March 8, International Women's Day celebrated in Norway by EPRP members and Supporters
STOP COVERTING UP THE CRIMES
OF THE MELES ZENAWI CABAL
Bob Geldof is furious at the BBC story about NGO funds buying rebels' arms, but the politics of delivering aid are always complex
There are some things that are just too sensitive and difficult to inquire about, and the idea that considerable sums that ordinary people around the world – but especially here in the UK – raised to aid and help their starving fellow humans in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s is one of them.
by TOKICHAW
I also say better late than never. Time everyone knew that the Tigrai Front led by Meles Zenawi and others stole money (some 100 million US$) given to the famine victims of Tigrai in 1984-5 and used this to buy weapons while thousands starved to death. The BBC has made it news (March 3) and gotten confirmation from a former leader of the Front who has thus taken some 25 years to admit the truth of the matter.
An Observer investigation reveals how rich countries faced by a global food shortage now farm an area double the size of the UK to guarantee supplies for their citizens.
We turned off the main road to Awassa, talked our way past security guards and drove a mile across empty land before we found what will soon be Ethiopia's largest greenhouse. Nestling below an escarpment of the Rift Valley, the development is far from finished, but the plastic and steel structure already stretches over 20 hectares – the size of 20 football pitches.
Human Rights Watch
Both Sides Should Back Investigation to Strengthen Election Credibility
March 5, 2010
(New York) - The Ethiopian government should urgently initiate an independent investigation into the murder of an opposition candidate for parliament and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
Images of the famine in Ethiopia moved millions of people around the world to reach in to their pockets and donate to international aid efforts. But as Martin Plaut has been discovering, there is a disturbing allegation few would choose to confront.
It was the early 1980s. The famine, which would soon devastate much of northern Ethiopia, was already evident.
Millions of dollars in Western aid for victims of the Ethiopian famine of 1984-85 was siphoned off by rebels to buy weapons, a BBC investigation finds.
Former rebel leaders told the BBC that they posed as merchants in meetings with charity workers to get aid money.
They used the cash to fund attempts to overthrow the government of the time.
One rebel leader estimated $95m (£63m) - from Western governments and charities including Band Aid - was channelled into the rebel fight.
March 8/ 2010
Every New Year has brought more disaster to the people of Ethiopia and it is none other than women who have been forced to bear the brunt of the dictatorship. 2010 has not brought any improvement in the sad plight of Ethiopian women whose rights continue to be trampled upon by a chauvinist regime that pays lip service to rights and equality while pursuing an all round repressive politics.
MARCH 2/2010
The Meles Zenawi regime has jailed close to 200 people in Negele Borena region since November 2009 and has now charged 153 on the basis of the so called anti terror law, a repressive legislation giving the authorities carte blanche to charge and imprison any one.
By Luelseged Degu
March 5, 2010
Introduction
By all counts, the issue of land grabbing or as the EPRDF government would call it “the Ethiopian Green Revolution” has become paramount to our future existence as a nation.
By Mary Ann Jolley for Foreign Correspondent
Updated Tue Mar 2, 2010 12:42pm AEDT
A powerful international adoption overseer is refusing to release the results of its inquiry into the disturbing activities of American adoption agencies operating in Ethiopia.
The inquiry was launched after ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent exposed deep and dangerous flaws in the system.
Abdullah A. Ado – Email: abdullahadoa@gmail.com
There are few highlanders versus lowlanders stories which, when put in contrast, highlight why we our political reform reality check.In terms of instinctive feel for public opinion on Eritrean peoples’ contemporary status, majority are disappointed by what the see and hear.
A feminist movement has accused the Israeli government of adopting a racist policy towards the country's Ethiopian Jews.
Samir Amin
2010-02-18, Issue 470
Dambisa Moyo was no doubt an excellent student. Unfortunately, she is a product of the conventional economics curriculum, which is great if one is to embark on a career at the World Bank, or Goldman Sachs. She attempts a radical critique of ‘aid’ but sadly she is not up to the task, her noble intentions notwithstanding.
Thousands of people are expected to come to Seattle on Saturday for the funeral service of Archbishop Abune Zena Markos, one of the top leaders of the worldwide Ethiopian Orthodox Church in exile. Archbishop Markos died Saturday at age 72.
Fedadu Bekele
They should be aware of the fact that very much of these theories are partly rationalizations of the dominant interests in the advanced and rapidly progressing industrial countries….it
February 18, 2010 - By Tesfay Atsbeha and Kahsay Berhe
The TPLF started the armed struggle on 18 February 1975. We would like to remember the tens of thousands of Ethiopians of all groups who lost their lives on this occasion.
by Joan Baxter
Over the years many Big Ideas have been imposed on Africa from outside. The latest is that the region should sell or lease millions of hectares of land to foreign investors, who will bring resources and up-to-date technology. None of the blueprints has worked, and African farmers have become increasingly impoverished. It is time for Africans to turn to their own histories, knowledge and resources.
February 17/2010
The call for the boycott of the May 2010 already rigged election is getting wide spread approval from the people at large and an incensed regie is stepping up its repression to break this movement.
CBS News Investigates Serious Questions about the Legitimacy of Some Ethopian Adoption
(CBS)
Videotapes showing poor orphans from third world countries melt the hearts of prospective parents every day in this country.
Three children, sisters from Ethiopia are shown in a video - ages, you are told, 7, 4 and 6. Their mother is dead, their father dying of AIDS. A life of prostitution is all but assured - if not adopted - saved - by a loving American family.
Abdullah A. Ado – Email: abdullahadoa@gmail.com
Pushing the Panic Button over UNSC-Sanctions:
As I write, aware of the impending demise of Afewarki and his military Junta’s dictatorship, PFDJ-henchmen including Ali Abdu, Minister of Information, Yemane Gebreab, Head of the Political Affairs (PFDJ), and Teame “Mekele” a member of PFDJ are said to be in Frankfurt, Germany at the Innside Premium Hotel Niederrand.
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
The Obama administration is seeking billions in budget increases to target terror threats from abroad, especially Pakistan and Yemen, with boosts for surveillance and attack drones, special operations forces and a new military cyber command............The Pentagon also spent $10 million over the past year to help Ethiopia build counterterrorism platoons. ......
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia’s state-run power utility, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corp., has ordered factories in the country to halve energy consumption following the collapse of a tunnel that halted production at the country’s largest power plant, Capital reported.
Hama Tuma
From the son of Zenawi to Zuma, the follies of Africa are indeed the presidents and prime ministers, the power mongers and corrupt officials staining the face of our beloved continent. Some are funny, most are not but they all add up to spell folly and destruction for Africa, It is evident I prefer Juma to Meles Zenawi, the goat faced tyrant who runs an ethnic discriminatory politics making some 80 million Ethiopians suffer.
By Obo Arada Shawl February 13, 2010
Background Information
In the 1970s, the educated class of M’huran and Tsinhate M’huran collided head on ideological as well as on the political agendas for Ethiopia. But for the average man or woman, there was no difference between these two concepts – ideology & politics.
From Yelfiwos Wondaya
The document was carefully outlined, arranged and put together by the regime. And the participants signed the document to behave, act, and comply with the rules and regulations of TPLF/EPRDF. Regrettably, though it is an unfortunate episode that caused public outrage allover, and brought shame on the signatories themselves and members and supporters associated with them.
By Zeleke007
I have heard many times from others regarding the above topic. There seem to be lack of consensus on opinions.
February 13/2010
TORTURE SHAMES AMERICA ITSELF PROTESTING THE INJUSTICE AGAINST BINYAM MOHAMED
Ethiopian born British citizen, Binyam Mohamed, was arrested by Americans in Pakistan and then taken to Morocco, one of the countries where the CIA runs secret prisons. The British MI5 was fully aware of this fact.
"REGISTER AND VOTE FOR US OR ELSE"
REGIME INTENSIFIES HARASSMENT OF PEOPLE
February 10/2010
OPEN LETTER TO PREISDENT JACOB ZUMA PROTECT ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES IN SOUTH AFRICA
On February 7, shops owned by Ethiopians and other foreign nationals were looted and the refugees attacked in a service delivery protest that, as happened in July 2009, turned violent and xenophobic.
FEBRUARY 11/2010
NORWAY--STOP MISTREATING ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES
SOCEPP has learnt that a number of Ethiopian asylum seekers are undergoing mistreatment and undue incarceration in isolated camps.
By Luelseged Degu -February 2010
Communism might have yield to being past history but its cruel effect is still haunting humanity in several countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America which are still digging to lift themselves up from the mud.
Alex Birhanu - alexbirhanu@yahoo.com
Introduction:
Elias Kifle of Ethiopian review, the well known Issayas Afewerki boot-licker in Diaspora, is an impostor amidst the well known Ethiopian community in Washington DC. Usually, he pretends as a stout Ethiopian but in vain.
Abdullah A. Ado – Email: abdullahadoa@gmail.com
Background:
On December 23, 2009, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed arms embargo on tyrant Afewarki and his military junta for illegally supplying arms to Al-Shabab group, who are battling the internationally recognized transitional government of Somalia.
Hama TumaSome of my Anglo -Saxon friends have for long suspected that the distance between an African and Satan, if any at all, is not that long at all. To begin with, it is common knowledge that Satan is black as are Africans.
FEBRUARY 3/2010
SOCEPP has learnt of the alarming development that quite a few countries have denied Ethiopian refugees asylum rights on grounds that are actually flimsy and without factual basis.
February 3/2010
OPEN LETTER TO US AMBASSADOR DONALD BOOTH
Mr. Ambassador,
SOCEPP was pleased to hear your declaration, at the Senate Hearing to approve your nomination as US ambassador to Ethiopia, tha you would exert pressure on the Meles Zenawi regime to respect the human rights of the Ethiopian people.
Abdullah A. Ado – abdullahadoa@gmail.com
Background:
For those of us who originate from rural Eritrea (pastoralist and peasant communities alike) it is utterly disappointing to observe negative or indifference reactions exhibited by Eritrean Tigrinya highlanders who fail to understand our devastating plights within rural Eritrea.
Abdullah A. Ado – Email: abdullahadoa@gmail.com
Introduction:
To begin with let me ‘get to the nitty-gritty’ and thank EMDG and EPDP Board members and those individuals who genuinely requested me to make correction on a name I mentioned in my earlier article by goofing-up EMDG for EPDP.
January 22/2010
SUDAN ACTING AGAINST ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES AGAIN!
Sudan is once again implementing measures that are negativel affecting the status of Ethiopian refuges and may end up by facilitating their deportation.
Zekarias Ezra January 22, 2010
Land is finite. There is so much of it and that is it. So, food-importing countries with scarce arable land but lots of cash, mainly in Asia and the Middle East, are increasingly looking overseas to secure food supplies after the prices of staple foods rocketed last year.
Of the 90 people aboard the flight, more than half - 51 people - were Lebanese nationals. The airline also said that 23 passengers were Ethiopian. Two British nationals were also listed as passengers, and the remaining six passengers were Turkish, French, Russian, Canadian, Syrian and Iraqi nationals, the airline said. The eight crew members were Ethiopian
Ethiopia is on a deteriorating human rights trajectory as parliamentary elections approach in 2010. These will be the first national elections since 2005, when post-election protests resulted in the deaths of at least 200 protesters, many of them victims of excessive use of force by the police.
January 20, 2010
Further evidence has emerged that the cruel regime of Meles Zenawi is suing food aid sent to famine victims for political purposes. Previously, credible accusations had been made exposing
by Ann LoLordo
As a young girl in Ethiopia, Tsigue Pleah knew that she wanted to be a doctor, an ob/gyn who would take care of the women and mothers of her country and safely deliver their sons and
Ruchi Soya takes farm land on lease in Ethiopia
Our Bureau
Mumbai, Jan. 15
Ruchi Soya Industries, one of the leading edible oil processors, on Friday announced a major farm land acquisition in Ethiopia for soybean cultivation.
The company said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ethiopian Government for cultivation of soyabean and setting up a processing unit on 61775 acres in Ganmbella and Benishangul Gumaz States on a lease basis for 25 years.
By Obo Arada Shawl
January 13, 2010
TPLF’s chaotic style versus EPRP’s party substance
On the eve of the departure of the Monarch, Emperor Haile Selasie, everybody and everyone was excited for a big change of leadership including the King of Kings, himself.
January 13, 2010
Tesfaye Negussie is an American journalist whose parents emigrated from Ethiopia. Last month, Tesfaye traveled to Ethiopia to visit family and friends.
Below he shares a story about his experiences with restrictions on press freedoms that excuse those in power and propel social injustices.
“Remember, this is still Africa,” warned a friend.
Thursday, 07 January 2010 21:28
Eritreans for Democratic Governance (EDG), now the Eritrean Movement for Democratic Governance (EMDG) takes this opportunity to salute the decision of the United Nations Security Council for imposing long overdue sanctions against the government of Eritrea
(The Huffington Post)
"Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive," said Sir Walter Scott, the novelist and poet. Is there "famine" in Ethiopia, or not? Are large numbers of people "starving" there, or not? Is convulsive hunger a daily reality for the majority of Ethiopians, or not?
31 12 2009 Yelfiwos Wondaya
Meles mentioned no national unity, sovereignty, or national interest, in his reply to the question of what his moral conviction is like in his political life. The question was asked by one of the journalists during his recent press conference in Addis Ababa.
(Mail & Guardian Onlin)
At noon every Sunday an old Toyota sedan donated by supporters of Ethiopia's most famous prisoner pulls up near a jail on the outskirts of the capital. A 74-year-old woman in a white shawl and her four-year-old granddaughter -- the only outsiders the prisoner is allowed to see -- step out for a 30-minute visit.
By Chris Beckett
Before Christmas, I was invited to the Refugee Workers Cultural Association in Stoke Newington, to see a documentary film about the experiences of an Ethiopian political dissident, Mr Ali Saeed.
January 3/2010
CONDEMN THE BETRAYAL OF THE MELES REGIME ON THE QUESTION OF THE NILE RIVER
The tyrannical regime of Meles Zenawi has struck a secret deal with Egypt on the question of the Nile and the said deal reportedly betrays the national interest of Ethiopia and that of the Nile Basin countries.
January 4/2010
Canadian citizen Bashir Makhtal was three years ago was arrested at a Kenyan border post, shackled and forced onto a night flight to Ethiopia, along with dozens of other foreign nationals. Once in Addis Ababa, he was placed in solitary confinement in a military prison
Abdullah A. Ado – abdullahadoa@gmail.com
Introduction:
Since 1993, there have appeared various analyses, by Eritrean and non-Eritrean writers alike, of the causes and effects of Issayas Afewarki and his regime’s crisis; and the likely impact it will have on the overwhelming majority of the population within Eritrea proper in the near future.
January 1/2010
EPRP DENOUNCES THE JAMMING OF FINOTE RADIO BY THE MEELS REGIME
The repressive regime of Meles Zenawi has continued to jam the Finote Democracy radio broadcast to Ethiopia.
STATEMENT ON THE MAKALLE MEETING OF SUDANESE AND MELES REGIME OFFICIALS MELES REGIME OFFICIALS (EPRP)
Sunday 27 December 2009 01:30.
By Tesfa Alem Tekle
December 26, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia’s biggest opposition coalition, Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD-MEDREK), who accused government of obstructing foreign aid on Saturday said that its members are being arrested for speaking-out on the alleged aid abuse.
Last month, the opposition group accused Prime minister Meles Zenawi-led government of politicizing foreign-funded humanitarian assistance, using it as a weapon to retain power in next year’s election.
By Harakale Mohamed Hanfere - Email: harmohanfere@gmail.com
On Wednesday, December 23, 2009, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) slapped an arms embargo on Issayas Afewarki’s regime and imposed targeted sanctions for allegedly aiding Somali rebels and threatening neighbouring Djibouti.
By Obo Arada Shawl December 23, 2009
The spirit of Wallelign
The process of Debteraw
The writings of Hama Tuma
have triggered respectively, to the downfall of the Monarchy, the military Dictatorship and to Ethnic Tyranny
Introduction
The politics of Eathiopia tend to pull in different directions. It is definitely three-dimensional class, the class of EPRDF led by TPLF, the class of EPLF led by EPDJ and all others with or without EPRP.
December 25/2009
December 1993: Abera Yemane Ab was arrested at Bole Airport Addis Abeba when he arrived with a peace and reconciliation conference leading a group of members of the CODEF opposition organization.
December 23/2009
Judge Birtukan Midiksa, one of the top leaders of the opposition CDU and later on the chairperson of the UDJ organization, was illegally rearrested on December 2008 and is being kept in Kaliti prison up to now under inhumane conditions. She had been jailed in 2005 for two years.
December 22/2009
The court controlled by the ruling EPRDF sentenced five people to death and 33 others to life imprisonment in what is considered a trumped up charge of coup d' etat and assassination attempt. The accused are actual and alleged members of the Ginbot 7 opposition group led by former members of the CUD.
December 23/2009
END THE ILLEGAL DETENTION OF JUDGE BIRTUKAN MIDIKSA
Judge Birtukan Midiksa, one of the top leaders of the opposition CDU and later on the
chairperson of the UDJ organization, was illegally rearrested on December 2008 and is being
kept in Kaliti prison up to now under inhumane conditions. She had been jailed in 2005 for two
years.
An Ethiopian court has sentenced five people to death and 33 others to life in prison for planning to assassinate government officials. Prosecutors had said the convicted were part of the Ginbot 7 (15 May) group led by Berhanu Nega, a US-based dissident.
"I realise there are political problems everywhere, but in Eritrea it is unique," says Habtu Zere Maram, one of a thickening flow of Eritrean refugees who have crossed the border into Sudan.
Posted on December 21, 2009 by amnewsupdate
By Melaku Yismaw
There is nothing as damaging in political discourse and struggle as throwing in the bone of irrelevance and muddying the political discourse. Yakob Haile Mariam’s diatribe against the Left and almost all the political groups is one clear example of an irrelevance thrown unto the political podium to kick out the real issues out of sight
17 December 2009
DOCUMENT
African civil society has condemned the proposed appeal by PM of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi with French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. In proposing such an appeal, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is undermining the bold positions of our negotiators and ministers represented here, and threatening the very future of Africa.
NGOs and civil society groupings are reacting with anger and disappointment to a joint appeal by France and “Ethiopia, representing Africa” for a so-called ‘Copenhagen Accord’ to result from the current COP15 negotiations being held in the Danish capital. The French / Ethiopian proposal appeared on the French Presidency’s website today.
December 16/2009
On December 13, 2003 security agents, cadres and soldiers of the EPRDF regime went on a killing spree in Gambella town and in a violence that lasted for two days killed close to a thousand Anuaks. The massacre was ordered by none other than Meles Zenawi and two of his top officials called Abaye Tsehaye and Dr. Barnabas.
December 15/2009
SOCEPP strongly objects to the International Organization for Migration's recent repatriation of 160 Ethiopians "with dignity" from Libya back to Ethiopia. The refugees need to be resettled in third countries and not sent back to an uncertain fate under the arbitrary decision of the Meles Zenawi regime.
By Alem Mamo
There are dictators and there are purist dictators. The first group of dictators have the minimum intelligence required to notice and somehow accept when their time is up. They reluctantly give in realizing the fact that time and history are not on their sid
Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi denied allegations by opponents that his government has kept foreign food aid from people who refuse to support his ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.
ADDIS ABABA — The United States said Thursday it was concerned over the closure of a leading Ethiopian newspaper which said last week it had ceased publication following "months of government harassment".
Listen to CBC Radio One interview with Mr Ali Hussen Saeed
Human rights award for helping refugees
By: Teghan Beaudette
A former political prisoner who was locked up for seven years and sentenced to death in Somalia was recognized Wednesday by the Manitoba Human Rights Commission for his continued efforts to free political prisoners in Ethiopia and aid refugees in Canada.
"I'm privileged, I'm honoured, and I'm very happy," Ali Saeed said, after being awarded the 2009 Human Rights Commitment Award of Manitoba.
December 12/2009
Federal police and the Oromia Flying Squad have jointly attacked peaceful demonstrators in the southern town of Shakiso and killed four students who were protesting against the plunder of the country's gold by the regime and its Saudi born business partner Sheikh Mohamed Alamoudi.
| Memories of a Generation - The Story of Ali Saeed and Other Ethiopian Political Victims; an award winning documentary will be viewed in London On December 12, 2009 at 2:00 PM. More>>> |
STATEMENT ON THE OPENING OF THE UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE IN COPENHAGEN
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is being attended by world leaders and it is sad to note that once again the repressive and environmentally dangerous Meles Zenawi is present and "representing" Africa.
Tamerat Negera was the editor-in-chief of Addis Neger, a weekly newspaper in Addis Ababa that has ceased publication after intimidation and harassment by the Ethiopian government. Mr. Negera, pictured here at Addis Neger's former offices, has since fled Ethiopia. Erin Conway-Smith for The Globe and Mail
With its staff forced into exile, influential newspaper succumbs to government crackdown and prints final edition
December 8/2009
More than 17 Ethiopians who had lived in the Sudan for years have been apprehended by Egyptian police and jailed in a remote prison outside of Aswan .
Posted on December 7, 2009 by amnewsupdate
Selma Beyene, Ph.D., Beyene50@gmail.com
As the rest of the world awaits with great expectations for a successful outcome of the Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Zenawi has been honing a Machiavellian gambit to exploit his hard-earned role as a representative of Africa to advance his vicious political and economic agenda.
By Alem Mamo
There was a time in African history when visionary leaders defeated the unjust hegemony of colonialism. They envisaged a peaceful, developed, united and self-reliant continent that lives in peace with itself and others.
EPRP STATEMENT ON WORLD AIDS DAY
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