| Stimulating leaf linked to heart disease | ||||||||||||||
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| Wachira Kigotho 31 May 2006 Source: SciDev.Net  Chewing khat leaves — a practice common in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula — can cause severe heart problems, warn researchers in the June issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. People have chewed the leaves as a stimulant for centuries, in a social tradition that predates coffee drinking. But according to Sagar Saha and Clare Dollery of the Heart Hospital in London, United Kingdom, long term chewing can lead to heart attacks, liver damage, tooth loss and throat cancer. Dollery, a consultant cardiologist, says khat seems to affect blood clotting and cause spasms in the arteries supplying blood to the heart. The findings support previous research done in Yemen that found that khat chewers were at higher risk of heart attack than people who do not chew the leaves. The practice is also popular in Ethiopia and Somalia, and among emigrant communities from these countries. Kamran Abbasi, editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, says there needs to be greater awareness of the dangers of chewing khat. "Unless there is a public awareness, khat will continue to cause serious harm to the health of many people in developing countries and disadvantaged migrant communities in European countries where khat is not banned," said Kamran. Canada, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United States have all banned the leaf. The shrub (Catha edulis) from which the leaves are harvested is largely grown in East Africa and Yemen. It is a major export crop in Ethiopia. According to Saha: "There are no guidelines on how to treat and manage khat-induced harm, which in turn affects the ability of doctors to provide holistic treatment." *******************************************************************************
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May 31, 2006
Khat (Stimulating leaf) linked to heart disease
At least 17 killed as Ethiopian bus plunges into ravine
At least 17 people were killed and 36 injured when a passenger bus plunged into a deep ravine in northern
The vehicle, which was carrying 63 passengers, swerved off the road running from the towns of Essie to Baherder at Kelto, about 520km north-east of the capital in Amhara region, late on Tuesday, they said.
Most of the dead were killed instantly when the bus plunged into a 150m deep ravine and into a dry river bed adjacent to the road, the area's deputy police inspector Ayalew Yimama said.
"Even though mud and heavy rains in the area could have caused the accident, we are still investigating," he told Agence France-Presse, adding that the injured were being treated in nearby hospitals.
Accidents are common in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation where authorities recently tightened traffic laws in a bid to stem growing numbers of road fatalities.
Under new legislation that came into effect last week, motorists can be fined if caught chewing narcotic leaves, drinking and using cellular phones while driving.
Those convicted of hitting and killing pedestrians are liable to a jail term of 15 years.
AFP
Somali Islamists seize rival base
Gunmen have controlled Mogadishu for 15 years
New battles have broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 13 people.
Islamist militia attacked and captured a garage where their rivals loyal to a group of secular warlords were based in the north-east of the city.
Earlier in the week the warlords calling themselves the Anti-Terrorism Alliance seized a hospital in the area, forcing dozens of wounded to flee.
Some 200 people, mainly civilians, have died in the recent fighting.
On Tuesday a senior US diplomat was removed from his post in Kenya after expressing concern over US support for the warlords' alliance.
Somalia has had no effective government since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991 but this year's clashes have been the worst in the capital for more than a decade.
A truce agreement between the two rival militias was broken last week.
Are you in Mogadishu? Send us your experiences
"We woke up to the sounds of the gunfire and after an hour the whole area fell into the hands of the Islamists including a key check point on the road that links the city to the central regions," Jamaal Ali, the owner of the garage where the warlords had set up their base, told the BBC.
Facts and figures about life in Somalia
A local butcher in Huriwaa district said some 300 Islamist militias with 30 technical cars were involved in the surprise attack.
Director of Medina Hospital, Sheikh Doon Salad Ilmi, said five people died in Keysaney and Medina hospitals - both run by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Eyewitnesses around the battle zone say eight dead bodies were lying in the streets and 10 other people were wounded.
The BBC's Mohammad Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says this is the third base that the militias loyal to the Islamic Courts have captured from warlords.
Hundreds of people have began to flee from their homes fearing a counter-attack, our correspondent says.
Over the last few weeks, the Islamic Courts' militia have gradually been gaining the upper hand in the fighting, which has forced many civilians to hide in their homes or seek shelter elsewhere.
'War crimes'
The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia has warned the militias that their actions may be considered war crimes under international law.
The violence began earlier this year when a group of warlords, who had divided Mogadishu into fiefdoms, united to form the Anti-Terrorism Alliance to tackle a growing Islamist force.
The Anti-Terrorism Alliance includes eight warlords, four of whom are ministers in the current government.
A senior US diplomat specialising in Somalia, Michael Zorick, has been removed from his post in Nairobi after expressing concerns about US support for the Mogadishu warlords, who say the Islamic Courts are sheltering al-Qaeda fighters.
The US merely says it will support those trying to stop "terrorists" setting up in Somalia but stresses its commitment to the country's transitional government, which functions from Baidoa, 250km (155 miles) north-west of the capital.
Source: BBC News
New battles have broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 13 people.
Islamist militia attacked and captured a garage where their rivals loyal to a group of secular warlords were based in the north-east of the city.
Earlier in the week the warlords calling themselves the Anti-Terrorism Alliance seized a hospital in the area, forcing dozens of wounded to flee.
Some 200 people, mainly civilians, have died in the recent fighting.
On Tuesday a senior US diplomat was removed from his post in Kenya after expressing concern over US support for the warlords' alliance.
Somalia has had no effective government since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991 but this year's clashes have been the worst in the capital for more than a decade.
A truce agreement between the two rival militias was broken last week.
Are you in Mogadishu? Send us your experiences
"We woke up to the sounds of the gunfire and after an hour the whole area fell into the hands of the Islamists including a key check point on the road that links the city to the central regions," Jamaal Ali, the owner of the garage where the warlords had set up their base, told the BBC.
Facts and figures about life in Somalia
A local butcher in Huriwaa district said some 300 Islamist militias with 30 technical cars were involved in the surprise attack.
Director of Medina Hospital, Sheikh Doon Salad Ilmi, said five people died in Keysaney and Medina hospitals - both run by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Eyewitnesses around the battle zone say eight dead bodies were lying in the streets and 10 other people were wounded.
The BBC's Mohammad Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says this is the third base that the militias loyal to the Islamic Courts have captured from warlords.
Hundreds of people have began to flee from their homes fearing a counter-attack, our correspondent says.
Over the last few weeks, the Islamic Courts' militia have gradually been gaining the upper hand in the fighting, which has forced many civilians to hide in their homes or seek shelter elsewhere.
'War crimes'
The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia has warned the militias that their actions may be considered war crimes under international law.
The violence began earlier this year when a group of warlords, who had divided Mogadishu into fiefdoms, united to form the Anti-Terrorism Alliance to tackle a growing Islamist force.
The Anti-Terrorism Alliance includes eight warlords, four of whom are ministers in the current government.
A senior US diplomat specialising in Somalia, Michael Zorick, has been removed from his post in Nairobi after expressing concerns about US support for the Mogadishu warlords, who say the Islamic Courts are sheltering al-Qaeda fighters.
The US merely says it will support those trying to stop "terrorists" setting up in Somalia but stresses its commitment to the country's transitional government, which functions from Baidoa, 250km (155 miles) north-west of the capital.
Source: BBC News
May 30, 2006
Somalia: Ethiopian Forces Confiscate Civilian Trucks
 | |
| |
Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
May 30, 2006
Mustafa Haji
Abudwak
Reports from Shilaabo area of Ethiopian western Somali Region indicate that Federal Forces have confiscated forcibly Lories loaded with various supplies from Somalia.
At least 10 Trucks for transit Goods with various supplies have been taken by the Federal Forces of Ethiopia. The lories were heading to Ethiopian western Region of Somalia, sources said.
3 of the confiscated trucks are from Abudwaq district of Somalia central regions while the rest are owned by Somalia Businessmen in the Southern part of the country.
One of the Truck owners told Shabelle correspondent that Ethiopian forces took his vehicle after passing passengers to Shilaabo area while he could not know the reason.
Sources in the area also told Shabelle that Ethiopian Forces have been active around border zone lately saying they chase ONLF militiamen.
Three more sites unaccessible, government denies being involved
Ethiopia29 May 2006
Three more websites (Ethiomedia.com, Freeourleaders.org and Nazret.com) have become inaccessible within Ethiopia. Information minister Hailu Berhan insisted that his government was not involved but he failed to explain why almost all of the opposition websites suddenly cannot be accessed.
Reporters Without Borders wrote to the minister on 23 May requesting an explanation for the blocking of all these sites but has not yet received a reply.
Doubts Arise Over Presence of Foreign Muslim Fighters in Somalia
By Alisha Ryu Mogadishu 29 May 2006
Ryu report - Download 741k Listen to Ryu report
An alliance of secular factional leaders battling Islamic militias for control of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, says that militant Muslim fighters from various countries have entered Somalia and are fighting alongside the militias. But, so far, there is no clear proof.
Gunmen in MogadishuSomali factional leader, Muse Sudi Yalahow, tells VOA that he is absolutely certain that foreign Muslim extremists are in Somalia and fighting to turn the country into a base for Islamic terrorists.
Yalahow says the fighters have come mostly from countries in the region such as Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Sudan. But he says there are other fighters, who are believed to be from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some Arab countries.
Yalahow is among 11 Mogadishu-based factional leaders and businessmen, who recently formed a group called the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism. For the past few weeks, members of the anti-terror group have talked publicly about seeing foreign fighters killed in a series of fierce battles this month, which has killed nearly 300 people, many of them civilians.
In the West, such reports have greatly heightened fears that the leaders of the Islamic courts, whose militias are now in control the majority of the neighborhoods in and around the capital, are on the verge of turning Somalia into an active staging ground for al-Qaida and its extremist allies.
Alliance member and factional leader, Mohammed Qanyare Afrah, says that his group has proof of foreign fighter presence in Mogadishu.
"The coalition has a video cassette [that] shows Arabs, Pakistanis, and Afghans fighting," said Qanyare Afrah.
VOA was not able to view the video tape, but was allowed to see a series of still photographs of fighters the alliance says were non-Somalis.
One photograph showed a light-skinned man, whose face was partially covered with a checkered scarf, making it impossible to guess his ethnic make-up. A much darker-skinned man, whose face was uncovered, was described as being a militant fighter from Sudan.
Mahad Elmi is a broadcaster for the local radio station, Horn Afrique. He says even suspected foreign fighters who were killed have never been positively identified as being non-Somalis.
"We, as journalists, have tried to even get bodies of fighters," said Mahad Elmi. "We go even to hospitals to find out, are they Somalis? Are they Pakistanis? Are they Oromo or are they Sudanese? We do not have any evidence."
In an interview with VOA, the chairman of the Islamic law courts in Mogadishu, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, accused the anti-terror group of lying to western countries, and to the United States in particular, about the courts' members and their activities.
Ahmed says talk of foreign fighters is pure propaganda. He says the whole thing is an attempt by factional leaders in the so-called anti-terror alliance to persuade the United States to give them more money.
Ahmed is referring to the widely-held belief here that the United States is paying the alliance large sums of cash to help track down and apprehend al-Qaida operatives in Somalia.
Mohammed Qanyare Afrah(File photo)Alliance members flatly deny they are receiving funding from Washington. Mohammed Qanyare Afrah says his group is fighting terrorism on principle, not for pay.
"We are not working for anybody," said Mohammed Qanyare Afrah. "The U.S. is not involved in the war in Mogadishu."
But militias belonging to alliance members have been seen in recent weeks, brandishing brand new AK-47 assault rifles. They also appear to have new stockpiles of ammunition, convincing many ordinary Somalis that the United States is using secular factional militias to fight a proxy war against the Islamic courts.
U.S. officials have not said whether the United States has a specific relationship with the alliance.
But officials have voiced concern that the Islamic courts could be harboring al-Qaida members and sympathizers and the country may be attracting a large number of Muslim extremists.
The Islamic law courts began establishing themselves across Somalia more than a decade ago as clan-based institutions. They were designed to bring order and security to a country that had descended into anarchy and factional warfare after the fall of Somali dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
Numerous efforts to unify the courts failed and since last year, the court in Mogadishu has largely dominated the others.
The United States fears Islamic court leaders are committed to setting up a fundamentalist Islamic government in Somalia, similar to what the Taliban established in Afghanistan before the group was deposed in 2001.
Islamic leaders in Mogadishu portray their courts as the only option Somalia has for getting rid of the country's hated factional leaders once and for all and bringing peace to the country under Islamic rule.
But many moderate Muslims in the capital say they question the Islamic courts' true intentions.
The supreme spiritual leader of the Islamic courts, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is believed to be sympathetic to al-Qaida and has allegedly set up a number of schools in Mogadishu, where boys and young men are being given training in using weapons and explosives.
The anti-terror alliance also accuses the sheikh of receiving money and arms from al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.
Sheikh Hassan's nephew, Aden Hashi Ayro, is a well-known militia leader, who is said to have received terrorist training in Afghanistan and is suspected of being behind a string of bombings and assassinations in the past year.
The alliance suffered major setbacks in recent days, losing key territories to Islamic militias. But alliance leaders say they will not surrender.
With both warring sides in Mogadishu allegedly receiving money to fight each other, Somalis say the fighting could continue indefinitely. And they say if there are no foreign fighters in their country now, there is no guarantee that they will not be here tomorrow.
VOANews
Ryu report - Download 741k Listen to Ryu report
An alliance of secular factional leaders battling Islamic militias for control of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, says that militant Muslim fighters from various countries have entered Somalia and are fighting alongside the militias. But, so far, there is no clear proof.
Gunmen in MogadishuSomali factional leader, Muse Sudi Yalahow, tells VOA that he is absolutely certain that foreign Muslim extremists are in Somalia and fighting to turn the country into a base for Islamic terrorists.
Yalahow says the fighters have come mostly from countries in the region such as Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Sudan. But he says there are other fighters, who are believed to be from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some Arab countries.
Yalahow is among 11 Mogadishu-based factional leaders and businessmen, who recently formed a group called the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism. For the past few weeks, members of the anti-terror group have talked publicly about seeing foreign fighters killed in a series of fierce battles this month, which has killed nearly 300 people, many of them civilians.
In the West, such reports have greatly heightened fears that the leaders of the Islamic courts, whose militias are now in control the majority of the neighborhoods in and around the capital, are on the verge of turning Somalia into an active staging ground for al-Qaida and its extremist allies.
Alliance member and factional leader, Mohammed Qanyare Afrah, says that his group has proof of foreign fighter presence in Mogadishu.
"The coalition has a video cassette [that] shows Arabs, Pakistanis, and Afghans fighting," said Qanyare Afrah.
VOA was not able to view the video tape, but was allowed to see a series of still photographs of fighters the alliance says were non-Somalis.
One photograph showed a light-skinned man, whose face was partially covered with a checkered scarf, making it impossible to guess his ethnic make-up. A much darker-skinned man, whose face was uncovered, was described as being a militant fighter from Sudan.
Mahad Elmi is a broadcaster for the local radio station, Horn Afrique. He says even suspected foreign fighters who were killed have never been positively identified as being non-Somalis.
"We, as journalists, have tried to even get bodies of fighters," said Mahad Elmi. "We go even to hospitals to find out, are they Somalis? Are they Pakistanis? Are they Oromo or are they Sudanese? We do not have any evidence."
In an interview with VOA, the chairman of the Islamic law courts in Mogadishu, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, accused the anti-terror group of lying to western countries, and to the United States in particular, about the courts' members and their activities.
Ahmed says talk of foreign fighters is pure propaganda. He says the whole thing is an attempt by factional leaders in the so-called anti-terror alliance to persuade the United States to give them more money.
Ahmed is referring to the widely-held belief here that the United States is paying the alliance large sums of cash to help track down and apprehend al-Qaida operatives in Somalia.
Mohammed Qanyare Afrah(File photo)Alliance members flatly deny they are receiving funding from Washington. Mohammed Qanyare Afrah says his group is fighting terrorism on principle, not for pay.
"We are not working for anybody," said Mohammed Qanyare Afrah. "The U.S. is not involved in the war in Mogadishu."
But militias belonging to alliance members have been seen in recent weeks, brandishing brand new AK-47 assault rifles. They also appear to have new stockpiles of ammunition, convincing many ordinary Somalis that the United States is using secular factional militias to fight a proxy war against the Islamic courts.
U.S. officials have not said whether the United States has a specific relationship with the alliance.
But officials have voiced concern that the Islamic courts could be harboring al-Qaida members and sympathizers and the country may be attracting a large number of Muslim extremists.
The Islamic law courts began establishing themselves across Somalia more than a decade ago as clan-based institutions. They were designed to bring order and security to a country that had descended into anarchy and factional warfare after the fall of Somali dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
Numerous efforts to unify the courts failed and since last year, the court in Mogadishu has largely dominated the others.
The United States fears Islamic court leaders are committed to setting up a fundamentalist Islamic government in Somalia, similar to what the Taliban established in Afghanistan before the group was deposed in 2001.
Islamic leaders in Mogadishu portray their courts as the only option Somalia has for getting rid of the country's hated factional leaders once and for all and bringing peace to the country under Islamic rule.
But many moderate Muslims in the capital say they question the Islamic courts' true intentions.
The supreme spiritual leader of the Islamic courts, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is believed to be sympathetic to al-Qaida and has allegedly set up a number of schools in Mogadishu, where boys and young men are being given training in using weapons and explosives.
The anti-terror alliance also accuses the sheikh of receiving money and arms from al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.
Sheikh Hassan's nephew, Aden Hashi Ayro, is a well-known militia leader, who is said to have received terrorist training in Afghanistan and is suspected of being behind a string of bombings and assassinations in the past year.
The alliance suffered major setbacks in recent days, losing key territories to Islamic militias. But alliance leaders say they will not surrender.
With both warring sides in Mogadishu allegedly receiving money to fight each other, Somalis say the fighting could continue indefinitely. And they say if there are no foreign fighters in their country now, there is no guarantee that they will not be here tomorrow.
VOANews
May 29, 2006
Ethiopia Zenwai’s atrocities against Oromo children
“...As long as you succeed people are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and children...” Nicolo Machiavelli.
By Keransso Biyyaa*
May 29, 2006 — It is of more interest to me to focus on the external aspects of it as exercised against the civil society and especially students. To give a background, right from the outset in 1991 Meles Zenawi’s Machiavellian principles of meanness started to manifest themselves when a snap shot election was run in Oromia and Oromo Liberation Front won a sweeping vote. ‘The prince’ then knew that if he continues to see people exercise their free will, his rapacious appetite for power was going to be shattered. So he had to ban Oromo Liberation Front and other democratic forces from peaceful forum of struggle.
Following that “The Prince” started to strengthen his Peoples Democratic Organisation (PDOS) because through them he wanted to succeed in tapping the blood of the people, their property life and children”.
For all Oromo people and all Ethiopian people alike that was ‘the making of a ‘medieval prince’ within what the western donors were duped to think was the making of “a new breed of African leaders”, democrat on the making.
Meles Zenawi, the new breed of African dictators, as most prefer to call him, has been putting on his mask of choosing ‘to be loved’ by the west whenever elections are about to be conducted and during and after voting begins he puts on his other mask of ‘being feared; by the people internally. That’s he kills opposition candidates, deploys security into school compounds and university campuses and as a need arises he organises a secrete group who blast bombs in different parts of a city or in different rural markets to be internally feared. For instance market bomb blasts in Gedo of Oromia State and current Finfinne (Addis Ababa) bomb blasts are evidences of his malicious acts. Yes this is hidden from the west because the west is busy fighting terrorism and their media’s attention is directed in that regard.
Particularly, Meles Zenawi’s policy of open killing and expulsion of Oromo School Children is taking place in Oromia presently. He is taking the blood of the children now because they speak against injustices. This is happening in Mekele University of the Tigrian State- the homeland of ‘a new breed of African democrat’.
Finfinnee University Oromo students faced a series of segregated killings, imprisonments, and expulsion from university, for instance in year 2004 because they opposed the moving of Oromia’s capital city from Finfinne (Addis Ababa) to Adama.
And thousands of Oromo school children are facing the same atrocities in the hands of TPLF/EPRDF security forces because they support the cause of their people- the yearn for freedom and democracy.
The new breed of African dictator, Zenawi, is clever to name civil society protests against tyranny in the country as “anti-constitutional forces”, “anti-peace forces” and “anti-development forces.
After these differentiating labels will follow the butchering of school children. Specifically, students bath in blood at their school gates from security gunfire. Some sustain serious injuries; in case of girls permanent damage to uterus rendering them unable to give birth forever. ‘The prince’s’ forces are also cruel enough to damage the eyes and brains of young thinkers. Others will be taken to concentration camps and prison where they will be broken into at night and killed like what is happening at Kaliti prison.
For the Oromo school children these are bodily and emotional sufferings, for the ‘Machiavellian democrat’ it is a physical and emotional pleasure.
Whereas all these physical and emotional damages are done to the children of Ethiopian civil society of Non-Tigrean descent, including Oromo school children, the Tigrean School Children attend their schools without any physical or emotional tormentations because the country is ‘theirs’ through the their prince, Meles Zenawi. Nevertheless, his entrenched maliciousness does not make him stop and think about the enduring consequences. Why should the cunning prince worry about making Ethiopia a country of freedom and democracy for all? Power for him is permanent as long as he adheres to Machiavellian principles of cruelty and meanness and to the principles Fascism and Nazism. He, the medieval prince, in 21st century democratic disguise can rule as long as he wishes. This is a blind prince; he can’t see the consequences of his actions. The prince also tries to instil phobia into Tigrean people about other Ethiopian people. He tells them that if he lets his power go, their existence will be endangered.
I think ‘the prince’ has never had peace of mind because the bloods of many innocent civilians are shouting into his ears. Even when he goes to bed with ‘the first lady’, Nicolo Machiavelli will immediately come after the light has gone out to whisper into his ears the whole night, “...as long as you succeed people are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and children...”
Dear 21-century ‘new breed of African democrat’, now the whole world has learned about your meanness, and above all people in Ethiopia have long learned your Machiavellian or your similar principles of Fascism and Nazism. We know you are killing true democratic protesters in broad day light in the streets of the capital city, we know you are killing school children in Oromia, we know you are killing protesters in Somali Region, we know you are killing protesters in Awassa (SNNP), just to name but a few. Therefore, we must all stand up and stop you before you kill us all!
Kerranso is based in Finfinne (Addis Ababa). He can be reached at meettaa@gmail.com
By Keransso Biyyaa*
May 29, 2006 — It is of more interest to me to focus on the external aspects of it as exercised against the civil society and especially students. To give a background, right from the outset in 1991 Meles Zenawi’s Machiavellian principles of meanness started to manifest themselves when a snap shot election was run in Oromia and Oromo Liberation Front won a sweeping vote. ‘The prince’ then knew that if he continues to see people exercise their free will, his rapacious appetite for power was going to be shattered. So he had to ban Oromo Liberation Front and other democratic forces from peaceful forum of struggle.
Following that “The Prince” started to strengthen his Peoples Democratic Organisation (PDOS) because through them he wanted to succeed in tapping the blood of the people, their property life and children”.
For all Oromo people and all Ethiopian people alike that was ‘the making of a ‘medieval prince’ within what the western donors were duped to think was the making of “a new breed of African leaders”, democrat on the making.
Meles Zenawi, the new breed of African dictators, as most prefer to call him, has been putting on his mask of choosing ‘to be loved’ by the west whenever elections are about to be conducted and during and after voting begins he puts on his other mask of ‘being feared; by the people internally. That’s he kills opposition candidates, deploys security into school compounds and university campuses and as a need arises he organises a secrete group who blast bombs in different parts of a city or in different rural markets to be internally feared. For instance market bomb blasts in Gedo of Oromia State and current Finfinne (Addis Ababa) bomb blasts are evidences of his malicious acts. Yes this is hidden from the west because the west is busy fighting terrorism and their media’s attention is directed in that regard.
Particularly, Meles Zenawi’s policy of open killing and expulsion of Oromo School Children is taking place in Oromia presently. He is taking the blood of the children now because they speak against injustices. This is happening in Mekele University of the Tigrian State- the homeland of ‘a new breed of African democrat’.
Finfinnee University Oromo students faced a series of segregated killings, imprisonments, and expulsion from university, for instance in year 2004 because they opposed the moving of Oromia’s capital city from Finfinne (Addis Ababa) to Adama.
And thousands of Oromo school children are facing the same atrocities in the hands of TPLF/EPRDF security forces because they support the cause of their people- the yearn for freedom and democracy.
The new breed of African dictator, Zenawi, is clever to name civil society protests against tyranny in the country as “anti-constitutional forces”, “anti-peace forces” and “anti-development forces.
After these differentiating labels will follow the butchering of school children. Specifically, students bath in blood at their school gates from security gunfire. Some sustain serious injuries; in case of girls permanent damage to uterus rendering them unable to give birth forever. ‘The prince’s’ forces are also cruel enough to damage the eyes and brains of young thinkers. Others will be taken to concentration camps and prison where they will be broken into at night and killed like what is happening at Kaliti prison.
For the Oromo school children these are bodily and emotional sufferings, for the ‘Machiavellian democrat’ it is a physical and emotional pleasure.
Whereas all these physical and emotional damages are done to the children of Ethiopian civil society of Non-Tigrean descent, including Oromo school children, the Tigrean School Children attend their schools without any physical or emotional tormentations because the country is ‘theirs’ through the their prince, Meles Zenawi. Nevertheless, his entrenched maliciousness does not make him stop and think about the enduring consequences. Why should the cunning prince worry about making Ethiopia a country of freedom and democracy for all? Power for him is permanent as long as he adheres to Machiavellian principles of cruelty and meanness and to the principles Fascism and Nazism. He, the medieval prince, in 21st century democratic disguise can rule as long as he wishes. This is a blind prince; he can’t see the consequences of his actions. The prince also tries to instil phobia into Tigrean people about other Ethiopian people. He tells them that if he lets his power go, their existence will be endangered.
I think ‘the prince’ has never had peace of mind because the bloods of many innocent civilians are shouting into his ears. Even when he goes to bed with ‘the first lady’, Nicolo Machiavelli will immediately come after the light has gone out to whisper into his ears the whole night, “...as long as you succeed people are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and children...”
Dear 21-century ‘new breed of African democrat’, now the whole world has learned about your meanness, and above all people in Ethiopia have long learned your Machiavellian or your similar principles of Fascism and Nazism. We know you are killing true democratic protesters in broad day light in the streets of the capital city, we know you are killing school children in Oromia, we know you are killing protesters in Somali Region, we know you are killing protesters in Awassa (SNNP), just to name but a few. Therefore, we must all stand up and stop you before you kill us all!
Kerranso is based in Finfinne (Addis Ababa). He can be reached at meettaa@gmail.com
STATUTES OF THE ALLIANCE FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY
STATUTES OF THE ALLIANCE FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY
Reaffirming their unwavering determination to put an end to the
underlying causes of repression, bloodshed, insecurity, political instability and exclusion in Ethiopia and the region which is inflicting severe hardships and suffering on all the people, and seriously hampers the prospects for development and the attainment of equality and social justice;
Reaffirming their commitment to shape a political order and a system of government inspired by the universal aspiration for freedom and founded on the values of justice, liberty, equality, democracy, good
governance, pluralism, respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms, solidarity, mutual understanding, tolerance and cooperation;
Convinced that the realization of these ideals demands the cooperation of the Parties and the coordination of their activities towards the establishment of a democratic process leading to genuine healing and reconciliation and lasting peace;
Conscious that the failure of the political forces opposed to the TPLF
regime to develop mutual understanding and coordinate their struggle
benefited no one but rather contributed in prolonging tyranny and
perpetuated the misery and agony of all,
Convinced that working together to materialize the higher interests of
the people and the establishment of a genuinely democratic transition
where competing visions could freely and peacefully compete for the
verdict of the people is in the best interest of the Parties;
Resolved therefore to guarantee freedom and democracy in Ethiopia and the region,
Have in consequence decided to set up the Alliance for Freedom and
Democracy, and have for this purpose adopted this Statute:
Chapter I - Establishment of the Alliance
Article 1
The Alliance for Freedom and Democracy ("the Alliance") is hereby
established. Its objectives, tasks, code of conduct, and organs shall be governed by the provisions of this statute.
Article 2
Member organizations shall maintain their respective political programs and enjoy their organizational independence and autonomy.
Article 3
The Parties commit themselves to refrain from any act or behavior
contrary to the provisions of the Amsterdam Agreement, and to spare no effort to ensure that the provisions of the agreement are fully respected and implemented in their letter and spirit in order to ensure the attainment of genuine freedom, democracy, reconciliation, lasting peace, security for all and an equitable sharing of power and resources.
Article 4
The documents of the Alliance shall be made in English. Certified
translations can be made in other languages; The official languages of the Alliance are Afaan Oromo, Amharic and English;
Member organizations can however use the language of their choice for their independent activities without any prejudice by the Alliance or its members;The Alliance would strive to ensure that all languages and the positive aspects of the cultures they embody receive equal recognition and protection.
Chapter II - Aim of the Alliance
Article 1
The aim of the Alliance is to establish a working arrangement that:
Ensures liberty, peace, justice, and the rule of law;
Promotes peace in Ethiopia and the region, ensuring that the resulting
peace dividend shall be enjoyed by all;
Lays the foundation for a fully democratic system in Ethiopia that
meets the aspirations of all and address their grievances by instituting a genuinely representative political order;
Guarantees the supremacy of the rule of law based on the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and relevant United Nations Covenants;
Reaffirms respect for and commitment to the basic norms of
international law and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;
Achieves a new, just, and democratic Ethiopia where all human and
democratic rights are fully respected; and
Genuinely and boldly addresses the serious issues in Ethiopia and
amicably resolves the many intractable conflicts in the region thereby
laying the foundations for lasting peace, democracy, stability and
development.
Promote the core democratic values of the rule of law, equality before the law and liberty of the individual, individual and collective freedoms, popular participation in decision making, free and fair elections, separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary;
Develop the mutual. understanding and trust between parties, their members and constituents to boldly address the serious issues in Ethiopia that have been the root causes of conflicts lasting for generations and amicably resolve them thereby laying the foundations for lasting peace, democracy, stability and development throughout the region; and These aims shall be pursued through the organs of the Alliance and the coordinated efforts of member organizations.
Chapter III - Functions of the Alliance
Article 1
The Alliance shall:
Coordinate the activities of member organizations by mobilizing and
galvanizing their respective constituencies in order to achieve freedom, lasting peace, and democracy;
Convene an inclusive conference to establish a workable arrangement on
the basis of the present framework of the Ethiopian constitution;
Pool together the Parties' resources and talents in order to conduct an
effective political and diplomatic campaign;
Work together to promote brotherly relations among all the people in
Ethiopia by mitigating and preventing all forms of inter-communal and
inter-confessional discord;
Uphold a culture of peaceful resolution of intrastate and interstate
conflicts in the region and enhancing regional cooperation as a vehicle
to create conditions for peace, stability, economic development, and
political integration;
Promote harmony between the Parties and their constituents by
overcoming the history of mistrust through dialogue, mutual understanding and
respect;
Advance the development of democratic culture and institutions; and
Actively promote good relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea based on
the agreement to be reached between the two sister countries.
Chapter IV - Seat of the Alliance
Article 1
The seat of the Alliance shall be established at ______________ (city),
(Country).
Article 2
The Alliance may move its headquarters elsewhere, whenever necessary.
Chapter V - Membership
Article 1
The members of the Alliance are the Parties to this Statute.
Article 2
A political organization with a proven track record of snuggle,
recognized Leadership, political program and constituency which is deemed to
be able and willing to fulfill the provisions of this Statute may be
invited or may itself submit application to become a member. Admission
shall be based on the majority vote of the existing members.
Article 3
A member may withdraw by formally notifying the Alliance of its
intention to do so. Such withdrawal shall take effect a month after the
receipt of the notification.
Article 4
A member of the Alliance that violates the terns and conditions of this
Statute may be suspended from membership. A suspended member has the
right to appeal to the Governing Council within 30 days of the
notification of suspension.
Article 5
Save for those specifically delegated to the Alliance in accordance
with this Statute, any member organization shall maintain its
organizational independence.
Member organizations shall have the right to air their ideas and
participate in the activities of the Alliance in accordance with this
Statute.
Member organizations are entitled to petition for the convening of the
meeting of the Governing Council in accordance with this Statute.
The Alliance shall have its financial records audited once a year and
such report shall be made available member organizations.
Member organizations shall refrain from engaging in activities directed
against each other and in any activity that in any way compromises the
security of a member organization. Violator of this article is subject
to expulsion.
Notwithstanding Article 3.5 of this Constitution, member organizations
are not prohibited from expounding their political belief, and
recruiting their own members in accordance with their respective laws, rules
and programs.
Member organization shall refrain from engaging in any activity that in
any way compromises the security of another member organization.
Without prejudice to Article 3.6, member organizations may establish
bilateral cooperation to further coordinate their activities.
All member organizations shall have the duty to propagate and promote
the objectives of the Alliance support all its activities and implement
decisions taken by it.
Chapter VI - Organs of the Alliance
Article 1
The organs of the Alliance are:
i. the Governing Council; and
ii. the Executive Committee
Article 2
The Executive Committee may establish other bodies as it deems
necessary.
Article 3
The Governing Council is the highest organ of the Alliance.
Article 4
a- The Governing Council shall consist of representatives of each
member, delegated by i t s organization from among its leadership.
b- Each member organization shall be entitled to three
representatives on the Governing Council, and each representative shall be entitled
to one vote. The head of a member organization shall be one of the
representatives on the Council.
c- Each representative must be a member in good standing of his her
organization.
d- Member organizations may recall their representatives at any
time, with or without case, by giving written notice.
Article 5
The Governing Council shall adopt its rules of procedure and shall
elect through consensus the Chairperson and Vice-Chairman for a period of 1
year.
Article 6
Subject to the provisions of this Statute, all resolutions of the
Governing Council shall require a two-thirds majority vote of the
representatives.
Article 7
The Governing Council shall meet in ordinary session twice a year
Article 8
The Governing Council may be convened in special session, upon the
initiative either of the Chairman or the written request of at least three
member organizations.
Chapter VII - Executive Committee
Article 1
The Executive Committee is made of the following:
Chairman
Vice-Chairman and Head of Political Affairs
Head of Foreign Relations
Deputy Head of Relations
Head of Information
Deputy Head of Information
Head of Finance
Article 2
The Executive Committee may suspend a member organization for due
cause. Failing to fulfill ones financial obligation may be a cause for
suspension.
Article 3
The Executive Committee shall report of its activities at all sessions
of the Council.
Chapter VIII - Duties of the Officers of the Alliance
Article 1
Chairman:
Represents the Alliance.
Serves as the chief executive and chief spokesperson of the Alliance.
Directs and supervises the Executive Committee in the implementation of
the decisions of the Council.
Calls and presides over the meeting of the Executive Committee and the
Council.
Presents at each regular or special meetings of the Council the report
of the work of the Executive Committee.
Co-signs the checks or drafts of the Alliance.
Article 2
Vice-Chairman:
Carry out the duties of the Chairman in the absence of the Chairman.
Head fie Political Affairs Committee
Execute all other duties assigned by the Chairman.
Article 3
Head of Foreign Relations:
Carry out the diplomatic mission of the Alliance.
Head the Foreign Relations Committee of the Alliance.
Execute all other duties assigned by the Chairman.
Article 4
Head of Information:
Disseminate information to the public.
Build good working relations with the media
Head the Information Committee of the Alliance.
Execute all other duties assigned by the Chairman.
Article 5
Head of Finance:
Manage the financial activities of the Alliance
Head the Finance Committee of the Alliance.
Serve as a custodian for all the funds and properties of the Alliance.
Co-sign the checks or drafts of the Alliance.
Prepare the financial reports and the budget of the Alliance.
Execute all other duties assigned by the Chairman.
Chapter IX - Dues
The major source of resources for the Alliance shall be from members.
There shall be a $20,000 annual membership fee.
The fiscal year shall be from June 1st until May 31st.
Membership Dues must be paid in full by July 31st within the fiscal
year.
Chapter X - Settlement of disputes
Any dispute concerning the activities of the Alliance shall be settled
through dialogue between the parties affected.
Any other dispute between two or more Parties relating to the
interpretation or application of this Statute which is not settled through
negotiations within three months of their commencement shall be referred to
the Governing Council.
The settlement given by the Council by a 2/3 vote shall be final and
binding.
Chapter XI- Final Provisions
Article 1
The Statutes may be amended or repealed and new Statutes may be adopted
by a 2/3 vote of the Governing Council at any regular meeting, or at
special meeting called for this purpose, provided a written notice and
intention of the meeting is conveyed to members .
Article 2
This Statute shall be in effect on the date it is signed by the
Parties.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned being duly authorized thereto by
their respective organizations, have signed this Statute.
DONE at (city), this --- the day of May 2006.
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)
Dawud Ibsa, Chairman
Yoseph Yazew, NA Committee Chairman
Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP)
Abdulkadir Himooge, 2"' Vice-Chairman
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)
Fasika Belete, Chairman
United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF)
Galfato Seqa, Chairman
Sidama Liberation Front (SLF)
Meskerern, Chairman
Ethiopian People's Patriotic Forces (EPPF)
Three blasts wound 42 in Ethiopian town
The explosions, on Saturday night, appeared to have been set off in a coordinated attack in the capital of Ethiopia's Somali region, located about 485 km (300 miles) west of Addis Ababa close to the Somali border, officials said.
"Three explosions occurred at Central Hotel,
Of the 42 injured, 23 were wounded seriously, he said.
He called the blasts "futile attempts to disrupt the ongoing development programmes in the region," according to ENA.
Blasts have been relatively infrequent in
The Horn of Africa country has seen rising instances of civil unrest since demonstrators protesting election results clashed with security forces twice last year, leaving at least 80 dead.
(c) Reuters 2006.
Source: http://news.scotsman.com
Three blasts wound 42 in Ethiopian town
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Three blasts in the Ethiopian town of Jijiga at the weekend have injured 42 people, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency said on Monday.
The explosions, on Saturday night, appeared to have been set off in a coordinated attack in the capital of Ethiopia's Somali region, located about 485 km (300 miles) west of Addis Ababa close to the Somali border, officials said.
"Three explosions occurred at Central Hotel, London cafe and Family cafe in Jijiga town simultaneously around 8 p.m. Saturday," Abdulahi Hassan, the administrator of the Somali region, told ENA.
Of the 42 injured, 23 were wounded seriously, he said.
He called the blasts "futile attempts to disrupt the ongoing development programmes in the region," according to ENA.
Blasts have been relatively infrequent in Ethiopia, but the capital Addis Ababa this year has been hit by a string of mysterious explosions. At least eight tore through the city earlier this month, killing four and injuring at least 43.
The Horn of Africa country has seen rising instances of civil unrest since demonstrators protesting election results clashed with security forces twice last year, leaving at least 80 dead.
Ethiopia, sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous country, also has several armed rebel movements which have been blamed for attacks in the past.
(c) Reuters 2006.
Source: http://news.scotsman.com
May 28, 2006
In Somalia, 'No idea who is fighting who'
By Marc Lacey
The New York Times SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2006
MERKA, Somalia A baby boy with his leg blown off by shrapnel. Corpses in the streets. The wounded writhing in pain in wheelbarrows, the only ambulances around.
Horrible memories have followed those who have fled the war-ravaged Somali capital in recent days for the relative safety of this town 65 kilometers, or 40 miles, down the coast. At night, the evacuees from Mogadishu still dream of the artillery shells that exploded around them day after day. The rat-a-tat of automatic weapon fire they cannot get out of their heads.
"When you witness a one-year-old whose leg has been cut off by a mortar shell it stays with you," said Halima Ahmed, 50, who left Mogadishu two days ago with her 85-year-old mother in a cart hauled by a donkey. "We've witnessed so many things."
The fighting pits Mogadishu's notorious warlords against Islamist leaders attempting to turn the country into a religious state. But for many of the people running for their lives, the fighting is as incomprehensible as so many past wars, a shootout between rival militias in which civilians are the ones bleeding the most.
"I have no idea who is fighting who," said Hadiyo Mohamed, 25, who fled Mogadishu three days ago with three young children. "I was just going about my daily activities as a housewife when shelling began."
The complicated fight began in January, only to escalate as the months have passed. Fueled by arms provided by foreign governments, the battle for power has cost hundreds of lives, even as the leaders on both sides portray themselves as defenders of the people.
"We don't consider either side as good," said Issa Ali, 40, who fled with his wife and three children. "God knows which is the best to rule Mogadishu."
The warlords have ruled Mogadishu for 15 chaotic years, using young gunmen to extract as much revenue as they can from checkpoints, ports and airstrips within their turf. They have struck alliances with business leaders, who pay protection money to enable them to trade with Gulf states.
But Islamic leaders have quietly emerged as a third force, one with huge political, economic and military clout. They have slowly filled a void in anarchic Somalia, creating Islamic schools and courts and providing social services unavailable anywhere else.
Amid the moderate sheiks, however, are hard-liners whom American officials say have formed a small Al Qaeda cell in Mogadishu.
To combat the extremists, American intelligence officials struck an alliance with the warlords, who fashioned themselves into a counterterrorism alliance.
"Clandestine third-country involvement" is what an expert panel convened by the United Nations calls the behind the scenes activity by the American government, without explicitly naming the United States.
A report released this month in New York by the panel suggested that Washington was providing financial support "to help organize and structure a militia force created to counter the threat posed by the growing militant fundamentalist movement in central and southern Somalia."
The situation has some eerie parallels to Afghanistan, where warlords so disillusioned the population that the hard-line Taliban took over and provided safe haven to Al Qaeda. That terrorist link led to the American invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Americans are not the only ones involved behind the scenes in Somalia. The UN panel found that Ethiopians have been arming the fledgling government that has convened outside Mogadishu, in the inland town of Baidoa.
To counter Ethiopian influence, the Eritrean government has provided arms of its own, the UN panel said, detailing precise shipments of anti-aircraft, anti- tank and heavy machine gun ammunition as well as machine guns, remote- control bombs and anti-personnel mines provided by each side.
Also accused of violating a UN arms embargo in Somalia are the Italians, accused of shipping trucks and "a number of large, long, sealed boxes" to the transitional government. In addition, Yemen has shipped pickup trucks, military uniforms, military boots to the transitional government, the experts found.
As battling rages on the streets of Mogadishu, the transitional government that was formed after two years of peace negotiations in neighboring Kenya sits on the sidelines. The government has issued declarations calling for an end to the violence, but to little effect.
In fact, four of the chief warlords involved in the fighting hold top-level cabinet posts in the government and have openly flouted calls for them to lay down their arms.
The Islamists have also thumbed their noses at the government, especially its call for a foreign peacekeeping force to bring order to the capital.
But no matter which side eventually wins the fight for Mogadishu, residents fear that peace will not be the result. "Even if one side wins, they will then fight among themselves," said Issa Mohamed Ga'al, who fled fighting in Mogadishu in March.
The New York Times SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2006
MERKA, Somalia A baby boy with his leg blown off by shrapnel. Corpses in the streets. The wounded writhing in pain in wheelbarrows, the only ambulances around.
Horrible memories have followed those who have fled the war-ravaged Somali capital in recent days for the relative safety of this town 65 kilometers, or 40 miles, down the coast. At night, the evacuees from Mogadishu still dream of the artillery shells that exploded around them day after day. The rat-a-tat of automatic weapon fire they cannot get out of their heads.
"When you witness a one-year-old whose leg has been cut off by a mortar shell it stays with you," said Halima Ahmed, 50, who left Mogadishu two days ago with her 85-year-old mother in a cart hauled by a donkey. "We've witnessed so many things."
The fighting pits Mogadishu's notorious warlords against Islamist leaders attempting to turn the country into a religious state. But for many of the people running for their lives, the fighting is as incomprehensible as so many past wars, a shootout between rival militias in which civilians are the ones bleeding the most.
"I have no idea who is fighting who," said Hadiyo Mohamed, 25, who fled Mogadishu three days ago with three young children. "I was just going about my daily activities as a housewife when shelling began."
The complicated fight began in January, only to escalate as the months have passed. Fueled by arms provided by foreign governments, the battle for power has cost hundreds of lives, even as the leaders on both sides portray themselves as defenders of the people.
"We don't consider either side as good," said Issa Ali, 40, who fled with his wife and three children. "God knows which is the best to rule Mogadishu."
The warlords have ruled Mogadishu for 15 chaotic years, using young gunmen to extract as much revenue as they can from checkpoints, ports and airstrips within their turf. They have struck alliances with business leaders, who pay protection money to enable them to trade with Gulf states.
But Islamic leaders have quietly emerged as a third force, one with huge political, economic and military clout. They have slowly filled a void in anarchic Somalia, creating Islamic schools and courts and providing social services unavailable anywhere else.
Amid the moderate sheiks, however, are hard-liners whom American officials say have formed a small Al Qaeda cell in Mogadishu.
To combat the extremists, American intelligence officials struck an alliance with the warlords, who fashioned themselves into a counterterrorism alliance.
"Clandestine third-country involvement" is what an expert panel convened by the United Nations calls the behind the scenes activity by the American government, without explicitly naming the United States.
A report released this month in New York by the panel suggested that Washington was providing financial support "to help organize and structure a militia force created to counter the threat posed by the growing militant fundamentalist movement in central and southern Somalia."
The situation has some eerie parallels to Afghanistan, where warlords so disillusioned the population that the hard-line Taliban took over and provided safe haven to Al Qaeda. That terrorist link led to the American invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Americans are not the only ones involved behind the scenes in Somalia. The UN panel found that Ethiopians have been arming the fledgling government that has convened outside Mogadishu, in the inland town of Baidoa.
To counter Ethiopian influence, the Eritrean government has provided arms of its own, the UN panel said, detailing precise shipments of anti-aircraft, anti- tank and heavy machine gun ammunition as well as machine guns, remote- control bombs and anti-personnel mines provided by each side.
Also accused of violating a UN arms embargo in Somalia are the Italians, accused of shipping trucks and "a number of large, long, sealed boxes" to the transitional government. In addition, Yemen has shipped pickup trucks, military uniforms, military boots to the transitional government, the experts found.
As battling rages on the streets of Mogadishu, the transitional government that was formed after two years of peace negotiations in neighboring Kenya sits on the sidelines. The government has issued declarations calling for an end to the violence, but to little effect.
In fact, four of the chief warlords involved in the fighting hold top-level cabinet posts in the government and have openly flouted calls for them to lay down their arms.
The Islamists have also thumbed their noses at the government, especially its call for a foreign peacekeeping force to bring order to the capital.
But no matter which side eventually wins the fight for Mogadishu, residents fear that peace will not be the result. "Even if one side wins, they will then fight among themselves," said Issa Mohamed Ga'al, who fled fighting in Mogadishu in March.
Oil exploration well in western Ethiopia turns out dry
The oil exploration well in Ethiopia's west state of Gambella has turned out dry, it was learned in Addis Ababa on Saturday.
The drilling work on the first exploration well, which is 3,500 meters deep, was recently finalized, said Li Jianjun, chief representative of the Chinese oil firm Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB).
After conducting a well test to ascertain if there was oil in the area, ZPEB experts concluded there was no oil inflow in the well, Li told Xinhua.
ZPEB, which had been contracted by the Malaysian oil firm Petronas, has been prospecting for crude oil for the past two years in the Gambella basin, near the Sudanese border. Since 2004, ZPEB has been conducting seismic surveys in the Gambella basin. In March this year, ZPEB started drilling the exploration well in the area.
The Gambella basin is one of the five sedimentary basins found in Ethiopia, which are expected to be oil prospective.
The well was drilled in Chikaw, 175 km east of the Ethio-Sudan boarder and 85 km from Gambella, capital of the Gambella state. The Gambella basin stretches across a 19,600 square km of land. The Gambella basin is an extension of the Melut basin, located in southern Sudan. The Melut basin is known for its huge amount of oil reserve.
However, ZPEB experts said one cannot conclude that there was no oil reserve in the Gambella basin just by looking at the well testing conducted on only one well.
Li said ZPEB will undertake another seismic survey in the basin in the dry season as the current rainy season have interrupted their exploration activity.
After studying the geological formation in the first well and conducting a new seismic survey in the area, ZPEB experts will identify where to drill an additional exploration well, he said.
Source: Xinhua
The drilling work on the first exploration well, which is 3,500 meters deep, was recently finalized, said Li Jianjun, chief representative of the Chinese oil firm Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB).
After conducting a well test to ascertain if there was oil in the area, ZPEB experts concluded there was no oil inflow in the well, Li told Xinhua.
ZPEB, which had been contracted by the Malaysian oil firm Petronas, has been prospecting for crude oil for the past two years in the Gambella basin, near the Sudanese border. Since 2004, ZPEB has been conducting seismic surveys in the Gambella basin. In March this year, ZPEB started drilling the exploration well in the area.
The Gambella basin is one of the five sedimentary basins found in Ethiopia, which are expected to be oil prospective.
The well was drilled in Chikaw, 175 km east of the Ethio-Sudan boarder and 85 km from Gambella, capital of the Gambella state. The Gambella basin stretches across a 19,600 square km of land. The Gambella basin is an extension of the Melut basin, located in southern Sudan. The Melut basin is known for its huge amount of oil reserve.
However, ZPEB experts said one cannot conclude that there was no oil reserve in the Gambella basin just by looking at the well testing conducted on only one well.
Li said ZPEB will undertake another seismic survey in the basin in the dry season as the current rainy season have interrupted their exploration activity.
After studying the geological formation in the first well and conducting a new seismic survey in the area, ZPEB experts will identify where to drill an additional exploration well, he said.
Source: Xinhua
May 27, 2006
The OLF Alliance with Abyssinian Political Forces
Date: May 26, 2006
Source: The Oromiyaa Liberation Council (OLC)
“How quickly they forget” is an adage that is now buzzing in the political circles of the Oromo and other oppressed ethno-national groups in the Ethiopian empire. The adage is quite fitting to the implausible political marriage of the OLF with some Abyssinian political parties that took place on the 22nd of May 2006. This event, as thrilling as it is for the ones in the political union, must have chilled the spine of all Oromo nationals genuinely yearning for the unity of Oromo liberation forces and ultimately the liberation of Oromiyaa. This political twist would undoubtedly add yet another major glitch to the course of our national liberation struggle. The OLC has been watching with keen interest the flirtation and courtship of the OLF with various Abyssinian political forces for some time. Noting the depth of the involvement of the OLF in the engagement process with organizations that are sworn enemies of the independent political voice of the Oromo nation, the OLC forewarned the OLF in various occasions to cease its involvement in the creation of impious alliance that would amount to act of disservice to the Oromo national liberation struggle and the struggle of oppressed nations at large. As an organization that firmly believes in political powerhouse of the Oromo nation that springs from consolidation of primarily Oromo political forces in the liberation camp and from mobilization of the Oromo people, the OLC has been repeatedly demanding the hasty aggregation of fragmented forces into one strong national force. Regrettably, the OLF as our major partner in ULFO, when it could have shouldered more and exemplary responsibility of consolidating the Oromo forces, it chose to give priority to forming alliance with non-Oromo political parties.The formation of Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD) that constitutes, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP), the Ethiopian People's Patriotic Front (EPPF), the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the Sidama Liberation Front (SLF) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), is a clear testimony of its misplaced priority. The OLC believes in the merit of forging solid unity first and foremost with Oromo forces and then alliance with organizations representing oppressed national groups in the empire such as the ONLF and SLF. There is shared history of colonization between southern nations in the Ethiopian empire that makes their alliance politically more plausible. It would have been a sound political move and quite orderly in its priority had the OLF spared more time, resource and energy in fortressing first the foundation of the alliance of those independent political entities struggling for the cause of colonized nations in Ethiopia.Instead, making a major departure from the domain of the liberation struggle, the OLF has allied with Abyssinian political forces to struggle for 'democratization of Ethiopia'. Undoubtedly, this political fiasco of the OLF would have far reaching ramification on the national liberation struggle of the people of Oromiyaa. We may not speculate its long- term cascading effect. That remains to be seen. In the short term, however, its effect would be felt in the unity of Oromo liberation forces. It would leave a void in our unity that we have been doggedly working to fill up for the last five years. It will cause a sense of loss of political direction and confusion that could permeate within our society. Generally, it would impart a setback to our straggle. From our intimate knowledge of the Habasha mentality, culture and long history of colonization, the OLC is sure that the CUDP and EPPF are not amenable to negotiation- if at all there is much to negotiate with them. CUDP and EPPF, organizations without roots in Oromiyaa, will use this opportunity of state of confusion to extend their tentacles deep into our land and attempt to derail the Oromo liberation struggle for freedom and independence. The alliance of the OLF with CUDP and the likes is a direct attack on the effort of emancipation of Oromiyaa from Abyssinian colonial yoke. The suggestion of democratizing Ethiopia by allying with the CUDP and EPPF is prejudicial to the state that our struggle has presently reached, and, at best, is an attempt to seek for a neo-colonial solution that will create even more acute problems. Therefore, the OLC is opposed to this so called alliance that we see no synchronistic interest between an Oromo organization claiming to promote the Oromo aspiration for self-determination and the Abyssinians desperate race for political power.The OLF presumably taking a note of the great disparity in military strength and resources between itself and the enemy, and considering the international political milieu, has unfortunately concluded that there is little hope of expediting the process of the national struggle. Faced with such temporary difficulties, the OLF has desperately started toying with the idea of reforming the Ethiopian state. This time around, apparently taking the driver sit, it is propelling the political locomotives for newly found Abyssinian political darlings. It is this reform initiative of the OLF that has yielded the Alliance of Freedom and Democracy (AFD). The silver lining in this cloud of unholy alliance is that the Oromos now know without a doubt that the leadership of their former “vanguard” organization, the OLF, has succumbed to the political will of Abyssinian political forces. Instead of leading the Oromo national struggle and creating an overarching national organization of Oromo forces, the OLF has joined the enemy forces. Rather than a unifying force, the OLF has become a dividing one.The OLC believes that there is no possibility of securing lasting change in Ethiopia except through popular uprising and protracted armed struggle. There is no one single factor that would justify or indicate that the new alliance (AFD) could lead to any amelioration of our conditions. Our history and experience have taught us very harsh lessons. The most vital one is that without conducting revolutionary struggle, including arming our people to protect their gains, the oppression and exploitation of the Oromo will continue. Therefore, it is only protracted struggle in multifaceted fronts that would deliver fundamental solutions to our predicaments. Let us make it crystal clear that the struggle that many heroes and heroines have fallen (still falling) for, the liberation of Oromiyaa, will continue with determined participation of genuine Oromo nationalists. We call upon all Oromo political forces and Oromo nationals to rise to the occasion and contribute their due shares to the liberation struggle at this crucial time when our nation is desperately looking for deliverance. The rebirth of Oromiyaa depends on our ability to exercise our real power in a united, concerted, intelligent, and responsible manner.
Unity is Strength!! Oromia Shall Be Free!!
Opinions and views published above are those of the authors and not necessarily that of OromiaTimes.
Source: The Oromiyaa Liberation Council (OLC)
“How quickly they forget” is an adage that is now buzzing in the political circles of the Oromo and other oppressed ethno-national groups in the Ethiopian empire. The adage is quite fitting to the implausible political marriage of the OLF with some Abyssinian political parties that took place on the 22nd of May 2006. This event, as thrilling as it is for the ones in the political union, must have chilled the spine of all Oromo nationals genuinely yearning for the unity of Oromo liberation forces and ultimately the liberation of Oromiyaa. This political twist would undoubtedly add yet another major glitch to the course of our national liberation struggle. The OLC has been watching with keen interest the flirtation and courtship of the OLF with various Abyssinian political forces for some time. Noting the depth of the involvement of the OLF in the engagement process with organizations that are sworn enemies of the independent political voice of the Oromo nation, the OLC forewarned the OLF in various occasions to cease its involvement in the creation of impious alliance that would amount to act of disservice to the Oromo national liberation struggle and the struggle of oppressed nations at large. As an organization that firmly believes in political powerhouse of the Oromo nation that springs from consolidation of primarily Oromo political forces in the liberation camp and from mobilization of the Oromo people, the OLC has been repeatedly demanding the hasty aggregation of fragmented forces into one strong national force. Regrettably, the OLF as our major partner in ULFO, when it could have shouldered more and exemplary responsibility of consolidating the Oromo forces, it chose to give priority to forming alliance with non-Oromo political parties.The formation of Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD) that constitutes, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP), the Ethiopian People's Patriotic Front (EPPF), the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the Sidama Liberation Front (SLF) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), is a clear testimony of its misplaced priority. The OLC believes in the merit of forging solid unity first and foremost with Oromo forces and then alliance with organizations representing oppressed national groups in the empire such as the ONLF and SLF. There is shared history of colonization between southern nations in the Ethiopian empire that makes their alliance politically more plausible. It would have been a sound political move and quite orderly in its priority had the OLF spared more time, resource and energy in fortressing first the foundation of the alliance of those independent political entities struggling for the cause of colonized nations in Ethiopia.Instead, making a major departure from the domain of the liberation struggle, the OLF has allied with Abyssinian political forces to struggle for 'democratization of Ethiopia'. Undoubtedly, this political fiasco of the OLF would have far reaching ramification on the national liberation struggle of the people of Oromiyaa. We may not speculate its long- term cascading effect. That remains to be seen. In the short term, however, its effect would be felt in the unity of Oromo liberation forces. It would leave a void in our unity that we have been doggedly working to fill up for the last five years. It will cause a sense of loss of political direction and confusion that could permeate within our society. Generally, it would impart a setback to our straggle. From our intimate knowledge of the Habasha mentality, culture and long history of colonization, the OLC is sure that the CUDP and EPPF are not amenable to negotiation- if at all there is much to negotiate with them. CUDP and EPPF, organizations without roots in Oromiyaa, will use this opportunity of state of confusion to extend their tentacles deep into our land and attempt to derail the Oromo liberation struggle for freedom and independence. The alliance of the OLF with CUDP and the likes is a direct attack on the effort of emancipation of Oromiyaa from Abyssinian colonial yoke. The suggestion of democratizing Ethiopia by allying with the CUDP and EPPF is prejudicial to the state that our struggle has presently reached, and, at best, is an attempt to seek for a neo-colonial solution that will create even more acute problems. Therefore, the OLC is opposed to this so called alliance that we see no synchronistic interest between an Oromo organization claiming to promote the Oromo aspiration for self-determination and the Abyssinians desperate race for political power.The OLF presumably taking a note of the great disparity in military strength and resources between itself and the enemy, and considering the international political milieu, has unfortunately concluded that there is little hope of expediting the process of the national struggle. Faced with such temporary difficulties, the OLF has desperately started toying with the idea of reforming the Ethiopian state. This time around, apparently taking the driver sit, it is propelling the political locomotives for newly found Abyssinian political darlings. It is this reform initiative of the OLF that has yielded the Alliance of Freedom and Democracy (AFD). The silver lining in this cloud of unholy alliance is that the Oromos now know without a doubt that the leadership of their former “vanguard” organization, the OLF, has succumbed to the political will of Abyssinian political forces. Instead of leading the Oromo national struggle and creating an overarching national organization of Oromo forces, the OLF has joined the enemy forces. Rather than a unifying force, the OLF has become a dividing one.The OLC believes that there is no possibility of securing lasting change in Ethiopia except through popular uprising and protracted armed struggle. There is no one single factor that would justify or indicate that the new alliance (AFD) could lead to any amelioration of our conditions. Our history and experience have taught us very harsh lessons. The most vital one is that without conducting revolutionary struggle, including arming our people to protect their gains, the oppression and exploitation of the Oromo will continue. Therefore, it is only protracted struggle in multifaceted fronts that would deliver fundamental solutions to our predicaments. Let us make it crystal clear that the struggle that many heroes and heroines have fallen (still falling) for, the liberation of Oromiyaa, will continue with determined participation of genuine Oromo nationalists. We call upon all Oromo political forces and Oromo nationals to rise to the occasion and contribute their due shares to the liberation struggle at this crucial time when our nation is desperately looking for deliverance. The rebirth of Oromiyaa depends on our ability to exercise our real power in a united, concerted, intelligent, and responsible manner.
Unity is Strength!! Oromia Shall Be Free!!
Opinions and views published above are those of the authors and not necessarily that of OromiaTimes.
The Trade in Human Misery
The trade in human misery
Men from Jowhar in lawless southern Somalia head for Bossaso in hopes of getting on a smuggler's boat for Yemen and working illegally in Saudi Arabia.
At Qaw, 35 kilometres west of Bossaso, Puntland, Somalia, would-be passengers, -- not knowing if they were cheated --hopefully wait for their small boat for Yemen.
New female Somali police officers fall in line under police Chief Colonel Mohammed Rashid Juma.
Somali women wait for a smuggler's boat (in background) that was due to leave for Yemen. Most passengers are between 15 and 30 years of age.
Somalia's people-
smuggling racket is the most lucrative -- and most lethal -- in the world
By Kim Sengupta The Independent
BOSSASO (May 27, 2006)
The ones who want to go are desperate and those offering to take them across the sea are greedy and murderous -- fateful encounters which are resulting in a trail of death and misery in the horn of Africa.
The human trafficking trade from Somalia is now one of the busiest, most lucrative and the most lethal in the world. The ferocious violence and anarchy in the region has kept both the scale of profits and misery the most hidden from outside eyes.
Now, say the United Nations and humanitarian agencies, the extent of people smuggling in the region rivals traditional routes into Europe from Africa via the Mediterranean, which has its own images of mass drownings.
But the body count in the route from Somalia to Yemen -- which then leads on to the Middle East and Europe -- is actually higher, and the type of deaths meted out even more shocking.
Every month, dozens of corpses are found floating in the Arabian Sea, often with gunshot wounds, often with hands tied behind their back -- victims of vicious traffickers who have jettisoned their cargo in the most final way.
The question of illegal migration and asylum seekers is a hot topic now in the West, and nowhere more so than in Britain, with mainstream politicians -- not just from the far right -- playing the race card.
The latest groups of foreigners to be subjected to critical, often xenophobic, scrutiny are the Somalis, who have recently arrived in Britain large numbers.
Members of the community have been blamed for recent high profile murders, and have also been accused of an array of offences from gang fighting to fraud to the importation of khat, a hallucinogenic plant.
Here, in the streets of Bossaso, on the very tip of the horn of Africa, one gets to see the sheer grinding poverty, the drought and the endless strife that is driving the dispossessed from not only Somalia, but also neighbouring Ethiopia to risk the most perilous voyage in the world.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an average of 30 boats a month are arriving in Yemen from Bossaso. The numbers of deaths are said to be hundreds but could well be thousands. Earlier this month at least 39 passengers drowned after being forced to jump off their smuggling boat at gunpoint. It was one of many such incidents.
Bossaso in Puntland, a self-declared autonomous area in northwest Somalia, is now the world's busiest smuggling hub.
The remittance the workers who do get jobs send back to their families is the biggest foreign revenue earner for Somalia, a country with no economic infrastructure and where the recently elected government cannot even get into the capital being wracked by a civil war between Islamists and warlords.
Under the rules of the 'war on terror' the Americans are backing the warlords, their enemies during the ill-fated intervention in Somalia 13 years ago.
The very few who can afford it will pay around $75 Cdn to stow away on larger ships. But for the vast majority the journey will be spent packed in leaky boats manned by Kalashnikov carrying crews who, having collected the per head fee of around $ 30 up front, can kill them with little or no risk of ever getting caught.
The boats used for the trips are moored at the portside, swaying on the waves. Designed to take 20 to 30 people, they will have upwards of hundreds packed into them for the night time crossings.
The gross overcrowding predictably leads to frequent breakdowns, which the owners solve by flinging their human cargoes overboard. Many of those who survive the journey are left scarred by being pressed against searing engines and exposure to bitingly cold winds at nights.
In one particularly horrific case, the crew of the smuggling boat killed all the passengers, except a 10-year-old Ethiopian boy, Badesa, who was kept to clean the boat.
He was eventually dumped back in Bossaso where he was discovered after sitting on the pavement for days on end with little water and no food. The International Organization for Migration took him to a hospital and arranged his repatriation back to Ethiopia. He is now recovering from starvation but unable to speak, traumatized from his horrific experience.
Women and young girls -- a surprisingly large number among the travellers -- are vulnerable to sexual abuse and being sold to brothels in Arab countries.
The women also have to cope with other, common, dangers. Farhia Ahmed Mohammed, 17, was packed into a boat with 94 others on a trip to Yemen six months ago, lasting two days and nights when two of the passengers asked for water from the crew.
"The owner and his men had water, but they refused to give it", said Farhia, a tiny girl in a red traditional jelabib, from Ethiopia." There was an argument and they shot the two men with their Kalashnikovs. Then they threw the bodies over the side. A woman who also asked for water was beaten with a stick.
"When we got near the shore, the rest of us were thrown into the ocean.
I could swim but even then it took me 45 minutes to get to the land. There were others who could not swim; six of them were children. I think they were all right because everyone helped each other out."
Farhia returned to Bossaso earlier this year, but after failing to find any work, she is thinking of getting on the migrant trail again back to the Middle East, and, if possible, on to England.
Fued Yusuf, 27, from Mogadishu, was on a boat when fellow passengers were forced into the sea. He and 169 others, squashed into a space 3 metres long and a metre and a half wide, had almost reached their destination when the engine broke down.
"The time on the boat was terrible, there were so many of us that we could not move. At the end we could see the lights of the villages on the coast, but then the boat stopped", he recalled.
"The owner and his men had AK 47s and they told a group of men to jump out and swim. They had no choice. Those who could swim made it to the shore, but the ones who could not, died. I don't know how many. There were other deaths, because there was no fresh water left, one man began to drink sea water. His eyes rolled, and he died.
"You can ask, 'why should people take such risks?' But if you are really poor, and have no way of feeding your wife and children, you have to take a chance. This is difficult to explain to someone who has a full stomach every day.
"After Yemen, I went to Saudi Arabia and worked for six months. I earned $750 and that was needed to make sure my family had essential things. I had seven people to look after."
Amira Ali Mohammed wanted to exchange work in Saudi Arabia for the daily dangers of Mogadishu had paid a fixer $40 for the trip. In the early hours of the morning, on the way to the boat, the man and his companion dragged her off and attacked her.
Sitting on a floor of stamped mud in a shelter of torn fabric at '100 Bush' a refugee camp of unrelieved squalor, the 22 year old, who had fled from Mogadishu, recalled, "They suddenly got hold of my arms and started to drag me away. It was on the beach, I could see people in the distance going toward the boat, but there was no one near. I started screaming and screaming.
"The men got scared and I ran back. I could not face going to that boat again. I wanted to work as a maid in Saudi Arabia, they pay you well there. The money was given by my parents, now I have no more money and I am stuck here in this place. I cannot go back to Mogadishu, it is too dangerous."
Betsiba Zerihun, an official with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) who counsels women who are trying to migrate illegally, said: "Girls are in great danger in this situation. I have recently dealt with the case of a 17-year-old girl who was going to catch a boat. She was sleeping in a shed on the beach when she was taken away. She was gang raped by nine men. She died."
Officially there are currently 80,000 registered refugees in Yemen, of whom 75,000 are Somalis. Unofficial estimates put the real figure at several hundred thousands.
Most of those migrants want to seek jobs outside Yemen, in Saudi and the Gulf states. Others, however, want to go further afield, into Europe and Britain.
In a sultry day of sauna-like heat, the workers at Bossaso's dockside were humping huge bags of cement at one dollar a day. Many of them had been smuggled abroad before and then been deported back to Somalia. But there is a general desire to try again and some want to try their luck in the West, with England as the preferred destination.
Mahmud Abdi Mohammed, 33, made the journey in a boat built for 50 taking 170. He recalled how the crew would lash out with sticks if the passengers tried to stand up. " I was hit on the head and blood kept pouring out", he said. "But at least we were not made to go into the water."
If he were to go abroad again, it would be to Europe. He charted the way: "I would go from Yemen into Syria and from there to Turkey and then make my way up."
Abdi Ali Noor, 28, would go to England. "That is my dream, I just want to work hard and get good money there, then I will come back home. I will be no trouble to anyone," he said.
The men appear well informed about the situation of Somalis in Europe and North America.
Noor said, "They are blaming all the people for crimes committed by just a few, that is a generalization." Mohammed quickly interjected " If someone commits murder, that is wrong in the eyes of Allah, and he should get his punishment. People go to Britain because they know someone already there. This will continue."
Dennis McNamara, the UN's special adviser on displaced people, said: "What is happening here is horrific. As bad as the worst cases involving migration. In fact, we have never seen photos like the ones we are seeing here, of men, women and children drowned with their hands tied behind their backs."
"Some of the luckier ones will end up in Europe. It is in the self-interest of Western nations who say they do not want this influx from the south to help this region so that people do not have to make these dreadful journeys."
One of the main problems in dealing with the crisis is endemic corruption.
The racketeers have ties with senior officials in the Puntland administration.
At the central police station 30 people, including women, are being held for offences involving human trafficking -- the catch is that none of them are smugglers, but would-be migrants.
One of those incarcerated is 35 year old Amal Hussein Ali whose seven children are back in Mogadishu, in the care of an aged mother. She faces a minimum of one and maximum of three years in prison, said police Chief Colonel Mohammed Rashid Juma.
The colonel professes sympathy for Amal's plight, but then continues,"she has gone beyond the law, she is an illegal immigrant which is forbidden under the Puntland constitution. I am here to defend the constitution from danger. She is a criminal."
But there is no such law under the constitution. According to Somali sources, the police are waiting for the clans of the prisoners to buy them out. The human trafficking industry continues to be a profitable one for dealing in misery.
Source: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com
Men from Jowhar in lawless southern Somalia head for Bossaso in hopes of getting on a smuggler's boat for Yemen and working illegally in Saudi Arabia.
At Qaw, 35 kilometres west of Bossaso, Puntland, Somalia, would-be passengers, -- not knowing if they were cheated --hopefully wait for their small boat for Yemen.
New female Somali police officers fall in line under police Chief Colonel Mohammed Rashid Juma.Somali women wait for a smuggler's boat (in background) that was due to leave for Yemen. Most passengers are between 15 and 30 years of age.
Somalia's people-
smuggling racket is the most lucrative -- and most lethal -- in the worldBy Kim Sengupta The Independent
BOSSASO (May 27, 2006)
The ones who want to go are desperate and those offering to take them across the sea are greedy and murderous -- fateful encounters which are resulting in a trail of death and misery in the horn of Africa.
The human trafficking trade from Somalia is now one of the busiest, most lucrative and the most lethal in the world. The ferocious violence and anarchy in the region has kept both the scale of profits and misery the most hidden from outside eyes.
Now, say the United Nations and humanitarian agencies, the extent of people smuggling in the region rivals traditional routes into Europe from Africa via the Mediterranean, which has its own images of mass drownings.
But the body count in the route from Somalia to Yemen -- which then leads on to the Middle East and Europe -- is actually higher, and the type of deaths meted out even more shocking.
Every month, dozens of corpses are found floating in the Arabian Sea, often with gunshot wounds, often with hands tied behind their back -- victims of vicious traffickers who have jettisoned their cargo in the most final way.
The question of illegal migration and asylum seekers is a hot topic now in the West, and nowhere more so than in Britain, with mainstream politicians -- not just from the far right -- playing the race card.
The latest groups of foreigners to be subjected to critical, often xenophobic, scrutiny are the Somalis, who have recently arrived in Britain large numbers.
Members of the community have been blamed for recent high profile murders, and have also been accused of an array of offences from gang fighting to fraud to the importation of khat, a hallucinogenic plant.
Here, in the streets of Bossaso, on the very tip of the horn of Africa, one gets to see the sheer grinding poverty, the drought and the endless strife that is driving the dispossessed from not only Somalia, but also neighbouring Ethiopia to risk the most perilous voyage in the world.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an average of 30 boats a month are arriving in Yemen from Bossaso. The numbers of deaths are said to be hundreds but could well be thousands. Earlier this month at least 39 passengers drowned after being forced to jump off their smuggling boat at gunpoint. It was one of many such incidents.
Bossaso in Puntland, a self-declared autonomous area in northwest Somalia, is now the world's busiest smuggling hub.
The remittance the workers who do get jobs send back to their families is the biggest foreign revenue earner for Somalia, a country with no economic infrastructure and where the recently elected government cannot even get into the capital being wracked by a civil war between Islamists and warlords.
Under the rules of the 'war on terror' the Americans are backing the warlords, their enemies during the ill-fated intervention in Somalia 13 years ago.
The very few who can afford it will pay around $75 Cdn to stow away on larger ships. But for the vast majority the journey will be spent packed in leaky boats manned by Kalashnikov carrying crews who, having collected the per head fee of around $ 30 up front, can kill them with little or no risk of ever getting caught.
The boats used for the trips are moored at the portside, swaying on the waves. Designed to take 20 to 30 people, they will have upwards of hundreds packed into them for the night time crossings.
The gross overcrowding predictably leads to frequent breakdowns, which the owners solve by flinging their human cargoes overboard. Many of those who survive the journey are left scarred by being pressed against searing engines and exposure to bitingly cold winds at nights.
In one particularly horrific case, the crew of the smuggling boat killed all the passengers, except a 10-year-old Ethiopian boy, Badesa, who was kept to clean the boat.
He was eventually dumped back in Bossaso where he was discovered after sitting on the pavement for days on end with little water and no food. The International Organization for Migration took him to a hospital and arranged his repatriation back to Ethiopia. He is now recovering from starvation but unable to speak, traumatized from his horrific experience.
Women and young girls -- a surprisingly large number among the travellers -- are vulnerable to sexual abuse and being sold to brothels in Arab countries.
The women also have to cope with other, common, dangers. Farhia Ahmed Mohammed, 17, was packed into a boat with 94 others on a trip to Yemen six months ago, lasting two days and nights when two of the passengers asked for water from the crew.
"The owner and his men had water, but they refused to give it", said Farhia, a tiny girl in a red traditional jelabib, from Ethiopia." There was an argument and they shot the two men with their Kalashnikovs. Then they threw the bodies over the side. A woman who also asked for water was beaten with a stick.
"When we got near the shore, the rest of us were thrown into the ocean.
I could swim but even then it took me 45 minutes to get to the land. There were others who could not swim; six of them were children. I think they were all right because everyone helped each other out."
Farhia returned to Bossaso earlier this year, but after failing to find any work, she is thinking of getting on the migrant trail again back to the Middle East, and, if possible, on to England.
Fued Yusuf, 27, from Mogadishu, was on a boat when fellow passengers were forced into the sea. He and 169 others, squashed into a space 3 metres long and a metre and a half wide, had almost reached their destination when the engine broke down.
"The time on the boat was terrible, there were so many of us that we could not move. At the end we could see the lights of the villages on the coast, but then the boat stopped", he recalled.
"The owner and his men had AK 47s and they told a group of men to jump out and swim. They had no choice. Those who could swim made it to the shore, but the ones who could not, died. I don't know how many. There were other deaths, because there was no fresh water left, one man began to drink sea water. His eyes rolled, and he died.
"You can ask, 'why should people take such risks?' But if you are really poor, and have no way of feeding your wife and children, you have to take a chance. This is difficult to explain to someone who has a full stomach every day.
"After Yemen, I went to Saudi Arabia and worked for six months. I earned $750 and that was needed to make sure my family had essential things. I had seven people to look after."
Amira Ali Mohammed wanted to exchange work in Saudi Arabia for the daily dangers of Mogadishu had paid a fixer $40 for the trip. In the early hours of the morning, on the way to the boat, the man and his companion dragged her off and attacked her.
Sitting on a floor of stamped mud in a shelter of torn fabric at '100 Bush' a refugee camp of unrelieved squalor, the 22 year old, who had fled from Mogadishu, recalled, "They suddenly got hold of my arms and started to drag me away. It was on the beach, I could see people in the distance going toward the boat, but there was no one near. I started screaming and screaming.
"The men got scared and I ran back. I could not face going to that boat again. I wanted to work as a maid in Saudi Arabia, they pay you well there. The money was given by my parents, now I have no more money and I am stuck here in this place. I cannot go back to Mogadishu, it is too dangerous."
Betsiba Zerihun, an official with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) who counsels women who are trying to migrate illegally, said: "Girls are in great danger in this situation. I have recently dealt with the case of a 17-year-old girl who was going to catch a boat. She was sleeping in a shed on the beach when she was taken away. She was gang raped by nine men. She died."
Officially there are currently 80,000 registered refugees in Yemen, of whom 75,000 are Somalis. Unofficial estimates put the real figure at several hundred thousands.
Most of those migrants want to seek jobs outside Yemen, in Saudi and the Gulf states. Others, however, want to go further afield, into Europe and Britain.
In a sultry day of sauna-like heat, the workers at Bossaso's dockside were humping huge bags of cement at one dollar a day. Many of them had been smuggled abroad before and then been deported back to Somalia. But there is a general desire to try again and some want to try their luck in the West, with England as the preferred destination.
Mahmud Abdi Mohammed, 33, made the journey in a boat built for 50 taking 170. He recalled how the crew would lash out with sticks if the passengers tried to stand up. " I was hit on the head and blood kept pouring out", he said. "But at least we were not made to go into the water."
If he were to go abroad again, it would be to Europe. He charted the way: "I would go from Yemen into Syria and from there to Turkey and then make my way up."
Abdi Ali Noor, 28, would go to England. "That is my dream, I just want to work hard and get good money there, then I will come back home. I will be no trouble to anyone," he said.
The men appear well informed about the situation of Somalis in Europe and North America.
Noor said, "They are blaming all the people for crimes committed by just a few, that is a generalization." Mohammed quickly interjected " If someone commits murder, that is wrong in the eyes of Allah, and he should get his punishment. People go to Britain because they know someone already there. This will continue."
Dennis McNamara, the UN's special adviser on displaced people, said: "What is happening here is horrific. As bad as the worst cases involving migration. In fact, we have never seen photos like the ones we are seeing here, of men, women and children drowned with their hands tied behind their backs."
"Some of the luckier ones will end up in Europe. It is in the self-interest of Western nations who say they do not want this influx from the south to help this region so that people do not have to make these dreadful journeys."
One of the main problems in dealing with the crisis is endemic corruption.
The racketeers have ties with senior officials in the Puntland administration.
At the central police station 30 people, including women, are being held for offences involving human trafficking -- the catch is that none of them are smugglers, but would-be migrants.
One of those incarcerated is 35 year old Amal Hussein Ali whose seven children are back in Mogadishu, in the care of an aged mother. She faces a minimum of one and maximum of three years in prison, said police Chief Colonel Mohammed Rashid Juma.
The colonel professes sympathy for Amal's plight, but then continues,"she has gone beyond the law, she is an illegal immigrant which is forbidden under the Puntland constitution. I am here to defend the constitution from danger. She is a criminal."
But there is no such law under the constitution. According to Somali sources, the police are waiting for the clans of the prisoners to buy them out. The human trafficking industry continues to be a profitable one for dealing in misery.
Source: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com
Refugee runs to Canadian citizenship
Native Ethiopian wants to put Canada back on marathon map
Martin Cleary, The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Dagne Debela's introduction to the ING Ottawa Marathon in 2004 was a forgettable experience.
After arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, just a few days before the race, he had difficulty reaching the downtown start line on time.
When the internationally-ranked marathon runner finally ran under the start banner, he was 10 minutes behind the leaders in what was to become a race record run of two hours 11 minutes 47.4 seconds by Elly Rono of Kenya.
If Debela has made it to the start on time with a proper warmup, he might have finished in the top five and earned some prize money for his wife and two daughters back home.
"I came for the purpose of finishing first," he said earlier this week at the Get Psyched for the Ottawa Race Weekend dinner. "Because I lost that time, I was really upset."
However, competitive road racing has become a lower priority for Debela, who has lived in Ottawa since that race. Instead, his focus has been on working two jobs to save enough money so his wife, Tsehay, and daughters, Yodit, 13, and Sosena, four, can move to Ottawa this summer. He stayed in Canada as a conventional refugee because of "lots of ups and downs in the politics back home."
Once he can be reunited with his family and obtain Canadian citizenship, he hopes to put his new country back on the map for men's marathon running. Canada hasn't had a world-class male marathoner since Jerome Drayton in the 1970s.
It doesn't matter that Debela is 37 and may be 42 by the time he gets citizenship. He feels age is no barrier to fast marathon times.
Debela is considering returning to the Ottawa Race Weekend by running the two-day event's most popular race, the half-marathon, tomorrow.
As of Thursday night, the registration numbers for the 10 races had eclipsed last year's record of 26,224 and were fast approaching 30,000. Two days before tonight's opening MDS Nordion five-kilometre and 10-kilometre races, which start at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively, at the corner of Elgin Street and Laurier Avenue, the registration total was 27,441. In the past, late registrations have added 2,000 to 3,000 runners to those totals. Registration is scheduled to close early this afternoon at Ottawa City Hall.
The half-marathon is the most popular with 7,249 runners, a 26-per-cent increase over last year. The other significant numbers are 6,793 for the 10-kilometre race, 6,097 for the five-kilometre race, 3,573 for the marathon and 2,134 for the two-kilometre run/walk.
The 32nd marathon starts tomorrow at 7 a.m. on Elgin at Laurier.
In his prime, Debela ranked 12th fastest in the marathon in 2000, and he won five international marathons or half-marathons in his career.
He could do that because he was a full-time runner in Ethiopia, training three times a day six days a week. In Canada, though, working two jobs has reduced his training to three evenings a week and produced slower times in a reduced number of distance road races.
If Debela can obtain landed immigrant status and then Canadian citizenship, he hopes to become a full-time runner again, enjoying the benefits of proper nutrition, comfort and training while representing Canada.
"If it's all done for me, it will be long, but age is not a limit," he said. "For the marathon, there is no age (problem).
"My goal is running, and I'm not finished my goal. I have to run, and then I want to teach the youngsters to run. I want to give Canada a big name (in the marathon)."
Defending champions David Cheruiyot of Kenya and Lidia Vasilevskaia of Russia will be among the favourites for tomorrow's marathon.
Cheruiyot will be chased by Kenyan countrymen Ben Kimondiu, the 2001 Chicago Marathon champion, Henry Tarus, Nelson Njeru Ndereva and Rono. Makhosonke Fika of South Africa also is a contender.
Toronto's Lioudmila Kortchaguina will be looking to become the first runner to win the women's race three times. The 2002 and 2004 champion, Kortchaguina missed achieving that goal last year, when she placed second to Vasilevskaia.
Instead, Kortchaguina settled for recognition as the top Canadian two days after she received her citizenship in Toronto.
Kenya's Magdalene Syombua Makunzi will be making her marathon debut, but is expected to be among the leaders.
Jeff Adams of Toronto and Alan Bergman of Vancouver will battle for the Canadian wheelchair marathon championship tomorrow, while Clayton Gerein of Pilot Butte, Sask., and Dean Bergeron of Quebec City are favoured in the quad class.
The CBC will televise highlights of the Ottawa Race Weekend next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Live results for all of the races can be found at www.sportstats.ca.
http://www.canada.com
Martin Cleary, The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Dagne Debela's introduction to the ING Ottawa Marathon in 2004 was a forgettable experience.
After arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, just a few days before the race, he had difficulty reaching the downtown start line on time.
When the internationally-ranked marathon runner finally ran under the start banner, he was 10 minutes behind the leaders in what was to become a race record run of two hours 11 minutes 47.4 seconds by Elly Rono of Kenya.
If Debela has made it to the start on time with a proper warmup, he might have finished in the top five and earned some prize money for his wife and two daughters back home.
"I came for the purpose of finishing first," he said earlier this week at the Get Psyched for the Ottawa Race Weekend dinner. "Because I lost that time, I was really upset."
However, competitive road racing has become a lower priority for Debela, who has lived in Ottawa since that race. Instead, his focus has been on working two jobs to save enough money so his wife, Tsehay, and daughters, Yodit, 13, and Sosena, four, can move to Ottawa this summer. He stayed in Canada as a conventional refugee because of "lots of ups and downs in the politics back home."
Once he can be reunited with his family and obtain Canadian citizenship, he hopes to put his new country back on the map for men's marathon running. Canada hasn't had a world-class male marathoner since Jerome Drayton in the 1970s.
It doesn't matter that Debela is 37 and may be 42 by the time he gets citizenship. He feels age is no barrier to fast marathon times.
Debela is considering returning to the Ottawa Race Weekend by running the two-day event's most popular race, the half-marathon, tomorrow.
As of Thursday night, the registration numbers for the 10 races had eclipsed last year's record of 26,224 and were fast approaching 30,000. Two days before tonight's opening MDS Nordion five-kilometre and 10-kilometre races, which start at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively, at the corner of Elgin Street and Laurier Avenue, the registration total was 27,441. In the past, late registrations have added 2,000 to 3,000 runners to those totals. Registration is scheduled to close early this afternoon at Ottawa City Hall.
The half-marathon is the most popular with 7,249 runners, a 26-per-cent increase over last year. The other significant numbers are 6,793 for the 10-kilometre race, 6,097 for the five-kilometre race, 3,573 for the marathon and 2,134 for the two-kilometre run/walk.
The 32nd marathon starts tomorrow at 7 a.m. on Elgin at Laurier.
In his prime, Debela ranked 12th fastest in the marathon in 2000, and he won five international marathons or half-marathons in his career.
He could do that because he was a full-time runner in Ethiopia, training three times a day six days a week. In Canada, though, working two jobs has reduced his training to three evenings a week and produced slower times in a reduced number of distance road races.
If Debela can obtain landed immigrant status and then Canadian citizenship, he hopes to become a full-time runner again, enjoying the benefits of proper nutrition, comfort and training while representing Canada.
"If it's all done for me, it will be long, but age is not a limit," he said. "For the marathon, there is no age (problem).
"My goal is running, and I'm not finished my goal. I have to run, and then I want to teach the youngsters to run. I want to give Canada a big name (in the marathon)."
Defending champions David Cheruiyot of Kenya and Lidia Vasilevskaia of Russia will be among the favourites for tomorrow's marathon.
Cheruiyot will be chased by Kenyan countrymen Ben Kimondiu, the 2001 Chicago Marathon champion, Henry Tarus, Nelson Njeru Ndereva and Rono. Makhosonke Fika of South Africa also is a contender.
Toronto's Lioudmila Kortchaguina will be looking to become the first runner to win the women's race three times. The 2002 and 2004 champion, Kortchaguina missed achieving that goal last year, when she placed second to Vasilevskaia.
Instead, Kortchaguina settled for recognition as the top Canadian two days after she received her citizenship in Toronto.
Kenya's Magdalene Syombua Makunzi will be making her marathon debut, but is expected to be among the leaders.
Jeff Adams of Toronto and Alan Bergman of Vancouver will battle for the Canadian wheelchair marathon championship tomorrow, while Clayton Gerein of Pilot Butte, Sask., and Dean Bergeron of Quebec City are favoured in the quad class.
The CBC will televise highlights of the Ottawa Race Weekend next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Live results for all of the races can be found at www.sportstats.ca.
http://www.canada.com
Ethiopian Government vs. Blogspot.com: Why Freedom Loses
Scott A. Morgan
May 24, 2006
There is an unwritten rule in an autocratic society that the news and other information disseminated must be sanitized to paint the government in a positive light. Furthermore other sources of information have to either be reduced to being a non-factor or being banned all together.
Since the 17th of May websites that have been critical of the Ethiopian Government have not been accessible to their readers in Ethiopia. This includes the sites that are hosted on blogspot.com. Despite the fact that there has been no official word from the authorities in Addis Ababa it is widely accepted that this is an effort at censorship and not a technical glitch.
There have been some major internal problems in Ethiopia in Recent months. A highly controversial election has had two major results. First there were violent street protests that left dozens of people killed and the other and potentially the most damning is the treason trial of members of the Opposition that sit in Parliament that refused to take their duly elected seats after the results of the election.
The Group, Reporters Without Borders, recently sent a letter to the Ethiopian Minister of Information seeking clarification into this Matter. It stated in the letter that “Preventing debate and controlling news and information circulating online will only aggravate an already very tense political climate.”
The letter also made the statement that blocking access to the server has the effect of censoring all of the publications hosted on the site. Most of these sites do not deal with either Politics or Ethiopia in that matter. But the Government feels that it needs to take this action to control the flow of information.
This is not the only country in Africa where there are concerted efforts to limit the flow of information. There are serious efforts to limit the flow of information on the web notably this occurs in Zimbabwe and the DRC. But the efforts in Zimbabwe may be the proper comparison into the effort to limit the free flow of Information. Once again Freedom has taken a shot. But will its defenders rise to the task of defending it?
The Author comments on US Policy and Human Rights in Africa. He can be contacted at scott_morgan_23220@yahoo.com
Source: www.americanchronicle.com
May 24, 2006
There is an unwritten rule in an autocratic society that the news and other information disseminated must be sanitized to paint the government in a positive light. Furthermore other sources of information have to either be reduced to being a non-factor or being banned all together.
Since the 17th of May websites that have been critical of the Ethiopian Government have not been accessible to their readers in Ethiopia. This includes the sites that are hosted on blogspot.com. Despite the fact that there has been no official word from the authorities in Addis Ababa it is widely accepted that this is an effort at censorship and not a technical glitch.
There have been some major internal problems in Ethiopia in Recent months. A highly controversial election has had two major results. First there were violent street protests that left dozens of people killed and the other and potentially the most damning is the treason trial of members of the Opposition that sit in Parliament that refused to take their duly elected seats after the results of the election.
The Group, Reporters Without Borders, recently sent a letter to the Ethiopian Minister of Information seeking clarification into this Matter. It stated in the letter that “Preventing debate and controlling news and information circulating online will only aggravate an already very tense political climate.”
The letter also made the statement that blocking access to the server has the effect of censoring all of the publications hosted on the site. Most of these sites do not deal with either Politics or Ethiopia in that matter. But the Government feels that it needs to take this action to control the flow of information.
This is not the only country in Africa where there are concerted efforts to limit the flow of information. There are serious efforts to limit the flow of information on the web notably this occurs in Zimbabwe and the DRC. But the efforts in Zimbabwe may be the proper comparison into the effort to limit the free flow of Information. Once again Freedom has taken a shot. But will its defenders rise to the task of defending it?
The Author comments on US Policy and Human Rights in Africa. He can be contacted at scott_morgan_23220@yahoo.com
Source: www.americanchronicle.com
Ethiopia transfers 17 Oromo prisoners at Karchalle Prison
Saturday 27 May 2006
Oromo Liberation Front News
May 26, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Seventeen prisoners of conscience - including teen-age students - have been brought to the Kerchalle Prison in Addis Ababa from various parts of Oromia region, and they are being held without visits by their family members nor by known human rights groups, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) reported on Thursday.
The following is the full text:
* * *
OROMIA - Seventeen prisoners were brought to Kerchelle Prison from different parts of Oromia in connection with the nationwide Oromo public uprising that have been going against the dictatorial regime since November 2005. It was also known that some of the prisoners were brought to Karchallee Prison from Wallagaa, Amboo and some other parts of Oromia.
It was reported that neither the Red Cross nor their family members were allowed to visit them. The prisoners did not commit any crime and no charges have been brought forward against them. They are being tortured and abused because the security agents suspect them of participating in Oromo public uprising without any evidence. It is a known fact that government security agents torture prisoners in order to force confession of guilt.
Family members and relatives of the innocent prisoners of conscience appeal to all human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and diplomatic missions to exert a pressure on the government to be allowed to visit them and facilitate the release of the victims. An appeal is also made to the organizations to force the government to stop the inhuman and barbaric acts against innocent citizens in the country in general and the Oromo people in particular.
The following prisoners of conscience are among those imprisoned:
1. Tsaayinash Alamuu Yoseef - 16-year-old student from Gimbii Comp Secondary School (physical injury to uterus - unable to conceive)
2. Galaanee Qixxeessaa Yaadataa - 16-year-old student from Gimbii paralysed after shot in the leg
3. Roomaan Addaamuu Baayisaa - 14-year-old student murdered in her home in Gimbii
4. Daawwiti Mokonnin Qinaaxxii - 18-year-old student from Gimbii tortured, now in hiding
5. Yahannis Mokonnin Qinaaxxii - 16-year-old student from Gimbii now in jail and condemned to endless court appearances
6. Zalaalem Mulaatuu Nagarii - 17-year-old student from Gimbii tortured and now lives in hiding
7. Gammachis Yoseef Ayyaanaa - 14-year-old student from Gimbii now lives in hiding after jailed for two months in Karchalle
NOTE - On the same day when Roomaan Addaamuu Baayisaa was murdered in her family’s residence, her 65 years old aunt was attacked by government security forces, causing severe damage (breakage) on her leg.
Oromo Liberation Front News
May 26, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Seventeen prisoners of conscience - including teen-age students - have been brought to the Kerchalle Prison in Addis Ababa from various parts of Oromia region, and they are being held without visits by their family members nor by known human rights groups, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) reported on Thursday.
The following is the full text:
* * *
OROMIA - Seventeen prisoners were brought to Kerchelle Prison from different parts of Oromia in connection with the nationwide Oromo public uprising that have been going against the dictatorial regime since November 2005. It was also known that some of the prisoners were brought to Karchallee Prison from Wallagaa, Amboo and some other parts of Oromia.
It was reported that neither the Red Cross nor their family members were allowed to visit them. The prisoners did not commit any crime and no charges have been brought forward against them. They are being tortured and abused because the security agents suspect them of participating in Oromo public uprising without any evidence. It is a known fact that government security agents torture prisoners in order to force confession of guilt.
Family members and relatives of the innocent prisoners of conscience appeal to all human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and diplomatic missions to exert a pressure on the government to be allowed to visit them and facilitate the release of the victims. An appeal is also made to the organizations to force the government to stop the inhuman and barbaric acts against innocent citizens in the country in general and the Oromo people in particular.
The following prisoners of conscience are among those imprisoned:
1. Tsaayinash Alamuu Yoseef - 16-year-old student from Gimbii Comp Secondary School (physical injury to uterus - unable to conceive)
2. Galaanee Qixxeessaa Yaadataa - 16-year-old student from Gimbii paralysed after shot in the leg
3. Roomaan Addaamuu Baayisaa - 14-year-old student murdered in her home in Gimbii
4. Daawwiti Mokonnin Qinaaxxii - 18-year-old student from Gimbii tortured, now in hiding
5. Yahannis Mokonnin Qinaaxxii - 16-year-old student from Gimbii now in jail and condemned to endless court appearances
6. Zalaalem Mulaatuu Nagarii - 17-year-old student from Gimbii tortured and now lives in hiding
7. Gammachis Yoseef Ayyaanaa - 14-year-old student from Gimbii now lives in hiding after jailed for two months in Karchalle
NOTE - On the same day when Roomaan Addaamuu Baayisaa was murdered in her family’s residence, her 65 years old aunt was attacked by government security forces, causing severe damage (breakage) on her leg.
May 26, 2006
Eritrea blames US of backing Ethiopia in border talks
5/26/2006 AFP
NAIROBI • Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki has accused the United States of favouring Ethiopia in talks with Eritrea to end a dispute over their border. Stuck in a dangerous stalemate since their 1998-2000 border war, tensions have been high between the two Horn of Africa countries over the past year.
The United States has tried to break the impasse and persuade the two countries to accept a 2002 decision by an independent commission which demarcated the border.
But Isaias said the United States is giving “misinformation on ‘people and villages that will be divided’” as part of a ploy to back Ethiopia’s position.
“It is engaged in putting pressure on the boundary commission as well as trying to wrest the case from its jurisdiction,” Isaias said in a speech on Wednesday marking the 15th anniversary of the liberation of the capital Asmara.
“The US administration is in effect vouching for and encouraging the TPLF’s (Ethiopian government’s) defiance of international law thereby undermining the integrity of treaties, the rule of law and the boundary commission’s decision,” he said.
The speech was later posted on the Eritrean Information Ministry’s Web site shabait.com.
The United States embassy in Asmara had no immediate comment. In a 2000 peace deal, the two countries agreed to mark their border according to a final independent boundary commission ruling, which was made in April 2002.
Ethiopia, which balked at carrying out the decision that awarded a key town to Eritrea, has since said it will accept it as long as there are talks about how it will be done.
Eritrea has demanded that the deal be followed as agreed, with no questions asked.
“The U.S. administration bears primary responsibility for the complication of the process,” Isaias said.
NAIROBI • Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki has accused the United States of favouring Ethiopia in talks with Eritrea to end a dispute over their border. Stuck in a dangerous stalemate since their 1998-2000 border war, tensions have been high between the two Horn of Africa countries over the past year.
The United States has tried to break the impasse and persuade the two countries to accept a 2002 decision by an independent commission which demarcated the border.
But Isaias said the United States is giving “misinformation on ‘people and villages that will be divided’” as part of a ploy to back Ethiopia’s position.
“It is engaged in putting pressure on the boundary commission as well as trying to wrest the case from its jurisdiction,” Isaias said in a speech on Wednesday marking the 15th anniversary of the liberation of the capital Asmara.
“The US administration is in effect vouching for and encouraging the TPLF’s (Ethiopian government’s) defiance of international law thereby undermining the integrity of treaties, the rule of law and the boundary commission’s decision,” he said.
The speech was later posted on the Eritrean Information Ministry’s Web site shabait.com.
The United States embassy in Asmara had no immediate comment. In a 2000 peace deal, the two countries agreed to mark their border according to a final independent boundary commission ruling, which was made in April 2002.
Ethiopia, which balked at carrying out the decision that awarded a key town to Eritrea, has since said it will accept it as long as there are talks about how it will be done.
Eritrea has demanded that the deal be followed as agreed, with no questions asked.
“The U.S. administration bears primary responsibility for the complication of the process,” Isaias said.
May 24, 2006
Out of Africa, a trickle of orphans
Millions of children need homes, but barriers keep them from eager couples overseas
STEPHANIE NOLEN
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
ADDIS ABABA — Last week, it was two little boys, each found abandoned in a dusty side street. Police turned the babies over to Ethiopia's child-welfare bureau, which in turn called Montegbosh Asmare. Within hours, she had begun the process of sending them to a new life with eager families in Europe, two of the 1,500 children who will be adopted from Ethiopia this year.
Adoption from this country -- interest in which has skyrocketed since the world's most famous adoptive parent, actor Angelina Jolie, adopted an Ethiopian baby girl last year -- is not without controversies. Even Ms. Asmare, who runs a foster home that cares for children until one of the dozen international adoption agencies in Ethiopia arranges a permanent placement overseas, is troubled by it.
"It's a matter of not having other options," she said. "We say, 'This is the last option. If you have children you can't care for, then intercountry adoption is the best thing.' But preferable would be . . . creating means so they can stay in their own country. Children are the most precious resource of a country, one every nation needs for its future, and it is a loss for them to go."
But as Ms. Asmare points out, Ethiopia has more orphaned children than it knows what to do with, an estimated five million of them. And in this country where annual income is just $110 (Canadian), there are few resources to care for them -- for example, no grants are available for foster-care givers. The impact of AIDS -- nearly two million Ethiopians are infected -- has frayed the traditional networks that might have seen these children fostered by relatives or neighbours. So in these circumstances, Ms. Asmare said, it is difficult to oppose sending the children to loving families abroad.
In fact, the big mystery is why more children don't leave Africa this way: Across the continent, there are 12 million orphans from HIV-AIDS alone, leaving aside the wars and famines and other catastrophes that claim parental lives. Yet of 53 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, international adoptions routinely take place only from Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Liberia -- at best, a few thousand children a year.
Some countries, such as Nigeria and Sudan, expressly forbid the practice, while others, such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, ostensibly allow it, but put such heavy demands on prospective parents -- such as a requirement that they live in the country for as long as several years to conclude the adoption process -- that it is effectively impossible.
South Africa, staggering under the burden of HIV-AIDS, is in the process of rewriting its adoption legislation to make the process easier for people within the country, but international adoption will remain dauntingly bureaucratic and complex.
In Ethiopia, on the other hand, the entire court process can be finished and a passport and visa issued in a matter of weeks after a child is cleared for adoption, providing the parents have their home study and police checks ready.
"I've been in 12 African countries to talk about adoption," said Cheryl Carter-Shotts, who directs the agency Americans for African Adoptions, one of the oldest agencies to work in Ethiopia. "In those countries, the people who work in orphanages are very interested in children being placed out of [the country] for adoption. But the people dealing on a day-to-day basis with the children don't get to make the law." Only Ethiopia has rewritten its legislation to streamline the process, she said.
Part of the issue appears to be cultural: Adoption by strangers is largely unknown in most African cultures, as are orphanages, and even the ravages of AIDS have done little to change that.
Countries such as Swaziland and Zambia, with thousands of orphans for whom there are no blood relations or close family friends left to act as surrogate parents, are facing a perplexing problem: Governments, the United Nations Children's Fund and child-care experts tend to agree that orphanages are not an appropriate response, but there is a visceral resistance on the part of regular people to adopting unknown children.
At the same time, there is a strong belief that the children should not leave their home country and culture -- even though in many cases they are left to live on the streets or raise themselves in households headed by nine-year-olds.
"The culture recognizes foster care. Fostering and placing children with families in their community is a huge part of the community in Africa, like aboriginal communities in Canada, but adoption is an entirely different kettle of fish," said Roberta Galbraith, director of Manitoba-based CAFAC Adoption Agency. "And it's going to take time until there is buy-in that adoption is a positive way of building a family and doesn't have to negate biological family ties."
Yet the fears on the part of African governments are not without justification. Ms. Carter-Shotts said that since Ms. Jolie's adoption heightened awareness of the availability of African babies, there has been a noticeable increase in corruption in the countries she deals with, with unscrupulous agents "buying" children from illiterate village women and local officials demanding money to process payments.
Ms. Asmare, who sends 60 children, mostly infants, to Europe each year, said the hardest part of her job is tracing the families of the children, such as the two infant boys, to make sure their parents are dead or truly can't be found, that there is no other relative who wishes to take the children or who will emerge from the woodwork to demand money after an adoption to foreigners has been arranged. Parents who feel they can't offer their children as much as foreigners can falsely present children as orphans, she said, and she dreads the idea of sending abroad a child who had family back home.
"I think any child with parents has the richest thing, however poor their parents are," she said.
Canadian adoptions from Africa have risen from 42 a decade ago to 105 last year, almost all of them from Ethiopia. CAFAC now has 90 families in the process, and Ms. Galbraith said that as awareness of the relative ease of adopting from Ethiopia has grown, there has been a surge in interest.
While a family seeking to adopt a Caucasian child under a year old in Canada will wait 10 to 12 years, she said, they can have an Ethiopian child that age in about 18 months. The cost, including the legal process in Ethiopia, fostering for the child while that is under way, and Canadian requirements, typically totals between $15,000 and $20,000.
But even with the surge in interest, Ms. Galbraith noted, the government in Ethiopia is left struggling to meet the needs of millions of children. "Adoptions don't even scratch the surface."
STEPHANIE NOLEN
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
ADDIS ABABA — Last week, it was two little boys, each found abandoned in a dusty side street. Police turned the babies over to Ethiopia's child-welfare bureau, which in turn called Montegbosh Asmare. Within hours, she had begun the process of sending them to a new life with eager families in Europe, two of the 1,500 children who will be adopted from Ethiopia this year.
Adoption from this country -- interest in which has skyrocketed since the world's most famous adoptive parent, actor Angelina Jolie, adopted an Ethiopian baby girl last year -- is not without controversies. Even Ms. Asmare, who runs a foster home that cares for children until one of the dozen international adoption agencies in Ethiopia arranges a permanent placement overseas, is troubled by it.
"It's a matter of not having other options," she said. "We say, 'This is the last option. If you have children you can't care for, then intercountry adoption is the best thing.' But preferable would be . . . creating means so they can stay in their own country. Children are the most precious resource of a country, one every nation needs for its future, and it is a loss for them to go."
But as Ms. Asmare points out, Ethiopia has more orphaned children than it knows what to do with, an estimated five million of them. And in this country where annual income is just $110 (Canadian), there are few resources to care for them -- for example, no grants are available for foster-care givers. The impact of AIDS -- nearly two million Ethiopians are infected -- has frayed the traditional networks that might have seen these children fostered by relatives or neighbours. So in these circumstances, Ms. Asmare said, it is difficult to oppose sending the children to loving families abroad.
In fact, the big mystery is why more children don't leave Africa this way: Across the continent, there are 12 million orphans from HIV-AIDS alone, leaving aside the wars and famines and other catastrophes that claim parental lives. Yet of 53 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, international adoptions routinely take place only from Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Liberia -- at best, a few thousand children a year.
Some countries, such as Nigeria and Sudan, expressly forbid the practice, while others, such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, ostensibly allow it, but put such heavy demands on prospective parents -- such as a requirement that they live in the country for as long as several years to conclude the adoption process -- that it is effectively impossible.
South Africa, staggering under the burden of HIV-AIDS, is in the process of rewriting its adoption legislation to make the process easier for people within the country, but international adoption will remain dauntingly bureaucratic and complex.
In Ethiopia, on the other hand, the entire court process can be finished and a passport and visa issued in a matter of weeks after a child is cleared for adoption, providing the parents have their home study and police checks ready.
"I've been in 12 African countries to talk about adoption," said Cheryl Carter-Shotts, who directs the agency Americans for African Adoptions, one of the oldest agencies to work in Ethiopia. "In those countries, the people who work in orphanages are very interested in children being placed out of [the country] for adoption. But the people dealing on a day-to-day basis with the children don't get to make the law." Only Ethiopia has rewritten its legislation to streamline the process, she said.
Part of the issue appears to be cultural: Adoption by strangers is largely unknown in most African cultures, as are orphanages, and even the ravages of AIDS have done little to change that.
Countries such as Swaziland and Zambia, with thousands of orphans for whom there are no blood relations or close family friends left to act as surrogate parents, are facing a perplexing problem: Governments, the United Nations Children's Fund and child-care experts tend to agree that orphanages are not an appropriate response, but there is a visceral resistance on the part of regular people to adopting unknown children.
At the same time, there is a strong belief that the children should not leave their home country and culture -- even though in many cases they are left to live on the streets or raise themselves in households headed by nine-year-olds.
"The culture recognizes foster care. Fostering and placing children with families in their community is a huge part of the community in Africa, like aboriginal communities in Canada, but adoption is an entirely different kettle of fish," said Roberta Galbraith, director of Manitoba-based CAFAC Adoption Agency. "And it's going to take time until there is buy-in that adoption is a positive way of building a family and doesn't have to negate biological family ties."
Yet the fears on the part of African governments are not without justification. Ms. Carter-Shotts said that since Ms. Jolie's adoption heightened awareness of the availability of African babies, there has been a noticeable increase in corruption in the countries she deals with, with unscrupulous agents "buying" children from illiterate village women and local officials demanding money to process payments.
Ms. Asmare, who sends 60 children, mostly infants, to Europe each year, said the hardest part of her job is tracing the families of the children, such as the two infant boys, to make sure their parents are dead or truly can't be found, that there is no other relative who wishes to take the children or who will emerge from the woodwork to demand money after an adoption to foreigners has been arranged. Parents who feel they can't offer their children as much as foreigners can falsely present children as orphans, she said, and she dreads the idea of sending abroad a child who had family back home.
"I think any child with parents has the richest thing, however poor their parents are," she said.
Canadian adoptions from Africa have risen from 42 a decade ago to 105 last year, almost all of them from Ethiopia. CAFAC now has 90 families in the process, and Ms. Galbraith said that as awareness of the relative ease of adopting from Ethiopia has grown, there has been a surge in interest.
While a family seeking to adopt a Caucasian child under a year old in Canada will wait 10 to 12 years, she said, they can have an Ethiopian child that age in about 18 months. The cost, including the legal process in Ethiopia, fostering for the child while that is under way, and Canadian requirements, typically totals between $15,000 and $20,000.
But even with the surge in interest, Ms. Galbraith noted, the government in Ethiopia is left struggling to meet the needs of millions of children. "Adoptions don't even scratch the surface."
May 23, 2006
Opinion: Extraordinary Situation Demanding Extraordinary Solutions
By Olaanaa Abboma
abbomaolaana@yahoo.com
Dawud Ibsaa’s recent interview on Les Nouvelles d'Addis and Hassen Hussien’s presentation to the EU Parliament prompted me to write this peace. There is no denying that since the May 2005 elections Ethiopia is entering a new political landscape. Finding itself at a cross-road every few years and taking the wrong turn is not a new phenomenon for Ethiopia. In the last thirty years we had traversed from one crisis to another in search of a political arrangement that could accommodate the diverse national, ethnic and political constituent parts, and every time we had failed. This trajectory has taken us from aristocratic government via military junta and communist state and landed us in a curious state dominated by Tigrai communist clique and intriguingly supported by western powers. In this long political journey the Oromos state of affairs of had somewhat incrementally improved, but there is no denying that the main Oromo question, the question of power remains unresolved.
Both gentlemen’s statement and the news on Ethiopian Review over the weekend clearly indicate that there is something cooking; a recipe is in the making to create a broad coalition of forces. This is a new view for the OLF, and the OLF leadership should be congratulated for thinking out of the box and for taking such a bold and creative action that will promote the Oromo question to a higher level. The Oromo people are the most numerous people in Ethiopia, and the OLF is one of the oldest political organizations in Ethiopia. Both factors demand that the OLF take wise and bold actions that are commensurate with the people it claims to represent. The OLF cannot any longer afford to function in isolations from other Ethiopian people and other organizations, its stature and critical time we live in does not allow it.
What Necessitated This Change and Why Now?
In the past the OLF’s struggle concentrated on implementing the right of self-determination of the Oromo people after defeating and dismantling the Ethiopian state. The current thought, as could be discerned from Obbo Dawud’s interview, if possible is to change the identity of the Ethiopian state through democratic ways. This is a revolutionary idea whose time has come; and I say it should be firmly supported by all those who have Oromo interest at heart. Of course questions will be raised, some serious, some childish, some incisive and some shallow. And along series of question that may be raised, one of the first one will be, “what necessitated this change and why now?”
The first answer is, “the 2005 May election”. As “9/11 changed everything in America,” (President Bush) the May 2005 election changed everything in Ethiopia. Its effect is fundamental; hopefully students of history, political science and other will carefully study its ramifications. Here, I will show only few. First, it showed the possibility of changing the EPRDF government through election. It showed the extent of how much the EPRDF is rejected. The rejection is such that any contested election that is not near perfect could lead to the ousting of the incumbent.
Second, it showed that even though the people have rejected the EPRDF rule and are ready to oust it if they could get any chance to vote, they are not ready sacrifice their lives to achieve this. Mind you, I am not talking about few brave individuals who have been doing this and are still doing this; I am talking about the people as a large group. Third, the election has shown not only the weakness of the government, but also exposed the weakness of the liberation fronts and opposition organizations. Even if they could win elections, when the EPRDF rejected the result of the election, there was nothing much the opposition parties with or without other liberation fronts were able to do. They were not able to mobilize the populace in order to impose the will of the people. It showed the government inability to rule as before, as well as the others inability to take power yet.
Fourth, the May election exposed the true nature of the EPRDF to the international community. Given that this government depended much on the life support of the international community, this is a huge point. No government in Africa had such a good will from the donor countries as much as the EPRDF government. From the very time it came to power the government relied on the international donor countries not only for developmental aid, but also received huge amount of fund for budgetary support. If we look at the political support, we even see a much cozy relation between the west and EPRDF. Meles Zenwai was one of the first to realize the importance of the war on terrorism and one of the first to jump on the bandwagon of antiterrorism forces. The support he received, both economic and political, since then is a matter of public knowledge. He was one of the few African leaders who received the distinction to be labeled one of the new breed of African leaders. He was also one of the few handpicked leader to be on Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa. The May election changed all this, and he had become an embarrassment to the powers and individuals in the international community that supported him. But, even though the international community has cooled its relation and kept its distance, it has not come out and denounce Meles Zenawi’s actions and did not cut diplomatic relation or taken other drastic majors.
More on the Two Tensions
The two tensions described above, i.e., (1) the tension between the peoples’ rejection of the EPRDF, but inability to oust it, and (2) the international community’s realization of the antidemocratic nature of EPRDF, but continuation of its support, could be explained by the fear of the unknown. The fear of what may follow EPRDF is sustaining the EPRDF in power. Although EPRDF speaks in the name of national equality, its policy is not different from the classical divide & rule policy of any oppressive government. Few governments in history have politicized “ethnicity” as much as the EPRDF. It has effectively disseminated a seed of discord between different nations and nationalities in Ethiopia and between different political organizations for targeted benefit. In particular, it has efficiently divided the Oromo and Amhara, the two nations it believes could challenge its rule. It is always difficult for divided people to rise against the common oppressive regime, and this is especially true, where the divided segments fear one another more than the incumbent oppressive rule. To some extent the EPRDF had diligently and subtly worked on this and had also achieved some success. In order to oust the EPRDF, in any way, this should be changed.
The importance of forming an alliance for the OLF with other forces in Ethiopia will mean a huge step in the resolution of those two tensions I mentioned above. The formation of this alliance will diffuse the artificial contradictions and tension that the EPRDF had created between different peoples and organizations. This will in turn embolden the people to rise in unison against a tyrannical regime that is controlling power and hindering free and fair election. Rather than fear each other more that the force controlling the state machinery, peoples could now concentrate on the real deal rather than on shadow boxing or the ghost of the past. The cooperation of the OLF and other organization will help to promote the peoples rejection of the EPRDF rule to more active action of ousting it through any necessary means if the government does not abide by the will of the people. The intentional rift that the EPRDF created and which is sustaining it on power could only be bridged by forming an alliance of all major organizations.
The international community clearly had understood the antidemocratic nature of EPRDF, but they keep on supporting it not because they have special love for it, but simply because they believe that only chaos, anarchy or civil war will follow the fall of EPRDF. When presented with choice between democracy and stability they always opt for stability. The formation of an alliance will also help allay the fear they have regarding what may follow the aftermath of EPRDF. Such a fear that the EPRDF had purposely created could be only be defeated by forming such an alliance. With the formation of this alliance the international community could no longer justify its support for the EPRDF on the premises of stability.
On the Oromo Cause
The changing political environment in Ethiopia and internationally favors the formation of alliance for the OLF. Friends and foes alike are recognizing the importance of the resolution of the Oromo issue. There is a tacit and explicit recognition of the Oromo question more than any other time by other organizations. It could be safely concluded that no force in the county can any longer avoid the Oromo issue or try to hide it under the rug. There is a universal recognition, albeit reluctant, that the Ethiopian political problems could not be solved without head-on tackling the
Oromo question. This is the result of the resilience of the OLF and the endurance of our people’s struggle. The international community is almost looking at the OLF as one of the major key
players to the persistent problems of the country. They are waiting for a reply from the OLF. The ball is already in OLF’s court, and the OLF should deliver by devising mode of struggle that is palatable to the international community. This is an opportune moment that rarely happens in history, and the OLF should seize the moment and act quickly or else we may lose it, as has happened many times before.
There is a legitimate apprehension among many Oromos regarding some of the organizations that may join this alliance. The basic question is whether these organizations would recognize Oromia. As far as I know there is no party that had officially come out and stated that it would
dismantle the existing federal structure. At worst, we find some saying that this issue should be presented to the decision of the people. I have no problem with this. It should be left to the Oromo people whether they want to have their own self-administration or whether they want
Oromia to be divided into the old Teklai Gizat or some form of structure that would not include the whole of Oromia. I have no doubt that the Oromo people will choose to have Oromia. And if we are confident about our people’s choice then we should not be worried if this issue is presented to our people. It is only with powers that would not agree to bring this issue to the decision of the people that the OLF should not form any alliance. For me at this stage of our existence, the question regarding the Oromo issue is not whether to form a unitary state or federation in Ethiopia, but whether to form an independent Oromia state separate from Ethiopia or forming Oromia state within Ethiopia (real federation). The choice that the Oromo people would make would highly depend on how other organization and parties will handle our issue.
Conclusion
Formation of an alliance will nurture the spirit of cooperation, and will create a foundation on which to build a lasting and durable solution to the many debilitating political, social, and economic problems. The formation of an alliance will help promote democratic values and will
help to overcome attitudinal and structural obstacles for democracy. We have political organizations to lead our struggles and to handle some secondary contradictions from developing into full fledged conflicts, to negotiate and chart new ways and tactics in accordance with changing times and situations. I believe the OLF’s leadership is discharging its responsibility to our people when it is taking such a bold move. Like any new idea, it sure will encounter resistance from some corners. OLF should not be daunted by such resistance, but should build on this creative initiative and continue the struggle. Dogmatic attitudes never achieve victory, particularly when situations are fluid. This is a challenging time, and we should be apt to the challenge. We owe it to our people who have suffered for long.
abbomaolaana@yahoo.com
Dawud Ibsaa’s recent interview on Les Nouvelles d'Addis and Hassen Hussien’s presentation to the EU Parliament prompted me to write this peace. There is no denying that since the May 2005 elections Ethiopia is entering a new political landscape. Finding itself at a cross-road every few years and taking the wrong turn is not a new phenomenon for Ethiopia. In the last thirty years we had traversed from one crisis to another in search of a political arrangement that could accommodate the diverse national, ethnic and political constituent parts, and every time we had failed. This trajectory has taken us from aristocratic government via military junta and communist state and landed us in a curious state dominated by Tigrai communist clique and intriguingly supported by western powers. In this long political journey the Oromos state of affairs of had somewhat incrementally improved, but there is no denying that the main Oromo question, the question of power remains unresolved.
Both gentlemen’s statement and the news on Ethiopian Review over the weekend clearly indicate that there is something cooking; a recipe is in the making to create a broad coalition of forces. This is a new view for the OLF, and the OLF leadership should be congratulated for thinking out of the box and for taking such a bold and creative action that will promote the Oromo question to a higher level. The Oromo people are the most numerous people in Ethiopia, and the OLF is one of the oldest political organizations in Ethiopia. Both factors demand that the OLF take wise and bold actions that are commensurate with the people it claims to represent. The OLF cannot any longer afford to function in isolations from other Ethiopian people and other organizations, its stature and critical time we live in does not allow it.
What Necessitated This Change and Why Now?
In the past the OLF’s struggle concentrated on implementing the right of self-determination of the Oromo people after defeating and dismantling the Ethiopian state. The current thought, as could be discerned from Obbo Dawud’s interview, if possible is to change the identity of the Ethiopian state through democratic ways. This is a revolutionary idea whose time has come; and I say it should be firmly supported by all those who have Oromo interest at heart. Of course questions will be raised, some serious, some childish, some incisive and some shallow. And along series of question that may be raised, one of the first one will be, “what necessitated this change and why now?”
The first answer is, “the 2005 May election”. As “9/11 changed everything in America,” (President Bush) the May 2005 election changed everything in Ethiopia. Its effect is fundamental; hopefully students of history, political science and other will carefully study its ramifications. Here, I will show only few. First, it showed the possibility of changing the EPRDF government through election. It showed the extent of how much the EPRDF is rejected. The rejection is such that any contested election that is not near perfect could lead to the ousting of the incumbent.
Second, it showed that even though the people have rejected the EPRDF rule and are ready to oust it if they could get any chance to vote, they are not ready sacrifice their lives to achieve this. Mind you, I am not talking about few brave individuals who have been doing this and are still doing this; I am talking about the people as a large group. Third, the election has shown not only the weakness of the government, but also exposed the weakness of the liberation fronts and opposition organizations. Even if they could win elections, when the EPRDF rejected the result of the election, there was nothing much the opposition parties with or without other liberation fronts were able to do. They were not able to mobilize the populace in order to impose the will of the people. It showed the government inability to rule as before, as well as the others inability to take power yet.
Fourth, the May election exposed the true nature of the EPRDF to the international community. Given that this government depended much on the life support of the international community, this is a huge point. No government in Africa had such a good will from the donor countries as much as the EPRDF government. From the very time it came to power the government relied on the international donor countries not only for developmental aid, but also received huge amount of fund for budgetary support. If we look at the political support, we even see a much cozy relation between the west and EPRDF. Meles Zenwai was one of the first to realize the importance of the war on terrorism and one of the first to jump on the bandwagon of antiterrorism forces. The support he received, both economic and political, since then is a matter of public knowledge. He was one of the few African leaders who received the distinction to be labeled one of the new breed of African leaders. He was also one of the few handpicked leader to be on Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa. The May election changed all this, and he had become an embarrassment to the powers and individuals in the international community that supported him. But, even though the international community has cooled its relation and kept its distance, it has not come out and denounce Meles Zenawi’s actions and did not cut diplomatic relation or taken other drastic majors.
More on the Two Tensions
The two tensions described above, i.e., (1) the tension between the peoples’ rejection of the EPRDF, but inability to oust it, and (2) the international community’s realization of the antidemocratic nature of EPRDF, but continuation of its support, could be explained by the fear of the unknown. The fear of what may follow EPRDF is sustaining the EPRDF in power. Although EPRDF speaks in the name of national equality, its policy is not different from the classical divide & rule policy of any oppressive government. Few governments in history have politicized “ethnicity” as much as the EPRDF. It has effectively disseminated a seed of discord between different nations and nationalities in Ethiopia and between different political organizations for targeted benefit. In particular, it has efficiently divided the Oromo and Amhara, the two nations it believes could challenge its rule. It is always difficult for divided people to rise against the common oppressive regime, and this is especially true, where the divided segments fear one another more than the incumbent oppressive rule. To some extent the EPRDF had diligently and subtly worked on this and had also achieved some success. In order to oust the EPRDF, in any way, this should be changed.
The importance of forming an alliance for the OLF with other forces in Ethiopia will mean a huge step in the resolution of those two tensions I mentioned above. The formation of this alliance will diffuse the artificial contradictions and tension that the EPRDF had created between different peoples and organizations. This will in turn embolden the people to rise in unison against a tyrannical regime that is controlling power and hindering free and fair election. Rather than fear each other more that the force controlling the state machinery, peoples could now concentrate on the real deal rather than on shadow boxing or the ghost of the past. The cooperation of the OLF and other organization will help to promote the peoples rejection of the EPRDF rule to more active action of ousting it through any necessary means if the government does not abide by the will of the people. The intentional rift that the EPRDF created and which is sustaining it on power could only be bridged by forming an alliance of all major organizations.
The international community clearly had understood the antidemocratic nature of EPRDF, but they keep on supporting it not because they have special love for it, but simply because they believe that only chaos, anarchy or civil war will follow the fall of EPRDF. When presented with choice between democracy and stability they always opt for stability. The formation of an alliance will also help allay the fear they have regarding what may follow the aftermath of EPRDF. Such a fear that the EPRDF had purposely created could be only be defeated by forming such an alliance. With the formation of this alliance the international community could no longer justify its support for the EPRDF on the premises of stability.
On the Oromo Cause
The changing political environment in Ethiopia and internationally favors the formation of alliance for the OLF. Friends and foes alike are recognizing the importance of the resolution of the Oromo issue. There is a tacit and explicit recognition of the Oromo question more than any other time by other organizations. It could be safely concluded that no force in the county can any longer avoid the Oromo issue or try to hide it under the rug. There is a universal recognition, albeit reluctant, that the Ethiopian political problems could not be solved without head-on tackling the
Oromo question. This is the result of the resilience of the OLF and the endurance of our people’s struggle. The international community is almost looking at the OLF as one of the major key
players to the persistent problems of the country. They are waiting for a reply from the OLF. The ball is already in OLF’s court, and the OLF should deliver by devising mode of struggle that is palatable to the international community. This is an opportune moment that rarely happens in history, and the OLF should seize the moment and act quickly or else we may lose it, as has happened many times before.
There is a legitimate apprehension among many Oromos regarding some of the organizations that may join this alliance. The basic question is whether these organizations would recognize Oromia. As far as I know there is no party that had officially come out and stated that it would
dismantle the existing federal structure. At worst, we find some saying that this issue should be presented to the decision of the people. I have no problem with this. It should be left to the Oromo people whether they want to have their own self-administration or whether they want
Oromia to be divided into the old Teklai Gizat or some form of structure that would not include the whole of Oromia. I have no doubt that the Oromo people will choose to have Oromia. And if we are confident about our people’s choice then we should not be worried if this issue is presented to our people. It is only with powers that would not agree to bring this issue to the decision of the people that the OLF should not form any alliance. For me at this stage of our existence, the question regarding the Oromo issue is not whether to form a unitary state or federation in Ethiopia, but whether to form an independent Oromia state separate from Ethiopia or forming Oromia state within Ethiopia (real federation). The choice that the Oromo people would make would highly depend on how other organization and parties will handle our issue.
Conclusion
Formation of an alliance will nurture the spirit of cooperation, and will create a foundation on which to build a lasting and durable solution to the many debilitating political, social, and economic problems. The formation of an alliance will help promote democratic values and will
help to overcome attitudinal and structural obstacles for democracy. We have political organizations to lead our struggles and to handle some secondary contradictions from developing into full fledged conflicts, to negotiate and chart new ways and tactics in accordance with changing times and situations. I believe the OLF’s leadership is discharging its responsibility to our people when it is taking such a bold move. Like any new idea, it sure will encounter resistance from some corners. OLF should not be daunted by such resistance, but should build on this creative initiative and continue the struggle. Dogmatic attitudes never achieve victory, particularly when situations are fluid. This is a challenging time, and we should be apt to the challenge. We owe it to our people who have suffered for long.
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