The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not “officially” aware of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s stay in Belgium,
With its foundations irreparably cracked and its edifices of power crumbling the Ethiopian regime headed by Meles Zenawi is turning more and more to the CIA to make the critical decisions in the ministries of power in the capital Addis Ababa...
When the Egyptian people finally exploded President Mubarak quickly became expendable for the USA had a “Plan B” in the Egyptian military. But no such back up plan exists in Ethiopia for Meles Zenawi knows all to well how quickly he can become “expendable” when it comes to the interests of Pax Americana and has made sure that the Ethiopian army has been purged of any and all who might replace him.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi did not attend scheduled meetings with other African leaders in Addis Ababa on Saturday and Sunday, fueling speculation about his health.
An ideological poison is polluting all life within Ethiopia, flowing into every area of civil society. Local governance, urban and rural neighbourhoods, farming, education and the judiciary all are washed in Revolutionary Democracy’, the doctrine of the ruling party.
Addis Ababa — Over 100 people including eight policemen were injured after clashes broke out during the weekend between police and Muslim protesters in Addis Ababa, where African leaders are gathered for African Union (AU) assembly.
07.11.2012
Survival has received disturbing reports from members of several tribes in Ethiopia's Lower Omo Valley, which describe how the government is destroying their crops to force them to move off their land into designated resettlement areas.
I wrote a policy report on Ethiopia’s difficulties with federalism. I gave a talk in which I questioned Ethiopia’s May 2010 elections, in which the ruling EPRDF party (Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front) won 545 out of 547 seats in the Parliament. As part of my ongoing research on mass violence in the Somali territories, I interviewed members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist rebel group in eastern Ethiopia that the government has designated as a terrorist organization.
07.05.2012
Washington Post- A black pickup truck slowly circled RFK Stadium. Its sole cargo was a billboard bearing the images of a starving child, a man with a swastika on his forehead, piles of money and a soccer ball.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says it appears Ethiopia is extending and refining its censorship of Internet news with a sophistication that could encourage other authoritarian regimes in Africa.
Two Swedish journalists in Ethiopia jailed on terrorism charges say they are being detained unnecessarily, one year into their 11-year sentence, Swedish diplomats said Monday.
The international organization Committee to Protect Journalists says the Ethiopian government is stepping up efforts to control the Internet, both by preventing access to certain websites and by blocking users from software used to circumvent the censors.
MORE than 500 fishermen have fled from Lake Turkana following the killing of three of their colleagues by militiamen from the Merille tribe in Ethiopia. Fishing activities on the lake have been paralysed following a spate of attacks in areas on the Kenya-Ethiopia border.
06.27.12
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Twenty-four Ethiopians, including a leading opposition figure and a prominent journalist, faced life in prison Wednesday after a court found them guilty on charges of terrorism.
Head of The Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples State, Shiferaw Shigute, is back in Awassa cutting his long planned visit short in North America.
Forty-three Ethiopians and Somalis who paid to be smuggled from their homelands in search of better living conditions died in the back of a crowded, suffocating truck, an official said Wednesday.
06.21.2012
An Ethiopian judge has again delayed the verdict in the case of 24 people charged with terrorism, including a prominent journalist and an opposition member, a defence lawyer said Thursday.
Tinsae Ethiopia has relaunched its BEKA (enough) campaign in Ethiopia by distributing pamphlets and writing the Beka slogan in Addis Ababa and other cities. Beka is a slogan that calls for an end to the Woyanne rule in Ethiopia.
06.20.2012
An Ethiopian security officer with the United Nations faced up to 10 years in jail after a court in Addis Ababa found him guilty Monday of "participating in a terrorist organisation."
Ethiopia is forcing thousands of people from their land in the southern Omo valley to make way for sugar plantations, Human Rights Watch said in a report Monday, a charge denied by the government.
Ethiopia has backtracked from its improvement last year to drop three places and rank 17, in the latest Failed States Index released by Foreign Policy Magazine and The Fund for Peace.
Up to half a million people risk destitution and hunger under Ethiopia’s controversial plans to clear huge swathes of land for gigantic sugar plantations, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) which warned the venture could lead to conflict.
Graham Peebles views the Meles Zenawi regime’s chronic suppression of the internet and media freedoms in Ethiopia and asks how long will Addis Ababa’s allies in the US, Britain and the European Union tolerate the regime’s flagrant violations of rights enshrined in domestic and international law.
Tadesse Haile State Minister of trade and industry and Tesfaye Mengesha...
06.18.2012
The University of Saskatchewan is continuing a series of private meetings with an Ethiopian politician accused of corruption and human rights violations.
It is in this party that the world witnessed unparalleled democratic centralism practice and austere obedience to party discipline. It is the central committee than the mass who is playing a wide-ranging role in decision-making.
A few hours after arriving in the country, we were welcomed at the Ministry of Information and spent the next two hours with the minister, Simon Bereket, who is said to be a power within the government.
06.16.2012
"Ironically, by trying to silence those who do not toe the official line, the government is only helping to underscore the concerns that many inside and outside of Ethiopia share about the deterioration of democracy and human rights in that country."
A 30-second call using Skype in Ethiopia can land you a 15-year prison sentence, thanks to new legislation passed by the country’s government.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has discussed what it calls repressive and harsh treatment of the media with high-ranking members of Ethiopia's government.
A Canadian citizen languishing in an Ethiopian jail is straining relations between Canada and the east African country.
Baladweyne — A powerful blast has on Thursday rocked across Somalia's central town of Beledweyne, the latest series of attacks against Somali and Ethiopian troops in the town since Al shabab quit Dec 31, 2011, last year, witnesses said.
06.12.2012
Reports reaching our service desk from the Ogaden online in the city of Degahbour confirm the burning down of the town’s business district by the so called Liyu Police onJune 8th, 2012
(New York)The Committee to Protect Journalists and the Africa Media Initiative (AMI) called for the release of journalists being held under Ethiopia's anti-terrorism laws and requested a review of those laws as they affect freedom of speech.
CPJ board member Charlayne Hunter-Gault, CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney and AMI board member Dele Olojede met Friday in Addis Ababa with Communications Minister Bereket Simon, a senior figure in the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Ethiopia’s only ISP, state-owned Ethio-Telecom, has just installed a system for blocking access to the Tor network, which lets users browse anonymously and access blocked websites. At the same time, the state-owned printing presses are demanding the right to censor the newspapers they print.
The 14 women jailed since April were part of a group of 40 women and girls who had gone to a town on the Ethiopia-Sudan border in hopes of finding work.
05.31.12
How is an entire Minnesota community supposed to cope when every person in that community, all at the same time, must cope with the recent violent death or the sudden, suspicious disappearance of a mother or father, a brother or sister, a relative or friend?
Ethiopian authorities briefly detained a journalist for Voice of America (VOA) and his translator as he covered a dispute between Muslims and the government in the capital Addis Ababa, the U.S. broadcaster said.
05.25.2012
NAIROBI, Kenya – Voice of America says it is investigating reports that a correspondent in Ethiopia's capital has been detained by authorities.
05.24.2012
About 300 Ethiopians descended on the streets of Sandton
on Wednesday, almost bringing business to a standstill.
Ethiopian Muslim activists are reporting torture and abuses by security forces over growing opposition to Ahbashism campaign.
The Ethiopia chapter of Amnesty's 2012 human rights report highlights key rights concerns in the country, including legislation restricting rights organizations, and the arrests of hundreds of opposition members and journalists.
Two members of the U.S. Congress, a Republican and a Democrat, have publicly voiced indignation at Ethiopia's persecution of journalists under the leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, with both declaring that stability and security are enhanced by press freedom.
05.22.2012
“We need for the people to understand who is the president,” he said, referring to Zenawi. “We know him very well. We want to show that to the world.”
Unofficial committees within Ethiopia’s 30-million strong Muslim community are organizing demonstrations to protest what they say isgovernment interference in Islamic affairs. Tensions are rising as the government tries to preempt what it sees as the rise of a hardline strain of Islam.
We were told that Meles Zenawi came as the designee of the African Union to speak for Africa on the food crisis in particular and economic development in general.
05.15.2012
በኢትዮጵያ መብታችን ይከበር ብለው ሙስሊሞች ከተነሱ ወዲህ ከመለስ ዜናዊ ፋሽስት ስርዓት የሚደርስባቸው በደል እየጨመረ መሄዱ ታወቀ። በሰሞኑ ብቻ በጎንደር ከሃያ በላይ ሙስሊሞች ሲታሰሩ በአሰሳ እንዲሁ በየጨለማው እየታደኑ ወደ እስር ቤት እየተወረወሩ ነው። በአርሲ ዞን አሰሳ ከተማ ነዋሪ የሆኑ ሙስሊም የሕብረተሰብ ክፍሎች ሰዎች እየታሰሩ መሆኑን አጋልጠዋል።
According to the Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU), admissions of severely malnourished children continue to increase, with earlier and greater increases than in 2011.
Admissions increased by 15.3 per cent from January to February and by a further 27 per cent from February to March.
Crying onstage in front of a crowd is not my thing, but a few days ago, as I stood next to Serkalem Fasil, I couldn't hold back my tears. It was a bittersweet moment because Fasil had just received the prestigiousPEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award on behalf of her husband, Eskinder Nega.
05.10.12
Meles denied accusations by advocacy groups including the California-based Oakland Institutethat communities in western Ethiopia are being forcibly evicted to make way for investors. But yet makes 4million hectares (9.9 million acres) of “fertile and unutilized” land available for sale.
10.1. The printer has the right to refuse to print any written script that the publisher submitted for printing should it have adequate reason to judge that the script breaches the law. Now Printers are the ones that judge if there are breaches of law not court? hmmm what was the word "censorship"
Since March, in fact, some Ethiopian opposition networks, led by the Ethiopian Heritage Society of North America (EHSNA), have denounced attacks by the Ethiopian government against some areas of the country through the creation of infrastructure projects and business activities that entail the destruction of about eighteen places of worship, including ancient monasteries and churches, some of which have already been included on the UN list of World Heritage Sites.
05.06.12
Ethiopian rebels in Gambella repulsed an attack by government soldiers who gave up the fight after about half an hour, rebel sources said on May 1st.
Arrested, jailed and beaten, tortured and imprisoned, this is the recipe for justice that the Ethiopian government serves up to dissenting voices. Men and women peacefully exercising their democratic right, demanding their human rights, crying out for their moral rights.
Ethiopian cyber-space under attack, so far the official website of Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) and theOffice of Federal Auditor General(OFAG) get hacked. According to resources his is the second attack on ENA since last March
Ethiopia's government has expelled two Arabs who flew in from the Middle East after the pair went to a mosque and tried to incite violence, an official said Saturday.
Zenawi will attend the session along with three other African leaders – Benin’s president Boni Yayi, Ghanaian president and current AU chairman, John Atta-Millis and Tanzanian president Jakaye Kikwete.
04.30.2012
ትናንት በአርሲ ዞን በአሳሳ ከተማ ትልቁ መስጊድ ውስጥ የተቃውሞ ሰልፍ ባደረጉ ሙስሊሞች ላይ የፌዴራል ፖሊስ አባላት በከፈቱት ተኩስ የ 6 ዓመት ታዳጊ ህፃንን ጨምሮ ሰባት ሰዎች መገደላቸውና በርካቶች መቁሰላቸው ተዘግቧል።
ቢላል ራዲዮ ግጭቱ በተከሰተ ጊዜ ከስፍራው ባስተላለፈው ዘገባ በሰልፈኞቹ ላይ ከየአቅጣጫው በተከፈተው የተኩስ እሩምታ ሰባት ሰዎች ወዲያውኑ ሲሞቱ በርካታዎች ከባድና ቀላል የመቁሰል አደጋ ደርሶባቸዋል።
04.29.2012
Members of the Federal Police have reportedly opened fire at a protest rally at the grand mosque in Asosa, Arsi Zone, killing seven people,including a six year old child, and injuring several others.
gunmen attacked a commercial farm in Ethiopia's western Gambella region and killed five workers.
04.27.2012
In Ethiopia, the Bank recognized the potential for "political capture" of its and other donor funds as early as 2006, after security forces killed 200 protesters and detained more than 30,000 people in the aftermath of the 2005 elections. But when its prediction came true, and Human Rights Watch provided the Bank with documentation in 2010 that the government was denying real or perceived political opponents access to services in programs funded by the Bank, the Bank did little other than a desk-based study to investigate those claims.
“I think it was a huge factor in getting attention to this case,” McLure said. “Mark’s [Hamrick] signature on the letter really gave Eskinder’s cause a big stamp of legitimacy.”
04.25.2012
የተወሰኑ የዩኒቨርስቲው ተማሪዎችም ተጎጂው በትላንትናው እለት ለህክምና ተኝቶበታል በተባለው የካቲት 12 ሆስፒታል ተሰብስበው ለመግባት ያደረጉት ሙከራም በፖሊስ ተበትኗል ።
Ethiopia's government has held one United Nations employee in jail without charges for well over a year, while another is facing prosecution under a notorious anti-terrorism law.
Maar, who is also the state minister of Information and Communication, revealed that on a short visit to Ethiopia earlier this month the government complained about the huge number of armed youth escaping disarmament from Jonglei.
04.23.2012
About a week ago EthiopianReview.com posted a news claiming that rebels in the Ethiopia has burned down 1 hotel and over 20 stores in the northern Ethiopian border town of Metemma.
Control flows from fear. The greater the dishonesty, corruption and greed, the more extreme the controls become. Under the EPRDF governance, Ethiopians are subjected to a range of human rights abuses and violations.
04.20.2012
On-the-ground reports from Ethiopia reveal the government is stepping up its violence against Indigenous Anuak people. In the past week, sources say the military has attacked civilians in the Gambella region and poisoned water sources, forcing thousands of Indigenous people to leave their homelands. Wild animals are dying as they drink the poisoned water.
William Easterly, Mark Hamrick, Aryeh Neier, Kenneth Roth, and Joel Simon
We also urge the US to ensure that our more than $600 million in aid to Ethiopia is not used to foster repression.
The State Department and key members of Congress have been briefed on the brutal treatment of innocent Ethiopians by their government. State Department officials report that they have privately informed the Meles regime that its activities are unacceptable violations of human rights, but so far there have been no public statements from the State Department, and there certainly has been no action taken.
04.18.2012
China and African governments tend to agree that the press should focus on collective achievements and mobilize public support for the state, rather than report on divisive issues or so-called negative news.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Ethiopia, which remains one of the West’s foremost recipients of development assistance and whose largest trading partner and main source of foreign investment is China. The prisons in Ethiopia, like those in China, are now filled with journalists and dissidents, and critical Web sites are blocked.
Ethiopia has failed to bring its inflation down to the targeted single digit figures from the present 32.5 percent.
At the same time, the government on Wednesday sought explanation from Ethiopian authorities over the raid at Todonyang Rapid Deployment Unit (RPD) camp by more than 300 militia.
04.12.2012
New York City, April 12, 2012—PEN American Center today named Eskinder Nega, a journalist and dissident blogger in Ethiopia, as the recipient of its 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.
In light of the ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign in Ethiopia against the Amhara, Oromo, Ogaden, Gambella, Afar and other Ethiopians, several Ethiopian media will come together on Saturday, April 14, at 1 PM, to propose a worldwide economic boycott campaign against the Woyanne junta.
Now Mugabe is in poor health and speculation is that if he dies Mengistu could be in trouble...An official and the Foreign Affairs ministry told The Africa Report that Mengistu and his government played a pivotal role during and after the liberation struggle and extraditing him “would be a betrayal”.
But civic society has a firm view on Mengistu, they want him out of Zimbabwe dead or alive.
04.11.2012
“. . . የጉዳታችንን መጠን እናውቀዋለን። የሃዘናችንም ጥልቀት
እናስተውለዋለን፡፡ . . . በመሬታችሁ ላይ ሙቱ፤ በመሬታችን ላይ እንሙት፤ ሁላችንም እናልቃለን
እንጂ መሬታችንን ለቀን ወዴትም አንሄድም፤ አትፍሩ፤ መንፈሰ ጠንካራ ሁኑ፤ የበቀል መልዕከተኛ
አትሁኑ፤ ለፍትህ ግን ቁሙ። ረዳት እንደሌለን አንሁን። ልጃችን የሰላም እረፍት ላይ ነው . . .”
Abbas was on his way to the neighboring Amhara Region of Ethiopia for a meeting with its governor when he stopped in Um Dabalo after spotting an Ethiopian farmer working in the area.
An Ethiopian national working for the United Nations in the restive Ogaden region is being tried on terrorism charges for allegedly having links with an outlawed rebel group. The defendant was arrested last year after helping to negotiate the release of two kidnapped U.N. aid workers.
04.05.2012
A starting teacher in Ethiopia earns approximately $90 a month which is scarcely enough for one person to live on. The government had promised a pay rise which would honour their professionalism, so teachers were hoping that their situation would be improved. However when the increase came it was only 4.5% – as little as $4.5 a month for some teachers which with inflation at 36.3% made no difference to their situation.
When the Ethiopian government asked Thwol Othoy if he wanted to be resettled, he agreed, attracted by promises of a better life – a clinic, school for his children and land to farm.
But he now struggles to feed his family. After moving from western Ethiopia to the tiny town of Abobo in the Gambella region, he was allocated less than half his previous two acres on which he used to grow maize.
"Right now, the Ethiopian government is forcing 200,000 indigenous Anuak people off their ancestral farmlands, grazing lands, and forests in the Gambella region," says Paula Palmer, director of the Ethiopia Campaign at Cultural Survival, a non-profit that defends the rights of indigenous people worldwide.
“Around four weeks ago we bought a quintal of processed teff at the millers for 1,250 Br,” Mesfin, who is nicknamed Vendi by his colleagues, explained. “The price increased to 1,332 Br a quintal last week and even further to 1,495 Br in two days’ time.”
03.29.2012
New photographic evidence proves Ethiopia’s controversial plantations scheme is killing the Lower Omo River, a lifeline for 100,000 tribal people.
A dissident Ethiopian journalist on trial for terrorism has categorically denied the charges and warned the court that history would judge its verdict.
According to witnesses from Gambella, in the last few weeks, two to three thousand TPLF/EPRDF defense troops have been sent to the area following the ambush of a passenger bus on March 4, 2012 where 19 innocent people—mostly young students returning from school—were killed.
Lucy, it turns out, had company—another prehuman that also walked but spent more of its time in trees.
Until now, there was no proof of another human relative living around the same time as the species made famous by the Lucy skeleton.
03.27.2012
listen to German Radio report about the Ethiopians Woyane displaced from Southern Ethiopia, Bench Maji Zone.
In Gambella, 228,000 hectares have been leased and another 877,000 earmarked for investors, he said. The total area to be farmed is 42 percent of region. In Benishangul-Gumuz, the directorate has transferred 100,000 hectares and is marketing a further 981,000 hectares, which is equivalent to about one-fifth of the state.
03.16.2012
Woyanne forces entered Eritrea on Thursday and carried out what a regime spokesman described as “a successful attack” against military posts.
It has been confirmed from different source this week that the Eritrean government and the Ethiopian government are going to have preliminary meeting in Germany on March the 20th, already some representatives of both countries arrived in Germany.
There has been much anger at the government as people are evicted from their land that is being sold to wealthy foreigners. The most recent killings took place as calls have increased for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to justice for the massacre of over 425 people in Gambella in 2003
Ethiopia's year-on-year rate of inflation rose in February to 36.3 percent from 32 percent a month ago, official data showed on Monday.
03.13.2012
The group said that $US1 million ($A950,661) worth of assets from two leading rights groups has already been frozen under the legislation.
This all started a few months ago. I was in the Gambella region of western Ethiopia bouncing down a road to visit a Nuer village, one of the indigenous tribes of the area. For miles, all along the newly graded road, the forest was being enthusiastically dragged down, piled up, and burnt.
03.09.2012
...to raise these issues at every meeting with Ethiopian officials. The regime has demonstrated that such words will have no effect. In fact, the Meles regime acts as if its collaboration with the U.S. in the war on terror gives it a blank check to repress its own people with impunity.
we must remain mindful to explain our common stability objectives clearly to the GoE and EPRDF and to avoid over-reaching for too drastic of reforms lest the ruling party opt to choose survival over engagement. End Comment.
03.07.2012
U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, the first black elected to represent New Jersey in Congress, died Tuesday. He was 77.
Payne's brother, William, said he died at St. Barnabas Hospital.
The two were handed over to German embassy officials and local elders in the desolate northern Ethiopian region on Monday, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) said in a statement.
Leikun Berhanu, former Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), and more markedly founding president of Awash International Bank, began serving earlier this week his 15 month jail sentence. Leikun was convicted over foreign exchange mismanagement offense.
Last week, several Yemen government sources close to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced that the fallen autocrat had decided to go into exile in nearby Ethiopia...
03.05.2012
IPI Sends Public Appeal to U.N. Secretary General Highlighting Continuing Press Freedom Concerns
02.27.2012
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Aides to Ali Abdullah Saleh said Monday that the ousted Yemeni president plans to go into exile in Ethiopia, as pressures mounted on him to depart the country for fear of sparking new cycles of violence.
Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- An imprisoned Ethiopian opposition leader needs urgent medical attention 12 days after being assaulted in his cell, former President Negasso Gidada said.
The last few months have seen a return of sporadic attacks on government institutions in Gambela, such as an attack on the police station at the Gog and Abwod checkpoints, Pinyudo town, in the Jor district, 30 km from Gambela town.
02.22.2012
በአማራ ክልል ሰሜን ሸዋ በሚገኘው
ኤፈራታ ግድም ወረዳ ልዩ ስሙ አመቦ
በርና ወታጋ ፈብጫ በሚባል ቦታ
ተገዳ ለእርከን ስራ ዘመቻ የወጣች
አንዲት ነፍሰጡር ከዳገት ላይ በድንገት
በመውደቋ የ9ኝ ወር ፅንጽ እንዳስወረዳት
የዜና ምንጮቻችን ገለፁ፡፡
Survival has uncovered shocking new evidence of human rights abuses against tribes in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, as government efforts to develop lucrative sugar cane plantations in the region intensify.
Stop land grabbing and restore indigenous peoples’ lands
But Ethiopia’s policies are deliberately making some of its citizens poorer and hungrier. The government is forcing the Indigenous Peoples of the southwest off their ancestral lands and leasing these lands to foreign companies.
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