EthioExodus

Egyptian reform leader calls on Mubarak to go

2011-01-30T22:55:00.000-05:00

Egyptian reform leader calls on Mubarak to go

WikiLeaks founder Assange talks to '60 Minutes' | Politics and Law - CNET News

2011-01-30T22:54:00.000-05:00

WikiLeaks founder Assange talks to '60 Minutes' | Politics and Law - CNET News

Better to have no deal at Copenhagen than one that spells catastrophe

2009-12-19T15:40:00.001-05:00

" Better to have no deal at Copenhagen than one that spells catastrophe. The only offer on the table in Copenhagen would condemn the developing world to poverty and suffering in perpetuity." -

Award-winning journalist and activist Naomi Klein.

On the ninth day of
theCopenhagenclimate summit, Africa was sacrificed. The position of the G77 negotiating bloc, including African states, had been clear: a 2°C increase in average global temperatures translates into a 3–3.5°C increase in Africa. That means, according to the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance , "an additional 55 million people could be at risk from hunger", and "water stress could affect between 350 and 600 million more people".

...Read More

The mystery behind Eritrea

2009-12-19T02:46:00.006-05:00

Isaias Afewerki, Eritrea's president, led his country to independence in a decade-long war with Ethiopia.

Today he tolerates neither opposition nor dissent as he increasingly isolates his nation of five million people from the outside world.

Journalist Sinéad O'Shea travelled undercover to Eritrea and found that its focus on security and isolation is borne of bitter experience.

Many Eritreans believe that if Ethiopia were to make another attempt to capture its strategic Red Sea coastline, the rest of the world would turn a blind eye.

Six Eritrean footballers claim asylum in Angola

2007-03-28T00:34:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-13T12:22:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-13T12:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-08T11:43:00.001-05:00

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

2007-03-04T06:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-03T18:26:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-03T00:46:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-27T01:21:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-24T10:30:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-23T22:35:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-17T12:10:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-07T10:35:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-06T11:08:00.001-05:00

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

2007-02-01T22:14:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-30T05:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-29T19:31:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-27T21:17:00.001-05:00

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

2007-01-25T12:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-24T22:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-23T23:10:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-22T23:03:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-22T22:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-21T14:40:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-19T10:32:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-19T02:11:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-19T02:07:00.000-05:00

(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

2007-01-19T02:01:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-17T08:05:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

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

New Blog Site is Born

2007-01-13T02:43:00.000-05:00

True Movies is a blog site that post movies based on true stories. Here is the link...

www.truemovies.blogspot.com

America's interests in Somalia:

2007-01-13T01:50:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-12T22:24:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-11T06:50:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-09T15:14:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-08T23:24:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-08T11:25:00.000-05:00

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

ETN IS BORN

2007-01-06T21:32:00.000-05:00

Ethiopian Television Network

Committed to excellence in independent news reporting, educational programs and entertainment broadcasting.

ETN News Room- driven to create independent media and professional reporting will bring you critical news on what is happening in and around Ethiopia.

ETN Informational Programs- offer never before released, art, history and cultural programs revealing what Ethiopia was, what it is and what it may be in the future.

Our programs are designed to mirror Ethiopia’s over 3000 years of contribution to the modern world in art, tradition, music, science – a true zeitgeist of our times.

ETN Entertainment- offers a mosaic of traditional and modern artistic expressions of music, drama, and visual arts…reengaging artists from the past and connecting them to their successors and of course, you, our viewers.

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

Anti-Ethiopian protests hit Mogadishu

2007-01-06T12:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

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.

Listen the entire show on NPR Here

Who are These Somali War Lords?

2007-01-03T22:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-01T23:45:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-01T15:34:00.000-05:00

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

Saddam Hussien Executed

2006-12-30T01:52:00.000-05:00

An account of the political life of the Iraqi president. Since 1979, Saddam Hussein had ruled the country with an iron hand, enjoying limitless power, combining populism with nationalism, using police terror and a sense of personality cult. Testimonies from former soviet union and Iraqi citizens, archives, exceptional images, pictures from today’s Iraq help to understand the different steps of his ascent to complete power. Thus, the life of this man, both an innovative leader and a tyrant is part and parcel of Iraqi history. It is an edifying portrait of a dictator whose political career rested on progress but also on totalitarian cruelty and was marked with fratricide plots and summary executions.

Watch the video Below about Saddam's Life.

Conflict in Somalia: Islamic Courts Abandon Mogadishu as UN Warns of Humanitarian Crisis

2006-12-29T16:35:00.000-05:00

Hundreds of people are feared dead as fighting between Ethiopian forces backing Somalia’s government and militias loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts intensifies. Islamic fighters have abandoned their stronghold in the capital Mogadishu as the UN is warning of an impending humanitarian crisis. Who are the key players in this conflict? What is the US role? We host a roundtable discussion with three Somalia experts. [rush transcript included]

Early this morning, Ethiopian troops backing Somalia’s transitional Government forced militias loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts to abandon their stronghold in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Over the past week the number of people killed has been estimated to be as large as one thousand. Thousands of people have also been displaced since Ethiopia sent 15,000 troops into Somalia in order to fight the Union of Islamic Courts. The Bush administration has openly backed the Ethiopian military and has opposed the Islamic Courts based on alleged links to Al Qaeda. Weeks before the invasion, General John Abizaid, the head U.S. Central Command, flew to Ethiopia to meet with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Ethiopia has claimed to be protecting its interests in the region. Read OR Watch

Government Troops Capture Somali Capital from Islamists

2006-12-28T23:40:00.000-05:00

Nearly a week after Somali soldiers and their Ethiopian allies began fighting Islamic militias that claimed control over most the country, government troops entered Mogadishu unopposed Thursday forcing the Islamists to retreat.
Somali government troops

After years of violence and chaos in the capital, some residents greeted the government soldiers while others hid.

"We are in Mogadishu. We are coordinating our forces to take control of

Mogadishu," said Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi after meeting with local clan leaders to discuss the handover. Dozens of leaders agreed to help collect weapons from the militias still remaining in the city.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he hoped fighting would be over in days and vowed to inflict total defeat on the movement known as the Council of Islamic Courts.

"We are discussing what we need to do to make sure Mogadishu does not descend into chaos," Zenawi said. "We will not let Mogadishu burn."

The movement held the capital for six months as part of an attempt to establish a government based on the Quran.

After the Islamic militias left Mogadishu early Thursday, local clan militiamen looted the city. Because Somalia's political system is historically based on clans, their leaders will have the largest influence over what happens next in the capital. Read Or Listen Or Watch

SOMALIA: HEARTS, MINDS & HOLY WAR

2006-12-28T12:53:00.000-05:00

Robin Barnwell and Aidan Hartley provide an eye-opening account of the most successful Islamic revolution to happen in the world since 9/11, and the setting up of a new Taliban-style state which threatens to export war to the entire horn of Africa.

Friday 15 December 2006 7.35pm

Westerners are completely absent from Mogadishu, with the situation even more precarious for journalists following the murder of cameraman Martin Adler, shot by an unidentified hit man at an anti-American public rally in June. Barnwell and Hartley are forced to work under constant threat of assassination from various factions.

Beginning their journey in Mogadishu, it’s immediately clear that militants, known as the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) have seized the capital and are extending their power through both the gun barrel and religious persuasion. While Western powers failed to bring law and order to even a few blocks of Mogadishu and rescue Somalia from years of anarchy and 500,000 deaths, Unreported World shows how UIC has been winning the hearts and minds of ordinary Somalis by quickly brought about a real improvement to their lives. More

Ethiopian Forces Near Somali Capital

2006-12-26T09:58:00.000-05:00

Mogadishu residents run towards the airport after it was attacked by the Ethiopian air force yesterday. Photograph: Abukar Albadri/EPA

Ethiopia today pressed on with its offensive against Somali Islamists and threatened to seize the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

At least two Ethiopian jets fired missiles on retreating Islamist forces, prompting the interim Somali government to claim a partial victory.

Hundreds of troops have been killed during a week of heavy artillery and mortar fighting amid fears that it could spark a wider regional conflict in the Horn of Africa.

"Ethiopian forces are on their way to Mogadishu. They are about 40 miles away and it is possible they could capture it in the next 24 to 48 hours," Somalia's ambassador to Ethiopia, Abdikarin Farah, told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. More Here & Here or Al Jezzera

Dr. Getachew Jigi Interview

2006-12-25T12:15:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON, DC - The government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is an organized criminal group that spews fear and terror for its continued survival in power, an opposition MP said in a press statement released to the media on Saturday.

Dr. Getachew Jigi, founding member of the opposition Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM), became the latest Ethiopian to join the long list of supreme court judges, army generals, diplomats and inquiry commission officials who fled Ethiopia for fear of political murders at home and for the need to voice to the outside world about the plight of the Ethiopian people under a ruling group which has no respect for the rule of law.

"The reign of terror and fear is what characterizes today's Ethiopia. EPRDF, which is a total dictatorship, violates its own constitution to reverse court rulings, harass, detain, torture and kill citizens without the need for evidence that crimes have been committed," he said.

Dr. Getachew said opposition MPs are showcased to the West as free people's representatives who hold audiences with foreign dignitaries, diplomats, or even senior government officials. Watch

It's War with Ethiopia, says Islamist Leader

2006-12-25T09:29:00.000-05:00

The Islamic militia remains in control of Mogadishu airport
Ethiopian jets have bombed two airports in Somalia in a widening operation against an Islamic militia group.

Jets hit the international airport in the capital, Mogadishu, and another at Balidogle, in the south of the country.

The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) has been fighting Somalia's weak interim government and its Ethiopian backers.
Ethiopia's prime minister has said his country is "at war" with the Islamists, and the Red Cross has urged all parties to protect civilians from harm. Watch BBC or Listen or Read

Meles Defences War in Somalia

2006-12-24T22:11:00.000-05:00

An Islamic Courts fighter lies dead 24 December 2006 on the outskirts of Idale, Somalia. (AFP Photo)

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Sunday evening the country's troops were forced into war against Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

"Our defense forces were forced to enter into war to protect the sovereignty of the nation and to thwart the attacks from extremists of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and anti-Ethiopian forces," Meles said in a televised speech just hours after the military confirmed counterattacks against Somalia's UIC.

"The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces, Puntland forces and other Somali armed forces are fighting alongside Ethiopian troops," he said.

"Our defense forces will leave Somalia as soon as they end their mission," he said.

"We are not trying to set up a government for Somalia, nor do we have an intention to meddle in Somalian internal affairs," said Meles.

A anti-aircraft heavy weapon is seen mounted on a truck 24 December 2006 on the outskirts of Idale, Somalia, a township about 60 kms south of the government seat, Baidoa. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Sunday evening the country's troops were forced into war against Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). (AFP Photo)

"We want to end this war urgently and we hope that Ethiopian people stand by the defense forces," said the Ethiopian prime minister.

On Sunday, Ethiopian troops said they have launched a counterattack against Somalia's UIC.

"After a long patience, the Ethiopian National Defense Forces on Sunday started taking measures to foil the attack launched against Ethiopia by fundamentalist forces gathered in Somalia," said a statement from the military.

"The offensive was launched on terrorist positions at BurHakaba, Beledweyne, Bandiradleey and Dinsoor localities," the statement said.

Ethiopia had previously denied dispatching any soldiers across the border, saying it had only a few hundred military trainers in Baidoa, the only town TFG controls.

Fighting resumed in Somalia Thursday between fighters loyal to the TFG and the UIC despite a truce secured by an EU envoy. Listen Here Or Watch Video Here

Ethiopia Admits Somalia Offensive

2006-12-24T12:25:00.000-05:00

Ethiopia has confirmed that its troops are fighting Islamic militiamen that control much of Somalia.

Ethiopia's information minister said his country's forces had launched "self-defensive measures" against the Islamic Courts Union (UIC).

Ethiopia had previously admitted to sending only army trainers to Somalia.

In the latest fighting between the UIC and the weak, Ethiopian-backed government, air strikes and shelling are being reported in border areas.

Eyewitnesses said Ethiopian fighters were bombarding the UIC-held town of Beledweyne near the border, on the fifth day of renewed fighting.

"The enemy of Allah has started bombing our civilians," Sheikh Hassan Derrow told AFP news agency.

[Ethiopia] has started counter-attacking the aggressive extremist forces of the Islamic Courts and foreign terrorist groups.
Ethiopian Information Minister Berhan Hailu

A resident told AFP: "We see planes striking us and heavy fighting on the ground intensifying."

Ethiopian Information Minister Berhan Hailu later said: "The Ethiopian government has taken self-defensive measures and started counter-attacking the aggressive extremist forces of the Islamic Courts and foreign terrorist groups." Read More Here Or Listen Audio Here

Briton arrested in Ethiopia for drug smuggling

2006-12-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

Addis Ababa: A British man has been arrested after Ethiopian authorities found 8kg of cannabis hidden in lampshades he was trying to smuggle out of the country, the state-run news agency said.

The head of Ethiopia's drug control service, Dejene Bekele, told Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) that the Briton was detained on Saturday at Bole International Airport, near Addis Ababa.

“The suspect was arrested while trying to smuggle the cannabis out of the country by hiding it in four traditionally made lampshades,” Dejene said. The man claims to have bought the cannabis in the town of Shashemene, 240 km from Addis. Source

It's war with Ethiopia, says Islamist Leader

2006-12-22T02:05:00.000-05:00

By Victoria Averill in Nairob

Mike Pflanz: Diary from Somalia

Somali Islamists said that they were at war with Ethiopia yesterday as heavy fighting continued for a third day against pro-government troops, backed by Ethiopia.

As heavy shelling continued near the garrison town of Baidoa, the leader of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council called for all Somalis to join the fight against neighbouring Ethiopia, which it accuses of backing the interim government. "We are at war with Ethiopia but not with the government," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said. On Tuesday, Louis Michel, the European Union aid envoy, said "all factions" had pledged a return to peace negotiations.

Analysts estimate up to 20,000 Ethiopian troops are in Somalia. Ethiopia denies the claim but admits sending several hundred military trainers. Listen

The Moment of Truth

2006-12-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

Many of them were in the same room where they once discussed how to command and plan Ethiopia’s economy. The finger print of the past is still left untouched on the ceiling; a bronze circle plaque depicting the Ethiopian map (which includes Eritrea) with hammer and sickle reads, “We shall put nature under control as we did the reactionaries!”

It was crimes committed under this slogan that put 73 members of the military Derg on trial, with a 268 pages of charge that took four days to read, in 1995. On Tuesday, December 12, 33 top leaders of the military government heard a guilty verdict in a meeting hall-cum-courtroom inside the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, in front of martyrs’ monument in Sedest Kilo. More

Above Picture: Major Legesse Asfaw

Many in Ethiopia See Premier's Talk of War As Ploy to Tighten Grip

2006-12-20T15:13:00.000-05:00

By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- War or no war with Somalia, Mulunesh Abebayhu wants out. Out of her teaching job, where Ethiopian security forces constantly harass her because of her political views. Out of this city, where hundreds of protesters were killed by police bullets after disputed elections last year. And, if she can manage, out of this country that she believes has plunged into the abyss of dictatorship at the hands of its prime minister, Meles Zenawi, a staunch ally of the United States in the vulnerable Horn of Africa.

"He confuses the Westerners so that he can keep ruling," said Abebayhu, 54, an opposition member arrested along with an estimated 30,000 others in the sweeping post-election crackdown last year. "Our party does not believe in this war. Our priority is to eradicate poverty, not go to war. Meles knows this war is a way for his system to survive."

As Ethiopia and Somalia's Islamic Courts movement inch closer each day to all-out conflict, a widespread view among people here in the capital is that Meles is using the conflict to distract people from a vast array of internal problems and to justify further repression of opposition groups, including ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia.

In particular, opponents of war say he is playing up the claim that there are al-Qaeda operatives within the Islamic Courts in order to maintain the support of the U.S. government, which relies on a steady flow of Ethiopian intelligence that some regional analysts say is of dubious value.

A recent attempt by Congress to sanction the Ethiopian government for widespread human rights violations failed after former Republican House leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), lobbying on behalf of the Ethiopian government, argued that the United States needs Ethiopia in order to fight terrorism.

"We don't know why the Americans let them get away with it," said Abebayhu, who was denied her request for a U.S. visa and who said she receives death threats regularly.

Meanwhile, Meles has become so disliked in the city that people compare him unfavorably to the former dictator known as "the Butcher of Addis Ababa," Mengistu Haile Mariam, who was convicted last week of genocide after a trial lasting 12 years.

Around Victory Square, one of many roundabouts in this city of a thousand cafes and tin-patch markets, passersby offered opinions similar to that of Nemera Bersisa, 35, a record-keeper on his way home from work.

"I believe the Dergue regime is better than this one, even if they killed people," he said, referring to Mengistu's rule. "This regime is democratic only in words. They kill people without any law, and they arrest people without a reason. This government is trying to stay in power by using different mechanisms, like claiming the Somalis are invading. But this is not the case. Meles is trying to externalize his problems."

And those problems are vast.

After 12 years in power, Meles presides over a nation that still does not produce enough food to feed its own people, relying on the U.N. World Food Program to supplement struggling farmers. The number of people infected with HIV is rising every year: At least 500,000 Ethiopians are living with the virus now, according to government figures. At least half of the population lives on less than $1 a day, which is not enough to buy a single meal.

A smattering of new skyscrapers have gone up in Addis Ababa lately, and in recent years, the gaudy Sheraton Hotel was built, a fortified palace of marble and brass and $100 Scotch set amid a rusting neighborhood of leaning, one-room shacks. Locals call it Paradise in Hell.

Last year's elections began with high hopes and degenerated into a bloodbath. Opposition groups, who made significant gains but did not win a majority according to the national election board, accused the government of rigging the tally and flooded the streets to challenge the results. During the rallies in May and November last year, unarmed protesters were sprayed with bullets while others were hunted down, killed inside their homes and in their gardens, in front of children and neighbors.

Though the official government report released in October listed 197 demonstrators killed, some members of the government's own commission and human rights groups have estimated that the number could be as high as 600. Seven police officers were killed.

Since then, the mood around the capital has been grim.

"After the elections, the government is ruling Ethiopia by military force and propaganda, we all know that," Bersisa said. "We're dead after the election."

While most of the 30,000 prisoners taken after the election have been released, several hundred opposition leaders remain in jail, including the elected mayor of Addis Ababa, Birhanu Nega, who was a professor in the United States, and Haile Miriam Yacob, who served on the U.N. commission settling a border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Four private newspapers have been shut down. A reporter for the Associated Press was expelled. And random arrests on the streets of Addis Ababa continue daily, people say.

Residents of a largely Ethiopian Somali neighborhood called Rwanda say that government security forces have been rounding up people who refuse to swear allegiance to Meles' ruling party, a charge the government denied.

"Their main target is Ethiopian Somalis," said Reagan Dawale, 30, who left his home in the Somali region of Ethiopia because of the tense atmosphere there, only to find a similar situation in the capital.

In a recent interview, Meles, a former Marxist guerrilla who shed his fatigues for tailored suits when he took power in a 1991 coup, referred to the opposition as leading an "insurrection" intent on overthrowing the government by violent means, a charge opposition leaders deny.

Meles has introduced a few words into the Ethiopian vocabulary. Someone who is out of line is a "fendata." Dissatisfied, unemployed workers who must be controlled are the "adegnabozene." A "bichameberat" is a person who has crossed into the danger zone.

Meles said he retains U.S. support when it comes to defending Ethiopia against the Islamic Courts movement, which now controls much of Somalia, including Mogadishu, the capital. Meles said the Islamic Courts have already attacked Ethiopia by arming secessionist Ethiopian Somali groups in the Ogaden region along the Somali border, a claim opposition leaders believe is both exaggerated and hardly a justification for war.

"Our argument is that all the governments we've known since 1960 say they want the Ogaden," said Beyene Petros, leader of the main opposition group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, referring to Somalia.

The Islamic Courts say it is the Ethiopians that have invaded Somalia. While Meles has repeatedly denied having troops there, the United Nations and regional diplomats estimate that at least 8,000 Ethiopian soldiers are in Somalia, backing the weak and divided transitional government.

Petros said Meles is poised to make precisely the same miscalculation in the Horn of Africa that critics say the United States made in invading Iraq: that a vastly superior military force can crush an ideologically driven guerrilla campaign.

"We should defend our borders, but I don't believe in a hot-pursuit campaign inside of Somalia," Petros said. "And I don't think this war is going to change the hearts of the Ethiopian people."

Former Ethiopia's Ruler Mengistu Moved from His Harare Home: Report

2006-12-18T23:24:00.000-05:00

Former Ethiopia's ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam has abandoned his Harare home and is now living in Kariba, near the Zambian border, a report said Saturday.

Mengistu, who was found guilty of genocide following a trial in absentia in his homeland, left Harare sometime in July and has not set foot at his Harare home, according to a report, published by the website http://newzimbabwe.com.

He is living at a private residence in Kariba, said the report, adding that once in a while he visited Harare as he acquired a stake in a local wholesale company.

It was not clear whether the man who once ruled Ethiopia with an iron fist had decided to live in Kariba permanently.

Mengistu, who has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since he was ousted in 1991, was convicted on Tuesday in a 12-year trial that focused on the killings of thousands of political opponents during his military government's 17-year rule.

Little is known about his life in Harare. On the rare occasions when Mengistu has been seen in public, he has been seen wearing military boots and carrying a pistol.

Security for Mengistu was increased in the mid-1990s after a failed assassination attempt by two Eritreans who ambushed him during a stroll. Source

Aba Enqubahry Gebreegziabher Arrested

2006-12-18T22:51:00.000-05:00

The Victims’ Advocate is full of interesting stories and information that helps in the Justice Coalition’s continuing fight against crime. Subjects include monthly columns from Jacksonville’s Sheriff John Rutherford, Executive Director Ann Dugger and Attorney Jay C. Howell. Also included in each publication are pictures of those wanted by local sheriff offices, missing persons, and victims’ stories. You will also get the chance to read about unsolved murders and the highly publicized section called “Shame, Shame, Shame,” which publicizes persons who have been arrested on charges of prostitution.

One of the arrested monk is our ABA ENQUBAHRI GEBREEGZIABHER who used to serve ABUNE AREGAWI OF VIRGINIAN Ethiopian Orthodox Church and currently kidist sellasie/Debrebrehan selassie of Jocksonvillie, Florida was arrested on the charges of soliciting for prostitiution on October 19, 2006. You can see his picture by clicking the link under and scroll down to last 6th picture. According to the news ...

Aba Gebre-egziabher was sent by Aba Paulos to head a small orthodox church in Jacksonville whose members included both Tigrians and non-Tigrians. The Tigrians then took over the church after the Aba came, together with money collected over the last several years (the same way as happened in Washington, DC). The Aba refused to recognize the North American Synod, and emphatically said they were part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church headed by Aba Paulos. He also refused to condemn the massacre that followed the election in 2005 or even refused to pray for the dead. That was when the non-Tigrians left the church to set up their own.

Prior to being sent to Jacksonville by Aba Paulos, the purported Aba Gebre-egziabeher was a refugee in Rome and Athens where he survived by selling newspaper during the day and frequenting prostitute-filled dance clubs at night. People who knew him have reportedly stated he had absolutely not training in church matters but rather is a deceptive and clever TPLF cadre. To ensure all Ethiopian Orthodox Churches would be controlled by TPLF and Tigrians, no priest is allowed to exit Ethiopia without the direct approval of Aba Paulos. That is how much TPLF is determined to control Ethiopians abroad. See his picture here Or Here

Kinijit Party Name and Logo is registered with USPTO as Personal Property

2006-12-17T12:07:00.000-05:00

The same individual who hijacked Kinijit web site had also registered the party's name and logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as his own personal property one year ago (Dec 2005). When Kinijit leaders and activists were busy fighting against the brutal dictatorship, this retired 80-year-old engineer, Ato Moges Brook, residing in the comfort of Los Angeles, had been scheming to make the popular organization his personal property. What a disgraceful act! It is because of morally bankrupt individuals like him and his friend Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew that Woyanne thugs continue to enslave and torment us. Listen an interview with Kinijet's Audiotr Ato Tesfaye Asmamaw.

“We are now hoping for Death”

2006-12-15T22:25:00.000-05:00

The man met the military in the forest. They asked him where he was going. He said, "To collect wood." They made him sit down. They tied him, brought sticks, and beat him. He was also told to open his mouth, and a gun was placed inside his mouth. From there, they shot him. The bullet passed through. They left the body on the main road.... People were afraid to take the body. More

- Testimony from a 35-year old male in Pochalla, Gambella, Ethiopia, January 2006

U.S. Doesn’t want Ethiopia Military presence in Somalia

2006-12-15T18:55:00.000-05:00

Dec 15, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — The State Department’s senior official on Africa says the United States does not want an Ethiopian military buildup in Somalia, despite the growing strength there of an Islamic force the Americans say are tied to al-Qaida.

Growing tension in the Horn of Africa country, which has been without an effective government since 1991, threatens to erupt into a regional war. The United States and the United Nations are supporting a feckless transitional secular government, which also is backed by Ethiopia, as a bulwark against the Islamic Courts militants. The courts control roughly the entire country except the town where the transitional government is based.

"We have said repeatedly that the only solution to the crisis in Somalia is through dialogue," Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters Thursday. More

Interview With Meles Zenawi

2006-12-14T22:01:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post's Stephanie McCrummen sat down this week with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to discuss rising tensions with Somalia's Islamic Courts, and the state of democracy inside the country.

On the issue of Somalia: Ethiopia is inching closer to war with the Islamic Courts, who have taken over large swaths the country, including its capital, and who have in the past called for creation of a "Greater Somalia," including portions of ethnically Somali Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. Diplomats estimate that Ethiopia has at least 8,000 troops in Somalia bolstering the fragile, but internationally recognized transitional government, a claim that Ethiopia has repeatedly denied.

Q: First, your reaction to the call by the Islamic Courts for Ethiopia to withdraw its forces in seven days?

A: They have issued an ultimatum. This does not come as a surprise to me. The declaration is based on falsehoods. It is true we have troops in Baidoa, the capital, who are there to train forces of the transitional federal government, who are an internationally recognized government and who have officially asked for support from Ethiopia. . . . Now, if the transitional government does not want our trainers, we'd be happy to withdraw them. . . . But on a more fundamental level it appears that this jihadist movement is hell-bent on controlling all of Somalia. That for them, the negotiations are a ploy used to facilitate their goal. They see Ethiopia as a stumbling block.

Q. There are analysts, diplomats and others who fear that limited conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia, even a short conflict, would ultimately spawn terrorist attacks across the region in neighboring countries, that it would embolden the more radical elements within the courts. Do you share this analysis? What are your thoughts on the idea that even an African Union deployment might make matters worse in the long run?

A. This argument does fascinate me. It does surprise me that intelligent people in the 21st century could claim that if you respond to the terrorists with force, you spawn terrorism, but if you appease them, you somehow tame them. This argument, as I said, is very interesting, and very surprising. . . . This policy of feckleness in the face of threats, this beatification of this threat, is quite dangerous. . . . There is a group in the Islamic Movement in Mogadishu that is not interested in democratic secular government in Somalia, that is hell-bent on establishing a Taliban regime in Somalia. Now, you can facilitate the Talibanization of Somalia through dialogue. If that is the intention, it perhaps makes sense. But you cannot stop a group that has clearly demonstrated that it wants to Talibanize all of Somalia, that is prepared to use dialogue to facilitate its military takeover. For someone to say in the face of such facts and stark realities, that facing the challenge on its own terms is what creates the challenge in the first place, such arguments in my view are worse than fecklessness in the face of a challenge.

On Democracy: In May 2005, the Ethiopian government conducted what many observers considered the most open and competitive elections since Prime Minister Meles Zenawi took power in a 1991 coup. An estimated 90 percent of the country's 25 million registered voters took part. When the preliminary results were announced, however, opposition party members accused the government of fraud, and took to the streets to protest, prompting a recount that showed the opposition parties made significant gains, but did not win a majority. When the opposition took to the streets again in November, they clashed with government security forces who opened fire. A government investigation found that 197 people were killed, including six police officers. Thousands of opposition members were arrested, and more than 100 opposition leaders, journalists and relief workers remain in jail, many having been charged with treason.

Q. I wanted to ask you about how your thinking has changed since you arrived in 1991. How has your thinking changed on subject of democracy? And do you believe that Ethiopia needs a strong, viable, peaceful opposition in order to progress?

A. Of course everybody's thinking evolves over time. Only dead people cease learning, and I am not certified dead yet. So I am still learning. Over the years I've come to recognize that democratization in Ethiopia is not just a matter of choice. It's a matter of national survival. I am deeply convinced that we either democratize and have a good chance of surviving, or if we fail to do so, we disintegrate. That is a significant evolution in my thinking. I know more now than I did in the past about the process of democratization. I know more about the pitfalls. With regards to your second question, a peaceful, strong viable opposition is part of any vibrant democracy. And we wish to have a vibrant democracy, and therefore we wish to have a vibrant, strong, peaceful opposition that is fully committed to the constitution and to play by the rules.

Q. Given what you just said, do you have any regrets about what happened after the election last year? There are hundreds of opposition members still in jail, thousands arrested at the time -- 197, I believe, killed, according to the government's report. Given what you just said, do you have any regrets about what happened?

A.. Yes, well, it's very regrettable that the election which was described as a model, that it turned out that this process in the end was tarnished by the fact that many people died. I regret the deaths of these people. It was a completely unnecessary and tragic series of events. I do not regret the fact that we have detained political leaders of this insurrection.

Q. Insurrection?

A. Yes. We bent back a lot to prevent this. . . . They said that there were irregularities in the elections. . . . Our response has been okay, we have the processes. We have the national election board. . . . And if you don't accept the board you go to the courts. . . . So we bent back, and said we accept the process of review of the counting, which involved the opposition parties' representatives and foreign observers. . . . Having done it we were not able to prevent publicly declared -- openly and publicly declared -- exercise of overthrowing the duly constituted government by unconstitutional means. And the rule of law is the basis for any democracy. And without the rule of law in democracy, you have chaos. They were pushing the country towards chaos. And we had to enforce the rule of law. And they have had their day in court. That is as it should be. There are no regrets here.

Q. I've been talking to a lot of people, regular people here on the streets in Addis, and some are open, and talk. But a lot of people are afraid to talk. They are concerned about expressing their opinion. Why do you think that is? Do you think that's warranted? Why do you think there's such a fear among people here?

A. I don't think there is such fear. At least in expressing opinions contrary to government. . . . There might be fear with regards to those associated with groups intent in carrying out insurrection. And supporters of armed insurrection might be concerned to have their ideas known. It is illegal to be a member of an organization that is challenging the constitution by armed force. But other than that, I don't see any fear. But I also understand that the opposition wants to prove that this is a repressive regime.

Q. Do you have any plans to try for a third term?

A. My party? My party will try not only for a third term but for a tenth term.

Q. And you personally?

A. And me personally, I think I've had enough. Source

High ranking TPLF Offical Speaks Out

2006-12-14T09:26:00.000-05:00

(Mahder)

Gebremedhin Araya the former treasurer of the organization (TPLF) Speaks out for the first time in 15 years in this interview with Addey Ababa Radio. Mr. Gebremedhin has very harsh words for his former colleagues. Listen Audio

Profile: Mengistu Haile Mariam

2006-12-12T17:06:00.000-05:00

The evidence against Mengistu, who is nearly 70, included signed execution orders, videos of torture sessions and personal testimonies.

Rule

Mengistu's Marxist rule began in 1974, when he and a group of officials known as the Dergue, overthrew Ethiopia's emperor, Haile Selassie. The emperor had failed to come to grips with a poor harvest, and the situation escalated into a devastating famine.

Mengistu soon emerged as the leader, and in the confusion following the emperor's death the government became embroiled in bitter clashes with students and leftist rivals.

Mengistu responded by brutally suppressing the unrest. Declaring Ethiopia a Socialist People's Republic, he turned to the Soviet Union, which backed him in fighting an invasion from Somalia.

But a war for independence in Eritrea rumbled on, and rebellion erupted in the province of Tigray. Moscow re-armed the Ethiopian military, but it gradually crumbled until in 1991 the combined Eritrean and Tigrayan forces were on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa.

Mengistu then fled to Zimbabwe, where his friend, President Robert Mugabe gave him sanctuary. Mr Mugabe has so far refused requests to extradite Mengistu to Ethiopia.

Mengistu himself refuses to recognise the legal basis of the trial, accusing those who overthrew him of being mercenaries and colonisers. Listen BBC

Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam found Guilty of Genocide

2006-12-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

[Today's Picture] Former Ethiopian prime minister Fikre Selassie Wogderes, fifth from right, front row and former Ethiopian vice president Fissiha Desta, fourth from right, front row, appear before the Ethiopian Federal High Court, Addis Ababa, Tuesday Dec. 12, 2006 (AP Photo/Les Neuhaus) More

Ethiopian troops ask Somali residents to cross border to Ethiopia

2006-12-10T20:51:00.000-05:00

MOGADISHU, Somalia: An unknown number of Ethiopian troops crossed into Somalia with 24 armored military vehicles on Sunday and went to two border villages, asking the villagers to move to the Ethiopian side for security reasons, a resident said.

"The troops apparently ... arrived here at 10 a.m. (0700GMT) and immediately asked the local residents of Sariirale and Baragaha villages to move away for security reasons," Mumin Moalin Yusuf, a radio operator in one of the villages, told The Associated Press by two-way radio.

The mission of the Ethiopian troops was unknown.

Ethiopia has consistently denied it has forces in Somalia, but their presence has been widely reported by witnesses and journalists. Ethiopia has said that it has a few hundred military advisers in Somalia helping the transitional government form a national army.

Meanwhile, clashes at a southern Somalia front line between the transitional government and the Council of Islamic Courts have reportedly stopped.

Government troops backed by Ethiopian troops and Islamic militia fought at two villages on Friday and Saturday, during which at least 15 people were killed and 18 others wounded, witnesses said.

Qadra Abdi Aden, a fuel-seller in Safarnoolees village where the rivals fought Friday, said villagers were not confident they had seen the last of the fighting.

"Everything is calm today (Sunday)," Aden told the AP by phone. "The fighting can restart at any moment because the rival troops are only 5 kilometers (3 miles) apart."

The villages where the fighting took place are about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the transitional government's base, Baidoa.

A Somali human rights group said Sunday that it feared renewed fighting in Somalia could bring a return of past human rights violations, such as rape, torture, kidnapping and looting.

"It is unfortunate that new wave of fighting is backed by foreign powers in Somalia," said the Dr. Ismael Jumale Human Rights Center in a statement. "The center believes that interference of foreign powers could only pave the way for natural disaster and violations against humanity.

"The center urges the international community to make efforts to reconcile the political rival groups (in Somalia) in order to avert a new wave of fighting," the statement said.

Residents of Baidoa said there had been increased movement of military personnel in the town between Friday and Saturday, raising tensions in Baidoa, which is 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of the capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia has not had an effective central government for 15 years, after warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other.

A transitional government was formed two years but it has been unable to assert its authority over the country and since June the Council of Islamic Courts has seized Mogadishu and taken control of much of southern Somalia. Source

Associated Press writer Salad Duhul in Mogadishu contributed to this report

Denver Ethiopian Community Mourns Mother, Suspect faces First-Degree Murder Charges

2006-12-10T20:45:00.000-05:00

DENVER, Co -- Members of Denver’s Ethiopian community came together Saturday to mourn a mother of five children.

Alganesh Meshesha was stabbed to death a week ago as she walked home from work near the area of Colfax and Ivy.

"She was very nice, very kind, and I hope everybody understands that," 12-year-old Samuel Kassey said of his mother.
Click here to find out more!

The suspect, identified by Denver police as Shimondi Gabreselassie, faces a first-degree murder charge. Family members told 7NEWS Gabreselassie has been taken into custody in Los Angeles.

A religious service for Meshesha is scheduled for Sunday.

A fund has been set up at US Bank locations. Anyone wishing to make a donation should ask for the Alganesh Fund Relief.

Court Releases Suspect in 2m Br Heist

2006-12-09T00:03:00.000-05:00

A Municipality Court has released last week a known businesswoman the Addis Abeba Police Commission put under custody for seven days, while probing an extortion of two million Birr committed on two individuals.

Haregewoin Teferi (a.k.a Herry), owner of Cigar Lounge, was released on Wednesday afternoon, November 29, after depositing a 10,000 Br bail. She was arrested on November 21st under suspicion of being an accomplice to a person at large, who has allegedly extorted the money from Anteneh Tamiru and Genet Molla, claiming that he would get each of them 2,000sqm land plots, on Africa Avenue (Bole Road), an open space located in front of London Cafe.

She had appeared before the Municipality Court the following day where police was granted seven days of investigation while she remained under custody. On November 29th, the Court denied a request by Police for an extension of another seven days to complete its investigation.

Two million Birr was withdrawn from the victims’ respective account with the United Bank and deposited Herry account at the Wegagen Bank, main branch, inside Dembel City Centre. A man who identified himself as Wondwossen, and promised to help the victims obtain plot, insisted that a Cashier’s Payment Order (CPO) should only be submitted to the city administration from Wegagen Bank.

It was an acquaintance of Herry’s, Yussuf Ibrahim, also known as Jossy, who introduced her to “Wondwossen” two months ago, she told Fortune after her release last week. According to Herry, from the time she was introduced to “Wondwossen” until his disappearance on November 21, 2006, she had believed what she was told, that he was an official from the Office of the Prime Minister. More

How to access censored websites from Ethiopia ?

2006-12-07T23:23:00.000-05:00

I want to pass you a simple website http://psiphon.civisec.org/ which is specifically designed for countries like Ethiopia where Internet access is censored. The project is part of an open source initiative and it is released on December 1, 2006. The good part of this system is that any one who is in a country where Internet is not censored can be a hub or gateway for some one who is in a country where the access to Internet is censored for political purpose. The advantage is that, it will be impossible to block each and every host, when you have many people who volunteer there dedicated internet access for gateway. The website has a complete guide and information on how to set it up and use it. Wishing you success in trying out this new opportunity for Ethiopia.

Ethiopian 'defectors' in Eritrea

2006-12-07T20:15:00.000-05:00

Eight Ethiopian soldiers have defected to Eritrea, Eritrea's government says.

A statement from the information ministry said the troops had acted in protest at what it described as Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia.

Analysts fear Somalia could become a proxy battleground for Ethiopia and Eritrea, who back opposite sides in the unrest there.

The two countries fought a border war between 1998-2000 in which more than 70,000 people were killed. More

Sheikh Alamoudi

2006-12-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

THE INDIAN OCEAN NEWSLETTER N°1203 - 02/12/2006

The Saudi- Ethiopian magnate Mohamed Hussein Al Alamoudi has had a 34 metre (112 foot) yacht built to sail on Lake Malaren in Sweden. This Custom Line 112’ worth 13 million euros was ordered from the Swedish company Airboats. It has three double cabins, a guest cabin, saloon with bar and Jacuzzi on the upper deck. Al Amoudi also bought a smaller boat, Al Riva, for his daughter. The yacht will be moored at the landing stage at Alamoudi’s property Hackholmssund castle on the banks of Lake Maalaren. He generally goes there by private jet, landing at the nearby airport of Bromma. More Here Or Listen Here

NOTE: 13,000,000.00 EUR = 17,318,778 USD or 151,545,369 Ethiopian Birr

Why the Addis Ababa agreement on Darfur is anything but Inconclusive.

2006-12-04T20:51:00.000-05:00

By Eric Reeves, The New Republic online

Dec 4, 2006 — Late this summer, after the U.N. Security Council gave the go-ahead to send 22,500 troops and police to end the genocide in Darfur, in the form of Resolution 1706, Khartoum adamantly refused to accept the U.N. force. But, on November 16, representatives of the regime sat down at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa for a "high level consultation on the situation in Darfur." The meeting was convened by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and African Union Commission Chair Alpha Oumar Konaré, and it was attended by officials from the permanent members of the Security Council and a number of African countries. Their goal was to come to terms on a peace support operation overseen by the United Nations that would take over from the beleaguered and ineffectual AU force currently deployed in Darfur: In short, Resolution 1706 in a form acceptable to Khartoum. More OR Here

Ethiopians meet Somali Islamists

2006-12-03T22:27:00.000-05:00

Ethiopia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Tekeda Alemu, has held direct talks in Djibouti with senior representatives of Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts.

Ethiopia says it explained its policy of backing Somalia's transitional government against the Islamists.

Representatives of neighbouring nations also took part, as well as Kenya's ambassador to Somalia.

The two sides have clashed in the past month, with the Islamists pledging to force Ethiopian troops out of Somalia.

However, Ethiopia says it has held several meetings with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) to try to resolve their differences. More

Wolf Leslau, a leading expert on Ethiopian Languages passed away

2006-12-02T09:37:00.000-05:00

Jocelyn Y. Stewart
Los Angeles Times
November 23, 2006

Wolf Leslau, professor emeritus at UCLA and a leading expert on Ethiopian languages and culture, died of natural causes Nov. 18 at a nursing home in Fullerton, said his daughter, Eliane Silverman. He was 100.
Leslau learned to use a computer at 80, and the last of the nearly 50 books that he wrote was published when he was 98. He spoke 17 languages.

A deep connection with his wife, who died in 1998, was "one of the reasons Dr. Leslau has had such a long and fulfilling life; the other was his passion for his work," Silverman said.

Leslau was born Nov. 14, 1906, in Poland and grew up speaking Yiddish. Later he studied Semitic languages at the University of Vienna, where he met Charlotte Halpern, a student of French literature, whom he later married.

The couple moved to Paris, where Leslau received a doctorate in comparative Semitic linguistics from the Sorbonne.

Early in World War II, Leslau was sent to a concentration camp in France. With the help of an international rescue agency, the family escaped to the United States in 1942 and settled in New York.

In 1946, Leslau made the first of many trips to Ethiopia on a Guggenheim Fellowship. That country, he once said, was his laboratory. Over the years, he trekked to remote villages to study local languages.

"He traveled by mule, drove an ancient Land Rover and rode in kayak-like boats built of reeds," Silverman said.

Sometimes Leslau had to take his subjects to the local capitals to record the languages, because there was no electricity in the villages. In those villages the linguist sometimes found languages untouched by the world beyond.

"In the older days, groups had no contact outside, so they kept their own dialects and languages," he told a Times reporter in 1984.

Leslau specialized in the Semitic language group, one of four such groups in Ethiopia. Often there was no written record of the language.

Leslau recorded the spoken word, then determined the structure and grammar of the language and committed it to paper. In a remote village near the Blue Nile he recorded the last four people still using the Gafat language.

In 1955 Leslau and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he began teaching Hebrew and other Semitic languages at UCLA. Three years later he founded the university's department of Near Eastern and African languages and became its first chairman.

His many honors included the International Haile Selassie Award for Ethiopian Studies in 1965, given by Selassie in recognition of Leslau's many years of study, and the prestigious Lidzbarski Gold Medal Award from the International Oriental Societies in 1996.

He wrote "The Jews of Ethiopia," a photo book of images taken between 1946 and 1970.

In addition to Silverman, Leslau is survived by another daughter, Sylvia Grotz of La Mirada.

jocelyn.stewart@latimes.com

Ethiopian claims she was enslaved by Salem family

2006-12-01T17:50:00.000-05:00

By Sarah Skidmore
The Associated Press

PORTLAND - An Ethiopian woman has filed a $1.1 million lawsuit against a Salem family she worked for, saying they lured her to the United States with the promise of a good job and then exploited her.

Mulu Derbew, 32, alleges in her lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that a Salem-area doctor's family brought her to Oregon in 1996 to care for their two children, with the agreement that the job would not exceed 48 hours a week and would pay her $5 to $7.50 an hour.

But Derbew's lawsuit says the family essentially enslaved her - forcing her to work without pay for seven days a week, with a typical workday more than 13 hours long. More

The Ethnicization of Ethiopian Politics: Origins and Significance

2006-11-30T21:18:00.000-05:00

By Messay Kebede

Nov 30, 2006 — Nota Bene: While reading this paper, which I prepared for the forum on “Ethnicity and National Identity in Ethiopia, organized by the Ethiopian Students Association at Harvard, I ask the reader to bear in mind that my critical evaluation of ethnic movements does not signify that ethnicity should be ignored or suppressed. However misguided ethnicized politics is, once it is born, it will not go away for the simple reason that it mobilizes strong emotional forces. Instead of confrontation, I maintain that it should be used to activate democratization and economic progress, the only way by which the emotional component can be neutralized. This use of ethnicity presupposes, on the other hand, a clear understanding of its nature, namely, that it is less about the rights of peoples than about elites vying for the control of state power. More

Two Erireans brothers could get death

2006-11-30T19:59:00.000-05:00

Jim Herron Zamora and
Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle

Two brothers accused of killing three members of their in-law's family on Thanksgiving in Oakland were charged today with special-circumstances murder and could face the death penalty if they are convicted.

Asmeron Gebreselassie, 43, and Tewodros Gebreselassie, 39, appeared in Alameda County Superior Court today in Oakland but did not enter a plea.

Despite warnings by Judge Trina Thompson Stanley not to make any statements about the case, Asmeron Gebrreselassie, the alleged gunman, said in open court, "Whatever happened was self-defense. Everything in the newspaper is all lies."

The Gebreselassie brothers are charged with killing their deceased brother's widow, 28-year-old Winta Mehari, her brother Yonas Mehari, 17, and their mother Regbe Bahrenegasi, 50, during a Thanksgiving Day party at the Keller Plaza apartment complex in the 5300 block of Telegraph Ave.

Fitsum Keflezighi, a cousin of the Mehari brothers, rejected assertions that the suspects acted in self-defense.

"You judge. Somebody coming in your own house on Thanksgiving day and opens fire. That's self-defense? This is just a joke," Keflezighi said outside court. "People know the truth."

Each murder count includes two special-circumstances clauses that could bring the death penalty upon conviction.

The two men were also each charged with attempted murder in the non-fatal shooting of another victim, two counts each of kidnapping for taking Winta Mehari's 2-year-old son from the scene and one count each of false imprisonment resulting in great bodily harm. They are also each accused of several criminal enhancements for the use of firearm in the crimes, Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Tom Rogers said.

Meanwhile, students and teachers at Berkeley High School were mourning the death of Yonas Mehari. The boys varsity soccer team, which he played on, wore black armbands in his honor and dedicated its season to him Monday night.

All the victims and suspects were immigrants from Eritrea, and the killings have shocked the East Bay's tightly-knit community from that small East African nation. Many people packed the courtroom today, and others without seats waited in the hallway.

Hundreds of mourners have been visiting the apartment complex, home to a large number of Eritreans and Ethiopians, to pay their respects. Many have also brought food for the family and donated money for transporting the three bodies to Eritrea for burial, for medical bills for others injured in the attack and for care of Winta's Mehari's son.

Police said the brothers, who also live in the apartment complex, were angry at Winta Mehari over the unexplained death of their brother, Abraham Tewolde, 42, who was her husband. A mechanic who ran a small auto shop on Broadway, Tewolde collapsed and died March 1. An autopsy was unable to determine the cause of his death, coroner's officials said.

Police said the Gebreselassie brothers suspected Winta Mehari had some role in her husband's death. Tewodros Gebreselassie, an engineer, attended the party at the Mehari's third-floor apartment on Thanksgiving, and police said he admitted to helping his brother plan the attack.

Witnesses told police that Tewodros Gebreselassie was talking on his cell phone and said, "Yeah, they're all here," according to court records. Minutes later he opened the apartment door for Asmeron Gebreselassie, who then opened fire on the Mehari family. When the shooting started, Tewodros Gebreselassie grabbed his 2-year-old nephew, Winta Mehari's son, and carried him back to the second-floor apartment where the Gebreselassie lived, witnesses said.

Asmeron Gebreselassie also shot his brother-in-law Yehtram Mehari in the foot, witnesses told police. Another brother, Angersom Mehari, jumped out a window and suffered a broken back. A third brother, Merhawi Mehari, hid in the closet and avoided injury.

Police found the boy unharmed after the two brothers surrendered to a SWAT team following a brief standoff at their apartment. The guns he allegedly used were later found, police said.

At Berkeley High School, students, teachers and counselors spent Monday and today remembering the 17-year-old Yonas Mehari, who played soccer, ran cross country and helped tutor other students.

"I've known him for four years, and I really saw him as a leader, an independent thinker and just a really sweet kid to be around," said Kristin Glenchur, athletic director at Berkeley High. "He was always around volunteering for something" such as working the scoreboards during football games or the concession stands, she said.

His slain mother was active in the Eritrean Orthodox Church in Oakland and was popular among her immigrant community, estimated by the Eritrean consulate in Oakland at to be about 3,000 people.

Donations to the Mehari Family Fund can be deposited at any Bank of America branch under account number 0560942210.

Car bomb blast rocks Somali town

2006-11-30T12:59:00.000-05:00

At least one car bomb has exploded in Baidoa, where Somalia's fragile interim government is based.

A government official said that three car bombs had exploded at police check-points, killing the drivers, reports the AP news agency.

A local journalist said he had seen three bodies.

President Abdullahi Yusuf escaped a suicide car bomb attack on him in September. He blamed his Islamist rivals, who denied responsibility. More

U.S. to suspend issuing visas in Eritrea

2006-11-29T19:12:00.000-05:00

ASMARA -- The United States said Monday that it would suspend issuing tourist and business visas in Eritrea beginning next week as Asmara has not yet allowed a new consular officer to take up the post.

The move comes amid growing tension between Washington and Asmara, particularly over Ethiopia and Somalia, where US officials say that Eritrea is interfering, and Eritrea makes similar charges against the United States.

The US embassy said that it would temporarily suspend issuing non-immigrant visas "pending permission from the government of the State of Eritrea for US diplomatic personnel to travel to Eritrea to provide these services."

"Non-immigrant visa services will resume as soon as possible after the government of the State of Eritrea issues the necessary visas to US consular officers to travel to Asmara," it said.

The suspension takes effect December 4, the embassy said.

US diplomats declined to say how long they had been waiting for the visa to be granted, but said that other diplomatic missions had faced similar obstacles in their staffers being given permission to enter Eritrea.

"We are hoping that this can be cleared up quickly, so we can get back to business," said US embassy spokeswoman Carol Herrera. "However, while in this case it as about a specific individual, it is a wider problem for other missions here as well," she said.

Eritrean officials were not immediately available to comment on the decision, which comes as Eritrea has ratcheted up anti-US rhetoric in recent weeks, accusing Washington of fomenting war in Somalia.

US officials, along with United Nations weapons experts, have accused Eritrea of supporting Somalia's powerful Islamist movement that is now girding for war with the country's weak government.

Eritrea denies the charges and in turn blames the United States for instability in Somalia by backing warlords and Asmara's arch-foe Ethiopia, which is supporting the Somali government.

Earlier this month, an Eritrean government-run Web site accused Washington of trying to "overthrow governments through ... intimidation" and of "serving its self-interest and ensuring the exploitation of resources." Source

Eritrea, Ethiopia given one year to end border stalemate

2006-11-29T12:55:00.000-05:00

THE HAGUE, Nov 29, 2006 (AFP) - A UN-appointed panel told Eritrea and Ethiopia on Wednesday to resolve a six-year border dispute within a year or face the UN taking the matter out of their hands.

Eritrea and Ethiopia both last week rejected plans by the panel, the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission, to demarcate their contentious frontier on paper.

The stalemate has left the status of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) border unclear six years after a peace deal and raised tensions, heightened by UN reports that both nations are militarily active in Somalia.

But the panel said Wednesday it would not let the dispute run beyond November 2007, when it would rule on boundary points closely following a delimitation decided in 2002. More

Ethiopian Franchisee Finds 'Heaven' with 7-Eleven!

2006-11-29T00:42:00.000-05:00

What is the American dream? Girma Hailu, a 7-Eleven franchisee in Bethesda, Maryland, who is also an Ethiopian refugee, has achieved what many would refer to as "the American Dream." He is a true example of the rewards that come through equal parts of hope and hard work. Girma says he made his dreams come true with much support from 7-Eleven. He moved to the United States in 1985 after "a short stay in Russia." When he arrived in the U.S., he enrolled at the University of Maryland. While studying at the university, he found a job working as a clerk at a 7-Eleven location in Maryland. He explains how his supervisor at the store trained him. Between school and the support he received from 7-Eleven, he was able to work his way into a management position, where he served for five years before learning he had a shot at buying his own 7-Eleven store. More

Three Eritreans were fatally shot and one injured during Thanksgiving dinner in Oakland

2006-11-24T09:32:00.000-05:00

Police arrested Asmerom Tewolde and his brother

Kristin Bender
insidebayarea.com

OAKLAND _ Three people were killed today and another was seriously injured after jumping from a third-story window to escape a gunman who stormed a North Oakland apartment in the middle of a holiday dinner to settle an ongoing family dispute

Police did not release the names of the two women and one man who were gunned down shortly after 3 p.m. in an apartment in the Keller Plaza apartment complex at 5301 Telegraph Ave.

A fourth victim, who reportedly jumped from the apartment's third-story window in an attempt to escape gunfire, was transported to Highland Hospital with unknown injuries, police said.

Police arrested Asmero Tewolde and his brother, whose name was not released, after police hostage negotiators made contact with him and he surrendered without incident.

His brother was also taken into custody, but it was not clear late Thursday if he would be held in connection with the shootings.

"Right now we are looking at both of them as suspects,'' said Officer Roland Holmgren, police spokesman.

Holmgren said snipers, SWAT team officers and the homicide unit all assisted with the investigation and the arrests Thursday.

Tewolde is believed to be related to the victims. The fight that sparked the gunfire was reportedly related to a custody battle over a small child, sources said. The child was not injured.

Shortly after the shooting, several Eritrean women wearing headscarves and believed to be family or friends of the victims emerged from the building wailing "Somebody died! Somebody died!'' in a foreign language.

A man, his striped T-shirt splattered with blood, dropped to his knees in prayer in the middle of the street.

The apartment building faces a portion of 53rd Street and part of Telegraph Avenue. Police closed Telegraph between 52nd and 55th streets and the 500 block of 53rd Street for several hours while the suspects were still at large.

Dozens of black-and-white police cars, firetrucks and the American Red Cross were on scene for hours. Witnesses and those who either live in the apartment complex or were visiting when the gunplay began, stood on nearby sidewalks wrapped in white blankets, crying and talking among themselves. All refused to comment.

Police said the shooting started in a two-bedroom apartment, where at least 11 people were gathered for a Thanksgiving meal. With three people dead, everyone inside fled to another nearby apartment in the same complex. The gunman followed and stayed there until he surrendered.

When the 911 call came in at 3:10 p.m., police dispatchers could hear gunshots and screaming in the background, police said. The triple homicide brings Oakland's homicide total for the year to 138. Last year there were 94 homicides.

Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this report.

Exodus of Ethiopians

2006-11-22T09:43:00.000-05:00

President of the Ethiopian Banks and Insurance Trade Union Federation, Mr. Neway Hailu Tekaw, fled from Ethiopia and applied for political asylum in Norway. In a very brief Telephone Conversation with EMF, Mr. Neway said he has been threatened by the incumbent regime unless he compromises with the interest of 13,000 workers he represented. Also Damtew Ayele, a traditional Ethiopian singer has left Ethiopia for Norway, after he has been threatened by the regime. Another renown Ethiopian artist Alemayehu Herepo (Alex-Evangadi) has also applied for political asylum in Norway. Tens of Ethiopians are crossing the borders with neighboring countries every single day for fear of persecutions, sources said. Source

Witnesses say 6 Ethiopian soldiers killed in ambush by Somalia's Islamic fighters

2006-11-19T18:52:00.000-05:00

By Mohamed Ali
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Islamic fighters ambushed an Ethiopian military convoy on Sunday, killing six soldiers and injuring 20 in the first known skirmish between the rival forces maneuvering for control in Somalia, witnesses said.

Two Ethiopian trucks were destroyed by land mines before Islamic fighters opened fire on the convoy of more than 80 vehicles, witnesses told The Associated Press. The convoy was headed for the town of Baidoa, 150 miles west of the capital Mogadishu, where the country's weak interim government is based.

Ethiopia backs the transitional government, whose authority has been severely challenged by an Islamic movement that has taken over the capital and much of southern Somalia since June.

The attack occurred near the town of Bardaleh, 50 miles southwest of Baidoa. Six Ethiopian soldiers were killed and 20 were injured according to a Somali fighter traveling in the convoy who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.

“There were two explosions and then a large exchange of gunfire,” said one witness who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Around 50 Islamic fighters were involved, the witness added.

Islamic courts spokesman Sheik Abdirahim Ali Mudey told the AP that four Ethiopian trucks were destroyed and some soldiers were killed, but denied that his group was responsible for the attack. He said it was “a popular uprising” by village residents opposed to Ethiopian troops inside Somalia.

Heightening tensions in Somalia have raised fears of an all-out war could engulf the wider region.

Experts have warned the country has become a proxy battleground for Somalia's neighbors, Eritrea and Ethiopia. A confidential U.N. report obtained last month by the AP said 6,000 to 8,000 Ethiopian troops are in or near Somalia's border with Ethiopia, backing the interim government. The report also said 2,000 troops from Eritrea are inside Somalia supporting the Islamic movement.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another. The interim government was formed with the help of the United Nations two years ago, but it only controls Baidoa, the town where it is based.

Government officials confirmed a skirmish had taken place but said they had no details. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media .

Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment. Ethiopian officials acknowledge sending military advisers to help Somalia's government, but have denied deploying a large number of troops.

Somalia's Islamic movement, meanwhile, lifted a curfew Sunday imposed after demonstrations against a ban on the popular stimulant “qat,” a leaf chewed across the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. The 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew imposed Thursday was the first in Mogadishu since the collapse of the last effective national government 15 years ago.

Associated Press Writer Salad Duhul contributed to this report

Ethiopian government suspends three army generals

2006-11-17T21:58:00.000-05:00

Nov 17, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Ministry of Defence has suspended three generals. This suspension comes after the defection of several high ranking officers who joined armed oppositions groups.

Gen. Kemal Gelchi

The Ethiopian Defence Council in its meeting Wednesday 15 November announced that it has suspended three high ranking officers who were found an obstacle to the constitutional duties, a statement from the Ministry of defence said.

According to the statement, Maj-Gen Alemshet Degefe, ex-Ethiopian airforce commander, Brig-Gen Kumer Asfaw and Brig-Gen Asamenew Tsege have been suspended.

The Ethiopian TV in Amharic said yesterday that this decision intervenes as part of reform activities in a bid to bring about changes in the ministry.

The ministry said that it had been engaged in extensive activities to implement its constitutional duties and bring about institutional changes in the ministry.

Ethiopian Prime Minister attributed last October the defections in the ranks of the Ethiopian army to fears from reform programmes aiming to purge the army from disloyal elements.

“It has been noted that there are individuals in the defence forces, who are not loyal to the constitution, and these things have been ignored.” Meles explained.

“At a time when final preparations were made to purge the institution and make it a place where only those loyal to the constitution can participate, there were situation where some individuals who did not like the process fled before the purge was carried out. However, the programme continues according to plan and is expected to be completed soon.”

High-ranking officers from the Ethiopian army defected since August. Mostly, they joint the opposition Oromo Liberation Front bases in the neighbouring Eritrea. Brig. Gen. Kemal Geltu was the first to defect to Eritrea, with 150 Ethiopian soldiers on 10 August.

2006-11-16T19:59:00.000-05:00

*** Breaking News ***

Meles suspends Air Force chief...

Ethiopia's dictator Meles Zenawi has suspended Major General Almeshet Degfe, the top man in the Ethiopian Air force and two other high-ranking military leaders, Brigadier Generals Kumera Assefa and Asamenew Tsgie. Army sources told this blogger that the protest in the army was intensifying and Meles was taking very desperate measures including detaining military officers.

Human rights - Ethiopia

2006-11-16T18:25:00.000-05:00
At the close of this week's plenary session in Strasbourg, Parliament as usual adopted three human rights resolutions: on the ongoing crisis in Ethiopia since the 2005 elections, the situation in Bangladesh ahead of the elections scheduled for early 2007 and the deterioration in human rights in Iran over the past year.

Ethiopian government slammed for actions since 2005 elections

In its resolution on Ethiopia, Parliament looks at the crisis following the 2005 elections and the serious human rights violations that have taken place in the country since then, including the reports of continuing arrests, harassment, arbitrary detention and intimidation of opposition politicians, civil society activists, students and others. In the circumstances, MEPs deplore the invitation to the Ethiopian prime minister to address the European Development Days being held this month in Brussels.

Unconditional release demanded for all political prisoners

According to the resolution, "111 opposition party leaders, journalists and human rights defenders are still in custody and are facing trial on charges including 'outrage against the Constitution', 'inciting, organising or leading armed rebellion' and 'attempted genocide'". A number of "post-election political detainees" are listed by name.

Against this background, MEPs call on the Ethiopian Government "to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, whether journalists, trade union activists, human rights defenders or ordinary citizens, and to fulfil its obligations with respect to human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law". They also call on the Government to disclose the total number of persons detained throughout the country, to allow visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross and to allow all detainees access to their families, legal counsel and any medical care that their health situation may require.

MEPs also deplore the expulsion of two EU officials, Bjorn Jonsson and Enrico Sborgi, from Ethiopia "on the alleged grounds that they tried to help Ms Yalemzewd Bekele, a lawyer and women's rights campaigner, working for the European Commission in Addis Ababa, to get out of the country".

Call for publication of report on killing of 193 people

The resolution refers to the Ethiopian government-backed Commission of Inquiry set up in November 2005 to investigate the killing of 193 citizens following demonstrations in June and November 2005. However, it points out that members of the Commission of Inquiry have been pressured by the Ethiopian Government to alter the findings and three of them have left the country after refusing government orders to do so.
The European Parliament therefore "calls on the Ethiopian Government to publish unamended and in its entirety, and without any further delay, the final report of the Commission of Inquiry; calls for the relevant courts to be supplied with the report, and urges them to take due account of it so that fair trials can be conducted".

EU invitation to Ethiopian prime minister criticised

In a strong message from MEPs to a fellow EU institution, the resolution "deeply regrets the EU Commission's invitation to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to address the European Development Days" (being held from 13 to 17 November 2006 in Brussels), "especially on governance issues, a decision which sends out the wrong signal with regard to EU policy on respect for human rights, democratic principles, the rule of law and good governance".

Lastly the resolution points out that Ethiopia is a signatory to the ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement, "which stipulates that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is an essential element of ACP-EU cooperation". It therefore "asks the Commission and Council to closely monitor the situation in Ethiopia, and considers that development cooperation programmes under the Cotonou Agreement should be contingent on respect for human rights and good governance". Source

Ethiopian Man arrested at airport with thousands and mysterious laptop

2006-11-15T23:57:00.000-05:00

A 34-year-old Dallas man was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport on Tuesday, carrying $78,883 in cash and a laptop computer containing mysterious files about cyanide and nuclear materials.

Authorities said Sisayehiticha Dinssa, a U.S. citizen who was born in Ethiopia, was arrested after getting off an airline flight from Amsterdam. They said he had spent four months in Nigeria on unspecified business.

When agents asked him if he had any cash to declare, he said he had $18,000, authorities said. But when agents checked his luggage, they found an additional $59,000. When they scrolled through his laptop, they said they found the mysterious files. Dinssa told agents he was interested in learning about cyanide and nuclear materials.

Federal Magistrate Judge Donald Scheer approved Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Fellers request to detain Dinssa pending a detention hearing on Monday. Between now and then, Feller said, agents would try to find out more about him and the computer files.

He is charged with concealing more than $10,000 in his luggage, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison, plus forfeiture of the money.

His lawyer, Deputy Federal Defender Leroy Soles, couldnt be reached for comment. Source

Africa Intelligence, security experts to meet in Ethiopia

2006-11-15T23:11:00.000-05:00

Nov 15, 2006 (DAR ES SALAAM) — Intelligence and security experts from across Africa are converging on the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to prepare the first meeting of their chiefs that will examine and set the continent’s intelligence priorities.

A realization by African heads of state and government that in the field of security no nation could be secure without working together with others prompted the creation last year of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA), which is organizing the conference.

"Our duty is to embrace the peace agenda on the continent and support the initiatives of the African Union (AU) in conflict management and resolution," said CISSA executive secretary Dennis Thokozani Dlomo.

"Security and development are two sides of the same coin. None of these situations can exist on its own without dependency on the other," he added.

A three-day preparatory meeting of intelligence experts from member countries of CISSA yesterday ahead of the gathering of directors-general of national intelligence services from 44 AU Member States.

The intelligence chiefs will meet here from 16-17 November.

According to Dlomo, other African states were yet to sign the memorandum of understanding that forms the basis of CISSA, an organization that is open to all African states, regardless of their relation to the AU.

Joining the organization also becomes difficult for some countries that do not have.

Source: Guardian, Tanzania

Ethiopian-Eritrean border row "solved:" Asmara

2006-11-15T13:54:00.000-05:00
The simmering border row between arch-foes Eritrea and Ethiopia is a "solved problem," Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki said.

A day after the independent Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission announced plans to demarcate the contentious border on paper, Issaias said the 2000 Algiers peace agreement and the 2002 border ruling ended the problem.

"The border problem is a solved problem," Issaias told AFP in an interview on Wednesday, reiterating Asmara's long-held position that the independent border commission's ruling is final and binding.

"The Algiers agreement was signed with the international community participating to solve the border dispute," he said.

Addis Ababa and Eritrea have tussled over the frontier even after the end of the internecine 1998-2000 border war that claimed some 80,000 people with Ethiopia calling for review of the panel's ruling.

Ethiopia argues that the ruling that awarded the flash point town of Badme to Eritrea risks splitting families on either sides of the border.

But Eritrea has insisted on the terms of the ruling.

"The agreement clearly set the ground for a solution, (which is the) establishment of a commission for a solution for both parties."

"We are not looking for any solution because we have already a solution since 2002, almost five years ago," Issaias added.

He blamed the United States for blocking the implementation of the border ruling and its historical role that he said favoured the existence of Ethiopia over its tiny northern neighbour, sparking a protracted independence struggle.

"Why was it not implemented? Because the United States doesn't want to implement the decision. They like to live on conflict. They create conflicts and exploit. That's it," he said.

Eritrea has complained repeatedly that the international community has not done enough to demand that Ethiopia accept the new border and has steadily ratcheted up rhetoric and pressure to push its point.

Last year, Asmara restricted patrols by the UN peacekeeping mission that monitors the border and then expelled all of its North American and European staff, rebuffing UN Security Council demands to reverse the steps.

Bank exec in his prime

2006-11-15T13:43:00.000-05:00
Daniel Yohannes launches a "green" bank and is tapped by city and state officials for his expertise.
For much of his career, Daniel Yohannes had to worry about one kind of green - boosting the bottom line at financial giant U.S. Bancorp.
Now Yohannes is focused on a wider palette of green - funding up-and-coming businesses in alternative energy, energy conservation, organic foods and related fields.
Yohannes immigrated to Los Angeles from Ethiopia at 17 with $150 in his pocket. He went to college and entered the banking business.
He came to Colorado 14 years ago to oversee Colorado National Bank, which was eventually folded into Minneapolis- based U.S. Bank.
Based in Denver, Yohannes became one of the vice chairmen at the nation's sixth-largest bank before leaving in 2003 to seek new challenges.
"I am at the age, 54, where you want to make a difference," said Yohannes, chairman of New Resource Bank.
Now, he's getting his chance on several fronts.
Gov.-elect Bill Ritter last week named Yohannes, as well as former Republican state Senate leader Norma Anderson and Denver lawyer Jim Lyons, to oversee his transition team.
The trio will supervise the committees sorting through résumés and applications to fill about 100 state-government posts.
"The duties are daunting," Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said. "And they should have a very short amount of time to do it." More

U.N. Says Somalis Helped Hezbollah Fighters

2006-11-14T23:02:00.000-05:00
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 14 — More than 700 Islamic militants from Somalia traveled to Lebanon in July to fight alongside Hezbollah in its war against Israel, a United Nations report says. The militia in Lebanon returned the favor by providing training and — through its patrons Iran and Syria — weapons to the Islamic alliance struggling for control of Somalia, it adds.

The report, which was disclosed by Reuters on Monday, appears to be the first indication that foreign fighters assisted Hezbollah during the 34-day conflict, when Israel maintained a tight blockade on Lebanon. More

Why Irish Govt continues to support Ethiopia’s Zenawi Regime

2006-11-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

The Government here continues to channel millions of euro in aid through Ethiopian government structures despite the administration’s poor record on human rights, writes John O’Shea

By John O’Shea, The Irish Times

As Ethiopia marks the first anniversary of the massacre of 46 innocent protesters by government forces on the streets of Addis Ababa, one might find it hard to understand why the Irish Government continues its policy of channelling more taxpayers’ money through structures of the Meles Zenawi regime than any other African country.

Last November saw the second wave of post-election protests marked by excessive brutality, following June protests in which 36 demonstrators were killed in broad daylight. Major donors - which include the World Bank, the European Union and the UK - withheld direct budgetary support worth about $375 million (292 million) from Ethiopia following the government’s crackdown on opposition supporters. With the exception of a diplomatic wrist slap for the Ethiopian charge d’affaires, a proportional response from the Irish Government was notable in its absence.

This year alone, the Government has channelled close to 40 million through Ethiopian government structures, despite the administration’s plummeting record on human rights. Although Minister of State for development and human rights Conor Lenihan is adamant that no Irish aid monies go directly to the Ethiopian government, the reality is that Irish aid is allocated to sector ministries and local government.

Last February, the Minister said he intended to keep the Republic’s aid programme for Ethiopia under constant review. "Our action will depend on Ethiopia’s performance and on whether the situation in that country improves or deteriorates," he said. "A key question relevant to our development co-operation relationship with Ethiopia is whether recent events represent a temporary blip on an otherwise positive trend, or the beginning of a downward spiral. The answer to this question is not clear at this point."

In the wake of a damning report leaked this month which showed that 193 people were killed by Ethiopian police during post-election violence - triple the official toll - the Government must accept that the current Ethiopian regime is repressing its people and the events Mr Lenihan alludes to amount to more than just a "temporary blip".

At the start of the year, the Minister indicated that the Republic’s future aid policy would be guided by the outcome of the report of an independent investigation commission, establishment by the Ethiopian parliament, to examine the post-election violence of June and November, and to determine whether excessive force was used by the police and the army.

This report, which described the post-election violence as "a massacre", was leaked to the media in recent days. "These demonstrators were unarmed yet the majority died from shots to the head . . . there is no doubt that excessive force was used," Wolde-Michael Meshesha, an Ethiopian judge and the vice-chairman of the official inquiry, states in the report.

Rather than embracing the report and using it as a chance to demonstrate its commitment to democratic principles, the Ethiopian government is trying to suppress the findings. The draft report was to be presented to parliament last July, but two days earlier Mr Meles demanded that the inquiry team reverse its findings. When the team refused, the report was suppressed. Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha has since fled Ethiopia and is claiming asylum in Europe after receiving death threats.

Mr Lenihan has said human rights in recipient countries are linked to the Republic giving aid, and this approach informs our aid programme to Ethiopia. "The link between the donation of aid and performance in terms of democracy, human rights and respect for the law and the opposition should be much clearer than it has been heretofore," he said at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, when the Republic’s aid programme to Ethiopia was under discussion.

At the time of these comments, the EU had yet to issue its recommendations or conclusions on the election of May 2005. Three months later, the EU deemed Ethiopia’s parliamentary elections to have fallen short of international standards because of irregularities and post-electoral violence, confirming the concerns of the demonstrators that were massacred. The report identified a range of electoral offences, including harassment of opposition politicians, lack of transparency in the exercise, and massive delays and irregularities in vote counting in several polling stations across the country.

Now, more than a year after the post-election demonstrations, almost the entire opposition leadership remain on trial, on charges ranging from treason to genocide and conspiracy after calling for nationwide protests against the results of the elections.

Amnesty International has called the defendants "prisoners of conscience who have not used or advocated violence".

Another leading Ethiopian judge came forward last week criticising the regime and seeking asylum in the UK as a result of government intimidation. Teshale Aberra, Ethiopia’s supreme court president, has likened the Meles administration to that of Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Marxist dictator, and he has accused the Ethiopian government of being responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of students over the past 15 years. "They detain people even after the decision is rendered that they should be released. They persecute people and, in some areas, they kill people. There is massive killing all over. There is a systematic massacre," he said.

In light of recent events, what action has the Irish Government taken, given the espoused link between the donation of Irish aid and performance in recipient countries in terms of democracy, human rights and respect for the law, which allegedly informs our approach to aid to Ethiopia?

Mr Lenihan has said that he is prepared to do "unpalatable things" in Ethiopia should circumstances worsen, or if the Ethiopian government ignores the concerns donors might express. "I am prepared to be robust because the public expects the taxpayers’ money to be spent well . . . the public does not expect the Government to fund autocrats, dictators or those who abuse human rights. If the worst comes to the worst, we will end our involvement with countries where we see the trajectory toward democratic norms going into reverse."

Minister, in the run up to an election, the onus is on you to make good your promise and ensure that rhetoric translates into coherent action where aid to Ethiopia is concerned. The lives of millions of vulnerable Ethiopians and the continued generosity of the Irish taxpayer depend on it.

35 Ethiopian soldiers killed by rebels in southern region

2006-11-13T22:37:00.000-05:00
Nov 13, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — An Ethiopian rebel group reportedly killed 35 soldiers in attacks against the regular troops in southern Ethiopia, an opposition radio said Sunday.

The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), armed wing of the Oromo Liberation Front, operating in southern Ethiopia have carried out attacks against the Ethiopian government forces in different places, killing 35 soldiers and wounding 46 others. as well as capturing many weapons, the OLA southern region commander has announced. More

The Austrian Nazi Baron Roman Prochazk

2006-11-13T12:12:00.001-05:00
"The of Austro Hungary had already in the 1930's targeted Ethiopia as a threat against white supremacy, and white colonialism in Africa, the book by the Austrian Nazi, Baron Roman Prochazka's "Abyssinia the Powder Barrel" (Vienna 1935), translated in all the major Western languages before the Italian invasion in 1936. Baron Roman Prochazka was posted for two years as Austrian Consul in Addis Ababa until his expulsion in February 1934, for activities not compatible with his job of a diplomat. The Italian translation of Prochazka's book entitled ABISSINIA PERICOLO NERO meaning "Abyssinia the Black Threat or Danger" was published in 1935, which is a year before the Fascist invasion .

Starting from the first page, Prochazka alerts his white public by stating that since four years that Emperor Haile Selassie's Ethiopia, in "close co-
operation with Japan," was engaged "on a life and death struggle with the
white race, the consequences of which are incalculable. The targets are
the colonial powers in Africa without exception. It is hardly possible to
imagine a more unhappy situation of a white man than to have to live
under the oppression of an Abyssinian grandee. The prevalence of this
contemptuous invective is characteristic of the mentality and attitude of
the natives who imagine themselves to be infinitely superior to the white
race."

The solution proposed by Prochazka is the tribalisation of Ethiopian politics for the purpose of divide and destroy. Prochazka was the first ever to have spoken of "self determination "as the most handy instrument for the dismantlement of the Ethiopian State. Here in brief are the highlights of Prochazka's strategy:

"The numerous peoples and tribes who inhabit the territory of the
Ethiopian state, and which differ in race, language, culture and religion
from the ruling minority of the Abyssinians proper, would long ago have
thrown off the Abyssinian yoke if they had been given the right of self-
determination. Instead, they are being forcibly kept cut off from European
influences and from the advantages that progressive colonization
could confer upon the country.

The final aim of (Abyssinian) policy of antagonism to the white race, in
co-operation with Japan, is nothing less than to act as the champions of all
the colored peoples of Africa... It is incumbent on the legations of the
civilized nations in Abyssinia to warn their governments to take a definite
stand before the Abyssinians attack and destroy western culture and
civilization in its entirety. There is no such thing as a united Abyssinian
people. The greater part of the non-Christian tribes in Abyssinia has no more burning desire than to be freed from the tyranny of the Amharas?
If they would vote freely they would certainly prefer a European
protectorate to universally hated extortionists and slave drivers. This
country is cracking at all its joints and has only been kept together up to
the present by methods of ruthless coercion."

With all the talk of the "right of self determination" in the 1930's the CIA's Ethiopia policy of the right of self-determination and nations and nationalities could has been copied word for word from the Nazi Baron Roman Prochazka, for the tribal dismemberment of Ethiopia. "

The untold Story of Ethiopians in Cuba:

2006-11-11T20:07:00.001-05:00

Interview with Filmmaker & Photographer Aida Muluneh

In 1979, under Lieutenant. Colonel Mengistu Haile-Mariam, the Ethiopian government decided to send thousands of Ethiopian children to Cuba where they were expected to be educated. Cuba, an ally of Ethiopia in the Ethio-Somali war, had offered to provide housing and education for war orphans. The Cuban government accepted 2,400 Ethiopian students ranging in age from seven to fourteen to study at the Escuelas Secundarias Basicas en el Campo (ESBEC) - Basic Rural Secondary Schools - on the small island of Isla de la Juventud. This new program was initially created to provide urban Cuban students an opportunity to get involved in agriculture life by having them attend ESBEC boarding schools. The Ethiopians and other African students were participants in this program. Upon their arrival their education involved working in the fields in the mornings and studying in the afternoon. Photographer Aida Muluneh is currently filming a documentary, The Unhealing Wound, about

their lives in Cuba.
TADIAS: How did you become interested in the “Ethio-Cuban” story?
AIDA: I went to a group photo exhibit in Havana in 2003 and prior to my trip I had heard about the Ethiopian students in Cuba. After searching for them, I finally met around 30 students who had been in Cuba for over twenty years. It was an amazing experience meeting these fellow Ethiopians. I soon realized that I had to come back. So in 2004, I went back and begun interviewing them to start telling their story and also to help them get out Cuba. More

Ethiopian MP urges opposition unity, world to play positive role

2006-11-11T19:09:00.000-05:00
Press Release by Getachew Jigi (Dr)

MP of House of People’s Representatives of Ethiopia

To introduce my self, I am MP of the House of People’s Representatives of Ethiopia, run and elected as candidate of the Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) from Mana Sibu-Kiltu Karra district of Western Wallagga, Oromia region. I am one of the founders of this organization and a member of its Executive Committee.

We, the founders of OFDM had high hopes and aspiration that by participating in the legal political forum of Ethiopia we would contribute to the democratization process and bring stability and development. It was with strong belief that the Constitution of the land will be respected and supremacy of law will prevail, that we decided to join the legal political system. It was also our firm belief that democracy and working federation would solve the problems of Ethiopia . Unfortunately all our aspirations were dashed, hopes turned sour and our morale crashed within few months after May 2005 elections. We learned in the hard way that there is no democracy or supremacy of law in Ethiopia . More