Horn of Africa's geopolitical shake up to start ?

By T, Blogger of De Birhan Blogspot

4-5-2011

From the news of famine and hunger, the Horn of Africa is seemingly shifting into a news of geopolitical shake up that could result in regime changes or endless political conflicts that scales up the crisis of Darfur. The 'regional stability' that has been built by four tyrannical regimes of Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia is now coming out of its closet. It is now being publicly told that Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Bashir of Sudan have behind the scenes their enmities broiling since some years now. Sudan itself is yet unstable as the issue of the oil rich region of Abeyi is yet unresolved and new conflicts are escalating in South Blue Nile State bordering Ethiopia and South Kordofan.

1. The first cause of the shake up is likely to emerge from the clashes that just flared up in Sudan’s Blue Nile State.The Blue Nile State is located in the southern eastern part of the Sudan. It borders Ethiopia to the east and southeast, Upper Nile State to the west and south, and Sinnar State in the north. Its capital is Al-Damazin with the distance of 550 Km. from Khartoum through paved road. The state covers an area of approximately 38,500 km2 and state authorities estimate its population to be around 850,000.

According to

Osman Hummaida, Executive Director of

African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), this was the record of what happened in the region :

"On the 28th and 29th of August, the Sudanese ruling National Congress Party (NCP) moved significant military forces---comprised of Popular Defense Forces (PDF), national security, and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)---with heavy military equipment into Blue Nile state. [ ...]

"On September 1st at 11:00 PM the joint forces of SAF and the PDF opened fire on a three-car SPLM convey carrying a delegation out of Al Damazein at the town’s southern checkpoint. The fire was returned and fighting moved inside the town to the areas of Al Nahda, the crops market, the industrial area and the nearby NCP military headquarters.

"Later the same night, the popular militia, brought from Khartoum by aircraft, attacked the SPLM residential area in Al Mustshareen sector and open fire on the house of Governor Malik Agar, killing members of his guards and arresting others. Witnesses say that the Sudanese government forces fired on anyone that appeared to be affiliated with the SPLM and arrested some others.

"Heavy military equipment from the North has been distributed inside the civilians sectors in the town including in Hai Alganes where witnesses say they saw five tanks and three military landcruisers with doshka guns mounted to them. Witnesses said that around 30 civilians were killed as a result of the fighting and many others were injured.

"The NCP and SPLM have suffered more than 200 fatalities and approximately 500 more were injured in the fighting. Following the initial fighting, the SPLM is in control of Albao, Kurmuk and Gisaan and the rest of the state remains under NCP control.

"The fighting has caused around 50,000 civilians---mostly women, children, and elderly men---to flee Al Damazein and Al Rusairis towns into Sennar state. The Northern military forces have closed the main road linking Blue Nile to Sennar, causing those fleeing the areas of fighting to have to take more difficult roads impacted by the rainy season.

"On 2 September, Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir declared a state of emergency in Blue Nile and suspended the application of the interim constitution there. A series of presidential orders were issued, including one removing the elected governor Malik Agar and installing a military governor to replace him. Far from protecting civilians, the state of emergency allows the Northern militias and the SAF to arrest and try anyone suspected of affiliation with the SPLM. In this context, it is possible that anyone who is not a member of NCP may be targeted for arrest and summary trial.

"On 3 September, aircraft continued to bomb SPLM areas. The main water reservoir in Al Damazein was destroyed in the bombardment, possibly in a deliberate attempt to deprive the population of this essential resource. About 75 bodies have been confirmed to be present in the Al Damazein morgue. The hospital has declared an emergency. Clashes have continued in the Hai Alzira area. The NCP has called all remaining civilians in Al Damazein and Al Rusairis to gather inside the military headquarters as a safe area.

On the other hand, the Sudanese Government accued the rebel Group led by Agar as the first attackers.According to an Al Jazeera report,

"Al-Sowarmy Khalid Saad, a Sudanese army spokesman, said SPLM forces attacked Sudan's army in and around al-Damazin, the state capital, late on Thursday.Khartoum also said it had dismissed the state governor, who is a member of the SPLM's northern branch, and the SPLM condemned the decision to fire the governor. The army responded and was now in control, he said.Malik Agar, Blue Nile's governor, told the Reuters news agency before the decision to relieve him of his post was announced, that "The Sudanese army started the attack on our positions".Similar clashes and mutual accusations about who was to blame have led to an escalation in violence in South Kordofan, another state in the north that is on the southern border. Thousands previously fled violence in another hotspot, Abyei.

Malik Agar Eyre

Malik Agar was the commander of a section of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) military forces along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border south of the Blue Nile to Geissan.

He was elected governor of Blue Nile State in the Republic of the Sudan in April 2010. In February 2011 Malik Agar also became chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (northern sector), the part of the SPLM that operates in northern Sudan. The SPLM-NS became a separate political party when Southern Sudan seceded from the Republic of Sudan in July 2011. On 2 September, Agar was deposed as governor on the orders of President Omar al-Bashir. He fled to the southern part of the state and is reportedly planning a counterattack. He has warned that the Sudan–SPLM conflict may ignite a wider Sudanese civil war, sources report.

Yasir Arman

Yasir Arman, the secretary-general of the SPLM-North is also one of the big men that are speaking for an all out support from the international community to SPLM North and the Blue Nile state. Yasir is known for his long standing support of South Sudan's independence and dissenting views from Khartoum.

Another yet unfounded cause but that not agree has to do with the growing relationships of ex-military personnel of Khartoum and SPLM North. According to sources there is a strong relationship between former close military personnel of Bashir and his opposition building up.One of them is Major General Salah Gosh.Salah Gosh served as a director-general of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) and the President's Advisor for several years until Al-Bashir sacked him in April 2011.

Although Gosh has been sacked as other generals and later arrested , the linkage and relationship they have built with the oppositions is likely to be the cause of the coup attempt by Bashir on Malik Agar.

The U.N. refugee agency says thousands of people are believed to be fleeing to Ethiopia to escape fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile state.The situation in the Blue Nile State is also considered to have the hands of South Sudan and Ethiopia, which is on the process of building a huge dam on the Blue Nile River.

2. The second source of the tension is the recent Wikileaks reports that came out public. The leaked information reveals that the Ethiopian Prime Minister,Meles Zenawi, who is the manifested friend of Sudanese President , Omar Al Bashir , did advise visiting US authorities that they topple the later's regime.

This is how the Sudan Tribune reported it in detail. September 3, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The Ethiopian Prime minister Meles Zenawi told the US administration that toppling the government led by Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir would be the ideal scenario for Washington, according to a leaked diplomatic cable.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

The January 30, 2009 note released by Wikileaks, an anti-secrecy website, detailed discussions that took place between Zenawi and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Phil Carter with the presence of the Director of Sudan Programs Group (SPG) at the US State Department Tim Shortley.

Focus of the talks was on the widely expected issuance of an arrest warrant against Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes he allegedly committed in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

The Sudanese leader was officially charged a little over a month after this meeting took place on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The more serious counts of genocide were only added a year later after appeal by the ICC prosecutors. Zenawi told the US delegation that the warrant could encourage someone in Khartoum to stage a coup but said that success of such an attempt would be nearly zero due to the close connections and mutual support for one another among senior NCP officials which would suppress any coup attempt.

“If Bashir remains in power, either because no such coup attempt is made or an attempt fails, the indictment will leave the Bashir regime a wounded animal that is more desperate than ever,” the cable quoted Zenawi as saying.The Ethiopian Premier agreed with assertions made by US acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs that Khartoum’s actions seem to undermine their own long-term interests.

However, Zenawi also argued that the ruling party in Sudan is disappointed over US refusal to normalise ties despite signing the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended more than two decades of civil war with the South.At the time, Washington promised Khartoum that it will normalise ties as a reward. However, the conflict in Darfur made the US hesitant to do so amid intense domestic pressure to take action that would reverse the growing humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s western region.

“While the [Government of Sudan] GoS thought that they had moved away from a climate of bad relations with Washington when they signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Naivasha, they perceive the United States as having shifted the goal posts on them since" Zenawi said.As a result, Zenawi asserted that the GoS believes that "the U.S. will get them one way or the other," and from that perspective, they are already in a corner. "Believing they will lose, they perceive no benefit to them of resolving the problems of South Sudan”, the Ethiopian top official said.

Zenawi said that the NCP’s strategy as a result will be to deploy delaying tactics such as postponing the January 2011 referendum, buy time on Darfur and "hope for a miracle" in 2011. South Sudan’s self determination did go ahead in January resulting in a massive vote for independence, which it achieved in January. Sudan was the first country to recognise South Sudan’s secession."To die today or die tomorrow, they will choose to employ delaying mechanisms allowing them to die tomorrow" Zenawi explained.He said that while the "Islamic agenda" may have motivated the regime ten years ago, today they are interested only in money and power.

He pressed the case that direct negotiations between Khartoum and Washington could lead to rational discussions.Zenawi then went on to wrap up his views saying that if he were the United States he would look at two options.The first one, which he clearly conveyed as the preferred choice according to the US cable, would be to "remove the Bashir regime."

Acknowledging that such an option was unlikely, Zenawi advocated for making a clear representation to the GoS that the United States is not "out to get them" and laying out clear benchmarks of actions expected of the GoS on both Darfur and South Sudan that would be necessary to "avoid continued challenges" with the US. He concluded the discussion by highlighting that "they [Khartoum] don’t trust the Obama Administration," and "they trust the Obama Administration less than the Bush Administration," and with a clear reference to US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice and former Senior NSC Director for Africa Gayle Smith. Both officials are considered hardliners in their views of Khartoum.

Relations between Sudan and Ethiopia are considered to be generally strong in recent years. Addis Ababa was one of Bashir’s first stops after the ICC arrest warrant.Ethiopia is seen as an honest broker by Sudanese parties and has hosted numerous meetings between north and south over the past two years.More recently Ethiopia agreed to deploy its troops as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission to Sudan’s disputed Abyei region.

Khartoum sent tanks and troops into oil-producing Abyei last May, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee the fighting. But both sides agreed to set up a demilitarised zone along the border after talks in Addis Ababa. Last month Zenawi attempted to mediate between the NCP and Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) in a bid to end the ongoing clashes that erupted last June in South Kordofan. However, the effort seemed to have been fruitless.

To makes matters worse, the Sudanese army on Friday clashed with the SPLM-N fighters in Blue Nile state which borders Ethiopia. It remains to be seen how the latter would react particularly given reports of exodus by civilian population from the state in the aftermath of the fighting.There are small signs however, that relations between Addis Ababa and Khartoum are not as smooth as it seems.

The government sponsored Sudanese Media Center (SMC) website has carried a report that was critical of choosing Ethiopian troops to deploy in Abyei citing national security concerns and Addis Ababa ties with Israel. Furthermore, the Paris-based Indian Ocean newsletter reported concerns by Addis Ababa over information of meetings between Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officers and members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and leaders of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP).

The report said Khartoum on the other hand is angered over Ethiopian military support to Juba which it claims is falling into the hands of SPLM-N in South Kordofan. The SPLM-N is the northern sector of South Sudan’s ruling party the SPLM. During Sudan’s second north-south civil war (1983-2005) large numbers of marginalised groups in Blue Nile and South Kordofan joined the SPLM in their conflict with Khartoum. Khartoum has said it now perceives the SPLM-N to be an illegal military force and political party, which continues to be backed by the SPLM in South Sudan. In October 2008 Sudan summoned the Ethiopian ambassador to protest against weapons that it said had arrived in South Sudan’s capital Juba on an Ethiopian military plane.

In another cable, in a 2006 meeting A/S Frazer told PM Meles that increasing U.S. engagement with the African Union would be jeopardized if the upcoming AU Summit in Khartoum elected Sudanese President Bashir the next President of the General Assembly. Meles said he did not think that Bashir had the votes to be elected, although Egypt and Libya supported his candidacy.

Where is the Horn heading to ? What are Ethiopian's opposition parties doing ?

Ethiopian Review quotes Wikileaks : Pastor Daniel confirms severe torture in Ethiopian prisons

September 4, 2011

Pastor Daniel Gebraselassie, head of Prison Fellowship Ministry in Ethiopia informs U.S. Embassy officials in Addis Ababa that the Meles dictatorship has been perpetrating severe tortures against detainees. The information comes from the recently leaked secret U.S. diplomatic cables that are now available on Wikileaks. The following is an excerpt of what Paster Daniel told U.S. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto:

Through meetings with these prisoners while detained and following their release, Pastor Dan learned that they were subjected to severe torture while in prison. (NOTE: Prisoners refuse to meet with Ambassador Kassa, saying that the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission is not independent of the GoE. END NOTE) Pastor Dan told Embassy officers that prison officials used Derg-era techniques ) e.g. hanging prisoners from the ceiling in arm shackles, beating the soles of their feet and hanging boards from their testicles ) to try to extract confessions. One of the prisoners reportedly died from injuries sustained while in prison, though prison officials maintain that he is “sick in the hospital.” Another of the former prisoners reported that when he was arrested, police dragged him out of his place of work and was pistol-whipped by plain clothes security forces on the way to the detention facility. The released detainees told Pastor Dan that others detained after them on similar suspicions are still held in Maikelawi. In follow-up meetings with prison officials, Pastor Dan was told that such reports are incorrect and that the prisoners were never tortured. However, in a meeting with the Federal Police Commissioner, he was told that some low-level interrogation officers lack the proper training and can sometimes use unsanctioned methods. Pastor Dan told the group of Embassy officers that “officials at the PM cabinet level” do not condone torture either, and that in the past seven years nearly 200 prison employees had been fired for improper behavior.

Read the full text here.

CPJ concerned over treatment of detained Ethiopian journalists

New York, September 1, 2011—The Committee to Protect Journalists holds Ethiopia responsible for the well-being of two journalists detained without charge or legal access since June under the country’s far-reaching anti-terrorism law. Police arrested Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the weekly Awramba Times, and Reeyot Alemu, columnist for the weekly Feteh, on June 19 and 21, respectively, on vague accusations of terrorism. The journalists have been held for more than 65 days with no official charges placed against them and no access to legal counsel, local journalists told CPJ.

In a court hearing last month, Taye said state officials repeatedly tortured him while he was being interrogated in Maekelawi Prison in the capital, Addis Ababa, local journalists said. Ethiopia’s constitution dictates that a suspect cannot be compelled to make a confession and that any evidence obtained under coercion is admissible. Taye is due back in court on September 13.

Alemu’s overall health rapidly deteriorated during her detention at Maekelawi Prison, according to local journalists who visited her in prison. Her relatives were allowed to visit her and brought her medicine for chronic gastritis, which improved her condition somewhat. She is expected back in court on September 14, local journalists told CPJ.

“We are very disturbed by Woubshet Taye’s allegations of torture and call on authorities to immediately investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime,” said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “Authorities must also provide adequate medical treatment for Reeyot Alemu.”

Ethiopia’s July 2009 anti-terrorism law criminalizes any reporting considered supportive to groups that the government has labeled “terrorists.” In June, the government formally classified five groups as terrorist entities, including the banned political party Ginbot 7.

Muzikaaaaa! Muzikaaaaa! Muzikaaaa!!

By T , Blogger of this Blog

1-9-2011

Cherry used to say Muzikaaaa Muzikaaaa while Asres was hiding inside her, lol

I would be going to a residential training over the weekend to the farthermost part of the city I am leaving in. It is a Leadership Training and has some fun too-- we are told to come up with some things that are unique to us culturally such as talents.

Therefore, I would like to leave my esteemed readers with this music choice by Teshome Asseged , Ethiopia's Stevie Wonder .

Love is a life stimulant, when you love someone and your heart bleeds alone - it turns out obnoxious.

I won't be blogging until Monday, unless I am alerted of a breaking News.

Enjoy.

Ethiopia and the BBC: The politics of development assistance

Posted on Thursday, September 1st, 2011 at 3:31 am

By Peter Gill

In the course of 17 minutes, Newsnight managed to review six years’ worth of all that had gone wrong in Ethiopia, from post-election violence in 2005, to the intensified anti-insurgency operations in Somali Region after 2007, to more recent opposition complaints that their supporters were being deprived of international development assistance. To emphasise the British aid connection, the film concluded: ‘The purpose of development aid is to help Ethiopia on to its feet, to establish democracy, justice and the rule of law. The evidence we’ve gathered suggests it is failing.’

The BBC commissioned its Ethiopia film from the recently established Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London whose website now carries no fewer than 13 stories on the trouble with Ethiopia under the generic tagline ‘Ethiopia Aid Exposed.’ Headlines include ‘Revealed: Aid to Ethiopia increases despite serious human rights abuses,’ ‘Aid as Weapon of political oppression in the Southern Regions’ and ‘Analysis: European taxpayers fund abuses in Ethiopia.’ Under the same tagline, there is also ‘Get the Data: UK Aid to Ethiopia.’

The timing of the programme could hardly have been worse for the hungry and the very poor in Ethiopia. The country is directly affected by the current East African food emergency and additionally burdened by many thousands of refugees fleeing Somalia in search of food across the border. The broadcast came as official and private appeals for international help are faltering, and just 24 hours after the United Nations declared an extension of formal famine conditions to cover five regions of southern Somalia. It is now Africa’s worst humanitarian crisis in 20 years.

Because the BBC crew travelled to Ethiopia as tourists, not journalists, they did not interview any Ethiopian officials. Nor did they approach any foreign aid officials in the country, so the field was left to opposition politicians and a foreign critic. Nor was any minister from either the Department for International Development or the Foreign Office able to give up an evening to explain why Britain gave aid to Ethiopia in the first place. It is now the largest single recipient of UK bilateral assistance, a commitment that will rise from £290 million this year to £390 million by 2015.

So it was Mr Abdirashid Dulane, the deputy Ethiopian Ambassador in London, who faced a seven-minute inquisition from Kirsty Wark on torture, rape and human rights abuse. He had received a written account of the programme’s allegations, but was denied the chance to view the film before it was aired. He managed in passing to make the point that the Newsnight film lacked ‘even-handedness,’ and the embassy followed up the next day with a statement complaining that the report’s timing was ‘guaranteed to inflict maximum damage on those who are suffering from the worst drought in sixty years in our region.’

The programme-makers insist they were not canvassing the suspension of emergency or development aid to Ethiopia, although that was certainly the message received by many respondents to the programme. Overseas Ethiopian critics of the government were cock-a-hoop with the story, and one early British comment on the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s website recommended that ‘the UK government stop any financial help to this country until they can be assured that any monies given are used in a non-political way and are for the benefit of the people who are in greatest need.’ An Addis Ababa reporter for the online news service Ezega.com urged her own government to investigate the allegations, yet concluded that the BBC report ‘might cost millions who are starved the food aid they expect from the international community.’

As for the aid-givers, the critical issue here is their handling of allegations over the past two years that development assistance is being used as a political tool by Ethiopia’s ruling party to favour government supporters and, through withholding it, punish their opponents. The complaints were first made by opposition figures in Ethiopia, but gained traction with the publication of ‘Development without Freedom: How aid underwrites repression in Ethiopia,’ a thorough piece of work researched in 2009 by Human Rights Watch and published in October 2010

With the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in the lead, the aid-givers’ Development Assistance Group in Addis Ababa pre-empted the Human Rights Watch report by commissioning one of their own. ‘Aid Management and Utilisation in Ethiopia’ was published in July 2010 as ‘a study in response to allegations of distortion in donor-supported development programmes.’ It has since been used by the Ethiopian government and the donors to assert that no credible evidence has been found to substantiate the allegations. DFID repeated the same line last week. It is at best disingenuous. The report was in its own estimation ‘an exploratory and desk-based study’ – in other words, its compilers did not leave the office – and it emphasised repeatedly that it was ‘not an investigation’ and ‘does not seek to prove or disprove allegations of distortion.’

Worse, the report said donors were drawing up plans for a second phase of the study that ‘could include detailed fieldwork.’ More than a year has passed, and there appears to have been no such fieldwork, only more attention to the paperwork. The aid-givers do not even seem to have acted on the invitation of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in his exchanges with Human Rights Watch. ‘If we get credible reports, we will investigate,’ he said, ‘not to please anyone, but to ensure the credibility of our party.’ The DFID record here is hardly an inspiring example of that new regime of transparency and rigorous results-based monitoring promised by Andrew Mitchell, the new Secretary of State.

Part of the reason for DFID’s tangled response to the aid allegations lies in its own heavy investment in the ‘governance’ agenda. What was once a straightforward departmental commitment to ‘eliminating world poverty’ has since become, in the swiftly changing fashions of the aid world, a determination to promote democracy, justice and the rule of law. Thus Newsnight was able to overlook Ethiopia’s significant achievements in bearing down on poverty and extending health and education services to conclude that our aid effort was failing.

Where should outsiders draw the line on which poor countries to help, and when to stop? Is the rich world interested in helping Africa’s poor or in promoting government systems which resemble its own? Three days after the Newsnight report on BBC Television, BBC Radio posed the same question this way: ‘How badly does a country have to behave to forfeit support from the British taxpayer?’ A powerful edition of File on Four investigated allegations that Rwanda and Zimbabwe had sent spies to Britain to stifle opposition abroad, sometimes even to kill, and had used our asylum system to infiltrate refugee communities.

The evidence presented was strong, but File on Four was careful not to answer its own question. It got a senior Labour politician to do it for them instead. Kim Howells was a Foreign Office minister and chaired the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee. He was certain these countries should be threatened with having their aid cut off. He accepted there would be a human price to be paid: ‘It may be that the poor people who receive the aid are going to grow poorer and their children are going to suffer and so on, but I don’t think we can go on like this.’

At a time of intensifying controversy over the UK aid budget – increasing while almost everything else is cut – it is a provocative notion that Britain should use aid to reward and punish foreign governments for their record on ‘governance’ rather than for helping the poor out of poverty. It comes close to the bad old ways with aid during the Cold War in Africa. What would the British taxpayer have to say to that, if he or she was ever asked?

Peter Gill is a journalist specialising in developing world affairs, and first travelled to Ethiopia in the 1960s. He has made films in and reported from Gaza, Lebanon, Afghanistan, South Africa, Uganda, and Sudan, as well as Ethiopia. He has led BBC World Service Trust campaigns on leprosy and HIV/AIDS in India. He is the author of Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid. This post first appeared on the Royal Africa Society blog, and is reposted with permission.

Ethiopia Expels Amnesty International Delegaton from Country; Arrests Opposition Leaders After Meeting with Amnesty

31-8-2011

Organization Fears for Safety of Others Who Met with Delegation

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, strimel@aiusa.org


(New York) -- The Ethiopian government has expelled an Amnesty International delegation from the country and arrested two long-standing opposition leaders who met earlier with the delegation, the organization said today.

Bekele Gerba, deputy Chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and Olbana Lelisa of the Oromo People's Congress party (OPC) were both arrested on Saturday, Amnesty International said.
Gerba, an English teacher at Addis Ababa University, was arrested on allegations of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a charge the government often uses to silence members of the Oromo political opposition. It has not been made public what Lelisa, the other leader, is accused of, but it is anticipated that the charges will be the same.

"We are extremely concerned that the arrests of the two men occurred within days of talking with our delegates. Although the Ethiopian government has denied it, we are worried that their arrests are not a coincidence, but because they spoke to Amnesty International," said Michelle Kagari, deputy program director for Africa.

On the same day that the two men were arrested, the Amnesty International delegation was called to a government meeting, where they were ordered to leave the country. The Amnesty International delegates were under constant surveillance during the 12 days they spent in the country before being expelled. "We are now extremely concerned for the safety of everyone our delegates met with while they were in the country," said Kagari.
Amnesty International delegates had met with Lelisa the day before his arrest, to exchange information. They also met with Gerba, four days before his arrest. Amnesty International delegates were photographed by secret service agents leaving his office after the meeting.

In that meeting Gerba had explained to Amnesty International the irony of Oromo politicians being accused of belonging to the OLF. 'The OLF don't like us,' he said. 'They say we are legitimizing the rule of the EPRDF [the ruling party], they say we are their puppets and our struggle does not bear any fruit.'

Both men were long-standing opposition politicians, who had campaigned openly in the 2010 national elections. "The arrests are indicative of the constant harassment of opposition politicians, and severe stifling of freedom of expression in the country", said Kagari.

The two men are now being held in the federal police investigation center, "Maikelawi," from where Amnesty International has received countless reports of the use of torture. Detainees at Maikelawi are, as a general rule, denied access to lawyers or family members, for periods of up to one or two months.

Drought not the real cause of East Africa famine

By Thomas Keneally, Special to CNN

August 29, 2011 -- Updated 1100 GMT (1900 HKT)

Author Thomas Keneally won the Booker Prize in 1982 for Schindler's Ark, later made into the film Schindler's List. His latest book Three Famines examines three historical famines and their causes.

(CNN) -- Imagine if long-term drought were to strike a part of the rural United States, Wyoming say, or Montana.There would be bank foreclosures as the price of cattle would fall because there was too many of them on the market, families would tragically lose their farms, and grocery lists would be trimmed. But would people starve, actually waste away until their bodies began to devour themselves? In Southern Somalia, Djibouti, parts of Ethiopia and in refugee camps in Kenya at the moment, up to 12 million people, basically half a Canada, are facing death. In Somalia, the people already in crisis number about four million. Mothers, for example, are again making the Sophie's choice of how to share the small resources of remaining food amongst their children. And the tired old terms to explain it all are again repeated. The cause, we are told, is drought. The "caused by drought" formula is not only lazy journalism. We've heard that song sung so often in the past that it may now make us immune to the famine's claim on us. Certainly, drought is a trigger of famine. And global warming might be extending the length of droughts. But Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist famously said that no substantial famine has ever occurred in a liberal democracy. I believe Sen is right.Famines occur in places where people are tyrannized over either by governments or, in the case of Southern Somalia, by private armies and militias. They occur in places where even in the lead-up years to famine, farmers are not always able to plant crops with security, without the likelihood that they might be confiscated, or that the village granary will be burned by armies, private and government.Famines, above all, occur in places where people get by on a few food items. Though in the cities, including Mogadishu, Somalia, people might eat canned food and a range of other food, for farmers in East Africa, the normal foods are lentils and the bread made out of dhurra, millet or a grain named teff.

If the grain crop is destroyed by drought or locusts or undue human intervention, there goes the chief nourishment.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta visits refugee camp

The coastal fishermen of Somalia are themselves reduced in what they can eat because the price of grain is escalating out of their reach. The semi-nomadic people who own cattle have a diet of milk and meat. The livestock die for lack of pasture, are stolen or have to be sold or eaten, and there goes life.

In liberal democracies, as much under pressure as they might be at the moment, if one food source is removed from us, we have the ability to turn to another. Not so for the 12 million the U.N. has declared in immediate peril of starving.So the question arises: Why are people on Earth now, in the 21st century, still surviving on one staple -- just as the Irish did with the potato in the 1840s? Governments maintain unjust systems of land tenure, that is one reason. Governments put money into arms instead of into infrastructure -- into roads, for example, by which aid can easily transported, or into storage facilities. One is entitled to ask why, after all the development and emergency aid spent on Ethiopia, there is a food crisis there every time there is a drought? Is this a failure of rain or a failure of government? We see the above-mentioned "undue human intervention" in East African people's welfare in the fact that in the case of Southern Somalia, the Obama administration has had to give aid agencies a guarantee of freedom from prosecution even if some of the aid has to be given, virtually as a protection bribe, to the fundamentalist military group called Al Shabaab. Al Shabaab has preyed on the Southern Somalis year after year. Charities must pledge their best efforts to prevent Al Shabaab from hoarding food and charging tax on it.

These realities of famine are as much, if not more, the cause of famine than natural disaster. In some cases it is misgovernment, and in the case of Somalia it is warlord-ism. The question arises, should this reality stop us from coming to the aid of our fellow world citizens in East Africa? In my opinion it makes it more urgent. As the old aid song from the 1980s goes, "We are the world." In the meantime we'll only learn to understand and address this deadly phenomenon if we stop citing "caused by drought" every time something like this calamity comes to our notice.

EEPCo follows the footsteps of EthioTelecom

By Ankob Zuta, Blogger of De Birhan Blogspot

29-8-2011

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) is on the verge of laying off thousands of workers. Following its months long evaluation process,EEPCo is about to dismiss thousands of workers who have scored below the evaluation points .

"We have been asked to give our photographs to the Corporation. I think they are going to use it on the letters that they are going to give us when we are made redundant." Our source stated.The Source also explained that the redundancy was based on a political evaluation that was made on the political inclination of each worker.

De Birhan Blogspot reported the following news regarding the Corporation on Mar 27, 2011.

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) staffers are currently under a continuous meeting with Debretsion G/Michael,the Board Chairman of EEPCo and Miheret Debebe, the CEO. EEPCo is set to finalise the ‘reorganisation’ of the Corporation in this budget year.The Corporation’s 25 years master plan under discussion.

The new Board Chairmanship appointment of Debretsion G/Michael was with the aim of applying an EthioTelecom type of ‘reorganization’ in EEPCo.

EEPCo employs over 9,000 permanent and more than 3,000 contractual workers.Half of these staffers will be laid off.

In a similar way to EthioTelecom, Bill collection of EEPCo will be passed on to Ethiopian Postal Service.

There will be a 10 % salary increment to EEPCo staffs as of July 2011 and their two months’ salary will be paid to them as bonus. This is deemed to be an appeasement and preparation strategy for the major lay off.

All Garage and mechanical works of EEPCo will be transferred to Metals and Engineering Corporation of Ethiopia, an offshoot of Ethiopian Defense Ministry and cluster of engineering firms, putting the future and employability of EEPCo’s staffs from garage and mechanical branches in the redundant circle.

Badiaa Bouhrizi, Tunisia's revolutionary singer

By Ankob Zuta, Blogger of De Birhan Blogspot

27-8-2011

Badiaa Bouhrizi is an underground, popular , young Tunisian revolutionary singer. “Live free because you are born free, slavery is only in the mind.” is her motto.

She has been gathering popularity since her days in exile in the times of Ben Ali and is now one of the most aspiring young voices of revolution and freedom in Tunisia, the region and Africa. Many Ethiopian young singers both in the Diaspora and at home should learn from her. They should know that real music is one that is free, eternal and with an ideal. A non commercial singer, with a cause in life is the one we Ethiopians or a sane mind loves to hear or buy. You have , just for a second, come to terms with your mind and sing music that strikes the chord . Sing about freedom, equality, justice, human rights and democracy. Then we will listen to you. My Ethiopian singers for whom are you leaving this topics for? We Ethiopians want a liberated art.

The following is Bouhrizi's interview with Al Jazeera. She tells about herself, music and freedom.

Bouhrizi did an interview with the Daily News Egypt last week.A friend in Addis promised to translate this piece and put it up in an Amharic Newspaper in there.Hope it might ignite some of our 'artists'. The excerpts follow,

By Maha ElNabawi/ Special to Daily News Egypt August 21, 2011, 3:43 pm

Subtle seeds of change have started to blossom through the liberation of artistic expression, since former Tunisian president Zine Al-Abdine Bin Ali’s ousting in January. Cue Badiaa Bouhrizi — the underground Tunisian singer/songwriter whose Ethno-musical positions reflect passionate socio-political convictions and the dilemma of personal freedom. Bouhrizi, who performed this past Thursday in El Genaina Theater as part of Al Mawred Al Thaqafy’s annual Hayy festival, sat down with Daily News Egypt to discuss her music, politics, and the absolute importance of the free spirit. “I believe every free spirit is a revolutionary at heart and I want to express this feeling through my music and keep my spirit alive,” said Bouhrizi. “You see, the free spirit refuses oppression — only fear can kill the spirit. “To have a free spirit, one must go beyond fear. No one person can take away your eternal freedom; they can only convince you to take your own.” There is a passionate conviction that fuels Bouhrizi’s message. Her younger brother Khaled, also a musician, was imprisoned three years ago under alleged drug charges. Khaled had been gaining increased scrutiny from Ministry of Interior for his politically charged rap lyrics that directly addressed the corruption of Bin Ali’s regime, leading him to seven-year in detainment. “Prior to the revolution, musicians couldn’t really mock the system publically. But rappers like my brother always pushed the limit. In general, rap tends to translate the truths of reality. My brother made me understand the importance of being true in my music. “I feel my role as an artist is to address the things that people are too fearful to say, expressing our solidarity. While my music seeks to find the beauty in everything, I’ve learned that too much beauty kills beauty. You have to address the realness in the world.” Bouhrizi’s lyrics, however, are not always politically oriented. Many of her songs are centered on love and epic tales of human sentiment. “Singing about love is not cheap when it comes from the heart; nothing is cheap when it is rooted in truth.” Bouhrizi’s motivational messages permeated through the audience during her performance in Azhar Park’s Geneina Theater last Thursday. With a shortage of seating, the arena was overflowing with audience members who had no problem sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the stage, only an arm’s length away from the radiant Bouhrizi. Armed with a Spanish acoustic guitar and a dynamic vocal prowess, Bouhrizi and talented German percussionist, David Kuckhermann, placed the audience in a trance with soulful sonnets sung in Fusha (classical or literary Arabic). Influenced by jazz, rock, reggae and traditional Malouf (classical Tunisian music) Bouhrizi’s current solo project, “Nessatou,” aims to portray the essence of the North African spirit. Bouhrizi’s commitment to the free spirit allows her to instill loaded content into her music, keeping her from directly addressing politics on a constant basis. In the song dedicated to her brother, “Manifesto,” she sings: “I long for the dawn breeze that wakes up the fields/That talks of the truth, and trusts in the unknown.” Despite her petite frame, an overwhelming intrinsic spirituality pours out of her, heard in her lyrics and felt through her folk oral traditions and powerful vocal range. Her songs channel the spirits of old female desert dwellers and Africa, juxtaposed with Kuckhermann’s range of oriental and occidental percussions creating a soulful, rich dialogue separate from her lyrics. Using unique instruments such as the hang, a Swiss made steel drum in the shape of a flying saucer that creates its sound through vibrations, Kuckhermann thrilled the audience with a riveting solo performance towards the end. “David is brilliant on percussions,” Bouhrizi said, “He has this spiritual dimension and a theatrical sense when he plays. I really love it.” If music is the language of the soul, then Bouhrizi is certainly a worthy messenger. Whether she is seeking inspiration from singers like Om Kalthoum and Fairouz, or reciting performance poetry by Fawda Touqan, Bouhrizi is rapidly catching the attention of Tunisians and Arabs alike. Local percussionist and audience member, Mohamed Riyad, said, “I have never in my life heard anything like that, between her powerful voice and his [Kuckhermann] style of playing; it was an incredible performance. And she was always smiling. ” For the attendants, the concert was a reminder of just how much music plays a role in communicating the human spirit, a vision, a movement. It seems that increasingly more musicians in the Arab World are concocting projects that harness their political and creative sensibilities — and their international profiles — to both raise awareness and improve upon basic human rights. A lesson can be learned from Bouhrizi and her free spirit. Art, in its various forms can be an alternative means of socio-political activism to affect change and pave the future. “We’re in the era of words. Words instead of weapons,” she said. You can listen to Badiaa Bouhrizi’s music at http://www.myspace.com/neyssatoumusic

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

By John Keats

Thou still unravished bride of quietness,
Thou foster child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loath?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared,
Pipe to the spirit dities of no tone.
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal---yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss
Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unweari-ed,
Forever piping songs forever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,
Forever panting, and forever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity. Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"---that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

1820

Libyan Embassy in Addis Abeba changes flag

By Ankob Zuta, Blogger of De Birhan Blogspot

22 August 2011

The Embassy of Libya in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia has removed its National green flag and hoisted the flag of the opposition National Transitional Council today (22-8-2011), sources in Addis Abeba informed this Blogger.
The Emabssy officals, amabsaodors and diplomats also confirmed that they recognise the National Transitional Council as Libya’s Official Administartion.

Large scale public demonstration in Addis Abeba

By Ankob Zuta, Blogger of De Birhan Blogspot

21-8-2011

Two little known parties : All Ethiopian Democratic Party (AEDP) and Ethiopian Unity Democratic Organisation (EUDO) have finalised their preparation to call for a large scale peaceful demonstration in Addis Abeba in September 2011.

According to our sources within the parties, the public demonstration will be held in the largest square in Ethiopia, Meskel(Cross) Square. Although the specific date has not yet been disclosed , the demonstration will be held after the Ethiopian year (September 11, 2011).

This period was selected convenient, as most religious denominations finish fasting and students and civil servants will start class and work respectively, the sources detailed.

"The peaceful public demonstration would surely be held next month. Our prior plan was to hold it this month, however, reaching these potential participants was impossible due to the above reasons, so we opted to postpone it." said the source.

In Ethiopia public demonstrations have been banned or were systematically denied by the City Government that enjoy the ''rights'' of denying or allowing demonstrations. Since the 2005 election, there was no public demonstration called by opposition parties, most were refused by the Government. According to these two parties, the Government's Constitution doesn't require that demonstrators have to receive a permission from it rather it seeks them to 'inform' it that they will be demonstrating.

"And that is what we will be doing, we will just let them know that we will demonstrate. We don't ask them for permission as their own law doesn't say so. And we are sure that we will make it." the source added.

The main points that the parties will be demonstrating are : lack of justice, high cost of living ,heavy taxation, the implementation of the anti-terrorism and Press Law that is "used to stifle dissent", the sale of Ethiopia's fertile land via land grab,expelling of employees in the name of structural restructuring, lack of education quality are some of them.

Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Ethiopia or Medrek Party, a consortium of four parties and two dignitaries, refused the call of the two parties to join them in the demonstration fearing infiltration by the Regime.

Sugar Mommies and the Search for Young Men in Ethiopia

By Seble Teweldebirhan (http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Page=heads&NewsID=3017)

Addis Ababa, August 18, 2011 (Ezega.com) - After reading about “Sugar Daddies Phenomena in Ethiopia” By Ezega.com Reporter Meron Teklebirhan, I encountered the incident I am about to write in this article. Sugar Daddies are always famous among young women, but, it seems, the concept of Sugar Mommies is also gaining considerable popularity among today’s young men. I learned this occurrence in a gym I visit here and then. The gym mostly is full of young men and older women who seem to be struggling with weight and age at the same time. I have never considered this as something to be concerned about since young men are the ones usually who love to exercise in our culture and older women in most cases are recommended by a doctor or a friend to lose weight for several health and beauty related reasons.

Last week, in the gym I got into talking with one of the trainers. We were discussing about Meron’s article on sugar daddies. The trainer told me that the article impressed him since the issue needs a serious attention from the public in order to protect our young women from destruction at a very early age.

Then one thing led to another and our discussion became about rich and successful women who usually visit the gym. It was at this point that he told me, although the issue might not be as much as sugar daddies, there is also concern about sugar mommies that he witnessed around him. According to him, educated and rich women usually come to the gym not only to exercise but also to pick up younger men. This actually surprised me because I thought our culture is too tight for women to do something like this, especially in public.

However, he explained. “Some of them are educated and they spent most of their youth in schools. Some got married sugar daddies and the husbands got old while these women are still young. So, they will look to other places to fulfill their needs. There are also women who married rich men they do not really like. Therefore, they start looking for some young good-looking men just for the sex. They have the money for that," he said.

Then I asked him if he could introduce me to someone who dates a sugar mommy. He called one of the people who was exercising in the gym and explained the issue to him. The person agreed to talk to me as long as I do not mention his name in my articles. I agreed. He told me to call him Teddy for this purpose.

He is a 25-year young man. Tall and athletic, he is probably the most attractive man in that gym. He told me that he is currently studying to become an accountant. His sugar mommy claims to be 45, but he thinks she is a lot older than that. “I first met her in a wedding. I have never thought things will turn out like this. She was very nice to me and she offered me a job. I was happy because I was unemployed at the time. After I worked for her for a while, she said it is better if I go to college so that she would give me a better job. We didn't have any sexual relationship at this time. I joined collage and it was after that I understood she was looking more than just a friend. I did not hesitate to fulfill her needs since I owe her a lot. She wants me to be the best I can and I really admire her for that. She even forced me to join this gym and to work out. She tells me to take my education seriously, she takes care of me and what more do I want,” he smiled.

I asked him if she is married. “She was,” he said. ”She got divorced about two years ago. Her husband is old and I do not think she likes him at all. They have three children, but fortunately they all live abroad.” I also asked him if the age difference bothers him at all. “At first it did bother me a lot. I thought I was the only one who dates a woman older than his own mom. However, especially after I joined this gym, I learned there are many who do the same. I met many people who are my age and have sugar mommies. Now I am used to it and it does not bother me much. Only some times, when we go in public and people stare that I feel uncomfortable,” he said.

I also asked if he has plans for the future with her. “I am not going to marry her if that is what you are asking,” he smiled. “Nevertheless, I do not really worry much about the future. Right now I am focused on my school and my workouts,”

Teddy was kind enough to introduce me to another man who also has a sugar mommy. He also instructed me not to use his real name and told me to use Abush as his name. Abush is a 28-year man who likes to call himself a musician. He plays drum and he says he has a plan to go a long way and be successful as a drummer. His sugar mommy is in her late 50s and he is certain she is not lying about her age. “I met her about a year a go in this very gym. She used to ask me to show her this and that and we started talking, and we became friends.”

Abush thinks dating Sugar’s is different for men than women. “For women it’s more tricky and complicated. Usually women who date sugar daddies are teenagers who are not in a position to make wise decisions or to be careful in many aspects. Sugar daddies take this advantage and ruin the lives of many young women. In our cases, we are mostly old enough to make wise decisions and to understand the consequence of our actions.”

The thing with Abush is so complicated that he claims he has a girl friend that he loves very much. “I have been together with my girl friend for the last three years. She is the one I want to marry and spend the rest of my life with.” I asked him if she knew that he has a sugar mommy. “No, she does not know. I do not want her to know. I feel like I am doing this for both of us. I am saving money now so that we will have a better life in the future,” he said.

I asked Abush how often he met people like him who dates older rich women. “It’s common these days,” he said. “I have friends who do the same thing I do. Gym is a nice place to meet these women and so many young men are coming knowing this opportunity. There is even a competition to get the richest women in the house,” he laughed.

I wondered if Sugar Mommies hang out around schools like the daddies do. However, Teddy told me that it is highly unlikely. “I don’t think any adult woman wants to have a sexual relationship with a teenager. Older women wouldn’t do that,” he said. Abush and the trainer agreed with him. However, my curiosity forced me to talk to my cousin, who is a freshman at Addis Ababa University. “I hear this happens,” he said. “I’ve never experienced it first hand but there are students who I hear date older rich women.”

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Seble Teweldebirhan is Addis Ababa based Reporter for Ezega.com. She can be reached by sending email through this form.