(ዘ-ሐበሻ) በስደት የሚገኘው ሕጋዊው ሲኖዶስ ጉባኤውን በኦሃዮ ከተማ ጀመረ። ትናንት በጸሎት ተከፍቶ የነበረው ይሄው ታሪካዊው የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ስብሰባ እስከፊታችን ቅዳሜ ኖቬምበር 3 ቀን 2012 ዓ.ም እንደሚቀጥል በስፍራው የሚገኙት የዘ-ሐበሻ ድረ ገጽ ምንጮች ዘገቡ።
ዛሬ ኦክቶበር 31 ቀን 2012 በስደት የሚገኙ በርከት ያሉ ጳጳሳት እንዲሁም ከወትሮ በተለየ መልኩ ብዛት ያላቸው ካህናት በተገኙበት በኦሃዮ ከተማ በተደረገው የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ዓመታዊ ጉባኤ ላይ በዋነኝነት የተነሳው አጀንዳ ከሃገር ቤቱ ሲኖዶስ ጋር ስለሚደረገው ድርድር እና ብጹዕ አቡነ መርቆርዮስ የፓትርያርክነታቸውን ስፍራ በኢትዮጵያ ስለሚረከቡበት ሁኔታና በተዛማጅ ጉዳዮች ዙሪያ ነበር።
በዚህ አጀንዳ ላይ ሲኖዶሱ ከፍተኛ የሆነ ውይይት ማድረጉን የገለጹት የዘ-ሐበሻ የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ምንጮች ከሕዳር 26 ቀን 2012 – ህዳር 30 ቀን 2012 በዳላስ ከተማ በሚደረገው የሁለቱ ሲኖዶሶች ድርድር ላይ ያለምንም ቅድመ ሁኔታ ፓትርያርክ አቡነ መርቆርዮስ ወደ ቦታቸው እንዲመለሱ፣ በሃገር ቤቱ ሲኖዶስ የቤተክርስቲያን የበላይ ጠባቂ እንዲሆኑ የተቀመጠውን ቅድመ ሁኔታ እንደማይቀበለውና ፓትርያርክ አቡነ መርቆርዮስ ከነክብራቸውና ስማቸው የፕትርክናውን ቦታ እንዲቀበሉ የሚል አቋም ይዞ ወደ ድርድር እንዲገባ ውሳኔ ተላልፏል።

ከዚህ ቀደም ከሃገር ቤቱ ሲኖዶስ ጋር ድርድር ሲደረግ የሕጋዊውን ሲኖዶስ ወክለው ለድርድር የቀረቡት፣ አቡነ ኤልያስ፣ አቡነ መልኬጼዲቅ፣ ሊቀካህናት ምሳሌና ቄስ ገዛኸኝ እንደነበሩ ያስታወሰው ምንጫችን በዛሬው ጉባኤ ላይ ሲኖዶሱን ወክለው የሚደራደሩት አባቶች ላይ ለውጥ ተደርጓል። አቡነ ኤልያስ፣ አቡነ መልኬጼዲቅና ሊቀ ካህናት ምሳሌና የለንደኑ አቡነ ጎርጎርዮስ በሕዳር ወር ላይ ለድርድር ወደ ዳላስ እንዲሄዱ ተመርጠዋል ያለው ምንጫችን ለረዥም ጊዜ በድርድሩ ውስጥ የነበሩት ቄስ ገዛኸኝ ለምን በአቡነ ጎርጎርዮስ ሊተኩ እንደቻሉ ያደረሰን መረጃ የለም።
የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ጉባኤ ነገም ቀጥሎ የሚውል ሲሆን ዘ-ሐበሻ ተጨማሪ መረጃዎችን ተከታትላ ታቀርባለች።
ብጹዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ መርቆርዮስ በተገኙበት ኦሃዮ የተጀመረው ጉባኤ የ2ኛ ቀን ውሎ ይሄን ሲመስል በአዲስ አበባ ዛሬ ጉባኤውን ያካሄደው የሃገር ቤቱ ሲኖዶስ ያስተላለፈው ውሳኔ በሁለቱ ሲኖዶስ እርቅ ዙሪያ ተስፋ የጣሉ ወገኖችን ተስፋ አስቆርጧል። ከደጀ ሰላም ድረ ገጽ ያገኘነውን መረጃ እንደሚከተለው እንደወረደ አስተናግደነዋል።
የቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱ ዋና ጸሐፊ “ሕጋዊው ቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ እያለ ራሱን የሚጠራው” የሚለው የቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱ መግለጫ ተ.ቁ (2) “እኛንም አላስደሰተንም፤ እንዲስተካከል እናደርጋለን” ሲሉ ሌላው የቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱ አባል ደግሞ እንዲህ ያለው ቃል ከጋዜጠኞች በፊት ምልአተ ጉባኤው በተናበበው የመግለጫው ክፍል ላይ እንዳልነበረ ተናግረዋል፤
“ስድስተኛውን ፓትርያርክ በመንበሩ ላይ ለማስቀመጥ እየተዘጋጀን ነው ያለነው፤ ሕጉን ካጸደቅን በኋላ ወደ ምርጫው ነው የምንገባው፤ በውጭም ያሉት ተቀብለውን፣ በውስጥም ያለነው ተቀብለናቸው ከእኛው ጋራ ምርጫውን እንዲያካሂዱ ፈቃደኞች ነን፡፡” /ብፁዕ አቡነ ሕዝቅኤል/
“ጳጳስ ንብረት የለውም – ጎመን የሚዘራበት፣ ሽንኵርት የሚተክልበት፤ ንብረቶቹ ምእመናን ናቸው፡፡” /ብፁዕ አቡነ ሕዝቅኤል በሕገ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ማሻሻያው ላይ ከጋዜጠኞች ለቀረቡላቸው ጥያቄ የመለሱት/
በአዲስ አበባ አራት አህጉረ ስብከት አደረጃጀት ሂደት ከሥራ አስኪያጅነት የሚወገዱት ንቡረእድ ኤልያስ በጸሐፊነት ከያዙት የዕርቀ ሰላሙ ልኡክ አባልነትም እንዲወጡ መደረጋቸው ተሰምቷል፡፡
የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ምልአተ ጉባኤ በ2000 ዓ.ም ያጸደቀው “የማዕርገ ክህነት አሰጣጥ፣ ሥርዐተ ምንኵስናን፣ የካህናትና መነኰሳት የማዕርግ አለባበስ ደንብ” አፈጻጸም ጥብቅ ቁጥጥር እንዲደረግበት ትእዛዝ ሰጠ፡፡ የደንቡን ሙሉ ይዘት እናቀርባለን፡፡
የምንኵስና ልብስ ለብሰው ሕዝቡን በማታለልና ሃይማኖታችንን በማስነቀፍ ላይ ከተሰማሩ ምግባረ ብልሹ የስም መነኰሳት ነን ባዮች ሕዝበ ክርስቲያኑ ራሱን ነቅቶ እንዲከላከልና መንግሥትም የሕግ ከለላ እንዲሰጥ ቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ በአጽንዖት ጠይቋል
“ሀገረ ስብከትዎን አያውቁትም” በሚል በምልአተ ጉባኤው የተወቀሱትና የምእመናን አቤቱታ የበረታባቸው ብፁዕ አቡነ ገሪማ ከድሬዳዋ ሀ/ስብከት ተነሥተው ብፁዕ አቡነ ዕንባቆም ተመድበዋል፤ ብፁዕነታቸው የምዕራብ ሐረርጌ ሀ/ስብከትን ደርበው ይመራሉ፤ ብፁዕ አቡነ ዕንባቆም የለቀቁት ደቡብ ኦሞ ሀገረ ስብከት በጋሞጎፋው ሊቀ ጳጳስ ብፁዕ አቡነ ኤልያስ ይመራል፡፡ ብፁዕ አቡነ ገሪማ የውጭ ግንኙነት መምሪያን በበላይ ሓላፊነት እንደያዙ የካራ መድኃኔዓለም እና አቡነ ገሪማ ገዳም የበላይ ጠባቂ ኾነዋል፡፡
የመንበረ ፓትርያርካችን የጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ ዝግጅትና የጋዜጣዊ ጉባኤ ሥነ ሥርዐት የቤተ ክርስቲያናችንን ከፍተኛ አመራር የሚያስከበር መኾን እንደሚገባው ተተችቷል፤
የኢትዮጵያ ቴሌቪዥንና ሬዲዮ ድርጅት የቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱን የምልአተ ጉባኤ መደበኛ ስብሰባ ዘገባ ያስተላለፈበት ሰዓትና አዘጋገብ ላይ የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ አባላት የተሰማቸውን ቅሬታ በጋዜጠኞች ፊት አሰምተዋል፡፡ ብፁዕ አቡነ ቄርሎስ ጣቢያው የምልአተ ጉባኤውን መክፈቻ “ሰው ከተኛ በኋላ ምሽት አራት ሰዓት ላይ መተላለፉ ሰዉ እንዳያየው ነው ወይ? የሰማነውስ ነገር እኛ ያልነውን ነገር በትክክል ገልጧል ወይ?” የሚል ጥያቄ አቅርበዋል፤ “የብፁዕነታቸው ቅሬታ የሁሉም አባቶች ሐሳብ ነው” ያሉት ብፁዕ አቡነ ሳሙኤል በበኩላቸው ቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱ በዘገባውና አዘጋገቡ ላይ የወሰደውን ትዝብትና የተሰማውን ቅሬታ በመደበኛ ኹኔታ ለሚመለከታቸው የጣቢያው የሥራ ሓላፊዎች እንደሚያቀርብ አስታውቀዋል፡፡ (ደጀ ሰላም፤ ጥቅምት 21/2005 ዓ.ም፤ ኦክቶ. 31/2012)፦ አርባ ያህል ብፁዓን ሊቃነ ጳጳሳት ለዐሥር ቀናት ሲመክሩበት የሰነበቱበት የጥቅምት 2005 ዓ.ም የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ምልአተ ጉባኤ ዛሬ ረፋድ ላይ ተጠናቋል፡፡ ምልአተ ጉባኤው ያዘጋጀው 17 ነጥቦችን የያዘው ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ በዐቃቤ መንበረ ፓትርያርኩ አማካይነት በቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ አባላትና ለመግለጫው በተጠሩት የአገር ውስጥና ዓለም አቀፍ ብዙኀን መገናኛ ጋዜጠኞች ፊት በንባብ ተደምጧል፡፡ ከዚህ በኋላ በተለየ ክፍል በተከናወነው ጋዜጣዊ ጉባኤ የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ጸሐፊ ብፁዕ አቡነ ሕዝቅኤል ከተወሰኑ ጋዜጠኞች ለተነሡ ጥቂት ጥያቄዎች ምላሽ ሰጥተዋል፡፡
ጥያቄዎቹ ከመግለጫው አጻጻፍ ጀምሮ በዕርቀ ሰላሙ ሂደት እና በብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ መርቆሬዎስ ዕጣ ፈንታ፤ የፓትርያርክ ምርጫ ሕጉን ሕገ ፓትርያርክን ፓትርያርኩ ሳይኖር ስለምን ለማሻሻል እንደተፈለገ፤ የጳጳሳት ድርብ ዜግነት፣ ንብረት ማፍራትና ውርስ ጉዳይ በሚሻሻለው ሕገ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ስለሚታይበት ኹኔታ፤ የአዲስ አበባ ሀገረ ስብከት ለአራት አህጉረ ስብከት እንዲከፈል ስለተወሰነበት ወቅትና ኹኔታ የተመለከቱት ነጥቦች ይገኙባቸዋል፡፡
ብፁዕነታቸው ለጋዜጣዊ ጉባኤ ካላቸው አዲስነት ጋራ የአነጋገራቸው ለዛና ቀጥተኝነትም የጋዜጠኞችን ቀልብ የሳበ ሲሆን ምላሾቹ ግን ጥቂት የማይባሉትን መኮርኮሩ፣ በአንዳንዶቹም ዘንድ ስጋት መፍጠሩ አልቀረም፡፡ “ችግር በገጠመ ጊዜ አገርን ለቀቅ አድርጎ ጎረቤት አገር መኖር ይቻላል፤ አገርን ከለቀቁ በኋላ ሲኖዶስ በሚል ማቋቋም፣ ሲኖዶስ የሚለውን ቃል መጠቀም አግባብ አልነበረም፤ ሲኖዶስ አንድ ነው፤ አይከፈልም፤ መንበሩ ያለው እዚህ ነው አይሰደድም፤ እዚያ ያለው ጥገኛ ነው” ያሉት ብፁዕ አቡነ ሕዝቅኤል÷ ዕርቀ ሰላሙን በተመለከተ “ስንጻጻፍ፣ ሰውም ሲላክ ቆይቷል፤ እግዚአብሔር ባለው ጊዜ ይፈጸማል” ብለዋል፡፡
የዕርቁ ሂደት ከፓትርያርክ ምርጫው ጋራ ስላለው ግንኙነትም “ኻያ ዓመት ሙሉ አምስተኛ ፓትርያርክ እያልን ቆይተን ወደ አራተኛ አንመለስም፤ ስድስተኛውን ፓትርያርክ በመንበሩ ላይ ለማስቀመጥ በዝግጅት ላይ ነው ያለነው፤ ሕጉን ካጸደቅን በኋላ ወደ ምርጫው ነው የምንገባው፡፡ ቅዱስነታቸው አቡነ መርቆሬዎስ ከፈለጉ እዚሁ እኛው ግቢ ማረፊያ ተሰጥቷቸው፣ ካልፈለጉም በመረጡት ገዳም አስፈላጊው ነገር ተሰጥቷቸው በጸሎት ተወስነው ሊቀመጡ ይችላሉ፤ እዚያ ያሉት እዚህ የተሾሙትን ተቀብለው፣ እዚህ ያለነውም እዚያ የተሾሙትን ተቀብለን ከእኛው ጋራ ምርጫውን ለማካሄድ ፈቃደኞች ነን፡፡”
ብለዋል። “ሃይማኖት እንጂ ሕግ በየጊዜው ወቅቱን ተመልክቶ የሚሻሻል ነው” ያሉት የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ዋና ጸሐፊው ሕገ ቤተ ክርስቲያኑ ለሥራ አመቺ ተደርጎ፣ የሚጨመር ካለ ተጨምሮ፣ የማያስኬድ ነገር ካለ እንዲያስኬድ ኾኖ እንደሚሻሻል ገልጸዋል፡፡ ዋና ጸሐፊው አያይዘውም በፍትሐ ነገሥቱ ለሁሉም ለየራሱ የተደነገገለት ተልእኮ (ድርሻ) መኖሩን በማስታወስ በሕገ ቤተ ክርስቲያኑ ማሻሻያ “ለፓትርያርክ የሚገባው ድርሻ አይነካበትም” ብለዋል፤ የፓትርያርክ ምርጫ ሕጉም ስለ አመራረጡ፣ ስለ አካሄዱ በመኾኑ ፓትርያርኩ አለመኖሩ የሚያሰጠው የተለየ ትርጉም እንደሌለ አስረድተዋል፡፡
ስለ ጳጳሳት ንብረት ማፍራትና ውርስ ጉዳይ ለተነሣው ጥያቄ ብፁዕነታቸው በጥቅሉ “ጳጳስ ንብረት የለውም፤ እርሻ አያርስም፤ ጎመን አይዘራም፤ ሽንኵርት አይተክልም፤ ንብረቶቹ እናንተ ምእመናን ናችኹ” በማለት መልሰዋል፡፡ በአገራችን ሕግ ስለ ድርብ ዜግነት የተደነገገውን በመጥቀስ የአሜሪካ ዜግነት ያላቸው ‹ኢትዮጵያውን› ጳጳሳት ስለመኖራቸው ለቀረበላቸው ጥያቄም “አዎ፣ የአሜሪካ ዜግነት ያላቸው ጳጳሳት አሉ” ካሉ በኋላ በሚሻሻለው ሕግ ኢትዮጵያዊ ብቻ እንዲኾኑ ከሚያስፈልገው አኳያ ጥያቄውን እንደ ጥቆማ በመውሰድ ቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱ እንደሚመክርበት አመልክተዋል፡፡
በአጠቃላይ አጋጣሚው ቤተ ክርስቲያናችን የብዙኀን መገናኛዎችን፣ ከቤተ ክህነቱ አስተዳደር ጋራ በተያያዘ የታሪክ እና ፖሊቲካ ተንታኞችን ቀልብ ይዛ ባለችበት ወቅት ስለ ቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ምልአተ ጉባኤ ውሳኔዎች የሚሰጡ ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫዎችና የሚዘጋጁ ጋዜጣዊ ጉባኤዎች መድረኩ የሚፈጥረውን ዕድል ሁሉ አሟጠው የሚጠቀሙ፣ በባለሞያ የታገዘ ከፍተኛ ዝግጅት ሊደረግባቸው እንደሚገባ ዛሬ የታየው የዜና ሰዎች ትኩረት እና ብዛት ግድ እንደሚለን ሊጤን ይገባል እንላለን፡፡
1, november 2012
zehabesha.

Events of 2011
Ethiopian authorities continued to severely restrict basic rights of freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Hundreds of Ethiopians in 2011 were arbitrarily arrested and detained and remain at risk of torture and ill-treatment.

Attacks on political opposition and dissent persisted throughout 2011, with mass arrests of ethnic Oromo, including members of the Oromo political opposition in March, and a wider crackdown with arrests of journalists and opposition politicians from June to September 2011.

The restrictive Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (adopted in 2009) has been used to justify arrests of both journalists and members of the political opposition. In June 2011 the Ethiopian House of Federations officially proscribed two armed groups—the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and one opposition party, Ginbot 7—labeling them terrorist organizations.


Political Repression, Pretrial Detention, and Torture
In March 2011, authorities arrested more than 200 members and supporters of registered Oromo opposition parties—the Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) and the Oromo People’s Congress (OPC)—during mass roundups. Those arbitrarily arrested and detained included former members of parliament, long-serving party officials, and candidates in the 2010 regional and parliamentary elections. They were publicly accused of being involved with the banned OLF; at least 89 have been charged with a variety of offenses, some relating to terrorism.

On August 27 Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of OFDM; Olbana Lelisa, a spokesman for OPC; and seven other opposition party members  were arrested on charges of involvement with the OLF. They were held in pre-trial detention at the Federal Police Crime Investigation Department, also known as Maekelawi, where torture is reportedly common.  At least 20 other ethnic Oromo were arrested in this same sweep.

On September 8 popular actor Debebe Eshetu was arrested and accused of belonging to the banned opposition party Ginbot 7. The following week, on September 14, Andualem Aragie, vice-chairman of the opposition party Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), two other active members of UDJ, and the general secretary of another opposition party, the Ethiopian National Democratic Party (ENDF), were arrested in Addis Ababa, the capital, on similar accusations.

Human Rights Watch continues to receive credible reports of arbitrary detention and serious abuses of civilians alleged to be members or supporters of ONLF. These civilians were being held in detention facilities in Ethiopia’s Somali region.

Long-term pre-trial detention without charge, often without access to counsel, is common, notably under the Anti-Terror law, which allows police to request additional investigation periods of 28 days each from a court before filing charges, for up to four months. Human Rights Watch is aware of at least 29 opposition party members, journalists, and an actor who at this writing were currently held in remand detention under the Anti-Terror law.

No independent domestic or international organization has access to all of Ethiopia's detention facilities; it is impossible to determine the number of political prisoners and others arbitrarily detained or their condition.

Freedom of Expression and Association
What little remains of the private independent media and foreign media faced further attacks and restrictions during 2011. Self-censorship is rampant. Journalists working for the few remaining “independent” domestic newspapers have faced regular harassment and threats. Several journalists were arbitrarily arrested and detained in 2011.

On June 19 and 21 respectively Woubshet Taye of Awramba Times and Reeyot Alemu of Feteh, journalists for two newspapers often critical of the government, were arrested, along with seven other individuals, including two ENDP members, and accused of conspiring to commit terrorist acts. After almost three months of detention, without access to their lawyers, the two were charged on September 6 of several counts of terrorism. Charges were also leveled against Elias Kifle, editor of the online Ethiopian Review, in absentia. One ENDP member, Zerihun Gebre-Egzabiher, was also charged.

On September 14, 2011, veteran journalist Eskinder Nega was arrested on charges of involvement with Ginbot 7. Eskinder, like Elias Kifle, was among the 121 opposition party members, journalists, and human rights activists arrested following the 2005 elections, and accused of treason and other related crimes, and among the 76 who were later convicted. He has faced ongoing harassment since his release and has been repeatedly denied a license to practice journalism.

Journalists working for foreign media have not been spared from these attacks. In September 2011 the Ethiopian correspondent of the Kenyan Daily Nation, Argaw Ashine, was forced to flee the country after he was named in an unedited WikiLeaks United States diplomatic cable regarding planned attacks, by the governmental Communication Affairs Office (GCAO), on journalists from the Addis Neger newspaper. The GCAO and Federal Police summoned Argaw for questioning regarding his sources within the GCAO. Addis Neger editors and journalists were forced to close their newspaper and flee the country in November 2009 after threats of arrest under the Anti-Terror law.

Independent reporting on the conflict-affected areas of the Somali region remains severely restricted. On July 1, 2011, two Swedish journalists who had entered Ethiopia in order to report on the situation were arrested. They were held without charge for two months in Jijiga and Addis Ababa before being charged on September 6 with terrorism. Their trial continued at this writing.

Restrictions on Human Rights Reporting
The restrictive Charities and Societies Proclamation, adopted in 2009, which prohibits organizations receiving more than 10 percent of their funding from abroad from carrying out human rights and governance work, continues to severely hamper basic rights monitoring and reporting activities. Two former leading rights organizations, the Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Association (EWLA) and the Human Rights Council (HRCO, formerly EHRCO), have had to slash their budgets, staff, and operations. Their bank accounts, which the government arbitrarily froze in December 2009, remain frozen.

The government-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights Commission lacks independence and is not yet compliant with the Paris Principles, which the United Nations General Assembly adopted in 1993 and which promote the independence of national human rights institutions.

On August 27, 2011, an Amnesty International delegation to Ethiopia was ordered to leave the country following a series of meetings with members of the political opposition; two of these members were arrested after their meeting with Amnesty International.

Discrimination in Government Services
In October 2010 Human Rights Watch published Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia, a report which documented discrimination in the administration of foreign donor-funded government services, including agricultural assistance, food-for-work programs, educational training opportunities, and civil-service reform programs. The report also showed how donor-funded facilities, such as schools and teacher training colleges, underwrite the indoctrination of civil servants and school children in political propaganda. Human Rights Watch’s research suggested that donors in the Development Assistance Group (DAG), including the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, were aware of such allegations, but were taking insufficient steps to investigate the misuse of their aid money.

DAG denied that aid was politicized, citing as evidence a UK Department for International Development-led report, “The Aid Management and Utilization Study,” which concluded that existing monitoring mechanisms would not detect politicization if it were occurring. That report also promised a second phase, a field investigation, which it said was crucial to establishing whether or not politicization was occurring on a broad scale. In April 2011 DAG told Human Rights Watch that this second phase, the field investigation, had been cancelled. A 2009 US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks said that the US embassy in Ethiopia was “keenly aware that foreign assistance … is vulnerable to politicization,” but that monitoring the problem, “risks putting the assistance programs themselves in jeopardy from a ruling party that has become confident that its vast patronage system is largely invulnerable.”

Key International Actors
International donor assistance continues to pour into Ethiopia, one of the world’s largest recipients of aid, but this has not resulted in greater international influence in ensuring government compliance with its human rights obligations. Conversely, donors appear to be reluctant to criticize the Ethiopian government’s human rights record so as not to endanger the continuity of their assistance programs.

Nonetheless, government spending remains hugely reliant (between 30 and 40 percent) on foreign assistance, and donors retain significant leverage that they could use to greater effect to insist on basic measures, such as the repeal or amendment of the Charities and Societies Proclamation and the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, admission of UN special rapporteurs on human rights, the release of political prisoners, and better monitoring of foreign-funded programs to make sure they are not being used to bolster the ruling party.
Human Right Watch.

ጥያቄ፡ - ቃለ መሐላ በሚፈፅሙበት ጊዜ ዘላለማዊ ክብር ለጠ /ሚኒስትራችን ያሏት ቃል ብዙ ክርስቲያኖችን ያጠያየቀ ጉዳይ ሆናለች፡፡ ይህችን ቃል ሆን ብለው በርግጥም አምነውባት ነው ያሏት ወይስ የተፃፈልዎትን ነው ያነበቧት ?

ጠ /ሚኒስትር ኃ /መርያም፡ - (ትንሽ ካሰቡ በኋላ ) ያንን ንግግር ያዘጋጁት ንግግር አዘጋጆቹ ናቸው፡፡ ግን የንግግሩን ፅንሰ ሀሳብ መጀመሪያ እኔ ነኝ የሰጠኋቸው፡፡ እነሱ ቋንቋውን አሳምረው ቀናንሰውና ጨማምረውበት አሰካክተው ኤዲት አደርገው ከጨረሱ በኋላ እኔ ጋር ይደርሳል፡፡ እኔ ሀሳቤን በትክክል ይገልፃል የሚለውን አንኳሩን ክፍል ብቻ አይቼ ያቺን ቃል ሳላስተውል አመለጠችኝና እናም ምንም አማራጭ የለኝም አልኳት፡፡ ማታ ቤት ስመለስ ባለቤቴና ልጆቼ ሁሉ ገና ከበሩ ጀምሮ አተካራ ገጠሙኝ፡፡ ልጆቼ በተለይ የ 16 ዓመቷ ልጄ ያለችው አባ በምድር አላፊ የሆነ ስጋ ለባሽ ከኢየሱስ እኩል በላይ ክብር መውሰድ አይገባውም ብለህ ራስህ አስተምረህን የለም ብላ ስትለኝ በእውነት መልስ አጣሁ፡፡ ትንሽ ፈተና ገጥሞኝ ነበር እልሃለው

ጥያቄ፡ - እና ተፀፅተዋል ?

ጠ /ሚኒስትር ኃ /መርያም፡ - አዎን ... በኋላማ አስቀምጫቸው የሆነውን ነገር ሁሉ አስረድቼያቸው በጠረጴዛ ዙሪያ ሰላም ፈጠርን ፡፡ ግን አንድ ነገር ቤተሰቤም ሆነ መላ ክርስቲያን ወገኖቼ ይረዳሉ ብዬ ተስፋ የማድረገው ነገር እኔ የትናንት የትንሹ ኃ /ማሪያም ቤተሰብ አስተዳደሪና አንድ ተራ የሐዋሪያዊት ቤተክርስቲያን አባልና አማኝ ብሆንም ያንን ማንነቴን ምንም የሚቀይር ነገር የለም፡፡ ጌታ እስከፈቀደ አሁንም ወደ ፊትም ያን የትናንቱን አምላክ ማምለኬ እንደ ግለሰብነቴ ተጠብቆልኝ በአንፃሩ ደግሞ የ 80 ሚሊዮን ሕዝብ አደራና ኃላፊነት ስላለ የሁሉንም እመነት እና ኃይማኖት የማክበር ግዴታ አለብኝ፡፡ ሌሎቹም እንዲሁ የእኔን ኃይማኖት ለግሌ ነፃነቴን ትተውልኝ በመቻቻል ተያይዘን በወንድማማችነት በጋራ እንደምንኖር መገንዘብ አለባቸው፡፡ ግን ማንም ኃይማኖቱን ሽፋን አድርጎ ፖለቲካዊም ሆነ ኃይማኖታዊ አድቫንቴጅ ለመውሰድ የማንንም ህሊና መጋፋት እንደሌለበት አምናለሁ፡፡

• ምልአተ ጉባኤው የዕርቀ ሰላሙን አምስት የመነጋገሪያ ነጥቦች ለይቷል፤
• ብፁዕ አቡነ ሕዝቅኤል ደቡብ እና ምዕራብ አዲስ አበባን፣ ብፁዕ አቡነ ዳንኤል ሰሜንና ምሥራቅ አዲስ አበባ አህጉረ ስብከትን ይመራሉ፤
• “የመነኰሳት መተዳደሪያ ደንብ” ይወጣል፤ የገዳማት ተወካዮች በመንበረ ፓትርያርክ አጠቃላይ ሰበካ መንፈሳዊ ጉባኤ ዓመታዊ ስብሰባ ላይ እንዲሳተፉና ሪፖርት እንዲያቀርቡ ይደረጋል፤
• ለአኵስም ጽዮን ማርያም አዲስ ንቡረእድ ይሾማል፤
• ለካህናት ማሠልጠኛ፣ ለገዳማት፣ ለአብነት ት/ቤቶች (ብር 10 ሚልዮን+) እና ለሌሎችም የልማት ዕቅዶች ማስፈጸሚያ ከብር 128 ሚልዮን በላይ በጀት ተመድቧል፤

(ደጀ ሰላም፤ ጥቅምት 21/2005 ዓ.ም፤ ኦክቶ. 31/2012)፦ ላለፉት ዐሥር ቀናት በሥራ ላይ የቆየው የጥቅምት 2005 ዓ.ም የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ምልአተ ጉባኤ ዛሬ፣ ጥቅምት 21 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም ላይ መግለጫ ተጠናቀቀ፡፡ በ“ልዩ ልዩ ጉዳዮች” አጀንዳዎች ሥር በርካታ ጉዳዮችን የዳሰሰውና የበጀት ምደባን ጨምሮ ቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱ ቀደም ሲል ውሳኔ ያሳለፈባቸውን የመነጋገሪያ ነጥቦች ዳግመኛ በጥልቀት ሲመለከት የቆየው ምልአተ ጉባኤው÷ ከኅዳር 26 - 30 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም በዳላስ ቴክሳስ ለሚካሄደው የዕርቀ ሰላም ውይይት የቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱ ልኡክ መነጋገሪያ (መደራደሪያ?) የሚያደርጋቸውን አምስት ነጥቦች መለየቱን ለመረዳት ተችሏል፡፡ የቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱን አቋም የሚገልጡ ናቸው የተባሉት አምስቱ ነጥቦች “የሰላምና አንድነት ጉባኤው” ላቀረባቸው ሰባት ጥያቄዎች በተሰጡ መልሶች ላይ በመመሥረት የተዘጋጁ መኾናቸውን የመንበረ ፓትርያርኩ ምንጮች አስረድተዋል፡፡


አምስቱን የልኡኩን የመነጋገሪያ ነጥቦች በዝርዝር ከመናገር የተቆጠቡት ምንጮቹ ከሰባቱ “የሰላምና አንድነት ጉባኤው”  ጥያቄዎች መካከል “ብሔራዊ ዕርቅ”ን አስመልክቶ የቀረበው “ከዕርቀ ሰላሙ አጀንዳ ጋራ ግንኙነት የለውም” በሚል ተቀባይነት እንዳላገኘ ጠቁመዋል፡፡ የአራተኛውን ፓትርያርክ ብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ መርቆሬዎስን የወደፊት ኹኔታ በተመለከተ ቀድሞም ከቅዱስነታቸው በተገለጸው መሠረት በመረጡት ስፍራ በጸሎት ተወስነው ሲኖሩ መንበረ ፓትርያርኩ ደግሞ ደመወዝ፣ መኖሪያ ቤት፣ ተሽከርካሪና ሌሎችንም አስፈላጊ ነገሮች ያሟላል፤ የደኅንነት ጥበቃም ያደርግላቸዋል፡፡ በአምስተኛው ፓትርያርክ ብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ ጳውሎስ የተሾሙ 49 ጳጳሳት በስደት በሚገኙት አባቶች ዘንድ ተቀባይነት እንዲያገኙ፣ በአንጻሩም በብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ መርቆሬዎስ በስደት የተሾሙት 13 ጳጳሳት በቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱ ዘንድ ዕውቅናና ተቀባይነት እንዲያገኙ ምልአተ ጉባኤው አቋሙን ማስቀመጡ ተነግሯል፡፡

ብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ መርቆሬዎስ “በጸሎት ተወስነው በመረጡት ስፍራ ይኑሩ” ሲባል በሕገ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ለፓትርያርኩ በተሰጠው ሥልጣንና ተግባር መሠረት÷ በመንበረ ፓትርያርኩ እየተገኙ የቅዱስ ሲኖዶሱን ስብሰባ በርእሰ መንበርነት መምራትና ውሳኔዎቹን ማስፈጸምን፤ በቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ውሳኔ መሠረት ኤጲስ ቆጶሳትን፣ የታላላቅ አድባራትና ገዳማት አለቆችንና አበምኔቶች መሾምን፤ በውጭ ግንኙነት ቤተ ክርስቲያንን መወከልን. . . ወዘተ እንደማያካትት ግልጽ ነው ያሉት ምንጮቹ መንበሩን በተመለከተ የሚታየው የምልአተ ጉባኤ አዝማሚያ የቅዱስነታቸውን ፈቃድ በሚያጤን (ባካተተ) አካሄድ ወደ ስድስተኛው ፓትርያርክ ሹመት መቀጠል መኾኑን አልሸሸጉም፡፡

ለቀኖና ቤተ ክርስቲያን መጠበቅ የሚሟገቱና ብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ መርቆሬዎስ በሕይወት እስካሉ ድረስ መንበረ ተክለ ሃይማኖት በእንደራሴ ወይም በዐቃቤ መንበረ ፓትርያርኩ ተጠብቆ እንዲቆይ የሚሹ ወገኖች ግን በስድስተኛው ፓትርያርክ ሹመት ጉዳይ ጥንቃቄ እንዲደረግ ያሳስባሉ፡፡ ብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ ባስልዮስ የመጀመሪያው ኢትዮጵያዊ ፓትርያርክ ከመኾናቸው በፊት የመጨረሻው ግብጻዊ ጳጳስ አቡነ ቄርሎስ እስኪያርፉ ድረስ በዐቃቤ መንበርነት የቆዩባቸውን ሦስት ዓመታት (ሐምሌ 1940 - ጥቅምት 1943 ዓ.ም)፣ ብፁዕ አቡነ ቴዎፍሎስ በቀድሞው መንግሥት በእስር ላይ ሳሉ ሦስተኛው ፓትርያርክ ብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት እስኪሾሙ ድረስ ብፁዕ አቡነ ዮሐንስ ዐቃቤ መንበር የነበሩበትን አንድ ዓመት፣ አራተኛው ፓትርያርክ ብፁዕ ወቅዱስ አቡነ መርቆሬዎስ በተደረገባቸው ጫና ከመንበራቸው ወርደው መጀመሪያ ብፁዕ አቡነ ያዕቆብ በኋላም ብፁዕ አቡነ ዜና ማርቆስ ዐቃቤ መንበረ ፓትርያርክ የነበሩበትን ዐሥራ አንድ ወራት በማስታወስም በዐቃቤ መንበረ ፓትርያርክ የመቆየት ተሞክሮ በመጥቀስ ለቤተ ክርስቲያን ሰላምና አንድነት ሲባል ትዕግሥት ማድረግ እንደሚገባ ይመክራሉ፡፡

በብፁዓን ሊቃነ ጳጳሳት የተደራጀውና የጳጳሳትን ዝውውር የሚመለከተው ኮሚቴ ለምልአተ ጉባኤው ባቀረበው ሪፖርት በሕመምና ተጓዳኝ ምክንያቶች የዝውውር ጥያቄ ያቀረቡ ብፁዓን አባቶችን ጉዳይ ተመልክቷል፡፡ ለመልካም አስተዳደር መስፈን ሲባል በጥናት ከቀረቡት በርካታ አማራጮች መካከል በአራት አህጉረ ስብከት የተከፈለው የአዲስ አበባ ሀ/ስብከት እስከ መጪው ግንቦት የርክበ ካህናት ቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ምልአተ ጉባኤ ድረስ በሁለት ብፁዓን ሊቃነ ጳጳሳት እየተመሩ ጽ/ቤቶቻቸውንና አስተዳደራቸውን ሲያጠናክሩ እንዲቆዩ ወስኗል፡፡

በዚህም መሠረት ቀደም ሲል ሀገረ ስብከቱን ከሰሜን ሸዋ - ሰላሌ ሀ/ስብከት ጋራ ደርበው ሲመሩ የቆዩት ብፁዕ አቡነ ቀውስጦስ ተነሥተው በአዲሱ አደረጃጀት መሠረት የምዕራብ ሐረርጌ (አሰበ ተፈሪ) ሀገረ ስብከት ሊቀ ጳጳስ የነበሩት ብፁዕ አቡነ ዳንኤል የሰሜንና ምሥራቅ አዲስ አበባ አህጉረ ስብከትን፣ የከፋ ሸካ ቤንች ማጂ ዞን ሀ/ስብከት ሊቀ ጳጳስና የቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ዋና ጸሐፊ የኾኑት ብፁዕ አቡነ ሕዝቅኤል ሀ/ስብከታቸውን እንደያዙ የደቡብና ምዕራብ አዲስ አበባን እንዲመሩ ተወስኗል፡፡ አመራሩ ለሁለቱ ብፁዓን ሊቃነ ጳጳሳት የተሰጠው ዕጣ የዝውውር ጥያቄ ካቀረቡት አራት ብፁዓን አባቶች (ብፁዕ አቡነ ዕንባቆም፣ ብፁዕ አቡነ ዮሴፍ፣ ብፁዕ አቡነ ዳንኤል፣ ብፁዕ አቡነ ሕዝቅኤል) መካከል በተደረገው/በተጣለው ዕጣ መኾኑ ተዘግቧል፡፡ የአህጉረ ስብከቱ አድባራትና ገዳማት አቤቱታ የቀረበባቸው ንቡረ እድ ኤልያስ ኣብርሃ ጉዳይም በዚሁ አዲስ አደረጃጀት ሂደት መፍትሔ እንደሚሰጠው እየተጠበቀ ነው፡፡

በገዳማት ጉዳይ አስቀድሞ ያደረገውን ውይይትና ያስተላለፈውን ውሳኔ በትናንትናው ውሎው ዳግመኛ በማንሣት በጥልቀት የተወያየው ምልአተ ጉባኤው በ31ኛው አጠቃላይ የሰበካ መንፈሳዊ ጉባኤ መደበኛ ስብሰባ ባስተላለፈው ውሳኔና የአቋም መግለጫ መሠረት የገዳማት ተወካዮች የዓመታዊው አገር አቀፍና ዓለም አቀፍ ስብሰባ ተሳታፊዎች እንዲኾኑ ወስኗል፡፡ በመኾኑም ከቀጣዩ ዓመት ጀምሮ የገዳማት አበምኔቶች በዓለም አቀፉና አገር ዓቀፉ የአጠቃላይ ሰበካ መንፈሳዊ ጉባኤ መደበኛ ስብሰባ ላይ እየተገኙ ሥርዐተ ምንኵስናውን (የገዳማቱን የአንድነት ኑሮ)፣ መንፈሳዊ አገልግሎቶችና የልማት ክንውን የተመለከቱ ሪፖርቶችን እንደሚያቀርቡ ታውቋል፡፡

በአሁኑ ወቅት በምንኵስና ሕይወት ከሚታየው ችግር አኳያ መነኰሳቱን መሰል መነኰሳት እና እውነተኛ መነኰሳት በሚል ከፍሎ ችግሩን በጥልቀት የዳሰሰው ምልአተ ጉባኤው÷ የሌላ እምነት (የእስልምና ወይም የፕሮቴስታንት) ተከታይ ኾነው ሳለ በምናኔ ስም ወደ ገዳሞቻችን ሰርገው ገብተው የጥፋትና ቅሰጣ ተልእኮ በመፈጸም ላይ የሚገኙ፤ የእኛኑ ቆብ ደፍተው የቤተ ክርስቲያኒቱን ገጽታ በሚያበላሹና ሥርዐተ ምንኵስናን በሚያስንቁ/በሚያስነቅፉ አስነዋሪ ተግባራት ላይ የመሰማራት ዓላማ ያላቸው፤ የገዳምም የቀበሌ ነዋሪነትም መታወቂያ ይዘው እንዳመቺነቱ የሚያጭበርብሩ፤ የመንፈሳዊ ኮሌጆች ወይም የካህናት ማሠልጠኛዎች ምሩቃን ሳይሆኑ ነን በሚል የሐሰት ማኅተሞችን ይዘው የሐሰት ሰነዶችን አስመስለው በማዘጋጀት የተካኑ፤ የአክሊለ ሦኩ ምሳሌ የኾነውን ቆብዕ ዘሠለስቱ ደቂቅ፣ የሐብለ ተቀስፎ ቅናት ዘዮሐንስ መጥምቅ እንደሚገባቸው ሳይሆን እንዳሻቸው የሚለብሱ፤ “ሥራ እናስቀጥራችኋለን፤ ውጭ አገር እንልካችኋለን. . .” በሚል ባለትዳር ወይዛዝርትን ሳይቀር የሚያነውሩ፣ ከትዳር የሚያፋቱና ሀብታቸውን የሚመዘብሩ. . . እንዳሉ ጉባኤው በማረሚያ ቤቶች በእስር ላይ ከሚገኙት መነኰሳት ጭምር በምርመራ ከተገኘው መረጃ ለይቷል፡፡ አህጉረ ስብከት፣ የመ/ፓ/ጠ/ቤ/ክ እና ምእመናን በአጠቃላይ ከመንግሥት አካላት ጋራ በመተባበር በእኒህ መሰል መነኰሳት ላይ በቀጣይ ለሚወሰደው ርምጃ እንዲተባበሩም በይፋ ጥሪ እንደሚያቀርብ ይጠበቃል፡፡

እውነተኞች መነኰሳት በሚል የተለዩትን በተመለከተ ከየት እንደመጡ፣ በትክክለኛው የአመክሮ ጊዜ (ሦስት ዓመት) እና ተገቢውን ትምህርት ወስደው መመንኰሳቸው ይጣራል፡፡ ይህም ገዳማት ለአህጉረ ስብከትና በየደረጃው ለመ/ፓ/ጠ/ቤ/ክ ጽ/ቤት በሚያቀርቡት የእያንዳንዱ መነኮስ ማኅደር (ፕሮፋይል) ሪፖርት እንዲጣራና እንዲረጋገጥ ይደረጋል፡፡ መነኰሳት ከገዳማቸው ያለ ምክንያት እንዳይወጡና የሚወጡም ከኾነ ስለሚወጡበት ምክንያት የገዳሙ አስተዳደር ለሀ/ስብከት ደብዳቤ እንዲጻፍላቸው ይደረጋል፡፡

ምልአተ ጉባኤው በየአህጉረ ስብከቱ እንዲፈጸሙ ያጸደቃቸውን የመንፈሳዊ አገልግሎትና ዝርዝር የልማት ተግባራት ዕቅዶች መከናወን በበጀት ለመደገፍ ባደረገው የምደባ ውይይት ከብር 128 ሚልዮን ብር በላይ ገንዘብ ለገዳማት፣ ለአብነት ት/ቤቶች፣ ለካህናት ማሠልጠኛዎች፣ ለምዕራብ ወለጋ ሁለገብ ሕንጻ (በኦሮምኛ ቋንቋ የካህናት ሥልጠና የሚሰጥበትን ተቋም ወደ ኮሌጅ ለማሳደግ ታቅዷል)፣ ለአኵስም ቤተ መጻሕፍት ወመዘክር ሕንጻ ማስጨረሻና ለመሳሰሉት ሥራዎች እንዲውል ወስኗል፡፡

ቸር ወሬ ያሰማን፤
አሜን፡፡
የቅ/ሲኖዶስን ውሳኔዎች ሙሉ ቃል ከዚህ በታች ይመልከ

 
31,October 2012
Deje selam.

By Derese Tariku, De Birhan Media Staffer
Addis Abeba
31 October 2012

Debre Berhan University, located in Amhara Region, North Showa Zone, in Debre Berhan town, 130 kms far form Addis Ababa to the North - East, has been shaking with student protests and clashes, sources in the Campus told De Birhan. 

A number of students have been injured, properties were damaged due to the protest and local police are heading to the Campus. Most of the injured students have been taken to the nearest hospital.

Some sources say the cause of the clash is in relation to students "unfair academic grading", we are verifying the cause. The telephone network  of the town has been disconnected. 

Debre Berhan University started work on January 28, 1999 E.C (2007) enrolling 725 students in the faculty of education with two streams, namely Businesses Education and natural science teaching. Currently, there are around 10, 000 students attending in the University.

Details to come...

31 october 2012

De Birhan.

En forholdsvis liten del av befolkningen i Sunndal er innvandrere, sammenlignet med gjennomsnittet for fylket og landet.

Det er fylkesstatistikken for Møre og Romsdal for 2011 som viser dette. Tallene forteller at Sunndal kommune per 1. januar 2012 hadde 460 bosatte innvandrere, og det var 6,4 prosent av den totale befolkningen på 7196 personer. For Tingvoll var tallet 226 innvandrere og 7,3 prosent. I statistikken er det ikke tatt med personer som bor midlertidig på asylsøkermottak. Gjennomsnittet for landet er 11 prosent og for fylket 7,9 prosent.


Det statistikken videre forteller, er at det store flertallet av innvandrere er personer som flytter til Norge fra andre europeiske land for å få seg arbeid. Hele 68 prosent av innvandrerne i fylket kom i 2011 fra Europa, og med stor overvekt fra Polen og Litauen. Den nest største gruppa på 21 prosent kom fra Asia, Tyrkia inkludert. Sju prosent kom fra Afrika.

Det er først og fremst en del kommuner på Sunnmøre som har en stor andel innvandrere i sin befolkning. Det henger sammen med det store behovet for arbeidskraft i disse kommunene. Den største innvandrerkommunen i prosent per 1.1. 2012 var Stordal med 13,6 prosent, videre Sande 13,2 prosent, Ulstein 12,8 prosent, Hareid 12,2 prosent.

Den laveste andelen innvandrere hadde Rindal kommune, med bare 23 personer, som tilsvarte 1,1 prosent. Også naboen Surnadal har få, med 3,5 prosent, Halsa har 3,2 prosent, Nesset 4 prosent. Indre Nordmøre er dermed en region som kjennetegnes av en befolkning som er relativt gammel, det er få personer i såkalt fertil alder mellom 20 og 40 år og det er altså få innvandrere.
29, october 2012
Auraavis.

After walking out of the recent peace conference with the ONLF, the Ethiopian delegation released a statement spelling out the reason they left the conference via their embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. “The peace talks failed after the ONLF group refused to accept and respect the constitution of Ethiopia and work within the constitutional framework,” the statement said.

On its part, the ONLF didn’t reject this claim but explained why they objected to accepting the Ethiopian constitution as precondition and offered their take on this ‘contentious issue’ which had derailed the talks.  “The ONLF position on the constitution is that it must reflect the will of the people and that the Somali people never exercised a referendum on the constitution. ONLF believes that the solution of the conflict in the Ogaden can only be achieved by accepting the principles of the right to exercise their self-determination without any preconditions or restrictions,” the ONLF statement read.


The irrelevance of the constitutional argument

For a start, the Ethiopian constitution does not concern the Somalis in Ogaden. Leaving aside the fact that the Ogaden has never been part of Ethiopia proper historically speaking and that Ethiopia occupies the Ogaden through illegitimate treaties it signed with Britain, France and Italy in the 19th century and the transfer of Ogaden to Ethiopia during the 2nd World War by Britain unwillingly after coercion by USA, the people of Ogaden have not voted for the current constitution when it was promulgated in 1994 nor have they had any input in its draft. (For more on this, please read: why the Haud was ceded).

Even if we were, hypothetically speaking, to accept the constitution in order to find a lasting solution, we must ask: why is the constitution not implemented in Ogaden?  Where is this constitution when the people of Ogaden are arbitrarily arrested daily en masse and hoarded into military camps to be tortured, raped, and killed? Where is this document when our people are massacred, their villages burned, their meager belongings confiscated, and the rest forced to flee out of their country? What happened to those beautiful statues enunciated in the constitution which guarantee the sanctity of the citizen’s life, property, and the many other rights such as the right to freedom of speech and association, where are these rights when it comes to Ogaden? If the constitution is truly the supreme law of the land which all must uphold, ‘respect and accept’, why is it not implemented in Ogaden?

So far we can only conclude from this and past experiences that the Ogaden is not part of Ethiopia proper, which means the writ of the Ethiopian constitution, does not reach or apply to the Ogaden. In any case, the constitutional issue was non starter in the first place which was introduced as scapegoat to derail the peace process. The Ethiopian government delegation, who comprised mostly of army officers and security personnel, came to the talks not to find amicable solution that suits both sides but to try arm-twist the ONLF and force the movement to surrender to their dictates; and when the ONLF rejected their demands outright, they walked-out of the meeting in protest. There was an agenda to deliberately stonewall the progress of talks when the regime’s delegates discovered that they were losing the argument to the ONLF. After all, the ONLF argument was very simple and it all was about the implementation of the right to self-determination. Knowing that they cannot grant this right to the people of Ogaden for fear the region might cede from Ethiopia, the regime resorted to dilly-dally around the constitutional issue. The ONLF delegation asked for confidence building measures to be taken, such as monitored ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities, thereafter the region to be opened up to humanitarian agencies and the siege to be lifted. The Ethiopian delegation rejected it. Again, one may ask: does their constitution sanction the human rights abuses, the siege and starvation policy currently in place in Ogaden? Or is the land Ethiopia and not the people? In which case, the people of Ogaden are within their rights to reject this un-working document.

It is possible that the regime has not been genuine about the talks in the first place and they were using it as propaganda tool to convince their Western backers that they’re ready for peace and the ONLF is not.

Whatever their motivation was, it has miserably backfired as everyone saw the Ethiopian delegations as the one responsible for the failure of the talks.

The Ethiopian officials, who have been used to humiliate and buy Somali political figures over the years, must have been caught off-guard by the resolute and principled position taken by the ONLF delegates. Little do they know about ONLF; it seems years of fighting the ONLF in the bushes and cities of Ogaden have not acquainted them as to what makes this movement, which had survived every one of their assaults, tick and strong.

Now that the talks have stalled, or ‘failed’ according to the regime version, any future gung-ho mentality aimed to coerce the ONLF is sure to fail again, in case the Ethiopian regime returns to the negotiation table. The ONLF represents the collective wishes and aspirations of the masses of Ogaden and swore to fulfill them to the end. That is why the movement survives and blossoms, defying all odds and overcoming difficulties through the resilience and dedication of the Ogaden people’s selfless sacrifices and heroism.  The Ogaden peoples’ demand is very simple: they want to exercise the right to self-determination.

Our advice to the Ethiopian government is to stop hiding behind an irrelevant constitutional argument to obfuscate attempts aimed at finding a just and lasting solution to this long simmering conflict.

ONA

30, october 2012
ONLF.ORG

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

October 30 2012 (ADDIS ABABA) - European jurists have brought the cases of long imprisoned Swedish-Eritrean journalist and activist, Dawit Isaac to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).


According to Reporters Without Borders, Jesús Alcalá, Percy Bratt and Prisca Orsonneau referred the cases of the journalist to ACHPR on 27 October, a day that marks his 12 year imprisonment without trial in an Eritrean prison.

The Red Sea nation has in the past affirmed that its own court system is independent and could legally handle the case of Dawit Isaac and other journalists who have remain languishing in the country’s harsh detention facilities for over a decade.


The latest move by the European Jurists was in response to Eritrea’s court failure to respect and exercise the civil right to obtain a writ of habeas corpus as protection against illegal and arbitrary imprisonment.

“Eritrea will now be forced to an embarrassing process before the African Commission for failing to writ of habeas corpus” said the Paris-based watchdog while welcoming the initiatives taken by the European jurists.

Reporters Without Borders noted that the imprisonment of Dawit Isaac runs counter to both Eritrean law and several African and international conventions.

Based in Gambia, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) protects and promotes human rights within the African Union under the framework of the rights guaranteed by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Accordingly, the Commission among others decides whether alleged human rights abuses that violate the Charter were committed and further investigates human rights violations through fact-finding missions.

After Ethiopia last month pardoned and released two Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye - who were accused of terrorism related charges - Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said that the his government is working to free Dawit Isaak.

The Swedish government said Isaak’s case was not only priority to the Swedish government but also priority within the EU, which has made repeated calls for his release.

Isaak, who is a 48 and married with three children, was imprisoned by the Eritrean authorities in 2001 after publishing articles that were critical of the Eritrean regime, particularly calling for democratic reforms in one of the most repressive nations of the world.

He then published his articles in one of the country’s first independent newspapers, Setit, which he co-founded. the newspaper was closed-down when the government cracked down on independent press outlets, arresting dozens of prominent journalists and dissidents.

Since his imprisonment 12 years ago, many of Isaac’s colleagues have died in prison. In August Reporters Without Borders reported that three more journalists had perished in Eritrean prisons.

In October 2011 there were rumors that Issak had died in prison.

Last year Dawit Isaac was awarded the 2011 Golden Pen of Freedom, a distinction presented by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) for his commitment to press freedom, democratic reforms and civil liberties.

International press and human rights groups label the tiny Red Sea nation as one of the world’s top press freedom violators and Africa’s leading jailer of journalists.

Currently there are at least 30 Eritrean journalists are imprisoned facing inhuman and ill treatment on a daily bases, according to human rights groups
31,0ctober 2012
sudan tribune.

 ዘመቻው ኤርትራውያንን ፍርኃትና ግራ መጋባት ውስጥ ከቷል

በዮሐንስ አንበርብር

የኢሳያስ አፈወርቂ መንግሥት ካለፈው የመስከረም ወር መባቻ ጀምሮ ዋና መዲናዋን አስመራን ጨምሮ በኤርትራ ዋና ዋና ከተሞች የሚገኙ ከ15 ዓመት በላይ የሆናቸው ኤርትራውያንን AK- 47 በመባል የሚታወቀውን ክላሽንኮቭ የጦር መሣርያ በግዳጅ ማስታጠቅ ጀመረ፡፡ በአስገዳጅነት የተጀመረው የማስታጠቅ ዘመቻ የአገሪቱን ዜጐች ፍርኃትና ግራ መጋባት ውስጥ እንደከተታቸው ዜናውን ይፋ ያደረገው የፈረንሳይ ሚዲያ ገልጿል፡፡ በኤርትራና በኤርትራውያን ላይ መጽሐፍ እስከ ማሳተም የደረሰው ጋዜጠኛ ሊዎናርድ ቪንሰንት በአገሪቱ በመዘዋወር በርካታ ነዋሪዎችንና የፖለቲካ ተንታኞችን ያነጋገረ ሲሆን፣ ኤርትራውያን አገራቸውን በንቃት እንዲጠብቁ በሚል የተጀመረ ዘመቻ ቢሆንም፣ በአሁኑ ወቅት በአገሪቱ ካለው ድህነት አንፃር ሲመዘን ግን ፕሬዚዳንት ኢሳያስ በራሳቸው ፍላጐት አንገታቸውን ለገመድ እየሰጡ ነው ለማለት የሚያስደፍር ዘመቻ ነው ብሎታል፡፡


ጋዜጠኛው በአስመራ እንዲሁም ሦስተኛዋ የኤርትራ ትልቅ ከተማ እንደሆነች በሚነገርላት ከረን በተዘዋወረበት ወቅት በርካታ ኤርትራውያን በሚኖሩባቸው አካባቢዎች በሚገኙ ቀበሌዎች ተሠልፈው የጦር መሣርያ ሲረከቡ መመልከቱን ገልጿል፡፡

አንዳንድ ነዋሪዎችም ስማቸው እንዳይጠቀስ በማስጠንቀቅ ያለውን ሁኔታ አስረድተውታል፡፡ ‹‹ስማችንንና አድራሻችንን ከመዘገቡ በኋላ በፕላስቲክ የተሠራ ካርድ ይሰጡናል፡፡ ይህም መሣርያውን ለመረከባችን ማስረጃና መታወቂያ እንደሆነ በመግለጽ፣ አገራችሁንና መሬታችሁን ከወረራ ነቅታችሁ ጠብቁ የሚል ትዕዛዝ ይሰጡናል፤›› ሲል ስሙ የተደበቀለት ወጣት ተናግሯል፡፡

‹‹አባቴ የ65 ዓመት አዛውንት ነው፡፡ የቀበሌው ባለሥልጣናትና ካድሬዎች እሱንና የዕድሜ እኩያ የሆኑ ጓደኞቹን በመጥራት የጦር መሣርያዎችን እንዳከፋፈሏቸውና አገራችሁን ከጠላት ጠብቁ እንዳሏቸው፣ ከፍርኃት የተነሳም ምንም ዓይነት ጥያቄ እንዳላቀረቡ ነግሮኛል፤›› ሲል በካናዳ በስደት ኑሮ ላይ የሚገኝ ስሙ ለቤተሰቦቹ ደኅንነት ሲባል ያልተጠቀሰ ወጣት ለጋዜጠኛው ገልጾለታል፡፡

ፊልሞን የተባለ ሌላ ወጣት በበኩሉ አባቱ የምሕንድስና ባለሙያ እንደሆኑና የቀበሌ ባለሥልጣናቱ መሣርያ እንዲረከቡ ሲጠሩዋቸው እንቢ እንዳሉዋቸው፣ በዚህም ምክንያት በመንግሥት ድጐማ የሚቀርበውን የምግብ እህል ለመግዛት የተሰጣቸውን የሬሽን ካርድ እንደሚነጥቁዋቸው ዝተው መሄዳቸውን ገልጿል፡፡ መሣርያውን ለተረከቡ ነገር ግን እንዴት መጠቀም እንዳለባቸው ለማያውቁት ከሣዋ ወታደራዊ ካምፕ በሚላኩ ወታደሮች በየሳምንቱ ቅዳሜና እሑድ ሥልጠና እንደሚሰጣቸውም ዘገባው ያመለክታል፡፡

በቀበሌ ደረጃ ከሚደረገው የማስታጠቅ ዘመቻ በተጨማሪ በተለያዩ የመንግሥት መሥርያ ቤቶችም እንደቀጠለ የሚያትተው የዜና ምንጩ፣ ባለፈው ጥቅምት 8 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. የአገሪቱ ጤና ጥበቃ ሚኒስቴር ሠራተኞች በአስመራ ኤክስፖ ሴንተር ተገኝተው መሣርያውን እንደተረከቡ ገልጿል፡፡ ቀጥሎ በነበሩት ሁለት ቀናት ደግሞ የትምህርትና የግብርና ሚኒስቴር ሠራተኞች መሣርያውን እንዲታጠቁ መደረጉን ያትታል፡፡

በተለይ ባለፈው መጋቢት 2004 ዓ.ም. የኢትዮጵያ ጦር በኤርትራ አፋር ክልልና በባድመ አካባቢዎች ከወሰደው ወታደራዊ ጥቃት በኋላ በኤርትራ ውጥረትና ሥጋት መንገሱን ዘገባው ይገልጻል፡፡ ሴንተር ኦፍ አፍሪካን ስተዲስ የተባለ ድርጅት ባልደረባ የሆነው ዴቪድ ቦዚኒ የተባለ ሲዊዘርላንዳዊ ለዜና አውታሩ በሰጠው አስተያየት፣ ኤርትራ ውስጥ መሣርያ ማስታጠቅ አዲስ አይደለም፣ ነገር ግን አሁን  አዲስ የሆነው የከተማ ነዋሪዎችን ማስታጠቅ መጀመሩ ነው ብሏል፡፡

‹‹በግብፅና በሊቢያ የተደረገው አመፅና ውጤቱ የፕሬዚዳንት ኢሳያስን የቅርብ ወዳጅ መሪዎች አሳጥቷል፡፡ ይህንን ተከትሎም የኤርትራ ወጣቶች ከኤርትራ ውጭ በመሆን ተመሳሳይ አመፅን በአገራቸው ላይ ለመፍጠር እየተደራጁ መሆኑ በፕሬዚዳንት ኢሳያስ ላይ መደናገጥን ፈጥሯል፤›› የሚለው የጥናት ባለሙያ፣ ‹‹አሁን የሚካሄደው የማስታጠቅ ዘመቻ አመፅ ከመነሳቱ በፊት ኤርትራውያንን ሥጋት ወስጥ በመክተት አርቴፊሻል ውጥረትን በአገሪቱ በመፍጠር ሥልጣናቸውን የማቆያ ስልት ነው፤›› ብሏል፡፡

ሌሎች ባለሙያዎች በበኩላቸው የማስታጠቅ ዘመቻውን ፕሬዚዳንት ኢሳያስ ራሳቸውን ጠልፈው የሚጥሉበት ሊሆን ይችላል በማለት የተናገሩ ሲሆን፣ በተለይም በአገሪቱ ያለው የከፋ ድህነት በኤርትራውያን ውስጥ ለፈጠረው የተዳፈነ ትዕግስት ማጣትና የኤርትራ ወጣቶች ጥምረት ለለውጥ በሚል ስያሜ ለተጀመረው እንቅስቃሴ ምቹ ሁኔታን ሊፈጥር ይችላል ብለዋል፡፡

31, october 2012
ethiopian reporter.

By Hama Tuma

Azeb Mesfin

Sometimes we Ethiopians like to boast. The first in everything! The cradle of mankind. The first bare foot runner to win the marathon…
… The first to claim an annual economic growth of 12% whilst begging for food aid for more than 12 million people. The first country since the 1970s to record a 99.9% win for the ruling party in a general election.
This year, we have done it again in grand style. We stunned the world with our first ever homeless prime minister. The first in History. Ever.
Not that the new power-less Prime Minster was evicted from his home, or has been made homeless for the same land grabbing reasons that have made more than a half million Ethiopians homeless. Oh no. He is “homeless” because the wife of the dead and departed (all believers can add here: praise is to God or Allah) Prime Minster has refused to evacuate the official residence.

Now, the former First Lady is no ordinary woman. After usurping the title of First Lady, she delicately dipped her hands into the national coffers and made away with a few cool dollars – 2 billion dollars according to those in the know, and lied with fewer blinks than her late husband, who was admiringly described by one American Ambassador as a professional liar.
To the point: she has refused to evacuate the official premises of the Ethiopian head of state. So, the PM, who says she can stay, has been left without an official home. The first prime minister without an official abode!
Ok, maybe I am not being fair. Azeb has made it clear that she will only leave the PM’s palace if she can go instead to the palace of the president (a nominal appointee). We get it. What she wants is a big palace in Addis Ababa. Yes, she has visited a property near the Sidist Kilo University, but her security concerns could see her staying put for a while.
And why should the new PM object? Sure, she can stay.
Sadly, however, as Ethiopia achieves another first, only few people have noticed that the 540 plus seat parliament has only one opposition member.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister’s recent situation has been challenged by a few unusual firsts among African leaders. After the

Hailemariam Desalegn

controversial shooting of miners in South Africa, President Zuma tried to interest us on who among his four wives should get State subsidy. No one listened.
And then came the president of Benin who claimed three of his close fellows were trying to poison him. Unfortunately, this is far from being a first.
Mauritania’s president got “accidentally” shot by a soldier. Not the first either. Ask the former erratic coup leader from Guinea, Moussa “Dadis” Camara.
Kenya’s Mwai Kibaki shouting he is not a polygamist was a massive failure. Did he not know that that trick had been tried more than once? In fact, Kibaki’s denial has tickled old memories back to life. It reminds me of that fateful day when Jomo Kenyatta publicly forced his wife, Mama Nigina, to deny his alleged impotence. Luckily, those blue pills were not yet on sale in pharmacies.
Yes, the same Viagra that sent Nigeria’s Abacha on his final journey to meet with his maker, as he lay stiff on a bed among a bevy of European ladies he had handpicked from a red light district or lounge or… who knows where?
But far from Abacha’s global taste, the King of Swaziland thinks local. Unfortunately, the novelty of marrying maidens at the annual Umhlanga or Reed ceremony has grown intensely boring, especially as King Mswati III struggles with a harsh economic meltdown.
And just when we thought our boredom was coming to a screeching halt, Uganda’s Museveni gets re-elected and continues his decades-old search for his arch enemy, Joseph Kony, the man who wheeled him back into the Great Lakes’ spotlight.
Kagame on the other hand has done all in his power to let the world know that he is not interested in the Great Lakes’ spotlight, after he was accused of arming the M23 rebels of the Congo. If only we could read poor old Paul’s mind: “Been there done that, anything new?”
Talking about new things. Why is no one reminding the world that the destruction of historical heritage sites in the northern Mali towns of Gao and Timbuktu by so-called Al Qaeda rebels and Islamists is not a first? The Taliban and Al Shabab have done more destruction on historical heritage sites. They even razed their countries to the ground, for crying out loud!
So you see, this is what makes the Ethiopian first experience so original. It is carefully planned. Let’s admit it, a homeless Prime Minister is imaginative, ingenious and admirable. A real First!
However, competition is tight these days. Take the defeated Senegalese president (who wanted to pass the mantle on to his son like in Korea and Syria) declaring: “I am the only president in a perpetual state of grace. It is a special phenomenon linked to my personality.— probably, I am a man of action rather than just talk”. The man of action was defeated and sent packing with his tail between his legs.
Chad’s Idris Deby, with his 13 children and many wives, tried to become another first when he got married to the 21 year-old daughter of a Sudanese Janjaweed chief, paying a 27 million dollar-dowry (plus an extra million dollars for her jewelry).
Naturally, he became a laughing stock among the high-dowry society. Multi-million dowries are not new.
Back to the Ethiopian originality. Where corpses of Heads of State are moved out of presidential palaces militarily with families rushing out and thanking their stars for being spared, Azeb’s plans of redecorating her humble abode remain unperturbed.
The palace is where she belongs and it is where she will stay, come what may! Delusion, illusion, desperation or an Ethiopian tragicomedy par excellence? A serious question.
That the answer is not yet in the hands of the Ethiopian people adds to the sorrow.
Though the situation is bleak and the future uncertain, we Ethiopians can snatch some comfort from the fact that we give the world surprises and we are unique. We still have the syndrome of the chosen people like the Israelis or the Chinese, among others. After all the very first human beings were Ethiopian, non?
We think we are neither black nor white but some special brand of brown or “red”.
More questions: How many countries in the world can boast of tens of thousands of political prisoners and still get hailed as being democratic? How many are those who can slaughter hundreds, if not thousands, and still be pampered as democrats?
One is inclined to say none in this twenty first century we are living in. But, alas, Ethiopia has reversed the whole equation — you can imprison, kill, starve, impoverish millions and ruin and shame a country but you can still be admired and supported.
After all appearances do matter and we have to keep our first reputation in mint condition, even without having the original show of a homeless and puppet Prime Minster who fronts for the Tigrean rulers, controlling things behind the scenes.

30 October 2012
ECADF NEWS.

 I'm here for Yalda, but also for myself.

A number of political parties and organizations highlighted yesterday their opposition to what they believe is a string of Norwegian asylum policy towards children. Abbas Saiadi (11) has lived in refugee centers Tromsdalen in three years.

Exhausting
- I have a headache almost every night because I do not know what happens to us. It is very tiring to stay in the asylum. I'm here for Yalda, but also for myself, he told the Northern Lights during the ceremony.


Around a hundred people attended. It was kept similar markings in several other Norwegian cities today.

There are now more than 450 children who have applied and been rejected for asylum in Norway, but only a few of these have been tried their cases in court.

Appeal case
Lille Yalda living in Tromsø, now waiting for the appeal for residence in Norway is up. In recent months she has become a symbol of the hundreds of children who have sought asylum.

- Dear Red-Green Government colleagues. Yalda his homeland, Norway is now, said Labor politician Kristin Røymo in its appeal.

- Current practice is too strict. I do not speak on behalf of the government. I am a member of the Labour Party. I mean harsh things about immigration policy, about work, about integration. But today I'm talking about the kids, said Røymo.

- It heats
- Children should not be held accountable for their parental responsibilities, said Røymo.

Lille Yalda and her family also attended the celebration.

- It heats very fact that so many are there for the kids, says Yalda mum Maria Gazules.


Legg igjen en commentar.
30, October 2012
nordlys news

oct. 30 (ESAT News)–A new research conducted by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has indicated that the amount of Ethiopia’s illicit capital flight in the last four decades amounted to nearly 25 billion USD.

The research, which covers the period between 1970 and 2010, shows that 33 Sub-Saharan African countries including Ethiopia have lost over 810 billion USD that exceeds the amount they received in official development aid from donors. In the same period, the amount lost in illicit capital flight also dwarfed the region’s inflow of foreign direct investment, which amounted only to 305 billion USD.


The researchers underlined that there is an urgent need to stem illicit capital flight and make concerted efforts to repatriate of stolen assets “as a part of the broader goals of scaling up development financing, combating corruption, and improving transparency in the global financial system.”

The report, Capital Flight from Sub-Saharan African Countries: Updated Estimates, 1970 – 2010, was conducted by economists at the Political Economy Research Institute, which is based at University of Massachusetts.

Oil exporter Nigeria tops the list with 311.4 billion wasted in capital flight. Among the non-oil export countries, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with huge amount of capital flight leaving the country unaccounted for.

A separate report released last year by the International Financial Integrity has put the amount of illicit capital outflow to well over 11 billion in the last decade.
30, October 2012
ESAT NEWS.

by Teshome Debalke

The West may have won the Cold War but, lost the battle for democracy and the free market on its own making; competing with authoritarian regime of China on economic development and praising small time tyrants as champions of development says it all.

African tyrants embezzled billions of dollars in the last century out of their poor countries.




These days, dictators are wising up; they no longer engage in outright theft as they use to do but, give it a cover to legitimize the same thing in different package.


The savvy and brutal African tyrants are smart enough to adapt to the changing world to remain in power and maintain their corruption going. Since tyrants’ biggest fear is democratic movements that will instantly end their criminality, they no longer have option to use the old ways of embezzling the people through suitcase capitalism. Therefore, they become ‘Developmental Regimes’ that build roads and dams with their in partnership with totalitarian regimes and foreign aid agencies.  The difference this time is they don’t carry suitcase full of cash, instead they hire their cronies to launder them money posed as private or non-for-profit entity.

In the last century Tyrants of Africa caused so much havoc and distraction on their peoples until they run out of excuses when the Cold War ended. The War on Terror gave them breathing room to continue their draconian rule and corruption. A decade later; after they milked the war on terror for whatever it worth by terrorizing their population into silence, they came up with yet another hideout, ‘Economic Development’. The new buzz word is simply another diversion; thanks to their Western enablers that run out of excuses themselves for continuing to finance their favorite tyrants. At the meantime, their Easter enablers led by China couldn’t wait to jump on development wagon; partnering with the dictators. This time, it isn’t about defending their defunct ideology in the name of the Masses but, plundering Africa in name of Development.

As misery needs companion, the authoritarian regime in China is in love with its counterparts in Africa with the new slogan of ‘Development without Freedom’. Who wants freedom before bread and butter became the new ideology of Authoritarian Capitalism tyrants came up with to have their cake and eat it too.

The Danger of China syndrome

African dictators are savvy enough to have it both ways; fooling the self righteous Western enablers facilitating to hand them Aid money and make them feel good and partnering with their Eastern counterparts to give them cover for their atrocity and corruption the old fashion way in return to plunder of Africa.

Unlike the Cold war that forced tyrants to choice between the ideological divide to receive the latest killing machines or foreign aid to sustain their rule, Authoritarian Capitalism is allowing them to have them both. The China syndrome is taking a hold of African dictators; facilitating their brutality and corruption.

By rescuing African dictators from the inevitable demise, China emerged as the leader of new Authoritarian Capitalism; taping the resources of Africa for pennies on the dollar. If that isn’t cronyism at the world scale we don’t know what it could be.

The new Authoritarian Capitalism resembles close to Colonialism without military occupation and physical subjugation.  In that, the hideous experience of subjugation is outsourced to the dictators themselves. Are Africa retuning back to colonialism of the Chinese version with her dictators serving as native Askari, Chasseurs d’ Afrique, Foreign Legion…of their new masters?

To illustrate how Authoritarian Capitalism play in modern Africa, the Ethiopian regime led by Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) that benefit from both side of the ideological divide comes in handy.

No African dictator managed the Cold War as a communist ethnic insurgent then and as crony capitalist now better than the late Prime Minster of Ethiopia, Melse Zenawi. By playing both sides of the ideological divide he successfully orchestrated the biggest heist since the cold war officially ended. In fact, he fooled his Western enablers that won the Cold War hands down by switching side overnight until he establish his ethnic Authoritarian regime financed by their money.  Then, he turned around to go back to his Communist mentors and join the new ideology of Authoritarian Capitalism of the Chinese style or to put it in his own word ‘Developmental State’.

Credit is due for the Dictator of the Century for pulling the stint like no tyrant did before. Alike an average tyrant, his understanding of  Colonialism, his life as hard-line Communist, and his detest for Capitalism, and his close association with Middle Easter tyrants that made religion and natural resources a meal ticket for their own version of dictatorial rule came in handy for him to pull the biggest heist in the history of tyranny.

His background as hardliner ideologue, as Western aid money launderer and as a son of the Italian Colonialist’s Askari also shaped his outlook toward his people’s poverty as an opportunity and the country’s resources as a means to finance his rule-consistent with his deeds. It earned him praises and admiration from his Western preys, his Eastern mentors, as well as African tyrants and his comrades in arms he helped turn in to instant millionaires out of blood money.

There is no wonder why his clueless diehard supporters are hysterically defending him. After all, besides cashing in as crony capitalist of the lowest order they can’t help but admire him observing him in the world stage playing his role of serving his foreign enablers as he is paid to do so.

As a leader of a self declared minority regime, the late tyrant understood his self belittling minority rule can’t sustain the tide. Therefore, when he came up with his latest diversion of Growth and Transformation Plan and changed gear as ‘Developmental Regime’; he knew all along peddling ethnicity may have worked to neutralize his rivals but, can’t be sustainable to move on to the next stage.  What else but economic development slogan can save minority ethnic tyranny? After all, Authoritarian Capitalism tuned out to be the only hope of tyrannical regimes to survive.

Obviously, luck has something to do with it too. Westerners needed him on War and Terror and poured in money to serve them as mercenary-for-hire. While his Eastern comrades loved him for making their plunder of Africa look good; in the quest to slow down democratic movement away from their shores. At the meantime, the mindless Arab tyrants adore him for doing their dirty job they aren’t able to do at home or anywhere else. He was indeed good salesman in satisfying his customers’ needs that are willing to come up with the money to the benefit of his cronies.

The reaction to his unexpected death and the chaos it created among his comrades and cronies to the point of denying his death to raise him to Sainthood speaks volumes. As expected, the fall out of the criminal enterprise he put together began. But, as long as Westerners keep-on bankrolling and Easterners give it legitimacy in the name of economic development the status qua of a corrupt minority rule will hang around.

The Era of the Authoritarian Capitalism up on us

Economic Development became the new fad African tyrannical regimes play to extend their illegitimate rule and to counter the democratic revolution at their gate. Development before Democracy became the motto of the 21st century tyrants and their benefactors, thanks to authoritarian regime of China that made tyrants of the world feel good. China also put Western democracy on the defensive for their blunder of pampering their chosen tyrants of Africa against the principle of democracy and the free market.

With Media and the means of production under their control and China as their role model, African tyrants are havening the best of tyrannical control and corruption under Authoritarian Capitalism to save their neck.

The sign is on the wall; when Western leaders and intellectuals praise a small time tyrants of Africa and entertain the China model as a competing alternative to economic development we are already on the way to the new World order led by China?

The West may have won the Cold War but, lost the battle for democracy and free market on its own making; competing with authoritarian regime on economic development and praising small time tyrants as champions of development say it all.

Is there anyone left to defend democracy and the free market anymore?
29, October 2012
ECADF NEWS.

ARAPAHOE COUNTY – The 9Wants to Know investigators have learned U.S. Federal agents arrested a man who they believe is a war criminal from Ethiopia convicted of killing 101 people and torturing many others.

Kefelegn Alemu Worku went by the name Tufa or Habteab Berhe Temanu, according to federal agents and federal court documents reviewed by 9Wants to Know. Immigration Customs Enforcement arrested Worku was arrested Aug. 24, but news of his arrest wasn’t immediately made public.


ICE agents allege Worku stole an identity and forged his citizenship application to be able to get into the United States. Federal prosecutors charged him with unlawful procurement of citizenship or naturalization and aggravated identity theft. If convicted he could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. It’s not clear whether he could be deported back to Ethiopia.

Worku lived in a second-floor apartment at 8861 East Florida Avenue in Arapahoe County, near Florida Avenue and Parker Road.

Girma Baye manages Kozy Café near Havana Street and 1st Avenue, where Worku was a near-daily customer.

“He’s about 60-65 years old,” Baye said. “He’s a very nice guy. He’s always fun.”

Baye said he was shocked to learn what prosecutors claim is in Worku’s past.

ICE agents were tipped off about Worku in May of 2011 after an Ethiopian native who lived in Denver, recognized Worku as a guard in the prison where he was an inmate. The man also told federal agents that he personally watched Worku torture fellow prisoners.

Prosecutors conducted an investigation and now believe Worku worked as a high ranking prison official in the “Higher 15″ prison which house about 1,500 political prisoners during the reign of President Mengistu, often referred to the “Red Terror.”

“It was a period of systematized, institutionalized terror. It was not random, accidental or a little here or there, it was systematized institutionalized, government sponsored reign of terror,” University of Denver Professor Peter Van Arsdale said.

Van Arsdale, who wrote “Forced to Flee: Human Rights and Humans Wrongs in Refugee Homelands,” has traveled multiple times to Ethiopia.

As federal investigators looked into Worku’s past, they reached other people who also said they recognized Worku from prisons.

“These aren’t huge prisons like Supermax or others here in Colorado. These are small buildings out in the courtryside with barbed wire,” Van Arsdale told 9Wants to Know investigative reporter Jace Larson.

Investigators say they discovered a news article which indicates a prison guard from Higher 15 named Kefelegn Alemu was sentenced to the death penalty in absentia for executing 101 people.

9Wants to Know discovered a 2001 British Broadcast Corporation article which says the sentence was handed down by the Sixth Criminal Bench of the Federal High Court. It says Kefelegn Alemu was found guilty of ordering, coordinating and participating in the execution of 101 people.

The article does not mention Worku’s last name. Van Arsdale, the professor from University of Denver, says it is Ethiopian custom to refer to someone – even the president – by only the first name and not use the last name.

Customs agents discovered Worku used a fraudulent name to immigrate to the United States on July 12, 2004 as a refugee along with four children to live with a fifth child already in the United States.

When agents interviewed the unnamed, fifth child they say he admitted his real father wasn’t mentally or physically able to immigrate to the United States. The children were worried their father’s health would jeopardize their changes of immigrating to the United States so they recruited Worku to assume the identity of their father in the refugee process.

Worku’s public defender told 9Wants to Know Thursday that he is not in a position to comment on the case.

Worku is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing in federal court in Denver Tuesday.

1, october 2012
Abbay media.

Wife of ex-Minister charged with funnelling money

The wife of a senior Ethiopian politician was on Monday charged with funnelling money from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia to Islamist terror groups, at a hearing at the Ethiopian Federal High Court, on Monday.

Habiba Mohammed, wife of former Minister for the Civil Service Junedin Sado, was one of 29 Muslim activists accused of criminal conspiracy to commit unspecified acts of terrorism — charges that could attract the death penalty.

Those arrested were accused of belonging to, or supporting, the “Solution Seekers of the Muslim Community’s Problems”, a group that the prosecution contended is a terrorist organisation. Lawyers for the accused denied the charges.


A predominantly Christian country, Ethiopia has positioned itself as a bulwark in the U.S.-led war on terror in East Africa and has promulgated laws, such as the anti-terrorism proclamation 652 of 2009, which have an unusually broad definition of terrorism.

According to the prosecution, Ms. Habiba allegedly tried to steal 1.5 million Ethiopian Birr (approximately Rs. 45 lakh) from the Islamic Council of Ethiopia. He also allegedly received more than 50,000 ETB from the Saudi Arabian Embassy to fund “illegal activities” amongst Ethiopia’s Muslim population.

She was arrested in July this year and the money was recovered from her car, according to local media reports. The Embassy of Saudi Arabia could not be reach for comment.

Last month, Mr. Junedin was expelled from the government and from the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO), a constituent of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the ruling coalition. He previously served as the president of the OPDO.

In a letter published prior to his expulsion, Mr. Junedin defended his wife and criticised the Federal police, prompting a sharp reaction from the establishment. In the letter, Mr. Junedin said that he had approached the Saudi Arabian Embassy in his personal capacity to raise money to build a mosque to fulfil the wishes expressed in the will of his late mother. The money recovered from his wife, Mr. Junedin said, was meant for the mosque and not to fund terrorist activities.

Representatives of Ethiopia’s Muslim community have repeatedly accused the authorities of interfering in religious matters and promoting a specific sect of Islam known as Al Ahbash. Protests reached a head this July when police opened fire at a mosque in Addis Ababa and arrested several prominent Muslim leaders, who were also presented in court on Monday. Last week, three Muslim protestors and a policeman were killed in clashes between protestors and security forces in Gerba in the Amhara region.

Activists contend that the government is using anti-terror legislation to stifle legitimate protests.

In an interview last month, Minister of state for Communications, Shimeles Kemal described the protestors as “Extremist Islamists”.
30, October 2012
the hindu.

ኢሰመጉና የሴቶች ሕግ ባሙያዎች ማኅበር ከ16 ሚሊዮን ብር በላይ ተወረሱ 
 (ታምሩ ፅጌ፣ ሪፖርተር)
የፌዴራል የበጎ አድራጎት ድርጅቶችና ማኅበራት ኤጀንሲ እንዳያንቀሳቅሱ ያገደባቸውን ገንዘብ በሚመለከት፣ ለፌዴራል ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ይግባኝ ብለው የነበሩት የኢትዮጵያ ሰብዓዊ መብት ጉባዔ (ኢሰመጉ) እና የኢትዮጵያ ሴት የሕግ ባለሙያዎች ማኅበር (ኢሴሕባማ) ይግባኛቸው ውድቅ ሆኖ ከ16 ሚሊዮን ብር በላይ እንዲወረሱ ጥቅምት 9 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ተወሰነ፡፡ ኢሰመጉ ኤጀንሲው ገንዘቡን
የማገድ መብት እንደሌለው ለበጎ አድራጎት ድርጅቶችና ማኅበራት ኤጀንሲ ቦርድ ባቀረበው አቤቱታ ገንዘቡን የሰበሰበው ኤጀንሲው በአዋጅ ከመቋቋሙ በፊት መሆኑን በመጥቀስ ቢሆንም፣ ቦርዱ የሰጠው ምላሽ ግን ኤጀንሲው የወሰደው ዕርምጃ ትክክል መሆኑን ነው፡፡ የቦርዱ ምላሽ ያልተዋጠለት ኢሰመጉ፣ ጉዳዩን ወደ ፌዴራል ከፍተኛ ፍርድ ቤት ወስዶት ነበር፡፡ ፍርድ ቤቱ የሁለቱንም ወገኖች ክርክር ከመረመረ በኋላ ኤጀንሲው የወሰደው ዕርምጃ ትክክለኛ መሆኑን በማረጋገጥ የኢሰመጉን ክስ ውድቅ አድርጎበታል፡፡

ተስፋ ያልቆረጠው ኢሰመጉ የሥር ፍርድ ቤት መሠረታዊ የሕግ ስህተት ፈጽሟል በሚል ለፌዴራል ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት አቤቱታ ሲያቀርብ፣ ማመልከቻውን የመረመረው ፍርድ ቤቱ “ትክክል ነህ ያስቀርባል” ብሎት ነበር፡፡ ፍርድ ቤቱ በቀረበው አቤቱታ ላይ ሁለቱን
ወገኖች አከራክሮ የመጨረሻ እልባት ለመስጠት አምስት ቀጠሮዎችን ከሰጠ በኋላ፣ ጥቅምት 9 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ኤጀንሲው የወሰደው ዕርምጃ ትክክል መሆኑንና የሥር ፍርድ ቤት የሰጠው ውሳኔም ተገቢ መሆኑን በማረጋገጥ ሲከራከርበት የነበረውን ስምንት ሚሊዮን ብር እንዲወረስ ወስኗል፡፡
በተመሳሳይ ሁኔታ ከስምንት ሚሊዮን ብር በላይ ታግዶበት የነበረው የኢትዮጵያ ሴት የሕግ ባለሙያዎች ማኅበርም ተመሳሳይ ውሳኔ ተላልፎበታል፡፡
ኢሰመጉ ከ18 ዓመታት በፊት ከውጭና ከአገር ውስጥ ለጋሾች ያሰባሰበው ስምንት ሚሊዮን ብር፣ የኤጀንሲው ቦርድ በአዋጅ ቁጥር 621/2001ን መሠረት በማድረግ ያገደበት ሕግ ከሚፈቅደው ውጭ እንደሆነ በመግለጽ ከባንክ እንዳያንቀሳቅስ ማድረጉን መዘገባችን ይታወሳል፡፡
ኤጀንሲውን ለማቋቋም የወጣው አዋጅ 621/2001፣ አንድ አገር በቀል የበጎ አድራጎት ድርጅት ከአሥር በመቶ በላይ የሚሆን ገቢውን ከውጭ አገር ለጋሾች ማግኘት እንደማይችል ቢደነግግም፣ ኢሰመጉ ደግሞ አብዛኛውን ገንዘብ የሰበሰበው ከአገር ውስጥ መሆኑን፣ ከውጭ አገር ቢሆንም እንኳን አዋጁ ከመውጣቱ በፊት በመሆኑ እንደማይመለከተው ሲገልጽ ቆይቷል፡፡
ኢትዮሚድያ - Ethiomedia.com
 October 22, 2012

በጋምቤላ ሁለት የጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ዳኞችና ሁለት ጠበቆች “በፖለቲካ ቂም ውሳኔያችንን አናዛባም” በማለታቸው ከስራና ከሃላፊነታቸው መሰናበታቸው ታወቀ። ሁለት የክልሉ የስነ ምግባርና የጸረ ሙስና ኮሚሽን ዓቃብያነ ህግም በተመሳሳይ ውሳኔ ከሃላፊነታቸው መባረራቸው የተጠቆመ ሲሆን ውሳኔው የክልሉ ፕሬዚዳንት ወንድም የሆኑትን ዓቃቤ ህግ አላካተተም።
በሙስና ወንጀል ተጠርጥረው ክስ የተመሰረተባቸውን ሶስት የጋምቤላ ክልል ባለሥልጣናት የፍርድ ሂደት ያስቻለው የጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ተከሳሾቹን በነጻ የለቀቀው ባለፈው ሳምንት መጀመሪያ ነው። አስራ አንድ አባላት ያሉት የክልሉ አስተዳደር ስድስት ለአምስት በሆነ ውሳኔ የንግድና ኢንዱስትሪ ቢሮ ሃላፊ በነበሩት አቶ ጀምስ ዴንግ፣ ምክትላቸው ኮንግ ጋልዎክና የክልሉ የፖሊስ ኮሚሽነር በነበሩት ኦቲየንግ ኦቻን በሙስና እንዲወነጀሉ ውሳኔ አስተላልፎ እንደነበር በማስታወስ ለጎልጉል መረጃ ያስተላለፉት ክፍሎች እንዳሉት በተጠቀሱት የቢሮ ሃላፊዎች ላይ ክስ የመሰረተው የክልሉ ጸረ ሙስና ኮሚሽን ዓቃቤ ህግ ነበር።

የክልሉ ፕሬዚዳንት ወንድም ኦቦል ኦባንግ የሚገኙበት የኮሚሽኑ አቃቤ ህግ የመሰረተውን ክስ ያስቻለው የክልሉ ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት “ጥፋት አላገኘሁም።የተከሰሱት የንግድ ቢሮ ሃላፊዎችና ፖሊስ ኮሚሽነር የተጨበጠ ማስረጃ አልቀረበባቸውም” በማለት በነጻ እንዲሰናበቱ ወስኗል። የጎልጉል ዘጋቢ በስልክ ያነጋገራቸው የፍርድ ቤት ምንጮች ውሳኔውን ተከትሎ የክልሉ ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ ኦሞት ኦባንግ ውሳኔውን በመቃወም የፍርድ ሂደቱ እንዲቀለበስ ትዕዛዝ አስተላልፈዋል።
“በፖለቲካ ቂም የፍርድ ውሳኔያችንን አንቀይርም” በማለት ኦሞት ኦባንግን የተከራከሩት የጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤቱ ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ ጆን ዮንግ፣ ምክትላቸው አቶ ዶል ኦኩሪ፣ የጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ጠበቃና የመምሪያ ኃላፊ ኒይንገው ኡጃይና ሌላው ጠበቃ ኦባንግ ኡጁሉ ከሃላፊነታቸውና ከስራቸው መባረራቸው ታውቋል፡፡ ይህ ዜና እስከተጠናከርበት ጊዜ ድረስ የተቀየረ ነገር የለም።
በተመሳሳይ በተካሳሾቹ ላይ ማስረጃ በማሰባሰብ ክስ የመሰረተው የክልሉ የጸረ ሙስና ኮሚሽን አቃብያነ ህግ ኦካች ኦሞድና ኦባንግ አብዱራዛክ “ክሱን በሚገባ አላቀነባበራችሁም” በሚል ከሃላፊነታቸው ተነስተዋል፤ ከስራቸውም ታግደዋል። በተከሳሾቹ ላይ መረጃ በማሰባሰብ ክስ ከመሰረቱት መካከል አንዱ የሆኑት የክልሉ ፕሬዚዳንት ወንድም አቃቤ ህግ ኦቦል ኦባንግ ግን በስራቸውና በሃላፊነታቸው መቀጠላቸው ታውቋል። ጎልጉል ያነጋገራቸው እንዳሉት ውሳኔው በተለያዩ ደረጃ ባሉ የክልሉን የስራ ሃላፊዎችና የአስተዳደሩን ስራ አስፈጻሚዎች መካከል መለያየት ፈጥሯል።
ከዓመታት በፊት ከአራት መቶ በላይ ለሚሆኑ አኙዋኮች መገደልና በሺዎች ለሚቆጠሩት መሰደድ በቀጥታ ተጠያቂ እንደሆኑ ከበርካታ የሰብዓዊ መብት ተቋማት ክስ የሚቀርብባቸውን የክልሉ ፕሬዚዳንት ኦሞት ኦባንግን በሙስናና በመልካም አስተዳደር በጥብቅ በመታገላቸው በፖለቲካ ቂም ሶስቱ የክልሉ ሃላፊዎች ሲታሰሩ የፋይናንስ ቢሮ ሃላፊ የነበሩት አቶ ተስፋዬ ሬሳ ከፍተኛ ምስጢር ያላቸውን ሰነዶች በመያዝ ከመታሰራቸው በፊት መሰወራቸውን የሚገልጹት የጎልጉል የመረጃ ምንጮች “የቢሮ ሃላፊው ይዘው የተሰወሩት መረጃ አቶ ኦሞት የፈረሙባቸው ከፍተኛ የገንዘብ ሰነዶችና ሙስና የተከናወነባቸው የኮንስትራክሽንና የተለያዩ መረጃዎች ናቸው። መረጃዎቹ አንድ ቀን ህዝብ ፍርዱን ይሰጥ ዘንድ ይፋ ይሆናሉ” ሲሉ ተናግረዋል።
የጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤቱ ነጻ የለቀቃቸው ሶስቱ ተከሳሾች ለጊዜው ከእስር ቢለቀቁም ከዛሬ ነገ ተመልሰው ይታሰራሉ የሚል ስጋት እንዳለ ለማወቅ ተችሏል።
29, October 2012
Golgule

NAIROBI, 29 October 2012 (IRIN) – Any hopes for an imminent end to conflict in Ethiopia’s Somali region were dashed

Photo: Wikipedia Commons

earlier this month when talks between the government and the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) broke down. Hosted by Kenya’s government in Nairobi, the negotiations started in September, with Ethiopia’s delegation led by Defence Minister Siraj Fegessa and the ONLF team headed by Abdirahman Mahdi, the group’s foreign secretary. Meeting on 6 and 7 September, the two sides agreed on the modalities of the negotiation process, the general principles that would form the basis of resolving the conflict and the initial agenda, ONLF said in a statement.
Despite optimism from both parties, the talks fell at the first hurdle, with the Ethiopian government insisting the rebels first accept the country’s constitution, a demand rejected by the ONLF as a breach of the talks’ agreed modalities.


IRIN takes a look at the ONLF and the implications of continued rebellion for Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region.

Who are the ONLF rebels?

Founded in the early 1980s, when much of Ethiopia was still ravaged by civil war, the ONLF aims to create an independent state in Ethiopia’s southeastern Ogaden territory, which is mainly inhabited by ethnic Somalis.

The Ogaden territory is located in the Somali Region, one of nine ethnically based administrative regions in the country. Poorly developed for decades due to neglect from the central government, the territory has enjoyed relative stability and development under the current Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which has governed the country since 1991. The party’s regional affiliate, the Ethiopian Somali People’s Democratic Party, says significant advances have been seen in the expansion of education, health, potable water, roads, electricity and telecommunication facilities.

The ONLF insurgency began in 1984, furthering earlier attempts either to separate the region or join it to neighbouring Somalia. The group partnered with the EPRDF in the 1991 removal of junta leader Mengistu Haile Mariam, after which the two groups effectively governed the Somali region as part of a transitional government.

In 1994, following disagreements over the country’s transition, the ONLF re-started its insurgency, demanding the right to self-determination. The group says it will use any means necessary – including violence – to unseat the central government.

When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers

Though the ONLF fighters had, over the years, mounted several attacks, including assassinating and injuring regional government leaders, it remained a low-level insurgency for years. An April 2007 attack on a Chinese-run oil field in the region brought the conflict to the fore; at least 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese oil workers were killed in the attack. Seven Chinese nationals were taken captive in the incident. ONLF had accused the government of forcibly relocating the local population to allow for oil and gas exploration.

In September 2007, a UN humanitarian assessment mission to the region found a “pervasive fear for individual safety and security” among the population caught between the government and the ONLF. They expressed concerns about deteriorating food security, protection and healthcare in the region.

Since the 2007 attack, Ethiopian forces have maintained a large presence in the region, and the government’s efforts to explore its natural gas and oil potential there have continued.

Anti-terrorism a pretext?

In 2009, the Ethiopian parliament passed an anti-terrorism law that has been much-criticized by rights groups.

According to Laetitia Bader, a Human Rights Watch researcher on Ethiopia, the law’s definition of terrorism is too broad and vague, and can be interpreted to include peaceful protests and lawful speech. She noted that it also contains several alarming provisions, including one on pre-trial detention that allows suspects to be held in custody for up to four months without charge.

In 2010, parliament took another controversial step, naming three domestic opposition groups – including the ONLF – as “terrorists” alongside international groups like Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabab.

All three groups operate freely in European countries and the US, where they have offices and representatives. At the 2011 UN General Assembly, then-Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, now Ethiopia’s prime minister, criticized Western countries, particularly the US, for having double standards in their categorization of terrorist groups.

Ethiopian authorities launched a campaign to prosecute people with perceived ties to these three organizations. In its 2011 country report, Amnesty International said that by November 2011, 107 opposition politicians, activists and journalists were prosecuted under the law; some later received severe sentences.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says 11 journalists, including two Swedes arrested for reporting on the ONLF, were imprisoned under the law. The government later pardoned the pair, releasing them in September after they spent 14 months in jail. In another high-profile terror case, a UN security officer was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months for allegedly passing information to the ONLF.

Both sides guilty of rights violations

Right groups have accused both the government forces and ONLF fighters of multiple human right violations, including killings and halting deliveries of food and medicine to civilians.

A 2008 Human Rights Watch report alleged the government was conducting forced relocations and forced recruitment and accused the ONLF of conducting summary executions and illegal detentions.

Gunmen reportedly affiliated with the ONLF attacked a UN World Food Programme (WFP) vehicle in May 2011, killing its driver and injuring one other staff member. According to a US State Department report, the attackers “also kidnapped two other WFP employees in the vehicle. The ONLF admitted that it had the two employees in its custody without taking responsibility for the attack. On June 30, the ONLF released the two WFP employees unharmed.”

The report says civilians, international NGOs, and other aid organizations operating in the Somali region blamed government security forces, local militias, and the ONLF for abuses such as arbitrary arrests meant to intimidate civilians.

A 2011 Amnesty Internationalreport said refugee children had reported being forcibly recruited by the ONLF in Kenya and trafficked back to Ethiopia to serve as porters and cooks.

In May, Human Rights Watch reported that an Ethiopian government-backed paramilitary force summarily executed 10 men during a March 2012 operation in the region. The allegations were strongly denied by the government.

Why did the peace talks fail?

In October 2010, the Ethiopian government said it had reached a peace deal with a major faction of the ONLF. Euphoric crowds sang at a ceremony at Addis Ababa’s Sheraton Hotel, where a peace agreement was inked, pledging the termination of the ONLF insurgency.

The remaining insurgents denounced the peace deal and vowed to continue their bid for secession, calling the faction that signed the deal “a creation of the Ethiopian regime”.

Even as it denounced previous peace deals and continued to fight, the ONLF maintained it was ready to talk with the central government, and the September talks in Nairobi were hailed by both sides. Still, pundits were wary. The government had described the talks only as part of efforts “to bring all concerned to the constitutional framework”, while the ONLF had long rejected any allegiance to the country’s basic law.

As the two sides were about to enter formal negotiations in mid-October, the government made the rebels’ recognition of the federal constitution a precondition for the talks to proceed. News outlets quoted the ONLF’s chief negotiator Mahdi saying that the movement predated the constitution and that the group should not be forced to recognize it.

Regional implications

As the insurgency threatens to return to high gear, many are concerned about its regional implications. Ethiopia has routinely accused neighbouring Eritrea of supporting the ONLF; in February, the UN’s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group reported to the UN Security Council that it had evidence of Eritrea’s support of the ONLF and another Ethiopian separatist group, the Oromo Liberation Front.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a brutal border war in 1998-2000, and tensions between the two countries remain high. In March, the Ethiopian army said it had attacked military camps 18km inside Eritrea; the targets were three military camps where it said the Eritrean government has been training and arming terrorists.

The newly elected Somalia government is backed by Ethiopia and was also welcomed by the ONLF, but continued fighting in Ethiopia’s Somali region could threaten Somalia’s tenuous stability. In the past, efforts by Ethiopian forces to root out the Al-Shabab militia in Somalia were resisted by the ONLF, who attacked conveys carrying Ethiopian soldiers. At the time, Meles said the intervention in Somalia also targeted the ONLF and other rebel groups.
29,October.2012
ECADF NEWS

By Aaron Maasho
Ethiopia and Eritrea are still at each others’ throats. The two neighbours fought hammer and tongs in sun-baked trenches during a two-year war over a decade ago, before a peace deal ended their World War I-style conflict in 2000. Furious veRed Sea, UNrbal battles, however, have continued to this day.
Yet, amid the blistering rhetoric and scares over a return to war, analysts say the feuding rivals are reluctant to lock horns once again. Neighbouring South Sudan and some Ethiopian politicians are working on plans to bring both sides to the negotiating table.

Asmara has been named, shamed and then slapped with two sets of U.N. sanctions over charges that it was aiding and abetting al Qaeda-linked rebels in lawless Somalia in its proxy war with Ethiopia. However, a panel tasked with monitoring violations of an arms embargo on Somalia said it had no proof of Eritrean support to the Islamist militants in the last year.
Nevertheless, Eritrea’s foreign ministry wasted little time in pointing a finger of accusation at its perennial rival. “The events over the past year have clearly shown that it is in fact Ethiopia that is actively engaged in destabilising Eritrea in addition to its continued occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory in violation of the U.N. Charter,” the ministry said in a statement last month.
The Red Sea state was referring to Addis Ababa’s open declaration in 2011 in which its late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his country would no longer take a “passive stance” towards its rival following Eritrea’s alleged plot to bomb targets in the Ethiopian capital during an African Union gathering of heads of state.
Then foreign minister (and now premier) Hailemariam Desalegn followed up on the rhetoric soon afterwards by disclosing his government’s support to Eritrean rebels. Meles and Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki were once comrades-in-arms, even rumoured to be distant relatives. Ethiopia’s late leader rubber-stamped a 1993 referendum that granted independence to the former province after their rebel groups jointly toppled Communist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam’s military junta two years earlier.
The love affair did not last long. The pair fell out spectacularly after Eritrea introduced its own currency in 1997 and Ethiopia responded by insisting on trading in dollars. Their economic spat aggravated already simmering border tensions, which culminated in Eritrea deploying its tanks months later and occupying hotly disputed territory that was under Addis Ababa’s administration.
Ethiopian troops breached Eritrea’s trenches nearly a year later and retook contested ground – namely the flashpoint town of Badme – before a peace deal was signed. What then followed is the sticking point that remains today. An independent boundary commission awarded Badme to Eritrea in 2002 but the ruling is yet to take effect. Ethiopia wants to negotiate its implementation and warns that delimitation of the border as per the finding would unreasonably split towns and other geographical locations into two.
Asmara on the other hand insists on an immediate hand-over. The bickering has evolved into a proxy war and diplomatic skulduggery as both sides attempt to bring about regime change in the other. But despite the harsh words, mediation efforts are in the pipeline. Deng Alor, neighbouring South Sudan’s Minister for Cabinet Affairs, told Reuters on Wednesday his newly-independent country is about to embark on rounds of shuttle diplomacy between the capitals of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Both countries, he said, have given their blessing.
A handful of Ethiopian members of parliament are also devising a similar initiative, local sources say. Addis Ababa has never ruled out mediation. But even though Eritrea publicly dismisses any idea of a thaw in strained relations before the Badme spat is resolved, recent developments might change its mind, some believe.
Ethiopian analysts think Asmara now realises that its neighbour may easily adopt a more belligerent stance following the sudden death of Meles, who they say stood firm against a potential slide towards full-scale conflict. And of course not all Ethiopians express enthusiasm about an independent Eritrea, the creation of which left their country without access to the Red Sea.
Some diplomats say the chances of both sides making drastic concessions from their current positions remain slim. So will the mediation efforts finally yield a deal?
29,october 2012
Reuters

Egypt to set up industrial zones in Algeria, Ethiopia

Egypt plans to establish two industrial zones in Algeria and Ethiopia in an effort to boost economic ties with African countries, Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) reported last week. On his recent two-day visit to Algeria, Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said his government hoped to see increased investment in the North African nation, adding that the planned industrial zone would assist in the production of construction materials.

According to the SIS, Qandil also unveiled plans to build some 2.5 million residential units in Algeria before the end of 2014, stressing that Egyptian construction companies would contribute heavily to the project.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian government has announced plans to grant Egypt one million square meters of land on which to establish an industrial zone with a view towards boosting trade and investment between Egypt and the states of the Nile Basin.
Hatem Saleh, Egyptian minister of industry and foreign trade, said on Wednesday that the Ethiopian banking sector would finance between 50 and 70 per cent of Egyptian investment projects in the country.
29, October.2012
Ahramonline

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged Monday with plotting acts of “terrorism”, themajority arrested after protests accusing the government of interference in religious affairs.

According to court documents, the group is accused of “intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause” by force and the “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts.”

The 29 accused — including nine prominent Muslim leaders — were jailed following protests in July staged by Muslims against the government.


Among the accused was Habiba Mohammed, the wife of the former minister of civil service, charged with smuggling funds to support religious extremism.

Demonstrations began in January by Muslims who accuse the government of trying to impose the moderate Al Ahbash Sufi branch of Islam, a Lebanese import mostly alien to Ethiopia.

Protesters also accuse authorities of fixing elections for the leaders of the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, the community’s main representative body, after jailing Muslim leaders who would have participated in the vote.

Two local non-governmental organizations were also charged with “rendering support” to terrorism.

The courtroom in the Ethiopian capital was filled Monday with armed police officers alongside the 29 accused, who stood before a judge to receive the charges.

Dozens of family members and friends who could not fit inside the courtroom waited outside and cheered as the charged returned to prison on buses.

According to official figures, nearly 34 percent of Ethiopia’s 83 million people are Muslim.

Ethiopia’s constitution calls for a secular government and prohibits government interference in religious affairs.

This month, Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn insisted the government respects religious freedom, but said some acts of religious extremism had been uncovered and the government must curb such incidents.
29,octo.2012
ECADF news