Hradline Islamist leader tells Kenya not to send its troops to Somalia

MOGADISHU, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, radical Islamist leader of a Somali opposition faction, has warned Kenya against sending its troops to Somalia to join the African Union peacekeepers who are already here, local media reports said on Thursday. Read More.....

Of Alphabets and Disasters
By Hama Tuma

Jean Paul Sartre once said that words are loaded pistols. The same can be said of alphabets, at least where it concerns Ethiopians. Back in the late sixties and seventies, there was tendency within leftist groups and parties of the world to split, with the splitters still keeping the mother name but adding alphabets to it. CP (R), CP (ML), CP (D) and a whole parade of qualified names. The R stood for Revolutionary or Renovated, ML defined true blood Marxist- Leninist, the D stood for democratic, and so on and so forth. There were many times good reasons for the splits but the alphabet soup, as it became known, was like a poor man's soup, short on the meat and just plain water. Read More.....

Washington Update, 19 November 2008

Ethiopia ban stays as talks fail
BBC Sport

Ethiopia remains banned from international football after the failure of talks aimed at resolving the dispute which has split the country's football federation (EFF). Read More.....

Somali Militias Near Outskirts of Mogadishu
By Howard Lesser

In the past week, the al-Shabaab militia and other insurgent groups have seized several towns in Somalia, including the strategic port of Merka. The new Islamic insurgency is still on the move, currently about 18 kilometers from the capital Mogadishu. Read More.....

Rival Islamists clash near Somali capital, 6 dead
By Abdi Sheikh

Rival Islamist militia have fought in a town just outside Somalia's capital Mogadishu, illustrating splits in the forces ranged against the government and its Ethiopian military backers. ... But they are split between the so-called "Djibouti group", which supports a U.N.-brokered peace process that foresees power-sharing between the Islamists and the government, and the "Asmara group" which opposes any accord. Read More…..

The Political Space in Ethiopia
Seifu Tsegaye Demissie

As a whole, dictators seize a political space and do not make it accessible to others who would want to pave the way for a competitive and pluralistic political system. In the face of these hindrances and above all, the national security risks the regime of Meles Zenawi poses, Ethiopians and their genuine opposition forces have no option but to consolidate themselves and pursue their struggle with all the determination and resolve they muster. Read More.....

US Embassy in Ethiopia issues terror warning
Herald Tribune, 14 November 2008

The U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia has warned American citizens against taking part in the Great Ethiopian Run because of the threat of terrorism. Friday's message says embassy staff and their families should not to take part in the 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) race set for Nov. 23. Read More…..

SOLUTIONS WITH DEBTERAW, I: Call me by my name & address
By Obo Arada Shawl

November 13, 2008: Who is the Oboma of Ethiopia? This kind of question has been asked by million of AEthiopians in million times especially at the beginning of the onset of the Eway Revolution. What is interesting and a dumb question at the same time ... Read More

Somali Islamic insurgents take 2 strategic towns

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — An Islamic militia that the U.S. considers a terrorist organization took over two strategic towns in Somalia on Tuesday [11 Nov. 2008], the latest territory grab by a strengthening insurgency, officials said. Read More.....

Some Lessons from the Obama Victory
Hama Tuma

Barack Obama will face very hard and difficult hurdles and it is not clear, as he himself admitted, that the jump would be easy. That aside, the lesson of this Obama victory is not, for me, in the bright possibility that Africa would now get a better deal from callous Washington. Those Ethiopians who dream of Obama giving us Ethiopians and Africans the moral and other tools to achieve liberation are still missing the mark. Read Mor e.....

SOCEPP Condemns Stoning of Somali Woman to Death

SOCEPP had condemned the atrocities and human rights violations committed by the Meles Zenawi regime in Somali and the Ogaden region of Ethiopia and it is now duty bound to vigorously condemn the stoning to death of a Somali woman in Kismayo town. The 23 years old woman was accused of "adultery" while reports now indicate she was gang raped instead. Read More.....

-London kinijit Supporters

Ethiopia Lost One of Her Long Time Hero
From his comrades

It was with deep shock and grief that we received the news of the sudden and unexpected passing away of Mengistu Wassihun. It seems that his sudden and unexpected death was caused by injuries he suffered in a traffic accident two months ago in Colorado Denver. He was a good person who had a vision for our country, a vision of a country where people can live in freedom and harmony without suppression, strife or conflict. His efforts to realize this vision in the form of activities aimed at consolidating our unity and serving our community, all in addition to the activities and obligations in his personal life. He is survived by his beautiful wife and three wonderful children. Read more PDF in Amharic…

Whose nationalism?
By Gemencho

It is a distortion to place history outside of the ideological and material conditions that shape social relations, constraints and conflicts. To do so, is to overlook the dynamics and complexity of domination which includes but not limited to class, gender, race, ethnicity , religion and reduce it to one universal form or another. Read more...

The Afar Forum Conference
Press release, Brussels 17-19 October, 2008

The Afar in the three horn of Africa states of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti are not only facing overwhelming challenges, but also are in the core of interlocking conflicts between the three states and among the nationalities in the region. Read More…..

Message to Ethiopians and Ethiopian-Americans
(Washington Update - November 5, 2008)

Sixty African refugees found dead on Yemen beach

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Sixty corpses of would-be refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia were found on a beach in Yemen over the weekend after smugglers forced many of them overboard, an international aid agency said on Monday. Read More…..

Somali politician returns home
Al Jazeera

The head of the Islamic Courts' Union in Somalia has returned to his stronghold two years after Ethiopian forces ousted him. Read More …..

The Truth about the EPRP (a must read document)

So What if Obama Wins?
hamatuma.blogspot.com

Imamu Amiri Baraka called hope a delicate suffering while someone else called it tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment. No question that Ethiopia's suffering millions need hope, but then the same Ethiopians say he who lives on hope dies with desire. Very realistic you would say but it won't be correct all the way. Ethiopians, or at least her so called intellectuals, are complicated. Read More…..

A commentary: CALL ME BY MY ADDRESS: Solutions with DEBTERAW
Obo Arada Shawl alias Wolde Tewolde

What: Intellectual gathering. Where: along the golden gate to the White House in a place called Ethical Society. Why: To celebrate 36 years of ideological and political struggle. Read More.....

Profiting from Ethiopiab blood, the disastrous invasion of Somalia
EPRP Statement (October 29, 2008)

The ongoing hue and cry over a possible withdrawal of the invading troops of Meles Zenawi from Somalia is but a smokescreen for a greedy enterprise that has profited from the blood of ordinary Ethiopians. Meles Zenawi invaded Somalia for no strategic Ethiopian concern but he and his regime wanted to profit financially, politically and militarily from the undertaking. In the process, thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians have perished. Read More...

Remembering Eshetu Chole Of poems written by the late Dr. Eshetu Chole I sat there silently, Waiting, hope ever increasing For light to replace darkness And relieve me of my pains. Read More from Hama Tuma Page

Washington Update (October 28, 2008)

Bus accident kills 19 in Ethiopia

APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia): Ethiopian police are investigating a bus accident late Monday evening that killed 19 and seriously wounded 10, sources said here Tuesday. At least 19 people died Tuesday when a bus traveling from Addis Ababa to H[A]awasa city, 275 kilometers south had an accident in Ethiopian town, police said here on Tuesday. Read More…..

Insurgents reject UN-backed deal for Somalia

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Somalia's radical insurgents on Monday vowed to fight on despite Addis Ababa's pledge to respect a UN-sponsored deal reached a day earlier that allows for a pullback of Ethiopian troops.The Somali government and an Islamist opposition umbrella group on Sunday agreed to implement a dormant June ceasefire, paving the way for pro-government Ethiopian troops to pull back from the country. Read More…..

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Somali Parties Agree on Ethiopian Pullout
IslamOnline.net & News Agencies

DJIBOUTI —The interim Somali government and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) agreed on Sunday, October 26, to implement a dormant ceasefire deal, paving the way for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops. Read More…..

CALL ME BY MY ADDRESS: Solutions with DEBTERAW, III
Obo Arada Shawl alias Wolde Tewolde

In the last few weeks numerous articles have been posted in defense of nationalism, religious freedom and political leadership. ... Basically these articles are all written to either defame the past Revolutionary struggle of AEthiopia or to belittle the Eway Revolution. The articles that were posted in the five websites will lead us to the basic question of unity with Capital U. Read More.....

We say No to contract signing with unelected regime in Ethiopia !!!
Tedla Asfaw

I read a news on Ethiopian web site, www.debteraw.com, posted on (Oct. 22) that Calvalley Petroleum from Canada is reaching a production sharing contract with unelected regime of Ethiopia at a time more than ten millions of our people are starving and international organizations are calling for more aid to save lives. Read More.....

Calvalley Signs First Production Sharing Contract in Ethiopia
Calvalley Petroleum Inc., (TSX: CVI.A)

Calvalley Petroleum Inc. ... has entered into its first Production Sharing Contract ("PSC") with the Ethiopian Government for the exploration, development and production of petroleum resources in the Gimbi and Metema blocks under a single contract covering a total area of over 46,470 square kilometers (11.5 million acres). Both blocks are located in the western part of the country, adjacent to the Sudan border. Read More.....

A shattering moment in America's fall from power
John Gray, The Observer

The global financial crisis will see the US falter in the same way the Soviet Union did when the Berlin Wall came down. The era of American dominance is over. Read More.....

Ethiopia risks £130 million of British aid by 'hiding famine'
Telegraph

Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, told Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's prime minister, that Britain would not guarantee future payments to the country. On a two-day visit, Mr Alexander toured a hospital in the town of Kebri Dehar, in the Somali region. Before his arrival, local officials forced starving infants out of the emergency ward and on to the street. Read More…..

EPRP denounces new repressive law to be proclaimed by the regime
EPRP statement

It has been twice revised since May 2008 but it has become more repressive each time. It is before the rubber stamp parliament and it will for sure be adopted as the Meles Zenawi regime has ordered it should be. The Charities and Societies proclamation that will set up the powerful and arbitrary Charities and Societies Agency is aimed at banning NGOs working on human rights issues in Ethiopia. Read More….. [Full text of the draconian proclamation both in Amharic and English]

Inside Somalia's danger zone (Click and watch video reports on BBC)

On Patrol in Mogadishu // Visiting a Mogadishu Clinic // On a Food Aid Ship Bound for Somalia

"A Government In Exile"
By Yelfiwos Wondaya (October 14, 2008)

Once again a fear of backdoor dealings dominating Ethiopian thinking both at home and abroad for sometime must come to a close now. Ethiopians are no longer interested in a group that carries out an indirect sort of dealings with anyone other than our own to settle our national affairs. To begin with, one would say without fear of contradiction that an initiative that comes from outside into a place where it does not belong is bound to fail. Read More.....

Troop pull-out leaves government on brink: Ethiopian withdrawal marks end of disastrous intervention that sparked new violence and suffering
From Steve Bloomfield in Nairobi

SOMALIA'S FRAGILE government appears to be on the brink of collapse. Islamist insurgents now controls large parts of southern and central Somalia and are continuing to launch attacks inside the capital, Mogadishu. Ethiopia, which launched a U.S.-backed military intervention in Somalia in December 2006 in an effort to drive out an Islamist authority, is now pulling out its troops. Read More…..

MP demands inquiry into 'British interrogation of detainees in Ethiopia'
BBC's Radio 4 broadcasts claims that detainees in Ethiopia had been illegally transported from Somalia
guardian.co.uk

An MP today called for a parliamentary inquiry into claims that British agents were involved in the interrogation of detainees in Ethiopia who had been illegally transported from neighbouring Somalia. The BBC reported that at least 10 men were held for around 18 months, during which time they claimed they were denied access to lawyers and mistreated, including by being shackled and having their hands cuffed behind their backs for such long periods it caused intense pain. Read More.....

Sudan summons Kenyan, Ethiopian envoys over arms
By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Sudan summoned the Kenyan and Ethiopian ambassadors on Monday to protest against what it said were illegal shipments of arms to its semi-autonomous south, state media reported. Read More…..

CALL ME BY MY ADDRESS: A Commentary
Obo Arada Shawl alias Wolde Tewolde (October 13, 2008)

The rampage of the moral brigade or much ado about nothing
By Hama Tuma
.
I still prefer Vietnam's busybody foreign Minister Nguyen co Thatch who said "we are not without accomplishments. We have managed to distribute poverty equally". African leaders are experts at this but this also is not taking much of their time. Take Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa who has invaded Somalia, is denying the existence of the famine, robbing the country blind and yet has the time to give a speech on Gandhism, non violence and the rule of law. Lying takes not much time? Read More…..

EPRP CONDEMNS TORTURE OF PRISONERS AND THE VIOLATIONS OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF ETHIOPIA (Statement from EPRP)

Political Prisoners deported by force from Nairobi to Mogadishu and then taken to Ethiopia to be imprisoned in fetid secret prisons in Addis Ababa have now revealed that they were tortured both by EPRDF soldiers and by Americans. Read

Ethiopia ban stays as talks fail BBC Sport

Ethiopia ban stays as talks fail
BBC Sport