aden has always been seen as a renegade and someone who is opposed to the president and prime minister and, therefore, the issue of the parliament voting him out is seen as the government dealing with the conflict within itself," Adow said.

Since their removal late last month, the government has been trying to stamp its authority and end the factional fighting which has dogged Somalia for the past 16 years.

Adow also said that it did not seem likely that voting Sheikh Aden out would lead to violence in the capital, even though Sheikh Aden has support in some quarters of Mogadishu.

"The government continues to exert its authority all over Somalia and the capital," Adow said.
Somali watchers however have warned that the dismissal of Aden, a member of the Rahawein clan, could undermine stabilisation efforts and polarise the government and parliament, whose formation is based on a complex power-sharing alliance among fractious clans.

Sheik Al-Amoudi toward the private press

(Addisfortune Gossip)--The wrath of Sheik Mohammed Ali Al-Amoudi toward the private press (he stopped short of mentioning their names) was abundantly evident to those high level government officials and invited guests on Tuesday night, January 10, at a dinner held at the Sheraton; it was immediately after the signing of the 2.6 billion Br cement construction turn-key contract, awarded to the China National Building Material (CNBM).

According to gossip, the Sheik had had a three-page speech prepared by his aides to be read at the dinner, after Haung Anzhong, general manager of CNBM, did his. Little were his aides prepared to what was to come. The Sheik set aside the English speech and went on accusing the private press for exaggerating the country's problems and painting negative image of MIDROC, which he said has an excellent international reputation.

His bitterness with the media is obvious; he is not happy that the media questions the credibility of his promises made back in June 2006, after he signed an agreement with Girma Birru, minister of Trade and Industry, in order to import 1.5 million quintals of cement, that was very much hoped to ease the terminal shortage of cement in the construction industry. So far, none has arrived. In case, the Sheik was not adequately informed, this has become a subject of discussions at the various gossip corridors in town over the past couple of months, to an extent that businessmen claimed that the advance payments they were made to pay was latter returned to them.

"On behalf of MIDROC people, what we have promised four months ago to import cement to reduce the lack of cement in Ethiopia; I promise to you it will come soon," he told those attending the dinner, although interrupting him with their clapping as frequently, as it was unusual. "I don't want to say the date, but you will be surprised, it will come soon."

It was here that Sheik Al-Amoudi switched his speech into Amharic; he appears to be of the opinion that talking about problems, "fetching it with spoons" drags the nation's progress, and people should engage in promoting its investment opportunities. The Sheik said he is investing in Ethiopia not only because he is Ethiopian or loves his motherland. He told the dinner he has also responsibilities.

He told those invited to the dinner that his company has brought over 150 million dollars cash to the country in 2005/06 in order for the private companies to get access to foreign currency, opening letters of credit at the Dashen Bank. MIDROC has not touched even a dollar of this amount, but imported machineries worth 800 million without sharing from the country's foreign currency reserve amount, according to Sheik Al-Amoudi. He disclosed that MIDROC Gold itself has brought 380 million dollars into the country ever since it started operations.

The Sheik promised that Derba-MIDROC will not be the only project in 2007: there will be a series of investments, including glass and brick factories, while the beverage factory in Awassa and cheap-wood factory will begin operations in four and three months, respectively. There will also be the card box factory in Oromia Regional State at a cost of 280 million Br, to start production in seven months, and the garment factory in Mekelle, Tigray Regional State, is going through expansion with machineries worth 270 million Br being installed. There is also the shoe factory bought from the Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency for four million dollars.

Nonetheless, what was rather confusing to gossip corridor was what the Sheik has said about the ruling party.

"I'm not a government official," he told the dinner, "But I'm part of the politics. However, the kind of repression ( Chikona in Amharic) the EPRDF government is putting on its members is very tough."

This was no statement collected from gossip corridors; it was made at a dinner party in the presence of many people, including Sebhat Nega, Abay Tsehaye, Tefera Walwa, Bereket Simon, and Mulugeta Alemseged. Source

Eritrea surprised by the speed, ferocity and size of Ethiopia's Military Might

January 18, 2007:Eritrea was surprised by the speed, ferocity, and size of Ethiopia's attack on Somalia. Evidence continues to appear that this was the case. Ethiopia carefully planned its attack.
The rapid movement of Ethiopian forces to Mogadishu and then turning south indicate Ethiopia's logistical preparations were also particularly good, especially for an army in the Horn of Africa conducting offensive operations. Did the Ethiopian military get logistical advice from the US? Probably – and if it did, clearly the advice was good. Some of the "conspiracy theorist" press is pointing out meetings held by Ethiopian military officers and US officers in early December 2006. Cooperation for the December-January offensive had to begin well before that. The truth is, the US and Ethiopia have been sharing intelligence data for years. Since the fall of the Communist dictatorship that long ruled Ethiopia, the US has been providing humanitarian aid and military assistance. It is arguable that Ethiopia has provided more intelligence for the US than the other way around – at least until May or June 2006 when Ethiopia began gearing up for an attack on the Islamic Courts militia in Somalia. That's when US imagery and electronic intelligence became very valuable for identifying militia units, troops concentrations, and other targets.

January 17, 2007: The UN said that it would reduce the peacekeeping force on the Ethiopia-Eritrea border. At present the UN has 2300 troops in or near the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) which separates Ethiopia and Eritrea in the disputed regions of their border. That number will fall to 1700. The troop reduction may take place sooner rather than later (as in the next few weeks). The UN mandate for the Ethiopia-Eritrea mission must be renewed by January 31.

Kenya and Ethiopia issued a joint statement asking African nations to provide peacekeeping troops for Somalia. Ethiopia insists it will withdraw its military forces from Somalia "within weeks." An African Union regional security meeting is scheduled for January 29 and no doubt peacekeeping contingents for Somalia will be discussed at conference.

January 12, 2007: Eritrea warned the US of "dangerous consequences" because of US air strikes on Islamic Courts militia positions in Somalia. What those consequences might be was not made clear. Eritrea has in fact been a de facto US ally in the War on Terror, but when Ethiopia failed to implement the border changes required by the "binding agreement," Eritrea expected the US and the UN to force Ethiopia to comply. When the US and UN did not, Eritrea turned on both. The Ethiopian and Somali transitional government victories in Somalia have been a clear defeat for Eritrea. Eritrea might consider letting radical Islamic terrorists operate from its territory. That would be a stupid mistake, but angry governments do stupid things. As it is, Eritrea has little interest in radical Islamists and the Islamists utopian goals. The Islamists are only useful as tactical allies in its war with Ethiopia.

ETHIOPIAN TROOPS BEGIN WITHDRAWAL FROM SOMALIA

Ethiopian troops began their withdrawal from several cities in central Somalia, eyewitnesses said, according to the satellite TV station Al-Jazeera.

The troops were seen leaving Idadou and Baldawin, two cities which lie some 250 miles from the Ethiopian-Somali border.

Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) is preparing to send its peacekeeping forces into Somalia in the next two weeks. The first force would arrive from Uganda, a high-ranking AU official told AFP. The peacekeeping forces will aim to support the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to control the country.

The Ethiopian army invaded Somalia in late December to support the TFG in its war against the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC). Less than three weeks after the invasion, the Ethiopian army helped the TFG regain control over the capital Mogadishu and the rest of Somalia's central and southern regions. The Islamist rebellion, which began in February 2006, was totally crushed. Source

Ethiopia has become an Anglo-American proxy in the Horn of Africa

Global Research presents these articles to our readers as further verification of the link between events in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East and the deep involvement of the United States. Ethiopia has become a regional surrogate or proxy for the United States and Britain. This is evident from the coordination of the U.S. military and Ethiopian troops in Somalia.

Ethiopian and U.S. intervention in Somalia is being justified to the international public under the pretext of fighting terrorism and Al-Qaeda.

These events are no mere coincidence and are to be analyzed and observed with the utmost scrutiny by individuals and nations all over the world.

General John Abizaid, the U.S. military commander overseeing U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa, had a low profile meeting with the Ethiopian Prime Minister on December 4, 2006, in Ethiopia. Approximately three weeks later the United States and Ethiopia both intervened militarily in Somalia. More

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America's interests in Somalia:

Four major U.S. oil companies are sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concessions.

This article was first published in December 2001 on the raceandhistory.com forum.


THE OIL FACTOR IN SOMALIA; FOUR AMERICAN PETROLEUM GIANTS HAD AGREEMENTS WITH THE AFRICAN NATION BEFORE ITS CIVIL WAR BEGAN. THEY COULD REAP BIG REWARDS IF PEACE IS RESTORED.

Far beneath the surface of the tragic drama of Somalia, four major U.S. oil companies are quietly sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concessions to explore and exploit tens of millions of acres of the Somali countryside.

That land, in the opinion of geologists and industry sources, could yield significant amounts of oil and natural gas if the U.S.-led military mission can restore peace to the impoverished East African nation.

According to documents obtained by The Times, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips in the final years before Somalia's pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January, 1991. Industry sources said the companies holding the rights to the most promising concessions are hoping that the Bush Administration's decision to send U.S. troops to safeguard aid shipments to Somalia will also help protect their multimillion-dollar investments there. More

Somalia's warlords agree to give up guns

fotoMOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- As Somalia's warlords were signing a deal to lay down their weapons, six militiamen were gunned down just yards away in a dispute over a parking spot.

Their bodies were propped up against a bullet-scarred wall opposite the presidential palace on Friday -- a stark reminder of the challenges facing the government as it tries to restore order and establish real authority in this fractious, heavily armed country.

The government was only able to enter Mogadishu two weeks ago after Ethiopian troops routed an Islamic movement that had controlled most of southern Somalia for the past six months. Now it must deal with clan divisions that have spoiled the last 13 attempts to form an effective government since the last one collapsed in 1991.

There are believed to be around 20,000 militiamen in Somalia and the country is awash with guns. Other obstacles include remnants of the Islamic movement -- some are believed to be hiding in Mogadishu -- and resentment among some Somalis of Ethiopia's intervention in the war.

Hours after the signing, Defense Minister Col. Barre "Hirale" Aden Shire said Ethiopian-backed government forces had captured the last remaining stronghold of the Islamic movement after five days of fighting in the southern town of Ras Kamboni. He said Ethiopian and Somali forces chased fleeing Islamic fighters into nearby forests and the fighting would continue.

Ras Kamboni is in a rugged coastal area a few miles from the Kenyan border. It is not far from the site of a U.S. airstrike Monday targeting suspected al-Qaeda militants -- the first U.S. offensive in Somalia since 18 American soldiers were killed here in 1993.

The agreement reached Friday between President Abdullahi Yusuf and the clan warlords aimed to establish enough security in the capital so international peacekeepers can deploy and protect the government until it can establish an effective police force and army.

"The warlords and the government have agreed to collaborate for the restoration of peace in Somalia," said government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari. "The agreement means they have to disarm their militia and their men have to join the national army."

One of Somalia's most powerful warlords, Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, told The Associated Press after the meeting the clans were "fed up" with guns and ready to cooperate.

But another warlord issued a warning to the government.

"If the government is ready to reconcile its people and chooses the right leadership, I hope there is no need to revolt against it," said Muse Sudi Yalahow, whose fighters control northern Mogadishu. "If they fail and lose the confidence of the people, I think they would be called new warlords."

Friday's fighting in the capital began when clan gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade and briefly exchanged gunfire with government troops. The battle, which one militiaman said was sparked by a dispute over where to park an armored car, left at least six dead and 10 wounded.

Since Tuesday, there have been several attacks against government forces and their Ethiopian allies, and five people have been killed, witnesses said. In addition, assailants threw a grenade into a Mogadishu hotel late Thursday, killing a government soldier, said lawmaker Jini Boqor. The hotel is used by Somalia's police chief.

The United States, United Nations and the African Union all want to deploy peacekeepers to stop Somalia from returning to clan-based violence and anarchy. But so far no African governments have responded to the call for an 8,000-strong peacekeeping force for the country, although Uganda has indicated it is willing to send 1,500 peacekeepers as part of a wider mission.

Late Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged the international community to redouble efforts to stabilize Somalia and reiterated his concern that U.S. attacks were harming civilians and could have "unintended consequences."

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said in a statement on a government Web site Friday that U.S. involvement in Somalia is creating turmoil in the Horn of Africa region and would "incur dangerous consequences." Eritrea and Ethiopia are bitter rivals.

Ethiopian and U.S. forces are pursuing three top al-Qaeda suspects believed to be in Somalia. The U.S. has repeatedly accused the Somali Islamist movement of harboring the suspects, wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. (Full story)
Oxfam says herdsmen killed in air attacks

Recent air attacks against the fleeing Islamic movement have killed 70 nomadic herdsmen in the last four days, British charity Oxfam said Friday, citing its local Somali partner organizations. It said the deaths occurred near Afmadow, about 220 miles southwest of Mogadishu.

The United States has said it only conducted one air strike and no civilians were killed. The Ethiopian military has used attack helicopters against militants in Somalia.

The U.N. food agency said it has started distributing food to 18,000 Somalis, many of whom were women and children who fled fighting in the south. The agency said ongoing military activity meant they could not get food to another 190,000 people who were desperately in need. (Watch how hungry refugees are trapped Video)

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, sinking the Horn of Africa nation of 7 million people into chaos.

Mengistu Is Handed Life Sentence

Mengistu Haile Mariam has lived in exile for 15 years
Exiled former Ethiopian ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam has been sentenced to life in prison on genocide charges.

The former leader was found guilty last month after a 12-year trial, although he is living in Zimbabwe.

After his conviction, Zimbabwe said it would not extradite him and many fear he will never face justice.

In a notorious campaign - known as the Red Terror - thousands of suspected opponents were rounded up and executed and their bodies tossed on the streets.

Mengistu, who was born in 1937, could have faced the death penalty. More

US Launches Air Strikes In Somalia

The US military has launched air strikes against fighters in Somalia, saying they are suspected members of al-Qaeda.

Abdirahman Dinari, a Somalia government spokesman, confirmed the offensive on Tuesday.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least one AC-130 gunship was used in the attack.

Dinari told AFP: "We know that a US gunship raided targets of al-Qaeda in southern Somalia sometime yesterday afternoon.

"The target was a small village called Badel where the terrorists were hiding. And the gunship did hit on the exact target." Watch Democracy Now Here Or Listen Al Jeezera and BBC

Ethiopian forces kill Oromo man and arrested others in Somalia

Two men from the Oromia region in Ethiopia who were caught yesterday in Jowhar town 90km north of the capital admitted to be belonging to the defeated Islamist fighters in Somalia.

Abdalla Tani Aden and Mashruc Hasan Hussein told the local media in Jowhar and made it clear that they were members of the Islamic Courts Union that was ousted from their outposts in Somalia saying that another Oroma man who was with them was killed yesterday in the town.

The man was shot dead after he tried to wrestle the gun from an Ethiopian soldier.

Tani said he was tempted by religious men to come to Mogadishu. “I was among 270 Oromos, training in Mogadishu. We were in a military camp in the capital”, he said.

Letters were found in the pockets of the arrested Oromo men showing rules of prayer. “We have been misled,” they complained.

The faces of Mr. Tani and his friend Bashi seem gloomy while they were talking to the reporters in Jowhar. “We are kindly asking Somalia government to offer us amnesty and to be released’. Zaani said.

They were all captured by the Ethiopian troops from the area near to the airport of Jowhar where one of them was killed.

They said they had been trained in Eritrea and then arrived in Mogadishu 13 December last year where they fought alongside the Islamists.

It is for the first time to arrest Oromo men among the foreigners working with the Islamists since the Ethiopian backed interim government troops seized control of southern and central Somalia late December last years rooting out the Islamic Courts Union.

The Ethiopian forces in Somalia are hunting down all the Oroma people that were with the Islamists.

Earlier the Somali government accused Islamists of bringing foreign extremists from Middle East and Africa in to the country.

Somalia’s Islamists show readiness to talk with the government

Mogadishu 08, Jan.07 ( Sh.M.Network) -Somalia’s Islamist leader for foreign affairs, Ibrahim Hassan Adow, who is in Yemen, said his Islamist organization was ready to negotiate with the transitional federal government, which is now in control of most provinces in central and southern of the country including the capital Mogadishu.

Fighting between Ethiopian and government forces supported by tanks and airpower is still raging in Raskamboni, a Somali settlement near the Kenyan border.

The government said it killed many Islamists and that the a large number of Islamist fighters gave up themselves while hundreds of Islamists backed by nearly hundred battlewagons are believed to be hiding in the jungle near the Kenyan border.

The government did not say how many of its soldiers lost their lives in this latest fighting. Read or Watch

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ETN’s collection of music videos represent all genres of artistic periods. More

Anti-Ethiopian protests hit Mogadishu

Ethiopian troops and Somali protesters exchanged fire in Mogadishu today killing three people, witnesses said, as hundreds of Somalis demonstrated against the foreign forces and a government disarmament drive.

The protesters hurled stones and burnt tyres, wreathing streets in smoke and reviving memories of the chaos that had largely stopped during six months of strict Islamist rule before the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) was ousted last week.

"The Ethiopians opened fire and shot dead a young boy and a lady, they also killed another person," a witness said. Other witnesses agreed.

"The (government) and Ethiopian troops invaded our country and they have shot my son for no good reason," Omar Halane, the father of the boy, said.

A government source said one person had died and that police had opened fire in Tarbuunka square, where the Islamists had held regular anti-Ethiopian demonstrations when they controlled the volatile capital.

"Protesters shot at policemen, the police returned fire killing one man," the source said. "I don't know how many people have been wounded."

In the latest show of discontent with the forces that ousted the Islamists, hundreds of Somalis marched through the capital chanting "Down with Ethiopia". Read OR Listen

The Diane Rehm Show On Somalia

Topic: Somalia

What's next for Somalia now that Ethiopian forces have driven a previously powerful Islamic militia from the anarchic state.

The Guests are

Karin von Hippel, codirector of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project and senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Andre Le Sage, Assistant Professor & Academic Chair for Terrorism & Counterterrorism, Africa Center for Strategic Studies (A Department of Defense Initiative affiliated with the National Defense University)

Sadia Ali Aden, cofounder, Somali Diaspora Network.

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Who are These Somali War Lords?

Jama Ali Jama, Omar Haji Mohammed Masaleh, Muse Sudi Yalahow,

Jama Ali Jama's hold on power in Puntland was ended in May 2002.

Omar Haji Mohammed Masaleh, His forces were defeated by fighters loyal to Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

Muse Sudi Yalahow .Leads the Somali National Front (SNF) - now split into pro- and anti- Ethiopian factions. His power-base lies in the southern Gedo region.

Foreign player: Ethiopia

Ethiopia and Somalia have often had a troubled relationship.

The two countries went to war in the Ogaden in the late 1970s, when Somalia tried to capture territory to which it believed it had an historical claim.

Ethiopia only succeeded in pushing back the Somali army when Soviet and Cuban forces came to the aid of Addis Ababa.

President Siad Barre
President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991
It now suits Ethiopia to have a chaotic and fragmented country without a proper national government on its south-eastern border.

The population of the Ogaden - Ethiopia's "Zone Five" - consists largely of ethnic Somalis and the region is a source of opposition to the Ethiopian Government.

Ethiopia is worried about the possible spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the Horn of Africa.

In recent years, Addis Ababa has intervened quietly in Somalia's internal affairs to keep Somalia weak and divided.

There is general agreement that this Ethiopian influence has increased over the past year or so, with activity around Baidoa in the south and in Puntland in the north-east.

In January 2002, the TNG said Ethiopia had sent troops across the border into Somalia to train militia groups opposed to it.

Somalia's transitional government also said that 70 Ethiopian officers had been despatched to Puntland in support of the ousted leader, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

Ethiopia denies these claims.

The overall situation is further complicated by the fact that the United States acknowledges that some of its military intelligence comes from Ethiopia.

Al Itihaad al Islamiya

Meaning Islamic Union, the fundamentalist group was founded in the late 1980s and is based in the southern Gedo region.

There have been unconfirmed reports of al Itihaad activity in Puntland.

It is rumoured to be linked to al-Qaeda, the terror network believed to be behind the September 2001 attacks on the United States. The US has since listed it as a terrorist organisation.

Despite the allegations of al-Qaeda links, some observers say al Itihaad has been a spent force since 1996 and has not been active for some years.

The general feeling now is that al Itihaad's influence is vastly overblown.

However, there are suggestions that individual Somalis or even groups of Somalis may have, or have had links with the al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden.

There are reports that such people could be hiding in camps in Ras Kamboni near the Kenyan border and at El-Wak, near Somalia's border with Kenya and Ethiopia.

In the past, Ethiopia has blamed al Itihaad for bomb attacks in Addis Ababa and elsewhere, apparently carried out in support of Ethiopian opposition groups.

This has led to low-profile Ethiopian military incursions into Somalia in recent years.

The US believes that al Itihaad also had links with al Barakaat - the main remittance bank and telecommunications system in Somalia.

Al Barakaat's assets have been frozen by the US following allegations of money-laundering on behalf of al Qaeda.

Al Barakaat strongly denies these allegations, and the United Nations Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Somalia, Randolph Kent, says there is little evidence to link al Barakaat with al-Qaeda.

The warlords have a strong self-interest in fuelling stories of possible links between Somalia's transitional government and al Itihaad.

By spreading rumours of an al Qaeda presence, Somali politicians are hoping to harm their opponents.

It is clear that the factions are using the general anti-terrorist rhetoric to demonise each other.

Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed recently retook power in Puntland - the autonomous state in north-eastern Somalia, which was established in 1998.

The administration in Puntland does not recognise the transitional government in Mogadishu.

Ali Atto did sign the Nakuru peace deal on a national unity government in December 2001.

He is also based in southern Mogadishu.

He was once the late General Aidieed's financial backer, but they later split and fought.

He is now leader of a dissident faction of the USC/SNA.

A defence minister in the Siad Barre era, Gabyow now leads the southern-based Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM).

Hussein Aideed, Shatigudud and General Gabyow say they can no longer rely only on neighbouring countries in the region to help bring an end to over a decade of factional fighting.





Omar Haji Mohammed Masaleh

Leads the Somali National Front (SNF) - now split into pro- and anti- Ethiopian factions. His power-base lies in the southern Gedo region.

A professional soldier based in Baidoa, he is Commander of the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) and controls the regions of Bay and Baykol. One a supporter of the TNG, Shatigudud became a strong opponent of the interim administration in October 2001.

His move caused a split in the RRA.

Along with Hussein Aideed and Aden Abdullahi Nur Gabyow, he has called for international military intervention to stop what he describes as "extremist groups" from going underground in Somalia.

He also has Ethiopian backing

General Morgan is based in Baidoa
The "butcher of Hargeisa"

He is allied to the southern-based Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM).

A former army commander and son-in-law of Siad Barre, he became known as the "Butcher of Hargeisa" in the late 1980s when he conducted military operations against Somali National Movement (SNM) rebels in northern Somalia.

Morgan is also supported by Ethiopia.

The Transitional National Government - TNG
The TNG emerged out of a peace conference of Somali clan leaders in Djibouti in 2000.
The Somalia peace process is a result of the involvement of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development - IGAD - which is made up of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan and Somalia.

The Somali Reconstruction and Restoration Council - SRRC
The main challenge to the TNG comes from the SRRC - a loose coalition of opposition warlords from southern Somalia, many of whom have backing from Ethiopia.

The coalition began fracturing when some of its members signed the peace pact on a national unity government in Nakuru, Kenya.

The SRRC has its headquarters in the town of Baidoa.

Its leaders say the transitional government is not representative of Somali society and has little control over the country.

They have called on the international community to intervene in Somalia and set up a transitional government just as they have done in Afghanistan.

SRRC leaders say they can no longer rely only on neighbouring countries in the region - which are "fighting each other" - to help bring an end to over a decade of factional fighting.

Hussein Mohammed Aideed
Based in Mogadishu, Hussein Aideed leads the United Somali Congress/Somali National Alliance (USC/SNA).
Hussein Aideed controls parts of Mogadishu
He is a former US marine and son of the late General Mohamed Farah Aideed - the warlord who helped to remove President Siad...

Lidetu Ayalew's Interview in Paltalk

Lidetu is such a person living with crime and shame. The Ethiopian people do not want to hear his voice or see his face. That is why he is living as a fugitive in Ethiopia behind the financial and military protection of Al Amoudin and the Woyane assassin squads.

As the records clearly show, he made the highest contribution to sabotaging the last national election, betraying his own Kinijit Coalition and the imprisonment of the Kinijit true leaders. He planted agents in the Woyane prison cells and concentration camps to spy on Kinijit leaders in favour of his paymasters – the Woyanes. Since he came to political platform following the seizure of power by the Woyanes, he always played destructive roles, polluting, poisoning and sabotaging political groups such as All Amhara…(AAPO), Hibret (UEDF), All Ethiopia …(AEPO) and finally Kinijit (CUD).

After his heavy contribution to sending all those leaders to jails, and affecting the aspirations of our people for democracy, he took a place in the Woyane pseudo parliament. Now he is jumping to the USA to give a democratic mask to the Woyanes to win a ministerial position. Lidetu has proved to do any thing for the Woyanes and for their masters so long as he fulfils his financial egos and sadism. I was ashamed to hear his gratitude to the Woyane Embassy in the USA for inviting him to dinner. But this would not surprise any one as he always dines with the Woyanes and the Al Amoudis. Listen

Somali Troops Capture Islamic Stronghold

Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian invading tanks and fighter jets captured the last major stronghold of the Islamic Courts movement Monday, while hundreds of Somali resistance fighters - many of them Arabs and South Asians - fled the town.

Well-armed invading Ethiopian troops drove into Kismayo after clearing roads laced with land mines that had been left by an estimated 3,000 Islamic Courts fighters fleeing a 13-day military onslaught by Ethiopian invading tanks and MiG fighter jets. Read Or Listen Or Watch