Zenawi
takes more political prisoners hostage in H. R. 2003 mark-up battle
The
Coalition for H.R. 2003 has just learned that H.R. 2003 will be up
for consideration during the September session of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee meeting. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos
in a press release today following the Committee meeting declared:
.... Read
More.....
U.S.-Ethiopia:
A Double-Edged Partnership
By Stephanie Hanson, July 31, 2007
Ethiopia
receives nearly half a billion dollars in U.S. aid each year as well
as military assistance. Yet the Ethiopian government has shown little
inclination to improve a dismal record on human rights, as well as
a history of unresponsiveness to international pressure on its domestic
policies. Read
More.....
URGENT! DAY 2 CAMPAIGN FOR HR 2003:
FAX/Call Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer
July 31, 2007
Washington – The Coalition for H.R. 2003 is pleased to announce
to all pro-democracy supporters, the fax and telephone call campaign
to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proved exceptionally effective.
The Coalition for H.R. 2003, once again, respectfully calls upon all
pro-democracy Ethiopians, Ethiopian Americans and friends of Ethiopia
worldwide to IMMEDIATELY start faxing letter to the US House of Representatives
Majority Leader’s Washington, DC office and follow-up with a
telephone call. Fax your letters, DO NOT MAIL. It takes 2 weeks to
deliver a letter to congress because of security inspections. Office
telephone and fax numbers are listed below. Copy and paste, and modify
the letter below to fit your special situation. Read
More & Act Now.....
UPDATE:
ACTION ALERT
The
Coalition for H.R. 2003, July 30, 2007
Congratulations to supporters of H.R.2003 for
a successful first day campaign. The Coalition has been advised the
fax and telephone of the House Speaker's office have been jammed all
day today. The campaign will continue until the Honorable House Speaker
Pelosi decides to speak out on why she decided to interfere with a
human rights bill.
When calling House Speaker Pelosi's office: Please communicate your
displeasure in her interference with the MarkUp of H.R.203. Please
ask the Speaker's office, "I would like an explanation on why
Speaker Pelosi does not want H.R.2003 to be calendared for MarkUP
at the Foreign Affairs Committee tomorrow, July 31, 2007". Please
use the following information to contact:
House Speaker Pelosi at her Washington, DC office: Telephone # 202-225-4965,
Fax# 202-225-8259
District office for House Speaker Pelosi: Tel# 415-556-4862, Fax#
415-861-1670
July
29 Finote Radio Interview with Prof. Al Mariam
The
Shameless so called "Professors"
Yilma Begashaw
The
fate of Ethiopia is not in the hands of the US Congress. Paid internal
agents such as our so called Professors and external lobbyists in
New York can never, and should never damage our spirits and our resilience
for a protracted struggle for democracy, peace and prosperity. These
cheap servants may extend the life of the tyrants for a further couple
of days. But its end is approaching fast. Let us join hands and make
it even faster, with the help of our Mighty. IT IS GOOD TO KNOW OUR
ENEMIES. Read
More.....
By Bizualem Beza
URGENT! FAX letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi
The Coalition for H.R. 2003, July 29, 2007
Washington – The Coalition for H.R. 2003 calls upon all pro-democracy
Ethiopians, Ethiopian Americans and friends of Ethiopia worldwide
to IMMEDIATELY fax letter to the US House of Representatives Speaker’s
Washington, DC office and follow-up with a telephone call starting
July 30, 2007, Monday, 9 AM Eastern Standard Time. Fax your letters,
DO NOT MAIL. It takes 2 weeks to deliver a letter to congress because
of security inspections. Read
More.....
LANTOS DIRECTED NOT TO MARK UP H.R. 2003! ZENAWI
BUYS SPEAKER PELOSI, MAJORITY LEADER HOYER
EPHREM ISAAC LOBBIES HARD AGAINST H.R. 2003
The
Coalition for HR 2003 has learned that Foreign Affairs Committee Chair
Tom Lantos was directed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (San Francisco)
and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Maryland) not to mark-up H.R. 2003
on July 31, 2007. The reasons for the directive are not clear. ...
The Coalition has further learned that Ephrem Isaac, who has recently
been masquerading as a “shimagle”, has been engaged in
intense lobbying efforts against H.R. 2003 in Congress. He was observed
visiting various congressional offices today chaperoned and accompanied
by Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York. The Coalition is investigating
information that Isaac is mobilizing powerful Jewish leaders and groups
in the United States against H.R. 2003.
The Coalition respectfully notifies Ethiopian Americans in California
and Maryland, particularly in the congressional districts of Pelosi
and Hoyer, to prepare for vigorous and intense advocacy in the coming
days. Read
More....
Zenawi Cranks up Lobbying Machines to Defeat H.R. 2003 in Foreign
Affiars Committee
Mark-up Vote for H.R. 2003 Scheduled
for July 31, 2007
The Coalition for HR 2003 is informed and believes that the House
Foreign Affairs Committee will calendar H.R. 2003 for mark-up on Tuesday,
July 31, 2007. We expect the bill will receive full support by committee
members and recommended for passage by the Full House.
SPECIAL ALERT: DLA
Piper - Zenawi has engaged his lobbying army of DLA Piper to
defeat the bill. They are making calls and paying visits to members
asking them not to support and vote for the bill. DLA Piper has fully
engaged their top guns to defeat the bill. See Ken Silverstein’s
article in the recent issue of Harper’s Magazine, entitled “Lobbying
firms blocking action against Ethiopia's
tyrant”.
Shimagles - We are also very much aware
that some individuals who have lately been representing themselves
as “shimagles” are indeed leading a secret lobbying campaign
against the bill. We are fully aware of their efforts, and if they
want to continue on their present course, we insist that they register
as lobbyists for a foreign government under the Foreign Agents Registration
Act , 22 U.S.C. § 611 (c) (1).
Read More & Act Now.....
Letter
from Engineer Hailu Shawel, CUD President //
KIC
Press Release
US,
Ethiopia accused over Somalia
By Mark Turner at the United Nations and Barney
Jopson in Kenya
Ethiopia
is accused of killing civilians with white phosphorus bombs, the US
navy of attacking suspected al-Qaeda operatives in Puntland, and Eritrea
of delivering surface-to-air missiles to Islamist militia, in a startling
new report on Somalia by UN arms monitors. Read
More.....
Letter
to Ato Siye Abraha
From Tedla Asfaw
I am waiting the second part of Ato Siye's interview with Germany
Amharic radio this coming Friday and it will be appropriate to ask
some questions..... Read
More.....
Announcement
of a meeting in Washington DC organised by Gasha for Ethiopia and
the International Tigrean Democratic Association on 11 August 2007.
For more detailed information…...
Listen
to the latest programme of the IEWO Radio
It
is No Longer my Way of the Highway: Build from Traditional Mediation
a Strategy of Comprehensive Reconciliation
NES Commentary no.8
The problem of the ONLF, OLF, EPRP and others can also fall under
this method of traditional mediation. If it can be seen as the alternative
or as an integral part of other methods of conflict resolution, it
would be promoted, supported and fully resourced by all who genuinely
wish to help solve problems and not aggravate it endlessly and problematically.
The Government should use the success with CUDP to invite all these
forces into the process of traditional mediation and engage with them
rather than forcing them to fight it with non-peaceful methods. Read
More and post your comments.....
Urgent
Press Release
Coalition for H.R.2003
There is a concerted effort being waged by supporters of the
Zenawi regime to kill H.R.2003. We have to make a final push to get
H.R.2003 marked up on July 31 which is the last markup date before
Congres goes out on recess. Read
more.....
Released
CUD leaders issue statement (Amharic PDF)
Bipartisan Duo of Ex-Congressional Heavyweights
Blocking Action Against Ethiopia
Harper's Magazine
But
two congressmen-turned-lobbyists–former House Majority Leaders
Richard Armey, the Republican from Texas, and Missouri Democrat Richard
Gephardt–are working hard to block full congressional action
against the Zenawi regime. The duo work with the firm of DLA Piper,
which federal disclosure records show is being paid at least $50,000
per month by the Ethiopian government for “strategic advice
and counsel.”
Read More.....
Stop
Massive Arrest and Deportation of Ethiopians
Unity for the Best of Ethiopia,
PR
ENC
PR on the release of Prisoners of Conscience: Let
us set an agenda reflecting the Ethiopian spirit together
The Ethiopian National Congress
CALL
ME BY MY NAME:
A
debate with Debteraw, XIV
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl
Why
celebrate the Millennium?
Why celebrate the Amnesty for Kinjit’s leadership?
Why not celebrate the Negotiation Process?
Read More.....
Kinijit
Sacramento Support Chapter
( Press Release)
What
next for Ethiopia's freed leaders?
By Elizabeth Blunt
But
now they have to start thinking about the future and where they, and
their organisation, go from here. Read
More.....
Forcible
return/Fear of torture/Arbitrary detention of several hundred Ethiopian
and Eritrean nationals in Sudan
Amnesty International
Hundreds
of Ethiopian and Eritrean nationals have been arrested since the beginning
of July, and are at risk of being forcibly returned to their countries
of origin. Many of the Ethiopian and all the Eritrean nationals would
be at risk of immediate arrest, torture and indefinite detention without
charge or trial if forcibly returned. Read
More.....
Police
Say Atlanta Man Killed Family, Self
nbc5i
Police
said a man shot and killed three relatives and wounded two others
before killing himself Monday morning at his home in southwest Atlanta.
.... Neighbors said that the family was from Ethiopia and had lived
in the house about 12 years. The shooting happened about 7 a.m. in
a house about half a mile east of Interstate 75 and near Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport.
Read
More..... //
Scene
Of Killings
KIC
press release (Amharic pdf)
REPEAL
THE RESTRICTIONS AGAINST THE FREE PRESS
SOCEPP - JULY 21/2007
The
hue and cry over the so called "pardon" of some 38 political
prisoners hides behind it the issue of the restrictions and fines
imposed upon the free press. 
Ethiop,
Menelik etc.. and other publishing houses have been fined huge sums
and the court has ordered the disolution of these publishing companies.
There is nothing said up to now that these draconian measures have
been rescinded. Read
more.....
Press
releases from Congressman
Tom Lantos, Chairman, of Foreign Affairs Committee and Congressman
Donald Payne, Chairman of Subcommittee on Africa.
PART
II-The Dubious Path of the Resistance:
Can the Ethiopian Diaspora Contribute to Future Political Stability
and the Development of Democratic Institutions in Ethiopia?
By Dr. Maru Gubena
This article is part two of my contribution
entitled, “The Dubious Path of the Resistance: Can the Ethiopian
Diaspora Contribute to Future Political Stability and the Development
of Democratic Institutions in Ethiopia?" As you may remember,
the first part of this article has already been published on various
Ethiopian websites, including other websites engaged with issues of
Ethiopia. To have a background on the issues assessed in this article,
it is advisable to download and read part one before proceeding with
part two of the article. Read
more.....
Ethiopia's
opposition leader Engineer Hailu Shawel said he had signed a document
admitting to organising violent election protests in 2005 and asking
for clemency "under duress". Read
more from BBC.....
Zenawi-
the embattled evil insignia of fraudulent democracy -Aklilu Demissie
Holy
Synod statement (Amharic pdf)
UEDF
press release ( Amharic pdf)
RELEASE
ABERA YEMANEAB NOW
SOCEPP -July 20/2007
The
government of Meles Zenawi is trumpeting itself as a regime that respects
the rule of law as if the release of just a few illegally jailed political
leaders gives credence
to such a claim. However, the regime still holds thousands of political
prisoners including EPRP leaders and members like Tsegaye, Yishak,
Hagos Bezabih, Tesfaye kebede, Tamrat Gizatchew, Lemma Hailu, Teklai
Gebre Sellasie, Wondusirak Desta, Desalegn Amsalu, Aberash Berta and
many more.
Read
more .....
LETTER TO THE KINIJIT SUPPORT GROUPS
Mankelklot Haile Selassie (PhD) - July 20, 2007
It appears, there is an innocent confusion about the difference between
a Support Group and a political party. Most of the Support Groups,
if not all, are not composed of individual CUDP members. They are
simply volunteer individuals with burning desire to contribute to
the effort of removing the current regime. Read
more .....
RELEASE
DANIEL BEKELE, NETSANET DEMISSIE AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
- SOCEPP - JULY 20/2007
As
SOCEPP had repeatedly stated, the political prisoners released today
were forced
to sign a humiliating letter asking for pardon for crimes they never
did commit. As we observe the release of 35 of the prisoners, it is
important that the world at large remembers that many others, including
Daniel Bekele of Action Aid and Netsanet Demissie of the Organization
for Social Justice in Ethiopia, are still in prison for refusing to
sign the paper asking for pardon. Read
more.....
Ethiopian
Campaigners Stay in Jail for Refusing to Sign
ActionAid UK
In a long-running trial in Ethiopia, the anti-poverty
campaigners Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie are among the last
few defendants still trying to establish their innocence in court,
after they declined to sign a document which might have secured their
early release. Read
more.....
Ethiopia
releases protest leaders
BBC
Thirty
Ethiopian opposition leaders have been pardoned and freed from prison
just days after being given life sentences over election protests.
Read
more.....
OPEN
LETTER TO MS BEYONCE KNOWLES: DO NOT COLLUDE WITH MURDERERS
July
19/2007
MS Beyonce Knowles,
Music World Entertainment,
1505 Hadley Street
Houston,TX 77002
Tel: 713 772 5175 fax: 713 772 5175
Dear
Ms Knowles,
SOCEPP
is a non political human rights organization that has been struggling
for human rights since 1995.
We have come to know that you are going to Addis Ababa,Ethiopia, to
sing at the regime's so called Millennium festivities. We guess your
agreement to do so must have been motivted by your lack of awareness
of the nature of the Meles Zenawi regime in power in Ethiopia. SOCEPP
calls upon you not to go to Addis Ababa to sing for a regime that
has been internationally condemned as one of the worst human rights
violator. Read
more.....
Alert
from the Sudan
. The fate of more than 24 Ethiopian opposition
political activists arrested by Sudanese authorities is unknown
. Sudan to deport hundreds of Ethiopians with no legal residential
document today. Read
more detailed report (Amharic pdf)....
The
true nature of KIL exposed (Amharic pdf)
Ethiolion
H.R.
2003 MARK-UP VOTE UNANIMOUS!
Coalition For H.R. 2003
On July 18, 2007, HR 2003, “Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability
Act of 2007”, authored by Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), unanimously
passed the Subcommittee on Africa and is forwarded to the Foreign
Affairs Committee. Read
More.....
Ethiopian
Opposition Party Vows to Continue Peaceful Struggle. (Read
more and Listen
to interview with Ethiopian journalist)
VOA
The
life sentence of the Ethiopian Prisoners of conscience.
Open letter to those responsible
By Yilma Begashaw
The solution to the chronic problems of our great people is only in
the hands of our Almighty Creator and our heroic people. Things are
getting worse day by day, in front of our very eyes. We do not have
the luxury to have any rest while our people are being subjected to
barbarity, brutality and hail. At this critical time, any difference
in the form of ethnicity, religion, politics or personal petty ambitions
cannot be allowed to stand on our way. We are living in collective
humility and shame. Read
more and post your comments.....
Ethiopia
life jail terms attacked
BBC
The head of the European Union 2005 election observers in Ethiopia
has said she is “appalled” at the life sentences given
to 30 opposition leaders. Read
more and post your comments.....
Kinijit
Officials in Seattle
The Seattle Kinijit Support Group Press Release
Kinijit
Central Committee members, Dr Bezabeh Demissie and Major Admasu Melaku
arrived in Seattle on Thursday, July 11 to a warm welcome at the SeaTac
Airport by supporters of the party. On July 13 the Chairman and Head
of the newly formed Kinijit International Council, Dr Taye Woldesemait
and Ato Mesfin Makonen respectively arrived in Seattle where they
were greeted in a similar manner accorded to the CC members at the
airport. Read
More.....
MISCARRAIGE
OF JUSTICE, REPRESSION AGAINST THE PRESS
SOCEPP - July
17/2007
The
regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has,on July 16, condemned more
than 30 opposition leaders to life imprisonment and taken a hard stance
to definitively silence the free press. Andualem Ayele of Ethiop,Zelalem
Gebre, editor of Menelik, and Abay Gizaw editor of Netsanet newspaper
have been sentenced to life while others have been given sentences
ranging from three years to eighteen months. Publishers of newspapers
and magazines like Ethiop have been sentenced to pay heavy fines and
their companies are henceforth closed by decree. Read
more.....
Six
journalists get jail terms ranging from 18 months to life in Ethiopia
Reporters sans Frontières
Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage at the federal high court's
decision today to sentence six journalists to jail terms ranging from
six months to life. They are part of a group of 43 government opponents
who were tried together. Most of them were found guilty of "trying
to overthrow constitutional rule." Read
More.....
Somali
peace talks adjourned after rebels attack venue
Xan Rice
Monday July 16, 2007: Mortar attacks and the absence of key delegates
yesterday marred the start of a reconciliation congress in Somalia
designed to help end 16 years of strife. Amid tight security, hundreds
of clan leaders, former warlords and politicians gathered inside a
former police warehouse in Mogadishu to hear the twice-postponed conference
being opened by the country's president, Abdullahi Yusuf. ... But
with only about half of the 1,300 delegates turning up, the conference
was quickly adjourned until Thursday. Read
More.....
Yalemzewd
faces the courts -- and this time the international media is
not shining the light on her case
Ethiopian American Civic Advocacy (EACA)
Dear friends of the pro-democracy movement!
Yalemzewd
was hauled before the court a few days ago, to face the usual ridiculous
charges. She was dragged into prison last year as well, but there
is a big difference between now and then. Last year, the international
media was all over her case. This time they remained completely mum.
The huge media coverage is likely to have contributed to her being
freed on bail. The silence this time could mean she will be imprisoned
again, this time away from the media limelight. Please make sure the
light is shone on her case! EACA composed the below letter to the
editor, sent to The Economist magazine. Please contact all other media
outlets which reported on Yalemzewd’s case in October but were
silent this time. Feel free to use this letter and adapt and personalise
it. Read
the letter and prepare your own.....
Ethiopian
Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007:
75 House Co-Sponsors and still counting
....
Coalition for H.R. 2003
We
thank all Ethiopian Americans, Ethiopians and Friends of Ethiopia
for their extraordinary work in getting co-sponsors for H.R. 2003.
Read
More.....
CALL
ME BY MY
NAME:
The
Dubious Path of the Resistance: Can the Ethiopian Diaspora Contribute
to Future Political Stability and the Development of Democratic Institutions
in Ethiopia? Part I
By Maru Gubena
It would certainly not be wrong to argue boldly that the current Ethiopian
Diaspora resistance has been made more and more complicated, or even
entangled to the point that it has become for most of us difficult,
if not impossible, to explain as effectively as possible – and
in a fashion that are acceptable and palatable to the majority of
the Ethiopian community – what exactly went wrong with us. Read
More.....
HR
2003 is rescheduled for MarkUp for Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Kinijit:
the victim of Legal Fiction and Abuse of Process
By Tadesse Walle (PhD)
One would note that Zenawi and Cohorts have been punishing genuine
opposition and political dissent by using all avenues including frivolous
legal methods. The trials against professor Asrat Woldeyes, Dr Taye
Woldesemayat and individuals from the ranks of TPLF such as Seye Abrha
proves the regime’s determination to stay in power by all means
available including by conducting unwarranted and bogus trials; sentencing
groups, individuals for long and short terms. However there is more
to this, there are more out there languishing, probably indefinite
detention, and a considerable number of them subjected to extra judicial
killing, with no fair or unfair due process of law. A long list of
such catalogue includes EPRP veterans and other opposition party members
such as the OLF. Journalists, teachers, students, other professionals
and non professional groups and individuals have paid innumerable
price in fighting against the stunning injustice of the regime. Read
More.....
Line
up behind KIC and make it effective
By Makelklot Haile Selassie (PhD)
Finally, the opportunity to reorganize in a very cohesive manner and
move forward aggressively is here for Kinijit. In my opinion, a systematic
and calculated aggressiveness is a prerequisite for a fruitful outcome,
particularly in a political situation such as in Ethiopia. Therefore,
it is very critical, and, an appropriate time for those seriously
concerned and loyal servants of Ethiopia to line
up behind the KIC immediately and make it effective. Since the whole
process took place in consultation with the leaders in Ethiopia, there
is no reason for hesitation. So, girdle up and line up. Read
More.....
Floods
hit Ethiopia
IOL
Floods caused by abnormally heavy rains have affected nearly 7 000
people in southern Ethiopia, isaster officials said on Wednesday.
Read
More.....
Ethiopia
yields ancestral fossils
BBC
Researchers have found fossil remains of early human ancestors in
Ethiopia that date to a little known period in human evolution. The
cache included several complete jaws and one partial skeleton, and
was unearthed at Woranso-Mille in the country's Afar desert. The remains
were recovered 30km from the site where "Lucy" - one of
the most famous human ancestors - was found. The specimens have been
dated to between 3.5 and 3.8 million years ago. Read
More.....
Ethiopia's
democracy on trial
By Elizabeth Blunt 
(BBC News, Addis Ababa) - As they turned up in court, expecting to
hear their fate, Ethiopia's 38 detained opposition leaders put on
a show of bravado. The CUD leader and principal accused, Hailu Shewal,
flaunted a scarf in the colours of the Ethiopian national flag. Read
More.....
CALL
ME BY MY NAME:
A debate with Debteraw, XIII
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl, 07.07.07
What
does Debteraw mean? A couple of months ago, someone bitterly but respectfully
emailed me. Another individual who knows me personally and who believes
in himself as a real Marxist came and attacked me verbally “why
in the name of Debteraw- a Marxist like myself- portray him as a reactionary
who has faith-love-hope. What is wrong with you?” I knew then
he read my article call me by my name, XII. Read
More.....
Declaration to defend freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia
in the new millennium
Ethiopian
government's stance on human rights attacked
European Parliament Press Release
The
lack of democracy and the large-scale human rights violations in Ethiopia
were condemned by MEPs on Tuesday at a hearing held by the EP's Development
Committee and the Human Rights Subcommittee. The Ethiopian Government's
refusal to send a representative to speak to MEPs was also criticised.
Read
More.....
Half
Million Afar Pastoralists Risk Displacement and Environmental Disaster
in the Awash Valley of
Ethiopia!
The Afar
Human Rights Organisation (AHRO)
The
TPLF-led government has decided to intensify the grip
on the Afar land, where the party-affiliated Tigrean supremacy in
the region has been systematically imposed. For instance, the Afdera
salt lake investment, in the northern Afar, is solely dominated by
state-backed Tigrean investors. In the same region of the Afar an
oil exploration is going on without the consent of the Afar people.
However, the question has been throughout who owned the land in the
Afar region? In the Afar traditional society, land is a communal property,
and therefore cannot be claimed by an individual or authority without
the general public consent. Read
More.....
Woyane
gives lands from Ethiopia
to Sudan
July 3, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A joint Sudanese-Ethiopian committee
would start today to hand over agricultural lands to residents of
more than 17 Sudanese villages located in eastern Atbara River along
the Ethiopia-Sudan border. The agricultural lands remained a source
of dispute for more than 100 years. Read
More.....
At Summit for African Leaders,
IFJ Calls for Release of Imprisoned Journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on
the leaders of Africa meeting for their annual summit to free all
journalists imprisoned on the continent as part of its ‘African
Journalists out of Jail Campaign.’ “We
are extremely worried about the situation of our colleagues in Ethiopia,
Eritrea and The Gambia,” said IFJ Africa Office Director Gabriel
Baglo just before the start of the African Union Summit in Ghana.
“It’s time for urgent action, not more empty promises.
We call on the Heads of State of Africa to free all the journalists
imprisoned without delay.”
Meles Zenawi calls West's appeals for political prisoners "shameful"
ADDIS ABABA, June 28 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
slammed on Thursday calls by Western diplomats for the release of
38 opposition officials as "shameful".
In an address to parliament, Meles lambasted the Addis Ababa-based
Western ambassadors, some of whom were listening to his speech in
the gallery, and accused them of pressuring him. "In Ethiopia
there is nothing that can be resolved as a result of external pressure,"
he said. The officials were convicted this month of charges relating
to violent protests over disputed 2005 polls that altered the political
landscape in the country of 81 million by handing the opposition a
vastly increased share of parliament. Read
More......
Famous Fossil Lucy Approved for US Tour, but Won't Be Visiting the
Smithsonian
By NatshaT. Metzier
Fossil remains of Australopithecus afarensi, known as "Lucy,"
are shown on April 7, 2004, in Addis Ababa, Ethopia. The U.S. State
Department gave final approval Wednesday, June 27, 2007, for one of
the world's most famous fossils, the 3.2 million-year-old Lucy skeleton
unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974, to tour the U.S. on exhibit for the
first time. The Smithsonian has objected to the idea, however, because
museum experts don't think the fragile remains should travel, so Lucy
won't be stopping at the National Natural History Museum, but in other
U.S. museums instead. Read
More.....
Meles Zenawi says he is 'ready for Eritrea war' According
to BBC Meles Zenawi says he is strengthening his army in preparation
for an attack by long-time foe Eritrea. "Our defence forces have
the capacity to deter aggression and to repulse it if it occurred,"
Meles Zenawi told his rubber stamp MPs. An Eritrean minister is quoted
saying Mr Meles was "paranoid" and trying to divert attention
from his domestic problems. He denied backing Ethiopian rebels.
Read
More.....
Meles
Zenawi tries to hold US elected officials hostage, too
(Open letter to the US Congress and the Coalition for H. R. 2003)
From:
Keif Scheifer of the Empowerment Initiative
“Abune”
Paulos is trying to get support from the Egyptian Church at a
priceThe
so called patriarch of the Ethiopian Church, “Aba” Gebremedhin
or “Abune” Paulos is expected to go to Cairo/Alexandria
to get the backing of the Coptic church leader here. The Egyptian
Copts are to be given land to build a cathedral in Addis Ababa. This
special relationship sought by the Weyane priest is likely to negatively
affect the conflict over the Ethiopian Golgota church /Jerusalem/
which the Egyptians claim as their and want to take over. "Abune"
Paulos has been condemned by the Ethiopian patriarch in the Diaspora
and rejected by the followers of the Ethioppian church. He is trying
to get support from the Egyptian church at a price.
Activists
demand immediate release of Ethiopian human rights defenders
International
rally to free Ethiopian civil society leaders on Thursday
Julie Middleton 
26
June 2007 - For Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie, coordinators
of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in Ethiopia, speaking
out against poverty has meant a gruelling 20 months in detention while
on trial for treason. As one of Africa’s largest treason trials
in recent years comes to an end in Ethiopia, 10 out of originally
over a 100 accused await their verdicts in prison, including Daniel
and Netsanet.
Read More.....
Note
to the Editor: Some one brought to my attention
that my name was on the press release that was published by Debteraw.
While I support the entire CUDP organization, I had informed the Council
and its leaders that I cannot take up a formal position given my current
role as an international civil servant. I am sure you understand and
appreciate my situation and would like for you to consider publishing
the attached that I sent to Dr. Taye on Monday. As a courtesy to me
and to those who follow events, it is important to publish my letter.
Regards, Aklog. (Read
the letter)
Protest
vigil on 28 June 2007, the Day of Solidarity for Daniel and Netsanet
in Geneva. Read
more detailed information.....
Mass
Demonistration in Dallas, Texas on 06 July 2007. More
information......
The Morning After the Release of the Political Prisoners
Gizaw Legesse
Rumors are abound about the pending release of our political leaders.
Like most Ethiopians I am hopeful yet cautious because of the many
theatrics that are the trademark of the current regime. As I read
and listen about this momentous happening I can not help but think
of our political history. As I await their release I see the ruling
party and its ubiquitous media empire a disinformation campaign for
political gains and to frame the agenda. Read
More.....
Kinijit
International Council Pree Release
Interview with Dr Taye W/Semayat, the newly elected chairman of Kinijit
International Council
Melese Zenanwi takes Kaliti political prisoners hostage over Mark-Up
2003. He blackmails House Foreign Affairs Committee into postponing
Mark-Up of H.R. 2003.
CALL ME BY MY NAME: A discussion with Debteraw, XII
Wolde Tewolde, alias Obo Arada Shawl
The three cornerstones upon which Ethiopia was built are FAITH, LOVE
AND HOPE. Debteraw and his colleagues realized that the faith in the
Ethiopian Church, the love from Monarchy/Aristocracy, and the hope
from the modern schools would soon vanish as they have already failed.
As an alternative, a vision and a mission to solidify the faith, to
democratize the government and to reform the educational system were
designed. Debteraw took the lead in organizing the clergy, the workers
and the teachers. Debteraw was already empowered, unlike many of his
would be comrades, by the inside information of the Imperial Palace,
by the Wisdom of the Monastery and by the knowledge of the University
for he studied in the three highest Institutions of Ethiopia that
were powerful and relevant at the time. Read
More.....
The
loneliness of pure tyrants
Hama Tuma
Tyrants can feel lonely despite their hallucinations and denial of
the reality. In their special world where cold winds blow laced with
blood they cannot really be kind to themselves as psychologists may
advice someone with a trauma or persecution mania. The walls are far
apart but they feel compressed, about to be crushed. Meles Zenawi
is fortifying his palace and the defence ministry with blockades and
electric wire. He has jailed the elected representatives of the people
and is pressurizing them to sign (their prison and impeding sentencing
to long terms being glaring cases of duress) a paper demanding a pardon
for faults/errors that the people know they never committed. Yet,
the tyrant wants to believe that the whole process is kosher and that
this piece of forced signature is valid and will exonerate him from
his crime. Read
More.....
Mark-up
Vote for H.R. 2003 Scheduled for June 26, 2007
Survivors Guilt
By Bizualem Beza
The bloods and souls of those
fellow Ethiopians are calling us to continue their just cause. Let
us not let the bloods of those Ethiopinas be in vain. For any fair
minded Ethiopian, hesitating to resume the ongoing struggle for freedom
and democracy for which countless Ethiopians are paying a heavy price
will carry on a serious consequences for many generations to come.
The current lawlessness in Ethiopia must be stopped somewhere before
it is too late.
Read More.....
Dissenting a constitution that makes the prime minister a Monster
and
Emperor
By Berhanu G. Balcha
The constitutional defect was inherited from the defect of the transitional
charter which was exclusively authored by TPLF/EPRDF without a genuine
and free participation of the Ethiopian people. It was produced in
greatly flaw process, but became a code of conduct for drafting of
the constitution. The 1995 constitution was ratified by the constitutional
assembly, which was composed of undemocratically selected individuals,
in which TPLF/EPRDF controlled almost 95 % of the members. The oppositions
and all major civil society organisations boycotted the election.
The overall process, starting from assigning the constitutional commission
to electing the constitutional assembly and ratifying the constitution
was absolutely dominated by the ruling party. Read
More.....
Earn liberty or die begging
Aklilu Demissie
The ever increasing tension and rebellion that gush out despite massive
containing pressure by tyrants in suppressing democratic aspiration
has never succeeded in the world or had a short life span. Tyranny’s
defeat is always there when it is borne. But it always stood as gigantic,
frighteningly insurmountable task to defeat. Historically people paid
in blood and are paying dearly in order to win back their freedom.
Read
More.....
European parliament calls for the immediate
release of all political prisoners
June 21, 2007, Press Release/ EU Parliament
Among a range of demands on the Ethiopian authorities
in their resolution, MEPs call on the government "to release
immediately and unconditionally all political prisoners, including
elected members of parliament, CUD leaders, human rights activists,
journalists, teachers, students, trade union activists and ordinary
citizens". The EP also "urges the Ethiopian judicial authorities
to reconsider their verdict, and calls on the Ethiopian Government
to repeal possible death and/or prison sentences". In addition,
it "calls for the establishment of an international independent
Inquiry Commission".
Read More.....
Not yet...Prisoners haven't signed release papers
Seminawork
Thursday, June 21, 2007: Stephanie McCrummen of WaPo wrote today that
some of the prisoners have signed Meles' proposal. (Read
it here). The report isn't very accurate. I think the American
officials in Addis whom she quoted and EPRDF are trying to spin this
even before an agreement is reached. I hope all will be resolved today.
Meles has come some way in this last round. Although the terms are
still short of what we expect ideally, and although negotiating under
duress is unjust, I think this one is can be accepted without compromising
basic principles. It is 4:50 in the afternoon here in Addis Ababa.
The mediators are in Kaliti right now talking to the prisoners. Now
that it is broken, this is what has really happened so far. Read
More......
New
Study from Pilots for 9/11 Truth: No Boeing 757 Hit the Pentagon
by James Fetzer
A study of the black box data provided by the government to Pilots
for 9/11 Truth has confirmed the previous findings of Scholars for
9/11 Truth that no Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon on 9/11. "We have
had four lines of proof that no Boeing 757 hit the building,"
said James Fetzer, founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth. "This
new study by Pilots drives another nail into a coffin of lies told
the American people by The 9/11 Commission". Read
More.....
SOCEPP Concludes General Meeting and Elects New EC Members
Press Release, 19 June 2007
SOCEPP has held its general meeting on June 9 and elected a new executive
committee for the coming four years.The SOCEPP general meeting was
attended by delegates from various branches
• and it heard reports on the activities of SOCEPP
in the past years,
• the problem encountered in one branch vis a vis human rights
work and relations with the SOCEPP Centre (Germany),
• the overall human rights situation in the country, the tasks
ahead and the difficulties confronting SOCEPP in its work. Read
More.....
A
call for Ethiopians and the Ruling Party
The Holy Synod of EOTC, Press Release (Amharic
PDF)
WORLD
REFUGEE DAY:
The Plight of Ethiopian Refugees Worsens
SOCEPP
The repressive situation in Ethiopia has forced thousands to flee
and seek refuge abroad. The neighbouring countries, in varying degrees,
have turned hostile to these refugees. Many are jailed, quite a few
deported back, many more subjected to ill treatment and denied asylum
rights. Ethiopian refugees in European countries have also been denied
asylum rights and not only threatened by deportation but have actually
been deported as has happened to some refugees in England. The decision
by some countries to consider Ethiopia as a "safe country"
and to justify the denial of asylum rights to Ethiopians is an injustice.
Read
More.....
Excerpts
from a letter sent to Jeffery Gettleman
By Aklilu Demissie
Dear JEFFREY GETTLEMAN,
Greetings!
I read your report and video with amazement for the exceptional courage
it took you in telling the truth as it is: “In Ethiopia fears
and cries of Army Brutality.” As you have observed it is not
an isolated incidence but rather a daily criminal act of the regime
all over the country.
It is my first time to read a true, vivid revelation of the horrendous
human rights abuses from a Western journalist who, I feel miraculously
escaped the government’s self censure imposed on journalists
as a whole on their reporting. Your exposure of the heinous crimes
being committed by the one man State of Meles Zenawi is a selfless
commitment to promoting freedom, democracy and the right to live.
Living in Ethiopia as you have noted for many Ethiopians is an every
day road to perdition. Read
More.....
Badme - Diversion of attention
Yilma Begashaw
The Meles Zenawi – Bereket Simon Alchemy to divert attention
from their brutality and rules of the jungle to looking abiders to
peace and international law will not work again. Read
More.....
Evaluating Three Decades of Ethiopian Resistance, its Challenges,
Achievements and Failures: Perspectives for Political and Leadership
Change
By Dr. Maru Gubena
Looking
at the perspective for political and leadership change in our country,
I would certainly not hesitate to point out that the ball has been
and is still in our hands, in the hands of all Ethiopians; there is
still the potential for us to make up our minds and come together
in an effort to heal our deep-seated socio-political fractures and
help redirect Ethiopia’s current position both in Ethiopia and
within the international community. Read
More.....
Ethiopia
agrees to give a key town to Eritrea following years of border dispute
The Associated Press
The Ethiopian government gave its unconditional acceptance of the
commission's decision, announced five years ago, that it return the
key town of Badme to Eritrea, in a letter last week to the U.N. Security
Council. Read
more .....
Another shameful day for Woyane meeting in the Hague
Kinijit
UK press release
(Amharic - PDF)
Tsegaye,
Yishak and others: 16 Years of disapperance (June 1991- June 2007)
Solidarity Committee
for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP)
June 1991: Tsegaye Gebre
Medhin (aka Debteraw), Yishak Debretsion, Amha Belete, Teklai Gebre
Sellasie, Sitotaw Hussein, Hagos Bezabih, Desalegn Amsalu fall into
the hands of the TPLF in Quara /at a place called Sankisa for some/.
Azanaw Demile, ak Tulu, was also forcefully deported from the Sudan
and handed over to the Tigrean front that took power in May 1991.
All were taken to Bahr Dar where they were imprisoned with other captives.
From there, the traces of the above disappeared as the reports indicated
that they were taken to Tigrai and sent to one of the secret prisons
there. The regime denies ever holding them though some of its officials
have said in private that "all were shot and killed".
Read More.....
Mockery of justice: the case of Seye Abraha et al
Solidarity
Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP)
Siye Abrha, much like former prime
Minister Tamrat Layne, is a victim of a political vendetta. Accused
of corruption and other such unsubstantiated charges, he was thrown
into prison because of his political differences and conflicts with
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. His incarceration and the vendetta on
his family members are all results of a political motivation on the
part of Meles Zenawi. That the case has dragged on for six years with
no clear and real evidence ever being presented is ample proof of
the violation of due process as regards Seye and his relatives. The
courts controlled by the ruling front, EPRDF, are doing the biddings
of Meles Zenawi whose enmity towards Seye has not been a secret.
Read
More.....
CALL ME BY MY NAME: A discussion with Debteraw
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada
Shawl
So
far, the collective leadership and the Party of EPRP have survived
many ups and downs. The AB (ANJA & b’TENA) story within
EPRP is relegated to history. The concept of B’tena has been
realized by almost everybody for its social and cultural havoc. ANJA
belongs solely to the leadership style whereas B’TENA refers
to the members or followers of the Party. Both leadership and followerships
should equally share accountability and responsibility Anja and Bitena
respectively. However, before relegating them into archives, we need
to put them in their proper perspectives. Read
More.....
ESFNA – DALLAS 2007 Activities
Urgent call for a series of international campaign against the Woyane
kangaroo court and the verdict of the jungle
Yilma Begashaw
The Great Professor Asserat Woldeyes lost his invaluable life in the
hands of our Dictators – we are sleeping. Hundreds of thousands
of innocent citizens suffered in the hands of our brutal Dictators
– we are sleeping. Our people in Arba Gugu, Bedeno, Gambella,
Oromiya, Gondar, Gojjam, Wollo, Addis Ababa, etc. have suffered grossly
from the ethnic cleansing and divide and rule policies – we
are sleeping. The leaders and members of the opposition political
parties who genuinely and convincingly won the last national election
were thrown into jails we are sleeping. Members of the free press
and the civic groups too, -we are sleeping – ever divided. Read
More.....
Never could you stall the “March to Freedom”!
Aklilu Demissie
There is no an inch retreat in the winnable
war against injustice and brutality. The regime is
rather hastening its downfall by feeding fuel to the almost being
accomplished “Freedom March”. In history there was no
war won against tyrants by being timid, docile and begging for their
mercy and leniency. Be it their release or detention, they have and
will undoubtedly crush the evils of the despot. Read
More.....
A
HORRIBLE TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE IN ETHIOPIA
SOCEPP - JUNE
11/2007
The EPRDF regime in Ethiopia has
convicted some 38 opposition leaders and a number of journalists
and publishers and declared that they will be sentenced to prison
terms ranging from 3 years to life (and possibly to death also) within
a month. This is one more proof of the travesty of justice that characterizes
the Meles Zenawi regime.
Read more.....
Ethiopia verdict 'not political'
BBC
The opposition blames the violence on the security
forces Ethiopia's government has denied accusations that the conviction
of 38 opposition leaders was intended to stifle political dissent.
Read
more.....
Editors face death sentence in Ethiopia
Guardian Unlimited - UK
Ethiopia's high court has convicted four editors
and three publishers of now-defunct weeklies of anti-state charges.
Two of the editors - Andualem Ayle of ...Read
more.....
Kidnapped To Order
Dispatches (of Channel 4) exposes a new phase in America's dirty war
on al Qaeda: the rendition and detention of women and children. Last
year, President Bush confirmed the existence of a CIA secret detention
programme but he refused to give details and said it was over.Grey
uncovers evidence of secret rendition flights on which suspects were
flown from Nairobi into war-torn Somalia - a state with no effective
law or government. Amongst the suspects were women and children -
he hears a first-hand account from one Briton who was on one of the
flights who describes being beaten, interrogated and finding himself
in a prison cell opposite a woman and a five-year-old boy. Another
woman who was rendered to Somalia describes being flown on to Ethiopia
with other women and children - where one pregnant woman gave birth
to her child whilst in detention. Read
More.....
Thank
you, Great Patriots!
Prof.
Alemayehu G. Mariam
KIL
PR on the mockery of Justice
Woyane
kangroo Court convicts CUD leaders
A
court in Ethiopia has found 38 senior opposition figures guilty of
charges connected to mass protests after disputed elections two years
ago. Read
more from BBC
.....
The
International Ethiopian Women's Organisation (IEWO) June 10 Radio
Program (Amharic)
EPRP's
Iyasou Alemayehu commenting on woyane's "semaetat metasebia"
(Finote Radio, May 30, 2007)
//
Amir & Bushra on the same topic (June 01, 2007)
Justice
denied, criminals at large
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
The
regime of Meles Zenawi has summarily executed very many innocent citizens
and the
criminals responsible for the murders have yet to be brought before
a proper court of law. To fight against forgetfulness, SOCEPP presents
again the case of the innocent Ethiopians murdered by the regime whose
blood is still crying for justice. Read
More.....
The
role of generations in Ethiopian Politics
By Yilma Begashaw
The
purpose of this personal comment and testimony is to share my experience
for raising appropriate awareness, for the sake of genuineness and fairness,
and for a call to remove the suffering of our dear fellow citizens.
Read More.....
Murderers
of Tesfaye Tadesse still at large
Solidarity
Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP)
On
June 7/1998, lawyer, human rights activist and journalist TESFAYE
TADESSE, the father of two young children, was brutally hacked to
death outside his house by two men who were later identified as security
agents of the Meles Zenawi regime. The killers are still at large.
The brutal murder of Tesfaye was preceded by the daylight shooting
to death of activist teacher Assefa Maru. Read
More.....
Zenawi’s intransigence and the bogus claims of his Western
backers
By Bizualem Beza
“Ooops! We do it again.”
It was just well over a year ago that an American writer who
wrote about what was happening in Ethiopia and the position of
the United States .In her article entitled ”Ooops! We do it
again.”,she was referring the unscrutinized and full-scale help
of America to Nazi Germany in the early years of WWII and nowadays
to the totalitarian regime in Ethiopia. Her entire message was,standing
by the side of an authocratic regime for whatever arguments will only
result in far reaching disastrous repurcussions. Read
More.....
EPRP
Atlanta Public meeting on 09 June 2007 (Click here for more detailed
information)
The
Adoption Racket and the Violation of the Rights of Children
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
The
market is controlled in Addis Ababa by the government and its officials
like Haddush Haelfom while other loyalists and relatives of Meles
Zenawi himself are also active in the racket. It is not secret that
brothers and sisters have been brutally separated and sold to different
buyers and some of those coming to adopt these children are not even
separated from their racial prejudices and are looking only for “exotic
pets”...Read
More…..
A
Historic Transatlantic Legislative Summit on Human Rights
Coalition for H.R. 2003
On
June 8, 2007, a historic summit will take place in the United States
Congress. On the agenda are three of the most critical contemporary
human rights issues facing the African continent today: Genocide in
Darfur, Unraveling of Somalia and Gross and Sustained Human Rights
Violations in Ethiopia. Read
More......
Opponents
charged with rebellion
Middle
East Times
Somali
government shuts down three Radio stations
Shabelle
Media Network
Troops go house-to-house searching for weapons
in Somali
The
Associated Press
EPRP
Atlanta Public meeting on 09 June 2007 (Click here for more detailed
information)
The
International Ethiopian Women's Organisation (IEWO) Radio Program
- 3rd June 2007
Arbitrary
detentions of activist teachers in theEthiopian
Teachers' Association (ETA) have
been resumed since 30 May 2007
Statement
from the Gambella People's United Democratic Front
CALL ME BY MY NAME: A commentary
By Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl
June
1, 2007: Now that we have named names, pointed fingers at each other,
label labeling, it
is time to debate with Debteraw about issues and ideas concerning
SEEDS (Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia). But let us
do first things first.
Let us deal first with Ethiopian politics. We have done some background
talk on political, social and Revolutionary issues and ideas that
brought us here in the first place. Liberty and
justice are separated in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Past is not revisited
and the present is not assessed correctly. In such a situation, there
is hardly any useful purpose to debate let alone to discover life.
And so it is useful to link liberty with justice and to revisit the
past and to assess the present. Until next time, call me by my name:
a debate with Debteraw will continue. I really appreciate for your
comments and questions. Read
More.....
Ethiopian elephants, black-mane lions at risk as forest cut
(EITB24)
Ethiopian Community in Muenster, Germany in memory of Dr. Paulos Daffa
WHERE
ARE THESE POLITICAL PRISONERS?
SOCEPP, MAY 29/2007
•
Teshome Beyene: a militant of the EPRP who had been jailed by the
former regime for years was detained by the present regime in June
1995 and has disappeared since.
• Journalist Berhanu Ijigu and Getachew Eshetu were arrested
late June 1994 and have disappeared
since. There were unconfirmed reports that Getachew was taken to Makalle,Tigrai,
but he has not been seen since.
• Abayneh Shifferaw and Mot Baynor Nuri were also arrested on
mid April and August 1994 respectively and have disappeared since.
• Ms Aberash Berta, Lemma Mekonen and Tesfaye Getachew were
arrested in Addis Ababa in 1993 and have disappeared since then. Read
more.....
A
group of top-ranking Ethiopian military officers meet conclave -
Indian
Ocean Newsletter N° 1214
DENOUNCE
THE POLITICAL MACHINATIONS OF THE RULING EPRDF VIS A VIS THE VICTIMS
OF THE RED TERROR -
Ethiopian
Struggle for Democracy and Unity paltalk Voice Room
WITH AYALNESH AND BEKER MEMBERS OF EPRA, MAY 25th 2007.
Part 1, 2, 3 and 4
16
killed in attacks in eastern Ethiopia
The
Associated Press
At
least 16 people were killed and dozens were injured on Monday in two
attacks in eastern Ethiopia, a government official said. A rebel spokesman
denied involvement. Read
more.....
May 27 International Ethiopian Women Radio Program regarding demonstration
held at the Saudia Arabia Embassy in protest of the beheaded Ethiopian
woman. Khadija Moussa.
A
CALL TO ALL ETHIOPIANS IN THE DIASPORA
The
Meles Zenawi gang is trying to make the celebration of the coming
New Year celebration an occasion for selling itself as a popular regime.
Its despicable campaign is backed by the Saudi citizen called Sheikh
Alamoudi who has announced that he is hiring Janet Jackson and 50
Cents (very popular American singer and rapper) to come to Addis Ababa
to sing for the Weyane celebration. Ethiopians in the Diaspora should
write and wage a campaign to call on these singers not to ally themselves
with the illegal regime. Ethiopians in the Diaspora should actively
call on those who want to join the Weyane in its celebration to desist
from such a shameful choice. Celebrate the New Year by raising high
the anti Weyane banner!!
The
Terrible Plight of Ethiopian Refugees in Libya
SOCEPP
Amnesty
International annual report on Ethiopia
Meles
Zenawi`s Millennium Bluff
Seifu Tsgaye Demmissie
The
ethnic fundamentalist and warlord, Meles Zenawi is an Ethiopian by
birth, but an enemy by deed. The independence and sovereignty of Ethiopia
are the first causalities of Meles Zenawi`s onslaught. Meles Zenawi
harbours deep seated contempt and disdain for Ethiopia and Ethiopians
and he does not even hesitate to hide them. Ethiopians had unpleasantly
experienced occasions on which he publicly scoffed at Ethiopia as
a country of 100 years old and creation of one emperor and a certain
group of Ethiopians. Read
More.....
An interview
with AYALNESH and BEKER members of EPRA at Ethiopian Struggle for
Democracy and Unity Paltalk Room on Friday, 25th of May 2007, at 22:00hr
Holland time, 4:00 pm Est, 1:00
pm West or 4:00am Australian
time. Come & join!
Ethiopia
Detains Times Journalists for Five Days
By the New York Times
May 22, 2007: Three journalists for The New York Times were arrested
by the Ethiopian military on May 16 in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia,
held for five days and interrogated at gunpoint, and then released
on Monday without any charges being lodged against them, The Times
said today. The three journalists — Jeffrey Gettleman, 35, Nairobi
bureau chief; Vanessa Vick, 43, a photographer; and Courtenay Morris,
34, a videographer — were reporting on the conflict in the Ogaden
region of Ethiopia when they were detained by soldiers in the town
of Degeh Bur. They had entered the country on journalists’ visas
and were not in a restricted area. Read
More.....
Meles
and his “Onerous burden” of killing
Aklilu Demissie
If by mischance some one looked in to a week
in Meles’s view of the Horn of Africa (18/5/2007) in his Ministry
of foreign affairs page, it would make a sane mind and body convulse
how he tried feebly justify
his impunity in Somalia . Read
More.....
Italy
presses Ethiopia to pull troops from Somalia
AFP
NAIROBI -- The Italian government Saturday pressed Ethiopian troops
to pull out from lawless Somalia and urged the rival factions there
to observe a truce ahead of a key reconciliation conference in
June. During a one-day trip to Mogadishu, Italy's deputy foreign affairs
minister, Patrizia Sentinelli, held talks with Somali President Abdullahi
Yusuf and Prime Minster Ali Mohamed Gedi.
"I expressed the position of my government that Ethiopian troops
must withdraw," she told a press conference in the Kenyan capital
Nairobi, after visiting Rome's former colony. Read
More.....
Shocking News:
Saudi Arabia displays bodies of two Ethiopians beheaded
Kuwait Times
Saudi authorities yesterday beheaded two Ethiopians convicted of killing
a Saudi national in an armed robbery and displayed their bodies in
public after the execution, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Read
more.....
A Call from the Editor: Let
us post our protests to the Saudi Shura
Council against these cruel actions; their email address is: webmaster@shura.gov.sa
A DESPERATE APPEAL FOR UNITY AND WORKING TOGETHER
By
Bizualem Beza
I
tell you all frankly, there can be no cause that can unite us than
what is Ethiopia now. I don`t think there is blood among the different
opposition groups in a way that can hinder their co-operaton and united
struggle agianst the ever worst enemy of Ethiopia in its long history.
Read
more . . . . .
What
has really happened to the Ethiopian dreams of peace, freedom and
democracy. The three dangerous mosquitors and how we can eradicate
them
By
Dr. G. Bekele.
No
matter what they continue to do too, I say to my people, from now
on, don't ever let the western leaders try to con into believing that
they are the champions of democracy. Read
more....
Assimba
with Dr Getachew Begashaw of the EPRP Leadership: Audio
1 // Audio
2 // Audio
3 // Audio
4
16
Years since they “disappeared”
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP) Newsletter, April 2007
Tsegyae
Gebremedhin, Yishak Debre Tsion, Sitotaw Hussein, Amha Belete, Azanaw
Demile, Teklai Gebre-Selassie, Hagos Bezabih and many other EPRP leaders
captured by the regime, in Ethiopia, have been “disappeared”
since 1991. Despite many calls the regime has refused to make any
account on their condition. Since
then, the regime has also disappeared Ms Aberash Berta, Lemma Mekonnen,
Abebe Ainekulu, journalist Berhanu Ijigu, Tesfaye Kebede and many
others. Tamrat Gizachew, Dinku Shifferaw and Tadele Mengesha have
also been “disappeared”. In all cases, the regime has
refused to admit that it has even imprisoned all these in the first
place.
Of
Secret Prisons and Labor Camps in Ethiopia
The
recent issue of SOCEPP Newsletter discloses that the regime of 
Mele
Zenawi, in Ethiopia, runs secret prisons and concentration camps in
many places. There are many secret prisons all over Ethiopia and especially
in Zenawi's home region of Tigrai. Some of these prisons are underground
holes serving as isolation cells. The well known labor camps are also
in Dedesa, Zwai and Bir Sheleko. In these camps, the beating of prisoners
is routine. Prisoners are starved and subjected to force labor. One
report states that most of the hoards and wardens in Zwai hail are
from ethnic group of the Prime Minster. Psychological torture and
humiliation of the prisoners are also routine in these camps. Secret
prisons have been identified in Quiha Tigrai), Welkait, Metekel, Holeta
and other places. Priosners are held incommunicado, denied medical
treatment, beaten severely and mistreated daily. Reports indicate
that such prisoners who die are buried in secret.
Message
from Addisvoice.com
Broad
Bipartisan Support for Human Rights in Ethiopia Finally a Reality:
Republicans Take an Unwavering Stand on Human Rights in Ethiopia
Coalition For H.R.2003
On
May 9, 2007, Republican Congressman Christopher Smith introduced H.R.
2228 (“Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Advancement
Act of 2007”) in the House of Representatives. H.R. 2228 effectively
replaces H.R. 5680, which was prevented from getting to the House
floor by then-Speaker Dennis Hastert. Read
More.....
The International Ethiopian Women Organization (IEWO) Radio Program
of 13 May 2007:
The Reaction of Ethiopian Community members to the beheading of our
Sister Khadija Moussa in Saudia Arabia
Click
here and then on the player to listen Meskerem
Radio (The Voice of Ethiopian Community in the Greater Toronto Area
& surrounding Region) Programe of 06 May 2007
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, X
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl (May 13,
2007)
This day is the 13th day of the month. Besides, the number
13 being the day for our salvation, it is the Mother’s day.
Happy Mothers’ Day to all mothers of the country of 13 months
of Sunshine! This month is also celebration of Jamestown, VA. The
Catholic Pope in Latin America. Ethiopian woman was beheaded in Saudi
Arabia. European promise grants money for Eritrea. The APERT of EPRP
is in full swing.
Read More.....
Ethiopians
Fear for Their Interfaith Oasis: Cherished Interweaving Of
Christians, Muslims Shows Signs of Fraying
By Stephanie McCrummen
Sunday, May 13, 2007 (DESE, Ethiopia): Rumors
were spreading up and down the narrow streets here, in front of the
Noah pharmacy and Millennium Cafe, through the rectangular mosques
and domed Orthodox churches of this northern Ethiopian city. Read
More.....
Ethiopia's
Iraq
By David Ignatius
It's
like Iraq and Afghanistan, in other words. A decisive military strike
has destroyed one threat. But what's left behind, when the dust clears,
is a shattered tribal society that won't have real stability without
a complex process of political reconciliation and economic development.
Read
More.....
Toronto Ethiopian Community Notice of Public Meeting:
Commemoration
of the May 15, 2005 Ethiopian people peaceful struggle for democracy
will be held in Toronto, the Town Hall on Saturday May 12, 2007.
For
more detailed information.....
PRESS RELEASE
Ethiopian
Association in the Greater Toronto Area & Surrounding Regions.
Read
more.....
Who
will cry for Khadija, the Ethiopian?
By Hibret Selamu
The
report alleges that she was beheaded for killing an Egyptian after
a dispute. However, no further information is given as to what prompted
the Ethiopian woman to take such a drastic action. It is doubtful
that an Ethiopian woman would resort to such an extreme measure
without being provoked beyond limit by some strong and unusual humiliation.
It could also be due to mental health problems. Because of the well
known excessive suffering that female workers endure in Saudi Arabia,
it is reasonable to speculate that Khadija’s case could be
similar to that of another Ethiopian woman who was accused of murder
caused by the excessive humiliation she suffered while working as
a maid in Bahrain, a neighboring Arab country to Saudi Arabia.
Read More.....
On
the beheading of an Ethiopian woman by Saudi Arabia
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
SOCEPP
is shocked to learn that last week the Saudi authorities beheaded,
in Jeddah, Ethiopian national
Khadija Bint Ibrahim Moussa. She was accused of stabbing an Egyptian
man to death. Further reports reaching SOCEPP reveal that Khadija
did not get a fair trial and that she is the fist woman to be beheaded
this year (in 2005 two other women were also beheaded). Read
More.....
Lessons
from the May 2005 Ethiopian Elections: The Way Forward
By Dr. Getachew Begashaw
East
Africa’s “Charles Taylor” on whom no bounty has
been put
Aklilu Demissie
The
perceived stability of the Horn is alluring to Western diplomats
while in fact it is rotting from inside out simply because of the
major destabilizing factor of the region unquestionably being Meles
Zenawi. It is naïve for the State Department officials to adhere
to their misguided belief that it is only with Meles that they can
do business with no matter unelected, blood thirsty he is. This
assumption of doing business with the unelected regime would endanger
over the long term America’s influence as to lose its revered
champion of freedom status from the hearts and minds of Ethiopians.
It would lead to disillusionment and bias with democratic values.
Read
More.....
Mediation
breaks again after EPRDF and political prisoners appear to reach
preliminary agreement
Seminawork
Final efforts for mediation between the government and Ethiopia's
famous political prisoners broke down last week due to Meles Zenawi's
Intransigence. Hope that this time the mediation would be successful
was high after preliminary agreement was reached between the parties
last Tuesday. Meles Zenawi, however, sent a guilty form for the
prisoners to be filled individually a day after the agreement was
reached. The form states that the CUDP council members admit that
they have tried to subvert the constitutional order. The prisoners
refused to sign the form. Read
More.....
The
Degradation Caused on us by Meles Zenawi
Thanks
to the repressive and totalitarian regime of Meles Zenawi, thousands
of our citizens have been forced to flee from their country while
millions are destitute. This degradation has resulted in the forced
exile of many of our athletes too. The two mentioned in the report
below are a case in point and they are, consequently, going to be
forced by Turkey to change their Ethiopian names. The shame piles
up!!! Read
More.....
Listen
to the declaration of the legtimate Synodos of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Tewahedo Church (EOTC) at the end of the 3-day meeting in LA, USA.....
//
read pdf text..... //
Watch
the reception for Abune Morkorios on his arrival for the meeting
Sincere
Condolence to Anthony Mitchell’s Family
From Yilma Begashaw
Dear
Editors,
Many
thanks for sending heartfelt condolences to Anthony’s 
Family.
Anthony
is a true, selfless and dedicated journalist. When the BBC gave
blind eyes to the controversies surrounding the openly and massively
rigged Ethiopian National Election, it was only the genuine members
of the international community such as Mitchell and Ana Gomez that
smoke out the truth, the truth that was naturally unpalatable to
the Ethiopian Dictators and Butchers. This led to his forced deportation
from Ethiopia and to nasty verbal abuses against the Rt. Honourable
Ana Gomez.
We
made a series of demonstrations against the British BBC to speak
out the truth. Apart from Channel 4 and a blip of the BBC Hardtalks,
no satisfactory coverage was given to the heavy disaster that took
place during and after the Election. However, Anthony of the Associated
Press was there and he did a commendable job, for which he will
remain to be remembered for ever. Anthony is a genuine professional
Journalist. He lost his precious life while doing his dedicated
job in Africa.
It
is very sad that genuine foreigners are doing such wonderful jobs
for us while our own selfish individuals such as the Lidetus are
trying to defend the undefendable mask of the brutal dictator. I
hope others will learn from the excellent legacy of the late Mr.
Anthony Mitchell. My
sincere condolences to loved ones – his kids, Tom and Rose,
his wife, Catherine and his parents, John and Jackie.
Anthony
Mitchell Dies in Cameroon Crash
By
Chris Tomlinson
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Our
heartfelt condolences to Mr. Anthony Mitchelle’s family, friends
and colleagues. We also lost a true journalist who woke the outside
world, who shook his readers’ conscience and pointed out boldly
facts of crimes committed by the Regime of Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia.
Mitchell
made global headlines last month with his in-depth investigation
into the illegal detention and transfer of terror suspects from
Kenya to Somalia and eventually into Ethiopian prisons. His work
forced U.S. and Ethiopian officials to acknowledge a program that
until then had led to the secret detention of dozens of people,
including women and children. Human rights groups praised the story,
which won an internal AP award for breaking news, but it was stridently
criticized by the Ethiopian government as coming from an "ivory
tower" where the war on terror was not understood. It was not
the first time Mitchell's stories angered Ethiopian authorities.
During
the May 2005 election, Mitchell repeatedly uncovered government
efforts to influence the vote's outcome and obtained secret European
Union reports that detailed allegations of rigging. In January 2006,
the Ethiopian government expelled him for what it called hostile
reporting. The expulsion was roundly condemned by press freedom
groups around the world. He became a staff reporter for AP in the
Nairobi bureau the following August.
Read More.....
Joint
call for May 08 2007 vigil by Civic, Kinijit and Hibret support
groups in the UK
The
International Ethiopian Women's Organisation (IEWO) May 6 Radio
Program on Health Issues
Addisu
Abebe & by Lidetu Ayalew’s Bluff
By Yilma Begashaw
Now
I understand why some writers refer to this man as Kihdetu Afyalew.
I felt a bit sorry for poor Addisu who received a taste of his own
medicine. The whole VOA crews have been advised not to give a platform
to the venomous agents of destruction such as the said Lidetu. But
they do not listen. They repeat the same mistakes. While there are
so many self-less, dedicated and genuine Ethiopians, I always wonder
why they prefer to give more platforms and forums to the known enemies
of our people. Read
More.....
WORLD
PRESS DAY:
Repression of free press intensified
in Ethiopia
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
Journalists Berhanu Ijigu and Kumsa Berayu were detained years ago
and they have disappeared since. Journalist
and human rights activist Tesfaye Tadesse was brutally hacked to
death near his house by two government security agents. Dozens of
independent journalists have been forced to flee. The regime is
trying to pass a new and more repessive press law. The control of
the ruling party over the mass media (press,tv,newspapers,radio)
is almost absolute.The ruling party controls all internet communication
and not only intercepts e mails but has banned or blocked (with
the help of China) many Ethiopian web sites and blogs. All this
goes even against its own Constitution. In Ethiopia, freedom of
the press is non existent, as illusory as any claims of the existence
of due process and the rule of law. Read
More.....
Meles
and his regime has no right to organise the Millennium
Mnakelklot Haile Selassie (PhD)
As to extending the celebration of the millennium to African countries,
come on, how can one loves God in heaven before loving and respecting
his brother on earth who is by his side? It is the mother of all
hypocrisy. Given the political, the economic, and the social environment
in Ethiopia, Ethiopia cannot be a role-model for African countries
to emulate. Only blind loyalty one has for the regime would hinder
one from discerning this reality in Ethiopia. Read
More.....
Lt.
Ayalsew Dessie, Ato Lidetu Ayalew & Ato Berhane Mewa, and comments
from listeners on VOA: Part
I - 03/05/07 & Part
II - 04/05/07
Ato
Kifle Mulat, President of the Ethiopian Press Journalists Association
(EFJA), with BBC Network Afirca on World Press Freedom Day
On
the Metehara Project and the repression against Afars
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
Dozens
of Afars who have voiced opposition to the project have now been
rounded up and imprisoned in Asaita and Dessie. According to the
reports,the project is kept secret so much so the President of the
Afar kilil/region/ is not even informed on the details of it. SOCEPP
condemns the repression unleashed against Afars in the region as
a consequence of this project that would surely have many bad consequences.
The removal of Afars from their land and the takeover of the same
land by setlers from another ethnic group is sure to lead to inter
ethnic conflicts and thus should be stopped immediately. Read
More.....
Trial
of opposition leaders, human rights defenders and journalists continues
in Ethiopia
Amnesty International
One year after their trial opened in Addis Ababa on 2 May 2006,
48 members of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD)
party, human rights defenders and journalists are still in prison.
Most charges carry possible death sentences. They are on trial for
allegedly inciting violence in opposition demonstrations in 2005
protesting alleged electoral fraud. The demonstrations started peacefully
but ended in clashes with government forces that shot dead 187 demonstrators.
Read
More.....
Professor
Seyoum Gebreselassie died at the age of 70
From one of his ex-students
Professor Seyoum Gebreselassie, a renowned African Sociologist,
veteran researcher and educator, died at the age of 70. He was a
professor at Addis Ababa University, Department of Sociology and
Social Administration from 1991 - 1995.
Professor
Seyoum obtained his PHD in the United States. To mention some of
his accomplishments, he was the founder of Awassa Development Training
Centre. Later in 1967, he joined Addis Ababa University, where he
served for 38 years as instructor, department chairperson, faculty
dean, University registrar and a member of the University Senate.
He was also a founding member and office bearer of the Ethiopian
Family Guidance Association, the Association of African Social Workers,
and the Ethiopian Society of Sociologists, Social Anthropologists,
and Social Workers. The late Professor Seyoum also served as a board
member for the Ethiopian Red Cross Society.
Most
of his students remember Professor Seyoum as a humble, easy going,
relax but very clever instructor. He was a comic and often used
informal teaching methods. You need to be very clever as himself
to get his point as he mixes humour and clichés with academics
while he teaches." His funeral services were held on 11 February
2007 at a cemetery in front of the General Winget School.
Backsliders:
The 10 countries where press freedom has most deteriorated
A Special Report for World Press Freedom Day
from CPJ
New
York, May 2, 2007—Three nations in sub-Saharan Africa are
among the places worldwide where press 
freedom
has deteriorated the most over the last five years, a new analysis
by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Ethiopia
[country report], where the government launched
a massive crackdown on the private press by shutting newspapers
and jailing editors, leads CPJ’s dishonor roll. The African
nations of the Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo join
Russia and Cuba among the world’s worst “backsliders”
on press freedom. “Democracy’s foothold in Africa is
shallow when it comes to press freedom,” said CPJ Executive
Director Joel Simon. Read
More...... //
Audio
slideshow by Robert Mathoney.....
Ethiopia
blocks opposition Web sites - watchdog
By Andrew Heavens
ADDIS
ABABA, May 1 (Reuters) - An Internet watchdog on Tuesday accused
Ethiopia of blocking scores of anti-government Web sites and millions
of Weblogs in one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cases of cyber-censorship.
Web monitor, the OpenNet Initiative, said the Horn of Africa country
was stopping citizens from viewing opposition-linked Web sites,
and blogs hosted by Blogger, an online journal community owned by
Internet search engine Google Inc. Read
More.....
Hama
Tuma’s Misplaced Rant
By Addisu Mela
But
must know that only takes him so far. Secessionist forces such as
the ONLF predate the TPLF/EPRDF, and they may likely outlive the
regime in power. Their demand for secession is unadulterated and
still on their strategy. One of the main reasons Ethiopian democratic
and progressive forces faulted the Alliance For Democracy, of which
ONLF is a founding member, is its obfuscation and vagueness on the
democratic unity of Ethiopia. Does the ONLF want the region it purports
to fight for to be part of Ethiopia or not? The clear answer so
far is that it does not. That is why many patriotic Ethiopians have
been asking for explanations why Ethiopianist organizations like
Kinijit did not bat an eyelash when they bedded with the secessionist
forces. Read
More and post your comments.....
Ethiopian
Workers Unite against Oppression
(Norway
EPRP section) Read
more.....
HR2003
Amharic Translation.....
Listen
to the 30th Anniversary of May Day Massacre on 29 April 1977 (Miazya
21, 1969) in Addis Ababa just after the news (Finote
Democracy: Voice of Ethiopian Unity Radio)
International Ethiopian Women Orgnianization (IEWO) Radio with Professor
Al Mariam
Ato Tegegne Moges of EPRP leadership presented
his years of struggle to empower Ethiopian people, from Ethiopian
Teachers' Association to the National People’s Congress ("Bherawi
Shengo") & the EPRP. Listen to: Part
I // Part
II // Part
III (Assimba paltalk)
The
Wrong Linkage of the Millennium Celebration and Professor Hizkias
Assefa’s Efforts of National Reconciliation
By Yilma Begashaw
Professor
Hizkias Assefa appears to be on an important mission to facilitate
dialogue among Ethiopians in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora for achievement
of a national reconciliation, for peace and prosperity. This small
comment thus refers to the Saturday, 28th of April 2007 meeting
in London. Read
More.....
Chinese workers freed in Ethiopia
(BBC)
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, IX
By
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl, April 23, 2007
EPRP has a clear vision and a strong sense of purpose. It is trying
to attain freedom for Ethiopia, whose people had always lived in
fear of the State. EPRP has achieved both goals, at least for its
members and supporters. Yet EPRP made many mistakes. Some were inevitable;
some probably could have been avoided. But it took responsibility
for all that its members did in its name. EPRP yearned to make Ethiopia
a better place. And so nobody in his right mind would be interested
in destroying the mission and the institution of EPRP. Read
More.....
Can
idiots be useful?
By
Hama Tuma
In the quote that provoked this article the useful idiots are those
who cry foul because the soldiers of the regime have been killed
by self proclaimed “liberation movement” soldiers who
are, in my view, another version of the useless idiot. The useless
ones are those who hail the slaughter? This is left unsaid. For
some the killers are patriots, allies, freedom fighters, for others
the opposite. For every sane Ethiopian who is unaffected by idiocy
the Meles regime is an enemy of the country and her people. Its
soldiers kill and maim and serve the tormentors of Ethiopia. Why
then should one cry if these soldiers get what they had been doling
out to other people? Only “idiots” can cry foul. But
then, why are they deemed useful? Because they teach by their idiocy?
If we go along with this line of argument are all those who believed
in the peaceful electoral process idiots since it was clear from
the outset that the Meles gang would never respect the voice of
the people? What do we say to those who proclaim even today we should
prepare for the next election? First class, new
Millennium idiocy? Not differentiating friend from foe is folly
of the highest level, like, during the Soviet era, hijacking a plane
from East Berlin to Moscow. Read
More and post your comments.....
UK
Foreign Office amends travel advice for Ethiopia
The
UK Foreign Office today revised its travel advice for Ethiopia.
It now advises against all travel within 50 kms of all Ethiopia’s
borders. The
revelent summary points now read as follow:
We
advise against all travel to areas off the principal roads/towns
within 50 kilometres of the border areas with Eritrea because of
the risk of landmines. The Ethiopia/Eritrea border remains closed
and the situation is very tense and could deteriorate extremely
rapidly. See the Local Travel (North and East Ethiopia) section
of this travel advice for more details. Read
More.....
China
evaluates safety after Ethiopia killings
BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Thursday it was evaluating the
safety of its workers abroad after an attack in Ethiopia that killed
nine of its citizens but would continue encouraging Chinese businesses
to operate in Africa. Read
More.....
AAU
Students Fume Over Doctors' Action, Food Poison Sends About 90 Students
to Hospital
nazret.com
April
27, 2007 (Addis Ababa): AAU Students expressed anger on Tuesday
after doctors of the Menelik II hospital allegedly took out some
parts from the body of a student. The deceased Ahmed Abdurrahman,
a third year physics student from Harar, fainted in class while
he was doing a presentation, before he died later. Read
More......
PEN
USA Honorary Members Sisay Agena and Eskinder Nega released after
17 months in prison; seven still detained in Ethiopia
penusa.org
The
Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN welcomes the release
from prison of eight Ethiopian journalists on 9 April 2007. However
PEN also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of six
other journalists and two academics still being detained. Read
More.....
Ethiopia attacks reveal price of China's expands role
By Edward Cody, The Washington Post
BEIJING
-- An attack that killed nine Chinese oil workers in Ethiopia's
desolate Ogaden Desert has provided a bloody reminder that China's
worldwide pursuit of raw materials has taken it into some rough
neighborhoods and that goodwill proclamations may not be enough
to avoid getting caught up in local conflicts. Read
More.....
COALITION
FOR H.R. 2003
The
Coalition for H.R. 5680 is pleased to announce that effective immediately
it will be known as the Coalition for H.R. 2003. The name change
was made following the introduction of H.R. 2003, “Ethiopia
Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007” by Congressman Donald
Payne of New Jersey on April 23, 2007. Read
the full press release.....
Ethiopia
facing results of its Somalia adventure
Arab Monitor
Addis
Abeba, 24 April - As the Somali population of Mogadishu is facing
decimation, Somali fighters against the Ethiopian and Somali interim
government forces have taken over the city of Kisimayo. Nonetheless,
Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi said military operations to
clean Somalia of Islamist extremists were going well. Despite
reports of wounded dying in streets and shelled homes and of hundreds
of thousands of internally displaced, camping in the open without
shelter nor emergency supplies,
Meles Zenawi insisted that there are "no mass casualties of
the type that the so-called human rights organisations have been
reporting", adding "I would be very surprised if it were
to take us more than a week or two to completely clear Mogadishu."
By now, some 500 thousand residents of Mogadishu have fled, while
armed fighters, drawn largely from the huge Hawiye tribe, have flocked
into the capital, determined to drive the Ethiopian invaders out.
Meanwhile, the destabilizing results of the Ethiopian offensive
in Somalia are spreading into Ethiopia itself: the Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF) claimed responsiblity for a raid carried
out at around 5 a.m. in an eastern Ethiopian oil field, where a
group of about 200 guerrilla fighters massacred 65 Ethiopians and
nine Chinese in their sleep. Read
More....
74
killed in attack on Chinese oil venture
Emmanuel Goujon
April 24, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA): Scores of gunmen attacked a Chinese-run
oil field in a remote area of Ethiopia Tuesday killing 74 people,
including nine Chinese, after a gun battle that lasted for almost
one hour. Seven Chinese workers were also kidnapped in the attack
which the government blamed on a separatist group, said Ethiopian
prime minister's spokesman, Berekat Simon. "It is a massacre.
It is a terrorist act, ordered by a terrorist alliance that includes
ONLF,"
said Simon, referring to the Ogaden National Liberation Front. Read
More.....
Listen
to the late Assistant Prof. poet, playwright and researcher Debebe
Seifuexplaining how art & everyday
lives of human kind defined each other
Ethiopia
says kidnapped nationals freed by Eritrea
By
Tsegaye Tadesse and Andrew Heavens
ADDIS
ABABA, April 22 (Reuters) - Ethiopia said on Sunday that eight of
its nationals kidnapped last month with a group of European travellers
in a remote northern desert region had been released safely by its
foe and neighbour Eritrea. Asmara has always denied involvement
in their abduction. The saga had put further strain on ties between
the two Horn of Africa nations, who fought a 1998-2000 border war.
"After being held hostage by Eritrea, the eight Ethiopian nationals
have crossed from Eritrean territory into Ethiopian territory and
are now in the hands of Ethiopian security bosses," the government
said in a statement.
Read More.....
Ethiopian
Human Rights bill re-introduced in the House (A preliminary analysis)
Coalition for H.R.5680
The
squandered opportunity and dashed hopes
Seifu Tsegaye Demmissie
Ethiopians have known their double standards, duplicity and hypocrisy
and it will be difficult to gain the friendship and partnership
of Ethiopians. It is all the fault of the west. The genuine opposition
in Ethiopia should be prepared for the right game in anticipation
of the changing global balance of power since we can not insulate
our selves against the possible change. I am for seizing opportunities
when ever they become available at least when we can not create
them. I am sounding pessimistic but let us hope for the better.
Read
More.....
Mogadishu
braced for humanitarian disaster
France24
(Friday,
April 20, 2007): Ethiopian forces battled Islamist insurgents in
the Somalia capital on Friday as the United Nations warned of a
humanitarian catastrophe with corpses left rotting in the streets.
Read
More..... //
Watch
video report on France24..... //
BBC.....
Somali
Sub-Clans Said to be Uniting Against Government, Ethiopia
By Alisha Ryu, VOA
19 April 2007 (Nairobi): The
ultimatum, issued late Wednesday by Islamist leader Sheik Sharif
Sheik Ahmed and Hussein Aideed, was blunt - leave Somalia now or
prepare to fight to the death. The two senior leaders, who are members
of the Hawiye clan that dominates the Somali capital, Mogadishu,
spoke after holding talks in Eritrea, Ethiopia's archrival in the
Horn of Africa. Read
More.....
Campaign
launched to re-erect Abebe Bikila and Mamo Wolde statues
Wednesday 18 April 2007
The
names of Abebe Bikila and Mamo Wolde hold a legendary aura in the
history of the Olympics. The two Ethiopian runners gave their country
an Olympic marathon monopoly in the 1960s, from Bikila’s barefoot
victory along a torch lit Appian Way in Rome 1960 - Ethiopia’s
first ever gold medal - and then his successful defence in 1964
in Tokyo - this time wearing shoes - to Wolde’s title win
in Mexico City in 1968, when aged 38. Bikila died on 25 October
1973 and Wolde passed away on 26 May 2002, and in their honour statues
were erected by a grateful nation in St. Joseph cemetery in the
Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. However, on the evening of 7 March
2007 the statues were vandalized and while the police have been
investigating they so far they have not been able to identify the
criminals.
Girum
Seifu, a photojournalist for the Addis Admass newspaper, saw the
damage on the 8 March and took the pictures shown here. The Ethiopians
everywhere remain shocked by this act of wanton destruction, and
it has similarly affected many athletics fans worldwide including
sports photographer Jiro Mochizuki who works in Paris for the respected
Japanese international photo-agency, ‘Agence SHOT’,
and who on visiting the cemetery recently found the site completely
covered by a tarpaulin. In quick response to the outrage Mochizuki
sent pictures of the damaged statues to his colleague Ito Takashi,
the director of Agence Shot in Tokyo, and together they have decided
to make a fundraising campaign to repair them. Read
More.....
| Interview
with Ato Ghidey Zeratsion of Tigrian Alliance for National
Democracy (TAND) about the TPLF’s secret document. Date:
20 April 2007 @ 22:00 Central European / 4:00pm Eastern /
1:00pm Western / 4:00am Australian times. You are invited
to join us with any beneficial questions & suggestions.
Ethiopians Struggle for Democracy and Unity.
|
Ethiopia: Incommunicado detention/ fear of torture or ill-treatment/
health concern
Among those detained are several women and
children, the youngest of whom is thought to be aged around four
Amnesty Internantional
The people named above are among over 80 detainees held incommunicado
in at least three different locations in Ethiopia. They are at risk
of torture or ill-treatment, and may not be receiving access to
the medical treatment they need. Read
More.....
A
Taste from Hawarya Newspaper (Amharic
PDF)
Open
objection to the US Ambassador in Addis Ababa: Stop condoning torture
in Ethiopia
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
American blind support to the illegal and brutal regime has compounded
the plight of the Ethiopian people and
this is something that Ethiopians cannot easily forget or forgive.
In the past, this same ambassador has tried to justify the illegal
imprisonment of opposition leaders and journalists. In the same
way, the attempt to deny that the regime has "disappeared"
dozens of political prisoners has been made again and again. It
is obvious that the ambassador will not investigate any allegation
of torture because he knows that torture is practiced daily and
extensively. The regime has denied that there is torture (see Bereket
Semon quote above) and the ambassador's claim the regime is open
to admitting its problems in this respect is a blatant cover up.
Meles Zenawi presides over a regime that tortures and kills and
disappears political dissidents and there is no way the US ambassador
in Addis Ababa cannot be privy to this fact.
Read
More.....
Reports
of torture in Ethiopia are widespread. Bush says prime minister
is committed to human rights
Nick Wadhams, San Francisco Chronicle Foreign
Service
Monday,
April 16, 2007 (Ghimbi, Ethiopia) -- First, the police threw Tesfaye
into a dark cell. Then, each day for 17 days, it was the same routine:
Electric shocks on his legs and back, followed by beatings with
rubber truncheons. Four or five officers would then surround and
kick him. At last, a large bottle of water would be tied around
his testicles. He'd pass out. Tesfaye's crime? Maybe it's that he
refused to join the ruling party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Read
More.....
International
Ethiopian Women Organization's Radio interview with W/t Lulit Mesfin
and Ato Alemayehu Zemedkhun (Continued
from last week)
130
Ethiopians and Somalis die after coast guards open fire
SANAA, 15 April 2007 (IRIN) - Somali community leaders in Sana'a
said on Saturday that 130 African migrants died at sea when their
boat capsized off the Yemeni coast after coast guards opened fire
on them. Three boats carrying 460 African migrants, Somalis and
Ethiopians, left the Somali port of Bossaso on 9 April and arrived
in Yemeni regional waters late on 12 April. “As the smuggling
boats entered the Yemeni waters, coast guards began firing on them,
causing one boat to capsize,” Sadat Mohammed, head of refugee
affairs in the Somali community in Sana’a, told IRIN.
Read More.....
Representing
Ethiopia as eve (the mother of humanity)
By Daniel
Representing Ethiopia as eve (the mother of humanity) brings into
the picture the female figurines and the fertility goddess in the
religio- cultural landscape of Ethiopia. Debteraw would never have
missed the many “female goddesses” our country enjoys.
These religio-cultural ethoses are books to be read and interpreted.
the matriarchial-paganism of the "galla” indeed has created
religious syncretism, through the process of diffusion and adhesion
with the patriarchial androgenic God figure of the northerner (Adam??).
To many of us who have grown up in the “Atete” culture
knew how the “Atete” goddess cuts across ethnic lines.
Those of us who still recall the “Atete” ritual might
not miss the mantra like recounting of the “Gondare Sifa”.
An Oromo goddess incorporating a Gondare “sifa (efa??)”.
The “Marame” goddess and the “Eme-Birhan”
i.e “Mariam” may not be that cognitively far apart and
may fall under the same cluster with little perceptual distance
between them. Our nation’s cultural heterogeneity is a mere
skin depth. Even the traditional “Wukabi” religion,
mentions now and again “Adal- Moti” (Adal=Afar, Moti=King
(Oromifaa), “Hagos -tigre, Wosen-Galla” (Wossen- a northerner
name appearing along with “Galla”??), Shewa-Anbesu,
Tequar Aba Megal and many other spiritual dignitaries from the many
ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Some of us know the similarities between
the Amhara and Oromo peasant hut design and how they reflect female
figurines which by itself invites a scholarly research. These material
and spiritual culture reflect the homogeneity of our people built
over the years through cultural diffusion and religious syncretism.
Any good student of social anthropology will confirm that such religious
diffusion and the ritual sequel cannot take place in a span of century,
as some of the ruling class would like us to believe.
(Posted from Mr. Daniel's comments on CALL
ME BY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, VIII. To read the full text
and submit your comments on this post click here.....)
Ethiopia
in Somali 'genocide' row
By Robert Walker, BBC
A
member of Somalia's transitional government has accused Ethiopian
troops in the capital Mogadishu of committing genocide since arriving
in December. The accusations came from Hussein Aideed - a former
Somali warlord who is the deputy prime minister of the transitional
government. Read
More.....
CALL
ME BY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, VIII
Wolde Tewolde, alias Obo Arada Shawl, April 13, 2007
In
my article of Part VII, I have attempted to account the Revolutionary
journey of EPRP’s eventful years in its historical context.
In the process, I have included the name of Christ and his Resurrection.
My idea was to celebrate the survival of a Selfless Generation who
survived for 33 years in ordeal, and in the end to hope for EPRP’s
Resurrection. But some readers took me for a fool or lunatic. I
appreciate for their expressed opinions. As for name-calling it
is similar to how Debteraw was labeled in the 1960-70. Debteraw
was not allowed to teach above grade 3 even with his college degree.
Why because the officials believed he was poisonous and dangerous.
Call me by my name; I was not called Debteraw without a reason.
Read
More.....
Ethiopian
People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP): 1972 – 2007
35 Years of Struggle for Democracy
The
need to continue the struggle for democracy and Ethiopia’s
survival is more pressing now than ever before. This being the case,
the EPRP continues the struggle for democracy by joining hands with
other organizations and the people at large. Thirty five years after
its formation, the EPRP, loyal to its vows and steadfast no matter
what, is forced to declare that the Struggle Continues. And victory
shall truly be achieved by the struggle of the Ethiopian people.
Read
More…..
Swedish
teenager held in Ethiopia says she was detained in U.S.-led operation
International Herald Tribune
STOCKHOLM
(April 12, 2007): A Swedish teenager who was imprisoned for weeks
with alleged terror suspects in Ethiopia said in an interview published
Thursday that Americans in military uniform directed the Kenyan
soldiers who took her into custody on the Somali-Kenyan border.
The statements by 17-year-old Safia Benaouda were the first to describe
a broader U.S. role in the detentions. Other detainees have said
they were taken into custody by Kenyans and transferred to Ethiopia,
a U.S. counterterrorism ally. Benaouda said three men in U.S. uniforms
led the Kenyan troops who detained her and other women and children
fleeing Somalia on Jan. 18. Read
More.....
Flash
flood damages houses in Dire Dawa
IRIN
ADDIS ABABA (12 April 2007): Several houses were damaged by flood
waters in the eastern Ethiopian town of Dire Dawa, 515 km from the
capital of Addis Ababa, after heavy rains pounded the area, officials
said. The Thursday morning floods swept over the Addis Ketema and
Decahtu suburbs, said Binyam Fikru, public relations officer at
Dire Dawa police station. There were no reports of casualties, although
the flooding was quite intense.
It
is the second time in less that a year that Dire Dawa, Ethiopia's
second-largest town with a population of 400,000, suffers floods.
In August, at least 250 people died and nearly 10,000 were forced
to leave their homes – some 5,524 of whom are still living
in tents in the Mariam Sefer area - when floods inundated the town.
Read
More.....
GROW
TOGETHER
Mankelklot Haile Selassie (PhD)
Issues
to be resolved to grow together- I have come up with three main
ones: 1. Redefining self-determination, 2. Abolishing the Terms
Nations and Peoples, 3. Back to Pre-revolution Political Map. Read
More and post your comment.....
Ethiopia:
is the media more staged than the court?
By Behailu Damte
In
the most recent drama from the motherland, Ethiopia, the government
tried to show the happiness of the several international detainees
arrested by displaying smiling faces of prisoners on its state-run
television, just to combat the accusation made by the International
Committee of the Red Cross. In addition to this, mostly pro-Islamist
sources have accused the Somali & Ethiopian governments of “War
Crimes.” However according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the government thinks this accusation has no value and only the
former ICRC accusations needed to be taken seriously. And the Ethiopian
government sure took ICRC’s accusations of Human Rights abuse
very seriously. One must really wonder if any human on earth would
be smiling for photos and pretending to be happy on TV, after having
been labeled an “international terrorist” and after
enduring Ethiopian jails which are one of the most horrific jails
in Africa. To
add more insult to the intelligence of the ICRC, one of the staged
detainees praised the Ethiopian government by comically saying “The
treatment here is very good. Ethiopians are very sociable and they
respect human rights.”
Read
More.....
thiopia
admits terror detentions
BBC
Ethiopia's
government has admitted that it detained 41 "terror suspects"
who were captured in neighbouring Somalia. The ministry of foreign
affairs said the detainees were from 17 countries including America,
Canada and Sweden. Read
More.....
Ethiopia:
CPJ concerned about journalists still in detention
By James Butty
Joel
Simon is the executive director of the New York-based Committee
to Protect Journalists (CPJ). He said the CPJ welcomes the journalists’
release, but it was also concerned about the others still in jail.
Read
More..... //
Listen
to Butty interview with Simon
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw,
VII
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shaw
The Crocodile is dead,
The Animal is imprisoned
The Oak is burning
Let EPRP start rolling ...
EPRP has nothing to be ashamed of. Unbiased image rather than about
improving its image is the task at hand. When EPRP put its cards
on the table, about why and how, it does business with United Democratic
Front, Coalition Forces, OLF, or any force for that matter, people
have no problems with any of that. I see nothing wrong in having
our lives and actions covered with a pinch of salt, our natural
talent and history. What can be done? Just call me by my name!!!
Just use visual, Internet and print (VIP) and say more and more
frankly what, why and how EPRP as a whole did it to bring the fundamental
change... Read
More.....
E-mail
warns EU could be tied to war crimes
AP
Ethiopian
and Somali forces may have committed war crimes in battles against
insurgents and European Union countries could be considered complicit
if they do nothing to stop them, according to an EU e-mail obtained
by The Associated Press on Friday. The warning, by a senior security
official, came in an urgent e-mail to Eric van der Linden, the EU
ambassador based in Nairobi. "I need
to advise you that there are strong grounds to believe that the
Ethiopian government and the transitional federal government of
Somalia and the African Union (peacekeeping) Force Commander, possibly
also including the African Union Head of Mission and other African
Union officials have through commission or omission violated
the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court," the
e-mail said. EU officials, speaking on condition they not be named
because a legal matter was involved, confirmed the e-mail's authenticity.
Read More.....
'Outsourced
Guantanamo' - FBI & CIA Interrogating Detainees in Secret Ethiopian
Jails, U.S. Citizen Among Those Held
Democracy Now
The CIA and FBI agents have been interrogating hundreds of detainees
at secret prisons in Ethiopia. Many of the prisoners were recently
transferred there secretly and illegally from Kenya and Somalia.
They are being held without charge or access to counsel. One of
those held is 24 year-old U.S. citizen, Amir Mohamed Meshal. We
speak with an attorney working on Meshal's case, Human Rights Watch
and a reporter in Nairobi who covered the story. Read
More.....
Watch
video report......
SOCEPP
denounces the so-called secret ”terror prisons” in Ethiopia
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
The
regime of Meles Zenawi denies,as is usual, that it is holding hundreds
of people in secret prisons all over Ethiopia but this time it is
exposed for the whole world to see because it is holding foreign
prisoners, including one American, in the secret prisons. SOCEPP
denounces the existence of these secret prisons and the jailing
of people brought from Somalia and Kenya.
The
truth is out because CIA and FBI officials have been interrogating
the prisoners of whom some are allegedly suspected of being Al Qiada
operatives. The Meles Zenawi regime also holds more than
230 Ethiopians of Oromo,Somali and Amara ethnic origins
who were captured in Somalia. Many of these are reportedly refugees
who had been living in Somalia for years. Read
More.....
U.S.
agents visit Ethiopian secret jails
By Anthony Mitchell, Associated Press Writer
CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn of
Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries
held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for torture
and abuse, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.
Human rights groups, lawyers and several Western diplomats assert
hundreds of prisoners, who include women and children, have been
transferred secretly and illegally in recent months from Kenya and
Somalia to Ethiopia, where they are kept without charge or access
to lawyers and families. The detainees include at least one U.S.
citizen and some are from Canada, Sweden and France, according to
a list compiled by a Kenyan Muslim rights group and flight manifests
obtained by AP. Read
More.....
Postponed
again
Seminawork
The judges in the trial of CUD leaders, independent journalists
and civil society members yet again decided to adjourn the proceeding.
They finished most of the briefing today. The judges said they would
conclude the briefing and read the ruling tomorrow. The briefing
was read today by judge Leul who was supposed to be sick.
Audio
report of presentations & public discussion about the first
congress of the first political party, EPRP, in Ethiopia (Assimba
PalTalk Room)
Col.
Asnake's presentation
Mother's
Presentation
Q & A with Ato Iyasu Alemayehu - Part I
Q & A with Ato Iyasu Alemayehu - Part II
Q & A with Ato Iyasu Alemayehu - Part III
Postponed
again
Seminawork
The
trial (of Ethiopian main opposition leaders, journalists and human
rights activists by the Woyane/EPRDF kangaroo court) is postponed
again. This time for Monday, 2 April. The court presented the summary
of the Audio, Video and documentary evidence today. It said the
rest of the prosecutor's evidence will be summarized and presented
on Monday. The court was packed, tens of people couldn't get sits.
The judges said that they wouldn't continue in the afternoon as
one of the judges was sick.
Solidarity
Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP)
March 1995 -March 2007
12 YEARS OF STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
SOCEPP
was established in March 1995 primarily to publicize the plight
of the "forgotten" political prisoners in Ethiopia. At
the time, many political prisoners and dozens of the "disappeared"
were ignored by local and international human rights agencies. Since
then, SOCEPP has emerged as a determined and persistent fighter
for the respect of human rights in Ethiopia. Read
More.....
Ethiopia
lost soldiers in fighting in Mogadishu
Shabelle Media Network
March
29, 2007: At least 15 Ethiopian soldiers have been killed and others
were wounded in the latest fighting raging in the Somalia capital
Mogadishu, witnesses told Shabelle radio on late Thursday. The casualties
on the other side was unclear but sources close to the insurgents
say there are fighters killed and wounded in the battle. Read
More.....
“Privatizing cell phone service is equal to issuing license
to print money”
Meles Zenawi, Addis Zemen Amharic daily Government Newspaper- 66th
year number 150, Wednesday, February 7, 2007 /Wednesday Tir 30,
1999 Ethiopian Calandar/
Hiwot Robert, London/UK/
In
this age of technological revolution and rapidly evolving world,
to hear from a leader of 77 million people such a comment is not
just surprising, it rather is sickening. What is more surprising,
or bluntly spoken very sickening, is the fact entrepreneurs or the
Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce didn’t react so far to this
comment made boldly and shamelessly. Read
More.....
A
“common goal” should be central agenda for all opposition
groups
By A.Geremew (March
28, 2007)
Since the early 20th century, we had the information all about the
knowledge, technology and resources could bring the feature of bad
governance and poverty to an end. What we don’t have even
in this modern age in Ethiopia is the moral and political will to
do so. And it is becoming clear that it will take a new moral energy
to create that political will. Our bitter political struggle to
remove the existing tyrant regime is significantly crucial and timely
our society desperately needs for better future. Read
More.....
CALL
ME BY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, VI
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl
March 23, 2007
So
far, we have formed a glimpse of who Debteraw is, what he stands
for and where he is currently roaming. I hope we have all agreed
that Debteraw professional acronym is READ. That is he is a Revolutionary,
an Educator, an Artist and a Democrat. I have attempted to describe
him vis-à-vis with known personalities such as Mesfin W.
Mariam (Geographer) and Makonnen Bishaw (Social scientist) with
his Mokshe the “laureate” Tsegaye GM. and also with
the Journalist, Mulugheta Lule who adopted his name.
Now
it is time, Why and How he and his political Party, EPRP still persists
despite all odds. It is time to debate with him about the future
of Ethiopia and Ethiopians? However, before we do that, we have
to grasp why Debteraw was involved in the Eway Revolution –
a Revolution that took place both in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Read
More......
IEWO Radio interview
with Artist Telela Kebede
Somalia
Fighting Has Killed Nearly 400
By Salad Duhul (02.04.07, Associated Press)
Fierce
fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents
in Somalia's capital has killed nearly 400 people - mostly civilians
- in the past four days, a Somali human rights group said Monday.
The fighting abated long enough Monday to allow thousands of people
to flee the ruined coastal city on foot and in donkey carts, cars
and trucks. Some 47,000 people - mainly women and children - have
abandoned their homes in the last 10 days, according to the U.N. refugee
agency. Since February, nearly 100,000 people have fled the violence,
the agency said.
Read More.....
On
the streets with the peacekeepers: FRANCE 24's Franck Berruyer has
been on patrol with African Union peacekeepers in the lawless Somali
capital Mogadishu (Watch video report)
Press release from the Somali Diaspora Network (SDN)
The
Hummingbird and the Forest Fire: A Diaspora Morality Tale
By
Prof Al Mariam
A
confidential TPLF document 
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1211
31/03/2007
According to information obtained in
Addis Ababa by The Indian Ocean Newsletter, the Ethiopian Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi has written a 22 page document entitled Tigray in the
new Millenium calling for a strengthening of the construction of a
Tigray Regional State which is in a position to " survive on
its own
means if necessary". This text was approved by Seyoum Mesfin,
Abay Tsehaye and Sebhat Nega and is now circulating in the executive
circles of the Tigray People's Liberation
Front (TPLF, hard core of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front in power in Addis Ababa) as a confidential document. According
to our sources, it lists the various infrastructure projects already
completed in Tigray, laying special emphasis on the Tekezie hydro-electric
dam for its role in the electrification of the country, calls for
the expansion of other sectors of activity in this region in the North
of Ethiopia and praises the close relations between the Tigray Regional
State and China. This text also considers
that the Tigrayan Diaspora abroad should be " educated and mobilised
to invest" in this regional state. Finally, it stresses the need
to establish close relations with certain Eritrean opponents. This
theoretical assemblage is similar to the thesis in favour of creating
an independent state, coupling Ethiopian Tigrayans and Christian Eritreans
from the high plateaux. The idea of such a Tigray-Tigrigni State was
favoured two decades ago by certain Ethiopian Tigrayan and Eritrean
nationalists.
Fighting rages in Somali capital
BBC
Mortar
rounds slammed into central Mogadishu as heavy fighting in the Somali
capital between troops and rebels continued into a fourth day. The
Red Cross says dozens of civilians have been killed and local hospitals
say they cannot cope with the hundreds of wounded being brought in.
Read
More.....
Watch viedo reports on France24
// BBC......
Double
Standards and the turmoil in the Horn 
of
Africa
By
Aklilu Demissie
In opening remarks at the release of the 2006 Human Rights report
on March 6, 2007, Secretary Rice again phrased beautiful words of
commitment and recommitment to protection of human rights in the world.
She even said, “And we are recommitting ourselves to call every
government to account that still treats the basic rights of its citizens
as options rather than, in President Bush’s words, the no negotiable
demand of human dignity”. The non-negotiable human dignity is
nowhere appallingly brutalized than in Ethiopia . Compared to the
decency of the report, the words and the actions of the Secretary
do not, in the least or remotely reconcile each other as to what is
happening daily in Ethiopia. Read
More.....
Of
these Darfurians in Somalia!
By Hama Tuma
How come those who refused to recognize the genocide in Rwanda now
cry and shout genocide in
Darfur?
How can those who aided and betted the foul murderers in Rwanda and
the Congo are now crying genocide in Darfur? How come those who are
giving millions to a regime that massacred hundreds n Ethiopia and
sent hundreds of opposition leaders to prison till now dare accuse
Mugabe? How come indeed. The West hobnobs with African dictators who
hand over their nation's wealth, from Gabon to Equatorial Guinea to
the Congo and beyond this is what we see. With all the sympathy we
have for the people of Darfur and other oppressed peoples in the Sudan
it just does not seem right to join the chorus of the Bush and Blair
orchestra. Perhaps if Darfur is in Somalia, Bush could order Meles
Zenawi to intervene, no? Read
More.....
Kangaroo
court releases major newspaper publishers and journalists
Seminawork:
The kangaroo court in charge of the treason and genocide trial of
political dissidents today ordered the release of five major newspapers
including Serkalem Fasil and her husband Eskinder Nega. The court
also ordered the release of prominent journalists Sisay Agena, Fasil
Yenealem and Dereje Habtewolde.
BBC:
An Ethiopian judge has quashed controversial charges of attempted
genocide and treason against 111 people arrested after election protests.
Twenty-five accused, mostly journalists and publishers, have also
been acquitted of all charges. However several opposition leaders
remain in custody, accused of trying to violently overthrow the government.
Read
More.....
American
Blood Dollars Destroy African Wildlife
By Chris Mercer
Behind a carefully-crafted façade of “conservation,”
American trophy hunters are destroying our African wildlife heritage.
Chucking a few dollars at local landowners in order to pillage our
wildlife heritage is not conservation, it is colonialism. When organisations
such as Safari Club International in U.S.A. patronise this industry,
they export US dollars and colonialism to Africa, and they import
misery and bloodshed in the form of trophies. Their dollars are a
corrupting influence in the third world, perverting conservation policies
away from preservation towards the cruel exploitation of wildlife.
They manipulate foreign aid to their own ends, making USAID a major
threat to the African environment. And they use their blood dollars
to lobby for loopholes in wildlife legislation. Read
More.....
Easter
Message from His Holiness Abune Merkorios (Audio)
International
Ethiopian Women Organization's Radio interview with W/t Lulit Mesfin
and Ato Alemayehu Zemedkhun regarding last week's Kangaroo Court's
ruling in Ethiopia
Human
Rights and Humans without Rights in Ethiopia
(Full text of speech given at the University
of Minnesota Law School, Conference (On the New Breed of African Leaders
and the Future of Human Rights and Democracy in Africa,” April
06, 2007)
By Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam
Outsourcing torture to Ethiopia
HAMA
TUMA wrote the following article some time ago and it has been published
in his latest book called Democratic Cannibalism. Events have showed
that Hama's complaint on outsourcing torture has been heard by Washington
and the secret prisons have been opened in Ethiopia. Please
read on ..…
Easter
message from the legitimate Holy Synod of the EOTC (Amharic
PDF)
North
Koreans arm Ethiopians as U.S. assents
By Michael R. Gordon and Mark Mazzetti
Washington:
Three months after the United States successfully pressed the United
Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea because of the country's
nuclear test, Bush administration officials allowed Ethiopia to complete
a secret arms purchase from the North, in what appears to be a violation
of the restrictions, according to senior American officials. Read
More.....
Eritrea-Ethiopia
Battle Resumes in Tsorona
By Awate.com Gedab News - Apr 07, 2007
Awate
has learned that Eritrean and Ethiopian military forces were engaged
in a heavy battle in Tsorona, along their common border, on Friday,
April 6. Eritrea's army, the Eritrean Defense Forces, have assumed
defensive postures in the Bure and Tsorona areas. ... Both locations
were the sites of intensive battles in the Eritrea-Ethiopia border
war of 1998-2000. Awate will follow up on these developments and provide
its readers details as they become available.
Note:
One of the pro-EPRDF/TPLF websites, aigaforum.com, denies the above
report and claims that “besides the obvious preparation for
any eventuality there was no skirmish or heavy fighting in any of
the fronts”.
According
to our reliable source, the EPRDF/TPLF regime has already issued circular
to schools in Alitena and Seba_Damo areas to accomplish their activities
earlier and be closed before the usual end of the academic year.
Somali
gunmen burn slain soldiers
By Mohamed Olad Hassan & Elizabeth A. Kennedy
At
least 16 people were reported killed and dozens were wounded in the
hours-long firefight, which was some of the heaviest fighting in Mogadishu
since a radical Muslim militia was driven from the city in December
after six months in power. An Associated Press photographer saw six
corpses — all soldiers for the U.N.-backed interim government
or their Ethiopian allies — burned and mutilated while masked
men shouted "God is great!" Women in head scarves and flowing
dresses pounded one charred body with rocks. Read
More..... // Watch
video reports on BBC
and France24.....
Ethiopia
hostages 'safe and well'
BBC
The
head of the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front told AFP news
agency they were being treated well.... "No-one has died, they
are safe. They are our people - we are Ethiopians, they are Ethiopians,"
Mr Hamaddu said. He warned that future visitors to Afar risked kidnap
if they entered without rebel permission, AFP reports. Read
More.....
The
evil merchant of bogus terror threats
Aklilu Demissie
As the Horn of Africa slips in to quagmire because of the work of
a single individual (Meles), one wonders where is the rest of the
world or at least Africa . The notoriety and viciousness of the Meles
regime has gone beyond pale. The dictator has become a threat even
to other African nation’s independence. What is being seen in
East Africa is the capitulation of freedom to slavery which was attributed
to colonial masters .The adept maneuvering of world political status
quo by treacherous murderers is paying off enormously to their advantage.
Repressive regimes do not have to go far if they want to hang on to
power if they are successful in selling terror threat. It sells like
hot cake. It has made individuals successful and rich as starkly observed
in Ethiopia . Read
More.....
State
of the Ethiopian Economy (PowerPoint Presentation)
Complied by Fekadu Bekele
From
Structural Adjustment to WTO membership! Squaring poverty!!
Why Ethiopia should not become member of the
WTO?
By Fekadu Bekele, Ph D
Regarding the application of the EPRDF government to become Ethiopia
member of the WTO, I have published a long thesis in Amharic, and
tried to prove that this application and the possibility of becoming
member of the organization is not in the interest of our country.
The fact that enlightened minded Ethiopians and those who will be
directly affected vehemently oppose if Ethiopia becomes member of
the WTO, Meles Zenawi who is now a strong ally of the Bush administration
in fighting the fabricated international terrorism, is advised to
take more liberalization measures, if Ethiopia have the chance of
joining the WTO. Though there are thousands of scientific evidences
which prove that such kinds of membership by no means helps a country
like that of Ethiopia to build an economy based on science and technology
which is the prerequisite of a coherent nation-state, Meles is hasty
to totally sell-out our country to multinational companies so that
our people won’t see the true light of civilization. Read
More.....
The
truth about His Holiness Patriarch Merkorewos – Qesis Lisaneworq
on Finote Democracy: Voice of Ethiopian Unity
Underreported:
Suppression of Dissent in Ethiopia
New York Public Radio
The government of Ethiopia has become notorious for the heavy-handed
suppression and punishment of any form of political dissent. On today's
Underreported, we look at the state of freedom of expression in Ethiopia,
and examine how dissent is suppressed. Leonard talks to the family
members of two Ethiopian political prisoners.
Listen .....
EDITORIAL:
The kidnapped are freed but the problem persists
The
freeing of the five Britons kidnapped in the Afar desert is understandably
being greeted as good news but the thank yous and great news euphoria
needs to be qualified by the realization of the stubborn fact: the
problems that led to the kidnapping are still there and the duplication
of such actions seems likely given the illegal rule of a minority
clique that seems to enjoy the support of the governments of the America
and Britain for one.
Read More......
SOCEPP
calls for the release of 8 kidnapped Ethiopians
The Berlin based Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP at www.socepp.de or socepp@aol.com) has called on
the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front/ARDUF: to release the
8 Ethiopians who had been kidnapped with the now released five Britons.
Worried that the fate of the Ethiopians may not get any concern be
it from the EPRDF regime or the foreigners SOCEPP has appealed to
the Ethiopian spirit of solidarity and called on ARDUF to release
the eight Ethiopians who are not soldiers or intelligence officials
serving the repressive authorities in Addis Ababa.
More
Sucide amidst Ethiopian youths in Israel
Health Ministry finds suicide twice as likely for Ethiopian youth
By Ayanawo Farada Sanbetu, Haaretz Correspondent
In the years 1990-2000, the suicide rate of youths of Ethiopian extraction
was double that of their age group, according to the Health Ministry.The
ministry released this data in a position paper that was discussed
in the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee
Wednesday. In the discussion, held on Mental Health Day, the committee
decided to initiate legislation to create a national authority dedicated
to preventing suicides. Read
More.....
Hypocrisy:
American Style
Condoleeza Rice and the State Department vigorously condemned Robert
Mugabe of Zimbabwe and called for the immediate release of the jailed
leaders of the MDC opposition. On any level of repression and human
rights violation, Mugabe does not compare with Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia.
Mugabe is a featherweight compare to murder-heavy weight Meles who
not only slaughtered more than 200 peaceful protesters who opposed
the election he rigged but imprisoned all the opposition leaders,
banned the free press and gaoled all the independent journalists.
Mugabe is NOT liked by the USA while Meles is a puppet ready to waste
Ethiopian lives even in foreign lands just to please Washington.
Condoleeza Rice did not call for the immediate release of the jailed
Ethiopian opposition leaders.
Condoleeeza Rice did not condemn the farce of a trial that has been
going for the last year.
The American ambassador to Ethiopia praises the regime and the army
of Meles Zenawi to the skies while this army has committed murder
and mayhem and massacres/Gambella,etc.. There is actually nothing
new in seeing the double standards of America. A real déja
vu. Very sad though.
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, Part V
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl, March 13,
2007
Debteraw,
SS is a person who knows the purpose of health, happiness in life
here on Earth and after death. He also understands that progress can
be achieved via information, knowledge and wisdom. For that, he graduated
from college to acquire information, he taught in classrooms as well
as in the fields to possess knowledge and he went to the Monastery
to enrich his wisdom from the Almighty, God.
In
other words, Debterw has studied the law of three and functioned in
squares and rectangles among Ethiopians. Now he is operating from
the four corners of Ethiopia while studying the Pentagon, the language
of five. It is a little bit complex to understand the nature of his
position, at this time.
It
is to be recalled that I have contacted and interviewed him around
X-mass of this year (See Part
I of this article). However, I lost contact when
I asked him about his proposed solutions for Ethiopia’s ills
when he responded “AAGNMELAGO). Today on the 13th of March,
I have contacted him and posed some relevant questions of the day.
Here are his answers: - Read
More.....
To
Immigration Offices and Ministries all over the world
ETHIOPIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS NEED PROTECTION
AND NOT DEPORTATION
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Pprisoners (SOCEPP)
From
the Sudan to England and beyond, Ethiopian asylum seekers are being
incarcerated, mistreated and even deported. Those deported have often
"disappeared" or have been subjected to torture by the Meles
Zenawi government. The so called safe country designation given to
Ethiopia flies against the hard and brutal realities of life under
the TPLF/EPRDF in Ethiopia. Given the fact that many political organizations
are denied legality and identified as "anti-people, anti-peace",members
and sympathizers of such forces like the EPRP,OLF,ONLF,UEDF,etc...
are persecuted.It is to be noted that dozens of supporters, members
and caoptured leaders of these organizations have been disappeared.Legal
organizations like the CUD are also repressed with many jailed and
tortured and others forced to go underground or to flee the country.
Read
More.....
The
Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency
Mahmood Mamdani
The similarities between Iraq and Darfur are remarkable. The estimate
of the number of civilians killed over the past three years is roughly
similar. The killers are mostly paramilitaries, closely linked to
the official military, which is said to be their main source of arms.
The victims too are by and large identified as members of groups,
rather than targeted as individuals. But the violence in the two places
is named differently. In Iraq, it is said to be a cycle of insurgency
and counter-insurgency; in Darfur, it is called genocide. Why the
difference? Who does the naming? Who is being named? What difference
does it make? Read
More.....
What Blair and Geldof didn't see
By Thembi Mutch, Brirtish Journalism Review
By
the August I began to work out what my job actually was (“consultant”
was supposed to cover it), to whom I was accountable (nobody other
than myself, it seemed), and how little the Ethiopian Government actually
wanted a foreigner inside the DPPC. Especially, they did not want
an investigative journalist, which is what I am. Sure, I could re-jig
the Government website, run training sessions on how to write a press
release, and even re-train a few senior managers how to make their
reports a little more readable, but to “promote” a famine,
and “improve” communications strategies and information
flow… no chance. Read
More.....
Ethiopia
hostages: No rescue plan
Reuters
Britain and Ethiopia have, for now, ruled out a military operation
to rescue a group of five Europeans and eight locals kidnapped in
a remote Ethiopian region, their officials said on Saturday. The hostages
were seized by gunmen nine days ago during a tour of the Afar region,
one of the hottest and most hostile terrains on earth, inhabited mainly
by nomadic herders. Read
More.....
Kidnap
Britons 'held by rebels'
BBC
Reports
that UK embassy staff kidnapped in Ethiopia are in the hands of Afar
separatist rebels are being investigated, the Foreign Office says.
The group, comprising four Britons, one French citizen and eight Ethiopians,
disappeared eight days ago. Read
More.....
Ethiopia:
Further information on Fear of torture or ill-treatment/ incommunicado
detention
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 25/004/2007
Torture or ill-treatment/incommunicado detention: Endalkachew
Melese (m), aged 23, student, Daniel Hailemariam (m), Hirut Kifle
(f), Menbere Tsegaye (m), Tadesse Zenebe (m) – corrected name,
aged 34, tyre factory security guard. And some 60 other supporters
of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. Read
More……
Solidarity
with the fraternal people of Somalia
EPRP
The
EPRP has for long called for an end to the clan war in Somalia so
that the fraternal people of Somalia can live in peace and contribute
to the stability of the region. At the same time, the EPRP has not
ceased to condemn the war lords and fanatics that held the people
hostage for years and the regional forces that have interfered in
Somalia’s affairs and waged proxy wars on Somali soil. Read
More…..
End
the violation of the rights of Women
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
08
March 2007: On the occasion of International Women's Day, SOCEPP joins
the call for thr respect of the rights of women of the world and specially
demands that the violation of the rights of Ethiopian women be ended.
In
all fields, Ethiopian women have little or no rights under the current
regime of Meles Zenawi. While lip service is paid to theri rights,
women in actual fact remain subjugated, in a second class citizen
status, without any legal protection. Forced marriages, child brides,
mutilation, rape, unequal pay and discrimination at the work place,
sale of children through adoption cover, sale of young women unto
modern slavery in the Middle East, exposure to AIDS, child prostitution
and more define the reality of Ethiopian women. Read
More.....
UK
press cautioned against 'speculation' on Ethiopia abductions
IRNA
Foreign
Secretary Margaret Beckett Thursday cautioned the press against "unwarranted
speculation" about the fate of five British diplomats and family
members kidnapped in Ethiopia last week.
"Did
al-Qaeda kidnap the Embassy five?" the Independent newspaper
speculated in its frontpage headlines on Monday. It suggested that
the mobile phones and luggage left behind point to a political motive
for the abductions, rather than a monetary gain. The Guardian said
that the Britons had been taken by their captors across the border
to Eritrea, quoting Ethiopian police and army officers that were leading
the hunt for them. Other reports suggested that British special forces
have flown to the remote area and were on standby to mount a possible
hostage rescue operation.
Read More.....
Police
Seek Missing Britons in Ethiopia
By Les Neuhaus, Associated Press Writer
Investigators
were working ``around the clock'' to find five Europeans linked to
the British Embassy, but no one has claimed responsibility for their
disappearance or made any demands, officials said Tuesday. The five
Europeans were in a tour group, which included 13 Ethiopian drivers
and translators, that disappeared Thursday while traveling in Ethiopia's
Afar region, a barren expanse of salt mines and volcanoes 500 miles
northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. The five are employees of the
British Embassy in Addis Ababa, or their relatives. A spokesman for
the British Foreign Office and the French foreign minister said one
of the five is French. ``We are in contact with the British authorities
in London and Addis Ababa, and I am personally following this affair,''
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said. Read
More.....
Two
U.S. troops die in Ethiopia road accident
Reuters
Two U.S. servicemen were killed after the vehicle they were in plunged
into a ravine in eastern Ethiopia, the Ethiopian and U.S. governments
said Tuesday. Another soldier and the Ethiopian driver of the vehicle
also were injured in the crash Monday, the U.S. Combined Joint Task
Force-Horn of Africa said in a statement from its base in Djibouti.
Read More.....
The
International Ethiopian Women Organization (IEWO) held a public meeting
on Saturday, March 3, 2007
This conference was transmitted live at Assimba PalTalk room around
the world where forum participants were able to interact with the
audience. Listen to: Part
I (1:03hr) // Part
II (1:17hr) // Part
III (1:01hr) // Part
IV (51min) of
the entire audio clips of the conference.
Click here and read the resolution passed at the conference which
was also continued on the next day.....
EPRP
denounced the travesty of justice adjourned again for March 23
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: a small talk wit Debteraw, Part IV
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl,
March 3, 2007
A
profile of a Revolutionary poet alias Debteraw, of a Poet/playwright
alias “Laureate” and of a student President were shown
on Debteraw.com website during the month of February, the month of
cleaning. In my previous articles, I suggested that a study would
be appropriate to compare and contrast these three personalities.
It may be a guide to a political action by revealing their works and
experiences. Two of them are deceased and the third has disappeared
into thin air! I am more interested in the one who was made to disappear.
The dead will be in the hand of the Almighty. While we will write
about them, Allah will speak for them. We need to speak for those
who were made to disappear and imprisoned. Read
More.....
Diaspora
urged not to collide with the TPLF but we call all our compatriots
& friends not to go to Ethiopia for the new year
The
following news
item from Walta Information Center (owned by the TPLF)
indicates the wild hopes and dreams of the Meles regime. A big campaign
has been launched to trap the Diaspora Ethiopians into the Weyane
Millenium celebration. Debteraw calls on all Ethiopians to desist
from attending the anti people Weyane's bash and to frustrate its
attempt to fleece the Diaspora Ethiopians to strengthen its repressive
capacities. DO NOT GO TO ETHIOPIA FOR
THE NEW YEAR!
Former
assistant prosecutor general, Alemayehu Zemedkun, on Finote Democracy
Radio
Listen to the following Amharic poem performed on Finote Democracy
Radio
How
easy it is to put hatred on a map
Robert Fisk
Our guilt in this sectarian game is obvious. We want to divide our
potential enemies.
Why are we trying to divide up the peoples of the Middle East? Why
are we trying to chop them up, make them different, remind them -
constantly, insidiously, viciously, cruelly - of their divisions,
of their suspicions, of their capacity for mutual hatred? Is this
just our casual racism? Or is there something darker in our Western
souls? Take the maps. Am I the only one sickened by our journalistic
propensity to publish sectarian maps of the Middle East? You know
what I mean. We are now all familiar with the colour-coded map of
Iraq. Shias at the bottom (of course), Sunnis in their middle "triangle"
- actually, it's more like an octagon (even a pentagon) - and the
Kurds in the north. Read
More.....
The
bankruptcy of doctors and professors (By way of a response to Drs
Getachew, Gelawdios and Tecola)
Zewdu Hailu
Ato Berihun Asfaw, a genuine nationalist, has written an apt condemnation/article
(a must read) on Professor Getachew Haile whose questionable
endorsement of the AFD and negative interference in the affairs of
the Ethiopian Church has alienated him from many Ethiopians. Read
More.....
Back
on the Downing Street
Wondimu Mekonnen
Drenched
in the rain, Ethiopians in London stood in the shivering cold for
4 hours alerting the international community residing in Metropolitan
London and the government of Tony Blair that as long as justice did
not prevail in Ethiopia they will not be keeping quiet but again and
again coming back to the Downing Street. Read
More.....
Hunt
for kidnap victims continues
BBC
The Ethiopian and UK governments are continuing their search for five
British people kidnapped four days ago. Eritrea has denied claims
its forces snatched them in Ethiopia and marched them to a military
camp in Eritrea. Read
More.....
Ethiopians
attracted Huge Rally in San Francisco. Release all political prisoners
in Ethiopia!!!
On
Friday March 2, 2007, concerned Ethiopian residing in the greater
San Francisco Bay Area staged a peaceful and color demonstration in
front of the U.S. Federal office Building and Court House in the Heart
of San Francisco where the local office of the Speaker of the House
of USA, Honorable Nancy Pelosi is located. The demonstrators who traveled
more than 2 hours, as far as from Merced, Stockton, Mountain Home,
San Jose, El Soberate, Oakland, and San Francisco carrying the tri-color
Ethiopian flag shouted: Release All Political Prisoners in Ethiopia,
Meles is a murderer, U.S. stop supporting tyranny... Read
More.....
Ethiopians
in Switzerland staged a vigil in front of UNCHR
Ethiopians
in Switzerland have staged a vigil in front of the Office of United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva on Friday,
March 02, 2007. The vent was organised by the Ethiopian Association
in Switzerland (EAS).
The representatives of the Ethiopians were welcomed by the officers
of UNCHR. At the meeting held with the officers, the representatives
briefed the officers about the current political crisis and the ordeal
of political prisoners in particular and of the Ethiopian people in
general. A letter exposing the crimes perpetrated by the regime in
power and asking for the unconditional release of all political prisoners
in Ethiopia was also handed to the officers. The officers reaffirmed
that their office will follow the situation closely.
The
launching of the 1st congress of IEWO will be celebrated at the Unification
Church, 16th and Columbia on the 3rd of March, 2007 at 1pm.
For
more detailed information .....
Tourists
'go missing' in Ethiopia
BBC
A group of 15 foreign tourists has gone missing in north-east Ethiopia,
sources in the country say. They include 10 French nationals. Unconfirmed
reports suggest a number of Britons are among the missing. They were
travelling to the remote Afar desert region, about 800km (500 miles)
from the capital, Addis Ababa. Read
More.....
Vigil
in Oslo, Norway - Part of the Worldwide Vigil
Press ReleaseThe
TPLF/EPRDF Kangaroo court said that it would announce the verdict
passed by it on political prisoners including the whole CUDP leadership
accused of genocide, on the 19th of February. In contravention of
both Ethiopian and International law it omitted to do so, and now
states that it will announce its verdict on the 5th of March, thus
keeping the prisoners in suspense even longer – which is in
itself recognized as a form of torture. As a reaction to this heinous
and shameful act, Ethiopians in the Diaspora all over the world have
held a candle light vigil to draw the world’s attention to the
plight of the prisoners and to the illegality and brutality of the
behavior of the TPLF/EPRDF government. Ethiopians in Oslo have joined
their brothers and sisters in other parts of the world in holding
vigil from 16:00 to 18:30 this evening, the 1st of March, 2007. Read
More.....
Abune
Mekarios explanied how the atheist gang of TPLF/EPRDF forced the legal
Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and other core leadership
of the Holy Synod out of the country (Finote
Democracy: Voice of Ethiopian Unity Radio)
Texas is ready to celebrate the commemoration
of the 111th victory of Adwa and the first anniversary of the late
poet Laureate Tsegaye Gebramedhin on Sunday, March 4, 2007.
Read
More.....
Tourists
abducted in Ethiopia
News24
Addis
Ababa (01 March 2007)- Ten French tourists have been kidnapped in
northern Ethiopia by unknown
people,
said a businessman who works in the region on Thursday.
Read More.....
Appeal
from Concerned Ethiopians on behalf of the people of Ethiopia: To
all Mass Media of the World
Re:
Prisoners of Conscience in Ethiopia
Because
the Mass Media of the world forgot Ethiopia, Ethiopian leaders have
forgotten justice, democracy and good governance. Today Ethiopia besides
its poor economy created by poor governance that made it hell for
the people to live in through famine and destitute it has gone a long
way to become a safe heaven for dictatorship to prevail. One such
a dictator in Ethiopia today is the infamous Meles Zenawi, a ruthless
dictator that rules Ethiopia with iron feast. In the past 15 years
of his rule Zenawi has killed thousands of Ethiopians of all walk
of life. Read
More.....
Police
arrested Ethiopian protesters at UNHCR's office main gate in Khartoum
By Associate Reporter of Debteraw, Sudan
The Sudanese police arrested Ethiopians On Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 evening
around 10:30 PM with the knowledge of UNHCR and COR officials. The
Ethiopians were forced onto military vehicles. According to reports
police used tear gas to break the resistance. Read
More
Watch
the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) synod in exile ordaining
new bishops
March 01 - 04, 2007: Let us stand united to demand the release of
all political prisoners in Ethiopia and to condemn the sham Woyanne
false trial adjourned for 5th of March 2007 - click for detailed infromation:
NY//
Los Angeles // London
// San
Francisco // Kolen
// Geneva
(24:04:49mins
on Deutsche Welle)
Remembrance
Note from Debteraw: As
Professor Negussay Ayele puts it, in a telling poetic self-portrait
poet Laureate had this to say about his persona:
Having dawnless dreams
Treating unhealable wounds
Nursing stunted plants
Straightening other folks’ lives
Never have I lived for myself. Click
to his Home Page & read more tributes.....
A
new book by Hama Tuma
DEMOCRATIC CANNIBALISM: AFRICAN
ABSURDITIES III
Continuing the satirical tradition of his acclaimed AFRICAN
ABSURDITIES, Hama Tuma has come again with politically
incorrect articles on all and sundry in this new book. DEMOCRATIC
CANNIBALISM holds many satirical articles, a special
section named ETHIOPIANESE and also a third part presenting the
author’s view on the roles and travails of African writers.
Click here to read more and order your
copy….. |
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, part III
Wolde
Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl
Debu, we know you are out there - somewhere, everywhere - in the boundless
eternity of cyberspace. The invasion of Debteraw’s privacy and
the shattered anonymity - all there for us not to complain but at
least decipher Debteraw’s history, vision and organizational
skills. This week as I clicked on Debteraw’s. Com, three pictures,
one on the left, one in the middle and the other on the right hand
side mesmerized my eyesight all in flash backs in memory. In the Haile
Sellasie University all three pictures merged together in my memories.
The good and the bad mixed up. Is it a coincidence or by design that
I came to view these pictures? That of a Revolutionary, of an Artist
and of a student President, posted side by side. It is appropriate
to tell their stories in relations to Ethiopia and its citizens. It
may be a guide to political action in revealing their works and experiences.
An independent body should make athorough study of these three personalities.
Read
More.....
TPLF/EPRDF
urged to assist Eritrean opposition to replace Afewerki
Sudan Tribune
Feb
24, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — A member of the Eritrean opposition
alliance which held a meeting in Addis Ababa last week, was openly
calling for Ethiopia’s intervention to help oust President Isayas
Afewerki from power. Rezene Habte, who formerly fought against the
Ethiopian government forces as an Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF)
fighter, told The Ethiopian Reporter that the opposition forces must
be assisted to topple the government led by President Isayas which
he labelled, "a government made up of bandits." Read
More.....
The
Meles adminstration plans Information offensive against Amnesty International
Seminawork
Police
sources said that the prisoners were warned against talking about
their torture when journalists visited them. Yesterday, five prisoners
were taken back to Maekelawi and videotaped by Police. Among them
was Zenebe Tadesse. His name was mentioned on AI's list. The prisoners
were instructed to deny the torture stories on the video. Two of them
refused and claimed that they had been severely beaten and tortured
for alleged crimes they never committed. Sources confirmed that the
video tape was intended to be broadcast on the state TV. Read
More.....
US
accused of using Ethiopia to launch air strikes on Somalia
Xan Rice, East Africa correspondent, The Guardian
The
US military secretly used landing strips in eastern Ethiopia to launch
air strikes on suspected Islamists in Somalia last month, it was reported
yesterday. Quoting anonymous army officials, the New York Times also
claimed that the US diverted spy satellites to provide intelligence
to Ethiopian troops as they swept across the country to drive the
Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) out of the capital, Mogadishu.
Read
More.....
Fighting
erupts in Somali capital
Al Jazerra
At
least three people have died as Somali government troops and their
Ethiopian allies exchanged fire with unidentified fighters on Friday
in the capital Mogadishu. Residences close to an Ethiopian and government
base in the former defence ministry in southern Mogadishu were struck
by stray bullets and shells. Read
More.....
Coalition
for H.R. 5680 releases abbreviated letter to President George Bush
WORLDWIDE 100,000 LETTERS-IN-TEN-DAYS CAMPAIGN TO STOP HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS IN ETHIOPIA
AND PASS H.R. 5680
================
The Coalition has prepared the following shortened two-page version
of Prof. Al’s letter for all supporters of freedom, democracy
and human rights in Ethiopia. All who wish to write President Bush
a letter may use this letter in its present form, or by modifying
it to express their personal views.. Click
here to read the letter.....
Ethiopian
Millennium to be Celebrated by Ethiopians in Los Angeles
Ethiopian Millennium Coordinating Committee
of Los Angeles
Ethiopians all over the world will celebrate our own millennium in
September 2007. To date, Millennium events are planned in grand fashion
in Washington DC, London and Australia . The Ethiopian Millennium
Coordinating Committee of Los Angeles was established by interested
individuals to have a millennium celebration for all Ethiopians and
friends of Ethiopia in the West Coast.
Read More.....
Oppressors
never think of reconciliation or dialogue unless they feel threaten
(Critique to the present situation)
By Geatchew Reda (22 Feb 2007)
There was no time in the past fifteen years of misery and abuse that
passed by without a call for dialogue or reconciliation by many political
groups including foreign mediators. Regardless of the positive motive,
we have witnessed such positive initiatives failed over and over for
the lack of positive reception by the government of TPLF. The government
of TPLF has claimed them to be unnecessary, insignificant/waste of
time. Although the initiatives are positive, one has to ask why the
government of Meles refused to be heedful of them.Read
More.....
Dr
Mekonnen Bishaw: the Grand Scholar & Human Rights Activist passed
away(Ethiopian
Review, Feb
21, 2007)
From Great Women’s!
By Wendesha Tesfaye (London, 21 Feb
2007)
Great
women are not considered so because of personal achievement but for
the effect their efforts have hand on the lives of countless others.
From daring feats of bravery to the understand ways of compassionate
heart, great women possess a common strength of character through
their passion and persistence, they have advanced womanhood and the
world. Read
More.....
Ato
Anteneh Hailu Shawel's Interview on Andenet
LeDemocracy Radio (19 Feb 2007)
www.kinijit.org
Internal
splits inside Isayas’ partners worsened
Indian Ocean Newsletter, N° 1208, 17/02/2007
The
attempts by the Eritrean authorities to manipulate certain Ethiopian
opposition groups to their advantage have only worsened internal splits
inside these groups. In spite of the victorious military communiqués
issued by Asmara, the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF,
Ethiopian armed opposition), whose members undergo training in Eritrea,
is not always in a position to carry out military operations in Ethiopia
that can make a serious dent in the Ethiopian armed forces. ...The
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), another Ethiopian opposition movement
supported by Eritrea, is also subject to internal divergence.
Read More.....
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, part II
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl
On
January 9, 2007, the above topic was posted on
Debteraw.com.
Comments and inquiries were forwarded to the writer of the topic as
well as to the Editor of Debteraw's Website. Some of the salient points
were as follows: -
1. Please write more on Tsegeye's
2. Why is Dbeteraw is in prison while other's are in political power?
3. You are confusing us but still thank you
4. Who would replace Debteraw?
5. Did you say you talked to Debteraw this X-mass?
If
you check with the
previous talk with Debteraw, the connection was disrupted
when the interviewer asked Debteraw about the solving Ethiopia's political
dilemma. Debteraw responded as "ÅÅGMELAGO" (¯ÓSLÔ).
But then, our communication was disrupted. It was something like climbing
a mountain. Until I get the full sense of it, I feel obligated to
answer what the readers of Debteraw Website have asked me. Here lies
my answer to your questions and curiosities. Read
More.....
Worldwide
100,000 letters in ten days to stop human rights violation in Ethiopia
and pass H.R. 5680
Prof.
Alemayehu G. Mariam today called Ethiopian Americans and other Ethiopians
throughout the world to begin a campaign to deliver 100,000 letters
in the next 10 days to the White House and express appreciation to
President Bush for his promise: Read
More.....
Letter
to President George Bush
Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam
Dear
Mr. President:
In your second inaugural speech on January 20, 2005, you made a magnificent
promise to all people in the world who endure under despotism and
dictatorship, “All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can
know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse
your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with
you.” We Ethiopian Americans commend you for your steadfast
commitment to the cause of liberty throughout the world.
Read
More.....
Just
for a laugh: Chasers War on Everything - Americans
;)
UEDF
Statement (Amharic PDF)
International
Ethiopian Women’s Organization (IEWO): March 8 Celebration –
“From Tayitu of Adwa to the Present Ethiopia.”
In
celebration of March 8, IEWO cordially invites the Ethiopian Community
in and around Washington D.C. area to a public meeting on Saturday,
March 3, 2007. IEWO will also hold its first congress on Sunday, March
4, 2007.
Listen to its leadership’s public
discussion in Assimba Paltalk Room (3hrs)
Public discussion of Ato Mersha Yosef of the EPRP leadership in the
Ethiopians Struggle for Democracy and Unity Paltalk Room on Friday,
16 February 2007:
Part 1 - Part 8
UEDF leadership give their affirmative response to the recent call
of unity conference of the civic group
Assimba PalTalk Room
UEDF
leadership Ato Fasika Belete (UEDF Chairman), Lt. Ayal-Sew Dessye
(UEDF Vice Chairman) and Ato Dereje Kebede (UEDF General Secretary)
discussed the current political situation of the country and were
asked the progress of their call for united national conference. They
also gave their affirmative response to the recent call of unity conference
of the civic group headed by Dr. Taye W/Semayat and Ato Kifle Mulat.
On both days, Saturday and Sunday, all guests reassured the audience,
at the Assimba PalTalk Room, that Ethiopian unity is not negotiable!
Listen to the audio clips of the Sunday's discussion: Part
I (2:35 hrs) //
Part
II (3:00 hrs).....
Dr
Taye W/Semayat & Ato Kifle Mulat call to convene a unity conference
Assimba
PalTalk Room
Dr. Taye W/Semayat of Ethiopian Teachers Association
and Ato Kifle Mulat of Ethiopian Free press were at Assimba PalTalk
room on Saturday January 20, 2007 to address Ethiopians from around
the world regarding their recent call on all opposition groups, civic
organizations, religious leaders, know citizens and elders to convene
a unity conference to galvanize the Diaspora to stand up against tyranny.
Listen to the audio clips of the discussion: Part
I (1:45 hrs) //
Part
II (2:14)
'At
least 19 people die in tribal clashes in Ethiopia'
The Hindu
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Feb 14. (AP): At least 19 people were killed
and 11 others injured in Ethiopia when two rival tribes clashed over
grazing land, the police said on Tuesday. The violence took place
over the weekend in Moyale town, 700 kilometers (435 miles) south
of the capital, Addis Ababa. Read
More.....
Abune Elias & Abune Gorgorios
speak out about the forceful
removal of His Holiness
Abune Merkorios and the imposition of Aba Gebremedhin (aka Aba Dabilos
or Tagay Paulos) by EPRDF/Woyane cadres
Abay Tsehai and the likes. Listen to their full interview with
Addis
Dimts Radio…..
International
Ethiopian Women’s Organisation Radio Interview with Miss Lulit
Mesfin & Miss Hmrawit Tesfaye (Feb 11, 2007)
Three
journalists abandon TPLF's mouthpiece
Young journalists have been flocking out of Reporter, TPLF's prominent
mouthpiece. The
latest group of reporters and editors who have left the declining
media owned by former TPLF fighters, Amare Aregawi, include journalist
Berhane Alemu. Berhane worked at Reporter for more than ten years,
ascending to senior editorial position. Two senior reporters, Tsion
Girma and Firew Abebe also left the organization last week.
Read
More.....
Grand public demonistration
in Greater Toronto on Tuesday, 13 Feb 2007, from 12.30 -
1.30Pm @ 360 University Ave, in front
of USA Consulate. Read
More.....
Call for Just, Fair Campaign to highlight the desperate plight of
refused asylum seekers
Refugee Council, UK
(Note
from the Editor: This call is forwarded by the Ethiopian Community
in Britain (ECB) for the attention of those who want to be part of
the campaign. If you are one of them, please call ECB on 020 7794
4265 for more information)
Last
November we launched the Just, Fair Campaign to highlight the desperate
plight of refused asylum seekers who are being made destitute as a
deliberate tool of government policy. Our question is: what’s
so wrong with treating people right? Read
More.....
One
Commission, two reports
By
Shewayilma Kidane
Riot
police and security forces shot at least more than 200 people, including
several women and children, in the capital Addis Ababa and other parts
of the country during June, October and November 2005, demonstrations
over disputed elections. The PM Meles has blamed the opposition for
inciting the violence and defended the actions of the security forces
as necessary to preserve the peace. Until the May election, PM Meles
was one of among some heads of state once heralded as the next generation
of great leaders on the continent. The May election has showed to
the world that the Ethiopian government is not ready to play by the
rule of the game and bullets not ballots determined who rules the
country. Read
More.....
Shabia's
dream: seeing weak and divided Ethiopia
Abebe Kassahun
Shabia
is our historical enemy who has been digging every hole and climbing
every mountain to create weak and divided Ethiopia. This anti-Ethiopia
group has been contributing the destruction of Ethiopia by direct
involvement and attacking Ethiopians and Ethiopian interest as well
as training and organizing anti-Ethiopians groups. As the Nazi Germans
blamed Jews for every calamity German had, in order to mobilize the
German society against innocent and hardworking Jews community; shabia
used the same method and blamed Amhara for every calamity Ethiopia
and Eritrea have. This barbaric and ruthless organization portrayed
the innocent Amharas as evil and crooked and able to inject its venoms
to the innocent Eritreans and also the tigrians and some Oromo elites.
Read
More.....
Release
political prisoners! The 2nd London protest in February 2007
Debteraw Associate Reporter
Ethiopians
in the UK has held a candle vigil, for the 2nd time in this month,
in front of PM Tony Blaire Office today the 9th of February 2007 from
4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The protesters denounced the EPRDF government
and appealed to PM Tony Blaire to help root out the tyrant regime
of Melese Zenawi and support the release of CUD leaders unconditionally.
Among
the slogans were: Release all CUD members and supporters in Ethiopia!
Release our leaders! No development without public enegement! There
is no parliamentary democracy in Ethiopia! Release all political prisoners
in Ethiopia! Finally, the protest organisers have urged all to join
the protest which will be held in front of the Ethiopian Embassy next
week on the 16th of February 2007 from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
Listen to the latest news on Ethiopia (Finote
Democracy: Voice of Ethiopian Unity)
Listen
to the audio report on VOA
ETS
with Ato Noah Samara, Founder and CEO of World Space Corporation
Meles
Zenawi on Hibret Radio (Satirical audio clip)
Ethiopians,
friends of Ethiopia and all others standing for democracy and justice
are here by urged to participate in a grand rally organized to protest
against any verdict and call for the immediate release of the elected
leaders of the CUDP, leaders of the civic societies, journalists and
all other prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia. Date & time: Thursday,
February 15, 2007; the rally begins at 13:00 or 1:00 p.m. local time
in the after noon. Place: gathering point in front of the Norwegian
parliament (Stortinget); later on, the rally will proceed to the office
of the Norwegian Prime Minister. Organised by the Kinijit Support
and Development Organization in Norway (KSDON) and the Support group
of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) in Norway.
US
to have Africa military command: If the Chinese giving aid to Africa
is colonisation then what is Africa Command?
Al Jazeera
Salim
Lone an international affairs analyst and a former UN spokesman, lamented
the planned US military intervention. "Finally an engagement
has been made with Africa but a military one," he said. Referring
to the growing Chinese presence in the continetn, Lone said: "If
the Chinese giving aid [to Africa] is 'colonisation' then what is
Africa Command?" Read
More.....
US
Creates Military Command for Africa
huliq.com
Whelan
says while other U.S. regional commands focus on using diplomacy and
combat power to address problems, Africa Command will have larger
diplomatic and aid components and will focus on helping local governments
prevent problems ranging from terrorism to AIDS. Read
More.....
EOTC
Holy Synod in Exile ordained 9 bishops and the illegally Woyane's
appointed Aba Paulos denounced the action
More
recently, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOTC) Holy Synod in Exile,
which has refused to surrender the Church to the Woyanne regime, has
ordained 9 bishops and the illegally appointed Patriarch in Addis
Ababa, Aba Paulos (aka Aba Diabilos or Tagay Paulos) denounced the
action.
Listen to audio report on the Amharic Service
of Deutsche Welle Radio …..
Aba
Paulos: The Rejected Patriarch
By our staff reporter
15
January 2006 (London) - The congregation of the Debre Tsion Kidist
Mariam Church in London, UK has passed unanimous resolution today
not to recognize Aba Paulos as the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church.
We
are also receiving reports from various sources that members of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church throughout the U.S., Canada, and other parts
of the world are going to issue similar statements and are going to
call for the dethroning of Abune Paulos on the grounds that he is
openly taking side with the ruling party rather than pursuing a more
politically neutral role and he is accused of tarnishing the image
of the church. It is a very well known fact that his appointment was
rejected as unlawful and ethnically motivated. Read
More.....
The
Criminalization of US Foreign Policy: From the Truman Doctrine to
the Neo-Conservatives
By Michel Chossudovsky, Centre for Research
on Globalization
The
World is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history.
The US has embarked on a military adventure, "a long war",
which threatens the future of humanity. At no point since the first
atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, has humanity
been closer to the unthinkable, a nuclear holocaust which could potentially
spread, in terms of radioactive fallout, over a large part of the
Middle East.
Read More......
Appeal
to the Media and Policymakers to Break the Silence.....
By Obang O. Metho
Release
political prisoners: London protest - 05 February 2007
Debteraw Associate reporter
Ethiopians
in the UK held a protest vigil in front of the Ethiopian Embassy today
5th of February 2007 from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The protesters denounce
the tyrant regime of Melese Zenawi for imprisoning political prisoners
and demanded the release of all unconditionally.
Among
the slogans were: STEALING VOTES IS UNPARDONABLE! RELEASE ALL POLITICAL
PRISONERS UNCONDITIONALLY! RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW! MILLENIUM
PRESENT? RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
Finally,
the protest organiser, Commander Assefa Seifu has closed the programme
by thanking the participants and requesting all to intensify the struggle
until all political prisoners set free.
Yemen
Grants Political Asylum To Top Somali Muslim Leader
Garowe Online
Yemen
has granted political asylum to head of Somalia's Union of Islamic
Courts, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who is expected to leave Kenya
for Yemen on Monday, Yemeni officials said Sunday. "The Yemeni
government has granted Sheikh Sharif refugee status and residence
permit," a senior Yemeni government official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Read
More.....
Don’t
take it on the Tigre! The State of the Issues
Afura Burtukana
Myth
aside, the fact remains there is no lust between Tigreans and Woyane.
In fact it is this very ethnic group that fought and is fighting as
hard, if not more, to make Woyane sit in a round table discussion
with the opposition. It suffice to mention that Kinijit won their
sweep vote in Addis Ababa, and little birdie told me that the ranks
and files of Woyane had lost big time in Tigray. When Shumiye
came out in the open and expressed his opposition in a fashion he
knows best, it is an act of a rational person making a rational decision
that is not influenced by the factors that ‘define’ his
identity. Read
More.....
Coordinated
and Concerted Action Bears Fruit: The Planned Worldwide Demo
in Support of the Release of All Political Prisoners
Habtamu
Abie
To
all those who have taken the initiative to
made
by your firm on behalf of your client the “Government of Ethiopia”.
In these statements you and your firm make certain factual assertions
about political conditions in Ethiopia, and inaccurately characterize
the legislative intent of H.R. 2003 (“Ethiopia Democracy and
Accountability Act of 2007”. I believe a number of statements
that you and your firm have made concerning political conditions
in Ethiopia and H.R. 2003 are grossly inaccurate; and other statements
reflect a reckless disregard for the truth. 
CCEM Press Release, August 13, 2007
Africa:
Focus on Ethiopia and Eritrea" 
Ethiopian
Socio-Cultural Rules Require Fundamental Change: A Case from my Bag
of Childhood Memories
