Prof Mesfin Araya will be in IEWO Forum paltalk room on Sunday, 5 July 2009 at 10 am Eastern time (16 hours in continental Europe). He will be discussing the present political situation in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. All Ethiopians are invited to join IEWO forum in paltalk on Sunday.

Two shot at Ethiopia church site
BBC

Ethiopian police have shot and killed two people who were helping to build a Christian church at a site …The police say they were responding to an attack on them by the Christians, but campaign groups say the police ambushed the workers. Read More…....

EPRP Youth League Formed
Press release

A congress of youth delegates held in Chicago has formed the EPRP Youth League on June 29, 2009. The congress was attended by young delegates from various places while others took part via a teleconference. A special message from the EPRP centre in Addis Ababa was read to the Congress participants. Read More…..

Founding Congress of the EPRP Youth League

Reports coming from Chicago reveal that the founding congress of the EPRP Youth League has been completed with success on 29 June 2009. Delegates took part and solidarity messages from Ethiopia and other places were also read to the Congress. The Congress has approved the League’s draft constitution and structure. More detail and official communiqué of the youth body will be posted soon.

Ethiopia: Amend Draft Terror Law
Human Rights Watch

Ethiopia's draft counterterrorism law could punish political speech and peaceful protest as terrorist acts and encourage unfair trials if enacted, Human Rights Watch said today. Read More…..

Of Modern Slavery and Same Old Slaves
Hama Tuma

This time around the slavery is modern not only because we live in modern times but also because the slaves go to their bondage sometimes willingly in search of work as it were. Read More…..

Was Thuat Pol Ready to Give Up? (Medicine for his innocent supporters)

Meles goes, Meles stays - a non issue diversion
EPRP, 24 June 2009

The deceptive regime of Meles Zenawi is adept at fabricating false slogans and fake priorities which it cleverly passes to foreign news medias and agencies. In this vein, it has recently circulated a non issue like the possible stepping down of Meles Zenawi from his post as prime minister and tried to cover up the main point that the coming 2010 election is going to be rigged and false as has been witnessed before. Read More……

Breaking News: Singer Michael Jackson dies in LA
BBC

Pop star Michael Jackson dies in Los Angeles at the age of 50, after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest. Read More……

Another comment from Tal Aviv on Hama Tuma’s book

Here follows a message on Hama Tuma's book from Avital Inbar, a well known Israeli translator (he just translated the second part of Marjane Satrapi's PERSEPOLIS). Read More.....

Ethno-centric Fascism in Ethiopia
By Seifu Tsegaye Demmissie

In my opinion, the presence of a fascist force and person commanding absolute political power in Ethiopia is not as adequately debated and discussed as it ought to be. The purpose of this piece is to make a modest contribution to understanding the nature and variant of fascism in Ethiopia and waging an appropriate struggle to abolish it. Read More.....

World Refugee Day: The Plight of Ethiopian Refugees Worsens (SOCEPP)

The deplorable human rights situation and the economic crisis have led to the increase in the number of Ethiopian refugees. Hundreds have perished this year alone trying to reach Italy or Yemen. Thousands of young women have also been trafficked to the Middle East and Europe to face a precarious existence as refugees/sex workers. Read More…..

Hama Tuma gets fine reviews in Israel

Following the publication of Hama Tuma's "The Case of the Socialist Witchdoctor and Other Stories" (Heimenann, 1993) in Hebrew, the book has been receiving fine reviews in several Israeli newspapers such as Maariv. An official launch of the book is scheduled in Tel Aviv for June 28 in conjunction with a Bette Israeli Theatrical Group (Netela) and it is expected that Ali Hussein Saed's Memories of a Generation film may be shown during the event. Here below we present a review in English by Ayelet Dekel who had earlier written an article on Hama Tuma for the Haaretz newspaper. Read More .....

An Open letter to Ato Mersha Yoseph: Breaking News or Breaking EPRP?
By Obo Arada Shawal

Was this communicant Political, Intellectual or Ideological? We demand answers. VOA (Voice of America) on June 13 - a day of reckoning - broadcasted an interview with two veteran members of EPRP leadership. The interview by Tizta Belechew was poignantly straightforward. Here are the two main points of contention. Read More…..

SOCEPP denounces the torture and mistreatment of prisoners

The charade of the kangaroo court of the ruling EPRDF is in full swing. Citizens accused of plotting assassination and other terror actions are being parade before State controlled judges who trample on due process as a matter of routine. Military officers and civilians brought before the State controlled court were denied due process, had no lawyer to represent them and their being tortured did not solicit any reaction from the cynical judges. Read More…..

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Issayas Afewarki’s New Testament versus His Old Testament
Asres Yenesew

All we can say is Afewarki is confusing the whole matter between his Old and his New Testaments. Better late to convey the truth than never, we wonder what those flirting Ethiopian oppositions have to say about Afewarki’s two differing testaments. Read More…..

The imperative for Ethiopians dealing with Eritrea (By Neamin Zeleke)

The Mystery of my Independence
(A poem dedicated to Pof. Asrat Woldyes by Zenebe G. Tamirat)

Italy should stop deporting refugees to Libya
SOCEPP

The leader of Libya Muaamar Gadafi is visiting Italy and there are reports that relations between the two countries are going to improve considerably. This does not at all augur well for refugees who are being deported by Italy back to Libya. Hundreds of refugees from Iraq, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, North Africa, etc have lost their lives trying to make it to Italy from Libya. Recently, the government of Silvio Berlusconi deported many refugees without even considering their asylum request. This is a clear violation of the rights of refugees to which Italy is a signatory. Read More…..

EPRDF Police Official Lies about Torture

The Deputy Police Commissioner of the ruling EPRDF, Hassan Shifa, has blatantly lied about the practice of torture in Ethiopia under the EPRDF by boldly declaring that "not only we do not do torture but we do not even have one instrument to do it with". Hassan Shifa is a central committee leader of the Tigrai Liberation Front (TPLF) and one of those police officials wanted for gross human rights violations. His boss, Commissioner Workineh Gebeyehu, has backed up the "no torture in Ethiopia" lie.Read More…..

June 1991–June 2009: 18 Years of Disapperance
SOCEPP

JUNE 1991-- several leaders and veteran members of the opposition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) fell into the hands of the Tigrai Liberation Front (TPLF) in Gondar and Gojjam following a war launched by the latter and its allies against the EPRP. The Sudanese regime of Omar Beshir, an ally of the TPLF, also handed over several EPRP members who were refugees of whom Azanaw Demile has been disappeared since. Read More…..

Rlease the prisoners of 2005 (

SOCEPP, 08 June 2009

MAY--JUNE 2005-- the EPRDF regime committed fraud and cancelled the results of the general election. Its defeat was turned into "victory", more than 200 peaceful protesters shot dead, close to 50,000 people rounded up and sent to prison camps (Zwai, Shoa Robit, Dedesa and Bir Sheleko) and "ghost" prisons all over Ethiopia. At present, some 35,000 prisoners are still suffering in thousands of brutal wardens and prison guards. Read More…..

Ethiopian Student Dawit Zewdie Makes Like Einstein: Solves Physics Problem, Gets Published

Einstein science teacher Eric Kearsley recently decided that, just for fun, he would give his AP physics class of mostly seniors a problem that was so difficult, he "would never put a problem like this on a test." Read More.....

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Hyper G7 has done it Again!! (By Yelfiwos Wondaya)

Call me by my Name, Address or Title …NAT: I am ignorant, please educate me
By Obo Arada Shawl

I am ignorant,
Educate me why the Pentecostal Christian wants me to join them
Tell me if you know, why the Catholics want my misery
Tell me again why the Protestants dearly love me
Answer me, why the Muslims find interest in me
Educate me, why the Jewish Community admire my company
How ignorant can I be? Read More.....

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UN International Day in support of survivors of torture: Thursday, June 25, 4:30 – 7:00pm, University of Winnipeg, room: 2M70. Read More…

Alternative to wheat: Teff flour now available on the NHS of the United Kingdom

With many people striving to reduce their wheat consumption but still wanting to eat bread and cakes, Teff, a gluten free grain, which in flour form can be used as a wheat flour substitute...Tobia-Teff. Those suffering from coeliac disease can also now get a prescription for a supply of the grain from the NHS. Read More.....

The first-ever Run for Rights benefit concert

This year the annual Run for Rights is very proud to present for the first time - the Run for Rights Benefit Concert. On Wednesday, June 3rd and Saturday, June 6th, Winnipeg will be the site of two events to contribute to human rights and social justice everywhere by raising awareness of and funds for 16 participating organizations. Read More.....

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Documentary exposes Ethiopia’s political vulnerability amid risks of following Burma and Zimbabwe into tyranny
By David Calleja

Without a doubt, the Zenawi government has effectively capitalized on the culture of fear instilled by Mengistu Haile Mariam. I am aware that some Ethiopians might be offended by what I am saying but I am speaking from my heart. Recently I read that an opposition party was desperately struggling to get a permit to hold a peaceful rally in a public area known as Meskel Square. Of course the government denied the permit. I was dismayed because no one had the courage to stage the rally without the permit. The rally was planned to be peaceful with no malice intended against the government. While I absolutely do not condone violence, I do believe in peaceful protest. Martin Luther King routinely staged public demonstrations without permits. He knew people would get hurt but he also knew they would never be able to advance their movement if everyone stayed home because there was no permit. Read More…..

Here We Go Again- The Ginboat Guys Did It As Predicted!
By Alex Birhanu

Funny enough we are told by Eritrean /“Ethiopian”/ Review article of May 28th 2009 that Andargachew Tsigie the Secretary General of Ginboat-7 Movement is currently on a working visit in Asmara, Eritrea mainly holding talks with Issayas Afewrki’s regime on how to create a united front with Ethiopian People's Patriotic Front (EPPF), OLF and ONLF. Read More.....

Aid Ironies: A Response to Jeffrey Sachs
Dambisa Moyo

There is a more fundamental point — what kind of African society are we building when virtually all public goods — education, healthcare, infrastructure and even security — are paid for by Western taxpayers? Under the all encompassing aid system too many places in Africa continue to flounder under inept, corrupt and despotic regimes, who spend their time courting and catering to the demands of the army of aid organizations. Read More…..

Solutions with Debteraw, X: Are Eathiopians defined by arts or religion? Call me by my name, address and title
Obo Arada Shawl

If this is not the correct idea and method by DEBTERAW, what then was/is the alternative one? For this DEBTERAW IS STILL HELD INCOMMUNICADO. Do we live for Arts or Arts serve us all? It is high time to stop acting and become real people. It should start from the top down – DEBTERAW SHOULD BE FREE. Read More…..

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Ethiopia's new climate of fear
David Dadge

Despite the generosity of donor nations, Ethiopia is ruled by an authoritarian government with virtual impunity. ... Zenawi has largely escaped sanction from his western allies, in part because the erudite ex-Marxist had a friendly relationship with the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and co-operated closely with the Bush administration in counter-terrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa. Read More…..

Ethiopian forces return to Somalia: witness

MOGADISHU (AFP), 19 May 2009— Ethiopian forces who pulled out of Somalia four months ago returned to the war-torn country Tuesday after Islamist rebels launched an offensive to topple the fledgling government, witnesses said. Read More.....

Celebrating Ethiopian women patriots in Roma

Interantional Ethiopian Women's Organisation (IEWO) leadership member Weizero Mulu Ayele reports how the Ethiopian Community in Rome exposes Italian crimes of war with anti-fascist Italians.

“We look back in admiration and sorrow to all that pain, to all that fervor. We particularly remember that woman who presented herself to Us during the inspection we made in the Ogaden, in the early times of the war. She wore a cartridge belt and held tight an Italian rifle. These weapons had formerly belonged to the man who killed her husband in front of her eyes and waded into her to abuse her. The whole Ethiopia was in that woman. “ (H.I.M.Haile Selassie, L’invasion de l’Ethiopie,Chapter 12) Read More…..

Release all political prisoners now
SOCEPP

May 15, 2009: The imprisoned leaders and journalists were released two years later while more than 35,000 political prisoners are still suffering in the concentration camps and secret prisons all over the country. Prior to May-- June 2005, thousands of political prisoners were already languishing in the prisons of the regime. Dozens others like Tsegaye Gebre Medhin, Yishak Debretsion and many other EPRP leaders and members had been disappeared. Read More…..

Ethiopians still waiting for a Vatican apology
EPRP

11 May 2009: The Pope of the Catholic Church is presently on a visit to the Middle East and the fact that Vatican has apologized for the negative and condemnable role and position of the Catholic Church during the Second World War and the genocide of Jews makes it imperative that we remind the Pope and the Vatican once again that Ethiopians are still waiting for an apology for the support that Pope Pius XI and the Vatican gave to the invasion of Ethiopia by Mussolini’s fascist army. Read More…..

Birhanu Gebrie’s legacy (From his sister Worke Zike)

Dear Debteraw Readers: First of all I would like to say thank you whoever wrote about Birhanu Gebrie’s legacy and kindness. I know Birhanu when I was a kid. He was the best friend of my elderly brother. He was also my father's God son. Read more.....

Tilahun Gessesse (Obituary from The Guardian)

Popular singer during Ethiopia’s ‘golden age’ of dance music. Tilahun Gessesse, who has died aged 68 of diabetes, was the best loved singer in Ethiopia, a performer who was hailed as an icon, a living legend whose popularity crossed ethnic and linguistic divides. … His songs covered anything from love to disguised political messages, and in 1960 he was arrested and imprisoned after a failed coup attempt against the Emperor in which members of the Imperial Guard were involved. His bit song at that time was Alchalkum (“I Can’t Stand It”) which may have been disguised as an happy love song but was widely seen as a protest against the Emperor and his regime. Read More…..

SOLUTIONS WITH DEBTERAW, A commentary on the “Art of death”
Obo Arada Shawl, (May 11, 2009)

Tilahun may have had at heart - songs about Love-Family-Friendship, while that of DEBTERAW and Bariaw is about Liberty-Unity-Justice. Of course, the triangle of love-family-friendship for DEBTERAW precedes the triangle of LUJ (liberty-unity-justice). It is a big CHOICE WE ALL. Read More…..

Britain and the EPRDF guilty of Assefa Maru’s murder
SOCEPP

May 8 1997: teacher and human rights activist Assefa Maru was summarily killed outside his home by British trained security forces who came in British supplied Land Rovers. Britain has trained and backed the security forces of the repressive EPRDF. Read More.....

The Repression Intensifies

May 08, 2009: The repression unleashed by the ruling EPRDF under the cover of acting against coup makers cum assassination planners is continuing ruthlessly. ... The total number of people jailed in this wave has now reached 58. Read More.....

The Last Moments of Tilahun Gessesse’s Life
From Merga Yonas (Fortune staff writer)

The whole incident leading to Tilahun Gessesse’s death began to unfold some minutes after midnight after the Easter celebration on April 19, 2009. [An article exposing the collapse of the health system and how health care has become a business in Ethiopia.] Read More.....

8th May: Ethiopian Martyrs’ Day
Concerned Ethiopians in the UK

In the morning of the 8th of May 1997, the late Ato Assefa Maru, ETA’s Deputy General Secretary and EHRCO’s Executive Board member was gunned down by the Ethiopian government security agents. ... May 8 is also the date in which we remember all our fallen martyrs, those who are unlawfully detained, tortured and caused to disappear. Hence it is the date we remember the late Professor Asrat Woldeyes, the late Ato Teferi Qumbi, the late young heroine Shibire Desalegn, Ato Tsegaye G/Medihin (Debteraw) - no one still knows his whereabouts, Ato Anteneh Getnet- involuntarily missing, Ato Abera Yemaneab –languishing in Kality prison for his political view, W/t Birtukan Mideksa - unlawfully languishing in Kality prison camp, Teddi Afro etc. Read More

Update on the repression

After arresting close to 40 people on dubious grounds (accusation of a coup plot at first and then on charges of planning assassination of ministers and officials, and sabotage of public facilities) the regime in Addis Ababa has undertaken further arrests espcially among military officers. Thus, Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige, Colonel Fnatahun Muhaba, Colonel Demisew, Major Sisaye, Major Adamu Getnet and Captain Azeze have been jailed. Read More.....

Where did our decent murders go?
Hama Tuma

Ethiopians, who have had to endure brutal deaths over decades, have a common wish which asks God “to make my death decent” (amamuaten asamirew). I am one of those who wonder why Ethiopians pray since He hardly ever listens to them but then again Ethiopians are a hopeful lot who will die hoping and praying for better days that never seem to come. Read More…..

Statement on World Press Freedom Day
SOCEPP

As the world observes Press Freedom Day (May 3), SOCEPP reminds all that the regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has virtually crushed the free press, jailed or forced into exiles dozens of journalists, closed publications and newspapers,passed a repressive press law, hiked the price of printing paper and publication and set up papers controlled by it as ”independent”newspapers. The regime controls nationawide TV and radio broadcast while the ruling Tigrean Front (TPLF) has, in addition, its own radio (Radio Fana). Read More .....

Ethiopians march in May Day Procession – This Year Too!
EPRP Norway Section

Ethiopians in Oslo took to the streets yesterday (the 1st of May – international Labour Day) and participated in the Labour Day procession, in answer to the call by the EPRP Norway Section for Ethiopians to unite against tyranny and oppression, and to reaffirm and express our solidarity with Ethiopian workers. Read More…..

Of Swine Flu and Mother Africa
Hama Tuma

Thank you swine flu and Mexico! For once Africa has not been blamed for being the source of a deadly virus. From Ebola to Lassa Fever, Rift Valley Fever, White Nile virus, the Marbrug Virus, the “Jealousy” malady and even AIDS and all so called haemorrhagic fevers have been attributed to poor old Africa. Africa is good for some blame at least. Read More…..

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SOLUTIONS WITH DEBTERAW, IX: Call me by my name, address or title
By Obo Arada Shawl

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Turning Points: Left Forum 2009
By Debteraw Reporter

The Left Forum 2009 Conference was held in New York City from April 17-19 at Pace University. On the first day, the conference started with an opening plenary of “The Current Crisis: Economic, Political, Environmental, and Cultural Dimensions.” Read More…..

Of a Royal Pardon and French Denials
Hama Tuma

“…the African man has never really entered history. ” (Nicholas Sarkozy, the French President, in a speech on Africa made in Dakar, Senegal on July 26th, 2007)

The Sarkozy speech caused a lot of stir in Africa though many “France Afrique” members (or if you want to put it crudely many French neocolonial puppets) did not utter any strong protest. From far away South Africa, Mbeki, the faux pas man par excellence, wrote to Sarkozy and praised him as a citizen of Africa. Read More…..

Shall I compare EPRP to Hirelings of the DERG?
By Yelfiwos Wondaya

EPRP conducted itself with Dignity while Hirelings of the Military Junta lost status, self-esteem and reputation and finally they were sent home in disgrace. In other words, they served DERG and became extinct shortly after Mengistu left for Harare and TPLF took over power in Addis Ababa. Read More……

Hama Tuma's First Book Now Published in Hebrew (in Israel)

The first Hama Tuma book in English, “The Case of the Socialist Witchdoctor and Other Stories” (Heinemann, African Writers Series, 1993), has been translated and published in Hebrew by the Achuzat Bayit Publishing House Ltd (Tel Aviv). The well known historian Professor Haggai Erlich has written the introduction to the Hebrew version while Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiongo had written the preface to the English one. Other Hama Tuma books have been translated into Italian and French. Read More…..

Newly Released Film: Comments from the premiere screeing of MEMORIES OF A GENERATION in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on April 5th, 2009. Over 300 people were at the screeing. A second Winnipeg screeing is planned for May 3rd, 2009.

Washington's relationship with Ethiopia - (Newsweek)

In the past year alone, Meles's ruling party has rigged elections, effectively banned independent human-rights groups, passed a draconian press law and shrugged off calls for an investigation into alleged atrocities in the restive Ogaden region. Yet in the same period, his country has become one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa, getting a cool $1 billion in 2008. Read More .....

Solutions with Debteraw, VIII: Call me by my name, address or title
By Wolde R. Tewolde, April 9, 2009

This article is the first in a three part series depicting Assegid Wolde Amanuel, the student, the professional and the public servant. AWA died on USA soil but was buried in Addis Ababa on March 29, 2009. Read More......

Kudos for Malawi
Hama Tuma

A few years back one “Africanist” did write a book suggesting that Israelis and Japanese should replace Africans in Africa and the blighted continent would develop in no time. (Of course the book sold well in Europe—what did you expect?). Emptying the continent sounds a bit abrupt and crude, if not cruel, but doing the same through adoption would be gentler and kinder much like that promised to us gullible people by the New World Order. Read More…...

Ethiopia: The Democratic Alternative (Problems and Prospects)
By the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP)

First of all: to present the EPRP's

vision of a democratic path, of an alternative for

Ethiopia. Secondly, quite a few foreign circles seem to be under the conviction that the Ethiopian opposition, including the EPRP, have no vision of the future other than criticising the ruling front. Actually, most opposition organizations have clearly stated political programs and proposals of the future. In this brief paper, the EPRP will present its conception of democracy, the main political basis on which it radically differed and differs from the ruling Tigrean front (TPLF) or EPRDF as it likes to call itself. Read More.....

Kidnapping of children for sale increases
SOCEPP

Reliable reports from Addis Ababa reveal that in the last few months the number of young girls being kidnapped from private schools and the number of children being snatched by groups of men travelling in vans has increased. The police are denying this is taking place though some schools like Gelan number 2 have reported that four young girls have been kidnapped in the last two month alone. Read More……

Newly Released Film: Memories of a Generation (78mins)

Memories of a Generation View Trailer

The Story of Ali Saeed and Other Ethiopian Political Victims (In Amharic and English with English subtitles) is coming to North America and Europe. Produced, Directed, and Edited by Aaron Floresco.

Imagine you have been imprisoned, subjected to torture, released and forced to leave your homeland as a refugee, imprisoned again, released again, and once more captured and sentenced to death. This was the reality for Ali Saeed, an Ethiopian imprisoned in his homeland and in Somalia for trying to spread freedom of speech and freedom of the mind. Ali and many other Ethiopians with similar experiences were able to escape to countries such as Canada, and they are now ready to speak about the period in Ethiopia's history known as the "Red Terror". Question and Answer portion to follow. (For more information call Ali at 779-6322 or Janine at 475-3816)

Meles Zenawi abruptly cancelled conference
Henry Gombya

The Black Star News from G20 in London, 02 April 2009: Although Meles Zenawi the Ethiopian Prime Minister ... was here, he abruptly cancelled a press conference he was about to give. His people gave no reasons for this. But insiders in the press centre said Zenawi was worried about the kind of questions that were going to be put to him concerning human rights violations within Ethiopia and his dealing with his opponents and Ethiopia’s neighbours.

SOCEPP supports the demonstrations against Meles Zenawi in London - April 2/2009

SOCEPP expresses its solidarity with all people demonstrating against the presence of Meles Zenawi for the G20 meeting in London. Meles Zenawi heads one of the most repressive and demagogic regimes in Africa. Meles cannot represent the interest of the peoples of Africa as he has been condemned as one of the gross human rights violators in the continent. Read more...

Shame on those who invite a tyrant to their table (By way of an open letter to British PM Gordon Brown)
EPRP

Statement on the G20 meeting regarding the unfair representation of Ethiopia and other African countries by the criminal Meles Zenawi

An Open Letter: The International Campaign to End Genocide (Genocide Watch)

SOLUTIONS WITH DEBTERAW, VII: Call me by my name, address and title
By Obo Arada Shawl

Today, the main reason why DEBTERAW is in prison is simply because he is the leader in Tsinhate Muhur Akal. His usual rhetorical question is to ask questions of WHY and HOW? If any individual asks such questions, he/she would have to succeed not only personally but also professionally. That was DEBTERAW’s belief. Read More…..

UPDATE: Deportees from the Sudan Surface in Kaliti Prison
SOCEPP, 31 March 2009

Fifteen Ethiopian refugees, some of them, like the elderly (Shaleka) Atanaw Wassie, who have been in the Sudan since the mid seventies, were rounded up in July 2007 and deported to Ethiopia in September 2007. All 15 had subsequently disappeared in the maze of secret prisons and solitary confinement and brutal interrogation in Addis Ababa. The 15 deportees have now been brought to the notorious Kaliti prison and reports indicate that they would be charged as rebel operatives, smuggling arms, ammunition and uniforms to rebels operating near the Ethio-Sudanese border. Read More…..

SOCEPP Condemns loyal opposition MP’scampaign against the poor

A member of one of the loyal opposition groups within the regime’s parliament has called for a repressive law (ban) against “beggars in the city”. Gebru Gebre Mariam, a “UEDF" MP, alleged that the thousands of beggar are made up of “loafers and healthy but lazy youngsters and people" while, to his shame, the regime’s Minister of Labour corrected him by saying that the root cause must be addressed and no simple solution sought from a banning law. Read More…..

Azeb Mesfin grabs it all

After her spreading control over the sale of Khat and coffee, Azeb Mesfin has now imposed direct control over EFFORT. The corruption of the Meles family is showing no restraints whatsoever and Azeb has emerged as one of the most corrupt wives of African tyrants. Read this summary report from Fortune magazine:

Azeb Mesfin, the wife of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, has been appointed as deputy head of the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT). Read Mpre.....

Tamerat: the Lost Sheep or the Snake in the Garden of Eden?
By Henoke T. Yeshetlla

Of DJs and Coups: Africa’s Unending Originality
By Hama Tuma

The “dark” continent is in reality the most vibrant and original continent. Tam tams are still there, the drums of passion and of an undying spirit of hope rising against the reality of despair and death. Westerners have this annoying tendency of taking poverty as exotic (take the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire as an example) while disliking the poor, of loving Africa’s wild and Serengeti type plains while detesting the Africans as a whole. Read More.....

The Global Competitiveness Report 2008 – 2009: Ethiopia (World Economic Forum)

An accredited International beggar with no qualm
Seifu Tsegaye Demmissie

Zenawi is the name most familiar in the door steps and corridors of western donors and their financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Hence, the designation International beggar is quite befitting to describe his role in his warm relationship with the west. Read More .....

Ethiopia revokes coffee licences
BBC

The Ethiopian government has revoked the licences of six of the country's main coffee exporters, accusing them of hoarding supplies. It also confiscated 17,000 tonnes of stock of around 80 other traders, saying it would auction the coffee. Read More…..

SOCEPP condemns the sale of children under the cover of adoption

The sale of Ethiopian children under the cover of adoption has now reached alarming proportions with more than 70 adoption agencies in action and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and government backed middle men busy selling off children. Read More…..

Who is who
[Souce: Ethiopian Information Service (SHINE), Amsterdam (Holland), 30 May 1996]

[The so-called "Peace Committee" under the chairmanship of Dr. Ephrem Yisshac … has been a group which was very sympathetic to the EPRDF government and composed of people like Dr. Haile Selassie Belai, Dr. Yacob Haile Mariam (a lawyer from USA). Dr. Yacob Haile Mariam was eulogizing EPRDF and its policies when he presented a paper here in Driebergen, Holland in September 1991 about his assessment of the July 1, 1991 conference in Addis Abeba which he attended as a honorary observer representing this peace group. This so called "peace" group never uttered a single word while all those atrocities were perpetrated against Ethiopians following EPRDF's effort to inflame inter- ethnic and inter-communal conflicts ... It was a group which was trying to cover up the ugly undemocratic face of EPRDF and was accordingly rejected by the Ethiopian people. The emergence of this phony "peace" group was part of an international effort by some pro EPRDF western institutions and churches to put a democratic face on the EPRDF government. This "peace" group was financed by western institutions which are sympathetic to EPRDF.

US tried to gag Binyam Mohamed with plea bargain
By Nick Allen

US authorities tried to gag Binyam Mohamed, the former Guantanamo Bay detainee, by offering him a plea bargain under which he would gain his freedom in return for dropping torture allegations. Read More…..

Gender and Politics in the Horn of Africa: The Ethiopian Experience
(Ghennet Girma's paper on gender and politics was presented during the event organized by the African American Studies and Women's Studies Centers at York College CUNY (City University of New York), for Women's History Month)

It is often said: “If you do not take care of politics, it will take care of you anyway”. Politics is in the public sphere because it is supposed to take care of defining, guiding and deciding the course of everyone’s life. Whereas women contribute to society, their input is not recognized. Read More…..

Open letter to Mayor of the city of Tübingen (SOCEPP, 21 March 2009)

Unlike The Unity Force, “MEDREK” is The New Version Of EPRDF
Yelfiwos Wondaya

Be that as it may, I believe we are at a time when the unity and the struggle of the two opposing positions come to face to face in a challenge and often with hostility, harsh criticism and defiance. The Unity Force VS Narrow Nationalists! So it is time on our part to have to use the diary of each individual involved in the so-called MEDREK against their political fate in Ethiopia. The official record of those in MEDREK has been and still is to reform and adopt the existing ethnocentric political mode of behavior and thereby to persuade Ethiopians as such and impose the same tyrannical system against the will of the people. Read More…..

Amnesty’s double standard: calling upon it to be impartial and to report on the plight of the illegally imprisoned and disappeared in Ethiopia

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S treatment of human rights in Ethiopia has for long been questioned by many Ethiopians. During the Mengistu era, the reports of Amnesty were echoes of ethnic fronts (TPLF, OLF) and their allegations while ignoring the plight of others. Since 1991, Amnesty has refused to take up the case of the disappeared (like Tsegaye Gebre Medhin and others) and that of Abera Yemaneab kept illegally in jail since 1993. Numerous appeals and protests have been made to Amnesty without any reply or explanation from it. Read more and write your letters of concern and protest to Amnesty and its local chapters …..

Petition: Calling for information on the fate of the disappeared in Ethiopia

We the undersigned call upon all human rights organizations and individuals who call for the respect of human rights to sign this petition asking the ruling EPRDF in Ethiopia to account on the whereabouts of the disappeared of whom some a few are named below. Read and sign the petition …..

Radio reporter Dawit Alemu illegally jailed
SOEPP, 11 March 2009

Ethiopian radio reporter Dawit Alemu has been jailed on charges of writing a non specified book critical of the existing EPRDF regime. Dawit, who had written one book some years back, has denied he has written the alleged book. Read More…..

International Women’s Day celebration (EPRP Norway Section)

In remembering the International Women’s Day, female members of our organisation joined women of Oslo in celebrating this day. Read More…..

Is Pro Woyane Huddleston coming back?
Selected passage from AllAfrica

Within the Obama camp, several names have been mentioned as her possible replacement, most prominently, Vicki Huddleston, who served as acting U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, U.S. ambassador to Mali and Madagascar, deputy assistant secretary of state and chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. Read More.....

Saudis get first taste of foreign harvest (from Ethiopia)
By Javier Blas in London

Rice, harvested in famine-hit Ethiopia by a group of Saudi investors, was presented to King Abdullah recently and comes as other countries are still in the early stages of investing in overseas farms. Read More…..

International Women’s Day: No dawn yet for Ethiopian women (SOCEPP)

March 8 – International Women’s Day: The struggle of Ethiopian Women for their rights continues (EPRP)

Contempt for Africa or justice served? (Comment on the arrest warrant for Beshir of the Sudan)
By Hama Tuma

The controversial International Criminal Court has finally come out with an arrest warrant for President Omar Beshir of the Sudan. The warrant is out for war crimes and/or crimes against humanity but not for genocide—a point that would surely not matter that much for the accused. Read More…..

Reports on human rights in Ethiopia: why flawed, why incomplete
SOCEPP, 04 March 2000

SOCEPP has time and again expressed its disapointment over flawed and incomplete reports on the human rights situation being made by the US State Department and other foreign human rights agencies. These reports, often biased and superficial, have made the reason for the existence of SOCEPP still valid. SOCEPP was established 14 years ago to focus on political prisoners FORGOTTEN or ignored by foreign (and one local) human rights bodies for unexplained reasons. Read More.....

Unleashing the lesson of Adwa
By Yilma Bekele

Today we have Kilils, Nations, Nationalities, and the infamous Article 39, a time bomb built into our constitution. Article 39, is the new article 17 that brought about Adwa. The new usurpers are playing the old game of sabotaging our unity by promising phantom power and riches to a few Askaris. The children of those who marched north together to face the common enemy are told that they are enemies to be separated into Bantustans and view each other with suspision and contempt. Read More.....

Opposition urges South Africa to abrogate military deal with Ethiopia
Sudan Tribune

February 28, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) — An Ethiopian opposition party slammed the signing of defense agreement between South Africa and Ethiopia urging Pretoria to abrogate it without delay. … Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP), a social democratic political organization, condemned in a statement released Friday the military pact adding it "is counter to the basic interest of the Ethiopian people and to the search for peace in the region as a whole." Read More…..

Reviewing the Damaging Effects of Ethiopian Diaspora Politics on the Wider Community and its Future Initiatives: The Search for Alternative Mechanisms, Part I (by Maru Gubena)

Thousands flee Ethiopia clashes
BBC

Tens of thousands of people have reportedly fled their homes as a result of fighting between rival groups in a remote part of southern Ethiopia. The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt says 300 people may have been killed - mostly in a major battle on 5 February. Read More…..

Ethiopia: 2008 Human Rights Reports
USA Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

The Green Famine of Southern Ethiopia: Myth or Real?

Of Courts and Hypocrisies
Hama Tuma

A loud hue and cry is being heard just because a Sierra Leonean Court found three former rebel leaders (of the Revolutionary United Front–RUF) guilty of war crimes. The accused were found guilty of what a CNN reporter termed creative torture (what is so creative about chopping hands and arms?). Read More.....

SOLUTIONS WITH DEBTERAW, VI: call me by my name, address and task
By Obo Arada Shawl (February 23, 2009)

What is the stand of EPLF, TPLF and OLF as at to date? Perhaps regret! Call me by my name, what is my name, colonizer or colonized? Explanation is required! Read More.....

Call for the release of journalist Wosen Seged Gebre-Kidan
SOCEPP, 20 Feb 2009

The editor of the former Harambee newspaper, Wosen Seged Gebre Kidan, has been thrown again into the notorious Kality prison, because he was unable to pay the 3000 Birr payment imposed upon him for bail. Woseen Seged closed down his Harambee newspaper when print and paper costs sky rocketed shortly in a clear attempt by the regime to shut down some newspapers. Read More.....

Hope you don’t mean it!
Letter to the editors

Hello my dearest fellow Ethiopians, hope this email finds you well.

I am writing you this note regarding a poem posted on your website written by Abraham Beyene “Bedemu Yetatibe”. I don’t want to speculate what the writer is trying to achieve, as he has a natural right “free press” to express what he believes, feels, etc... however .... Read More.....

Is prejudice based on skin color unique to Ethiopia? (by Tedla Asfaw)

EPRP denounces the military cooperation between Djibouti and the Meles Zenawi regime (EPRP Statement, 13 February 2009)

EPRP condemns defense agreement between South Africa and the Meles Regime
EPRP Statement, 13 February 2009

SOLUTIONS WITH DEBTERAW, V: Call me by my name, address and task
By Obo Arada Shawl (February 13, 2009)

Some people think they'd like to ride out The war, leave the danger to the brave And dig themselves a cozy hideout. They will dig themselves an early grave. B.Brecht (Mother Courage)

I believe that the Aethiopian Student Movement had embarked on a political Revolution to be followed with economic revolution and it is in this light that the struggle of EPRP should be evaluated and judged. Not the other way round. I heard a group who were discussing on why EPRP did not build roads and bridges. What an argument! Read More…..

Letter to Tadesse Bula