Ethiopia part 3: Life, marriage, death hang in HIV test results

Strings mean some clinics don’t qualify for U.S. aid

Rekha Basu's Ethiopia Journey

By REKHA BASU
REGISTER COLUMNIST
Dessie, Ethiopia — The man and woman were ushered into a private office in a tidy white concrete structure with metal gratings on the windows.Behind the desk, wearing a white coat, sat Waizer Belay, an efficient, energetic nurse now confronting a difficult task. She had to tell the two, who were planning to marry, that their AIDS tests had come in, and the outcome did not bode well for a marriage.The multi-service Family Guidance Association clinic sits on a bustling stretch of this Ethiopian highland town. Posters on clinic walls tout the benefits of family planning and warn of the dangers of back-alley abortions and ignorance about AIDS.
The meeting took place in a ground-floor office down a hall from the reception area, where the benches were filled with male and female clients of all ages. Belay spoke matter of factly, while in the corner, an interpreter translated for me in whispers. I had been told only seconds before what was to take place.
“We have the results of the HIV tests you took,” the nurse said, then reminded the two of an agreement they had made that whatever the results, they would deal with them appropriately. “You are thinking about marriage. If the results show you are different, then we have to remember [the agreement].”
The man and woman nodded. He was 30, she 18, both divorced. She was wearing a green skirt over pants and a head scarf, and was draped in a bright orange shawl. She was smiling, leaning toward him, her elbow resting on the back of his chair.
The man had closely cropped hair. He wore a brown suit under his shawl.
”She is negative, and you are positive,” Belay said. The man’s face clouded. He said nothing. Neither did the woman. Her smile seemed frozen. Belay asked the man what he was thinking.
”Well, I suppose I can’t marry her,” he said quietly.
The nurse then pressed him on what he understood about living with HIV.
”That person has to be careful throughout his life to not transmit the virus,” replied the man.
The nurse turned to the woman. “And you?” she asked.
”I have to keep myself away from activities that may result in my getting it,” she replied, as if reciting from a manual.
Belay pressed her, suggesting she didn’t think the woman had absorbed the information. “You need to talk freely,” she said. “What did I say to you about your result?”
The woman kept silent.
”Do you think you can marry?” the nurse asked.
”Yes,” she replied, then asked, “What did we say earlier?” It wasn’t registering.
”This is a big issue,” the nurse chided. “You can’t forget this.”
”No, we can’t marry,” the woman said, then adding, “I have to desist from any unprotected sex until marriage.”
The nurse was firm now. “You can’t marry, that is the bottom line,” she said. “If you can’t resist sex actively, use condoms, but abstention is another option.”
The couple left the room, and I asked Belay about their stoic reactions. She explained that it was common in their Muslim culture not to show public emotion.
I pressed: Their marriage plans had just been dashed.
The nurse explained that the couple didn’t actually know each other. The match was arranged by their families.
It was just the luck of the draw that her family picked a man with the AIDS virus. But it’s not uncommon, either. Nineteen percent of the 1,920 people who came in for HIV tests in the past six months were positive.
If the couple hadn’t gotten tested and counseled, the woman’s wedding could also have been her death sentence.An estimated 4.4 percent of Ethiopia’s adult population has the AIDS virus. That translates to 1.5 million or more people — about half the population of Iowa. About that many children have lost at least one parent to AIDS.
It’s becoming more common to see such “discordant couples,” where one is positive and the other negative, Belay said.
It’s a tough sell convincing men to use condoms. And in that region, it’s not uncommon for women to be passed around for sex to their husbands’ brothers.
The two now returned from the waiting room with their brothers.
The nurse asked the men what they had been told. “He told me he has a problem with his blood,” said the man’s brother.
She asked the woman’s brother what the couple had said they were planning to do.
”They told me they haven’t yet decided.”
”Do you know why they came here?” asked the nurse.
”For marriage,” said one brother.
”No, for an HIV test. But until they are willing, I cannot tell you [about it].”
She urged the woman to speak up, and was met again by silence. So the man spoke. “She is free. I have a problem,” he said. “The HIV virus.”
The brothers said little. The nurse confirmed the results and told the relatives this had to be kept secret, and that the marriage could not take place.
They left in apparent agreement.
And that was that.
The good news, if you had to find some in this, is that people are getting tested and counseled appropriately, and it’s making a dent in AIDS transmission. Ethiopia’s government, which in the past denied there was an AIDS problem, is stepping up its AIDS-fighting efforts, aimed at integrating prevention and treatment with reproductive health care so people going in for AIDS aren’t stigmatized. “We shouldn’t force people to reveal themselves,” declares Ethiopia’s health minister, Dr. Tewodros Adhanom.
”We are the source of stigma, the health system itself, in the way that we are approaching HIV,” Adhanom said. “Why do we treat them specially? They are sick, like any other sick person.”
Unfortunately, our own government will not support that approach. The U.S. Agency for International Development won’t give any AIDS money to the Dessie clinic because we require AIDS money to be spent separately from family-planning funds and because of the global gag rule. Under the gag rule, no U.S. government money can go to an organization that also gets money from a source that provides or supports abortion. Abortion is illegal in Ethiopia under most circumstances, but the Family Guidance Association is still ineligible for U.S. aid because it gets money from the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which supports abortion services.
I’m not sure how this makes sense, either to the goal of fighting AIDS or to the goal of promoting family planning. I can’t see it making sense to people like these clients.
They’re having a hard enough time making sense of a fatal diagnosis and a foiled future together.

REKHA BASU can be reached at rbasu@dmreg.com or (515) 284-8584.

For more, check http://desmoinesregister.com

U.S. Tells Ethiopia, Eritrea to Stay Out of Conflict in Somalia

By Judy Mathewson and Ed Johnson

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia and Eritrea must not interfere in the conflict in neighboring Somalia, the U.S. said, after concerns the Somali government's dispute with Islamist fighters may escalate into a regional war.

The U.S. is concerned about foreign ``troop activities'' in Somalia and has asked governments in the Horn of Africa region to ``deescalate tensions,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington yesterday.

The United Nations-backed interim government of President Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed is under threat from the Union of Islamic Courts militia that took over the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in June and is consolidating its control of the country.

Ethiopia, which backs Ahmed's government, says it has deployed military trainers across the 2,000-kilometer (1,243-mile) border with Somalia. There are reports that Eritrea has provided weapons to the Islamic Courts militia, McCormack said.

The Islamists yesterday accused Ethiopia of ``declaring war'' and are threatening to boycott peace talks today with Ahmed's government in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, unless Ethiopian troops are withdrawn, Agence France-Presse said.

Ethiopia and Eritrea shouldn't ``try to use Somalia as a proxy'' for their own disputes in the region, McCormack said. Ethiopia and Eritrea were at war from May 1998 to June 2000 over their border.

Officials at the Ethiopian and Eritrean missions to the UN didn't immediately return calls seeking a response to McCormack's comments.

Al-Qaeda Links

Ahmed's government has accused the Islamists of links to al- Qaeda and is appealing for some 8,000 African Union peacekeepers to be deployed.

The Islamist militia, which has introduced Islamic law in areas it controls, denies it harbors members of the al-Qaeda network. It says its fighters are trying to restore law and security in the country.

``Ethiopia has declared war on Somalia and has already made a large military incursion deep into Somali territory,'' the Islamists said in a letter yesterday to peace talk mediators in Khartoum, AFP reported.

Francois Fall, the UN special envoy for Somalia, said yesterday he expected negotiations scheduled for today will go ahead, AFP reported.

``We do not expect any setback that will stop the delegates from proceeding with the peace talks,'' AFP cited him as saying.

To contact the reporters on this story: Judy Mathewson in Washington at jmathewson@bloomberg.net ; Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net .

Source: www.bloomberg.com

U.N. chief warns that Ethiopia-Eritrea tensions could explode without attention

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says persistent conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea represents a “classic example of the tragedy” of Africa and warned that world attention is needed to keep another war from erupting between the Horn of Africa neighbors.

Annan said U.N. officials are “doing whatever we can to bring the two parties together” but have not able to get the nations to cooperate with each other.

“We need to handle it very carefully before it leads to another explosion,” Annan said during a speech at Georgetown University, where he received an honorary degree.

The tragedy, he said, is that “two poor countries, desperately in need of development” to help their poor citizens, have instead spent hundreds of millions of dollars to arm their militaries for a fight over territory.

Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been consistently strained since Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. A 2 ½-year border war ended with a cease-fire agreement in 2000, but tensions have continued.

Annan said in his speech that while Africa has seen economic and other improvements during his decade as head of the United Nations, much of the continent still faces disease, war, famine and dire poverty.

Annan, an African — he hails from Ghana — whose second and final five-year term ends Dec. 31, said, “Africa needs more and better aid; it needs fairer trade; and it needs a green revolution to improve agricultural production and feed all its people.”

The continent’s wars “cry for African resolve and international attention,” he said. He noted that about half the world’s armed conflicts and three-quarters of the United Nations’ peacekeepers are in Africa.

A bright spot is the election of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first elected woman president in Africa, which, Annan said, “speaks more eloquently about advances in the rights of women than words ever could.”

Source: International Herald Tribune

Islamic leaders bans Somalis from marrying without parents’ knowledge

Ap

Mogadishu: Islamic leaders on Monday banned Somalis from marrying without the consent or knowledge of their parents, saying such unions violate Islam.

“It is against the teaching of our religion and parents do not approve of it,” said Sheik Mahad Mohamed Sheik Hassan, chairman of the regional Islamic court in Wanlawien.

The edict was the latest step to impose strict religious rule as this chaotic nation emerges from more than a decade of anarchy.

The group also has banned live music, the viewing of films and sports, and the use of qat, the leafy semi-narcotic plant, in areas it controls.

The marriage practice of “masaafo” — roughly equivalent to eloping — is common in Somalia because it allows young couples to wed without their parents scuttling the union because they deem the dowry too small or over other objections. Weddings also often cost up to a year’s savings for an average Somali.

Mohamedek Ali, a 21-year-old Somali, said the costs were prohibitive and would prevent many marriages. “They cannot ban what our forefathers practiced,” he said. “All of us, including the mullahs were born from elopement marriage.’’

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.

A transitional government was formed in 2004 with UN help in hopes of restoring order after years of lawlessness. But the government never asserted much authority.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

Addis, Islamic Courts Edge Closer to Open War

The East African

October 30, 2006

John Mbaria, Special Correspondent
Nairobi

That Ethiopia and the Somali Islamists are headed for a military conflict was confirmed last week by Ethiopia's president, Meles Zenawi, who declared that his country was "technically at war" with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

Last week, media reports detailed Zenawi's vow to "crush" the UIC. However, while UIC might not be a match for Ethiopia, the reality on the ground will demonstrate that an all-out war with the Islamists will place Zenawi's regime in a perilous position.

Ethiopia's confidence arises from its perceived military advantage over the Islamists. According to Jane's Defence Weekly, the Ethiopian National Defence Army is estimated to have between 120,000 and 150,000 troops. It is the best equipped military machine in the Horn of Africa, boasting of massive stocks of military hardware that includes old but still serviceable Soviet made T-55 battle tanks, heavy artillery, multiple rocket launchers and towed howitzers.

And though the country's military spending has dropped from close to $1 billion a year during Mengistu Haile Mariam's reign to slightly over $405 million today, it still outstrips its neighbours. As an ardent backer of the United States' counter-terrorism strategy in the region, Ethiopia has been getting substantial US assistance in terms of training, logistics, transport and direct sales of military hardware.

With such preparedness, US counter-terrorist strategists believe the Ethiopian forces might be just what the region needs to check the ambitions of the radical elements within UIC.

Unfortunately, other factors might come into play to destabilise Ethiopia's campaign against the UIC. For one, an Ethiopian war against the Somali Islamists would involve many interested players. Already, there is a growing perception among Muslim countries interested in the conflict that Ethiopia, half of whose population of 77 million are Christians, is leading a US-backed Christian assault against a Muslim country. Muslim countries such as Libya, Egypt, Iran, Yemen, Djibouti and to some extent Saudi Arabia have shown more than a casual interest in supporting the Somali jihadists, if reports emanating from US experts on the region are to be believed.

Zenawi has ruled out firing the first shot. Addressing the press last week, the president talked of his country's restraint, saying the Islamists "will have to force us to fight." But even as he said this, reports showed that hundreds of Ethiopian troops were in Somalia digging trenches at Daynunay, the Transitional Federal Government's military camp outside Baidoa.

This seemed to have encouraged Ethiopia's arch-enemy, Eritrea, which has reportedly opened a new anti-Ethiopian front by supplying the jihadists with arms. Further evidence that Eritrea is spoiling for war with Ethiopia came when the latter moved 1,500 troops into a UN demilitarised zone close to its border with Ethiopia. Seemingly, a war with the Islamists might just be what Eritrea is waiting for and - going by the outcome of the 1998-2000 conflict, which did not have a decisive winner - there is no guarantee that Ethiopia will be victorious this time round.

A war with Somali Islamists could also open new internal battle fronts in Ethiopia. Last week, the leader of the Islamic radicals in Somalia, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, urged Ethiopians to revolt against Zenawi's regime. The country's significant Muslim population might not necessarily heed the call, but give encouragement to groups long engaged in an internal war with successive Ethiopian governments.

One such group is the Oromo people, whose population - standing at 30 million - constitute half of the country's population. Colonised in 1887 by Menelik, an Abyssinian king, the Oromo have never given up the struggle to liberate their territory, Oromiya. According to Jane's Defence Weekly, their biggest military wing, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), is the most robust armed insurgency in Ethiopia. Although it has remained relatively ineffective and has never posed a serious threat to the Ethiopian government, OLF has sustained a low-level guerilla campaign against Ethiopian security forces since it was formed.

Zenawi needs to appreciate the danger posed by real and potential fundamentalists inside Ethiopia. For instance, Jane's Defence Weekly says, another armed group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), not only remains dedicated to self-determination of the Ogaden region - an arid area that is home to four million Ethiopian Somalis - but has also ganged up with radical Islamists in the past. The weekly says that over the years, ONLF has established links with the Al-Ittihad al-Islami, one of the Somali Islamist groups reportedly active in Puntland, which has been accused by the US of being a terrorist organisation.

Many other opposition groups in the country - especially from Afar, Oromiya and Ogaden - operate either as armed militias or as affiliates of armed groups.

Besides the OLF and ONLF, other groups are Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front, Benshangul Liberation Movement, Ogaden National Liberation Front, Sidama Liberation Front, Tigrayan Alliance for National Democracy and the United Oromo Liberation Front.

Analysts say the fact that all these groups have decided to take up arms against Zenawi's regime is testimony to the regime's oppressive style of governance.

Zenawi's regime might have overlooked these scenarios as it seeks to protect President Abdulahi Yusuf's weak government while engaging in a US-proxy war against alleged terrorists within the UIC.

Source: www.nationmedia.com

Ethiopia has 'declared war', say Somali Islamists

Ali Musa Abdi | Khartoum, Sudan
Somalia's powerful Islamist movement on Monday accused neighboring Ethiopia of "declaring war" on them, as they awaited the delayed resumption of peace talks in Sudan with the country's weak government.

While they and mediators prepared for the late arrival of a government delegation, the Islamists renewed accusations that Ethiopia had sent troops to support the transitional administration and again rejected Kenyan mediation.

"Ethiopia has declared war on Somalia and has already made a large military incursion deep into Somali territory," they said in a letter to mediators and international observers attending the talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

"That not only undermines the reconciliation process but also seriously threatens peace and security of Somalia and the whole region in general," the letter said.

"Any new conflict will not only retard, but destroy the peace dividends and civic gains so far achieved," it said, referring to developments since the Islamists seized Mogadishu in June and then rapidly expanded territory.

"We are [also] seriously opposed to the co-chairpersonship of Kenya in this peace process and we would like to be assured of acceptance of our points of view before the commencement of business," said the letter, signed by the delegation of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).

The text was addressed to the Sudanese hosts of the talks, the Arab League, the United Nations and the United States-created International Contact Group on Somalia, all of which fear all-out war that may erupt into regional conflict.

UN envoy for Somalia Francois Fall said he was confident that Arab and African mediators, as well as international observers in Sudan for the negotiations, would resolve conditions set out by Islamists to meet the government face-to-face.

"The international community members that are here to support the peace process will meet the Islamic courts to resolve the conditions laid down," Fall told reporters at the talks' venue, adding that such a meeting would also be held with members of the transitional government.

On the weekend, the Islamists said they would attend the talks but would not meet face-to-face with the government unless Ethiopia withdraws troops it has allegedly deployed to Somalia to protect the administration.

They also rejected Kenya as co-chair of the negotiations, accusing it of pro-government bias for supporting, along with Ethiopia, the deployment of a proposed regional peacekeeping force.

Mainly Christian Ethiopia denies reports it has as many as 8 000 soldiers in Somalia but acknowledges sending military advisers to help protect the government from "jihadists", some of whom are accused of links with al-Qaeda.

Kenya was appointed this month to co-chair the negotiations with the Arab League, which had been the sole mediator at two previous rounds, after the government complained of Arab bias.

Kenya currently holds the presidency of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, a group of seven East African nations that brokered the formation of the government in 2004 and now plans to send peacekeepers there.

But the bloc is deeply split over the proposed mission, with members Eritrea and Djibouti opposing the force; Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Somali government in favour; and Sudan backing off earlier support.

AFP

Repression of Oromo opposition supporters

Zenawi vows to kill and jail opposition supporters in Oromia
By Qeerranssoo Biyyaa
October 30, 2006 — In his recent speech in parliament, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi threatened for an increased campaign in Oromia State to imprison and severely deal with opposition supporters and members. He said, “The number of people imprisoned in Oromia is increasing because they are the supporters and members of Oromo Liberation Front. To be a member of Oromo Liberation Front is strictly forbidden and it is a punishable criminal act”.
Because of growing protest in the country, in May 2005 he went on the BBC and the Ethiopian Television promising the same people he is incriminating today that his government is ready for a dialogue with the Oromo Liberation Front. That was a piece of rhetoric to disorient and freeze public detest for his fascist system. Some also say that his interest to isolate and talk with OLF, then, was intended to pity OLF and CUD supporters against each other to buy himself more time in power.
The implications of the speech
There is nothing inherently new about this speech by Zenawi. Since 1991 people are used to his threatening and intimidating speeches whenever he faces strong popular uprising. After and in the run up to elections in 2005, for instance, he used some strong words and phrases intending to govern by fear. You may look at such words in the following sentences: “anyone trying to subvert the constitutional order, will be crashed in the buds. Once the red line is crossed, the only option we have is to fight and all that happens in such circumstances will happen”. By ‘red line’ he meant intense protest and demand for freedom. The laws of war, and not civil laws, he asserted, would judge protests crossing his imaginary red line. Amazingly, Meles threatens the people he leads more than Eritrea with which he went to war, and now on cold war.
Meles did not just stop at his words. He did kill in hundreds according to the current inquiry into the excessive use of power by government to squash opposition. Thousands are behind the bar because of opposition membership and support as you read. In essence, the pattern in Meles speech suggests some ensuing enhanced persecutions of the Oromo people.
Secondly, deconstructing Meles speeches just reveals his true fascist or nazi nature. When compared to the 1995 constitution that his government drafted, his speeches show how he and his ruling minority elites are above the constitution itself. This is not new too. He has always been above the law. Coming to the point of his threatening the Oromo population with more killings and imprisonings, we see that chapter 4 and 5 of the 1995 Ethiopian constitution provides for the protection of basic human rights and democratic rights. In these rights are included the right to life, movement, association and assembly, inter alia. Whatever good provisions there are in that constitution, none is guaranteed or implemented as the constituion is in reality the personal document for the prime minister and other ruling elites to quote from only to justify that the violations they are carrying out are in line with what they themselves call “the constitutional order”.
Always before the Meles security forces crackdown on the Oromo, and for that matter anyone else, his elites will go into schools and homes and place some hand grenades, false documents plotting to overthrow the government. Later, one of his commanders or himself appear on TV and say that we have searched the houses of this and that group and found weapons and documents that are to be used to subvert ‘the constitutional order’. But when the government subverts ‘the constitutional order’ this is protecting the ‘constitutional order’, not violating it, which it actually is. The regime suffers from cycles of such blatant lies in justifying its own versions of fascism and nazism.
Sometimes the tricks in implementing Meles speeches and plans are so bloody and gruesome that the regime itself explodes bombs on private hotels and blames it on oppositions such as Oromo Liberation Front. Or even it bombs city buses and taxies on highways to terrorise the public at the end of which no perpetrator is traced. Lives of people are dashed for no reason. For people in Oromia sate or in Ethiopia in general these tricks are commonplace discussed amongst us around coffee tables. But my intention in deconstructing Meles Zenawi’s speeches and his actions is to share this grassroots discussions and experiences with readers in writing.
Reactions from the West
a) The European Union Europe through its European Union Election observers like Anna Gomes has already discovered the destructive behaviours of Meles Zenawi’s regime to initiating a peaceful democratic transition involving all oppositions. Of course, Gomes and her team deserve applauses for that. They have seen opposition leaders and supporters being jailed and they reacted rightly by having EU to deny monetary aid to the regime that is only a killing machine. Some EU diplomats in Ethiopia have also witnessed these harsh realities happen to themselves. Recently alone two EU diplomats were chased away. About the EU observers report, Meles himself has written 3 letters to a government newspaper in 2005 insulting and critising individuals and EU press releases on Election fraud. These encouraging efforts must continue on the EU side for helping resolve the political standoff in Ethiopia.
b) The United States of America
The U.S.A like Europe understands the despotic nature of the Ethiopian government. Nevertheless, U.S.A has never substantially reacted in support of the interest of the Ethiopian peoples for freedom and democracy. It has recently pumped into the regime a little more than $ 600 million in aid. The U.S.A has given this huge amount of fund to the Ethiopian government with no considerations of directly taking the funds to people who need it desperately. It goes through the government as usual if at all it goes. And when it goes, it goes selectively to EPRDF supporters only. And local cadres will scoff at opposition supporters as, ‘let OLF or CUD… give you bread’. The U.S.A has not also set criteria whereby the regime will be committed to democratic as well as human rights.
Both in the diaspora and at home the Ethiopian people have held a series of rallies protesting continued US support for Meles regime. The rallies have taken place in the cities of the United States of America and in front of the Capitol. So, U.S.A can’t pretend not to have seen or heard it. All who follow political development in Ethiopia know this. So, what the U.S.A is actually doing is blindly follow its own interests in the Horn of Africa in coalition with the unpopular regime in Addis Ababa/Finfinnee. In doing that, USA will not only encourage undemocratic minority rule in Ethiopia and more arrogant speeches and ensuing persecutions from Meles, but also it will continue to see the majority of the Ethiopian public die, go to jail, and starve in the hands of the regime. It will also stand in the way of the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD) to initiate a national comprehensive dialogue to solve longstanding Ethiopia’s political problems. U.S.A’s continued silence might also gradually make US unpopular to the majority of Ethiopians who used to love it, at least the love showing in people’s filling of diversity visa lottery (DV) every year.
* The author is based in Ethiopia. He can be reached at meettaa@gmail.com
Source: Sudan Tribune

Somalia: More defected militias from Ethiopia joins the Islamists

Aweys Osman Yusuf

Mogadishu 29, Oct.06 ( Sh.M.Network) Number of heavily armed militias led by a man dubbed Salad Hared from the Ethiopian Somali administered province has crossed into Somalia, joining the Union of Islamic Courts.

About 180 militias with their small arms have attained Hiran provincial towm of Baled Weyn where they have been received by Islamic Courts in the area.

On Saturday, about 40 militias led Col.Abas, a former commander of Kismayu airport, had defected from Barre Hirale, Somalia’s defense minister, and joined the Islamic Courts in the port city of Kismayu.

Somalia’s Islamic fighters have reached Dhagtur in Mudug region where tribal wars took place on Friday.

The Courts in the Mudug province, central Somalia said they went to the area to mediate Suleyman and Sa’ad sub-clans who also previously fought over pastoral land.

The tribal fighting engulfed the lives of more than persons of both sides.

Somalia had no national institutions since 1991 when tribal warlords overthrew former dictator Siyad Barre and then turned against one another, plunging the country into turmoil.

'Huge man' gives football prizes

'Huge man' gives football prizes

Ball games - Mr Bisad holds a record for his hand spanYoung footballers had to reach a long way to receive their medals when they were presented by one of the world's tallest men.
Hussain Bisad who stands at about 7ft 9in (2.36m) made a special appearance at the Somali Integration Society event in Cardiff.
Mr Bisad, who is reported to weigh 33 stone (210kg) and wears size 26 shoes, is from Somalia but lives in London.
He stands taller than a phone box and has to sleep in a 9ft (2.74m) bed.
The Somali Integration Society organised the five-a-side football event for 11-19-year-olds.
Spokesman Ibrahim Harbi said the society had put on the tournament as part of its Eid celebrations.
He said: "He's been to Cardiff before, he likes it here and he is really supportive of the work we are doing.
"When he heard about the event he was happy to come along to support.
"He really is a huge man - you should see his hands!Wherever he goes he attracts attention."

Hussain Bisad has to get his clothes specially made
In 2002, the Guinness World Records recorded him as having the biggest hand span of any living man.
The tallest living man record is currently held by China's Xi Shun who is 7ft 8.95in tall.
Mr Bisad, who has a medical condition known as Giantism which causes excessive growth, came to the UK as an asylum seeker after robbers shot him in the knee in Somalia.
He travelled by lorry to Ethiopia before getting on a plane to the UK, where airline staff had to allocate him two seats.
The Home Office has now given him permission to stay in Britain indefinitely because he is deemed a legitimate asylum seeker.
The world's tallest ever man was American Robert Wadlow, who died in 1940, at 8ft 11ins.
Source: BBC News

Somali Islamists demand Ethiopian pullout, reject Kenyan mediation

(AFP)
29 October 2006
MOGADISHU - Somalia’s powerful Islamist movement said on Sunday it would not meet with the country’s weak government at peace talks this week in Sudan until Ethiopian troops allegedly on Somali soil leave.
On the eve of a third round of talks to be held amid fears of all-out war and regional conflict, the Islamists said they would attend the Khartoum negotiations, but would speak only to mediators until their demands are met.
At the same time, prospects for proximity talks in the Sudanese capital were also clouded as the Islamists said they would not accept neighboring Kenya as co-chair of the talks because of Nairobi’s alleged bias toward the government.
‘We will go to Khartoum for the negotiations but as long as Ethiopian troops are inside Somalia, we shall not meet the government face-to-face,’ said the Islamists’ top foreign affairs official, Ibrahim Hassan Adow.
‘We are ready to meet the government when and after the Ethiopian troops leave Somali territory,’ he told reporters shortly before leaving Mogadishu for Monday’s talks in Khartoum.
‘We are urging the international community to press the Ethiopians to leave Somalia to make the meeting a success,’ Adow said.
The Islamists have declared holy war against Ethiopian soldiers said to be in Somalia and have accused Kenya of bias as it supports the government’s call for regional peacekeepers, also backed by Ethiopia.
Mainly Christian Ethiopia denies reports it has as many as 8,000 soldiers in Somalia but acknowledges sending military advisers to help protect the government from ‘jihadists’ some of whom are accused of links with Al Qaeda.
Earlier Sunday, Adow said the Islamists also rejected the mediation of Kenya, which was appointed this month to co-chair the negotiations with the Arab League that had been the sole mediator at two previous rounds.
‘We demand the exclusion of Kenya,’ he told Mogadishu’s HornAfrik Radio. ‘The government of Kenya is not neutral in the Somali conflict and its presence will not be accepted by the Islamic courts.’
Kenya was named co-chair after the transitional government accused the Arab League of bias toward the Islamists.
Kenya currently holds the presidency of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a group of seven east African nations that brokered the formation of the government in 2004 and now plans to send peacekeepers there.
But the bloc is deeply split over the proposed mission, with members Eritrea and Djibouti opposing the force; Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Somali government in favor; and Sudan backing off earlier support.
The Islamists have vowed to fight any foreign troops on Somali territory.
Some countries, notably the United States, fear that Ethiopia and Eritrea, who fought a bloody 1998-2000 war over their border that is still unresolved, have turned Somalia into a proxy battleground for their dispute.
UN experts say Eritrea has sent arms to the Islamists and Asmara on Sunday hotly rejected claims it had 2,000 troops in Somalia, maintaining the allegation was a US-inspired ‘act of pure defamation.’
‘This campaign and continuous lie is a fabrication of the US administration,’ the Eritrean foreign ministry said, accusing Washington of supporting alleged Ethiopian plans to invade Somalia.
‘The truth behind this campaign is to cover up the US government’s plans and war it is carrying out in Somalia and the Horn of Africa in general through its agent, the (Ethiopian) regime,’ it said in a statement posted to its website.
Somalia has been without a functioning central administration since 1991 and the government has been wracked by infighting and its inability to assert control over much of the country.
It now faces increasing threats from the Islamists, who seized Mogadishu from warlords in June after months of fierce battles and now control almost all of southern and central Somalia where they have imposed strict Sharia law.

A Bitter Brew

Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006

CRISPIN HUGHES / OXFAM
Ethiopian coffee farmers hope to earn more with a U.S. trademark
U.K.-based charity Oxfam last week accused Seattle-based coffee giant Starbucks of blocking Ethiopian efforts to trademark three types of coffee beans in the U.S. Starbucks denies this, but the controversy continues to percolate. What does Ethiopia want? The Ethiopian government applied to trademark its most famous coffee-bean names — Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe — in the U.S. last year. The Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office estimates that controlling the names of the beans could earn Ethiopia an extra $88 million a year. How so? Owning the names, Ethiopia reasons, will enable it to build premium brands
by better controlling where the coffees are sold and how they're marketed. How has Starbucks responded? The coffee chain has said it is against Ethiopia's trademark initiative, arguing it will actually harm poor farmers more than help them, but it denies Oxfam's claim that it asked the National Coffee Association to oppose the applications. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office turned down Ethiopia's application for the Sidamo and Harar beans, saying the names are generic, but it did grant Yirgacheffe a trademark in August. Do governments frequently trademark native products? It's not uncommon, but they more frequently use geographic certification to brand everything from orange juice to cheeses. Jamaica has achieved great success with its Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, which is registered with a certification mark in the U.S. Starbucks says it supports a certification program for Ethiopian coffees, but not trademarks.
Source: Time Europe Magazine

15 killed in Ethiopia floods, thousands displaced: report

Published: Sunday, 29 October, 2006
ADDIS ABABA: A river burst its banks in southeastern Ethiopia killing 15 people and displacing more than 2,000, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said yesterday.“Wabe Shebelle broke its banks and flooded adjoining areas following heavy rains in highland Ethiopia,” ENA said quoting Ethiopia’s early warning disaster unit.State television said late on Friday that the towns of Kibredehar and Musthale were flooded and that residents had to move to higher ground. It said a UN boat and fact finding team had been sent to the region.A UN humanitarian agency said last month devastating flash floods in August had forced more than 135,000 Ethiopians to abandon their homes.Flooding typically occurs in Ethiopia’s lowlands after heavy rains in the June-September season drench the highlands. This year’s flooding was especially damaging because it followed a severe drought.
Reuters

Smithsonian Refuses To Exhibit Ethiopia's Fragile 'Lucy' Fossil

By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Plans for a six-year U.S. tour by "Lucy," one of humanity's earliest known ancestors, have hit a major snag.
Earlier this week the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ethiopia and the Houston Museum of Natural Science announced an agreement to include Lucy in a tour of several hundred Ethiopian relics. But at least two major U.S. museums now say the bones should not be moved and they don't want to show them.
Read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com

Diplomats under Surveillance

ION update
Diplomats under surveillance
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1200
The recent expulsion of two members of the European Commission illustrates the extent to which diplomats in Addis Ababa are under surveillance.The two members of the European Commission expelled by the Ethiopian authorities for “trafficking” had not been arrested at Moyale, a town on the border with Kenya, as the Ethiopian authorities claim, but 150 km from there, near Agre Mariam, on their way back from Addis Ababa. The Swedish diplomat Bjorn Jonsson and the Italian Enrico Sborgi had gone to the border to accompany Yalemzewd Bekele, a 29 year old human rights activist who worked for the European delegation in Addis Ababa. She believed she was in danger of being arrested because of her links with the opposition. She had initially taken refuge in the premises of the European delegation and later in Jonsson’s house. She was then accompanied to Moyale where she was arrested on 19 November while showing her papers to the Ethiopian immigration service. Fasil Assefa, who was waiting for her at the Koket Borena hotel but had no intention of going to Kenya, was also arrested.
According to some sources, the Ethiopian intelligence agents investigating Yalemzewd had photos of her eating a pizza with Jonsson, her line manager, the day she took refuge in the EC premises in Addis Ababa. They are also said to have photos showing her in the company of other members of the staff of the European delegation during private meetings. This would appear to show that the whole affair had been minutely prepared by the Ethiopian intelligence services. Better still, according to opposition sources, these services have benefited from the complicity of members of the private security company which guards the European delegation compound. This security firm, Sebhatu and Brothers, is owned by the brothers of Mimi Sebhatu, a journalist close to the regime who benefited with her husband Zerihun Teshome, for the attribution of a licence to launch a private radio station. She is also the editor of the newspaper Eftin which is strongly supportive of the Ethiopian regime. Agents from this security company could have informed the official intelligence services of Yalemzewd’s comings and goings and of her departure for Moyale. Her telephone conversations with the expelled diplomats, and with Tim Clark, the head of the European delegation in Addis Ababa, are also believed to have been recorded in the same way.
Sebhatu & Brothers may be employing disguised government agents. It was the government coalition, EPRDF that, according to people close to Mimi Sebhatu and her husband, provided half of the funding to create this security company. This company has more clients than another security company linked to partisans of the regime, belonging to Major Alemseged Gebre Yohannes, a former deputy Police Commissioner.

Secretary general of Parliament on the run
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1200
According to several tallying information sources, the secretary general of the Ethiopian Chamber of Representatives, Foto Bedane, took advantage of an official journey to Europe to defect from the regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He was part of an Ethiopian parliamentary delegation headed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives Degfe Bula which had left Addis Ababa on 13 October to go to Geneva (Switzerland) to attend the 115th general assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) from 16 to 18 October. Foto Bedane is reported to have then decided not to return to Addis Ababa and may seek refugee status in the United States. His predecessor, Samuel Alemayhu, had similarly defected after a world conference of speakers of parliament in September 2005 in New York.

U.N.: Regional War Possible in Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct. 27, 2006
By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer
(AP) Thousands of Ethiopian and Eritrean troops are in Somalia, backing opposing sides in the struggle for control of the strategic country, according to a confidential U.N. briefing paper. The involvement of the two Horn of Africa rivals could set the stage for a regional war.Islamic radicals, said by the U.N. to be backed by Eritrea, held rallies in several Somali cities calling for a holy war on Ethiopia and the internationally backed government it supports.
The U.N. report dated Oct. 26 and obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, cites diplomatic sources in estimating that "between 6,000-8,000 Ethiopians and 2,000 fully equipped Eritrean troops are now inside Somalia supporting" the internationally recognized government and the Islamic group known as the Council of Islamic Courts, respectively.
"Both sides in the Somali conflict are reported to have major outside backers _ the government supported by Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen; the Islamic courts receiving aid from Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Gulf States," the report added.The transitional government and the Council of Islamic Courts have been girding for battle in recent weeks. Government forces, supported by Ethiopian military advisers, have been seen digging trenches near Baidoa, the only town the U.N.-backed government controls.
The Islamic courts have deployed forces at a strategic town between Baidoa, and their headquarters in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, 150 miles to the southeast.The military moves could be mere posturing ahead of peace talks scheduled for next week in Khartoum, Sudan, but most observers are pessimistic about the chances for an agreement and fear major fighting could follow if talks fail."Clearly the situation is rapidly deteriorating and an all-out war is possible," the report said.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two-year border war that remains unresolved. The top U.S. diplomat to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, last week accused Eritrea of using Somalia to open a second front against Ethiopia.In Washington on Thursday, Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, called on Ethiopia and Eritrea not to further aggravate the situation in Somalia."There are tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea even removing Somalia from the equation. When you add Somalia into the equation, each of Ethiopia and Eritrea's various perceived equities with the various groups in Somalia, then it becomes very complex, a complex situation," he said.
The briefing paper was written to help senior U.N. officials map a strategy on how to provide aid to one of the most impoverished countries in the world, one that has not had an effective central government since 1991."In order for us to do this, a clear policy of engagement with the (Islamic courts) must be put in place," the report said. "The fact is that there is new found stability in Mogadishu, extending to areas that they have begun to control, which has not been seen for many years.
"One problem facing the United Nations is the listing of the Islamic courts' leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, on a list of people with ties to terrorism. U.N. policy severely restricts how much contact U.N. officials can have with people with alleged ties to terror organizations.
Ethiopian officials have insisted they have only a few hundred military advisers assisting the government, but international and local officials have previously put the number in the thousands.The Somali transitional government has repeatedly accused Eritrea of arming and supporting their rivals in the Islamic courts, something that both Eritrean and Islamic officials have repeatedly denied.In more than 40 towns and villages across southern Somalia on Friday, thousands took to the streets after calls from Islamic leaders to protest Ethiopia's backing of the virtually powerless government. Some 15,000 turned out in the Somali capital.
The demonstrations, which featured the burning of Ethiopian flags, were also being used to recruit fighters for a holy war against Ethiopia, Somalia's traditional rival."From this time on, we will wage a war against Ethiopians inside Somalia," Islamic leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told thousands of Somalis in Mogadishu. "We need anyone who can give us weapons, even a dagger."The crowd responded with Islamic chants and cheers as they described Ethiopia as a Christian country invading a Muslim land."I am here by to sacrifice my life for my religion and oppose the unbelievers who want to put my country under their control," said Khadija Sheik Yusuf, a 20-year-old mother of one.The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that the flow of Somali refugees into neighboring Kenya had slowed, but expressed concerns over reports the Islamic courts were preventing people from leaving Somalia.

AP Writer Mohamed Olad Hassan contributed to this report from Mogadishu.
Reuters/ AP

Genital cutting on trial in Georgia case

By DOUG GROSS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The trial of an Atlanta-area father accused of circumcising his 2-year-old daughter with scissors is focusing attention on an ancient African practice that experts say is slowly becoming more common in the U.S. as immigrant communities grow.
Khalid Adem, a 31-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia, is charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to children. Human rights observers said they believe this is the first criminal case in the U.S. involving the 5,000-year-old practice.
Prosecutors say Adem used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in their apartment in 2001. The child's mother said she did not discover it until more than a year later.
"He said he wanted to preserve her virginity," Fortunate Adem, the girl's mother, testified this week. "He said it was the will of God. I became angry in my mind. I thought he was crazy."
The girl, now 7, also testified, clutching a teddy bear and saying that Adem "cut me on my private part." Adem cried loudly as his daughter left the courtroom.
Female circumcision is common in Adem's homeland, and his lawyer, Mark Hill, acknowledged that Adem's daughter had been cut. But he said his client did not do it, and he implied that the family of Fortunate Adem, who immigrated from South Africa when she was 6, may have had the procedure done.The Adems divorced in 2003, and Hill suggested that the couple's daughter was encouraged to testify against her father by her mother, who has full custody.
If convicted, Adem, a clerk at a suburban Atlanta gas station, could get up to 40 years in prison.
The U.S. State Department estimates that up to 130 million women had undergone circumcision worldwide as of 2001. Knives, razors or even sharp stones are usually used, according to a 2001 department report. The tools often are not sterilized, and often, many girls are circumcised in the same ceremony, leading to infection.
It is unknown how many girls have died from the procedure, either during the cutting or from infections, or years later in childbirth.
Nightmares, depression, shock and feelings of betrayal are common psychological side effects, according to the federal report.
Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of Equality Now, an international human rights group, said female circumcision is most widely practiced in a 28-country swath of Africa. More than 90 percent of women in Ethiopia are believed to have been subjected to the practice, she said, and even more in places like Egypt and Somalia.
"It is a preparation for marriage," Bien-Aime said. "If the girl is not circumcised, her chances of being married are very slim."
The practice crosses ethnic and cultural lines and is not tied to a particular religion. Activists say the practice is intended to deny women sexual pleasure. In its most extreme form, the clitoris and parts of the labia are removed and the labia that remain are stitched together.
"I had maybe read about it in Reader's Digest or some other journal, but not really considered it a possibility here," said Dr. Rose Badaruddin, the pediatrician for the Adems' daughter.
Many refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia come to Georgia through a federal refugee resettlement program.
"With immigration, the immigrants travel with their traditions," Bien-Aime said. "Female genital mutilation is not an exception."
Federal law specifically bans the practice, but many states do not have a law addressing it. Georgia lawmakers, with the support of Fortunate Adem, passed an anti-mutilation law last year. However, Khalid Adem is not being tried under that law, since it did not exist when his daughter's cutting allegedly happened.
Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com

Somalia Islamists eye a bigger fish - Zenawi

(SomaliNet) For the first time in thirty years, a sizable threat from Somalia is upon Ethiopia. The Islamic Courts are sharpening their knives for what they called the ultimate holy war against Ethiopia. The last time Somalia and Ethiopia fought was in 1979 during the cold war. Although the foot soldiers were Somalis and Ethiopians the real war between the United States and the Soviet who were fighting for regional dominance.

Almost all Islamic Courts military commanders and spiritual leaders who spoke in the past few days said their aim is to engage holy war with the Ethiopian regime. Before that dream comes into reality, they must either isolate or get rid of President Abdulahi Yusuf who is Ethiopia’s best friend in Somalia. Mr. Yusuf has another agenda and is preparing to counter attack the Islamic Courts as soon as the UN Security Council removes the arms import embargo on Somalia.

A military commander who defeated pro-government colonel Bare Hirale in southern Somalia promised to go into Ethiopia and do what he said the Ethiopians have been doing in Somalia for long. Sheik Sharif who is the head of the military wing of the Islamic courts told Al-Jazeera that the war among Somalis is over and now the new phase involves Ethiopian army in Somalia and us. New jihadist recruits have quadrupled in the past few days.

In reality, the Islamic Courts control about one third of the country and the federal government, although weak is still intact. Both northern administrations, self-declared Somaliland and semi-autonomous Puntland denounced the courts as clan based local faction. Before any Islamist crosses into Ethiopia, Prime Minister Zenawi will likely arm everyone who’s not happy with the courts.

Before the current conflict, Ethiopia armed many factions like SSDF, SNM, USC, SPM and many more against Somalia’s last government headed by General Mohamed Siad Barre. After Siad Barre, Ethiopia armed new breeds of factions and warlords. Islamists and many Somalis argue Ethiopia supports many armed groups only to balance the field in order to keep Somalia in its current state.
http://somalinet.com

Ambo High School Golden Jubilee: Call for Recommendation of Candidate

Call for Recommendation of Candidate

This is an announcement to national and international public to propose candidate, who is renowned personalities and has made a successful life among the former students of Ambo Comprehensive Senior Secondary School within and out of the country. The selected nominee will be registered in the book of Honor to be established for the 50^th Golden Jubilee Anniversary of our school.

Please send the summary of the biography or CV of the recommended candidate to our address.

Ambo School 50^th Golden Jubilee Anniversary Committee

P.O.Box 1983

Addis Ababa

Ethiopia

E-mail amboschool50thyear@ethionet.et

You may consider this primary information for success criteria selection,

1. Academic performance in the School, rank student, @ 15%

2. Participant of different school level clubs, @5%

3. Pursued higher education, B.A, B.Sc, M.A, M.Sc, MBA, MD, DVM, PhD, @20%

4. In the field of her/his study well known nationally, continentally and internationally, contributed for betterment of human life in his/her speciality @45%

5. who has close social and economical ties with his environ, and made developmental contribution, @15%

With best regards

The organizing committee

Col. Barre loses another town to the Islamic Courts

(SomaliNet) Col. Barre Adan Hirale who was defeated a few days ago after he tried to retake the port city of Kismayo which he lost earlier this month lost yet another strategic town this afternoon. Islamic Courts confirmed capturing Saakoow after the colonel and his army vacated it in without incident.

VHF radio operators in the region are saying Mr. Hirale and what’s left of his once formidable army have retreated to his clan’s stronghold town of Baardheere in nearby Gedo Province.

His next move and whether the Islamic Courts will follow him into Gedo are not known at this time. The courts declared war on Ethiopia and are very eager to gain control of Gedo province which lies along Somalia border with Ethiopia.

Mr. Barre controlled the third Somalia largest city, Kismayo and at least two provinces before the vibrant Islamic Courts who are invincible so far forced him to flee. He still holds his minister of defense title and will most likely go to Baidao where the ineffectual federal government is holed up.

Commission Report Expected Today

Ethiopia:Commission Report Expected Today
By James Butty Washington, D.C.
26 October 2006
Butty interview with Bereket Simon
The commission set up by the Ethiopian parliament to look into last year’s post-election violence is expected to release its report to the public today (Thursday). The commission’s former chairman, Wolde-Michael Meshasha who has since fled the country, told VOA the police committed a massacre. But according to news accounts, today’s report will say that the police did not use excessive force. Meanwhile, Ethiopia and Somalia continue to trade accusations. For the first time this week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi admitted that he sent a few military trainers to Somalia. Now the Islamists who control much of Somalia have reportedly said they have captured an Ethiopian soldier. Bereket Simon is advisor to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He tells VOA English to Africa reporter James Butty Ethiopian troops did not engage the Islamists.
“This is no change in terms of deployment of force, I tell you. There is no one who is leading to Baidoa. That’s the fact. The Islamic Courts have not advanced to any one of the areas which are controlled by the government (the Somali Transitional government). So there is no fighting,” Simon said.
Simon denies the Islamists claim that they captured an Ethiopian soldier during fighting in the town of Bu’ale.
“Simply this is a dream which is not true. There was no clash as far as we know. There is no fighting taking place. So there is no captured soldier of anybody for that matter, not from Ethiopia.”
On the inquiry commission set up to probe last year’s post-election violence, Simon says the Meles Zenawi government has yet to see the report. But he says the commission will be making its report to the public Thursday.
“The commission report was submitted, I think last week, to the parliament. The commission has called a press conference for tomorrow (Thursday). They are going to explain their findings, I think,” Simon said.
The advisor to Prime Minister Zenawi defended his government’s decision to expel two European Union officials.
“Well, they have transgressed the boundary of their diplomatic mission and interfered in Ethiopian internal affairs. So basically, they took the wrong measure, and we have reacted to that. That’s what happened,” Simon said.
Simon says the European Union officials were caught while attempting to smuggle what he called “two fugitives” wanted by the government out of the country.
Simon says the two officials’ action was the continuation of that of Anna Gomez, the head of the European Union’s Observer Mission to last May’s parliamentary elections.
“You know she had the mandate to formally deliver the election report to the National Election Board, but before she gave to the National Election Board, she leaked it to the opposition which emboldened the opposition to move in the wrong direction. That’s what she did,” Simon said.
Let us know what you think of this report and other stories on our website. Send your views to AFRICA@VOANEWS.COM, and include your phone number. Or, call us here in Washington, DC at (202) 205-9942. After you hear the VOA identification, press 30 to leave a message. We want to hear what you have to say!
Source: VOA News

Starbucks says it doesn't oppose Ethiopia's patent application

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) Thursday said it has never filed an opposition to the Ethiopian government's trademark application, nor claimed ownership to any regional names used to describe the origin of its coffees.

Starbucks was responding to an article in The Guardian newspaper, citing a report by Oxfam, which said the company had blocked an attempt by Ethiopia's farmers to copyright their most famous coffee bean types, denying them potential earnings of up to GBP47 million a year.

Starbucks said that according to the National Coffee Association of America, which represents the major coffee roasters in the U.S., Ethiopia's trademark application isn't based upon sound economic advice and the proposal as it stands would hurt Ethiopian coffee farmers economically.

The company added that on October 25 it sent a letter to representatives of the Ethiopian government, offering to enter into an agreement that would support and assist the government in developing and implementing a certification program.

Starbucks also said it supports the development of robust geographic certification programs. A country can accomplish identification as the origin of certain goods through certification from trademark offices, or countries of origin can be used as part of an appellation system.

Starbucks said these systems are far more effective than registering trademarks for geographically descriptive terms, which is actually contrary to general trademark law and custom. A trademark identifies the manufacturer of a product while a certification mark informs consumers a product bearing the mark meets certain standards.

As part of the proposed Ethiopian agreement, Starbucks (and all other coffee companies) would be able to use Ethiopian regional name only to describe accurately, as Starbucks does now, the origin of their coffees. Specifically, Starbucks said it would use the regional name only in connection with coffee that meets its quality standards.

Starbucks also said it names its coffees to honor the country of origin and to demonstrate how high quality Arabica coffees are grown, saying it helps provide insight into coffee growing regions and celebrates coffee origins with coffee drinkers around the world. The company added it would continue to use regional names to educate consumers about and promote the Ethiopian regions where coffee it offers is grown.

Along with coffee industry associations, Starbucks hopes to partner with industry experts and origin representatives through the process of properly attaining and enforcing certification marks or appellation designations so that coffee farmers are able to reap the benefits of identifying their origin countries.
Source: www.marketwatch.com

Starbucks, the coffee beans and the copyright row that cost Ethiopia £47m

Ashley Seager
Thursday October 26, 2006
The Guardian

Starbucks, the giant US coffee chain, has used its muscle to block an attempt by Ethiopia's farmers to copyright their most famous coffee bean types, denying them potential earnings of up to £47m a year, said Oxfam.

The development agency said the Ethiopian government last year filed copyright applications to trademark its most famous coffee names - Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. Securing the rights to these names would enable the impoverished African country to control their use in the market and allow farmers to receive a greater share of the retail price. The move would have increased its annual export earnings from coffee by 25%.

But Oxfam said Starbucks, which enjoyed a 22% rise in annual global turnover to £7.8bn in the year to October, has acted to block Ethiopia's application to the US patent and trademark office. The USPTO has denied Ethiopia's applications for Sidamo and Harar, creating serious obstacles for its project.

Oxfam had a one-year cooperation agreement in 2004 with Starbucks which saw both provide support to coffee farmers in Ethiopia as part of wider attempts to reduce poverty in the country. But Oxfam now feels that the Seattle-based company's attitude is questionable.

Phil Bloomer, Oxfam's policy director, said: "Starbucks has made some progress towards helping poor farmers in recent years, but their behaviour on this occasion is a huge backwards step, and raises serious questions about the depth of their commitment to the welfare of their suppliers. By acting responsibly, they could set an example for others by supporting Ethiopia's plan to help the 15 million struggling Ethiopian farmers who depend on coffee for their survival."

Fitsum Hailu, of the Ethiopian embassy in the US, added: "Struggling Ethiopian farmers should be able to realise a greater portion of the value our coffee commands on the international market. This project is innovative - and a unique opportunity for our farmers to be empowered in the arena of international trade."

Starbucks, whose annual turnover is equivalent to about three quarters of Ethiopia's entire gross domestic product, said in a statement it had never "filed an opposition to the Ethiopian government's trademark application".

However, Ron Layton, head of Light Years IP, a Washington-based intellectual property rights organisation that is advising the Ethiopian government, said that in 2004 Starbucks had filed a trademark application with the word "Sidamo" to the USPTO. The USPTO then judged that Ethiopia's application a year later had to be rejected because the word was already the subject of Starbucks' application.

When Starbucks' application lapsed this June, the US National Coffee Association, of which Starbucks is a leading member, objected to the Ethiopian application. NCA representatives admitted to the Ethiopians and Mr Layton that Starbucks had prompted their opposition.

"Intellectual property ownership now makes up a huge proportion of the total value of world trade but rich countries and businesses capture most of this. Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, and one of the poorest countries in the world, is trying to assert its rights and capture more value from its product. It should be helped, not hindered," said Mr Layton.

Starbucks insisted, however, that it was committed to paying premium prices to producers in more than 27 countries and its purchases of Ethiopian coffee had grown by more than 400% in the past four years. It said it paid an average of $1.23 (65p) per pound last year, 23% above average market prices.

Tadesse Meskela, head of the Oromia coffee farmers cooperative union in Ethiopia, was unimpressed, however. "Coffee shops can sell Sidamo and Harar coffees for up to £14 a pound because of the beans' specialty status. But Ethiopian coffee farmers only earn between 30p and 59p for their crop, barely enough to cover the cost of production.

"We sell organic coffee for less than £1 a pound but that pound can make 52 specials in coffee shops selling for £2 each, meaning the retailer is selling it for £104. The people who are producing this in Ethiopia don't have enough food, clean water or health centres.

"Farmers are losing out while others in the chain are making huge amounts of money. That is hugely unfair."

Ethiopia is continuing to pursue its trademark applications in the US. It is also asking Starbucks and other companies to sign voluntary licensing agreements that immediately acknowledge the country's ownership of the coffee names, regardless of whether they have been issued with a trademark.

Hey, Gang, Let's Go To War With Ethiopia

October 26, 2006: The Islamic Courts have been busy. Some 3,000 young men have been recruited for the war with Ethiopia, foreign journalists are being arrested as spies, and women can no longer go swimming at the beaches (it's un-Islamic.)

Ethiopia has nearly 10,000 troops on the Somali border, but has a hard time keeping them supplied. More troops can be brought down to the semi-desert area, but with difficulty and at great expense. Ethiopia is more concerned with Eritrea, with which it has a border dispute.

War in this part of the world consists columns of troops in trucks, with some heavy machine-guns, mortars and maybe a few armored vehicles, rolling around, trying to cut each other off from food and water. Fighting tends to be brief, loud, and brutal. One side breaks and takes off. The Somalis have more appetite for this sort of thing, as there's a sort of "hot-rob bandit" mentality among them. The Ethiopians are more laid back and into getting organized. That's why the Ethiopians have had a government for thousands of years, while the Somalis have had warring clans and gangs of bandits.

October 24, 2006: The Islamic Courts say the Ethiopian soldier they captured was on a reconnaissance mission. Ethiopia responded by saying they were "technically at war with Somalia" because of the Islamic Courts call for a holy war (jihad) against Ethiopia.

October 23, 2006: Islamic Courts leaders have dared Ethiopian troops to come after them, and have called on Somalis living in Ethiopia (in the disputed Ogaden region just across the border) to rise up in revolt.

October 22, 2006: Somali Transitional Government and Ethiopian troops withdrew from the town of Bur Haqaba, as a larger force of Islamic Courts gunmen approached, and re-occupied the town. For a while, it looked like the government and Ethiopian gunmen would stand and fight, and civilians began to flee the town, after some gunfire was exchanged. At least one Ethiopian soldier was captured by the Islamic Courts. But Somali warfare is more bluff than bloodshed. Ambush is the favored form of attack for the untrained (in military matters) gunmen of Somalia. But there was skirmishing over the weekend, mainly in the south around Kismayo, and several dozen people were killed.

October 21, 2006: Some thirty truckloads of Somali Transitional Government and Ethiopian troops chased Islamic Courts gunmen out of the town of Bur Haqaba (about 60 kilometers southeast of the Transitional Government capital at Baidoa.) This has changed hands several times since Islamic Courts forces first entered it in July. It's no big deal to muster a few dozen truckloads of fighters and roll in. So far, no one has tried to defend the town with a large force.

Source: www.strategypage.com

Ethiopia inquiry finds 199 died in post-poll violence

By Andrew CawthorneReuters
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An inquiry set up by Ethiopia's parliament into two bouts of 2005 post-election violence found 193 civilians and six policemen died, according to a copy of the report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government had given a much lower number -- around 58 -- while independent media had estimated some 84 fatalities based on witnesses and hospitals.

The inquiry, which was set up by parliament after the June and November waves of violence in Addis Ababa and elsewhere, said Ethiopian security forces did not use excessive force although some errors were committed and rights infringed.
"The commission observed that although it has seen weaknesses and mistakes on the government side, it believed that the rioting was because the process of democratization has not been instilled in the people's mind," said the 10-page report.
"The steps taken by the security forces were to avoid large-scale violence and to protect the constitution. Because of this, the commission believes that the steps taken were not excessive."
The report, written in the local Amharic language, was due to be released to the public on Thursday.
An earlier version leaked to media by the inquiry's previous deputy commission head -- who left for Europe -- said police carried out a "massacre," shooting, beating and strangling people. It gave the same death toll.
TONED DOWN?
The eight-member commission's report seen on Wednesday said 30,000 people were detained over the unrest, while 75 police officers and 763 civilians were injured, most of the latter from bullet wounds, during "huge rioting."
The violence tarnished the reputation of former guerrilla leader Meles in the West. Meles had been hailed as part of a "new generation" of progressive African leaders when he helped topple a former dictator and took power in 1991.
But since last year, he has been under increasing pressure over allegations of rights abuses and autocratic rule.
Meles told Reuters this week that he regretted the violence, but blamed it squarely on opportunist rioters and an opposition conspiracy to topple him by violence.
Opposition politicians say police opened fire on peaceful protests against fraud and irregularities in the May 2005 poll.
"The fact that the violence took place and people died is a source of deep anguish for me," Meles said late on Tuesday. "The fact that some people have misunderstood the nature of the problem and misinterpreted it, is a source of regret to me."
One opposition leader, who also saw the inquiry report on Wednesday, said he believed the government had leaned on commission members to tone down an initial version which was worded like that leaked by exiled judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha.
"The commission was not independent. The revised version has been made very friendly to the government," Merera Gudina, vice-chairman of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), told Reuters.
The inquiry report said property damage in Addis Ababa totaled 4.45 billion Ethiopian birr ($509 million), including 190 damaged buses and 44 cars, as security forces tackled rioters who had blocked roads with rocks and burning tires.
($1=8.747 Ethiopian Birr)

Ethiopia says Eritrea has 10,000 armed men at border

By Andrew Cawthorne
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's tiny neighbor Eritrea has nearly 10,000 soldiers and militia inside a U.N. buffer zone on their disputed border in a "flagrant" breach of a ceasefire, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.
His figure was far higher than the 1,500 soldiers the United Nations last week accused Asmara of moving to the border where a 1998-2000 war killed more than 70,000 people and left the Horn of Africa neighbors on bitter terms.
Meles told Reuters in an interview that besides the 1,500 soldiers and tanks mentioned by the United Nations, thousands more members of a militia of armed local farmers had been "smuggled" into the sensitive border zone.
"It's close to 10,000, including the so-called militia," he said late on Tuesday.
"We consider this to be the most flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement so far. Nevertheless, our position remains that we shall not respond in kind to this provocative act."
Eritrea has not given numbers, but acknowledged it has personnel in the area for agricultural work like harvesting.
"What is the fuss about? This is sovereign Eritrean territory and this is perfectly understandable," presidential adviser Yemane Ghebremeskel told Reuters recently.Experts also note that army and civilian life in Eritrea, one of the world's most militarized nations, are closely intertwined. A Reuters reporter at the border zone last year saw both soldiers with pitch-forks and civilians with rifles.
The incursion has, however, heightened tensions between Eritrea and the U.N. peacekeeping mission, and fueled the seemingly endless enmity between Asmara and Addis Ababa.
"You don't need tanks to pick crops. That's just the Eritrean government's way of poking their finger at the eyes of the international community as a whole," Meles said.
He implied Eritrea was taking advantage of Ethiopia's tensions with Islamists in also neighboring Somalia, but said Addis Ababa would not respond unless attacked.
"The Eritrean government is the main armer and trainer of the jihadists in Somalia. It would be very naive to assume that the current violation of the temporary security zone is just a coincidence," Meles said.
"But in the interests of peace, we don't shoot until and unless they shoot."
FAMILY?
Eritrea is accused by the United Nations and others of arming the Islamists, while Ethiopia has sent military personnel to help its rivals the interim Somali government.
That has fueled fears of a regional war.Meles said Eritrea has frequently sent armed men into the U.N.-monitored border zone since the 2000 ceasefire. But the "serious escalation" this time was the presence of regular soldiers, tanks and heavy artillery.
Eritrea's roughly 4 million population is dwarfed by Ethiopia's 79 million, but Asmara is proud of having won independence from its giant neighbor in a three-decade conflict until 1991.
Meles and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki were comrades-in-arms during the toppling of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, but quickly fell out culminating in war at the end of the 1990s and political standoff since then.
Both were once hailed by the West as part of a "new generation" of young African progressives, but are now viewed abroad as authoritarians. Meles smiled when asked about reports they were cousins.

"I understand from where they are coming. My mother happens to be an Eritrean. And the president of Eritrea has relations in and round the area where I was born," Meles said in rare comments on the issue."But this geographic overlap does not have any biological implications. We do not have any family."

Reuters

Ethiopia says technically at war with Somali Islamists

By Andrew Cawthorne
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia is "technically" at war with Somalia's Islamists after their declarations of jihad against Addis Ababa, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday.
The Ethiopian leader, in an interview with Reuters, also for the first time put a rough figure -- "a few hundred at most" -- on the number of armed military trainers controversially sent over the border to help Somalia's isolated interim government.
"The jihadist elements within the Islamic Court movement are spoiling for a fight. They've been declaring jihad against Ethiopia almost every other week," Meles said.
"Technically we are at war."
Despite that, Addis Ababa was showing restraint over the Somali crisis and would only intervene if Ethiopian territory was threatened, he said.
"We believe they've been preparing terrorist outrages. They're very close to our border. The indications are not that encouraging. But we've been patient so far and we'll continue to be patient," he said.
"We are trying to avoid a shooting war to the maximum extent possible and therefore, as it were, we are looking the other way," he said."They will have to force us to fight. That can come when and if they physically attack us."
Ethiopia views the Mogadishu-based Islamists, who took a swathe of south Somalia in June, as led by terrorists.
The Islamists say Ethiopia wants to control them and has sent thousands of troops across the border to back President Abdullahi Yusuf's government in the town of Baidoa.
Diplomats fear the Somali crisis could spark a regional war as Ethiopia's foe Eritrea, is accused of arming the Islamists.
Meles said Ethiopians in Somalia were only giving "elementary military training" to Yusuf's fledgling security force in line with international support for his government.
"Naturally, they are in a dangerous place so they have to be armed to protect themselves. A few hundred at most would be the number," he said.
ISLAMIST LEADERS "INCORRIGIBLY JIHADIST"
Dressed casually and looking relaxed, Meles denied accusations from the Islamists -- and some eye-witnesses -- that several thousand Ethiopian soldiers had crossed the border.
"If people are seeing these trainers, we are talking about the same thing. If, however, they are imagining large-scale military deployment involving all sorts of military activities, they can only be imagining," he said.Meles declined to divulge details of how many troops he was massing on the border in case of all-out conflict. "Surely you wouldn't expect me to tell you the truth on that, would you?" he said with a laugh.
Meles said he knew nothing about two Ethiopians the Islamists say they have held as "spies" and may execute in Mogadishu.
The Islamists said on Tuesday they had captured an Ethiopian soldier when fighting militia loyal to Somali Defense Minister Abdikadir Adan Shire Barre Hiraale in the southwest at the week-end and would "parade him to members of the press".
"There might be Ethiopian refugees, but we do not have any Ethiopians in Mogadishu associated with the government," Meles said.
Meles said there were "credible reports" from his and other intelligence services that radicals within the Islamists were preparing attacks around the region.
But he said the problem was the Islamists' "incorrigibly jihadist leadership", not its rank-and-file militia.
"The bulk of the Islamic Court militia are just sub-clan militia whose agenda is extremely parochial and do not pose a threat," he said.
"How to separate the basically healthy base of the movement from the basically jihadist leadership at the top is, as they say, the $64,000 question."
Meles said criticism among some diplomats that Ethiopia's rhetoric and military movements have stirred up the Islamists unnecessarily was unfair.
"We would have thought we are taking a very conciliatory position," he said, noting that Ethiopia -- like others in the international community -- were supporting Somalia's interim government, charter and other institutions.
The Yusuf government is the 14th attempt to restore central government since warlords' 1991 ouster of a dictator prompted a slide into anarchy.
(Additional reporting by Guled Mohamed in Mogadishu) Source: Reuters

Breaking News: Ethiopian Officer captured after fierce battle, claim Islamic radicals

The Associated Press
October 24, 2006

KISMAYO, Somalia, Somalia’s Islamic radicals claimed Tuesday they had captured an Ethiopian officer after heavy fighting against pro-government militia in which 43 were killed.

The wounded soldier was seized after 26 hours of fighting between Islamic fighters and militia loyal to Somalia’s defense minister, said Islamic movement spokesman Sheik Shukri Abraham.

Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Ethiopia and Somalia’s governments had initially denied the presence of Ethiopian troops in the country, but Ethiopia’s prime minister recently acknowledged he had sent troops. He said there were only a few military trainers.

Tensions between Ethiopia, which backs Somalia’s weak government, and the Islamic radical group that controls much of southern Somalia have been mounting in recent months.

So far they have avoided any direct clashes, though the rhetoric on both sides has been fiery, raising fears of a conflict that could engulf the entire Horn of Africa region.

The fighting between the rival militias, which broke out late Sunday and ended late Monday, occurred in the Islamic base of Bu’aale, 170 kilometers (100 miles) south of the government base of Baidoa and where Ethiopian trainers are believed to be based.

The town briefly fell to forces loyal to Defense Minister Col. Barre “Hirale” Aden Shire during the fighting, but was recaptured by Islamic militia, Abraham told journalists.

He said 43 pro-government fighters were killed while three Islamic militia also died.

“We have defeated the militia after 26 hours fighting,” he said. The Islamic forces also captured six pickup trucks mounted with machine guns and known locally as “technicals.”

“We have captured an Ethiopian officer and he is now being held under guard in one of our compounds,” he said at press conference in the southern strategic seaport of Kismayo. The Ethiopian soldier will be shown to the media in the coming days, Abraham added.

Officials for Shire were not immediately available for comment.

Somali government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, say about 6,000 Ethiopian troops are in the country or encamped on the 1,600 kilometer (990 miles) border.

The issue is sensitive because Ethiopia and Somalia are traditional rivals. Ethiopia, with almost half of its 77 million population Muslim, fears fundamentalism in its neighbor.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.

President Abdullahi Yusuf’s government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help in hopes of restoring order after years of bloodshed.